Public health ethics, like the field of public health it addresses, traditionally has focused more on practice and particular cases than on theory, with the result that some concepts, methods, and boundaries remain largely undefined. This paper attempts to provide a rough conceptual map of the terrain of public health ethics. We begin by briefly defining public health and identifying general features of the field that are particularly relevant for a discussion of public health ethics.Public health is primarily concerned with (...) the health of the entire population, rather than the health of individuals. Its features include an emphasis on the promotion of health and the prevention of disease and disability; the collection and use of epidemiological data, population surveillance, and other forms of empirical quantitative assessment; a recognition of the multidimensional nature of the determinants of health; and a focus on the complex interactions of many factors—biological, behavioral, social, and environmental—in developing effective interventions. (shrink)

Quality of Life Reach in Medical Care Alcance da qualidade de vida no atendimento médico The term quality of life has increasingly widespread use in biomedical practice, especially in end-of-life situations. Experience shows that the expression is often used with very different —and sometimes conflicting— scopes. The present article presents the results of a literature review that show diverse positions, while delimitating the subject. The analysis compares the terms “quality of life,” “human dignity,” and “value of human life.” Para citar (...) este artículo / To reference this article / Para citar este artigo Páez G, López-Gabeiras MP, Moreno-D’Anna M. Alcance de la “calidad de vida” en atención médica. Pers Bioet. 2020;24:14-27. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5294/pebi.2020.24.1.2 Recibido: 06/11/2019 Aceptado: 04/03/2020 Publicado: 07/05/2020. (shrink)

This collection is the final volume of a four book survey of the state of phenomenology fifty years after the death of Edmund Husserl. Its publication represents a landmark in the comprehensive treatment of contemporary phenomenology in all its vastness and richness. The diversity of the issues raised here is dazzling, but the main themes of Husserl's thought are all either explicitly treated, or else they underlie the ingenious approaches found here. Time, historicity, intentionality, eidos, meaning, possibility/reality, and teleology are (...) the main concerns of this collection devoted to studies in aesthetics, metaphysics and literary interpretation, written by such authors as, among others, R. Cobb-Stevens, C. Moreno Marquez, J. Swiecimski, Sitansu Ray and M. Kronegger. These original studies of phenomenological aesthetics and literary theory by scholars from all parts of the world were gathered by the World Institute for Advanced Phenomenological Research and Learn ing during the year 1988/89 during its assessment of the phenomeno logical movement, fifty years after Husserl's death. IX A -T. Tymieniecka (ed.), Analecta Husserliana, Vol. XXXVII, ix. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:IntroductionAnna Mastroianni (bio) and Jeffrey Kahn (bio)In this issue of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, we subject the work of the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments to examination from many angles. Nearly one year has passed since the release of the Committee’s final report and recommendations, and it seems an appropriate time to invite discourse and reflection on the influence and impact of the Committee and its (...) efforts. Our intent is to advance understanding of the Committee and its work, its place in the evolution of bioethics and public policy, as well as the broader legacy of restoring trust in the conduct of human subjects research.In 1993, President Clinton and Secretary of Energy Hazel O’Leary initiated an investigation of America’s involvement in radiation experiments on its citizens during the Cold War. The investigation resulted in the appointment of the Committee in January 1994. Some issues raised by these radiation experiments were brought to the attention of the nation by revelations contained in a Pulitzer Prize-winning series of newspaper stories about plutonium injections carried out by the government on allegedly unsuspecting subjects during the Cold War. The Committee faced a broad mandate, which included piecing together the history of Cold War radiation experiments and human subjects research, as well as recommending remedies for past wrongs and mechanisms to ensure that such wrongs could not be repeated in the future.This issue of the Journal consists of articles and accompanying commentaries on historical, philosophical, policy, and political aspects of the Committee’s work that are important to bioethics. This collection of articles, authored by Committee members, staff, and leading scholars, is designed to paint a picture of the breadth and complexity of the Committee’s efforts and to provide context and to stimulate discussion of significant issues.In the first article, Ruth Faden provides her unique perspective as chair of the Committee. She goes beyond the necessary overview and background of the Committee to reflect on the impact and meaning of the Committee’s work to bioethics and public policy.Much of the Committee’s effort was directed at gathering and uncovering information about the history of Cold War radiation experiments, an endeavor fairly foreign to bioethics but critically important to understanding the context in which to make moral judgments about the past. Jonathan Moreno and Susan Lederer discuss how the Committee’s work changed some of the traditional views of the history of research ethics. The commentary by Allan Brandt and Lara Freidenfelds further illuminates the value of understanding this recovered history. [End Page ix]In making moral judgments about the past, the Committee confronted complex questions about how to assess wrongdoing and the culpability of the government and its agents. Allen Buchanan explains why this was such a difficult but crucial task and how the Committee worked through some of the answers to these questions. His discussion illustrates the challenges to consensus in the committee decision-making process described in Ruth Macklin’s article in this issue on committees and consensus. Tom Beauchamp analyzes the frameworks for making retrospective moral judgments developed by two committees, the Advisory Committee and the University of California at San Francisco Ad Hoc Fact Finding Committee on World War II Human Radiation Experiments, and critiques their applications of the frameworks in the case of the plutonium injection experiments.The Committee recognized that in order to prevent wrongs seen in the past from occurring in the future, it would be necessary to understand the human subjects protections now in place. Nancy Kass and Jeremy Sugarman discuss the results of the Committee’s attempts to measure the operation and effectiveness of the current system for protection of human subjects. Paul Appelbaum comments on the relevance and value of the Committee’s empirical projects to contemporary human subjects research.The Committee’s work, and the products of any commission’s work, must be viewed partly in light of the place of commissions in bioethics scholarship and policymaking. Appointed commissions can have significant impacts on scholarly and public thinking, policymaking, and future direction, and bring high visibility to issues. It is important to realize that the conclusions of the Committee... (shrink)

