Society’s relationship with modern animal farming is an ambivalent one: on the one hand there is rising criticism about modern animal farming; on the other hand people appreciate certain aspects of it, such as increased food safety and low food prices. This ambivalence reflects the two faces of modernity: the negative (exploitation of nature and loss of traditions) and the positive (progress, convenience, and efficiency). This article draws on a national survey carried out in the Netherlands that aimed at (...) gaining a deeper understanding about the acceptance of modern dairy farming in Dutch society. People take two dimensions into account when evaluating different aspects of modern dairy farming: (1) the way living beings are used for production and (2) the way a dairy farm functions as a business. In both these dimensions people appeared to adopt cautious opinions: most people preferred relatively traditional and natural farms and were concerned about the use of nature and treatment of animals in modern production—although this did not imply an outright rejection of modern animal farming. The study also looked for (and sought to explain) differences of opinion between social groups. Besides socio-demographic factors such as age and gender, farming experience and value-orientation (such as socially minded and professional) appeared to be important variables. The values and convictions within modern society can help to explain why some people are greatly concerned about animal welfare while some show less concern. This diversity also helps to explain why general information campaigns are quite ineffective in allaying concerns about modern animal farming. (shrink)

Society’s relationship with modern animal farming is an ambivalent one: on the one hand there is rising criticism about modern animal farming; on the other hand people appreciate certain aspects of it, such as increased food safety and low food prices. This ambivalence reflects the two faces of modernity: the negative (exploitation of nature and loss of traditions) and the positive (progress, convenience, and efficiency). This article draws on a national survey carried out in the Netherlands that aimed at (...) gaining a deeper understanding about the acceptance of modern dairy farming in Dutch society. People take two dimensions into account when evaluating different aspects of modern dairy farming: (1) the way living beings are used for production and (2) the way a dairy farm functions as a business. In both these dimensions people appeared to adopt cautious opinions: most people preferred relatively traditional and natural farms and were concerned about the use of nature and treatment of animals in modern production—although this did not imply an outright rejection of modern animal farming. The study also looked for (and sought to explain) differences of opinion between social groups. Besides socio-demographic factors such as age and gender, farming experience and value-orientation (such as socially minded and professional) appeared to be important variables. The values and convictions within modern society can help to explain why some people are greatly concerned about animal welfare while some show less concern. This diversity also helps to explain why general information campaigns are quite ineffective in allaying concerns about modern animal farming. (shrink)

ZHOU Y, WINDSOR C, COYER F and THEOBALD K. Nursing Inquiry 2010; 17: 186–196Ambivalence and the experience of China-educated nurses working in AustraliaThe last decade has seen an increase in research on the experience of immigrant nurses. There are two prevailing approaches in this body of work. One is a focus on the positive or negative aspects of the experience, and the other, a depiction of the experience as a linear movement from struggle to a comfortable state. Based on our (...) study findings on the experience of China-educated nurses working in Australia, this study proposes that the concept of ambivalence is more appropriate in portraying the experience of immigrant nurses. Several sources of ambivalence experienced by the participants are represented: a disparity between expectation and reality, conflicting social and cultural norms, the dual reference points of comparison, divergent interests within families, and a sense that although it is unsatisfactory, it is hard to go back. We argue that immigration generates various forms of ambivalence and immigrant nurses must live with more or less ambivalence. The notion of ambivalence can explain a range of behaviours and situations beyond the scope of rational-choice explanations. To date, ambivalence as a theoretical concept in understanding the experience of immigrant nurses has been either ignored or insufficiently addressed in the literature. (shrink)

Our ideas about forgiveness seem to oscillate between idealization and scepticism. How should we make sense of this apparent conflict? This paper argues that we should learn something from each, seeing these views as representing opposing moments in a perennial and well-grounded moral ambivalence towards forgiveness. Once we are correctly positioned, we shall see an aspect of forgiveness that recommends precisely this ambivalence. For what will come into view will be certain key psychological mechanisms of moral-epistemic influence – (...) other-addressed and self-addressed mechanisms of moral social construction – that enable forgiveness to function well when it is well-functioning, but which are also intrinsically prone to deterioration into one or another form of bad faith. Thus forgiveness is revealed as necessarily containing seeds of its own corruption, showing ambivalence to be a generically appropriate attitude. Moreover, it is emphasized that where forgiver and forgiven are relating to one another in the context of asymmetries of social power, the practice of forgiveness is likely to be further compromised, notably increasing the risk of negative influence on the moral-epistemic states of either the forgiver or the forgiven, or both. (shrink)

This essay focuses on three topics that arose at the Photography and Historical Interpretation conference: photography’s incapacity to conceive duration; photography and the “rim of ontological uncertainty;” photography’s “anthropological revolution.” In the late nineteenth century, blindness to duration was conceptualized as the cost of photographic precision. Since the late twentieth century, blindness to our own desires, or inauthenticity, has been underlined as the price of photographic ubiquity. These forms of blindness, however, are not so much disabilities to be overcome as (...) they are aspects of modern consciousness to be acknowledged. The engagement with photography’s impact on historical consciousness gives rise to reconsiderations of temporal extension and to the difficulties of acknowledging one’s desires in an increasingly open and fractured social field. Photography’s indexicality combined with its reproducibility gives rise to photographic ambivalence. As with other forms of ambivalence, we should be less concerned with diluting its constitutive tensions than with learning to live with its conflicted possibilities. (shrink)

This work reveals the ambivalence of the notion of philia and its inability to serve as a foundation for the civic order when it is not supported by dike. The range of different analytical approaches opens up the perspective from which philosophy addresses a pivotal question for social and political ties in ancient Greece.

