In recent years, the field of virtual reality (VR) has shown tremendous advancements and is utilized in fields ranging from entertainment, scientific research, social networks, artistic creation as well as numerous approaches to employ VR for psychotherapy. While the use of VR in psychotherapy has been widely discussed, little attention has been given to the potential of this new medium for art therapy. Artistic expression in virtual reality is a novel medium which offers unique possibilities, extending beyond classical expressive art (...) mediums. Creation in virtual reality includes options such as three-dimensional painting, an immersive creative experience, dynamic scaling and embodied expression. In this perspective paper, we present the potentials and challenges of virtual reality for art therapy and outline basic principles for its implementation. We focus on the novel qualities offered by this creative medium (the virtual environment, virtual materials and unreal characteristics) and on the core aspects of virtual reality (such as presence, Immersivity, point of view and perspective) for the practice of art therapy. (shrink)

Qu'y a-t-il de commun entre un manuscrit medieval, Les Menines de Velazquez, le Cameraman de Buster Keaton et On connait la chanson d'Alain Resnais? Reponse : la presence d'images inattendues, " enchassees ", telles une porte ouverte au fond de la piece dans le tableau du maitre espagnol, la queue d'un faisan pris au piege debordant largement du cadre d'une enluminure du XIVe siecle, la presence incongrue d'un navire de guerre dans les rues de New York chez Buster Keaton, des (...) meduses mobiles en surimpression a la fin du film de Resnais. Dispositifs et procedes aujourd'hui banalises au cinema et en video, les " images dans l'image " susceptibles, depuis des siecles, aussi bien d'intriguer que de passer presque inapercues aupres du spectateur, sont loin d'etre innocentes. Sous l'oeil attentif de Vincent Amiel, ces " images-secondes " inserees dans une image-englobante, injustement delaissees parfois par les estheticiens du cinema, acquierent un veritable statut theorique qui n'est pas celui d'une simple mise en abyme figee. Les images enchassees demandent a etre vues et pensees au moment ou elles deviennent images, dans l'instant de leur naissance, comme des figures cachees mais dynamiques qui, comme le souligne Amiel, " s'affirment comme monde et comme representation ". (shrink)

Metaphor abounds in both sign and spoken languages. However, in sign languages, languages in the visual-manual modality, metaphors work a bit differently than they do in spoken languages. In this paper we explore some of the ways in which metaphors in sign languages differ from metaphors in spoken languages. We address three differences: (a) Some metaphors are very common in spoken languages yet are infelicitous in sign languages; (b) Body-part terms are possible in very specific types of metaphors in sign (...) languages, but are not so restricted in spoken languages; (c) Similes in some sign languages are dispreferred in predicative positions in which metaphors are fine, in contrast to spoken languages where both can appear in these environments. We argue that these differences can be explained by two seemingly unrelated principles: the Double Mapping Constraint (Meir 2010), which accounts for the interaction between metaphor and iconicity in languages, and Croft's (2003) constraint regarding the autonomy and dependency of elements in metaphorical constructions. We further argue that the study of metaphor in the signed modality offers novel insights concerning the nature of metaphor in general, and the role of figurative speech in language. (shrink)

Pour les révolutionnaires américains, Montesquieu est d’abord une figure d’autorité dont on révère les « axiomes ». Mais durant le débat très virulent auquel donne lieu la Constitution fédérale, ce sont les « antifédéralistes » qui invoquent le plus souvent son autorité, pour refuser la possibilité d’une république étendue, revendiquer une stricte « séparation » des pouvoirs, déplorer l’effacement de la vertu, etc. Ils contraignent donc les fédéralistes à une réponse paradoxale. Il s’agit de lire Montesquieu plus finement et d’en (...) assimiler les leçons tout en récusant de plus en plus fermement son autorité, au nom de l’exorcisme de l’héritage historique (tout particulièrement anglais) et de la rumination de l’expérience propre. Montesquieu est d’autant plus présent qu’il est rejeté, ce qui engage un tout nouveau rapport à l’histoire et à la tradition. (shrink)

