RÉSUMÉ Notre article traite de l’interprétation heideggerienne du Surhomme chez Nietzsche en prenant en considération tout particulièrement sa désignation comme forme dans les cours de 1939-1946 qui constituent, sous plusieurs aspects, la culmination du « différend » avec lui. En effet, si anthropomorphie et subjectivité s'appartiennent mutuellement dans la métaphysique moderne, cette coappartenance trouve son achèvement chez le Surhomme. Elle indique par ailleurs la forclusion du sujet nietzschéen dans la logique de la négation, témoignage de la tentative heideggerienne pour « (...) dialectiser » Nietzsche. C’est ainsi qu’une continuité s'établit entre sa position métaphysique et la dialectique hégélienne. Par ailleurs, nous nous efforçons de projeter cette interprétation réductrice sur la critique par Heidegger d’une des figures majeures du néohégélianisme au tournant du siècle, à savoir Oswald Spengler, telle qu’elle a lieu dans ses cours de l’herméneutique de la facticité. Notre stratégie interprétative est fidèle au principe interprétatif qui consiste à dire que le Heidegger d’avant Être et Temps, nous offre les outils nécessaires pour aborder certains motifs essentiels du développement ultérieur de sa pensée dont notamment sa confrontation avec la métaphysique. ABSTRACT This paper focuses on Heidegger's interpretation of the Ubermensch with a special emphasis on his designation as a form developped mainly in the 1939-1946 lecture courses on Nietzsche. The belonging- together of “unconditional” subjectivity and anthropomorphism reaches its completion in the “form” of the Ubermensch, while it also witnesses its forclosure in the logic of negativity. Consequently, a direct continuity is established between Nietzsche's metaphysical position and Hegel's dialectics. By taking this unexpected affinity as a starting point, we go back to Heidegger's early critique of hegelianism and especially of Spengler's project of a morphology of the cultures in his hermeneutics of facticity. This interpretative strategy unfolds according to the principle that the first steps on Heidegger's path of thinking offer us the necessary conceptual tools in order to come to terms with the later developments of his confrontation with metaphysics. (shrink)

Dans notre article, nous nous proposons d’étudier la désignation de la pensée du commencement-initial par Heidegger comme “le style de I’etre-homme à venir’ dans ses Contributions à la Philosophie (1936-1938). Nous traitons le rapport du “style” à l’historialité de la pensée et en particulier à la tonalité affective fondamentale de la retenue. Par la suite, nous soulevons la question du style dans l’art en retraçant l’origine du “style de la pensée initiale” dans la critique heideggérienne de l’esthétique et de safondation (...) métaphysique. Plutôt que témoigner de l’esthetisation de sa pensée, ce thème met en lumiere son projet de “destruction” de I’esthétique telle qu’elle a lieu dans le premier cours sur Nietzsche. Nous soutenons que l’analyse du grand style nietzschéen tel qu’il a lieu dans ce cours sert de filconducteurpour sa qualification de I’autre commencement de la philosophie de “style de pensée”. Par ailleurs, la réflexion des deux penseurs sur le motif du style témoigne de leur intérêt commun à la catégorie esthétique du sublime. Les Contributions à la Philosophie poursuivent ce motif à ses conséquences ontologiques ultimes.This paper focuses on Heidegger’s designation of inceptive thought (anfängliches Denken) as the “style of the being-human that is to come” in his Contributions to Philosophy (1936-38). Its relation to historicity and the ground attunement of retention (Verhaltenheit) will be discussed. The question of style in art will then be raised by tracing back the “style” of inceptive thinking to Heidegger’s critique of Western aesthetics and its metaphysical foundation. Rather than witnessing the “aesthetisation” of the thought performing the “leap” beyond metaphysics, this motive brings forth his project of “destruction” of aesthetics as it takes place in the first lecture course on Nietzsche. This article claims that the analysis of Nietzsche’s grand style (grosse Stil) in this very course serves as the leading thread in his repeatedallusions to the “other inception” in philosophy in terms of a “style of thought”. Moreover, the reflexion on the style in both thinkers reveals an interest in the aesthetic category of the sublime. Heidegger’s Contributions to Philosophy leads this motive to its ultimate ontological consequences. (shrink)

Αναμφίβολα, όσοι γνώρισαν προσωπικά και όχι μόνο μέσα από τα κείμενά του τον Ευθύμη Παπαδημητρίου, θα θυμούνται ότι ο ίδιος κατέφευγε συχνά σε αυτήν την έκφραση, όταν αναφερόταν σε κάτι αυτονόητο ή σε κάτι δύσκολο στην πραγμάτωση του και άρα δεν σχετίζεται άμεσα με τη συνήθη χρήση της ως έκφραση στην αγγλική γλώσσα. Επιπλέον, οι ίδιοι μάλλον θα συμφωνήσουν μαζί μου, ότι οι παρελθοντικοί χρόνοι που θα ακουστούν/θα χρησιμοποιηθούν σήμερα εδώ και θα τον αφορούν, θα δημιουργήσουν, μάλλον, αμηχανία, αφού, αν (...) θέλουμε να είμαστε ακριβείς στην περιγραφή μας οφείλουμε να προκρίνουμε στις αναφορές μας για εκείνον, ως πιο ενδεδειγμένο χρόνο έναν Εξακολουθητικό Ενεστώτα, ο οποίος στην περίπτωση του Παπαδημητρίου μπορεί αβίαστα να συμπαρουσιάζεται με έναν Οραματικό Μέλλοντα…. (shrink)

This volume is the result of the research project that was realized under the sponsorship of the Onassis Foundation. The eleven papers that are included in the volume have been selected vis-à-vis the actuality of the Greek, European and International political crisis. The organization of this collective volume into four thematic sections aims at revealing as many as possible contexts of the thematic dipoles: cosmopolitanism-patriotism, democracy-friendship, rights-toleration, identity-diversity, via different and often conflicting theoretical approaches.

