This book examines the human ability to participate in moments of joint feeling. It presents an answer to the question concerning the nature of our faculty to share in what might be called episodes of collective affective intentionality. The proposal develops the claim that our capacity to participate in such episodes is grounded in an ability central to our human condition: our capacity to care with one another about certain things. The author provides a phenomenologically adequate account of collective affective (...) intentionality that takes seriously the idea that feelings are at the core of our emotional relation to the world. He details a form of group emotional orientation that relies on the fact that the participating individuals have come to share a number of concerns. Readers will learn that at the heart of a collective affective intentional episode, one does not merely find a set of shared concerns, but also a particular mode of caring. In the end, the argument presented in this monograph makes plausible the idea that the emotions through which humans participate in moments of affective intentional community express our nature. In addition, it shows that the debate on collective affective intentionality also permits us to better understand the relationship between two conflicting philosophical pictures of ourselves: the idea that we are essentially social beings and the claim that we are creatures for whom our personal existence is an issue. Thus, aiming at an elucidation of the nature of our ability to feel together, the book offers a detailed account of what it is to situationally express our human nature by caring about something in a properly joint manner. (shrink)

Dans la pensée pascalienne, la sagesse revêt plusieurs significations. Elle peut se définir comme la sagesse des philosophes, mais aussi comme la sagesse divine. La vraie sagesse est celle des saints et se situe dans l'ordre de la charité. En confrontant ces deux sortes de sagesse, l'ouvrage pose les questions suivantes : la sagesse des saints s'oppose-t-elle à la sagesse naturelle des philosophes ou bien peut-on accorder les deux? Comment définir le rapport entre l'amour de la sagesse et la sagesse (...) de l'amour dans la pensée pascalienne? Les études recueillies dans cet ouvrage traitent cette problématique. (shrink)

The current COVID-19 pandemic and the previous SARS/MERS outbreaks of 2003 and 2012 have resulted in a series of major global public health crises. We argue that in the interest of developing effective and safe vaccines and drugs and to better understand coronaviruses and associated disease mechenisms it is necessary to integrate the large and exponentially growing body of heterogeneous coronavirus data. Ontologies play an important role in standard-based knowledge and data representation, integration, sharing, and analysis. Accordingly, we initiated the (...) development of the community-based Coronavirus Infectious Disease Ontology in early 2020. -/- As an Open Biomedical Ontology (OBO) library ontology, CIDO is open source and interoperable with other existing OBO ontologies. CIDO is aligned with the Basic Formal Ontology and Viral Infectious Disease Ontology. CIDO has imported terms from over 30 OBO ontologies. For example, CIDO imports all SARS-CoV-2 protein terms from the Protein Ontology, COVID-19-related phenotype terms from the Human Phenotype Ontology, and over 100 COVID-19 terms for vaccines (both authorized and in clinical trial) from the Vaccine Ontology. CIDO systematically represents variants of SARS-CoV-2 viruses and over 300 amino acid substitutions therein, along with over 300 diagnostic kits and methods. CIDO also describes hundreds of host-coronavirus protein-protein interactions (PPIs) and the drugs that target proteins in these PPIs. CIDO has been used to model COVID-19 related phenomena in areas such as epidemiology. The scope of CIDO was evaluated by visual analysis supported by a summarization network method. CIDO has been used in various applications such as term standardization, inference, natural language processing (NLP) and clinical data integration. We have applied the amino acid variant knowledge present in CIDO to analyze differences between SARS-CoV-2 Delta and Omicron variants. CIDO's integrative host-coronavirus PPIs and drug-target knowledge has also been used to support drug repurposing for COVID-19 treatment. -/- CIDO represents entities and relations in the domain of coronavirus diseases with a special focus on COVID-19. It supports shared knowledge representation, data and metadata standardization and integration, and has been used in a range of applications. (shrink)

Ontologies, as the term is used in informatics, are structured vocabularies comprised of human- and computer-interpretable terms and relations that represent entities and relationships. Within informatics fields, ontologies play an important role in knowledge and data standardization, representation, integra- tion, sharing and analysis. They have also become a foundation of artificial intelligence (AI) research. In what follows, we outline the Coronavirus Infectious Disease Ontology (CIDO), which covers multiple areas in the domain of coronavirus diseases, including etiology, transmission, epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, (...) prevention, and treatment. We emphasize CIDO development relevant to COVID-19. (shrink)

