Volume 20, Issue 9, September 2020, Page 33-36.

To prepare for potential human infection challenge studies involving SARS-CoV-2, we convened a multidisciplinary working group to address ethical questions regarding whether and how much SAR...

Intersectionality has become a significant intellectual approach for those thinking about the ways that race, gender, and other social identities converge in order to create unique forms of oppression. Although the initial work on intersectionality addressed the unique position of black women relative to both black men and white women, the concept has since been expanded to address a range of social identities. Here we consider how to apply some of the theoretical tools provided by intersectionality to the clinical context. (...) We begin with a brief discussion of intersectionality and how it might be useful in a clinical context. We then discuss two clinical scenarios that highlight how we think considering intersectionality could lead to more successful patient–clinician interactions. Finally, we extrapolate general strategies for applying intersectionality to the clinical context before considering objections and replies. (shrink)

The peer commentaries on our Target Article, “Promoting Ethical Payment in Human Infection Challenge Studies,” offer a number of insights that will help advance the co...

Spontaneous eye blink rate has been linked to attention and memory, specifically working memory. sEBR is also related to striatal dopamine activity with schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease showing increases and decreases, respectively, in sEBR. A weakness of past studies of sEBR and WM is that correlations have been reported using blink rates taken at baseline either before or after performance of the tasks used to assess WM. The goal of the present study was to understand how fluctuations in sEBR during (...) different phases of a visual WM task predict task accuracy. In two experiments, with recordings of sEBR collected inside and outside of a magnetic resonance imaging bore, we observed sEBR to be positively correlated with WM task accuracy during the WM delay period. We also found task-related modulation of sEBR, including higher sEBR during the delay period compared to rest, and lower sEBR during task phases that place demands on visual attention. These results provide further evidence that sEBR could be an important predictor of WM task performance with the changes during the delay period suggesting a role in WM maintenance. The relationship of sEBR to DA activity and WM maintenance is discussed. (shrink)

Evaluates trade-offs and uncertainties inherent in achieving sustainable energy, analyzes the major energy technologies, and provides a framework for assessing policy options.

Self-defining memories are touchstones in individuals’ narrative identity. This is the first SDM study to compare college students from the mainland People’s Republic of China to American college students. It examined SDMs, Big Five personality traits, and memory function in 60 students from each country. Participants rated their memories for affect, recall frequency, and importance. Chinese students recalled their most positively rated memories more frequently and with greater importance, while American students did not show this pattern. American students who scored (...) higher in Openness were more likely to recall negative memories. Memory content coding revealed that Chinese students recalled significantly more guilt/shame events than American students. Further analysis indicated that these memories were particularly focused on academic performance and parental expectations. The discussion suggests that follow-up studies look at differing emotion regulation strategies in the two countries, as well as at how the two different educational systems are affecting late adolescent identity formation processes. (shrink)

Este trabalho tem como foco a filosofia de Schopenhauer em comparação com a proposta salvífica do cristianismo. Os grandes filósofos metafísicos que precederam Schopenhauer identificaram o objetivo maior do espírito com a realização de sua plenitude. Esta é indicada, paralelamente, no campo religioso, a partir da aproximação do homem com Deus. A novidade que este texto pretende apontar é que, diferentemente da tradição filosófica e religiosa do Ocidente, Schopenhauer realizou em sua metafísica um caminho para o espírito humano no qual (...) a sua “libertação” não coincide com a plenitude do espírito. Para este filósofo a libertação é atingida a partir de uma ascese radical, na medida em que propõe a mortificação/ aniquilação do ser como um todo. É um caminho que passa pela busca da nulidade da Vontade, visando sua suprema aniquilação. (shrink)

Volume Eight of the project documenting Thomas Jefferson's last years presents 591 documents dated from 1 October 1814 to 31 August 1815. Jefferson is overjoyed by American victories late in the War of 1812 and highly interested in the treaty negotiations that ultimately end the conflict. Following Congress's decision to purchase his library, he oversees the counting, packing, and transportation of his books to Washington. Jefferson uses most of the funds from the sale to pay old debts (...) but spends some of the proceeds on new titles. He resigns from the presidency of the American Philosophical Society, revises draft chapters of Louis H. Girardin's history of Virginia, and advises William Wirt on revolutionary-era Stamp Act resolutions. Jefferson criticizes those who discuss politics from the pulpit, and he drafts a bill to transform the Albemarle Academy into Central College. Monticello visitors Francis W. Gilmer, Francis C. Gray, and George Ticknor describe the mountaintop and its inhabitants, and Gray's visit leads to an exchange with Jefferson about how many generations of white interbreeding it takes to clear Negro blood. Finally, although death takes his nephew Peter Carr and brother Randolph Jefferson, the marriage of his grandson Thomas Jefferson Randolph is a continuing source of great happiness. Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions. (shrink)