The noble aim of sociologists to "tell the truth" has sometimes involved ignoble assumptions about human beings. In this major discussion of truth in the social science, Ross Abbinnett traces the debate on truth from the "objectifying powers" of Kant through more than 200 years of critique and reformulation to the unraveling of truth by Lyotard, Foucault, and Derrida. Truth and Social Science gives students an exciting and accessible guide to the main sociological treatments of truth and can (...) also be read as an account of the collapse of modernity and the rise of new forms of thought, which treat difference and ambivalence as positive values. The book will be of interest to students of sociology, social theory, and philosophy. (shrink)

Ambivalence, broadly defined as feeling more than one emotion at a time, is thought to be a central aspect of human experience and to play an important role in a range of psychological processes. Ambivalence is experienced in close relationships, identity development, social and political attitudes, decision-making behavior, anxiety states, as well as in psychotherapeutic change. Eight under-graduate students participated in phenomenological interviews that were transcribed and served as the basis for the investigation. The primary purpose of (...) this paper is to shed light on the meaning of the experience of ambivalence by explicating the organizational relationships of its constituent meanings. The paper will also clarify the relation of ambivalence to important psychological processes and developmental transitions during young adulthood. (shrink)

Science matters. Science matters to the development of knowledge, to the sustainability of development, and to the shaping of social mores. Countries transitioning from developing to developed must be prepared to make science work for them and to forge a vision to become competitors in some aspects of science innovation. Drawing on data generated by the “Governing Emerging Technologies: Social Values and Stem Cell Regulation in Argentina” Project, this paper places the current Argentine bioscience setting in context by (...) reviewing the development of biosciences in Argentina, explores understandings of the social dimensions of bioscience innovation in Argentina and the possibilities of enhancing public support for science, and offers some preliminary thoughts on a model for socio-legal activity directed at encouraging social engagement with and the uptake of high technologies in Argentina. (shrink)

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, Bitcoin emerged as an alternative monetary system that could circumvent political and financial authorities. A practice in libertarian prefigurative politics, Bitcoin demonstrates the capacity for online subgroups to creatively appropriate internet-based technologies to enact alternative futures. Andrew Feenberg’s critical theory of technology clarifies this capacity and outlines the significance of agency in technical action. As technology mediates many social relations, it has a significant role in the reproduction of social power. (...) Technological agency is therefore a crucial site of resistance in which users can form alternative, democratic rationalizations of technology. Yet are such instances of agency intrinsically democratic? In analysing this aspect of Feenberg’s theory, this article argues that Bitcoin represents a ‘popular rationalization’ of technology – a creative appropriation of technology that empowers some groups while lacking the ethical justification necessary to be considered democratic. (shrink)

Mill’s status in the democratic family is contested. However, regardless of their conclusions, scholars have largely focused on and interpreted the tension between competence and participation in his thought as a way to determine Mill’s democratic credentials. This article argues for a different approach in thinking about Mill’s status as a democrat – that is, an approach that takes seriously his multifaceted conception of human flourishing – and it also argues that Mill is an ambivalent democrat because different dimensions of (...) democracy corrupt and cultivate different aspects of human flourishing. By taking seriously Mill’s multifaceted notion of human flourishing and connecting it to specific dimensions of democracy, I argue, we obtain a richer and more accurate depiction of the relationship between Mill’s ethics and his politics. (shrink)

The diffusion of digital information and communication technologies is strongly supported by many countries of the world. Today, as well as in the past, new technologies are charged with high expectations, but at a closer look one can see that these expectations then are very different from now. Today they depend on the various interests of different groups of people. Globally acting enterprises see DICT as essential stra-tegic instruments in gaining competitive power; some governments hope to reach military hegemony, others (...) to control terrorism and crime, while grass root movements expect to become more influential on some aspects of society. The paper identifies and analyses basic tendencies which promote the various hopes: the effects of DICT on reducing production and transaction costs, and the possibility to transform information goods into marketable services or commodities. The final part of the paper is devoted to a few examples of how the potential of DICT can be used for social improvements. (shrink)

