This article proposes a more culturalist and variegated conception of the individual than that presented by individualization theorists. Inspired by the approach of the individual advocated by Émile Durkheim, Talcott Parsons and John Meyers, it first outlines the general script of the individual-as-actor that informs modern individualism as well as the generic characteristics that are routinely attributed to persons such as agency and free will. It subsequently reconstructs three predominant interpretations of this general script, i.e. utilitarian, moral and expressive individualism. (...) For each variant, the intellectual genesis and overall definition of the institutionalization in specific societal domains and the dominant articulations in social theory are briefly presented. With this threefold distinction, the aim is to synthesize the extensive literature on individualism and to show the sociological strengths of approaching subjectivity in terms of institutionalized scripts. (shrink)

Eyal et al have recently argued that researchers should consider conducting severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) human challenge studies to hasten vaccine development. We have conducted (J. L.) and overseen (L. D.) human challenge studies and agree that they can be useful in developing anti-infective agents. We also agree that adults can autonomously choose to undergo risks with no prospect of direct benefit to themselves. However, we disagree that SARS-CoV-2 challenge studies are ethically appropriate at this time, for (...) 3 reasons: (1) current scientific knowledge of SARS-CoV-2 infection is insufficient to manage risks; (2) autonomous decision making, while necessary, does not override concerns about risk; and (3) undertaking challenge studies now would imperil confidence in the research enterprise, potentially undermining the global response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. (shrink)

Bevat het religieuze discours aanspraken die vergelijkbaar zijn met de aanspraken die in strict cognitieve contexten, zoals wetenschap, gemaakt worden? Is van het spreken over religieuze fenomenen, en van het religieuze spreken, in enige zin een rechtvaardiging mogelijk die men kan vergelijken met de manier waarop wetenschappelijke of alledaagse overtuigingen zich lenen tot rechtvaardiging? Hoe zou zo'n rechtvaardiging er moeten uitzien? De bijdragen in deze bundel cirkelen rond deze vragen. De hefboom wordt echter ook dieper aangezet. Is het element van (...) overtuiging (belief) of geloofsinhoud, dat aanwezig lijkt in de meeste vormen van religiositeit, de grond voor andere aspecten zoals de religieuze praktijk en houdingen? Of zijn andersom de praktijken en (vertrouwvolle) houdingen de grond waarop religieuze overtuigingen eerst kunnen bloeien? Naast werk van Vlaamse auteurs, werden ook vertaalde artikelen opgenomen van D.Z. Philips en Alvin Plantinga. Paul Cortois (1954) is doctor in de wijsbegeerte. Momenteel is hij verbonden aan het Hoger Instituut voor Wijsbegeerte (KU Leuven) en aan de Vakgroep Filosofie van de Universiteit Antwerpen (UFSIA). Walter Van Herck (1962) is doctor in de wijsbegeerte. Hij is verbonden aan de Vakgroep Filosofie van de Universiteit Antwerpen (UFSIA) en aan de Karel de Grote-Hogeschool Antwerpen. (shrink)

We are happy to present the proceedings of the international symposium on Rationality and Religious Trust which were held at the University of Antwerp in this volume of Bijdragen. Rationality and religious trust is of course a topic that falls within the scope of the epistemology of religion. Contemporary epistemology of religion has been the scene of a vigorous debate about the nature of religious belief, or more precisely about the role of rationality and rational argument with respect to religious (...) belief. What is at stake in the debate, is the very way the concept of belief applies to the religious life. More specifically, the issue is about the place to be reserved for belief within the religious life at large, and again, about the role played especially by rational arguments in holding or not holding those beliefs. (shrink)

In this expository article one of the contributions of Jean Cavailles to the philosophy of mathematics is presented: the analysis of ‘mathematical experience’. The place of Cavailles on the logico-philosophical scene of the 30s and 40s is sketched. I propose a partial interpretation of Cavailles's epistemological program of so-called ‘conceptual dialectics’: mathematical holism, duality principles, the notion of formal contents, and the specific temporal structure of conceptual dynamics. The structure of mathematical abstraction is analysed in terms of its complementary dimensions: (...) paradigmatic generalization (domain extension, descriptive definitions, creative role of the symbolism...) and thematic reflexivity of concepts (promotion of operations to objects of a higher type). (shrink)

The American Journal of Bioethics, Volume 12, Issue 6, Page 33-34, June 2012.