Current COVID-19 pandemic and previous SARS/MERS outbreaks have caused a series of major crises to global public health. We must integrate the large and exponentially growing amount of heterogeneous coronavirus data to better understand coronaviruses and associated disease mechanisms, in the interest of developing effective and safe vaccines and drugs. Ontologies have emerged to play an important role in standard knowledge and data representation, integration, sharing, and analysis. We have initiated the development of the community-based Coronavirus Infectious Disease Ontology (CIDO). (...) As an Open Biomedical Ontology (OBO) library ontology, CIDO is an open source and interoperable with other existing OBO ontologies. In this article, the general architecture and the design patterns of the CIDO are introduced, CIDO representation of coronaviruses, phenotypes, anti-coronavirus drugs and medical devices (e.g. ventilators) are illustrated, and an application of CIDO implemented to identify repurposable drug candidates for effective and safe COVID-19 treatment is presented. (shrink)

Since the first successful attempt to clone a dog in 2005, dogs have been cloned by Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer for a variety of purposes. One of these is to clone dogs as companion animals. In this paper we discuss some of the ethical implications that cloning companion dogs through SCNT encompasses, specifically in relation to human–dog relationships, but also regarding animal welfare and animal integrity. We argue that insofar as we understand the relationship with our companion dogs as one (...) of friendship, the meaningfulness of cloning a companion dog is seriously questionable. Cloning may both disrupt the uniqueness of the relationship, as the shared history underlying the relationship can neither be repeated nor copied, and it may violate the meaning we attribute to friendship, as the notion of singularity inherent in our understanding of friendship is incompatible with the replaceability embedded in the practice of cloning. We further argue that the application of cloning technology to companion dogs can be interpreted as a violation of the integrity of dogs on at least two accounts: negative welfare implications associated with the cloning process, and the instrumentalisation of the dog inherent in cloning. (shrink)

Host-microbiome interactions (HMIs) are critical for the modulation of biological processes and are associated with several diseases, and extensive HMI studies have generated large amounts of data. We propose that the logical representation of the knowledge derived from these data and the standardized representation of experimental variables and processes can foster integration of data and reproducibility of experiments and thereby further HMI knowledge discovery. A community-based Ontology of Host-Microbiome Interactions (OHMI) was developed following the OBO Foundry principles. OHMI leverages established (...) ontologies to create logically structured representations of microbiomes, microbial taxonomy, host species, host anatomical entities, and HMIs under different conditions and associated study protocols and types of data analysis and experimental results. (shrink)

How and why did the notion of philosophy as a system evolve in Germany at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries? Otto Casmann’s Modesta Assertio provides new answers to this question. Casmann, Clemens Timpler’s predecessor as professor in Steinfurt refers to other ‘like-minded philosophers’ who believe that philosophy is a ‘structured system of the liberal arts’. Casmann himself states that philosophy is a ‘structured unity of erudite wisdom’. The text is part of the debate between Daniel Hoffmann and (...) the Reformed philosophers about the relation between philosophy and theology. It can be made plausible that Hoffmann himself was Casmann’s target. The paper shows that a ‘structured unity of erudite wisdom’ presupposes harmony between theological insights and the findings of philosophy. Thus the earliest discussions of philosophy as a system were meant to immunise Reformed philosophy against Hoffmann’s attempt to revive Lutheran anti-philosophy. © 2018, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. All rights reserved. (shrink)

Spinoza est-il un adversaire de la religion? Rien n'est moins sûr. Dès la correspondance avec Guillaume de Blyenbergh, il admet l'existence de deux voies de salut hétérogènes : par la philosophie et par la religion, par l'intelligence et par la charité. Y a-t-il là quelque incohérence? Rien n'est moins sûr. Il s'agit dans cet essai de montrer pourquoi et comment coexistent ces deux voies de salut hétérogènes. Par là même, Spinoza s'avérera unique, un hapax dans la constellation des grands philosophes (...) du XVIIe siècle, et s'éclairera l'accusation d'athéisme prononcée de manière récurrente à son encontre. (shrink)