Timely and provocative essays on bioethical questions brought to the forefront by the bioterrorist threat.

The first form of the inside-outside dichotomy appears as a self-encapsulated system with an active border. These systems are based on two complementary but asymmetric processes: constructive and interactive. The former physically constitute the system as a recursive network of component production, defining an inside. The maintenance of the constructive processes implies that the internal organization also constrains certain flows of matter and energy across the border of the system, generating interactive processes. These interactive processes ensure the maintenance of the (...) constructive processes thus specifying a meaningful outside. Upon this basic form of identity formation, the evolutionary and historical domain is open for the emergence of a whole hierarchy and ecology of insides and outsides. These which mutually subsume and collaborate in the maintenance of the essential inside-outside dichotomy that defines the conditions of possibility of the subjects and the worlds they generate. (shrink)

Mental state reasoning or theory-of-mind has been the subject of a rich body of imaging research. Although such investigations routinely tap a common set of regions, the precise function of each area remains a contentious matter. With the help of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we sought to determine which areas are involved when processing mental state or intentional metarepresentations by focusing on the relational aspect of such representations. Using non-intentional relational representations such as spatial relations between persons and between (...) objects as a contrast, the results ascertained the involvement of the precuneus, the temporal poles, and the medial prefrontal cortex in the processing of intentional representations. In contrast, the anterior superior temporal sulcus and the left temporo-parietal junction were implicated when processing representations that refer to the presence of persons in relational contexts in general. The right temporo-parietal junction, however, was specifically activated for persons entering spatial relations. The level of representational complexity, a previously unexplored factor, was also found to modulate the neural response in some brain regions, such as the medial prefrontal cortex and the right temporo-parietal junction. These findings highlight the need to take into account the critical roles played by an extensive network of neural regions during mental state reasoning. (shrink)

This article is both an elaborated critique on the one-sided analysis of the misogynist nature of ballet as a cultural practice, and a contribution to a more embodied feminist theory. Based on empirical material, that was brought together by observing the body practices in ballet and listening to the life stories of dancers, the author explores the contradictions that the body in ballet provokes. In describing the embodied experiences ofprofessional ballet dancers she shows that ballet offers women the possibility to (...) transcend the discontinuity of body, mind and emotions. (shrink)

