It is one of the main allegations impelled by feminist theorists against Kant's philosophy that the subject Kant placed at the base of his understanding of rationality is masculine, a Westerner and belongs to upper/middle class. In fact, there is considerable supporting evidence to promote this claim for mainstream Western philosophy in general and Kant's philosophy in particular. On the other hand, while reckoning with the history of philosophy, and examining whether it is possible to break away from philosophical concepts (...) and categories or not, is another matter of discussion. In this article, I try to focus on various possibilities that can reconcile Kant's philosophy with the demands of liberal feminism and an inclusive democratic participation principle. It is important that to discuss whether it is possible to make a new reading that can be reconciled with feminist demands by ignoring the misogynistic discourses in Kant's works, especially starting from the concepts of autonomy and personality. Today, many factors like traditions, prejudices, oppressive forms of government, etc. prevent women from taking part in public life as free agents and autonomously, and from being considered as “subjects with the status of rights”. Therefore, I argue that Kant's concepts such as autonomy, becoming a person and having the conditions for free action, do have something in common with feminist demands. (shrink)

Biobanks act as the custodians for the access to and responsible use of human biological samples and related data that have been generously donated by individuals to serve the public interest and scientific advances in the health research realm. Risk assessment has become a daily practice for biobanks and has been discussed from different perspectives. This paper aims to provide a literature review on risk assessment in order to put together a comprehensive typology of diverse risks biobanks could potentially face. (...) Methodologically set as a typology, the conceptual approach used in this paper is based on the interdisciplinary analysis of scientific literature, the relevant ethical and legal instruments and practices in biobanking to identify how risks are assessed, considered and mitigated. Through an interdisciplinary mapping exercise, we have produced a typology of potential risks in biobanking, taking into consideration the perspectives of different stakeholders, such as institutional actors and publics, including participants and representative organizations. With this approach, we have identified the following risk types: economic, infrastructural, institutional, research community risks and participant’s risks. The paper concludes by highlighting the necessity of an adaptive risk governance as an integral part of good governance in biobanking. In this regard, it contributes to sustainability in biobanking by assisting in the design of relevant risk management practices, where they are not already in place or require an update. The typology is intended to be useful from the early stages of establishing such a complex and multileveled biomedical infrastructure as well as to provide a catalogue of risks for improving the risk management practices already in place. (shrink)

With agents relying more and more on information from central servers rather than their own sensors, knowledge becomes property not of a specific agent but of the data that the agents can access. The article proposes a dynamic logic of data-informed knowledge that describes an interplay between three modalities and one relation capturing the properties of this form of knowledge. The main technical results are the undefinability of two dynamic operators through each other, a sound and complete axiomatisation, and a (...) model checking algorithm. (shrink)

The present study discusses the action of burning the Holy Quran in Malmö, Sweden, by the Danish far-right politician Rasmus Paludan, in more than 300 points in Denmark, Sweden and Norway, especially in terms of evolving into social events that turned into riots and fueled Islamophobic debates. The purpose of the study will be to understand the discussion universe formed by the acceptance of the Swedish State in an Islamophobic and racist act, such as the burning of the holy book (...) by Paludan, with a high incitement and humiliating power. In the present study, which has a qualitative design, books, articles and newspapers on the subject were examined by using the document analysis method. As a result, since the motto of unlimited freedom of expression of the Scandinavian model gives the right to swear at far-right politicians, especially insulting religion, the Muslim society living in Europe has become the target of politicians with a kind of state policy armor, making them increasingly sensitive and vulnerable in the position of hate objects. In this regard, there is a need to redefine where the limits of freedom of thought must end. (shrink)

The nomination of candidate genes underlying complex traits is often focused on genetic variations that alter mRNA abundance or result in non‐conservative changes in amino acids. Although inconspicuous in complex trait analysis, genetic variants that affect splicing or RNA editing can also generate proteomic diversity and impact genetic traits. Indeed, it is known that splicing and RNA editing modulate several traits in humans and model organisms. Using high‐throughput RNA sequencing (RNA‐seq) analysis, it is now possible to integrate the genetics of (...) transcript abundance, alternative splicing (AS) and editing with the analysis of complex traits. We recently demonstrated that both AS and mRNA editing are modulated by genetic and environmental factors, and potentially engender phenotypic diversity in a genetically segregating mouse population. Therefore, the analysis of splicing and RNA editing can expand not only the regulatory landscape of transcriptome and proteome complexity, but also the repertoire of candidate genes for complex traits. (shrink)