Jan Patocka’s idea of Europe can be viewed as a continuation of Edmund Husserl’s reflections on the issue. Still, the differences are numerous and worthy to be studied, especially in today’s critical times for Europe’s future. Patocka doubts the teleological, rationality-based determination of Europe’s identity, and, following that, the diagnosis of Europe’s current crisis as a deficiency in rationalization, which could be in its turn overcome by a surplus of rationalization. Patocka’s early differentiation from Husserl’s intellectualist account of European humanity (...) will lead to an integral, phenomenology-inspired philosophy of the European civilization. For Patocka, the prevailing of the “hegemonic” against the “universalist” Europe means a fall behind the standards of European humanity, to that of the mere biological level, as specified by today’s preponderant economy-oriented discourse. For him, the seeming victory of the “hegemonic” over the “universalist” Europe is false, because it already contains the seeds of its self-destruction. (shrink)

In this paper I deal with Hubert Dreyfus’s phenomenological ethics regarding information technologies and the use of the Internet. From the 1990s on, Dreyfus elaborates a multi-faceted model of ethical expertise which may find a paradigmatic field of application in the ways in which information technologies transform our sense of personal identity, as well as our view of ethical integrity and commitment. In his 2001 On the Internet, Dreyfus investigates further several of the ideas already present in his groundbreaking 1997 (...) Disclosing New Worlds. A phenomenological ethics of the virtual aims at going beyond both the objectivist ideal of moral universalism, which departs from the dominant Cartesianism both in epistemology and in ethics, as well as from the postmodernist, Nietzsche-inspired moral relativism. By referring back to existentialism, especially to Kierkegaard, and to phenomenology, especially to Heidegger’s hermeneutic phenomenology, Dreyfus sketches a model of ethical expertise which can be particularly useful for internet users and researchers, as it combines a phenomenological anthropology of the virtual with a theory of cultural innovation and change. In my view, Dreyfus’s model may help overcome the strict either determinist or relativist accounts of the ethical challenges posed by information technologies. By endorsing a strongly anti-intellectualist view of information technologies, Dreyfus poses the necessity of identity and ethical integrity not only as abstract principles that require rational justification, but also as context-bound everyday practices that are in conformity with the “style” of a culture and several disclosive activities within it. (shrink)

Responsible research and innovation (RRI) is a governance framework promoted by influential policy makers such as the European Commission and academics from the fields of science and technology studies and management. This book is the first text to serve industry. Inspired by existing Corporate Responsibility standards and principles, it offers a selection of tools that can assist practitioners in implementing RRI in business and industry. -/- Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) is integrative. It is a convergence of Technology Assessment (TA) (...) and Ethics, including corporate responsibility. The task of linking RRI to existing frameworks has only just begun. This book is a welcome example, showing how Corporate Responsibility tools can drive the implementation of RRI. Prof. Armin Grunwald, Head of the Office of Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag and Head of the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany. -/- This is a simple, short, yet encyclopaedic work designed to help business implement RRI using the many tools of Corporate Responsibility (CR) already in place, everything from ISO9001 to the Ceres Roadmap for Sustainability. It makes clear the ways in which RRI is an extension of ideas already well-developed in CR. I learned a lot reading it. Prof. Michael Davis, Senior Fellow, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions, Illinois Institute of Technology, USA. (shrink)

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and games set a new domain in understanding people’s motivations in gaming, behavioral implications of game play, game adaptation to player preferences and needs for increased engaging experiences in the context of HCI serious games (HCI-SGs). When the latter relate with people’s health status, they can become a part of their daily life as assistive health status monitoring/enhancement systems. Co-designing HCI-SGs can be seen as a combination of art and science that involves a meticulous collaborative process. The (...) design elements in assistive HCI-SGs for Parkinson’s Disease (PD) patients, in particular, are explored in the present work. Within this context, the Game-Based Learning (GBL) design framework is adopted here and its main game-design parameters are explored for the Exergames, Dietarygames, Emotional games, Handwriting games, and Voice games design, drawn from the PD-related i-PROGNOSIS Personalized Game Suite (PGS) (www.i-prognosis.eu) holistic approach. Two main data sources were involved in the study. In particular, the first one includes qualitative data from semi-structured interviews, involving 10 PD patients and four clinicians in the co-creation process of the game design, whereas the second one relates with data from an online questionnaire addressed by 104 participants spanning the whole related spectrum, i.e., PD patients, physicians, software/game developers. Linear regression analysis was employed to identify an adapted GBL framework with the most significant game-design parameters, which efficiently predict the transferability of the PGS beneficial effect to real-life, addressing functional PD symptoms. The findings of this work can assist HCI-SG designers for designing PD-related HCI-SGs, as the most significant game-design factors were identified, in terms of adding value to the role of HCI-SGs in increasing PD patients’ quality of life, optimizing the interaction with personalized HCI-SGs and, hence, fostering a collaborative human-computer symbiosis. (shrink)

In this article, the authors introduce the POWER perspective of police wellness and ethics. POWER stands for Police Officer Wellness, Ethics, and Resilience. The perspective represents the view that wellness and ethics cannot be discussed separately; they are inextricably connected to each other. Initiatives to address one should always, simultaneously, include the other. Although there is a need for wellness and ethics to be addressed on an organizational level, the present article emphasizes the importance of POWER for individual police officers. (...) The authors make the argument that officers need to expand the way in which they conceptualize their own wellness to include efforts to maintain ethical decision-making. Specifically, officers will remain psychologically healthier when they take active steps to stay steadfastly committed to their ethical principles. Likewise, officers who utilize a comprehensive wellness program, including strategies to boost resilience, will be far less likely to experience lapses in ethical decision-making. Further recommendations for action and implication of this matter in law enforcement are presented and discussed. (shrink)

The spread of new information and communications technologies during the past two decades has helped reshape civic associations, political communities, and global relations. In the midst of the information revolution, we find that the speed of this technology-driven change has outpaced our understanding of its social and ethical effects. The moral dimensions of this new technology and its effects on social bonds need to be questioned and scrutinized: Should the Internet be understood as a new form of public space and (...) a source of public good? What are we to make of hackers? Does the Internet strengthen or weaken community? In The Internet in Public Life, essayists confront these and other important questions. This timely and necessary volume makes clear the need for a broader conversation about the effects of the Internet, and the questions raised by these seven essays highlight some of the most pressing issues at hand. (shrink)