Thomas Jefferson is among the most important and controversial of American political thinkers: his influence (libertarian, democratic, participatory, and agrarian-republican) is still felt today. A prolific writer, Jefferson left 18,000 letters, Notes on the State of Virginia, an Autobiography, and numerous other papers. Joyce Appleby and Terence Ball have selected the most important of these for presentation in the Cambridge Texts series: Jefferson's views on topics such as revolution, self-government, the role of women and African-American and Native (...) Americans emerge to give a fascinating insight into a man who owned slaves, yet advocated the abolition of slavery. The texts are supported by a concise introduction, suggestions for further reading and short biographies of key figures, all providing invaluable assistance to the student encountering the breadth and richness of Jefferson's thought for the first time. (shrink)

O presente texto tem como escopo refletir sobre a retomada da metafísica tomasiana não apenas como uma fixação no contexto histórico, cultural e filosófico em que foi exercido o pensamento metafísico medieval, mas, sobretudo, como possibilidade de ainda se pensar em questões de sentido dos tempos atuais. O reavivamento do ato de filosofar não descarta a relevância intelectual de pensar a tradição e a primazia do ato de existir na ordem da inteligibilidade das coisas e ser na ordem intencional lançam (...) questões aos debates metafísicos contemporâneos. Ao se ir do nível protológico ao lógico, reconhece-se uma metafísica do existir (esse) e, quando se passa do nível psicológico ao gnosiológico, tem-se mais clara uma metafísica do juízo. O pensamento tomasiano retoma as noções primordiais de ordem, inteligência e natureza na teoria do juízo, que vai da representação ao Ser, na qual a separatio constitui o gesto metafísico da inteligência capaz de desvelar a culminância da inteligibilidade do ato de existir como fundamento de toda realidade, abrindo o horizonte de possibilidade de se compreender desafios antropológicos contemporâneos e seus desdobramentos no existir, a partir de um referencial mais profundo do que aqueles oferecidos por concepções subjetivistas, relativistas e niilistas do mundo. (shrink)

In this paper, I address the question whether mental disorders should be understood to be brain disorders and what conditions need to be met for a disorder to be rightly described as a brain disorder. I defend the view that mental disorders are autonomous and that a condition can be a mental disorder without at the same time being a brain disorder. I then show the consequences of this view. The most important of these is that brain differences underlying mental (...) disorders derive their status as disordered from the fact that they realize mental dysfunction and are therefore non-autonomous or dependent on the level of the mental. I defend this view of brain disorders against the objection that only conditions whose pathological character can be identified independently of the mental level of description count as brain disorders. The understanding of brain disorders I propose requires a certain amount of conceptual revision and is at odds with approaches which take the notion of brain disorder to be fundamental or look to neuroscience to provide us with a purely physiological understanding of mental illness. It also entails a pluralistic understanding of psychiatric illness, according to which a condition can be both a mental disorder and a brain disorder. (shrink)

People hold wildly opposing and very strong views on the question whether mental disorders are brain disorders, and the disagreement is primarily a conceptual one, not one about whether there are,...