This case is about a study of burn patients that included a request to the IRB for a waiver of consent for perianal specimen collection–a request which ultimately was not approved by a reviewing IR...

We report on the deliberations of an interdisciplinary group of experts in science, law, and philosophy who convened to discuss novel ethical and policy challenges in stem cell research. In this report we discuss the ethical and policy implications of safety concerns in the transition from basic laboratory research to clinical applications of cell-based therapies derived from stem cells. Although many features of this transition from lab to clinic are common to other therapies, three aspects of stem cell biology pose (...) unique challenges. First, tension regarding the use of human embryos may complicate the scientific development of safe and effective cell lines. Second, because human stem cells were not developed in the laboratory until 1998, few safety questions relating to human applications have been addressed in animal research. Third, preclinical and clinical testing of biologic agents, particularly those as inherently complex as mammalian cells, present formidable challenges, such as the need to develop suitable standardized assays and the difficulty of selecting appropriate patient populations for early phase trials. We recommend that scientists, policy makers, and the public discuss these issues responsibly, and further, that a national advisory committee to oversee human trials of cell therapies be established. **NB we did not reccommend a NAC, we think it might be appropriate**. (shrink)

In crafting our paper on addressing the ethical challenges in HIV prevention research with people who inject drugs,1 we had hoped to stimulate further discussion and deliberation about the topic. We are pleased that three commentaries on our paper have begun this process.2 3 4 The commentaries rightly bring up important issues relating to community engagement and problems in translating research into practice in the fraught environments in which PWID face multiple risks. These risks include acquisition of HIV as well (...) as criminalisation, stigma and lack of access to needed healthcare, prevention and social services. We take this opportunity to respond to the excellent points raised by the commentators. All of the commentaries support our emphasis on robust community engagement with PWID and other stakeholders in designing and conducting HIV prevention research, but urge us to go farther. Wolfe highlights the difficulty of even engaging with community members in oppressive settings, where authorities severely restrict civil liberties of PWID so that even discussing issues related to drug use and enforcement may place individuals at risk. To overcome such limitations, he appropriately suggests interviewing confidentially those who have previously been detained in closed settings as part of the community engagement process. Similarly, Wolfe observes that critical issues can be overlooked with a narrow focus on study procedures if contextual factors before, during or after a study are ignored. For example, he cites the risk of overdose for study participants who have been abstinent during a study and subsequently resume injecting when the study concludes. These kinds of risks may not be obvious …. (shrink)

In crafting our paper on addressing the ethical challenges in HIV prevention research with people who inject drugs, 1 we had hoped to stimulate further discussion and deliberation about the topic. We are pleased that three commentaries on our paper have begun this process. 2 3 4 The commentaries rightly bring up important issues relating to community engagement and problems in translating research into practice in the fraught environments in which PWID face multiple risks. These risks include acquisition of HIV (...) as well as criminalisation, stigma and lack of access to needed healthcare, prevention and social services. We take this opportunity to respond to the excellent points raised by the commentators. All of the commentaries support our emphasis on robust community engagement with PWID and other stakeholders in designing and conducting HIV prevention research, but urge us to go farther. Wolfe highlights the... (shrink)

Despite recent advances in HIV prevention and treatment, high HIV incidence persists among people who inject drugs. Difficult legal and political environments and lack of services for PWID likely contribute to high HIV incidence. Some advocates question whether any HIV prevention research is ethically justified in settings where healthcare system fails to provide basic services to PWID and where implementation of research findings is fraught with political barriers. Ethical challenges in research with PWID include concern about whether research evidence will (...) be translated into practice; concerns that research might exacerbate background risks; and ethical challenges regarding the standard of HIV prevention in research. While these questions arise in other research settings, for research with PWID, these questions are especially controversial. This paper analyses four ethical questions in determining whether research could be ethically acceptable: Can researchers ensure that research does not add to the burden of social harms and poor health experienced by PWID? Should research be conducted in settings where it is uncertain whether research findings will be translated into practice? When best practices in prevention and care are not locally available, what standard of care and prevention is ethically appropriate? Does the conduct of research in settings with oppressive policies constitute complicity? We outline specific criteria to address these four ethical challenges. We also urge researchers to join the call to action for policy change to provide proven safe and effective HIV prevention and harm reduction interventions for PWID around the world. (shrink)