The well-being of children and young people has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The shift to online education disrupted daily rhythms, transformed learning opportunities, and redefined social connections with peers and teachers. We here present a qualitative content analysis of responses to open-ended questions in a large-scale survey of teachers and students in Romania. We explore how their well-being has been impacted by online education through overflow effects of the sudden move to online classes; identity work at the (...) individual and group levels; and Students’ and teachers’ presentations of self in the online environment, with a focus on problematic aspects of webcam use. The results indicate that both students and teachers experienced ambivalence and diverse changes in well-being, generated by the flexibility, burdens, and disruptions of school-from-home. The identities associated with the roles of teacher and student have been challenged and opened for re-negotiation. Novel patterns have emerged in teachers’ and Students’ identity work. Failure or success at the presentation of self in online situations is relevant for the emotional valence of learning encounters, impacting well-being. Online classes have brought about new ways to control one’s presentation of self while also eliminating previous tactics and resources. The controversy regarding webcams has captured this duality: for some, the home remained a backstage that could not be safely exposed; for others, the home became a convenient front stage for school. Well-being was affected by the success of individual and collective performances, and by student-teacher asymmetries. Overall, our study of online learning indicates powerful yet variable influences on subjective well-being, which are related to overflow effects, identity work, and presentation of self. (shrink)

This article investigates the constitutive ties of modernity and the modern subject to the phenomenon of boredom, through its interpretation by Walter Benjamin. The nineteenth century—with Paris as its capital—forms the material for this interpretation, and the fragmentary constellations of quotation and reflection in Convolute D of The Arcades Project present boredom both in its social aspect (the city as protagonist) and as experience. A number of the forms of boredom is thus elaborated: the relation of city dweller to (...) nature and the cosmos, as weather; in its temporal orientation, as waiting; the mechanistic character of the modern world and its subject, as repetition; in the cycles of production and consumption, as the ideological boredom of the ruling class. Among three of Benjamin’s typologies for the bored modern subject—the gambler, the flaneur, and the one who waits—I turn particularly to the experience of the flaneur, the dedicatee of Convolute D. In flaneurie the experience of boredom is accumulated and distributed, and in this way the flaneur is in the city but also constitutes and memorializes it, as boredom. This ambivalent relation to the urban fabric and landscape is also captured in his characteristic observation and exhibition, his consumption without acquisition and without production. After considering some possible antitheses to Benjamin’s types of boredom, I conclude with the reflection that passing over boredom to its opposite would require the overcoming of modern subjectivity itself. (shrink)

Japan is ordinarily thought of as a country noted for its lack of violent crime and the general safety of its citizens. But there is now widespread incidence, almost an epidemic, of bullying (ijime), student violence against other students, and against teachers, juvenile delinquency, violence in the home, and a growing rate of absenteeism and youth suicide for reasons related to the larger problem. Another issue, which has heretofore not been connected to the anti-social behavior of Japanese youth, iskaroushi, (...) usually translated as sudden death from overwork, and it is my contention that they share the same roots: the failure to learn self-control, and the perception that the locus of control is external.It is the tentative thesis of this essay that, on the one hand, Japanese society in general places too much emphasis onexternal locus of control (rules, regulations, authority figures), and that, on the other hand, individual parents — through such things as over-indulgence — do not teach their children sufficientself-(internal) control. In this essay I present the concept of perceived locus of control as it relates to various aspects of personality and development, and therefore to the problems of anti-social behavior and the meaning of work. (shrink)

As a continuation of this author’s previous cosmological neuroscience papers on the hypothesized Soul of Multiverse and its possible laws, the present work examined the social aspects of four of these laws. The following key aspects were recognized: (1) Knowing about the cosmic Law of Coexistence in Diversity can let our mind respect not only the endless diversity of human beings but also the cohesive force of space-time in which all are connected. This may help realizing the superiority of (...) cooperation for shared goals over competition for gaining by harming others. (2) Knowing about the cosmic Law of Truth in Complexity can ready our mind to confront the problems of societies with the understanding that these problems are much more complex than generally thought. This may help initiating the needed intellectual renaissance of the 21st century. (3) Knowing about the cosmic Law of Divine - Evil Asymmetry can make our mind appreciate the slight yet sufficient supremacy of divine over evil. This may help restoring faith in the eventual creation of a just society, where social justice is defined as an administrative mechanism providing the right conditions for every human being to accomplish his or her Conscience-led Mission throughout life, while allowing each of these accomplishments to be reciprocated with the gratitude it induced in the involved social systems, small or large, to let equal opportunities in life coexist with due diversity in welcomed, not abused, social recognitions. And (4) knowing about the cosmic Law of Lives to Transcend can empower our mind to build on these advances. This may help moving evolution towards the human species worthy of its origin and destination. (shrink)

The author considers the way in which psychic life is generated by the social operation of power, and how that social operation of power is concealed and fortified by the psyche that it produces. Power is no longer understood to be 'internalized' by an existing subject, but the subject is spawned as an ambivalent effect of power, one that is staged through the operation of conscience. To claim that power fabricates the psyche is also to claim that there (...) is a fictional and fabricated quality to the psyche. The figure of a psyche that 'turns against itself' is crucial to this study, and offers an alternative to describing power as 'internalized'. Although most readers of Foucault eschew psychoanalytic theory, and most thinkers of the psyche eschew Foucault, the author seeks to theorize this ambivalent relation between the social and the psychic as one of the most dynamic and difficult effects of power. (shrink)