Fertility awareness-based methods of family planning help women to identify the days of the cycle they should avoid unprotected intercourse to prevent pregnancy. Therefore using fertility awareness-based methods influences the timing of sexual activity, which may affect the nature of the sexual relationship. Data are used from the clinical trials of two fertility awareness-based methods to determine the frequency and timing of intercourse during the cycle, and the determinants of coital frequency. The mean coital frequency of study participants was similar (...) to that reported by users of other methods. Results suggest that coital frequency increases with consecutive cycles of method use. At the same time the frequency of intercourse during the identified fertile days and during menses decreases. This evidence implies a behavioural change as couples get more experience using their method and communicating about the fertile days. Coital frequency was also influenced by the method used and by the study sites. Potential differences between the methods and sites that may contribute to this effect are discussed. (shrink)

Social policies to promote socially excluded young adult women generally concentrate on education, employment, and residence but tend to neglect thriving. The current article puts forward a Civic Engagement Community Participation Thriving Model (CECP-TM) that views thriving as a social policy goal in and of itself. It posits that civic engagement, beyond its contribution to social justice, serves as a vehicle for thriving through self-exploration and identity formation. Both are considered key components of successful maturation and thriving. Nonetheless, civic engagement (...) and self-exploration tend not to be nurtured in socially excluded young adult women, a unique group experiencing intersecting discrimination. The model shows how active civic engagement in the context of a community of peers contributes to developing a sense of belonging and connectedness and promotes new self-reflection, identity formation, and agency capabilities. When situated within the context of intersectionality, these encourage the development of critical consciousness and new understandings of “who I am and how I fit into the social world in which we live.” These can provide a sense of meaning, contribute to identity formation, and promote the thriving of the self and the community. Several examples illustrate the model. (shrink)

This volume considers forms of information manipulation and restriction in contemporary society. It explores whether and when manipulation of the conditions of inquiry without the consent of those manipulated is morally or epistemically justified. The contributors provide a wealth of examples of manipulation, and debate whether epistemic paternalism is distinct from other forms of paternalism debated in political theory. Special attention is given to medical practice, for science communication, and for research in science, technology, and society. Some of the contributors (...) argue that unconsenting interference with people’s ability of inquire is consistent with, and others that it is inconsistent with, efforts to democratize knowledge and decision-making. -/- These differences invite theoretical reflection regarding which goods are fundamental, whether there is a clear or only a moving boundary between informing and instructing, and whether manipulation of people’s epistemic conditions amounts to a type of intellectual injustice. The collection pays special attention to contemporary paternalistic practices in big data and scientific research, as the way in which the flow of information or knowledge might be curtailed by the manipulations of a small body of experts or algorithms. (shrink)

Nanomedicine offers remarkable options for new therapeutic avenues. As methods in nanomedicine advance, ethical questions conjunctly arise. Nanomedicine is an exceptional niche in several aspects as it reflects risks and uncertainties not encountered in other areas of medical research or practice. Nanomedicine partially overlaps, partially interlocks and partially exceeds other medical disciplines. Some interpreters agree that advances in nanotechnology may pose varied ethical challenges, whilst others argue that these challenges are not new and that nanotechnology basically echoes recurrent bioethical dilemmas. (...) The purpose of this article is to discuss some of the ethical issues related to nanomedicine and to reflect on the question whether nanomedicine generates ethical challenges of new and unique nature. Such a determination should have implications on regulatory processes and professional conducts and protocols in the future. (shrink)