Why should the work of the ancient and the medievals, so far as it relates to nature, still be of interest and an inspiration to us now? The contributions to this enlightening volume explore and uncover contemporary scholarship's debt to the classical and medieval past. Thinking About the Environment synthesizes religious thought and environmental theory to trace a trajectory from Mesopotamian mythology and classical and Hellenistic Greek, through classical Latin writers, to medieval Christian views of the natural world and our (...) relationship with it. The work also offers medieval Arabic and Jewish views on humanity's inseparability from nature. The volume concludes with a study of the breakdown between science and value in contemporary ecological thought. Thinking About the Environment will be a invaluable source book for those seeking to address environmental ethics from a historical perspective. (shrink)

Emotion processing is known to be impaired in psychopathy, but less is known about the cognitive mechanisms that drive this. Our study examined experiencing and suppression of emotion processing in psychopathy. Participants, violent offenders with varying levels of psychopathy, viewed positive and negative images under conditions of passive viewing, experiencing and suppressing. Higher scoring psychopathics were more cardiovascularly responsive when processing negative information than positive, possibly reflecting an anomalously rewarding aspect of processing normally unpleasant material. When required to experience emotional (...) response, by ‘getting into the feeling’ of the emotion conveyed by a negative image, higher factor 1 psychopathic individuals showed reduced responsiveness, suggesting that they were less able to do this. These data, together with the absence of corresponding differences in subjective self-report might be used to inform clinical strategies for normalising emotion processing in psychopathic offenders to improve treatment outcome, and reduce risk amongst this client group. (shrink)

Weak filters were introduced by K. Schlechta in the ’90s with the aim of interpreting defaults via a generalized ‘most’ quantifier in first-order logic. They arguably represent the largest class of structures that qualify as a ‘collection of large subsets’ of a given index set |$I$|⁠, in the sense that it is difficult to think of a weaker, but still plausible, definition of the concept. The notion of weak ultrafilter naturally emerges and has been used in epistemic logic and other (...) knowledge representation (KR) applications. We provide a comprehensive exposition of weak filters and ultrafilters, comparing them with their classical counterparts that have found very important applications in logic, set theory and topology. Weak (ultra)filters capture the ‘majorities’ of social choice theory (which coincide with the commonsense understanding of a ‘large subset’) and in that respect, they outperform classical (ultra)filters in their role as ‘collections of large subsets’. Yet, they lack some of the elegant properties of classical (ultra)filters that make them an almost perfect match for logical theories. We investigate the extent to which some important classical results carry through in this new setting, and we focus on genuinely weak filters and genuinely weak ultrafilters. For weak ultrafilters, we proceed to provide concrete examples, answer questions of existence and characterize their construction. The class of weak (ultra)filters represents a genuine contribution of KR to set theory that might be of some interest to set theorists too and we initiate this study by providing a glimpse on natural set-theoretic questions. (shrink)

The present study expands on the growing literature concerning organizational politics by assessing the impact of team-level OP on employee performance outcomes as well as investigating the degree to which these effects are mediated by team conflict. The results, based on multilevel structural equation modeling with a sample of 349 employees from 78 firms in China, lent support for a cross-level mediating role for team conflict between political climate and employee performance. Further, moderator analyses demonstrated that political climate acted as (...) a condition for task conflict to trigger relationship conflict. Thus, the results of this study contribute to both the political climate literature and the conflict literature by clarifying the processes by which climate can influence employee performance. (shrink)

Surveys and routine clinical procedures applied in research protocols are typically considered only minimally risky to participants. The apparent benign nature of "minimal risk" tasks increases the chance that investigators and Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) will overlook the probability that clinical tools will identify signs, symptoms, or definitive test results that are clinically-relevant to subjects' welfare. "Minimal risk" procedures may also pose a particular hazard to participants in clinical research by increasing the therapeutic misconception because the tasks mimic clinical care (...) and are often conducted in clinical settings. Investigators should anticipate which measures could yield clinically-important findings and should describe explicit plans for data monitoring, disclosure, and follow-up. Protocols that include reliable and valid clinical measures should prompt a more detailed risk assessment by the IRB, even when the tasks meet the regulatory criteria for minimal physical, psychological, or emotional risk. (shrink)

There are many theories surrounding infant imitation; however, there is no research to our knowledge evaluating the reliability of listener perception of vocal imitation in prelinguistic infants. This paper evaluates intra- and inter-rater judgments on the degree of “imitativeness” in utterances of infants below 12 months of age. 18 listeners were presented audio segments selected from naturalistic recordings to represent in each case a parent vocal model followed by an infant utterance ranging from low to high degrees of imitativeness. The (...) naturalistic data suggested vocal imitation occurred rarely across the first year, but strong intra- and inter-rater correlations were found for judgments of imitativeness. Our results suggest salience of the infant’s vocal imitation despite its rare occurrence as well as active perception by listeners of the imitative signal. We discuss infant vocal imitation as a potential signal of well-being and as an indicator of language learning and vocal communication skills as perceived by caregivers. (shrink)

We have developed a formal model of certain types of riddles, and implemented it in a computer program, JAPE, which generates simple punning riddles. In order to test the model, we evaluated the behaviour of the program, by having 120 children aged eight to eleven years old rate JAPE-generated texts, human-generated texts, and non-joke texts for "jokiness" and funniness. This confirmed that JAPE's output texts are indeed jokes, and that there is no significant difference in funniness or jokiness between JAPE"s (...) most comprehensible texts and published human-generated jokes. (shrink)

Suscités par la reprise massive de la recherche en astronomie au IXe siècle dans le monde islamique et essentiellement à Bagdad, laquelle nécessite des outils mathématiques nouveaux, une floraison de traités, tant astronomiques que mathématiques, voit le jour à cette époque. D'entre les traités mathématiques, un certain nombre est consacré à la ‘‘figure secteur”, c’est-à-dire au théorème dit ‘‘de Ménélaüs” sur la sphère, lequel généralise le théorème dit ‘‘de Ménélaüs” dans le plan. Ce théorème de Ménélaüs sur la sphère, ou (...) règle des six quantités, est, en l’absence du théorème des sinus sur la sphère, lequel ne date que de la deuxième moitié du Xe siècle, le principal outil de l'astronomie sphérique. Le traité de Thābit ibn Qurra sur La figure secteur est le premier de ces traités consacrés au théorème de Ménélaüs, tant dans le plan que sur la sphère, à nous être parvenu; point de départ de tout un courant, il influencera profondément le développement ultérieur de la géométrie sphérique. Ce traité, qui est en fait une épître adressée à un correspondant malheureusement anonyme, présente en outre l'intérêt de montrer que, dans le milieu scientifique de cette époque à Bagdad, beaucoup s'intéressaient à ce théorème, essayaient d'en énoncer d'autres cas de figure et de compléter la démonstration qu'en donne Ptolémée dans l'Almageste. (shrink)

We consider some natural sets of real numbers arising in ergodic theory and show that they are, respectively, complete in the classes${\cal D}_2 \left( {{\bf{\Pi }}_3^0 } \right)$and${\cal D}_\omega \left( {{\bf{\Pi }}_3^0 } \right)$, that is, the class of sets which are 2-differences (respectively,ω-differences) of${\bf{\Pi }}_3^0 $sets.