Esta investigación se emprende motivada por la necesidad de desentrañar la progresión delos modelos de aprendizaje, los cuales se han ido adaptando para responder a las demandas de lasociedad en su dinámica constante de fluctuación y transformaciones. El objetivo de este trabajo es examinar de forma sistemática la evolución de los modelos de aprendizaje, destacando los cambios paradigmáticos que han favorecido la transición de enfoques de aprendizaje tradicionales hacia propuestas más innovadoras y transdisciplinarias. Para lograrlo, se lleva a cabo un (...) análisis bibliográfico apoyado en el método hermenéutico para la interpretación contextual de la literatura y los discursos, a fin de desentrañar las complejidades inherentes en la evolución de los modelos de aprendizaje. Los resultados resaltan la influencia limitante del paradigma de la simplicidad en laformación educativa tradicional y la necesidad de un giro hacia la dialogicidad y la colaboración eintegración disciplinaria para avanzar hacia la complejidad. Se concluye argumentando a favor de la adopción del paradigma de la complejidad, abogando por una epistemología transdisciplinariay un enfoque de aprendizaje interestructurante, que permitan el desarrollo humano integral.El reconocimiento de la complejidad humana en la enseñanza y el aprendizaje exige una transformación radical de la educación hacia prácticas más holísticas y transformadoras, esenciales para construir una sociedad equitativa y justa. (shrink)

Slippery slope arguments are frequently dismissed as fallacious or weak arguments but are nevertheless commonly used in political and bioethical debates. This paper gives an overview of different variants of the argument commonly found in the literature and addresses their argumentative strength and the interrelations between them. The most common variant, the empirical slippery slope argument, predicts that if we do A, at some point the highly undesirable B will follow. I discuss both the question which factors affect likelihood of (...) slippage and the relation between the strength of the prediction and the justificatory power of the argument. (shrink)

I defend an instrumentalist account of moral responsibility and adopt Manuel Vargas’ idea that our responsibility practices are justified by their effects. However, whereas Vargas gives an independent account of morally responsible agency, on my account, responsible agency is defined as the susceptibility to developing and maintaining moral agency through being held responsible. I show that the instrumentalism I propose can avoid some problems more crude forms of instrumentalism encounter by adopting aspects of Strawsonian accounts. I then show the implications (...) for our understanding of responsibility: my account requires us to adopt a graded notion of responsibility and accept the claim that certain individuals may not be responsible because they are not susceptible to being influenced by our moral responsibility practices. Finally, I discuss whether the account is committed to allowing the instrumentalization of non-responsible individuals in cases where blaming them may benefit others’ moral agency. (shrink)

En las Enéadas, Plotino traza su visión sobre el alma y el cuerpo. Existe una lectura tradicional de Plotino, que encuentra en el pensador una desvaloración del cuerpo; esta lectura está basada en el protagonismo que posee el alma en relación con el cuerpo en el pensamiento plotiniano, y en la interpretación literal del texto del pensador; al contrario, se quiere trazar una valoración positiva del cuerpo en el filósofo. El objetivo de este trabajo es delimitar el concepto de cuerpo (...) en Plotino, entendiendo que este posee su indiscutible importancia y valoración positiva en el texto mismo del filósofo neoplatónico. (shrink)

The present work includes a discussion about the Kantian ideal of progress and its repercussions in the construction of a cosmopolitan education, by virtue of weighing its validity and the challenges it faces in contemporary times. The manuscript analyzes the Kantian postulates about progress to clarify the guidelines of a cosmopolitan education. The document is structured thanks to the bibliographic study and the consequent systematic review of an exploratory type and the help of the hermeneutical method. The approach to the (...) subject begins with the analysis of the enlightened ideals of a cosmopolitan, universal, humanizing education project aimed at fulfilling the ultimate purposes of reason, as the preferred path for human improvement and social progress. At the end of this work, the incompatibility between that ideal of Kantian cosmopolitan education, which promised freedom and self-control, and the current system that promotes an idea of ​​progress far from these principles is made evident. (shrink)

Este artículo examina las concepciones de justicia y bien desde lasperspectivas de John Rawls y Milton Fisk. Enfatizamos en los principalespostulados y diferencias que suponen esas nociones en el marco delliberalismo político y las realidades sociales contemporáneas. En primerlugar discutimos el concepto de bienes primarios elaborado por Rawls y surelación con la igualdad social. Señalamos como este concepto se ajustamás a condiciones procedimentales que a realidades concretas. En segundolugar discutimos las nociones de bienes públicos y justicia radical de Fisk apartir (...) de una moral política no formalista construida en el marco de proyectossolidarios y de bienes sustantivos y colectivos. (shrink)

In this paper, I respond to commentaries on my book “Are Mental Disorders Brain Disorders?”. The topics I discuss are: accounts of function and dysfunction, constraints on the relationship between processes at the level of the brain and the mind, externalism in psychiatry, implications for moral responsibility and the question whether my account is a form of conceptual engineering. I defend my account and argue that the key criterion for whether mental disorders are brain disorders is whether we can map (...) dysfunctional psychological processes onto specific differences in brain function. I also acknowledge that my commentators have identified points where my account needs further development. (shrink)

Thesis summary BATISTA, Jefferson Pinto.The social doctrine of the Catholic Church and the foundations of social work: the graduation course of Social Work at PUC Minas.