From its inception in 1987 social epistemology has been divided into analytic and critical approaches, represented by Alvin I. Goldman and Steve Fuller, respectively. In this paper, the agendas and some basic ideas of ASE and CSE are compared and assessed by bringing into the discussion also other participants of the debates on the social aspects of scientific knowledge—among them Raimo Tuomela, Philip Kitcher and Helen Longino. The six topics to be analyzed include individual and collective epistemic agents; (...) the notion of scientific community; realism and constructivism; truth-seeking communities; epistemic and social values; science, experts, and democracy. (shrink)

Social Aspects of Ageing - Selected Challenges, Analyses, and Solutions, focuses on the key challenges underlined by the United Nations during the Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021-2030). The authors introduce studies in areas crucial for older people, their families, and communities, such as combatting ageism, age-friendly environments, and care provision. The volume also examines issues linked to the global, national, regional, and local implementation of age-specific and intergenerational solutions, initiatives, and programs towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (...) (SDGs). The collection contains chapters representing research and practical recommendations from various disciplines, such as critical studies, geographical gerontology, legal studies, public health, and sociology. This volume is an asset to academic and professional communities interested in theories of ageing as well as public services and ageing policies. In addition, the book aims to help students, practitioners, and people working in government, business, and nonprofit organizations. (shrink)

The social function of jazz in its theoretical aspects is the subject of the present article. The author opens his discussion with a technical analysis of jazz music, on the basis of which the social significance of jazz phenomena is elucidated.The peculiar effects of jazz music are by no means limited to the upper layers of society ; they permeate the whole of society. The music has a pseudo-democratic quality, characteristic of the monopolistic phase of capitalism.Jazz music is (...) usually trite, and its orginality, however limited, manifests itself chiefly in the variations of forms in which it is reproduced*The realm of jazz ranges from „salon music“ to the military march* The former expresses a false individualism ; the latter a false collectivism. The Jazz represents a sort of conduit between these two poles, particularly in its form of „hot music“. A theory of jazz will have to dwell especially on this ambivalence. Its meaning is explained by an analogy to eccentric clowns whose inability to obey the norm of regular movement reveals itself finally as a superiority over these rules, which allows the eccentric to play with them. Thus the idea of jazz is to prove that divergence from the norm is observed as a rule throughout the total structure.The pattern of this breaking and observing of the rule at the same time is the syncope. The mechanism of its function is interpreted as a kind of unconscious and paradoxical unity of fear and fulfillment, through obedience and reward by society. The antagonistic character of jazz is expressed by the formula that the „subject of jazz“ permits itself to be annihilated by society in order to feel itself endorsed and vindicated by society.L'article présente certains éléments d'une théorie sociale du Jazz* Il utilise en particulier l'analyse technique, dont les résultats sont interprétés comme expression psychologique de réalités sociales. Le Jazz est défini „phénomène d'interférence“ entre une liberté d'improvisation du sujet, liberté tout apparente, et l'instance sociale à laquelle le sujet est soumis et qui est représenté dans la musique par le rythme et le son fondamentaux rigidement maintenus. Le Jazz lui-même n'est pas irrationnel ou archaïque, il est donné comme tel, il est „fuite du monde des marchandises dans le monde des marchandises“ ; ses traits archaïques sont en tant que tels modernes, c'est-à-dire des régressions psychologiques. C'est pourquoi, précisément en tant que marchandise, il doit se donner à la fois pour ancien et nouveau, original et banal.A l'origine, le produit est banal, originales sont, dans des limites très étroites, les transformations de celui-ci par la reproduction. Mais l'apparente liberté de la reproduction est démasquée par la démonstration qu'elle ne touche pas à la „substance“ banale. Même la rationalisation, en apparence progressive, du processus du travail entre production et reproduction ne correspond pas à la réalité. Particulièrement importante, sur ce point,, est la signification de l'amateur comme représentant du public. Au pôle opposé on trouve la musique d'art d'hier, dépravée et dépouillée de ses éléments progressifs : celle de l'impressionnisme.L'extension du Jazz est limitée par les pôles extrêmes de la musique de salon d'une part, et de la marche d'autre part, celle-là expression d'une illusoire subjectivité, celle-ci expression d'une instance sociale inhumaine. Entre ces extrêmes la „Hot Musique“ prend une position intermédiaire paradoxale et elle s’est stabilisée aujourd’hui en „Jazz classique“. C’est celui-ci que doit considérer en premier lieu la théorie du Jazz. Celle-ci est rapprochée de la figure de 1’ „excentrique“ : de même que l’incapacité de celui-ci d’obéir aux lois du mouvement s’affirme comme un jeu supérieur, ainsi l’idée du Jazz est de démontrer la rupture de la norme — la syncope — à travers toute la structure comme l’achèvement de la norme même. Le mécanisme qui agit dans ce cas, comme dans celui des „steeps“ ralentis (Gehtanz) est de nature érotique : unité d’angoisse, de tentative d’évasion, et d’assouvissement par le fait de trouver dans la société à la fois place et récompense. (shrink)

