Human genomics is a translational field spanning research, clinical care, public health, and direct-to-consumer testing. However, law differs across these domains on issues including liability, consent, promoting quality of analysis and interpretation, and safeguarding privacy. Genomic activities crossing domains can thus encounter confusion and conflicts among these approaches. This paper suggests how to resolve these conflicts while protecting the rights and interests of individuals sequenced. Translational genomics requires this more translational approach to law.

© 2015 Elsevier Inc.Postnatal organogenesis occurs in an immune competent environment and is tightly controlled by interplay between positive and negative regulators. Innate immune cells have beneficial roles in postnatal tissue remodeling, but roles for the adaptive immune system are currently unexplored. Here we show that adaptive immune responses participate in the normal postnatal development of a non-lymphoid epithelial tissue. Since the mammary gland is the only organ developing predominantly after birth, we utilized it as a powerful system to study (...) adaptive immune regulation of organogenesis. We found that antigen-mediated interactions between mammary antigen-presenting cells and interferon-γ -producing CD4+ T helper 1 cells participate in MG postnatal organogenesis as negative regulators, locally orchestrating epithelial rearrangement. IFNγ then affects luminal lineage differentiation. This function of adaptive immune responses, regulating normal development, changes the paradigm for studying players of postnatal organogenesis and provides insights into immune surveillance and cancer transformation. Plaks et al. (shrink)

L’histoire de l’importation du terme de « sociologie » dans l’espace germanophone n’est pas celle d’une appropriation heureuse et spontanée. Il a été le plus souvent évité ou utilisé entre guillemets. Pour comprendre ce rapport passionné à la « sociologie », cet article propose une enquête de sémantique historique transnationale qui part d’un relevé bibliométrique des titres de livres incluant ce terme, publiés en allemand jusqu’en 1908 (création de la « société allemande de sociologie »). Comte y apparaît comme un (...) spectre qu’on cherche à repousser. Les connotations socialistes françaises et la proximité imaginée entre la sociologie et les sciences de la nature expliquent la méfiance au long cours des savants germanophones à l’égard de ce label. (shrink)

Psychologues et philosophes partagent une même lecture de l'histoire de la psychologie selon laquelle le recours aux mathématiques pour constituer une psychométrie au XIX e siècle aurait été l'indice évident d'une séparation définitive entre psychologies scientifique et philosophique. Le présent article montre que le projet d'une psychométrie est nettement plus ancien et qu'il est au contraire né dans un espace des savoirs dans lequel métaphysique, mathématique, optique et physiologie n'étaient pas séparés. Both psychologists and philosophers share a very same reading (...) of the history of psychology according to which the recourse to mathematics in order to build psychometrics in the 19th century were to have been the obvious indication of an outmost separation between scientific and philosophical psychologies. This paper shows that the project of a psychometrics is far older, born as it was in an environment of knowledge in which metaphysics, mathematics, optics and physiology were not separated. (shrink)

Psychologues et philosophes partagent une même lecture de l'histoire de la psychologie selon laquelle le recours aux mathématiques pour constituer une psychométrie au XIXe siècle aurait été l'indice évident d'une séparation définitive entre psychologies scientifique et philosophique. Le présent article montre que le projet d'une psychométrie est nettement plus ancien et qu'il est au contraire né dans un espace des savoirs dans lequel métaphysique, mathématique, optique et physiologie n'étaient pas séparés. Both psychologists and philosophers share a very same reading of (...) the history of psychology according to which the recourse to mathematics in order to build psychometrics in the 19th century were to have been the obvious indication of an outmost separation between scientific and philosophical psychologies. This paper shows that the project of a psychometrics is far older, born as it was in an environment of knowledge in which metaphysics, mathematics, optics and physiology were not separated. (shrink)