Despite recent advances in HIV prevention and treatment, high HIV incidence persists among people who inject drugs. Difficult legal and political environments and lack of services for PWID likely contribute to high HIV incidence. Some advocates question whether any HIV prevention research is ethically justified in settings where healthcare system fails to provide basic services to PWID and where implementation of research findings is fraught with political barriers. Ethical challenges in research with PWID include concern about whether research evidence will (...) be translated into practice; concerns that research might exacerbate background risks; and ethical challenges regarding the standard of HIV prevention in research. While these questions arise in other research settings, for research with PWID, these questions are especially controversial. This paper analyses four ethical questions in determining whether research could be ethically acceptable: Can researchers ensure that research does not add to the burden of social harms and poor health experienced by PWID? Should research be conducted in settings where it is uncertain whether research findings will be translated into practice? When best practices in prevention and care are not locally available, what standard of care and prevention is ethically appropriate? Does the conduct of research in settings with oppressive policies constitute complicity? We outline specific criteria to address these four ethical challenges. We also urge researchers to join the call to action for policy change to provide proven safe and effective HIV prevention and harm reduction interventions for PWID around the world. (shrink)

There is little information about the content of ethics consultations in pediatrics. We sought to describe the reasons for consultation and ethical principles addressed during EC in pediatrics through retrospective review and directed content analysis of EC records at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Patient-based EC were highly complex and often involved evaluation of parental decision making, particularly consideration of the risks and benefits of a proposed medical intervention, and the physician's fiduciary responsibility to the patient. Nonpatient consultations provided guidance (...) in the development of institutional policies that would broadly affect patients and families. This is one of the few existing reviews of the content of pediatric EC and indicates that the distribution of ethical issues and reasons for moral distress are different than with adults. Pediatric EC often facilitates complex decision making among multiple stakeholders, and further prospective research is need.. (shrink)

Dans les stations de tourisme de montagne, les intersaisons correspondent à des creux d’activité durant lesquels les offres d’emploi alternatives sont peu nombreuses. Les saisonniers se trouvent donc confrontés à une période de chômage cyclique. Cette situation « intermédiaire », réunissant une forme d’incertitude de la relation d’emploi ainsi qu’une relative prévisibilité des périodes de recrutement n’est pas sans susciter certaines controverses. Dans ce contexte, comment sont vécues les phases de chômage saisonnier dans ces territoires? Ces séquences temporelles correspondent-elles à (...) un « temps mort » ou à un temps pluriel? Comment se négocie le temps pour soi dans le cadre d’embauches à contre-rythmes des temps sociaux dominants? Dans le cadre de cette forme d’emploi intermittente, le temps de chômage peut-il être conçu comme un temps de construction de la carrière professionnelle? Cet article s’intéresse aux formes d’adaptation aux rythmes d’emploi et de chômage des saisonniers en montagne et montre comment ces périodes hors-emploi participent de l’intériorisation de rythmicités spécifiques. (shrink)

Narrative has proven itself a continuous as well as adaptable means for environmentally oriented expression. Its role goes beyond the mediation of pre-existing knowledge imported into the realm of storytelling from other domains; rather, influential models of the natural world tend to circulate as storyworlds. This special issue of SubStance proceeds from the premise that narratives are not only a sequence of signs encoding a story but also “invisible, elusive representations that exist only in the mind”. Narrative forms generate and (...) transfer environmental knowledge; moreover, any specifically narrative concerns are important contributing factors to the models of agency, change... (shrink)

This paper examines how three Dutch political parties employ the Internet as a tool to enhance ‘digital democracy’. The potential of digital democracy is considered to be strongest in the sphere of collective action outside the domain of political institutions. In this article, however, attention is given to how institutionalized channels might be supportive of digital democracy. Three components of the democratic process – information provision, deliberation, and political decision-making – are examined in the content and user assessments of the (...) web sites of the Socialist Party, the Christian Democratic Party and the Green Party. Minor differences were found in the party web sites regarding information provision; substantial differences were found regarding the degree and nature of political deliberation available on the sites. Indicators of the third component, political decision-making, were least evident on all three web sites. User assessments of the sites and opportunities for political deliberation followed, more or less, the general public images of the related political parties. (shrink)

Genomic sequencing is becoming more common both in clinical practice and as a routine aspect of much research. Over the last 15 years there has been ongoing discussion about the implications of gen...