Drawing on Anscombe, in this essay I argue that we should not take Aristotle to be a moral philosopher, nor a virtue ethicist. This is because contemporary virtue ethics has little to do with Aristotelian ethics. While contemporary virtue ethics (or aretaic moral theory, as one may call it) operates on the level of moral and thus categorical norms, Aristotelian ethics—an aretaic life ethics—is primarily concerned with pragmatic norms. The main question for Aristotle is what a good general conduct of (...) life is. The major concern of aretaic moral theory, on the other hand, is to provide a criterion of morally right action and hence to define the concepts of the morally right, the impermissible and moral duty in aretaic terms. This shows that contemporary authors assume a primacy of virtue, while Aristotle assumes a primacy of eudaimonia. I illustrate this distinction by addressing the question of how the virtues benefit their possessor. (shrink)

This article argues that Mariam uses its eponymous heroine's lived and embodied experiences of veiling to explore the impact of French secular legislation on Muslim schoolgirls' everyday lives in F...

ABSTRACT In this article I discuss Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other as a transmodern narrative that gives voice to a marginalised group of black women living in Britain. Written in a hybrid style that combines prose and poetry and eschewing punctuation and long sentences, the novel interweaves sundry stories from the late nineteenth to the twenty-first century set in countries ranging from Africa, the Caribbean, and America to Britain. This networked structure exposes transtemporal and transnational patterns of diversity, connectedness and (...) relationality, as well as the distinctive genealogy of black British women and their maternal empowerment. I argue that the resilience of the characters in the face of social, racial and gender marginalisation springs from their empathic relatedness and solidarity. This emphasis on the importance of care for the other highlights the need for improving not only women’s rights and socioeconomic opportunities but of benefiting humanity on a broader scale. (shrink)

This article aims to study Sufism (taṣawwuf) and inspiration (ilhâm), which is the main means of the mystical knowledge, in the thought of Ibn Taymiyya who is known generally as an exponent of a tradition grounded on the understanding of Salaf. He is considered by majority to be a rigid opponent of Sufism because of his unconventional interpretations of Sufi terminology. Also, since Ibn Taymiyya constantly offers the Qur’ān, ḥadīth, and the opinions of Salaf as the base of religious knowledge, (...) the idea that he does not lean toward inspirational and rational knowledge and he does not give a place for them in his epistemology came out and has grown in the course of time. As a result of our research, however, we realize Ibn Taymiyya admits the epistemological value of inspiration along with Sufism conditionally. While he divides Sufism into Early and Later periods, he examines inspiration in the context of knowledge (bâb al-ʿilm) which is considered to be a subcategory of supernatural events. Ibn Taymiyya, who believes that inspirational knowledge must be tested by means of the Qur’ān, Sunna, and the opinions of Salaf, without rejecting its reality, assesses the subject matter in detail through his own criteria. Therefore, this article, in which the subject is elaborated critically and descriptively, focuses on the approach of Ibn Taymiyya to Sufism and inspiration that is the basic element of Sufi knowledge. (shrink)

Background: Nurse managers have the burden of experiencing frequent ethical issues related to both their managerial and nursing care duties, according to previous international studies. However, no such study was published in Malaysia. The purpose of this study was to explore nurse managers' experience with ethical issues in six government hospitals in Malaysia including learning about the way they dealt with the issues. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in August-September, 2010 involving 417 (69.2%) of total 603 nurse managers in (...) the six Malaysian government hospitals. Data were collected using three-part self-administered questionnaire. Part I was regarding participants' demographics. Part II was about the frequency and areas of management where ethical issues were experienced, and scoring of the importance of 11 pre-identified ethical issues. Part III asked how they dealt with ethical issues in general; ways to deal with the 11 pre-identified ethical issues, and perceived stress level. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, cross-tabulations and Pearson's Chi-square. Results: A total of 397 (95.2%) participants experienced ethical issues and 47.2% experienced them on weekly to daily basis. Experiencing ethical issues were not associated with areas of practice. Top area of management where ethical issues were encountered was "staff management", but "patient care" related ethical issues were rated as most important. Majority would "discuss with other nurses" in dealing generally with the issues. For pre-identified ethical issues regarding "patient care", "discuss with doctors" was preferred. Only 18.1% referred issues to "ethics committees" and 53.0% to the code of ethics. Conclusions: Nurse managers, regardless of their areas of practice, frequently experienced ethical issues. For dealing with these, team-approach needs to be emphasized. Proper understanding of the code of ethics is needed to provide basis for reasoning. (shrink)