In the fifth century A.D., Proclus served as head of the Academy in Athens that had been founded 900 years earlier by Plato. Proclus was the last great systematizer of Greek philosophy, and his work exerted a powerful influence in late antiquity, in the Arab world, and in the Renaissance. His treatise_ On the Eternity of the World _formed the basis for virtually all later arguments for the eternity of the world and for the existence of God; consequently, it lies (...) at the heart of neoplatonic philosophy and the controversy between pagans and Christians at the end of antiquity. Proclus’s eighteen Arguments were quoted within John Philoponus’ polemic against him, written in the sixth century; but the opening pages of the sole extant manuscript, which contained the first Argument, have been lost. In this book, Helen Lang and A.D. Macro present the seventeen Arguments preserved by Philoponus and translate them as an independent work. The first Argument, which survives in Arabic, is also included and makes this the only complete edition of _On the Eternity of the World_ since antiquity. This bilingual edition comprises the seventeen Arguments in Greek and English, along with an introduction, synopses, and detailed notes which help readers with or without Greek to understand them philosophically and historically. Two appendices complete the volume: the Arabic text of the first Argument, also with English translation and notes, and the first modern edition of an important Latin translation from the Renaissance. In a valuable introduction, Lang and Macro examine the complex history of these Arguments. Together with its excellent annotations, and English and Greek texts en face, the publication of Proclus’s _On the Eternity of the World_makes available an influential work by a major figure in the history of late Greek philosophy. (shrink)

The ectoplasmic specialization (ES) is a testis‐specific, actin‐based hybrid anchoring and tight junction. It is confined to the interface between Sertoli cells at the blood–testis barrier, known as the basal ES, as well as between Sertoli cells and developing spermatids designated the apical ES. The ES shares features of adherens junctions, tight junctions and focal contacts. By adopting the best features of each junction type, this hybrid nature of ES facilitates the extensive junction‐restructuring events in the seminiferous epithelium during spermatogenesis. (...) For instance, the α6β1‐integrin–laminin 333 complex, which is usually limited to the cell–matrix interface in other epithelia to facilitate cell movement, is a putative apical ES constituent. Furthermore, JAM‐C and CAR, two tight junction integral membrane proteins, are also components of apical ES involving in spermatid orientation. We discuss herein the mechanisms that maintain the cross‐talk between ES and blood–testis barrier to facilitate cell movement and orientation in the seminiferous epithelium. BioEssays 29: 36–48, 2007. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

Humean compatibilism is the combination of a Humean position on laws of nature and the thesis that free will is compatible with determinism. This article's aim is to situate Humean compatibilism in the current debate among libertarians, traditional compatibilists, and semicompatibilists about free will. We argue that a Humean about laws can hold that there is a sense in which the laws of nature are 'up to us' and hence that the leading style of argument for incompatibilism?the consequence argument?has a (...) false premiss. We also display some striking similarities between Humean compatibilism and libertarianism, an incompatibilist view. For example, standard libertarians face a problem about luck, and we show that Humean compatibilists face a very similar problem. (shrink)

A systematic literature review on evaluation of clinical ethics support services in mental healthcare is presented and discussed. The focus was on (a) forms of clinical ethics support services, (b) evaluation of clinical ethics support services, (c) contexts and participants and (d) results. Five studies were included. The ethics support activities described were moral case deliberations and ethics rounds. Different qualitative and quantitative research methods were utilized. The results show that (a) participants felt that they gained an increased insight into (...) moral issues through systematic reflection; (b) there was improved cooperation among multidisciplinary team members; (c) it was uncertain whether clinical ethics support services led to better patient care; (d) the issue of patient and client participation is complex; and (e) the implementation process is challenging. Clinical ethics support services have mainly been studied through the experiences of the participating facilitators and healthcare professionals. Hence, there is limited knowledge of whether and how various types of clinical ethics support services influence the quality of care and how patients and relatives may evaluate clinical ethics support services. Based on the six excluded ‘grey zone articles’, in which there was an implicit focus on ethics reflection, other ways of working with ethical reflection in practice are discussed. Implementing and evaluating clinical ethics support services as approaches to clinical ethics support that are more integrated into the development of good practice are in focus. In order to meet some of the shortcomings of the field of clinical ethics support services, a research project that aims to strengthen ethics support in the mental health services, including patients’ and caregivers’ views on ethical challenges, is presented. (shrink)

In [12], P. Scowcroft and L. van den Dries proved a cell decomposition theorem for p-adically closed fields. We work here with the notion of P-minimal fields defined by D. Haskell and D. Macpherson in [6]. We prove that a P-minimal field K admits cell decomposition if and only if K has definable selection. A preprint version in French of this result appeared as a prepublication [8].

Inequity has been a hallmark of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, especially in the sharply disproportionate impacts among people of color. Recent studies have confirmed that t...