The standard Lewis–Stalnaker semantics of counterfactuals, given the Strong Centering Thesis, implies that all true–true counterfactuals are trivially true. McGlynn developed a theory, based on Penczek, to rehabilitate the non-triviality of true–true counterfactuals. I show here that counterfactuals with true but irrelevant components are counterexamples to McGlynn’s account. I argue that an extended version of the connection hypothesis is sustainable, and grounds a full theory of counterfactuals explicable in a broadly standard way, if an indispensable asymmetry between semifacuals and other (...) counterfactuals is acknowledged. (shrink)

Over the past half-century, China has experienced some incredible human dramas, ranging from Red Guard fanaticism and the loss of education for an entire generation during the Cultural Revolution, to the Tiananmen tragedy, the economic miracle, and its accompanying fad of money worship and the rampancy of official corruption. _Social Ethics in a Changing China: Moral Decay or Ethical Awakening?_ provides a rich empirical narrative and thought-provoking scholarly arguments, highlighting the imperative for an ethical discourse in a country that is (...) increasingly seen by many as both a materialistic giant and a spiritual dwarf. Professor He Huaihong was not only an extraordinary firsthand witness to all of these dramas, he played a distinct role as a historian, an ethicist, and a social critic exploring the deeper intellectual and sociological origins of these events. Incorporating ethical theories with his expertise in culture, history, religion, literature, and politics of the country, He reviews the remarkable transformation of ethics and morality in the People's Republic of China and engages in a global discourse about the major ethical issues of our time. The book aims to reconstruct Chinese social ethics in an innovative philosophical framework, reflecting China's search for new virtues. Contents 1. Reconstructing China's Social Ethics 2. Historical and Sociological Origins of Chinese Cultural Norms 3. The Transformation of Ethics and Morality in the PRC 4. China's Ongoing Moral Decay? 5. Ethical Discourse in Reform Era China 6. Chinese Ethical Dialogue with the West and the World. (shrink)

Drawing on his extensive experience as both a medical practitioner and a patient, acclaimed author, award-winning physician, and ethicist Philip Hébert creates a brave and intimate portrait of the complex ethical questions raised by revolutionary advances in medical diagnosis and treatment. Philip Hébert addresses the complex ethical questions raised by revolutionary advances in medical treatment. This work expands upon Hébert's previous book, "Doing Right," and extends his knowledge of the field beyond medical professionals to reach the patients they treat.

Zhu Xi, the chief architect of neo-Confucian thought, affected a momentous transformation in Chinese philosophy. His ideas came to dominate Chinese intellectual life, including the educational and civil service systems, for centuries. Despite his influence, Zhu Xi is known as the great synthesizer and rarely appreciated as a thinker in his own right. This volume presents Zhu Xi as a major world philosopher, one who brings metaphysics and cosmology into attunement with ethical and social practice. Contributors from the English- and (...) Chinese-speaking worlds explore Zhu Xi s unique thought and offer it to the Western philosophical imagination. Zhu Xi s vision is critical, intellectually rigorous, and religious, telling us how to live in the transforming world of "li" the emergent, immanent, and coherent patternings of natural and human milieu.". (shrink)

COVID-19 often manifests with different outcomes in different patients, highlighting the complexity of the host-pathogen interactions involved in manifestations of the disease at the molecular and cellular levels. In this paper, we propose a set of postulates and a framework for systematically understanding complex molecular host-pathogen interaction networks. Specifically, we first propose four host-pathogen interaction (HPI) postulates as the basis for understanding molecular and cellular host-pathogen interactions and their relations to disease outcomes. These four postulates cover the evolutionary dispositions involved (...) in HPIs, the dynamic nature of HPI outcomes, roles that HPI components may occupy leading to such outcomes, and HPI checkpoints that are critical for specific disease outcomes. Based on these postulates, an HPI Postulate and Ontology (HPIPO) framework is proposed to apply interoperable ontologies to systematically model and represent various granular details and knowledge within the scope of the HPI postulates, in a way that will support AI-ready data standardization, sharing, integration, and analysis. As a demonstration, the HPI postulates and the HPIPO framework were applied to study COVID-19 with the Coronavirus Infectious Disease Ontology (CIDO), leading to a novel approach to rational design of drug/vaccine cocktails aimed at interrupting processes occurring at critical host-coronavirus interaction checkpoints. Furthermore, the host-coronavirus protein-protein interactions (PPIs) relevant to COVID-19 were predicted and evaluated based on prior knowledge of curated PPIs and domain-domain interactions, and how such studies can be further explored with the HPI postulates and the HPIPO framework is discussed. (shrink)