İlahî vahyin son halkası olan Kur’ân, şirk, küfür, nifak ve zulmün her türlüsünden insanlığı kurtarmak için gönderilmiştir. Kur’ân, kendini yeni bir medeniyyet tasavvuru olarak insanlığa takdim etmiştir. Bunun için kendisine inananların, onu okuma, anlama ve hayatlarına rehber olmasını istemektedir. Müslümanlar, Kur’ân’ı sadece telaffuz ederek onun istediği bu rehberliği yerine getirmiş olamazlar. Müslümanlar, hem ellerinde bulunan Kur’ân âyetlerinden ve hem de çevrelerinde yer alan ve her gün yüz yüze kaldıkları kâinattaki âyetlerden gereğince istifade etmek zorundadırlar. Kur’ân, kendisini kabul edenlerin inanç, ibadet, (...) kişilik, kimlik, düşünce yapısı ve davranışlarının tevhide göre şekillenmesini ister. Şâyet Kur’ân’a inananların bu özelliklerinde bir değişim meydana gelmiyorsa, burada sorgulanması gereken çok ciddi problemler var demektir. Hiç kuşkusuz bugünkü Kur’ân eğitimi yöntemiyle, Kur’ân’ın istediği medeniyet seviyesini ve mü’min kişilikleri oluşturmamız mümkün değildir. Bu makalede hem Kur’ân’la olan ilişkilerimizin nasıl olması gerektiğini hem de toplumsal anlamda değişim ve dönüşümün esaslarını belirlemeye çalıştık. (shrink)

Can video games or the playing of such games be morally objectionable? Many attempts to justify our intuitions about the morality of certain games or game activities are either unsuccessful or fall short. This is mainly due to a normative gap between reality and virtuality that classical approaches to moral philosophy cannot bridge. I am investigating to what extent an accurate action analysis can help us to justify our intuitions that, in some cases, something is ethically wrong with video games. (...) To do so, I am using Frankfurt’s volition theory to show how virtual game actions can be evaluated based on virtue ethics. This virtue ethical assessment is compatible with Ostritsch’s (2017) endorsement view. Especially in light of the gamification of our surroundings, the question of the ethical status of video gaming is becoming more and more urgent. By arguing that a virtue ethical approach can tell us more about the ethical aspects of video gaming, I will also argue that virtue ethics (because of similar problems in these fields) is promising regarding the ethics of simulation, art, and literature. (shrink)

Speaking of relations between logic and religion in Islamic world may refer to logic in two respects: logic in religious texts, from doctrinal sacred texts such as Qur’ān and sayings of the Prophet to the Qur’ānic commentaries and the texts related to the principles and fundamentals of jurisprudence, all of which make use of some reasoning to persuade the audiences or to infer the rules and prescripts for religious behavior of the members of religious community; and logic as a discipline (...) that is studied and applied both independently and as a tool for reasoning in schools of Islamic theology, systems of Islamic philosophy, and other types of knowledge in medieval Islamic world, all being strongly influenced by religious doctrines of Islam. Accordingly, this paper speaks of the different manifestations of using logical reasoning, particularly analogy, in Qur’ānic arguments, e.g. for the existence of God and resurrection after death; some contradictions or paradoxes reported by different opponents in the verses of Qur’ān; the place of logic in the classification of disciplines and the courses taught at the schools and seminaries; the influence of the attitudes of different religious sects on logic; the instrumental role of logic for both religious and secular reasonings; the relation between reason and dogmatic religious doctrines, and, finally, the reflection of this relation on progress or recession of logic in medieval Islamic world. (shrink)