The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted in-person dispute resolution proceedings, leading to the rapid adoption of digital technologies for remote hearings in international arbitration. The use of these technologies has opened up new possibilities for enhancing procedures, improving efficiency, and streamlining processes. However, it also raises concerns about transparency and authenticity in virtual hearings. This paper explores the impact of digital technologies on the semiotics of law and legal communication in international arbitration, considering the intersections between new technologies and persuasion. Based on (...) practices like the use of e-evidence, debates surrounding remote hearings, and the formulation of standards for stakeholders’ behavior, the study takes a practice-based approach, exploring cognitive processes, such as memory and attention, and their influence on the behavior of counsel, arbitrators, and witnesses in remote hearings. It highlights the key issues, findings, challenges, and future research opportunities arising from the introduction of digital technologies in this field, including considerations on how stakeholders of a virtual hearings are affected by the unique features of the digital environment. (shrink)

Our goal in this paper is to articulate a precise concept of at least a certain kind of disease-mongering, showing how pharmaceutical marketing can commercially exploit certain diseases when their best definition is given through the success of a treatment in a clinical trial. We distinguish two types of disease-mongering according to the way they exploit the definition of the trial population for marketing purposes. We argue that behind these two forms of disease-mongering there are two well-known problems in the (...) statistical methodology of clinical trials (the reference class problem and the distinction between statistical and clinical significance). Overcoming them is far from simple. (shrink)

La lectura nos permite disponer de una caja de herramientas que puede y debe contribuir a la mejora de los entornos en donde los individuos y la sociedad tejen sus quehaceres. Este ensayo analiza con rigor y amenidad las distintas funciones que la lectura puede cumplir: desde su placer hasta sus usos como forma de conocimiento, pasando por la lectura como un instrumento de transformación moral.

Do the new sciences of well-being provide knowledge that respects the nature of well-being? This book written from the perspective of philosophy of science articulates how this field can speak to well-being proper and can do so in a way that respects the demands of objectivity and measurement.

The veil of ignorance has been used often as a tool for recommending what justice requires with respect to the distribution of wealth. We complete Harsanyi's model of the veil of ignorance by appending information permitting objective comparisons among persons. In order to do so, we introduce the concept of objective empathy. We show that the veil-of-ignorance conception of John Harsanyi, so completed, and Ronald Dworkin's, when modelled formally, recommend wealth allocations in conflict with the prominently espoused view that priority (...) should be given to the less able in wealth allocation. We finally argue that the veil of ignorance should be rejected as a tool for discovering what justice requires. (shrink)

Most everyday tasks involve multiple modalities, which raises the question of how the processing of these modalities is coordinated by the cognitive system. In this paper, we focus on the coordination of visual attention and linguistic processing during speaking. Previous research has shown that objects in a visual scene are fixated before they are mentioned, leading us to hypothesize that the scan pattern of a participant can be used to predict what he or she will say. We test this hypothesis (...) using a data set of cued scene descriptions of photo-realistic scenes. We demonstrate that similar scan patterns are correlated with similar sentences, within and between visual scenes; and that this correlation holds for three phases of the language production process (target identification, sentence planning, and speaking). We also present a simple algorithm that uses scan patterns to accurately predict associated sentences by utilizing similarity-based retrieval. (shrink)