Various theories on personal goal striving rely on the assumption that failure raises doubts about the goal. Yet, empirical evidence for an association between objective failure experiences and doubts about personal long-term goals is still missing. In a longitudinal field study, applicants for a job as a police trainee (n = 172, Mage = 25.15, 55 females and 117 males) were accompanied across three measurement times over a period of five months. We investigated the effects of failure and initial expectation (...) of success (in the standardized selection process) on doubts regarding the superordinate goal of becoming a police officer. As hypothesized, both failure and low initial expectation of success as well as their interaction led to increased goal-related doubts over time. The findings provide first empirical evidence for the role of failure in the emergence of goal-related doubts in personal long-term goals and, therefore, the disengagement process as it is hypothesized in various theories on goal striving and life-span development. (shrink)

In recent years, many researchers engaged in diverse areas and approaches of “cultural-historical activity theory” (CHAT) realized an increasing international interest in Lev S. Vygotsky’s, A. N. Leont’ev’s, and A. Luria’s work and its continuations. Not so long ago, Yrjö Engeström noted that the activity approach was still “the best-held secret of academia” (p. 64) and highlighted the “impressive dimension of theorizing behind” it. Certainly, this remark reflects a time when CHAT was off the beaten tracks. But if this situation (...) begins to change today, in which direction will CHAT be heading? Will it continue to be one of those projects “unique for its practical, political, and civic engagement” committed “to ideals of social justice, equality, and social change” as it was in the beginning (Stetsenko & Arievitch, 2004, p. 58)? Although a positive future of CHAT seems to lie ahead, we consider in this article some of the problematics that may challenge all those who want to pass the “impressive dimensions of theorizing” from “insider” circles to a larger audience and from one generation to another as well as encourage newcomers to become part of this tradition through critical engagement in its theory and practice. A key to these engagements, we suggest, is not only the comprehensive empirical and philosophical basis, but also the role of dialectics as both topic and method. Therefore, the challenge for newcomers (as well as for “old-timers”) to take on the tradition of CHAT is not a small one indeed. We assume that a major reason for the increasing interest in CHAT lies in its potential to provide a non-reductionist approach to human development, which is due to its affinity to dialectics; however, the close interrelation to a tradition that reaches back to the theories of Georg W.F. Hegel and Karl Marx, among others, is not the easiest to master. In consideration of these difficulties, the purpose of this article is to investigate how contemporary approaches within CHAT can continue to provide a dialectical framework to preserve and renew the critical intention of this tradition, and how we run the risk of losing this sting. Thereby, we sensitize researchers to the problem of developing a cultural-historical approach within a historical situation that confronts us with new, unanswered questions. In this light, we also problematize the use of scientific language, for it may lead us to speak and argue un-dialectically when in fact we intend or ought to think dialectically. This article seeks to convey insights and arguments of how we can relate our theoretical approaches to a tradition of dialectical thinking and in what ways this is paramount for a critical engagement in theory and practice. In the first part, we therefore discuss not only some major theorems in Hegel’s and Marx’s work but also, and above all, Vygotsky’s way of developing the cultural-historical approach of psychology. Second, we argue that the contemporary, widely known version of CHAT, related to Yrjö Engeström’s theoretical and empirical work, neglects different aspects of dialectical thinking and consequently narrows its potential to a socio-critical approach to societal practice and human development. A crucial question of this scrutiny will be the notion of contradictions and how development is supposed to be achieved. In general, our intention is not only to clarify the role of dialectics as a method for activity theory but also to problematize the role of the subjects of research in CHAT and to confront ourselves with the problems of practicing and developing a critical science in face of a complex and challenging societal world. (shrink)