Particular social aspects of the nature of science, such as economics of, and entrepreneurship in science, are understudied in science education research. It is not surprising then that the practical applications, such as lesson resources and teaching materials, are scarce. The key aims of this article are to synthesize perspectives from the literature on economics of science, entrepreneurship, NOS, and science education in order to have a better understanding of how science works in society and illustrate how such a (...) synthesis can be incorporated in the practice of science education. The main objectives of this article are to argue for the role and inclusion of EOS and entrepreneurship in NOS and re-define entrepreneurship in the NOS context; explore the issues emerging in the “financial systems” of the Family Resemblance Approach to NOS and propose the inclusion of contemporary aspects of science, such as EOS and entrepreneurship, into NOS; conceptualize NOS, EOS, and entrepreneurship in a conceptual framework to explain how science works in the society; and transform the theoretical knowledge of how science operates in society into practical applications for science teaching and learning. The conceptual framework that we propose illustrates the links between State, Academia, Market and Industry. We suggest practical lesson activities to clarify how the theoretical discussions on the SAMI cycle framework can be useful and relevant for classroom practice. In this article, science refers to physics, chemistry, and biology. However, we also recommend an application of this framework to other sciences to reveal their social-institutional side. (shrink)

La sociologie classique a utilisé la notion d’ambivalence sociale pour désigner la combinaison, nécessaire, mais chargée de conflit, entre l’obéissance aux normes et la volonté d’affirmer sa liberté. Il faut distinguer cette notion de celle d’ambivalence culturelle, qui désigne la nécessité de suivre à la fois des exigences culturelles opposées, en particulier dans un rapport majorité/minorité. La figure de l’étranger dessinée par Georg Simmel est l’exemple type de cette ambivalence, source de frustrations, mais qui néanmoins représente la (...) moins mauvaise solution possible. Après des siècles de raisonnements fondés sur la notion « ou... ou », nous ressentons la nécessité de nous placer en situation d’ambivalence.The notion of sociological ambivalence has been widely used to refer to the conflict-permeated combination of compliance with norms and search for individual autonomy. We must draw a distinction between this kind of ambivalence and a cultural ambivalence relating to the coexistence of two cultures to be inevitably found in a majority/minority relationship. The figure of the stranger designed by Georg Simmel is a classical example of this ambivalence, which induces frustrations, but represents the most acceptable solution possible. After centuries of dialectical thinking of the « either-or » type, we feel the urge to put ourselves in a situation of ambivalence. (shrink)

En la actualidad Cuba desarrolla un Programa de Atención Integral al Paciente con Úlcera de Pie Diabético mediante el uso del Heberprot-P, esencial para disminuir la amputación y la discapacidad. El trabajo tiene el objetivo de realizar un diagnóstico sobre la aplicación del Heberprot-P en el Servicio de Angiología del Hospital Provincial Universitario Manuel Ascunce Domenech de Camagüey. Se realizaron encuestas a pacientes para identificar necesidades sentidas relacionadas con el tratamiento y para las actitudes manifiestas, y se hicieron entrevistas al (...) personal médico y de enfermería. El diagnóstico permitió corroborar la necesaria investigación con enfoque social del servicio de salud escogido a nivel territorial. Destaca elevar el trabajo de captación de pacientes desde el nivel primario de salud para garantizar un mayor alcance del programa, así como la trascendencia del apoyo familiar y la relación profesional de la salud- paciente a fin de lograr la calidad requerida. At present Cuba is developing a program concerning the care of patient with ulcer of the diabetes foot by means of Heberprot-P essential to reduce the amputation and disability. The aim of this paper is to carry out a diagnosis about social aspects of the application of the Heberprot-P in the Angiology service at Manuel Ascunce Domenech Hospital in Camaguey. Some surveys were carry out to identify certain needs related with the treatment and the attitude shown and on the other hand some interview were made to the medical and nursing staff. The diagnosis allowed to verify the need of the research with social approach. The paper highlight how to incorporate patients from the primary health level, in order this program has a higher scope and the importance of the family support and the professional relationship to accomplish the quality required. (shrink)

Some contemporary philosophers of action have contended that the intentions, decisions, and actions of collective social agency are reducible to those of the individuals involved. This contention is based on two assumptions: (1) that collective agency would require super-minds, and (2) that actions presuppose causes that move our bodies. The problem of how to account for collective action had not been regarded as a problem in the history of philosophy earlier.The explanation of why ancient Greek philosophers did not see (...) joint agency as a problem is not, as sometimes assumed, that they had no, or only a weak, sense of individuality. Nor is it because they simply overlooked the difference between individual and collective agency. It is, rather, as Aristotle’s conception of humans as ‘social’ or ‘political’ animals indicates, that the aims and ends of actions, and the means to bring them about by acting together, is the result of practice from early on. Without the acquisition of language and moral habituation humans would not become humans. There is, then, a shared understanding about common agency from infancy on. Individuals may disagree about some particular aim and action, and act only because it is a decision of the majority. But no super-minds are required to explain the communality of wishes. That Aristotle ignored the fact that all motion starts in individual bodies is explained by the difference between motions and actions: moves that are not determined by their ends are mere motions, not actions. So what moves an individual body can be the wish to bring about a joint action with another person or with a collective of persons. (shrink)