This article argues that considerations of moral psychology support the traditional stringency of the rule according to which fiduciaries who get involved in a potential conflict of interest shall be stripped of all their gains. The application of the rule, regardless of good faith on the part of the fiduciary, is being contested by courts and academia alike. The article is focused on the ‘deterrence’ justification for the rule, and argues that its unusual strictness should be read as a response (...) to a substantial risk of conscious-silencing self-deception. Given the knowledge gap between them, the principal is very much dependent on the fiduciary's personal integrity but, in the grip of self-deception, the fiduciary's inner checks break down so that manipulative transactions are approved as harmless ones. Two distinctive features of the fiduciary relationship increase the chances that even a professional and virtuous fiduciary will be moved by self-deception to misapprehend the harm which a conflict of interest might cause to the principal: first, the wide discretion in the application of the fiduciary's duty to specific situations; and, second, the power gap between the fiduciary and the principal which enhances the temptation to exploit the fiduciary's position. This risk can only be averted by the more stringent version of the rule, as it is only by preventing the fiduciary from ever considering the legitimacy of a specific conflict of interest that we can hinder the process of reflection which is so prone to being subverted by self-deception. (shrink)

Narrative discourse offers a viable perspective on sociocultural, psychological and professional dimensions of the self. Following Labov's early definition of evaluation, current studies explore linguistic and paralinguistic evaluative devices which participants in discourse use to present and construct their self. Organizing metaphors are a global evaluative device often used in broadcast personal stories to summarize local lexical and syntactic repetition. These metaphors constitute succinct self-portraits which facilitate interpersonal communication in a speech situation which is limited in time, and lacking in (...) kinesic cues and shared knowledge. The present psycholinguistic study further explores the functions of organizing metaphors in addicts' broadcast stories, a narrative subgenre which until now has not been studied. Qualitative data analysis shows that addicts use various evaluative devices and `conspiracies' of devices when they construct their detailed self-portraits. We also identified organizing metaphors which summarized the detailed narrative portrait, and constituted succinct versions of the addicted self. (shrink)

Home museums in Israel and Germany produce a representational space in which the public figure, usually a ‘great man,’ is effectively ‘dragged home’ to the so-called private sphere so as to make the domestic worthy of musealization. Based on three years of ethnographic research in nine such museums, this article shows that when the sphere most identified with women is represented through the life and work of the men who lived there, the place of the wife and children is sidelined, (...) belittled, and at times concealed. In representing famous persons through material space and objects in the private abode, museal techniques determine which specific domestic areas, such as the kitchen and the bedroom, become the prime location of telling stories about women who lived in the house. They provide a shared perspective for visitors who find the stories about the wives endearing, recognizing home through them. (shrink)

This volume considers forms of information manipulation and restriction in contemporary society. It explores whether and when manipulation of the conditions of inquiry without the consent of those manipulated is morally or epistemically justified. The contributors provide a wealth of examples of manipulation, and debate whether epistemic paternalism is distinct from other forms of paternalism debated in political theory. Special attention is given to medical practice, science communication, and research in science, technology, and society. Some of the contributors argue that (...) unconsenting interference with or "conceptual engineering" of people’s beliefs and ability of inquire is consistent with, and others that it is inconsistent with, efforts to democratize knowledge and decision-making. (shrink)

ABSTRACTThis paper seeks to problematise and complexify scholarly accounts of contemporary emotional repression in Western contexts by presenting counterevidence in the form of two examples of post-secular collective affectivity and their ritual expressions. It argues that both narratives of emotional repression and expression fail to capture the non-linear complexity of processes of cultural transformation, which have resulted in the simultaneous expression and repression of ritualistic affects that are products of our evolutionary embodied history. Drawing on insights from affect theory, this (...) paper seeks to illustrate how contingent yet nonetheless residual ritualistic affects have become repressed in the nominally secular public sphere in modernity. This has presented certain obstacles to the open communal display of religious ritual, and, as a corollary, the expression of certain religious affects, which have subsequently re-emerged in post-secular ritual spaces that are both publically private and pr... (shrink)

The paper argues that there are good reasons to frame the categories of equitable liability around the concept of conscience. A quick look at recent case law reveals an increasing use of conscience categories to discourage overly selfish behaviour among parties to commercial relationships. Critics discard 'conscionability' as an empty category of reference, or see it as a dangerously subjective point of reference. I want to show that the critics assume a very specific, and controversial, model of conscience in which (...) it is a mere subjective psychological disposition to follow one's hunch about right and wrong. Instead, conscionability should be interpreted in accordance with the Kantian objectivist model, as referring to the point of convergence between people's motivation to do good and their commitment to objective moral norms. On this model, conscience has a strong public aspect as the reasons on which it operates apply to all reasonable human beings at all times. (shrink)