Ethical climate (EC) has been broadly described as how well institutions respond to ethical issues. Developing a tool to study and evaluate EC that aims to achieve sustained improvements requires a contemporary framework with identified relevant drivers. An extensive literature review was performed, reviewing existing EC definitions, tools and areas where EC has been studied; ethical challenges and relevance of EC in contemporary paediatric intensive care (PIC); and relevant ethical theories. We surmised that existing EC definitions and tools designed to (...) measure it fail to capture nuances of the PIC environment, and sought to address existing gaps by developing an EC framework for PIC founded on ethical theory. In this article, we propose a Paediatric Intensive Care Ethical Climate (PICEC) conceptual framework and four measurable domains to be captured by an assessment tool. We define PICEC as the collective felt experience of interdisciplinary team members arising from those factors that enable or constrain their ability to navigate ethical aspects of their work. PICEC both results from and is influenced by how well ethical issues are understood, identified, explored, reflected on, responded to and addressed in the workplace. PICEC encompasses four, core inter-related domains representing drivers of EC including: (1) organisational culture and leadership; (2) interdisciplinary team relationships and dynamics; (3) integrated child and family-centred care; and (4) ethics literacy. Future directions involve developing a PICEC measurement tool, with implications for benchmarking as well as guidance for, and evaluation of, targeted interventions to foster a healthy EC. (shrink)

_Hyperdream_ is a major new novel by celebrated French author Hélène Cixous. It is a literary tour de force, returning anew to challenge necessity itself, the most implacable of human certainties: you die in the end – and that’s the end. For you, for me. But what if? What if death did not inevitably spell the end of life? _Hyperdream_ invests this fragile, tentative suspension of disbelief with the sheer force of its poetic audacity, inventing a sort of magic telephone: (...) a wireless lifeline against all the odds to the dearly departed. It is a book about time, age, love and the greatest loss. A book which turns on death: on the question or the moment of death, depending on it, expecting it, living off it, taking place at once before and after, but at the same time turning against it, contesting it, outwriting it hopefully, desperately, performatively, as an interruptible interruption. _Hyperdream_ is a book of mourning, but also of morning, a tragedy-with-comedy and a universal family romance in which it transpires that the narrator is the veritable offspring of a “treasure of literature” in the form of a bed, purchased by her mother from a certain W. Benjamin in 1934, slept on for 40 years by her brother and dreamt of by her friend “J.D.”. (shrink)

Hélène Landemore ,Aude Bandini | : Cet article présente les bases d’un argument épistémique en faveur de la démocratie définie comme procédure de décision collective. Il explore également les implications d’un tel argument épistémique par rapport à d’autres justifications établies de la démocratie, par rapport aux explications scientifiques de ses succès empiriques, et en termes de politiques publiques à mener. En ce qui concerne l’argument épistémique proprement dit, il repose sur le concept de « raison démocratique », autrement dit l’intelligence (...) collective des individus dans le domaine politique, et propose, de manière contre-intuitive, que la raison démocratique est davantage tributaire de la diversitécognitive des individus qui prennent par aux décisions que de leurs aptitudes personnelles. Généralement, l’argument de la raison démocratique complète les arguments procéduraux basés sur l’équité et l’égalité pour offrir une explication fonctionnaliste complète de la démocratie. Pour finir, cet article défend l’idée de réformes institutionnelles favorisant la participation citoyenne dans le processus de prise de décision collective. | : This paper presents the foundations of a systematic epistemic case for democracy as a collective decision-rule and explores the implications of this epistemic claim for normative justifications of democracy, scientific explanations of its empirical success, and policy reforms. As far as the epistemic case is concerned, the paper proposes an account based on the concept of “democratic reason,” or the collective intelligence of the people in politics. The paper argues that, counter-intuitively, democratic reason is more a function of the cognitive diversity of the individuals taking part in the decision than of their individual ability. As an account of democracy’s epistemic benefits, the argument from democratic reason supplements procedural accounts based on fairness and equality to provide a complete functionalist explanation of democracy. Finally, the argument supports policy reforms increasing citizens’ participation in the collective decision-process. (shrink)

The Consequentialist Scale (Robinson, 2012) [89] assesses the endorsement of consequentialist and deontological moral beliefs. This study empirically investigated the application of the Greek translation of the Consequentialist Scale in a sample of native Greek speakers. Specifically, 415 native Greek speakers completed the questionnaire. To uncover the underlying structure of the 10 items in the Consequentialist Scale, an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was conducted. The results revealed a three-factor solution, where the deontology factor exhibited the same structure as the original (...) work by Robinson (2012) [89], while the original consequentialism factor split into two separate factors. Significant Pearson's r correlations were observed between age and responses to the Consequentialist Scale. Separate EFAs were conducted for two age groups based on a medial split: younger (36 years old or less) and older (more than 36 years old). Interestingly, the younger group exhibited a two-factor solution with the same structure as the original work, while the older group showed a three-factor solution. A hierarchical k-means cluster analysis revealed that the cluster of participants who scored higher in deontology compared to consequentialism primarily consisted of older participants, whereas the two other clusters comprised of younger participants exhibited the reverse pattern. Neither gender nor previous experience with philosophy significantly affected scores on the Consequentialist Scale. Overall, our study provides evidence that the Consequentialist Scale is suitable for use in the Greek population. (shrink)

This introduction to the Common Knowledge symposium titled “Comparative Relativism” outlines a variety of intellectual contexts where placing the unlikely companion terms comparison and relativism in conjunction offers analytical purchase. If comparison, in the most general sense, involves the investigation of discrete contexts in order to elucidate their similarities and differences, then relativism, as a tendency, stance, or working method, usually involves the assumption that contexts exhibit, or may exhibit, radically different, incomparable, or incommensurable traits. Comparative studies are required to (...) treat their objects as alike, at least in some crucial respects; relativism indicates the limits of this practice. Jensen argues that this seeming paradox is productive, as he moves across contexts, from Lévi-Strauss's analysis of comparison as an anthropological method to Peter Galison's history of physics, and on to the anthropological, philosophical, and historical examples offered in symposium contributions by Barbara Herrnstein Smith, Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, Marilyn Strathern, and Isabelle Stengers. Comparative relativism is understood by some to imply that relativism comes in various kinds and that these have multiple uses, functions, and effects, varying widely in different personal, historical, and institutional contexts that can be compared and contrasted. Comparative relativism is taken by others to encourage a “comparison of comparisons,” in order to relativize what different peoples—say, Western academics and Amerindian shamans—compare things “for.” Jensen concludes that what is compared and relativized in this symposium are the methods of comparison and relativization themselves. He ventures that the contributors all hope that treating these terms in juxtaposition may allow for new configurations of inquiry. (shrink)

