Robert de Sorbon’s De consciencia, edited here, is a pastoral work which concentrates on the examination of conscience as a preliminary to confession. Robert uses the structural motif of the university examination and explores the parallels and contrasts between the relatively severe Chancellor of the university of Paris and the uncompromisingly severe Judge of the Last Judgement. Apart from its pastoral contents the work presents illuminating glimpses of university life in 13th-century Paris. Though known to students in Chambon’s edition of (...) 1902, the De consciencia has hitherto never been printed in full. The reason for this is that Chambon and his 16th and 17th-century predecessors based themselves on a truncated manuscript version which presents only the first part, which constitues no more than half the treatise. An examination of all twenty hitherto identified manuscript versions of the work reveals, however, the existence of as many as four mutually independendent redactions of the work, three of which represent complete versions, whereas the fourth, represented by the Chambon version, is deficient. The present article contains a critical, annotated edition of what is probably the most interesting of the three full redactions, namely the one preserved in Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS Latin 3218. The introduction to the edition contains sections discussing the contents of the work, its redactions and paraphrases, its structure and sources, as well as the relationship to Robert de Sorbon’s other works, including his sermons. (shrink)

Robert de Sorbon’s Cum repetes — or De modo audiendi confessiones et interrogandi as it is called in the Bruges manuscript — is for the clergy what Robert’s Qui vult vere confiteriis for laymen. It is a guide for confessors, specifically addressed to those charged with the cura animarum to provide practical instruction on how to interrogate the penitent and assist him in examining his conscience. It is this subject that determines and delimits its scope. In terms of the tripartite (...) nature of the sacrament of penance, i.e. contrition, confession and satisfaction, Cum repetes concentrates almost exclusively on the central part, confession, and on the proper method of interrogation by the confessor. A characteristic feature of Robert’s treatise is the introduction of a number of model dialogues between the confessor and the penitent, comparable to the interchanges in Robert of Flamborough’s Liber Poenitentialis, but much more incisive and inspired by great sollicitude as well as personal involvement. (shrink)

This study presents examples, not previously available in print, of the frequent use of the imagery of commerce in Robert de Sorbon’s sermons and discusses the imagery’s relation to scriptural and patristic sources, in particular the apostle Paul and Augustine of Hippo. It is argued that Robert’s use of the language of the marketplace in discussions of theological and moral matters functions as a rhetorical tool which emphasizes the boundlessness of God’s mercy through the redemption.

Antonio Argandoña, Norbert Bilbeny, Victòria Camps, Miquel Calsina, Àngel Castiñeira, Cristian Palazzi, Ferran Requejo, Raimon Ribera, Begoña Román, Ferran Sàez, Miquel Seguró, Francesc Torralba, Josep Maria Vallès, Rosamund Thomas Ramon Llull Journal of Applied Ethics 2012 3(3):9-16.

To localize wheat ESTs on chromosomes, 882 homoeologous group 6-specific ESTs were identified by physically mapping 7965 singletons from 37 cDNA libraries on 146 chromosome, arm, and sub-arm aneuploid and deletion stocks. The 882 ESTs were physically mapped to 25 regions flanked by 23 deletion breakpoints. Of the 5154 restriction fragments detected by 882 ESTs, 2043 were localized to group 6 chromosomes and 806 were mapped on other chromosome groups. The number of loci mapped was greatest on chromosome 6B and (...) least on 6D. The 264 ESTs that detected orthologous loci on all three homoeologs using one restriction enzyme were used to construct a consensus physical map. The physical distribution of ESTs was uneven on chromosomes with a tendency toward higher densities in the distal halves of chromosome arms. About 43% of the wheat group 6 ESTs identified rice homologs upon comparisons of genome sequences. Fifty-eight percent of these ESTs were present on rice chromosome 2 and the remaining were on other rice chromosomes. Even within the group 6 bins, rice chromosomal blocks identified by 1-6 wheat ESTs were homologous to up to 11 rice chromosomes. These rice-block contigs were used to resolve the order of wheat ESTs within each bin. (shrink)