This book sets out to defend the claim that Equity ought to remain a separate body of law; the temptation to iron-out the differences between neighbouring doctrines on the two sides of the Equity/Common Law divide should, in most cases, be resisted. The theoretical part of the book is argues that the characteristics of Equity, namely, appeal to conscience, flexibility, retroactivity and the use of morally-freighted jargon, are essential for the implementation of a legal ideal that has been neglected by (...) the Common Law: 'Accountability Correspondence'. According to this fundamental legal ideal, liability imposed by legal rules should correspond to the pattern of moral duty in the circumstances to which the rules apply. Equity promotes this ideal in the fields of property and obligations by disallowing parties to exploit the rule-like nature of Common Law norms in a way that breaches their moral duty to the other party. By reference to various equitable doctrines, it is argued that the faults identified by critics of Equity, especially from the perspective of the Rule of Law, are highly exaggerated, and that the criticism often reflects a political belief in the supremacy of individualism and free market over empathy and social justice. The theoretical part is followed by three chapters, each dedicated to an in-depth analysis of the equitable doctrines of fiduciary duties, proprietary estoppel, and clean hands. For each doctrine, it is shown how their equitable characteristics are indispensable for achieving their social, ethical and economic purpose. (shrink)

Upon arriving in Auschwitz Primo Levi discovered that rational discourse, in which actions are done for reasons, was left lying on the carriage floor together with his human dignity. By responding ‘Here one doesn't ask why’, the camp guard succinctly conveys the insight that evil defies reason. This paper examines two studies of evil that are predicated on that idea: Kant's and Augustine's. It argues that their theories share an underlying formation wherein evil remains incomprehensible, except in negative terms as (...) an absence of the reasonable. This deep similarity in the structure of the concept of evil is exceptionally striking if we bear in mind the radical difference in the scope of its application: whereas for Augustine ‘evil’ is a general metaphysical concept that concerns everything that goes wrong in creation, for Kant it is limited to agents and what they do. My argument is that the privative structure which underlies their understanding of evil stems from a shared belief in the central role of rationality in ethical discourse, and in an absolute dependence of moral responsibility on free will. (shrink)

It is possible for a language to emerge with no direct linguistic history or outside linguistic influence. Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language arose about 70 years ago in a small, insular community with a high incidence of profound prelingual neurosensory deafness. In ABSL, we have been able to identify the beginnings of phonology, morphology, syntax, and prosody. The linguistic elements we find in ABSL are not exclusively holistic, nor are they all compositional, but a combination of both. We do not, however, (...) find in ABSL certain features that have been posited as essential even for a proto-language. ABSL has a highly regular syntax as well as word-internal compounding, also highly regular but quite distinct from syntax in its patterns. ABSL, however, has no discernable word-internal structure of the kind observed in more mature sign languages: no spatially organized morphology and no evident duality of phonological ­patterning. (shrink)

What is inequality? In the late 1990s there was an explosion of interest in the subject that yielded a substantial body of formal tools and results for income-distribution analysis. Nearly all of this is founded on a small set of core assumptions - such as the Principle of Transfers, scale independence, the population principle∑ - that are used to give meaning to specific concepts of inequality measurement, inequality ranking and, indeed, to inequality itself. But does the standard axiomatic structure coincide (...) with public perceptions of inequality? Or is the economist's concept of inequality a thing apart, perpetuated through serial brainwashing in the way the subject is studied and taught? In this 1999 book, Amiel and Cowell examine the evidence from a large international questionnaire experiment using student respondents. Along with basic 'cake-sharing' issues, related questions involving social-welfare rankings, the relationship between inequality and overall income growth and the meaning of poverty comparisons are considered. (shrink)