When people communicate, they coordinate a wide range of linguistic and non-linguistic behaviors. This process of coordination is called alignment, and it is assumed to be fundamental to successful communication. In this paper, we question this assumption and investigate whether disalignment is a more successful strategy in some cases. More specifically, we hypothesize that alignment correlates with task success only when communication is interactive. We present results from a spot-the-difference task in which dyads of interlocutors have to decide whether they (...) are viewing the same scene or not. Interactivity was manipulated in three conditions by increasing the amount of information shared between interlocutors. We use recurrence quantification analysis to measure the alignment between the scan-patterns of the interlocutors. We found that interlocutors who could not exchange feedback aligned their gaze more, and that increased gaze alignment correlated with decreased task success in this case. When feedback was possible, in contrast, interlocutors utilized it to better organize their joint search strategy by diversifying visual attention. This is evidenced by reduced overall alignment in the minimal feedback and full dialogue conditions. However, only the dyads engaged in a full dialogue increased their gaze alignment over time to achieve successful performances. These results suggest that alignment per se does not imply communicative success, as most models of dialogue assume. Rather, the effect of alignment depends on the type of alignment, on the goals of the task, and on the presence of feedback. (shrink)

Julia Annas offers a new account of virtue and happiness as central ethical ideas. She argues that exercising a virtue involves practical reasoning of the kind we find in someone exercising an everyday practical skill, such as farming, building, or playing the piano. This helps us to see virtue as part of an agent's happiness or flourishing.

The human sentence processor is able to make rapid predictions about upcoming linguistic input. For example, upon hearing the verb eat, anticipatory eye-movements are launched toward edible objects in a visual scene. However, the cognitive mechanisms that underlie anticipation remain to be elucidated in ecologically valid contexts. Previous research has, in fact, mainly used clip-art scenes and object arrays, raising the possibility that anticipatory eye-movements are limited to displays containing a small number of objects in a visually impoverished context. In (...) Experiment 1, we confirm that anticipation effects occur in real-world scenes and investigate the mechanisms that underlie such anticipation. In particular, we demonstrate that real-world scenes provide contextual information that anticipation can draw on: When the target object is not present in the scene, participants infer and fixate regions that are contextually appropriate. Experiment 2 investigates whether such contextual inference requires the co-presence of the scene, or whether memory representations can be utilized instead. The same real-world scenes as in Experiment 1 are presented to participants, but the scene disappears before the sentence is heard. We find that anticipation occurs even when the screen is blank, including when contextual inference is required. We conclude that anticipatory language processing is able to draw upon global scene representations to make contextual inferences. These findings are compatible with theories assuming contextual guidance, but posit a challenge for theories assuming object-based visual indices. (shrink)

Résumé Cet article traite des campements organisés par les Indignés espagnols de mai à juin 2011. L’observation ethnographique montre que derrière l’hétérogénéité des profils des campeurs se trouve une dimension générationnelle de cette mobilisation sans précédent en Espagne. L’expérience d’avoir participé aux campements a été vécue par des nombreux jeunes espagnols condamnés au chômage comme un réveil politique, un apprentissage accéléré de savoirs et d’actions, notamment ceux issus de la culture autogestionnaire.

Justifying his proposal for “health savings accounts,” which would allow individuals to set aside tax-free dollars against future healthcare needs, President Bush has said that “Health savings accounts all aim at empowering people to make decisions for themselves.” Who could disagree with such a sentiment? Although bioethicists may be among those who express skepticism that personal health savings accounts will be part of the needed “fix” of our healthcare financing system, self determination has long been part of their mantra. Indeed, (...) the field of bioethics played an important role in advancing this idea in the medical world when physician paternalism was regnant. Has its popularity caused it to become so vapid as to be ripe for misuse? (shrink)

Background: Serious games have shown positive results in increasing motivation, adherence to treatment and strengthening the therapeutic alliance in multiple psychiatric disorders. In particular, patients with impulse control disorders and other disorders in which the patient suffers from inhibitory control deficits have been shown to benefit from serious games.Aim: The aim of this study was to describe the characteristics and to evaluate the usability of a new serious videogame, e-Estesia. This serious videogame was designed to improve emotion regulation in patients (...) with gambling disorder. Preliminary results from a pilot sample are also reported.Method: A pilot sample of 26 patients undergoing treatment for GD was recruited. Participants used e-Estesia on a tablet, which was connected to a thoracic band that sent heart rate and heart rate variability data to the videogame platform in order to provide biofeedback. The System Usability Scale was completed by patients to determine the usability of e-Estesia.Results and Discussion: e-Estesia performed comparatively well for all the explored groups. Around 84.6% of the patients endorsed that it was easy to use. Female patients with GD presented higher HRV during the use of the serious videogame compared to men. (shrink)