U radu se najprije razmatra značaj Nietzscheovih ideja za genezu i razvoj književnoteorijskih koncepcija Harolda Blooma, pri čemu je najveća pažnja posvećena revizionističkim temeljima ideje »straha od utjecaja«, kao i Bloomovoj polemici s onim suvremenim teorijskim orijentacijama koje je objedinio pežorativnom oznakom »škola resantimana«. Potom se pojedini elementi Bloomove poetike sučeljavaju s ničeanskim naslijeđem prisutnim kod dvojice filozofa, Michela Foucaulta i Richarda Rortyja, da bi se ukazivanjem na sličnosti i razlike – ali i na stavove koje su o naznačenim pitanjima (...) zauzeli autori poput Gillesa Deleuza i Paula de Mana – potvrdilo kako Nietzscheovo djelo, pored ostalog i zahvaljujući mogućnostima različite interpretacije, posjeduje ona svojstva koja Bloom naziva »kanonskima «. (shrink)

This article explores contemporary development of a minority of Muslim in the largest Muslim country Indonesia. It closely examines the minority Muslim Papuan and looks at the construction and the institutionalisation of Muslim identity in post-special autonomy of Papua. Through a series of fieldwork in Jayapura, the capital of the Papua Province, in 2016 and reviews of documents, the article argues that the Council of Papuan Muslim serves not only a the association of minority Muslim Papuan but also as a (...) political instrument for the minority to fight for equality in Papuan public sphere. Importantly, the Muslim Papuan try reconcile the popular, but contradicted, notion of Muslim -and Islam- as newcomer -if not to mention as the colonial- in Papua and the presence of Muslim as a symbolic expectation for progress of the Papuan in general. Thus, the institutionalization of Islam, through the establishment of The Majelis Muslim Papua in Papua resorts as an ample case where multiculturalism is tested in contemporary Indonesia. (shrink)

This paper is going to explore the issue about the construction of Muslim identity in Papua. There are many challenges faced by Muslim particularly on identity in Papua. The existence of Muslim placed in Majelis MuslimPapua provides strongly the collectives of Muslim. The well-beings give in the changes of relation patterns among communities in Papua. Muslim is being seen as the one that can change Papua including demographics, politics, and economics. This paper has been done in Jayapura city since 2016. (...) The data are collected through observation, in-depth interview, and literature review. There are three findings in this study. The first finding is that Majelis MuslimPapua is not only the communication media for Muslim people but also the fights media for Muslim of Papua after the special autonomy prevailed. Majelis Muslim Papua is a response of the relationship dynamic of all people in Papua especially in Jayapura which is so dynamic. The second is Muslim of Papua is being taken as the power to change in Papua especially on the citizens’ composition or demography according to the religions. Immigrants who come in Papua are strongly working on the changes in cultures and structures which are built before. The last finding is the existence of Muslim of Papuaestablishes multiculturalism and admits each other in the lives of Papua that is more open. (shrink)

To a greater extent than in other technical domains, research and progress in Artificial Intelligence has always been entwined with the fictional. Its language echoes strongly with other forms of cultural narratives, such as fairytales, myth and religion. In this essay we present varied examples that illustrate how these analogies have guided not only readings of the AI enterprise by commentators outside the community but also inspired AI researchers themselves. Owing to their influence, we pay particular attention to the similarities (...) between religious language and the way in which the potential advent of greater than human intelligence is presented contemporarily. We then move on to the role that fiction, science fiction most of all, has historically played and is still playing in the discussion of AI by influencing researchers and the public, shifting the weights of different scenarios in our collectively perceived probability space. We sum up by arguing that the lore surrounding AI research, ancient and modern, points to the ancestral and shared human motivations that drive researchers in their pursuit and fascinate humanity at large. These points of narrative entanglement where AI meets the wider culture should serve to amplify the call to engage ourselves with the discussion of the potential destination of this technology. (shrink)

There is a confusion over and inchoate understanding of how the past is made understandable through postmodernist historical orientation. The purpose of the article is to outline the characteristic features of the postmodernist movement in social sciences, to explain its confrontation with history, to document its critique of the conventional practice of history, and to discuss its implications for history education. The postmodernist challenge to the foundations of the discipline of history is elucidated with an emphasis on its epistemological underpinnings. (...) Implications of postmodernism for the teaching and learning of history are discussed. (shrink)