We report specific heat and μSR measurements on Th and/or B substituted UBe13. The specific heat data show that either Th or B substitution reduces the Kondo temperature TK and increases the entropy at the superconducting transition by almost 20%, indicating an enhanced density of states. However, whereas μSR shows clear evidence for magnetic correlations for Th substitutions, no magnetism is observed for B substitutions. The enhanced specific heat jump in the B-substituted material is associated with a change in the (...) superconducting properties as TK is reduced. (shrink)

1. The ideal of spatio-temporally unrestricted generalisation, which marks all post-mythological thinking about nature, marks no more than the continuity of totemism in political casuistry. No unrestricted principle of Socialism or Conservatism or Liberal Democracy is defensible unless it is accorded a moral ultimacy which almost no one fully conscious of what he was about would actually want to accord it. If this bare platitude is to be fully assimilated, it needs both concrete exemplification and support of the systematic kind. (...) Liberal principles are well provided for in these respects: J. F. Stephen showed in brilliant detail that, from a utilitarian point of view, the question whether liberty even in advanced societies is irrespective of time and place a good or a bad thing is an irrational question—”as irrational as the question whether fire is a good or a bad thing.” But demonstrations and illustrations of the restricted nature of our other popular political principles are not so easily come by, and the critical survey of standard prodemocratic arguments, which makes up Part III of this paper, is meant to supply a part of the deficiency. (shrink)

First published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This collection of philosophical studies is dedicated to Prof. Buytendijk on the occasion of his retiring from the chair of philosophy at the University of Utrecht. The importance of the publication far surpasses the mere fact of honouring an outstanding scholar. For Buytendijk has indeed been one of the most active pioneers in the working out of a new approach to problems in the field of psychology and has been, together with other collaborators, instrumental in elaborating a new ’style’ as (...) it were in psychology. The sub-title of the present work speaks about ’psychologie humaine’. This adjective does not so much qualify the object of these contributions as their general spirit. As a reaction against the experimental psychology widely practised and taught at the beginning of the century, a psychology whose method was modelled very closely on that of the physical sciences, a new conception of psychology was developed. The central idea was this: nothing of real interest can be said and no real contribution to progress in the field of psychology can be made, as long as the primary and proper purpose and function of psychology as a science is forgotten, namely the understanding of man. Buytendijk was one of the first to stress how very important it is for psychology not to overlook this absolutely basic idea. One of the central notions, therefore, in his work is the notion of “encounter”. This notion emphasizes the fact that the psychologist has not only to measure and to describe a certain object, but must also of necessity endeavour to meet or ’encounter’ man himself, that is, a subject that acts in a purposeful way. And precisely in this Buytendijk’s work can be seen to belong to the so-called ’phenomenological’ school. (shrink)

Sigmoid functions have been applied in many areas to model self limited population growth. The most popular functions; General Logistic (GL), General von Bertalanffy (GV), and Gompertz (G), comprise a family of functions called Theta Logistic ( $$ \Uptheta $$ L ). Previously, we introduced a simple model of tumor cell population dynamics which provided a unifying foundation for these functions. In the model the total population ( N ) is divided into reproducing ( P ) and non-reproducing/quiescent ( Q (...) ) sub-populations. The modes of the rate of change of ratio P / N was shown to produce GL, GV or G growth. We now generalize the population dynamics model and extend the possible modes of the P / N rate of change. We produce a new family of sigmoid growth functions, Trans-General Logistic (TGL), Trans-General von Bertalanffy (TGV) and Trans-Gompertz (TG)), which as a group we have named Trans-Theta Logistic ( T $$ \Uptheta $$ L ) since they exist when the $$ \Uptheta $$ L are translated from a two parameter into a three parameter phase space. Additionally, the model produces a new trigonometric based sigmoid ( TS ). The $$ \Uptheta $$ L sigmoids have an inflection point size fixed by a single parameter and an inflection age fixed by both of the defining parameters. T $$ \Uptheta $$ L and TS sigmoids have an inflection point size defined by two parameters in bounding relationships and inflection point age defined by three parameters (two bounded). While the Theta Logistic sigmoids provided flexibility in defining the inflection point size, the Trans-Theta Logistic sigmoids provide flexibility in defining the inflection point size and age. By matching the slopes at the inflection points we compare the range of values of inflection point age for T $$ \Uptheta $$ L versus $$ \Uptheta $$ L for model growth curves. (shrink)