The challenges facing us today require practical wisdom to allow us to react appropriately. In this paper, we argue that at a group level, we will make better decisions if we respect and take into account the moral judgment of agents with diverse styles of cognition and moral reasoning. We show this by focusing on the example of autism, highlighting different strengths and weaknesses of moral reasoning found in autistic and non-autistic persons respectively.

Esse artigo teórico tem como objetivo discutir o problema do suicídio praticado por homens e suas implicações para os serviços de atenção básica à saúde. Utilizou-se o método da revisão narrativa, uma forma de pesquisa que visa contribuir para a reflexão e a discussão sobre um assunto sem pretender reproduzir dados ou responder questões quantitativas específicas. Tendo como base os descritores “suicídio”, “homem” e “saúde”, identificou-se a partir das plataformas Scielo e Pubmed 56 artigos produzidos nos últimos cinco anos em (...) português e inglês, dentre os quais seis foram selecionados. A análise dos resultados indica que no Brasil as ocorrências de suicídio são mais elevadas nas Regiões Sul e Centro Oeste, onde cerca de 70% dos casos são de homens jovens que optam pelo enforcamento. Pode-se identificar como causa aspectos sociais, econômicos, relacionais, psicológicos e aspectos culturais que implicam transformações nas formas como a sociedade vê os homens e na necessidade de que eles reconheçam suas fragilidades. As masculinidades tradicionais precisam ser revistas a fim de que lhes seja possível reconhecer suas limitações diante da vivência de problemas emocionais, buscando-se superar sua recusa a buscar ajuda nos momentos de fragilidade e intenso sofrimento. Conclui-se que os serviços básicos precisam dinamizar suas ações e promover campanhas preventivas, participação da comunidade, facilitação do acesso a profissionais da saúde mental e diversificação de abordagens, compreendendo o suicídio praticado por homens em suas especificidades. Enquanto problema de saúde pública, o suicídio precisa ser abordado de forma preventiva com ações voltadas para o público em geral, sendo importante compreender sua complexidade no que se refere às questões das masculinidades. (shrink)

This paper aims to reflect on a philosophy of resistance based on Michel Foucault’s thought and it questions whether the present has reached the end of the era of revolution. The paper presents two studies. Study I discusses the author’s position concerning Marx’s theses in order to outline the notion of resistance within the framework of relations of power. In that regard, the general strike of May 1968 is exemplary. Study II deals with how to think of resistance as an (...) experience. The notion of foyer highlights the articulating function between the ‘empowerment’ aspect of resistance and the processes of desubjectivation of experience. By developing this hypothesis, three themes addressed in Foucault’s works are considered: transgression, counter-conduct, and critical attitude. Finally, this thesis respects the limitations found in Foucault’s philosophy, without neglecting his records to support it. Conclusion suggests that the philosophy of resistance may promote an experience of defiance. (shrink)

Should moral blame stop at the grave? We often blame the dead for the bad things they did while alive. But blaming the dead poses a prima facie challenge to accounts which take our blaming practices to aim at communicating moral disapproval to wrongdoers or at improving their moral agency. If these kinds of aims are made definitional for blame, blaming the dead becomes impossible. But even on accounts which say that paradigmatically, blame is a form of moral engagement which (...) aims to effect changes in the wrongdoer, blaming the dead may seem unjustified, pointless or even irrational. In this paper, I explain how blaming the dead can be made sense of and justified. However, not all cases of blaming the dead fit this explanation, because blaming the dead is not a homogenous practice. (shrink)