Peu de textes de Pascal semblent relever de l'expérience ou du discours mystique. Outre le Mémorial, qui garde mémoire d'une expérience de Dieu sur une feuille de papier, outre la Prière pour demander à Dieu le bon usage des maladies, certaines lettres à Mlle de Roannez contiennent des conseils pour se rapprocher de Dieu, et d'autres lettres spirituelles, comme celle écrite après la mort de son père, traitent de l'attitude du chrétien face à la mort. L'Ecrit sur la conversion du (...) pécheur nous livre les difficultés de l'homme à la recherche de Dieu. Cependant, malgré la pauvreté quantitative des textes traitant assez clairement de la mystique, il nous est apparu qu'elle constitue la clé de voûte de l'édifice pascalien, sans laquelle l'oeuvre de Pascal ne fait pas sens. A partir de ce point ultime et transcendant, expliqué en partie par le contexte familial et social de Pascal, on peut relire et comprendre sa démarche scientifique, et la relation entretenue avec la Bible. Ainsi nous proposons une relecture de l'intégralité de l'oeuvre pascalienne, en la replaçant dans l'histoire de la mystique judéo-chrétienne, et en mettant notamment en relief la façon dont Pascal s'est approprié l'esprit et la mystique bibliques, dans une tradition où l'influence du dualisme platonicien n'est pas étrangère. La mystique pascalienne se définit ainsi comme le désir d'une union à Dieu, médiatisée par la figure du Christ, et il en résulte une relation de chaque instant, où l'homme se sent transformé, déifié, dans un sentiment de joie. (shrink)

Au cours du XIXe siècle les compositeurs d'opéra prennent conscience que le théâtre peut être pensé en tant qu'espace expressif susceptible de s'intégrer à l'écriture musicale afin de véhiculer du sens. Au XXe siècle, cette idée se développe aussi à l'aide de croisements avec les expériences des avant-gardes théâtrales, et contribue à transformer la conception même de la scène du théâtre musical (qui devient aussi multimédia). L'idée d'espace "sensible" ouvre ainsi une perspective originale pour aborder l'étude des processus qui porte (...) vers les formes de théâtre musical d'aujourd'hui."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

Les grandes interrogations sur la politique, la Cité, la République, se posent le plus souvent au cours de périodes où les réalités auxquelles ces notions sont communément référées sont en voie de délitement. Il en était ainsi dans l'Antiquité, comme en attestent, parmi d'autres, les préoccupations qui se font jour dans les écrits de Démosthène, Aristote, Cicéron. C'est aussi, en substance, ce qu'énonçait il y a plus de quinze siècles, Augustin, lorsque, dans une formule ramassée, se fondant sur la définition (...) cicéronienne de la respublica, il confrontait celle-ci à sa réalité : La république n'est plus puisqu'elle a cessé d'être la chose du peuple. Nous n'avons plus que le nom de république dont la réalité est dès longtemps perdue. Dans des circonstances où paraissent, une nouvelle fois, se défaire des institutions humainement construites, politique, république ou nation, il importe de savoir si l'usage de ces mots recouvre des réalités vivaces ou en voie de déconstitution. Il convient pour cela de "savoir à quoi on a affaire", de quels objets on parle, c'est là l'ambition de cet essai. Il ne s'agit pas pour autant de forger de toutes pièces des concepts inédits et vides, mais plutôt de travailler à penser la politique et ses lieux de réalisation, non en tant qu'idées, mais en tant que "choses", réalités concrètes, faisant retour aux réflexions de ceux qui se sont attachés à les concevoir dans leurs processus de constitution. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: Why Asset Ownership? The Content of Work: Meaningful Work The Governance of Work: Protection against Arbitrary Interference The Status of Work: Workers as Property Owners Conclusion References.