Symptom Checker Applications (SCA) are mobile applications often designed for the end-user to assist with symptom assessment and self-triage. SCA are meant to provide the user with easily accessible information about their own health conditions. However, SCA raise questions regarding ethical, legal, and social aspects (ELSA), for example, regarding fair access to this new technology. The aim of this scoping review is to identify the ELSA of SCA in the scientific literature. A scoping review was conducted to identify the (...) ELSA of SCA. Ten databases (e.g., Web of Science and PubMed) were used. Studies on SCA that address ELSA, written in English or German, were included in the review. The ELSA of SCA were extracted and synthesized using qualitative content analysis. A total of 25,061 references were identified, of which 39 were included in the analysis. The identified aspects were allotted to three main categories: (1) Technology; (2) Individual Level; and (3) Healthcare system. The results show that there are controversial debates in the literature on the ethical and social challenges of SCA usage. Furthermore, the debates are characterised by a lack of a specific legal perspective and empirical data. The review provides an overview on the spectrum of ELSA regarding SCA. It offers guidance to stakeholders in the healthcare system, for example, patients, healthcare professionals, and insurance providers and could be used in future empirical research to investigate the perspectives of those affected, such as users. (shrink)

My comments on Jacqueline Taylor's rich and interesting study1 will focus on a theme which I found particularly thought provoking: the discussion of Hume's treatment of pride. I think the topic of pride is central to the book's structure—closely integrated with the recurring consideration of what is distinctive in Hume's approach to the social significance of the passions.I am going to come at this theme indirectly—through consideration of the differences between Hume and Spinoza on the nature and significance of (...) pride. Taylor shows that Hume has made it possible for pride to be considered as a positive trait, perhaps even as a virtue. Spinoza's attitude to pride in the Ethics is, in contrast, quite negative. The... (shrink)

The relevance of the study of the problem of Christian axiology is due to the growing interest in religion and the associated change in world outlook and values ​​in contemporary Ukrainian society. The study of religious values ​​is caused by the urgent problem of finding universal moral values ​​of social development and clarifying the content, structure and nature of their functioning. The scientific study of religious values ​​is also relevant because this problem is closely linked to the value aspects (...) of political life. Christian values ​​are one of the most important factors influencing the formation and development of Ukrainian culture. (shrink)

This study addresses the social aspect of the duty of pilgrimage through the documentation method based on sociological perspective. The aim of this paper is to determine the social gains of people through the pilgrimage. Religion is an phenomenon that people need in every aspect of their daily life. Because religion is one of the phenomenon that deeply affect the individual and society. The pilgrimage, which is one of the sociological expressions of religion, and maintains its existence in (...) the form of creed, worship and religious community, is instrumental in strengthening and consolidating the faith and feeling the feelings of brotherhood. For instance; spiritual fundamentals of integration are based on Quran by means of worships such as salaat, fasting and alms with the pilgrimage as well as the messages serving as guidance for socio-cultural integration. In accordance with this, worships, with its psychological effects, lead people to attain social aspects such as brotherhood, solidarity, protecting each other, enduring and overcoming distresses together, accomplishing societal sharing by meeting on the common ground of benefaction in the establishment and subsistence of the Islamic community. The pilgrimage, on that sense, is required to have its principal qualification once more in where the historical, social, political and economic issues of the Islamic world are discussed and solutions addressing such issues are delivered accordingly. Therefore, the pilgrimage is not expected to only affects the individuals, families, groups but also regulates the national and transnational lives of societies. (shrink)

Inspired by Ronald Giere’s cognitive approach to scientific models, Cognitive Structural Realism has presented a naturalist account of scientific representation. CSR characterises the structure of theories in terms of cognitive structures. These are informational structures embodied in the brains of scientists. CSR accounts for scientific representation in terms of the dynamical relationship between the organism and its environment. The proposal has been criticised on account of its negligence of social aspects of scientific practice. The present paper aims to chart (...) out a reply to the objection. It shows that cognitive structures do not need to be put inside the brains of single individuals. Cognitive structures are redefined as extended structures in distributed cognitive systems under Free Energy Principle. (shrink)

Using agent‐based modelling, Harrington, Kleber, Reubold, Schiel & Stevens (2018) develop a unified model of sound change based on cognitive processing of human speech and theories of how social factors constrain the spread of change throughout a community. They conclude that many types of change result from how biases in the phonetic distribution of phonological categories are transmitted via accommodation processes between individuals in interaction.

The main goals of this work are: Ethical and social aspects of policy, contemporary liberal democratic structures, morality in political decision-making, human rights and their individual conceptions, political-philosophical ideas, function of a social-scientific education, selected aspects of security policy, environmental policy, eco-social market economy and religion and law.