Affordable light detection and ranging sensors are becoming available for tasks such as simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) in robotics and autonomous driving; however, these sensors offer less quality data of lower resolution that hinders the performance of registration methods. The deep learning based approaches seem to be sensitive to these data flaws. Specifically, a state-of-the-art deep learning-based approach failed to produce meaningful results after several attempts to carry out transfer learning over a dataset collected indoors with one such affordable (...) sensors. The paper introduces a hybrid approach combining two well-established registration techniques, the iterative closest point algorithm and the normal distributions transform that achieves good performance on the SLAM task over the same dataset. (shrink)

La tesis doctoral que desarrolló Marx entre 1838 y 1841 fue uno de los primeros trabajos filosóficos del pensador nacido en Tréveris. En el trabajo, que tituló Diferencia entre la filosofía de la naturaleza de Demócrito y Epicuro, quiere demostrar que hay una diferencia específica entre estos dos autores. Más allá de esto, el objetivo general era demostrar que las escuelas posaristotélicas o helénicas tienen un pensamiento propio que no copia ninguna de las tesis de sus predecesores. Pero, ¿por qué (...) Marx tomó a Demócrito y Epicuro y no a otros autores, como Sexto Empírico, Zenón de Citio o Antístenes? ¿Qué método utilizó Marx al realizar su tesis doctoral? En este escrito se quiere retomar ese texto, que para algunos no tiene mayor relevancia dentro de los primeros intereses filosóficos del alemán, para dilucidar que ya tenía nociones de un humanismo en el cual la libertad de la naturaleza física prima y en el que históricamente se empieza a acercar a las nociones materialistas y a dejar de lado los empantanados ríos de la metafísica hegeliana. (shrink)

Diabetes contributes to COVID‐19 deaths in Colombia and Mexico, where the latter having the highest prevalence of diabetes among OECD countries. Some reports consider that advertising influences diabetes by confusing labels on ultra‐processed foods and soft drinks that lead to unhealthy food choices. Both countries are in the process of modifying their labeling legislation; however, governments and food industries have pushed to delay its implementation. Using a mixed research design, we interviewed 550 consumers in both countries during June–July 2020; a (...) high number of respondents misunderstand today's food labeling and are unaware of the new labeling legislation. Respondents strongly agree that the food industry should be in charge of changing the labels; otherwise, they would consider not buying their products. Using cluster analysis, we identified three groups that would help design public policies, nutritional and educational campaigns. Although changes in food labeling alone are not enough to reduce obesity and diabetes rates, food labels constitute public health tools due they assist consumers to make food and nutritional choices (considering that nutrition can help prevent and overcome COVID‐19). The costs of maintaining current labels could increase Colombians and Mexicans illnesss and poverty. These deceptive practices of the food industry would harm their brands. (shrink)