In Book 19, chapter 9 of the Nodes Atticae Gellius describes the birthday party of a young Greek of equestrian rank at which a group of professional singers entertained the guests by performing poems by Anacreon, Sappho, ‘et poetarum quoque recentium λεγεα quaedam erotica’ . After the singing, Gellius goes on, some of the Greek συμπόται present challenged Roman achievements in erotic poetry, excepting only Catullus and Calvus, and criticized in particular Laevius, Hortensius, Cinna, and Memmius. Rising to meet this (...) charge, Gellius’ teacher of rhetoric, Antonius Julianus, admits the superiority of the Greeks in what he calls ‘cantilenarum mollitiae’ in general , but to show that the Romans too have some good erotic poets, he recites four early Latin love epigrams, by Valerius Aedituus , Porcius Licinus , and Lutatius Catulus . The same three poets are listed in the same order in Apuleius’ Apology in a list of amatory poets which he provides in order to establish precedents and thus invalidate his prosecutors’ referral to his erotic poems in their accusation . Catulus is also enumerated in Pliny's list of Roman dignitaries who composed ‘uersiculos seueros parum’ like his own , and an amatory epigram of his is cited by Cicero in De Natura Deorum 1.79 . We possess no further evidence connecting the other two with the composition of either erotic or, more generally, ‘light’ verse, but a poem by Porcius Licinus on Roman literary history is attested by several sources including Varro, Suetonius, and Gellius himself. (shrink)

Comparison of literary passages is a critical procedure much favoured by Gellius, and is the main theme in several chapters of his Noctes Atticae: ch. 2.23 is dedicated to a comparison of Menander's and Caecilius′ versions of the Plocium; 2.27 to a confrontation of passages from Demosthenes and Sallust; in 9.9 Vergilian verses are compared with their originals in Theocritus and Homer; parts of speeches by the elder Cato, C. Gracchus and Cicero are contrasted in 10.3; two of Vergil's verses (...) are again compared with their supposed models in ch. 11.4; a segment of Ennius′ Hecuba is contrasted with its Euripidean original in 13.27; Cato's and Musonius′ formulations of a similar sententia are confronted in 16.1; in 17.10 Vergil's description of Etna is compared to Pindar's; the value of Latin erotic poetry is weighed against the Greek in ch. 19.9, in which an Anacreontean poem and four Latin epigrams are cited; and finally in 19.11 a ‘Platonic' distich is set side by side with its Latin adaptation, composed by an anonymous friend of Gellius, though in this case no comparison of the poems is attempted. (shrink)

In the preface to his Nodes Atticae, Gellius explains his choice of title: quoniam longinquis per hiemem noctibus in agro, sicuti dixi, terrae Atticae commentationes hasce ludere ac facere exorsi sumus, idcirco eas inscripsimus Noctium esse Atticarum He then proceeds to enumerate other titles used for miscellaneous works similar to his own, both Greek and Latin, which, he claims, are far more refined and witty than his title . Attractive as Gellius' explanation may be, it raises some serious difficulties2 and (...) should not be taken at face value, especially since it seems to establish a novel type of relation between title and work. None of the titles in Gellius' list seems to have been based on the circumstances of the inception of the work, nor indeed does any other extant title prior to the publication of the Nodes Atticae. There is no reason to deny Gellius the credit for inventing a novel principle of titling, yet titles based on the circumstances of composition rather than on the content of the work fail to perform a primary function of titles, namely an initial direction of the expectations of prospective readers. (shrink)

The main goal of this article is to investigate the mythical symbolic form in Cassirer’s Philosophy of Symbolic Form regarding its connection with visual perception. The article argues that mythical symbolic form is rooted in Gestalt principles of perception for organizing the perceptual field, and shows that these principles shape the main features of space and time in Cassirer’s mythical symbolic form. This argument challenges Heidegger’s critique of Cassirer’s definition of a mythical symbolic form that it is directionless and not (...) grounded in man’s being. The combination of Gestalt principles and mythical symbolic forms supports the argument about the active role of visual perception, and clarifies Cassirer’s application and re-definition of Kantian and Neo-Kantian concepts. The investigation opens a perspective for comprehending the mythic-religious phenomenon as well as for comprehending visual perception. (shrink)

We examine individuals’ distributional orderings in a number of contexts. This is done by using a questionnaire-experiment that is presented to respondents in any one of seven “flavors” or interpretations of the basic distributional problem. The flavors include inequality, risk, social welfare and justice.