In this age of DNA computers and artificial intelligence, information is becoming disembodied even as the "bodies" that once carried it vanish into virtuality. While some marvel at these changes, envisioning consciousness downloaded into a computer or humans "beamed" _Star Trek_-style, others view them with horror, seeing monsters brooding in the machines. In _How We Became Posthuman,_ N. Katherine Hayles separates hype from fact, investigating the fate of embodiment in an information age. Hayles relates three interwoven stories: how information lost (...) its body, that is, how it came to be conceptualized as an entity separate from the material forms that carry it; the cultural and technological construction of the cyborg; and the dismantling of the liberal humanist "subject" in cybernetic discourse, along with the emergence of the "posthuman." Ranging widely across the history of technology, cultural studies, and literary criticism, Hayles shows what had to be erased, forgotten, and elided to conceive of information as a disembodied entity. Thus she moves from the post-World War II Macy Conferences on cybernetics to the 1952 novel _Limbo_ by cybernetics aficionado Bernard Wolfe; from the concept of self-making to Philip K. Dick's literary explorations of hallucination and reality; and from artificial life to postmodern novels exploring the implications of seeing humans as cybernetic systems. Although becoming posthuman can be nightmarish, Hayles shows how it can also be liberating. From the birth of cybernetics to artificial life, _How We Became Posthuman_ provides an indispensable account of how we arrived in our virtual age, and of where we might go from here. (shrink)

The diverse number of N-space theories and the unrestrained growth of the number of spaces within the multiple space models has incurred general skepticism about the new search space variants within the search space paradigm of psychology. I argue that any N-space theory is computationally equivalent to a single space model. Nevertheless, the N-space theories may explain the systematic behavior of human problem solving better than the original one search space theory by identifying relationships between the tasks that occur in (...) problem solving. These tasks are independent of the particular process and may not be explicitly represented by the problem solver. N-space theorists seem to overlook their own reason for distinguishing N-space theories from single space models, namely the presupposition that these tasks must have a unified, underlying search space architecture. This assumption is ill-founded and may implement a procedural restraint that could impede psychological research. (shrink)

When managing their emotions, individuals often recruit the help of others; however, most emotion regulation research has focused on self-regulation. Theories of emotion and aging suggest younger and older adults differ in the emotion regulation strategies they use when regulating their own emotions. If how individuals regulate their own emotions and the emotions of others are related, these theorised age differences may also emerge for interpersonal emotion regulation. In two studies, younger and older adults’ intrapersonal and interpersonal emotion regulation strategy (...) choices were examined via self-report and behavioural assessments of regulating the emotions of another participant (Study 1; N = 80) and of a virtual human (Study 2; N = 100). Across both studies, younger adults reported greater intrapersonal suppression but not greater reappraisal. Younger and older adults were generally similar (supported by Bayesian analyses) for both self-reported and behavioural interpersonal emotion regulation strategies. Behavioural interpersonal emotion regulation was not related to self-reported intra- and interpersonal preferences. These results suggest interpersonal emotion regulation in ageing may show distinct patterns from theorised age differences in intrapersonal emotion regulation. (shrink)

Machine generated contents note: Cajal and Consciousness: Introduction. By PEDRO C. MARIJUAN1 -- Part I. Consciousness, One Hundred Years after Textura -- Progress in the Neural Sciences in the Century after Cajal (and the Mysteries -- That Remain). By THOMAS D. ALBRIGHT, THOMAS M. JESSELL, -- ERIC R. KANDEL, AND MICHAEL I. POSNER11 -- Part II. Biological Complexity and the Emergence of Consciousness -- Consciousness, Reduction, and Emergence: Some Remarks. -- By MURRAY GELL-MANN41 -- The Epistemic Paradox of Mind and (...) Matter. By HAROLD J. MOROWITZ50 -- The Conscious Cell. BY LYNN MARGULIS55 -- Complexity and Tinkering. By FRANCOIS JACOB71 -- Consciousness, the Brain, and Spacetime Geometry. By STUART HAMEROFF. 74 -- Consciousness, the Brain, and Spacetime Geometry: An Addendum-Some -- New Developments on the Orch OR Model for Consciousness. -- By ROGER PENROSE105 -- Part III. From Primary to Higher-level Consciousness -- Consciousness: The Remembered Present. By GERALD EDELMAN111 -- Consciousness and the Binding Problem. By WOLF SINGER123 -- Cajal on Neurons, Molecules, and Consciousness. By JEAN-PIERRE CHANGEUX 147 -- A Neuronal Model of a Global Workspace in Effortful Cognitive Tasks. By -- STANISLAS DEHAENE, MICHEL KERSZBERG, AND JEAN-PIERRE -- CHANGEUX152 -- Consciousness and the Brain: The Thalamocortical Dialogue in Health and -- Disease. By RODOLFO LLINAS AND URS RIBARY166 -- The Neuroanatomy of Phenomenal Vision: A Psychological Perspective. -- ByPETRA STOERIG176 -- Co-evolution of Human Consciousness and Language. By MICHAEL A. ARBIB 195 -- From Computing with Numbers to Computing with Words-From -- Manipulation of Measurements to Manipulations of Perceptions. -- By LOTFI A. ZADEH221 -- Part IV. Closing Remarks -- Who Was Cajal? By ALBERTO PORTERA-SANCHEZ253 -- Index of Contributors259 -- Subject Index261. (shrink)