Empathy is essential in story comprehension as it requires understanding of the emotions and intentions of the characters. We evaluated the sensitivity of an emotional perspective-taking task using Aesop’s Fables in relation to empathy. Participants (N = 301) were presented with 15 short fables and were asked to rate the intensity of the emotions they would feel (anger, sadness, disgust, fear, surprise, joy, trust, and anticipation) by adopting the perspective of one of the characters (offender, victim) or the observer’s perspective. (...) A data-driven approach revealed that participants’ responses were aligned with the characters’ intentions, suggesting successful emotional perspective-taking. Participants sympathized with the victim rather than the offender, demonstrating affective sharing processes. Further, participants with higher empathy scores exhibited stronger negative emotions from the victim’s perspective, independently of their level of distress. Our task was not influenced by gender effects. We suggest that the Aesop’s Fables task could provide an indirect instrument to study empathy. (shrink)

Teaching evaluations are in this case a means of judging the effectiveness of teaching and learning state measures. Analysis of 38 French teachers’ school reports in agricultural High Schools highlights certain aspects of teaching practices while thirteen reports graded unsatisfactory as teachers failed teaching standards help unveil teacher assessment practices. The analyses lead to the building of a teacher practice model while showing that teacher evaluation focus more on teaching practices and teaching resources than on student learning or the teaching-learning (...) process. Les inspections pédagogiques sont ici un moyen d’approcher « l’efficacité institutionnelle » des dispositifs d’enseignement-apprentissage. L’analyse de 38 rapports d’inspection d’enseignants en lycées agricoles français met en évidence les dimensions des pratiques enseignantes qui y sont convoquées. L’analyse de treize rapports d’inspection défavorables au maintien de l’enseignant dans le métier contribue à expliciter le référent des pratiques lors d’évaluation. Ces analyses aboutissent à une modélisation des pratiques d’enseignement. Elles montrent que les évaluations portent d’avantage sur les pratiques d’enseignement que sur l’apprentissage des élèves, d’avantage sur les moyens mis en œuvre pour enseigner que sur le processus d’enseignement-apprentissage. (shrink)

On a longtemps rendu compte des comportements de déplacements des hommes dans l’espace par un terme renvoyant à une logique collective et de masse, celui de migration . L’intégration dans l’observation et la compréhension de toute la palette des motifs de déplacements et l’individualisation croissante des pratiques ont amené l’usage d’un terme plus générique, emprunté aux sciences sociales et notamment à ceux qui s’intéressent à la fluidité dans l’espace social, celui de mobilité. Ce glissement n’est pas purement sémantique : il (...) exprime le passage de l’empire de la nécessité aux capacités stratégiques et aux désirs des acteurs, de la représentation aréolaire d’un territoire rassemblant une « société locale » « contenant » les déplacements de ses membres à des représentations réticulaires , multi-territoriales . Sur tous ces points, les enquêtes initiées dans les années 1960 par les ingénieurs pour alimenter leurs modèles de trafic nous ont permis, grâce à l’élaboration d’indicateurs, de concepts, de représentations nouvelles, de comprendre en profondeur la dynamique et les rôles respectifs des rationalités individuelles et de la formation de normes sociales dans le champ spécifique de la mobilité quotidienne. C’est de cette construction dont nous rendons compte dans cet article, qui livre aussi à partir des quelques résultats saillants des recherches conduites, les convictions fortes en matière de dynamique de la mobilité qui s’en dégagent et les paradigmes qu’il conviendrait de mieux explorer.Spatial behaviour was studied in the past through group concepts, such as residential or regular migrations from home to work. The will to understand travel behaviour for the full range of trip purposes and the growing personalisation of behaviour leads to adopt the term of mobility from social sciences. This change is not purely semantic. It expresses the transition from a vision based on the needs to the consideration of the strategic capabilities of the persons, from areola-based representations of a local society to network and archipelago-based representations of individual behaviours. We have used, in conjunction with the international community of travel behaviour analysts, the travel surveys introduced in the sixties to feed traffic models, to build concepts, indicators and representations of travel behaviour, to understand in depth the transformations of mobility patterns and to analyze the roles of individual rationality and social norms. The paper relates this history, highlights some key results and strong beliefs, and questions the need to explore new paradigms. (shrink)

Both arguments are based on the breakdown of normal criteria of identity in certain science-fictional circumstances. In one case, normal criteria would support the identity of person A with each of two other persons, B and C; and it is argued that, in the imagined circumstances, A=B and A=C have no truth value. In the other, a series or spectrum of cases is tailored to a sorites argument. At one end of the spectrum, persons A and B are such that (...) A=B is clearly true; at the other end, A and B are such that the identity is clearly false. In between, normal criteria of identity leave the truth or falsehood of A=B undecided, and it is argued that in these circumstances A=B has no truth value.These arguments are to be understood counterfactually. My claim is that, so understood, neither establishes its conclusion. The first involves a pair of counterfactual situations that are equally possible or tied. If A=B and A=C have no truth value, a counterfactual conditional with one of them as consequent and an antecedent that is true in circumstances in which either is true should have no truth value. Intuitively, however, any such counterfactual is false. The second argument can be seen to invite an analogous response. If this is right, however, there is an important disanalogy between this and the classical paradox of the heap. If the disanalogy is only apparent, the argument shows at most that the existence of persons can be indeterminate. (shrink)

Les quatre textes qui suivent tentent d'analyser dans la littérature québécoise et française récente les manifestations d'une société en mutation, désireuse ou non de rompre avec les stéréotypes de sexes, de revisiter et réconcilier féminin et masculin. Les écrivaines, avec quelques belles longueurs d'avance, continuent de vouloir à la fois le corps et l'esprit, la vie et la fiction, de jongler avec l'altérité et les identités plurielles et de travailler des textes ûctionnels, théoriques et incamés, qui prennent en compte le (...) réel Leur travail de réflexion et de création ne cesse, en fait, d'interroger les artifices de l'art, les mensonges de la petite et de la grande histoire, et de prouver qu'on ne peut impunément dissocier éthique et esthétique ! Le thème de l'autobiographie foetale qui hante la littérature masculine récente est très représentatif de la masculinité en crise; il cristallise ses angoisses, ses résistances ou sa nouvelle quête émotive, affective et corporelle.The following four-part paper try to analyse in recent quebecer and french littérature the manifestations of a changing society, wether it be willing or not to break with gender stereotypes and reconcile the masculine/feminine dichotomy. Female writers still show leadership in wanting both body and mind, life and fiction; in thinking ofalterity and multiple identities; and in working at fictionnal, theoretical and incarnate texts wich take reality into considerations. Their reflexion and creation in effect never stops questionning the artistic device, the lies of both small and big history to prove that we cannot inconsiderately dissociate Ethics from Esthetics ! The foetal autobiography team now haunting recent male littérature is very representative of the masculinity crisis; it cristallizes his anguish resistances or his new emotive, affective and corporeal quest. (shrink)