Aujourd'hui, des malades atteints de pathologies graves pour lesquelles les alternatives therapeutiques sont limitees ou inexistantes reclament, non plus tant une protection contre les essais cliniques, qu'un droit d'y participer. Cette nouvelle revendication est le point de depart de la presente enquete, a la fois historique, juridique et sociologique, qui montre comment s'est formee, dans les normes et dans les pratiques, du XVIIIe au XXe siecle, la distinction entre l'animal de laboratoire et le sujet humain. Entre les cobayes et les (...) hommes. La premiere partie de l'ouvrage decrit la formation, de part et d'autre du proces des medecins de Nuremberg, d'un consensus normatif international en reponse aux crises sanitaires, accidents et scandales qui emaillent l'histoire des essais medicaux sur l'etre humain. La seconde partie detaille la situation en France, l'emergence d'une legislation sur les recherches biomedicales, les paradoxes qui persistent dans la loi et les realites nouvelles, sociologiques et scientifiques, qu'elle doit affronter. L'ouvrage montre l'urgence d'un nouveau contrat social en matiere de recherche biomedicale, articulant respect de l'autonomie, equite d'acces et protection des personnes. Et il propose des solutions. (shrink)

Refus des philosophies de l'histoire, des " sciences sociales ", de la philosophie politique... c'est à partir d'un événement - " 1933 " - que Hannah Arendt construit, patiemment, rigoureusement, une réflexion sur la politique. Tous ses textes contribuent à cette entreprise cohérente depuis Les origines du totalitarisme. Et cette entreprise même, qui conteste la tradition, s'appuie sur un effort pour la relire à nouveaux frais, depuis les leçons de la démocratie grecque jusqu'à Kant et aux Révolutions américaine et française. (...) Ainsi, s'élabore une pensée de la cité, du mal, du conflit et de la responsabilité. (shrink)

Deux préjugés ont grevé la réception de l'œuvre d'Arendt, en particulier en France. L'un : que l'étude des " origines du totalitarisme " et de sa nature (comme modèle politique portant bien au-delà du prototype nazi) ne définirait pas seulement le point de départ de ses questions, mais en bornerait les enjeux. L'autre : qu'à travers les étapes et les détours d'une pensée de la politique et de l'histoire contemporaines, elle n'aurait tendu qu'à rejoindre la tradition philosophique (la méditation sur (...) " la vie de l'esprit "). Convoquant tour à tour l'analyse des révolutions, la critique du travail et du mouvement ouvrier, le questionnement sur la publicité, la société du spectacle et la capacité de juger, le présent ouvrage entend restituer ce qui fait l'originalité de la réflexion d'Arendt sur l'histoire et la politique. Il la replace dans la lignée de Machiavel, de Montesquieu et de Tocqueville, dans la confrontation déterminante avec Marx, dans l'opposition constante à la philosophie politique. Justifiant la posture non-philosophique qu'elle n'a cessé de revendiquer. Démontrant par là même quel bénéfice réel la philosophie peut tirer d'une provocation qui l'expose à la puissance sauvage de l'événement, et à l'étonnement qu'il doit susciter. (shrink)

It is possible for a language to emerge with no direct linguistic history or outside linguistic influence. Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language arose about 70 years ago in a small, insular community with a high incidence of profound prelingual neurosensory deafness. In ABSL, we have been able to identify the beginnings of phonology, morphology, syntax, and prosody. The linguistic elements we find in ABSL are not exclusively holistic, nor are they all compositional, but a combination of both. We do not, however, (...) find in ABSL certain features that have been posited as essential even for a proto-language. ABSL has a highly regular syntax as well as word-internal compounding, also highly regular but quite distinct from syntax in its patterns. ABSL, however, has no discernable word-internal structure of the kind observed in more mature sign languages: no spatially organized morphology and no evident duality of phonological ­patterning. (shrink)