The eminent French biologist and historian of biology, François Jacob, once notoriously declared “On n’interroge plus la vie dans les laboratoires”: laboratory research no longer inquires into the notion of ‘Life’. Nowadays, as David Hull puts it, “both scientists and philosophers take ontological reduction for granted… Organisms are ‘nothing but’ atoms, and that is that.” In the mid-twentieth century, from the immediate post-war period to the late 1960s, French philosophers of science such as Georges Canguilhem, Raymond Ruyer and Gilbert Simondon (...) returned to Jacob’s statement with an odd kind of pathos: they were determined to reverse course. Not by imposing a different kind of research program in laboratories, but by an unusual combination of historical and philosophical inquiry into the foundations of the life sciences (particularly medicine, physiology and the cluster of activities that were termed ‘biology’ in the early 1800s). Even in as straightforwardly scholarly a work as La formation du concept de réflexe aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles (1955), Canguilhem speaks oddly of “defending vitalist biology,” and declares that Life cannot be grasped by logic (or at least, “la vie déconcerte la logique”). Was all this historical and philosophical work merely a reassertion of ‘mysterian’, magical vitalism? In order to answer this question we need to achieve some perspective on Canguilhem’s ‘vitalism’, notably with respect to its philosophical influences such as Kurt Goldstein. (shrink)

ABSTRACT: GEORGES CANGUILHEM’S BIOPHILOSOPHY The eminent French biologist and historian of biology, François Jacob, once notoriously declared «On n’interroge plus la vie dans les laboratoires»: laboratory research no longer inquires into the notion of “Life”. Certain influential French philosophers of science of the mid‐century such as Georges Canguilhem would disagree, or at least seek to resist some of Jacob’s diagnosis. Not by imposing a different kind of research program in laboratories, but by an unusual combination of historical and philosophical inquiry (...) into the foundations of the life sciences. Canguilhem speaks of «defending vitalist biology» and declares that Life cannot be grasped by logic. Is this history and philosophy of biology? Is it vitalism? It definitely is a different project from current philosophy of biology. One short‐lived term for it was “biophilosophy”. In this paper I explore the content of this term as it relates to the above questions. (shrink)

El artículo se propone determinar los asuntos que competen a la filosofía y a la literatura a partir de, primero, un contexto común, el de la totalidad; y segundo, dos perspectivas, a saber, la cuestión por la relación de la filosofía y la literatura con la totalidad, y la relevancia ética y moral de dicha relación. La totalidad debe ser entendida de tres formas: la de la realidad y del mundo; la de las relaciones de los hombres con el mundo (...) y su comprensión; y, la de la vida individual. Estas variaciones del concepto son elaboradas por Peter Handke y presentadas como apoyo discursivo por Ursula Wolf. (shrink)

Este ensayo se ocupa de identificar, en primera instancia, cuáles son las preguntas y temas que corresponden a la estética; en segunda instancia, su relevancia dentro de la reflexión filosófica; y, en tercera y última instancia, si se pueden tratar tales cuestiones y temas, con los procedimientos propios de la filosofía. La intención general que se identifica está encaminada a justificar la estética como un campo importante de la investigación filosófica.