The question of whether psychopaths are criminally and morally responsible has generated significant controversy in the literature. In this paper, we discuss what relevance a psychopathy diagnosis has for criminal responsibility. It has been argued that figuring out whether psychopathy is a mental illness is of fundamental importance, because it is a precondition for psychopaths’ eligibility to be excused via the legal insanity defense. But even if psychopathy counts as a mental illness, this alone is not sufficient to show the (...) insanity defense is applicable; it must also be shown that, as a result of the illness, specific deficits in moral understanding or control are present. In this paper, we show that a diagnosis of psychopathy will generally not indicate that a defendant is eligible for an insanity defense. This is because the group of individuals subsumed under the diagnosis is so heterogeneous that while some psychopaths do show significant impairments in affect and control which may impact on their responsibility, many psychopaths are not incapacitated in a way relevant to responsibility. (shrink)

Neste trabalho apresentamos uma experiência de estágio realizada em uma escola indígena Kyikatêjê, na região norte do Brasil e analisamos aspectos dessa experiência a partir dos conceitos de autoridade e espaço comunicativo transcultural. Para tanto, descrevemos de modo breve o contexto no qual a pesquisa de estágio ocorreu, destacando os objetivos do estágio, o período de realização e os professores envolvidos. Nesse relato, situamos o ponto de interesse que motivou a escrita do presente trabalho. Indicado nosso objeto de estudos, apresentamos (...) duas seções teóricas que caracterizam a perspectiva com a qual trabalhamos. Na primeira, expomos o conceito de autoridade, entendida a partir do Modelo dos Campos Semânticos. Apresentamos como esse conceito está relacionado à justificação utilizada na produção de conhecimento. Ao fazer isso, afirmamos que nosso interesse se dirige aos aspectos epistemológicos da experiência realizada. Na sessão seguinte, apresentamos o conceito de espaço comunicativo transcultural, como sendo aquelas situações de interação onde duas ou mais culturas se encontram e que a alteridade do espaço constituído nesse encontro, possibilita o compartilhamento de legitimidades entre elas. Após apresentar os conceitos teóricos é apresentada a experiência de estágio de modo a colocar em evidência a relação entre o estagiário, os professores e os alunos e não os conteúdos trabalhos. Na última seção essa experiência de estágio é analisada à luz dos conceitos apresentados. Apontamos na conclusão que o comportamento dos alunos advém de legitimidades constituídas na cultura da qual fazem parte, mas esse comportamento não indica necessariamente uma abertura para o processo de aprendizagem. Apontamos, também, que a criação de um espaço comunicativo que mobiliza as legitimidades da cultura Kyikatêjê na aula de Matemática, privilegiando os modos de produzir conhecimento dessa cultura, oportunizou uma mudança no processo de produção de conhecimento dos alunos. (shrink)

Working with interactional data, one sometimes observes that a type of behavior seems to be produced a great deal by one category of persons and not all that much by another category. But when put to the test of a straightforward count, the observation does not hold up: Category X does not after all do this thing significantly more often than Category Y does. It may then be that the apparent skewing of the behavior’s distribution across categories is the result (...) of selective observation; noticing with greater frequency those cases which conformed to some biased notion held by the observer of how these categories behave. But there seems to be another possibility. It may be that the observation has located, but only roughly and partially described, a complex of behaviors which the observation can then be seen to reflect, refer to, or constitute a ‘gloss’ for. (shrink)

This collection of articles pays homage to the creativity and scientific rigor Jerome Singer has brought to the study of consciousness and play. It will interest personality, social, clinical and developmental psychologists alike.

Introduction to a special issue on unrealistic optimism.

Ao se ocupar da pesquisa acerca da teoria teológica da religião formulada a partir do pensamento do teólogo jesuíta estadunidense David Tracy, o presente texto objetiva recolher impulsos para o estudo teológico da religião. Para tanto, examinam-se as obras _Blessed Rage for Order: the new pluralism in Theology_, _A imaginação analógica: a teologia cristã e a cultura do pluralismo _ e _Plurality and ambiguity_: _hermeneutics, religion, hope_ no que tange à definição de religião. Como resultado das contribuições tracyanas ao estudo (...) teológico da religião destacam-se: 1. Uma abordagem não totalizante da religião; 2. A percepção das pluralidades e ambiguidades que envolvem a investigação da religião e das interpretações da religião; 3. A imaginação analógica entre os estudos da religião e os estudos da arte. 4. A conversação com os clássicos religiosos; 5. Uma dimensão profética das religiões e dos estudos da religião. (shrink)