Objectives: To study the consent process experienced by participants who are enrolled in a molecular genetic research study that aims to find new genetic mutations responsible for an apparently inherited disorder.Design: Semi-structured interviews and analysis/description of main themes.Participants: 78 members of 52 families who had been recruited to a molecular genetic study.Results: People were well informed about the goals, risks and benefits of the genetic research study but could not remember the consent process. They had mostly been recruited to take (...) part by trusted clinicians or their relatives but had little memory of, or concern about signing consent forms. Families appeared to regard the research as a continuation of their, or their relatives’, clinical care.Conclusions: Ethical review should be more flexible in its attitude to consent forms and written information sheets for some sorts of research. For rare genetic disease studies where research has been discussed fully within the clinical setting then the consent obtained at that time could suffice rather than needing extra consent at a later stage. However, clinician-researchers will need to ensure that their duty of care extends for the duration of the research and beyond. (shrink)

Spatial and temporal scales are essential components of geological sciences; both are almost always imbricated in complex ways, challenging geoscientific knowledge among nonspecialists and students. The present paper focuses on the efforts made by the French naturalist Simon-Suzanne Nérée Boubée (1806–62) regarding popular education on geology. Though Boubée is poorly known nowadays, he experienced some prestige during his lifetime. He worked as an independent teacher, offering private as well as free public courses. Boubée, as a nineteenth-century science popularizer, repeatedly insisted (...) on his disposition for “spreading science for all.” He extensively published books and journals on geology, all aimed at popularizing geological scientific knowledge, considered to be of paramount relevance. This paper analyzes three visual examples extracted from his works: the Tableau Mnémonique des Terrains Primitifs, destiné au géologue voyageur, avec son explication (1831), the Tableau de l’État du Globe à ses différents âges (1832), and the Tableau figuratif de la structure minérale du globe, ou résumé synoptique du Cours de géognosie de M. N. Boubée (1839), supplemented with images from the travel guide Deux Promenades au Mont Doré (1834). Our goal is to understand Boubée’s efforts to synthesize information, scaling down geologic time and space into foldable materials that made geological knowledge cognitively and materially accessible to laypeople. (shrink)

In current dairy farming it is possible to run a profitable farm without having to adapt the system to the needs of dairy cows. In such systems the interests of the farmer and animals often diverge. Consequently, specific animal welfare problems occur. Foot disorders in dairy cattle are an illustrative example resulting from the specific methods of housing and management in current dairy farming. Foot disorders and the resulting lameness are considered the most important welfare problem in dairy farming. However, (...) these foot disorders not only typify welfare problems related to certain housing systems, but they also lead to the premature culling of cows. The assessment of the impact of foot disorders on the welfare of dairy cows raised the question of whether premature culling affects animal welfare since it affects the longevity of a cow. We argue that this aspect of longevity is morally relevant as an animal welfare issue. In this paper we aim to explore whether longevity is both (a) a morally relevant aspect in the discussion on killing animals and (b) a constitutive element of animal welfare. In other words, we aim to explore whether longevity is an independent moral argument in an animal welfare discussion. We claim that longevity is not merely important as an indicator of animal welfare, but is also a constitutive element of animal welfare. We argue that we need a more integrated approach to animal welfare and that an assessment that includes the aspect of time is necessary. This view involves a shift from views on animal welfare in terms of functioning or feeling well to a view on animal welfare that includes the aspect of natural living in which species-specific development is important. To show the impact of these points of view, we look at the practical implications for choices concerning the management of foot disorders in dairy cattle. (shrink)

A formal system of “questions” and “propositions” conceived by C. Piron and claimed to yield by interpretation quantum mechanics as well as all other known physical theories is examined. It is proved that the mentioned system is syntactically self-consistent in the sense of the theory of models. However, it is found that the mentioned formal system possesses certain syntactic characteristics in consequence of which qualification of this system as a generator of quantum mechanics by interpretation encounters semantic obstacles so grave (...) that they annihilate any relevance of such a qualification. (shrink)