RésuméJohn Rawls et Asha Bhandary utilisent les conditions de justice définies par David Hume pour encadrer le choix de la position originale à partir de laquelle les principes de justice sont sélectionnés. Utiliser les conditions de Hume de cette manière exclut de la représentation ceux qui ne sont pas des coopérateurs à part entière, y compris les personnes qui ont besoin de soins de dépendance pendant toute la vie. Cela implique que la demande de soins de ces personnes n'est pas (...) une revendication fondamentale de justice, mais qu'elle doit avoir une priorité nettement inférieure. Cet article soutient qu'une théorie libérale appropriée de la prise en charge de la dépendance abandonnera ce cadrage humien et traitera la demande de prise en charge de la dépendance comme une exigence fondamentale de justice. (shrink)

En el marco de la discusión filosófica anglosajona, que ha tendido a evitar la pregunta por la constitución del ser humano debido a su carácter metafísico, surgen dos reflexiones acerca del significado de vivir la vida y sus implicaciones. Por un lado, la de Parfit en Reasons and Persons, y por otro, la de Richard Wollheim en The Thread of Life. El objetivo de este ensayo es establecer una reflexión crítica a propósito de ambos textos, cuyos planteamientos, no superan los (...) alcances especulativos de la tradición filosófica existencial respecto de la pregunta por la vida y sus implicaciones. Pero en este texto no sólo se hace una lectura crítica de ambos ensayos sino que además se intenta mostrar tanto los límites de una reflexión meramente especulativa a la hora de afrontar la pregunta por la vida humana, que justifique su valor de verdad sin recurrir a una descripción de los fenómenos; como los de una reflexión que intente forzar los fenómenos a la luz de una teoría que se considera plausible. Este es el marco teórico desde el cual se esboza una concepción de la filosofía y de su papel como reflexión especulativa alrededor de la pregunta por la vida buena. (shrink)

The causal compatibility question asks whether a given causal structure graph — possibly involving latent variables — constitutes a genuinely plausible causal explanation for a given probability distribution over the graph’s observed categorical variables. Algorithms predicated on merely necessary constraints for causal compatibility typically suffer from false negatives, i.e. they admit incompatible distributions as apparently compatible with the given graph. In 10.1515/jci-2017-0020, one of us introduced the inflation technique for formulating useful relaxations of the causal compatibility problem in terms of (...) linear programming. In this work, we develop a formal hierarchy of such causal compatibility relaxations. We prove that inflation is asymptotically tight, i.e., that the hierarchy converges to a zero-error test for causal compatibility. In this sense, the inflation technique fulfills a longstanding desideratum in the field of causal inference. We quantify the rate of convergence by showing that any distribution which passes the nth-order inflation test must be On−1/2$\begin{array}{} \displaystyle {O}{\left(n^{{{-}{1}}/{2}}\right)} \end{array}$-close in Euclidean norm to some distribution genuinely compatible with the given causal structure. Furthermore, we show that for many causal structures, the (unrelaxed) causal compatibility problem is faithfully formulated already by either the first or second order inflation test. (shrink)

In the article the parameters of the crime novel and crime story that were used by the postwar German novel of the investigation were highlighted and analyzed. The transformation of the range of problems of criminal literature in the new conditions is showed on the material of such works as ‘Aula‘ Kant, ‘Der Fall d’Arthez‘ G.-E. Nossack ‘Buridan’s ass‘ G. de Breun, ‘Gruppenbild mit Dame‘ G. Boell, ‘Black ass‘ L. Rinzer et al. It is demonstrated which formal elements that organize (...) the system of images, time-space and the intersection of ‘voice streams‘, the texts succeed from the twentieth-century enlightenment ‘postpitaval’s‘ prose. Traditions of Schiller, Goethe and others expressed through the ideological setting of the novel of the investigation, the duality of its structure and the relationship of narrative plans. The narrators of investigation novel work for underlining their detachment; they are out of the events and cherish their independence. Masks and aliases are actively used with the view of creating of the effect of ‘non-presence‘. Authors play with the grammatical forms: I am - you are - he is. Therefore, the novel of investigation adopts the social agenda and coherence with the historical period from the tradition of a criminal novel. Ethical measures used by narrators to evaluate the events described are succeeded from tradition as well. Some elements, which stay relevant, are used as productive. (shrink)