After two years of global pandemic, it is no surprise that immunization is now at the center of our experience. From the medicalization of politics to the disciplining of individuals, from lockdowns to mass vaccination programs, contemporary societies seem to be firmly embedded in a syndrome of immunity. To understand the ambivalent effects of this development, it is necessary to go back to its modern genesis, when the languages of law, politics, and medicine began to merge into the biopolitical regime (...) we have been living under for some time. This regime places a high priority on immunization and security: no security is more important than health security. The Covid-19 pandemic has taken the dynamic of immunization to a new level: for the first time in history, we see societies seeking to achieve generalized immunity in their entire populations through vaccination. This allows us to glimpse the possibility of a “common immunity” that strengthens the relation between community and immunity. The dramatic tensions we have experienced in recent years between security and freedom, norm and exception, power and existence, all refer to the complex relationship between community and immunity, the decisive features of which are reconstructed in this book. Building on the prescient argument originally developed two decades ago in Immunitas, Roberto Esposito demonstrates in this new book how the pandemic and our responses to it have brought into sharp relief the fundamental biopolitical conditions of our contemporary societies. (shrink)

In the epistemological context of theory transferand scientific exchanges, the aim of this paper is to indicate the presence of Weberian categories and ideas on dependency theory formulated by Fernando Cardosoand Enzo Faletto. Here we see how the construction of this paradigm was based on some issues, concepts, approaches and orientations of the Weberian research program formulated by José Medina Echavarría to explain Latin American development. We will also consider the contexts of enunciation and reception theories, allowing us to talk (...) about the "sociological school" that was formed in the Social Planning Division of ILPES in mid-sixties, crucial for understanding the history of sociology in Latin America. En el contexto de la discusión epistemológica sobre el examen de las transferencias y los intercambios científicos de las teorías, el objetivo de este artículo es señalar la presencia de categorías e ideas weberianas en lateoría de la dependencia formulada por Fernando Cardoso y Enzo Faletto. Aquí veremos cómo la construcción de este paradigma se sustentó en algunos temas, conceptos, enfoques y orientaciones del programa de investigación weberiano formulado por José Medina Echavarría para explicar el desarrollo latinoamericano. También tendremos en cuenta los contextos de enunciación y de recepción de las teorías, lo que nos permitirá hablar de la "escuela sociológica" que se formó en la División de Planificación Social del ILPES a mitad de los años 60, decisiva para comprender la historia de la sociología en América Latina. (shrink)

In moments of daring, some physical scientists consider problems of social inquiry, hoping naively that the methods of physical inquiry will provide them with special insight. In my own work on problems of industrial production where I am searching for “practical” means for optimizing production in some socially satisfactory sense, I find that the physical scientist cannot escape the responsibility for social inquiry. So far as I can understand the nature of this work, it requires for its fruitful (...) pursuit a methodology which leans heavily on the concepts of statistical control of Shewhart, of cybernetics of Wiener and of experimentalism of Singer, Churchman and Ackoff. (shrink)

Nanotechnology is an important platform technology which will add new features like improved biocompatibility, smaller size, and more sophisticated electronics to neuro-implants improving their therapeutic potential. Especially in view of possible advantages for patients, research and development of nanotechnologically improved neuro implants is a moral obligation. However, the development of brain implants by itself touches many ethical, social and legal issues, which also apply in a specific way to devices enabled or improved by nanotechnology. For researchers developing nanotechnology such (...) issues are rather distant from their daily work in the lab, but as soon as they use their materials or devices in medical applications such as therapy of brain diseases they have to be aware of and deal with them. This paper is intended to raise sensitivity for the ethical, legal and social aspects (ELSA) involved in applying nanotechnology in brain implants or other devices by highlighting the short term problems of testing and clinical trials within the existing regulatory frameworks (A), the short and medium-term questions of risks in the application of the devices (B) and the long-term perspectives related to problems of enhancement (C). To identify and address such issues properly nanotechnologists should involve ethical, legal and social experts and regulatory bodies in their research as early as possible. This will help to remove pressure from regulatory bodies, to settle public concern and to prevent non-acceptable developments for the benefit of the patients. (shrink)

Dans ce monde qui semble soumis à une accélération constante, où l'on ne cesse de louer la marche ou la course, nous souhaitons et craignons à la fois que tout ralentisse ou même que tout s'arrête. L'ambivalence de ce désir reste à étudier, comme ce que signifie aujourd'hui le fait de ne pas bouger. La privation de mouvement est une peine ; le droit pénal, les disciplines scolaires ou militaires immobilisent ; les accidents et les maladies paralysent ; l'accélération (...) technique se paye en inertie dans les embouteillages ou les bureaux. Les éloges de la mobilité comme la critique de l'accélération sont passés à côté de ces situations où l'immobilité s'impose, non sans violence. Il faut redonner son sens à l'immobilisation. Car cette peine est aussi une étape, une station, impliquant le corps et la pensée. Tenir, debout, assis, dans la position du lotus ou même couché, c'est exercer sur soi une contrainte signifiante. Les "mouvements" d'occupation des places nous le rappellent, l'art également. Savoir faire halte, c'est savoir résister. Jérôme Lèbre est professeur de philosophie en classes préparatoires. Membre du Collège international de philosophie, il est notamment l'auteur de : Vitesses (2011) ; Derrida - La justice sans condition (2013) ; Les Caractères impossibles (2014) ; et, avec Jean-Luc Nancy, de Signaux sensibles (2017). (shrink)