Marie-Hélène Desmeules | : Contre l’idée d’un temps fixe enveloppant notre expérience, les travaux de Paul Ricoeur nous permettent de penser que non seulement notre expérience du temps n’est pas si fixe qu’elle n’y paraît, mais qu’elle est en outre transformée par des refigurations découlant de nos médiations objectives. Ces médiations objectives ne se limitent pas à la narration, mais couvrent également l’amnistie, la prescription, la promesse, le pardon et les objets de notre monde familier. Chacune à leur façon, les (...) médiations examinées opèrent une synthèse du passé, du présent et du futur, au point de bouleverser le temps chronologique et successif du courant de la conscience. Ultimement, nous prendrons les réflexions de Paul Ricoeur comme ressources pour penser les implications éthiques des transformations de notre expérience du temps. Car chaque expérience du temps n’ouvre et ne ferme pas les mêmes possibilités, comme le rapport entre le pardon et l’homme capable devrait le montrer. | : Against the idea of a fixed time in which our experience would take place, Paul Ricoeur’s works allow us to think that our experience of time is not so fixed as it seems, and furthermore, that it is transformed by some refigurations which follow from an objective mediation. These objective mediation is not restricted to narrative, but also covers amnesty, prescription, promise, forgiveness and familiar things. Each examined mediation performs in its own way a synthesis of past, present and futur, to the point of changing the chronological and successive time of consciousness’ stream. We will also consider Ricoeur’s thoughts as a possibility to think ethical implications of transformations in our time experience. Every experience of time does not open and close the same ethical possibilities, as the connection between forgiveness and capable man should show it. (shrink)

The relevance of the research problem lies in the necessity of an axiological approach to the formation of the personality in education and the task of strengthening the ideal image of the function. The aim of this article is studying and understanding the culture of personality formation mechanisms in relation to future specialists. The leading method of research was the theoretical analysis of philosophical and cultural approaches to the cultural formation of the personality and to the content of human culture. (...) Content analysis was based on the philosophical and cultural concepts of V. S. Bibler, M. Buber, J. G. Herder, I. Kant, L. N. Kogan, D. S. Likhachev, A. Schweitzer, M. Scheler, and others. The experiment method was the experimental realization of formation stages of the future specialist as a person of culture, which allowed revealing the positive role of cultural mechanisms in this process. The result is the stages of human culture formation as well as mechanisms for their implementation. The article may be useful for specialists of the educational sphere, social philosophers, and culturologists. (shrink)

Once Apollonius' Conics had been translated from Greek into Arabic, they became a main reference and the principal tool in studying solid problems, algebraic equations of 3rd and 4th degrees, infinitesimal mathematics, etc. Mathematicians of the 9th–10th centuries also studied the conic sections' constructions, as well as their continuous drawing and their drawing by points. Ibrāhīm ibn Sinān, as his grandfather Thābit ibn Qurra, was one of the most active and inventive mathematicians in these fields. Late Hélène Bellosta examined in (...) this article Ibn Sinān's contribution.Une fois les Coniques d'Apollonius traduits en arabe, ces livres sont devenus la référence indispensable et le principal instrument dans l'étude des problèmes solides, des équations algébriques des 3e et 4e degrés, des problèmes des mathématiques infinitésimales, etc. Les mathématiciens des ixe-xe siècles ont également étudié les constructions des sections coniques ainsi que leur tracé par points et leur tracé continu. Ibrāhīm ibn Sinān, comme son grand-père Thābit ibn Qurra, était l'un des mathématiciens les plus actifs et les plus inventifs en ce domaine. Dans cet article, la regrettée Hélène Bellosta a examiné la contribution d'Ibn Sinān.Send article to KindleTo send this article to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about sending to your Kindle. Find out more about sending to your Kindle. Note you can select to send to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be sent to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply. Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.DE L'USAGE DES CONIQUES CHEZ IBRĀHĪM IBN SINĀNVolume 22, Issue 1Hélène Bellosta DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0957423911000129Your Kindle email address Please provide your Kindle email.@free.kindle.com@kindle.com Available formats PDF Please select a format to send. By using this service, you agree that you will only keep articles for personal use, and will not openly distribute them via Dropbox, Google Drive or other file sharing services. Please confirm that you accept the terms of use. Cancel Send ×Send article to Dropbox To send this article to your Dropbox account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about sending content to Dropbox. DE L'USAGE DES CONIQUES CHEZ IBRĀHĪM IBN SINĀNVolume 22, Issue 1Hélène Bellosta DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0957423911000129Available formats PDF Please select a format to send. By using this service, you agree that you will only keep articles for personal use, and will not openly distribute them via Dropbox, Google Drive or other file sharing services. Please confirm that you accept the terms of use. Cancel Send ×Send article to Google Drive To send this article to your Google Drive account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about sending content to Google Drive. DE L'USAGE DES CONIQUES CHEZ IBRĀHĪM IBN SINĀNVolume 22, Issue 1Hélène Bellosta DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0957423911000129Available formats PDF Please select a format to send. By using this service, you agree that you will only keep articles for personal use, and will not openly distribute them via Dropbox, Google Drive or other file sharing services. Please confirm that you accept the terms of use. Cancel Send ×Export citation Request permission. (shrink)

C'est tardivement, dans la lettre à Mesland du 2 mai 1644, que Descartes se réclame de saint Augustin pour accréditer non la création des vérités éternelles, mais la coïncidence, en Dieu, du voir, du vouloir et du faire. D'où la question : que doit exactement à saint Augustin la doctrine exposée à Mersenne en 1630? Après avoir montré que saint Augustin ne professe ni la création des vérités éternelles ni la coïncidence, en Dieu, du voir, du vouloir et du faire, (...) on s'interroge sur les enjeux d'une référence qui, replacée dans son contexte, n'est pourtant pas sans raison. It is only rather late that Descartes, in his letter to Mesland dated May 2, 1644, claims his debt to Augustine to acknowledge not the creation of eternal truths but the coincidence within Cod of willing, seeing and doing. Hence the question : what is truly the debt owed to Augustine when one considers the doctrine exposed to Mersenne in 1630? After having shown that Augustine claims neither the creation of eternel truths, nor coincidence within Cod of willing, seeing and doing, the author questions what may be at stake in such a reference which — replaced within its context — is quite reasonably grounded. (shrink)