In this book, Bruce Waller attacks two prevalent philosophical beliefs. First, he argues that moral responsibility must be rejected; there is no room for such a notion within our naturalist framework. Second, he denies the common assumption that moral responsibility is inseparably linked with individual freedom. Rejection of moral responsibility does not entail the demise of individual freedom; instead, individual freedom is enhanced by the rejection of moral responsibility. According to this theory of "no-fault naturalism," no one deserves either blame (...) or reward.In the course of arguing against moral responsibility, Waller critiques major compatibilist arguments-by Dennett, Frankfurt, Strawson, Bennett, Wolf, Hampshire, Glover, Rachels, Sher, and others. In addition, the implications of denying moral responsibility-for individual freedom, for moral judgments and moral behavior, and for social justice-are examined; the supposed dire consequences of the denial of moral responsibility are challenged; and the benefits of denying moral responsibility are described. Author note: Bruce N. Waller, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Youngstown State University, Youngstown, Ohio, is the author of Critical Thinking: Consider the Verdict. (shrink)

At the beginning of the 21st century, fibromyalgia syndrome (FM) has become a diagnostic category that includes extremely large numbers of people, predominantly women. Estimates that perhaps 2 to 4% of the adult population suffer from FM have been widely accepted. Moreover, patients diagnosed with FM have incurred substantial medical costs, to say nothing about high rates of disability. Yet the diagnosis has remained highly contested, and there are competing etiological theories and therapies. Indeed, a leading authority has identified what (...) he calls the "fibromyalgia wars" (Wolfe 2009). To some, the syndrome is "an age-old malady begging for respect" (Powers 1993). To others, it is a form of "labeling woefulness" .. (shrink)

Este trabajo presenta un contrapunto entre dos filosofías que participan en el debate que se establece, a propósito de la pregunta por la vida buena, entre los ámbitos ético -tradicionalmente unido a la razón- y estético -tradicionalmente unido a la sensibilidad-, tratando de determinar hasta qué punto es posible y conveniente sobrepasar los límites, bien definidos por la modernidad, de ambos campos. Ambas concepciones, la de Martha Nussbaum, en nombre de la literatura, y la de Ursula Wolf, en nombre (...) de la filosofía, remiten a Aristóteles y aceptan que para deliberar acerca de la vida buena es necesaria la comprensión que aportan tanto la obra literaria como la obra de arte; sin embargo, cada una de ellas asume un énfasis particular y ello permite una consideración amplia del estado actual de la discusión. (shrink)

Tanto la filosofía como la literatura, en cuanto búsquedas de la verdad, de respuestas frente a un núcleo de preguntas vitales, recurren a una estructura formal que necesariamente es la expresión de una actitud frente a la vida. Se plantea que la forma literaria no puede separarse del contenido filosófico, pues es el resultado de una indagación que intenta dar respuestas a asuntos particulares sobre la vida humana, así como el contenido filosófico halla expresión en una estructura formal que transmite (...) un sentido de la vida. La forma y el contenido no pueden separarse sin fracturar la visión de la vida que ofrecen tanto el texto literario como el texto filosófico. Sin embargo ¿cómo escribir, qué formas, qué estructuras, qué lenguaje utilizar para hablar de asuntos tan particulares como el amor? ¿Hasta dónde es posible escribir filosóficamente sobre la vida y sus interrogantes particulares? ¿Cuáles han sido los aportes de la literatura en la búsqueda de visiones alternativas frente a la experiencia humana? Tal es el punto de partida en la elaboración de este ensayo que intenta, por lo demás, concederle a la literatura y a sus formas de expresión, un lugar más central en el campo de la reflexión sobre el sentido de la vida y otros interrogantes importantes acerca de los asuntos humanos. (shrink)

Bringing these two emergent areas of thought into direct conversation in Before the Law, Cary Wolfe fosters a new discussion about the status of nonhuman animals and the shared plight of humans and animals under biopolitics.