Emergency nurses apply specialist knowledge to the practice of emergency care. This paper discusses the ways in which three emergency nurses understand the nature of their care from their own frames of reference and experiences and presents some of the data collected in a larger study. Various discourses, which compete to inform emergency nurses' understandings of practice, are linked with the notion of nurses as subjects; that is, each discourse may inform, shape and constitute the practice of the nurse and, (...) in turn, the ways in which the patient comes to be known and understood. I will examine the ways in which emergency nurses come to experience or position themselves vis‐à‐vis extant forms of knowledge of emergency care and the extent to which they articulate new or distinctive formulations of emergency care. This paper illuminates the commonalities that constitute the discourses of emergency nursing care, and also analyse nurses' language which demonstrates that within each discourse variations, contradictions and resistances exist. Emergency nursing care occurs in a context of a biomedical discourse that dominates, or tends to dominate, the work of the emergency setting and so to determine acceptable or possible practices. Nevertheless, nurses contest in various ways the ‘truths' that they understand to underpin their practice. Challenges to biomedical discourses are revealed, to some extent, by drawing attention to specific situations and particular struggles encountered in emergency nurses' everyday practice. (shrink)

Methodologies of poststructuralist theory and critical social theory may be appropriated for nursing research and practice. Researchers using either methodology employ an analysis of power to explore experiences in various fields, and raise issues diat are highly relevant to nursing. However, the two methodologies differ and, often, die respective dieories are sharply opposed. In diis paper, die differences bodi from widiin and between each approach are explored, showing dieir tensions and limits. I contend that a reflexive approach to discourse analysis (...) provides insight into some of die methodological challenges diat arise in die context of bodi dieories. It is argued diat die differences between poststructuralism and critical social dieory seem likely to be mellowed by encounters diat treat each other with respect. To some extent, such encounters may tend to converge die two positions. (shrink)

Volume 20, Issue 10, October 2020, Page 39-41.

Volume 19, Issue 10, October 2019, Page 97-98.

As medicine and science advance, new ethical questions emerge. Over time, deliberation and analysis result in a somewhat settled approach to a problem. Often the settled approach is based on group...

As part of the regulatory review process, both the Food and Drug Administration and Office for Human Research Protections (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS]...

The ‘managed care’ idea: implications for health service systems in Australia The growth of corporatism in health‐care in the US, and the consequences arising from US models of health‐care delivery systems provide an enormously valuable point of comparison with health systems of other developed economies, such as Australia. If lessons are to be learnt from the US, then an analysis of the structure and performance of the US health‐care system provides important background for understanding and assessing contemporary policy changes to (...) administrative and organizational designs and techniques for patient care in Australia. (shrink)

RésuméCette étude essaie de réunir quelques éléments en vue d'une interprétation plus complète du programme épistémologique contenu de façon extrêmement elliptique dans l'ouvrage post‐hume de Jean Cavaillès, publié en 1947 par G. Canguilhem et C. Ehresmann sous le titre Sur la logique et la théorie de la science . Afin d'arriver, plus particulière‐texte, où la «nécessité génératrice» d'une dialectique conceptuelle est évoquée, il faudra rappeler quelques aspects connus ainsi que quelques aspects moins connus du cheminement philosophique de Cavaillès.Cette reconstruction est (...) mise en œuvre de façon détaillée dans un travail de commentaire textuel qui devait permettre de dégager le sens des formules denses et souvent allusives de Cavaillés dans son dernier ouvrage1. Il n'est pas possible de résumer ici en quelques lignes le contenu d'un tel travail. Toutefois on peut indiquer quelques conclusions qui s'en dégagent pour l'interprétation globale de l'ouvrage en question. En premier lieu il faut reconnaître la nature même du problème traité ici par Cavaillès. En second lieu on caractérise le type de position prise envers ce problème ainsi défini et en tant qu'on peut le restreindre dans un premier moment à la philosophie des mathématiques. En troisième lieu on montre que se problème subit un changement d'éclairage par le fait que cette restriction doit être levée en prenant en considération le rapport entre expérience mathématique et expiérience physique. que nous serons obligés d'entrer un peu plus, et à titre d'exemple, dam le détail de l'exégèse). Finalement on peut essayer de préciser le programme d'une dialectique conceptuelle en quelques thèses ou titres schématiques qui concement les questions majeures de la théorie de la science selon Cavaillès2. (shrink)

Volume 20, Issue 10, October 2020, Page 82-83.