Se realizó un modelo de investigación cuantitativo y cualitativo, de formación y desarrollo de recursos humanos con el objetivo de diseñar y aplicar una estrategia para mejorar los resultados en el desempeño de los cuadros de la Dirección Provincial de Salud en Camagüey. La investigación se efectuó entre marzo del 2011 a marzo del 2012.El universo y muestra estuvo conformado por los 39 cuadros de la Dirección Provincial de Salud en Camagüey. Se utilizaron métodos teóricos, empíricos y estadísticos. Se diseñaron (...) acciones en el orden didáctico teórico, práctico e integrado, donde se partió de las necesidades individuales y colectivas y de los resultados de la aplicación de encuestas, entrevista, entrevistas a informantes claves, revisión documental de las evaluaciones y planes de desarrollo individual. Luego de la implementación de la estrategia se constataron cambios positivos en el trabajo de los cuadros objeto de estudio, así como un mejor desempeño y resultados en los controles internos y externos. Se realizó la validación de la estrategia utilizando el criterio de expertos y la validación en la práctica. A quantitave and qualitative investigative model of formation and development of human resources was performed with the objective of designing and applying a strategy to improve the results of the human resources in the performance of the executives at the Provincial Health Direction in Camaguey. This investigation took place from March 2011 to March 2012. The universe and the sample included the 39 executives of the Provincial Health Direction in Camaguey. Theoretical, empirical and statistic methods were used. Different actions in the didactic theoretic, practical and integrative levels were designed taking into consideration the individual and groupal needs as well as the results of the interviews, and surveys to key informants, documental revisión of the evaluations and plans of the individual development. After implementation of the strategy positive changes in the work of the executives in the study as well as better performance and results in the internal and external controls. Validation of the strategy according to the expert criterium and functional validation by the results of the strategy applied to the executives in the study were performed. (shrink)

Se trata de un análisis del concepto de «capitalismo». Entre las notas inherentes al mismo, destaca el autor lo catatrófico. A su vez, se explica de qué modo debe pensarse la catástrofe en cuanto pecualiaridad de la sociedad capitalista: como cotidianidad y normalidad. El artículo interpreta desde esas perpectivas la teoría de la acumulación originaria, y propone leerla no como un tratado histórico de las fases iniciales del desarrollo capitalista, sino un determinante de la catástrofe para los individuos vivos que (...) le es constitutivo. (shrink)

Se trata de una explicación del concepto de historicidad desarrollado por la hermenéutica filosófica y de las implicaciones de ese concepto para la historiografía, sobre todo en cuanto crítica de la concepción atemporal de la subjetividad en la que se basa el objetivismo historiográfico.

Philosophers of science have long tried to identify some demarcation line capable of distinguishing science from pseudoscience. Nonetheless, no ultimate set of requirements has so far been achieved, leaving demarcation uncertain and fluctuating, if not merely rhetorical. The habit of using the word ‘science’ to address a specific kind of knowledge is a modern practice, with ‘science’ having gradually taken over terms like ‘natural philosophy’ and ‘natural history.’ Thereby, the term ‘pseudoscience’ is also a recent one, with its meaning running (...) alongside scientific endeavors of the nineteenth century. The article contributes to the debate aiming to pragmatically describe the function of pseudoscience in epistemology. To account for this, we argue that questions like What is pseudoscience? or What makes science science? would be better replaced by the question What do people do with the word pseudoscience? (shrink)

In her foreword to Science Next, Elizabeth Edwards wrote of science as a tool for social progress: "Innovation is not simply the abstract victory of knowledge [or] the research that gave me years to live; the next science can advance human flourishing and serve the common good. That's the kind of world I want to leave for my children, and for yours." With these words, she joined a tradition that goes back to America's founders, who saw America itself as a (...) "great experiment." Yet while no one can deny that science undergirds the American Dream, it has long been fertile terrain for the "culture wars." Along with arguing the pros and cons of abortion and healthcare, policymakers must now grapple with advancements that raise questions about what it means to be human: we've decoded the genome, but should we modify it to enhance certain "desirable" traits? If we can, should we prolong life at any cost? Will we soon be counting robots, cyborgs, and chimeras among our friends and family?The first book to unpack our love/hate relationship with science from our country's origins to today, The Body Politic is essential reading for science buffs and concerned citizens alike.Jonathan D. Moreno is editor of the Center for American Progress' online magazine Science Progress and professor of bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. Author and editor of many seminal books and articles on science and science policy, he divides his time between Philadelphia, PA, and Washington, DC. (shrink)

Written primarily in Greek, 1987 edition.

El filósofo español Xavier Zubiri centró toda su investigación en torno a tres temas fundamen-tales: la realidad, la inteligencia y Dios. La clave zubiriana para abordar el problema de Dios se encuentra en la religación del hombre al poder de lo real. Por esta razón, el presente artículo pretende mo..