Ecological accounts of responsible agency claim that moral feedback is essential to the reasons-responsiveness of agents. In this paper, we discuss McGeer’s scaffolded reasons-responsiveness account in the light of two concerns. The first is that some agents may be less attuned to feedback from their social environment but are nevertheless morally responsible agents – for example, autistic people. The second is that moral audiences can actually work to undermine reasons-responsiveness if they espouse the wrong values. We argue that McGeer’s account (...) can be modified to handle both problems. Once we understand the specific roles that moral feedback plays for recognizing and acting on moral reasons, we can see that autistics frequently do rely on such feedback, although it often needs to be more explicit. Furthermore, although McGeer is correct to highlight the importance of moral feedback, audience sensitivity is not all that matters to reasons-responsiveness; it needs to be tempered by a consistent application of moral rules. Agents also need to make sure that they choose their moral audiences carefully, paying special attention to receiving feedback from audiences which may be adversely affected by their actions. (shrink)

Religious identity has, in recent times, become an important point of inquiry because of the growing awareness of religious diversity. On the one hand, this reality of diversity has served as an impetus to return to the roots of one’s religion. On the other hand, others have called for a more pluralist stance, out of the need to open up to other traditions. In light of this polarity, I argue that one can commit to one’s religion while opening up to (...) the religious other in a way that does not threaten one’s own tradition. This is done through a hermeneutic analysis of the religious identity, taking off from Paul Ricoeur’s phenomenological hermeneutics – how this identity is formed and informed by the different significations of meaning within the tradition, and how the believer interacts with this tradition to construct his or her own narrative identity, through his or her imagination, mapping out the constellations of possible human action that root themselves in the necessity in encountering and working with the religious other, for this necessity is constitutive of one’s commitment to the tradition, embodied in the biblical narratives that call for this encounter. In sum, it is possible to be committed to one’s faith conviction while being hospitable to the religious other because it is constitutive of religion itself to encounter its other, and it is in this encounter that faith is truly understood as conviction. (shrink)

Democratic decline in various Latin American countries has been accompanied by religious sectors growth. This article aims at interpreting the public presence of Christian churches and their political representatives based on translation as hermeneutical process in which the relationship between religion and public space is observed. Through bibliographical analysis, the text identifies in Ricoeurian translation based hermeneutic applied to religious studies the possibility of interpreting concrete intersubjective and intercontextual translation which are already present in the public space, mainly in two (...) ways: in an intralinguistic dynamics, i.e., the relationship between Christian groups that sufficiently converge onto programmatic actions regarding economic and moral agenda; and in an interlinguistic dimension in the relationship between religious groups and elitist democratic models which constant crisis situation is perhaps beneficial to some sectors. The metaphor of religions as languages also allows the identification of hermeneutic incompatibilities between distinguished theological discourses in the public space, even when they originate from the same tradition. Therefore, translation as hermeneutic process applied to the analysis of religious discourse may become another tool to the field of studies on religion and public space. (shrink)

El artículo reflexiona teóricamente sobre cómo a través del prisma de una experiencia históricamente desgarradora como fue la Gran Guerra (1914–1918) el sociólogo y filósofo Maurice Halbwachs (1877-1945) y el literato y biógrafo Stefan Zweig (1881-1942), recrean algunos de los dispositivos centrales al estudio social y filosófico de la memoria: el olvido, el silencio y el recuerdo. El texto revisa, en esa dirección, algunos de los aportes filosóficos, sociológicos y literarios de dos de los textos principales de estos autores: Los (...) marcos sociales de la memoria y El mundo de ayer. Memorias de un europeo. A lo largo del artículo se muestra que el objetivo de dicha revisión no es inventariar con exactitud lo propuesto por ambos autores alrededor de la memoria. Más bien, buscamos recrear como sus visiones sobre la memoria de la Gran Guerra resultan seductoras en su momento y de mucha actualidad hoy en día no solo por lo que dicen sino también por lo que omiten sobre este gran acontecimiento disruptivo.AbstractThis article of theoretical reflection aims at showing how through the prism of a historically harrowing like the Great War (1914-1918), the sociologist and philosopher Maurice Halbwachs (1877-1945) and the writer and biographer Stefan Zweig (1881-1942), recreate some of the central devices to the social and philosophical study of memory: oblivion, silence and remembrance. The paper reviews some of the philosophical, sociological and literary contributions of two major works by these authors: Social Frames of Memory, and the World of Yesterday. Memoirs of a European. Throughout the article I show that the views of these two authors about the memory of the Great War are seductive in their time and very current today not only for what they say but for what they omit about this great disruptive event. (shrink)