Internationally, the need to advance science, technology, engineering and mathematics education is recognized as being vital for meeting social and economic challenges and developing a scientifically, mathematically, and technologically literate citizenry. In many countries, however, there are gender differences in the participation and achievement of girls and women in STEM education and STEM careers, usually to the disadvantage of females. This paper aims to identify challenges to female students’ participation in STEM both at post-primary level and beyond in the Irish (...) context. The research questions we aim to address in this paper are: what are student attitudes towards science, technology, engineering and mathematics as measured through interest and perceived ability in STEM, students’ valuing of STEM and students’ commitment to STEM? and what gender differences occur regarding students’ attitudes to science, technology, engineering and mathematics? A survey was completed by 308 post-primary students in Ireland as part of a one-year research project titled “STEMChAT: Women as catalysts for change in STEM education.” Data analysis compiled descriptive statistics, including response frequencies and percentages and median and interquartile range values, and compared gender differences in survey responses using the Kruskal–Wallis H Test. Results indicated that female students had significantly more positive attitudes to science compared to males while in comparison, males had significantly more positive responses to mathematics compared to females. Challenges regarding access to and understanding of STEM in the context of post-primary education are discussed. (shrink)

Purpose This study aims to investigate and comprehend the key factors that affect citizens’ adoption of electronic government (e-government) in Nigeria. In addition, the exploration intends to assess the potential determinants that may affect the Nigerian’s behavioural intention (BI) to adopt e-government services. The findings can be helpful for policymakers and government officials to provide e-government practices effectively. Design/methodology/approach The research adopted a quantitative method using the unified model of e-government adoption (UMEGA). In this study, data are collected from 410 (...) citizens aged above 18 years old and analysed using partial least squares path modelling technique. Findings The results showed that performance expectancy and effort expectancy positively influenced attitude (ATT) towards e-government. In contrast, perceived risk negatively impacted ATT towards e-government. However, social influence did not have a significant influence. The results showed that ATT and facilitating conditions (FC) positively influenced the BI to use e-government services. The explanatory and predictive power of UMEGA in Nigeria accounted for 63.9%. Originality/value To the authors’ knowledge, no prior studies analysed citizens’ adoption of e-government in Nigeria. This study, however, filled this gap. This study has contributed to the current knowledge of e-government adoption in Nigeria, which policymakers and government officials can use. (shrink)

Infolge der tiefgreifenden Durchdringung unserer Lebenswelt mit digitalen Systemen hat sich die gesamtgesellschaftliche Anforderung formiert, diese Systeme gegen immer neue Formen von Angriffen absichern zu können. In diesem Beitrag zeigen wir, inwiefern der IT-Sicherheitsforschung hierbei eine zentrale Rolle zukommt, aber auch, dass im Rahmen dieser Rolle eine besondere forschungsethische Problematik entsteht. Weil IT-Sicherheitsrisiken strukturell neuartige Probleme für die gesellschaftliche Gewährleistung von Sicherheit aufwerfen, treten Forschende systematisch auch in die Rolle der Angreifenden. Dabei erhöhen Forschende durch den notwendigen Schritt der Veröffentlichung (...) gefundener Lücken die Gefährdungslage von IT-Systemen. Zugleich zielt die Entwicklung von Angriffstechniken normativ auf eine Stärkung gesamtgesellschaftlicher Sicherheit: die Sicherheitslücken sollen geschlossen und die Robustheit von IT-Systemen vergrößert werden. Hier wird ein Konflikt im Umgang mit IT-Sicherheitsrisiken deutlich, der einen Bedarf an ethischer Orientierung erzeugt. Im Beitrag zeigen wir, inwiefern sich in der Forschungspraxis auch bereits Anfänge einer systematischen ethischen Reflexion als Antwort auf diesen Bedarf herausgebildet und institutionalisiert haben. Da die Problematik im Umgang mit Sicherheitslücken aber noch nicht adäquat adressiert wird, vertreten wir die These, dass in der IT-Sicherheitsforschung der Schritt hin zu einer Bereichsethik für IT-Sicherheitsforschung erforderlich ist, um so adäquatere Orientierungsangebote für Forschende entwickeln und um die breitere gesellschaftspolitische Rolle der Sicherheitsforschung reflektieren zu können. (shrink)