Volume 20, Issue 4, May 2020, Page 111-113.

The case (Dawson et al. 2024) raises tensions between the ethical demands of respect for patient autonomy, patients’ clinical needs, and research to improve clinical care. Given burn patients’ urge...

Cette étude présente un moment assez surprenant du développement de la pensée du jeune Cavaillès : celui d’une affinité avec la pensée métaphysique de Plotin, un Plotin vu, bien sûr, à travers le prisme de l’ouvrage d’Émile Bréhier sur cet auteur (1928). J’essaie de montrer que cette lecture permet de comprendre la vision sous-jacente d’écrits aussi divers que « Éducation morale et laïcité », « Au Barrès du Culte du moi », et, bien sûr, « La philosophie de Plotin », (...) tous publiés par Cavaillès en 1928. En entamant un commentaire littéral de quelques passages, on montre que ces écrits éclairent et sont réciproquement éclairés par quelques réflexions sur l’art et la musique, ainsi que par une lettre assez énigmatique que Cavaillès écrivait à son père en cette même année. Finalement est posée la question des traces que cette étape de la pensée de Cavaillès a pu laisser dans sa philosophie ultérieure – celle dite « du concept ». (shrink)

Wittgenstein wordt wel beschouwd als een tegenstander van het ‘cognitivisme’ in de godsdienstfilosofie. Ik probeer hier aan te tonen dat Wittgenstein ook een tegenwicht biedt tegen hedendaagse benaderingen in de cultuurwetenschappen. De hedendaagse culturele antropologie is gestoeld op een combinatie van evolutionaire en cognitieve psychologie. ‘Betekenis’ wordt daarin opgevat als een cognitief proces dat zijn belichaming vindt in ons brein, en daarmee privé is. Wittgenstein wijst echter op het publieke karakter van betekenis, en op een andere notie van belichaming, die (...) te maken heeft met dat publieke karakter alsook met betekenis als relevantie. (shrink)

Whatever the precise analysis of the notion of an `internal point of view', to talk about `religious traditions' is to imply that traditions of a certain kind primarily deploy an internal point of view. But what can be said about the notion of an intellectual tradition that would at the same time also be, or be connected to, a religious tradition? To some, such notions appear to border on contradiction. In accordance with the Cartesian criticism of coutume et exemple, we (...) tend to think of an intellectual stance as the correlate of a detached view, with the rational remaining the enemy of the traditional. In that case, every application whatsoever of the predicate `intellectual' to a tradition would be flawed. According to a certain Enlightenment view, inspired by science, is it not of the very essence of the intellectual stance in general that one stand back at a critical distance from any tradition, especially one's own?In fact, historically oriented philosophers of science like Crombie, Kuhn, Laudan have reminded us of the fact that there is nothing disturbingly paradoxical in speaking of `intellectual traditions': to quote one of Kuhn's book titles, there is the "essential tension" that characterizes science in its development just as much as any other cultural tradition. This tension between the old and the new is the mark of traditions, including the ones defining the rationality or rationalities of science. We could say that Kuhn's `paradigms' already outlined the borders of specific `catholicities' for the specialized fields of scientific research traditions. If Kuhn ever had a point, it must be that science too can develop only within the framework of styles of reasoning, which is to say that it demands viewpoints that cannot be characterized as `external', at least not in an absolute, metaphysical sense of the word. (shrink)

This article seeks to advance ethical dialogue on choosing standards of prevention in clinical trials testing improved biomedical prevention methods for HIV. The stakes in this area of research are high, given the continued high rates of infection in many countries and the budget limitations that have constrained efforts to expand treatment for all who are currently HIV-infected. New prevention methods are still needed; at the same time, some existing prevention and treatment interventions have been proven effective but are not (...) yet widely available in the countries where they most urgently needed. The ethical tensions in this field of clinical research are well known and have been the subject of extensive debate. There is no single clinical trial design that can optimize all the ethically important goals and commitments involved in research. Several recent articles have described the current ethical difficulties in designing HIV prevention trials, especially in resource limited settings; however, there is no consensus on how to handle clinical trial design decisions, and existing international ethical guidelines offer conflicting advice. This article acknowledges these deep ethical dilemmas and moves beyond a simple descriptive approach to advance an organized method for considering what clinical trial designs will be ethically acceptable for HIV prevention trials, balancing the relevant criteria and providing justification for specific design decisions. (shrink)