Se pretende en este artículo, desde la revisión de los llamados textos éticopolíticos de I. Kant, aventurar a lo largo de tres rutas temáticas la comprensión de los posibles cruces entre política y ética. Para ello, en primer término se aborda el problema de la libertad como condición de posibilidad no sólo de la moral sino de la política. Seguidamente se enfoca la discusión al enfrentamiento de Kant con el realismo político y su defensa de la emancipación político - moral (...) de los hombres. Finalmente la reflexión conduce a la comprensión del cruce entre política y moral bajo la tutela de una óptica política del derecho denominada por Kant Republicanismo. (shrink)

Introduction to the Philosophy of Law: Readings and Cases employs a combination of case-based and theory-based materials to show novices in the field how the philosophy of law is related to concrete and actual legal practice. Ideal for undergraduates, it engages their curiosity about the law without sacrificing philosophical content. The authors emphasize a command of legal concepts and doctrine as a prelude to philosophical analysis. Designed to acquaint students with the fundamentals of jurisprudence and legal theory, Part I of (...) the book includes readings from influential philosophers representing eight different types of jurisprudence: natural law theory, positivism, constructivism, consequentialism, critical legal studies, feminist theory, practice theory, and new natural law theory. In Part II, the authors present a variety of cases that allow students to apply the theories in Part I to the actual practice of law. Unlike similar texts, which focus primarily on public law, this unique book addresses both private and public law, and includes cases on statutory interpretation, contract law, and tort law. Brief essays precede and discussion questions follow each case. Introduction to the Philosophy of Law: Readings and Cases serves as an exceptional text for courses in the philosophy of law, jurisprudence, and legal theory. (shrink)

Opponents of biomedical enhancement frequently adopt what Allen Buchanan has called the “Personal Goods Assumption.” On this assumption, the benefits of biomedical enhancement will accrue primarily to those individuals who undergo enhancements, not to wider society. Buchanan has argued that biomedical enhancements might in fact have substantial social benefits by increasing productivity. We outline another way in which enhancements might benefit wider society: by augmenting civic virtue and thus improving the functioning of our political communities. We thus directly confront critics (...) of biomedical enhancement who argue that it will lead to a loss of social cohesion and a breakdown in political life. (shrink)

Does a diagnosis of brain dysfunction matter for ascriptions of moral responsibility? This chapter argues that, while knowledge of brain pathology can inform judgments of moral responsibility, its evidential value is currently limited for a number of practical and theoretical reasons. These include the problem of establishing causation from correlational data, drawing inferences about individuals from group data, and the reliance of the interpretation of brain findings on well-established psychological findings. Brain disorders sometimes matter for moral responsibility, however, because they (...) change an individual’s moral psychology in a way that is beyond their control. While control over psychological changes is not an excusing factor, brain disorders can mitigate moral responsibility because they confront individuals with new psychological deficits or urges for which their previous moral education and existing external and internal moral resources have not prepared them. (shrink)

We often hear that certain mental disorders are disorders of the brain, but it is not clear what this claim amounts to. Does it mean that they are like classic brain diseases such as brain cancer? I argue that this is not the case for most mental disorders. Neither does the claim that all mental disorders are brain disorders follow from a materialist world-view. The only plausible way of understanding mental disorders as brain disorders is a fairly modest one, where (...) we label brain differences we find in mental illness as pathological based on their link to mental dysfunction. How many mental disorders will turn out to be brain disorders on this understanding is an empirical question. (shrink)

When individuals display cognitive biases, they are prone to developing systematically false beliefs. Evolutionary psychologists have argued that rather than being a flaw in human cognition, biases may actually be design features. In my paper, I assess the claim that unrealistic optimism is such a design feature because it is a form of error management. Proponents of this theory say that when individuals make decisions under uncertainty, it can be advantageous to err on the side of overconfidence if the potential (...) gains through success are high and the costs of failure are low. I argue that there are a number of conceptual problems in matching the theory with the existing data. I also show that there is empirical evidence against the error management hypothesis. (shrink)