Modern trends in social development are defined not only as an information society, but increasingly as a knowledge society. To understand its content and strategy of implementation, an important aspect is to understand the contradictions that are increasingly manifested and are of a general socioanthropological nature. In particular, this is the problem of the correlation between a knowledge society and objective scientific knowledge; this is the question of the correlation between the available knowledge and experience reflected in the cultural (...) tradition and the rapidly changing information flow; this is the question of the social role of education and the social status of an educated person, as well as the problem of human self-determination in the context of situational relations and a configurative society, etc.The widespread mythologeme of a knowledge society as a society of intellectuals supports a rather one-sided view of it. Therefore, understanding the paradoxical combination of elements of a knowledge society system, their contradictions, and complementarities, makes it possible to understand the risks and develop tools to avoid them. The research methodology. The study is based on an interdisciplinary and comprehensive analysis of contemporary socio-cultural processes in the context of the formation of a knowledge society and information pedagogy. Research results: The interpretation of modern society as a knowledge society raises a number of theoretical questions and discussions concerning the definition of knowledge (scientific/non-scientific, useful/unsuitable, etc.), and the definition of its social and anthropological characteristics and human status (educated person, informed person, professional person, successful person). The challenges of the processes of informatization of society lead to the formation of «e-didactics» and «information pedagogy» of a new educational paradigm, the effectiveness of which should resolve a number of contradictions. These include, in particular, the discrepancy between learning tools (openness and mobility) and reproductive learning models; between distance asynchronous learning and the classical stability of the structure and forms of organization of the educational process, etc. Discussions. The analysis of knowledge as the fundamental basis of the new social reality and changes in its historical status allows us to identify problematic issues of the worldview picture of the world that is formed in the conditions of intensive production of information and a certain devaluation of knowledge, actualization of innovations, and devaluation of cultural tradition. The knowledge society is often characterized as an education society. Although such a generalization is debatable, educational technologies of knowledge production and transmission are an important component of the development of a knowledge society and include the destruction of stereotypes and attitudes of the industrial society’s education paradigm. This explains why interdisciplinary discussions about the content and forms of organization of modern education are becoming increasingly acute. The problem of rethinking the established models of teacherstudent relations and the requirements for the subjects of the educational process is important among the many aspects of changes. A student is transformed from an object of pedagogical influence into a subject of the educational process, where a teacher plays the role of a mentor, a tutor, since knowledge must be «extracted» by a student because of his or her own intellectual efforts and cognitive search.The change in social role also includes a change in worldview, way of thinking, and value priorities. Conclusion. The analysis of the socio-cultural mechanisms and practices of the knowledge society reveals its ambivalence and risks, which are its inherent characteristics. Knowledge as the fundamental basis of the new social reality is defined not only as a tool for understanding the world but also as a factor of civilizational development that produces new forms of activity and relationships, new worldview orientations, and value priorities. The transformation of the phenomenon of knowledge and the rapidity of the information flow raises the question of the relevance of existing knowledge and experience to the needs of a given situation, thus actualizing the demand not for the depth of knowledge and understanding, but for the ability to combine and choose a practical (useful) option, to put together puzzles and mosaics, forming a clip thinking. Challenges of the processes of society informatization lead to the formation of “e-didactics”, information pedagogy as a tool for adaptation and a new educational paradigm, the effectiveness of which should resolve the identified contradictions.However, the transformation of modern educational practices involves not only rethinking their content, technologies, and teaching methods, changing the status relations of the subjects of the educational process, but also a general change in models of thinking and personal behavior, and a change in the human world. The correlation of the modes of human definition: educated, intellectual, erudite, and specialist becomes an important issue of the anthropological dimension of the knowledge society, where the problem of human self-determination is becoming more acute. (shrink)

The interdisciplinary field of neurorobotics looks to neuroscience to overcome the limitations of modern robotics technology, to robotics to advance our understanding of the neural system’s inner workings, and to information technology to develop tools that support those complementary endeavours. The development of these technologies is still at an early stage, which makes them an ideal candidate for proactive and anticipatory ethical reflection. This article explains the current state of neurorobotics development within the Human Brain Project, originating from a close (...) collaboration between the scientific and technical experts who drive neurorobotics innovation, and the humanities and social sciences scholars who provide contextualising and reflective capabilities. This article discusses some of the ethical issues which can reasonably be expected. On this basis, the article explores possible gaps identified within this collaborative, ethical reflection that calls for attention to ensure that the development of neurorobotics is ethically sound and socially acceptable and desirable. (shrink)