Cette enquête sur l’origine et le sens de la doctrine cartésienne de la création des vérités éternelles vise à faire ressortir la distance qui sépare Descartes de Montaigne quand ils traitent l’un et l’autre du lien entre vérité et toute-puissance de Dieu. Tandis que, dans une perspective théologique, Montaigne soutient que la raison humaine ne peut connaître les choses telles qu’elles sont en elles-mêmes , Descartes soutient au contraire, dans une perspective d’articulation de la physique à la métaphysique, que la (...) raison humaine peut connaître les choses telles qu’elles sont en elles-mêmes . Toute la physique de Descartes repose en effet sur une double affirmation : que Dieu peut faire exister ce que lui-même rend possible et que Dieu ne peut faire exister ce que lui-même rend impossible . On entend réfuter par là l’interprétation, issue de Jean-Luc Marion, selon laquelle la doctrine cartésienne de la création des vérités éternelles équivaudrait à un « surcodage » de l’intelligible.The investigation on the origin and meaning of the Cartesian doctrine of the creation of the eternal truths aims at stressing the distance that separates Descartes of Montaigne when they both deal with the tie between truth and God’s omnipotence. Whilst, according to theological perspective, Montaigne insists that the human reason cannot know the things as they are in themselves , Descartes, reversely insists that, within a perspective of articulation between physics and metaphysics, the human reason can know the things as they are in themselves . The whole of Descartes’ physics rests indeed on a double affirmation : that God can make exist what he himself makes possible and that God cannot make what himself makes impossible exist. Hereby, one wishes to refute the interpretation according to Jean-Luc Marion who believes that the Cartesian doctrine of the creation of the eternal truths would be equivalent to an « out coding » of the intelligible. (shrink)

Background: Electroconvulsive therapy is one of the most effective treatments for major depressive disorder. Recently, there has been increasing attention to evaluate the effect of ECT on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. This study aims to compare rs-fMRI of depressive disorder patients with healthy participants, investigate whether pre-ECT dynamic functional network connectivity network estimated from patients rs-fMRI is associated with an eventual ECT outcome, and explore the effect of ECT on brain network states.Method: Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data were (...) collected from 119 patients with depression or depressive disorder, and 61 healthy participants, with an age mean of 52.25 years old. The pre-ECT and post-ECT Hamilton Depression Rating Scale were 25.59 ± 6.14 and 11.48 ± 9.07, respectively. Twenty-four independent components from default mode and cognitive control network were extracted, using group-independent component analysis from pre-ECT and post-ECT rs-fMRI. Then, the sliding window approach was used to estimate the pre-and post-ECT dFNC of each subject. Next, k-means clustering was separately applied to pre-ECT dFNC and post-ECT dFNC to assess three distinct states from each participant. We calculated the amount of time each subject spends in each state, which is called “occupancy rate” or OCR. Next, we compared OCR values between HC and DEP participants. We also calculated the partial correlation between pre-ECT OCRs and HDRS change while controlling for age, gender, and site. Finally, we evaluated the effectiveness of ECT by comparing pre- and post-ECT OCR of DEP and HC participants.Results: The main findings include depressive disorder patients had significantly lower OCR values than the HC group in state 2, where connectivity between cognitive control network and default mode network was relatively higher than other states, Pre-ECT OCR of state, with more negative connectivity between CCN and DMN components, is linked with the HDRS changes. This means that those DEP patients who spent less time in this state showed more HDRS change, and The post-ECT OCR analysis suggested that ECT increased the amount of time DEP patients spent in state 2.Conclusion: Our finding suggests that dynamic functional network connectivity features, estimated from CCN and DMN, show promise as a predictive biomarker of the ECT outcome of DEP patients. Also, this study identifies a possible underlying mechanism associated with the ECT effect on DEP patients. (shrink)

A new temperament construct based on recent brain physiology literature has been investigated using the Fisher Temperament Inventory (FTI). Four collections of behaviors emerged, each associated with a specific neural system: the dopamine, serotonin, testosterone, and estrogen/oxytocin system. These four temperament suites have been designated: (1) Curious/Energetic, (2) Cautious/Social Norm Compliant, (3) Analytical/Tough-minded, and (4) Prosocial/Empathetic temperament dimensions. Two functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have suggested that the FTI can measure the influence of these neural systems. In this paper, (...) to further the behavioral validation and characterization of the four proposed temperament dimensions, we measured correlations with five variables: (1) gender; (2) level of education; (3) religious preference; (4) political orientation; (5) the degree to which an individual regards sex as essential to a successful relationship. Subjects were 39,913 anonymous members of a US Internet dating site and 70,000+ members in six other countries. Correlations with the five variables characterize the FTI and are consistent with mechanisms using the proposed neuromodulators. We also report on an analysis between the FTI and the NEO-Five Factor Inventory, using a college sample ( n = 215), which showed convergent validity. The results provide novel correlates not available in other questionnaires: religiosity, political orientation, and attitudes about sex in a relationship. Also, an Eigen analysis replicated the four clusters of co-varying items. The FTI, with its broad systems and non-pathologic factors complements existing personality questionnaires. It provides an index of some brain systems that contribute to temperament, and may be useful in psychotherapy, business, medicine, and the legal community. (shrink)

Embryogenesis requires the precise movement and reorganization of many cell and tissue types. Presumably, cell surface receptors allow cells to interact selectively with adjacent cells and with the extracellular environment, as well as initiate differentiative events by transducing appropriate signals across the plasma membrane. One cell surface component that serves as a receptor during a variety of cellular interactions is β1,4‐galactosyltransferase. Cell surface galactosyltransferase participates in diverse cellular interactions by binding its specific glycoconjugate substrate on adjacent cell surfaces or in (...) the extracellular matrix. Biochemical, immunological, and molecular probes are being used to better define cell surface galactosyl‐transferase functional in cellular interactions during fertilization, intercellular adhesion, cell migration, and growth control. (shrink)