En 2006, tras una cuestionada elección, Felipe Calderón toma posesión como presidente de México y lanza una ofensiva sin precedentes contra los grupos traficantes de droga en el país latinoamericano, centrada en el uso del ejército. A 4 años y más de 30 mil muertes, el clima de inseguridad y violencia permanente permanece. El artículo estudia su historia, desmonta sus justificaciones y analiza sus múltiples consecuencias negativas. Detrás de la situación actual y el fracaso de la estrategia punitiva aparecen fenómenos (...) como la crónica debilidad del Estado mexicano y el trastocamiento del orden informal local tras la llegada del Ejército. Por ello se aboga por el necesario término de una lucha centrada en lo punitivo y su cambio por una que incluya el aspecto social y preventivo del problema, que entienda las drogas como un asunto de salud pública. (shrink)

This document describes the technique and technology currently used to apply cryosurgery, a technic based on low temperatures for medical purposes that allows the controlled destruction of pathological cells and tissues. Cryosurgery is an effective and innocuous process that is painless, safe and economical, applied to multiple specialities in which it provides alternatives to its traditional methods. A search was carried out for articles and bibliographic reviews referring to Cryosurgery and from whose information this technical note was obtained. Research on (...) the application of Cryosurgery presents solid evidence of its benefits. Therefore, it has been used in several countries and health campaigns, showing excellent results, so it is advisable to implement it in health systems. (shrink)

I address the objection that the concept of racism has become overly inflated. Critics of the conceptual inflation of “racism” argue that theories of institutional racism engage in untoward conceptual inflation insofar as they undermine our moral understanding of racial phenomena, hinder our ability to explain the causes of racial inequality, and even undercut struggles for racial justice. I develop an original account of institutional racism and show that it is immune to all three versions of the conceptual inflation challenge.

This paper argues that racism should not only be conceived as a moral concept whose main aim is to condemn severe wrongs in the domain of race. The paper advances a complementary interpretation of racism as an explanatory concept--one that plays a key role in explaining race-based social problems afflicting members of subordinate racialized groups. As an explanatory concept, the term 'racism' is used to diagnose and highlight the causes of race-related social problems. The project of diagnosing race-based social problems (...) contributes to the pragmatic anti-racist end of developing better political and policy strategies for solving these social problems. The paper defends this interpretation of racism as an explanatory concept through a critical engagement with Urquidez's moral-philosophical account of racism. (shrink)

One important limitation of the current renditions of interpretivism is that its emphasis on the moral dimension of sport has overlooked the aesthetic dimension lying at the core of this account of sport. The interpretivist’s failure to acknowledge and consider the aesthetic implicitly distances this realm from the moral. Marcia Muelder Eaton calls this distancing the separatist mistake. This paper argues that interpretivism presupposes not only moral but also aesthetic principles and values. What it sets out to demonstrate is that (...) interpretivism is an integralist, or nonseparatist, account of sport, one in which ethical and aesthetic values are not exclusive. Making explicit and specifying interpretivism’s combined moral-aesthetic approach to sport not only helps to better distinguish the whole range of values that make up sport as well as their interconnection but also encourages sportspeople to pursue more coherent sport and, thus, more enriching lives. (shrink)

From classical antiquity to contemporary times, challenging situations of dilemmatic or paradoxical nature continue to fascinate both scholars and the casual reader. Although Western literature provides a fruitful source of philosophical discussion on the circumstances under which a morally competent agent faces incompatible moral requirements, Sinology has rarely accepted the idea of moral dilemmas in Chinese philosophy in general and Confucianism in particular. The present paper explores moral and morally motivated dilemmas in Liu Xiang’s 劉向 Lienü Zhuan 列女傳 and the (...) philosophical strategies employed for their resolution within the framework of the Confucian tradition, emphasizing similarities with Western traditions such as Greek tragedy or Thomistic philosophy. (shrink)

This paper examines whether there are moral differences between the mitochondrial replacement techniques that have been recently developed in order to help women afflicted by mitochondrial DNA diseases to have genetically related children absent such conditions: maternal spindle transfer and pronuclear transfer. Firstly, it examines whether there is a moral difference between MST and PNT in terms of the divide between somatic interventions and germline interventions. Secondly, it considers whether PNT and MST are morally distinct under a therapy/creation optic. Finally, (...) it investigates whether there is a moral difference between MST and PNT from a human embryo destruction point of view. I conclude, contra recent arguments, that regarding the first two points there is no moral differences between PNT and MST; and that regarding the third one MST is morally preferable to PNT, but only if we hold a gradualist account of the moral value of human embryos where zygotes have slight moral value. (shrink)

The practice of hiring foreign coaches to lead national teams has been on the rise and is especially visible at the Olympic Games. It has been criticised in both the receiving and the lending countries as a breach of patriotic duty. In a recent publication I defended expatriate coaching as a morally unobjectionable practice with many beneficial effects. In this article, I extend my defence of expatriate coaching into the realm of the Olympic Games. I argue that when articulated from (...) the perspective of moderate patriotism this practice is not only compatible with Olympism, the philosophical vision that underpins the Olympic movement, but also that it enacts and advances the tenets of this vision. In the process, I provide a coherent explanation for the Olympic authorities' lack of an official stance on expatriate coaching and reflect on their disparate stand on the nationality of coaches and athletes. (shrink)

Desde el surgimiento del cine, la filosofía ha estado presente en la creación de las películas como un elemento imprescindible que acompaña a la expresión audiovisual y el lenguaje narrativo de los films. Sin embargo, el cine ecuatoriano no cuenta con un método específico de análisis filosófico de las problemáticas que tratan las películas. Es por ello que, en este estudio, se estableció el objetivo de desarrollar una propuesta metodológica de análisis filosófico mediante una revisión bibliográfica y cinematográfica para conocer (...) las incidencias filosóficas en el cine ecuatoriano/contemporáneo. Para lo cual, se implementó una metodología cualitativa, basada en una teoría fundamentada y una revisión bibliográfica, teórica y cinematográfica sobre la constitución del método de análisis y la relación entre filosofía y cine. En este sentido, se llegó a concluir que el cine ecuatoriano contemporáneo necesita de una propuesta metodológica para su análisis filosófico, debido a que, las problemáticas abordadas tienen fundamental importancia para conocer las condiciones sociales, económicas, políticas, psicológicas, éticas y morales que atañan a los individuos de la sociedad ecuatoriana. (shrink)

Addressing both collegiate and professional sports, the updated edition of Fair Play: The Ethics of Sport explores the ethical presuppositions of competitive athletics and their connection both to ethical theory and to concrete moral dilemmas that arise in actual athletic competition. This fourth edition has been updated with new examples, including a discussion of Spygate by the New England Patriots and recent discoveries on the use of performance enhancing drugs by top athletes. Two additional authors, Cesar R. Torres and Peter (...) F. Hager, bring to this edition a discussion of the moral issues involved in youth sports and the ethics of being a fan, as well as a fresh perspective on the theories of broad internalism and the quest for excellence. Furthermore, major criticisms of broad internalism by philosophers William J. Morgan and Scott Kretchmar add a new dimension to the discussion on the moral foundations of winning. (shrink)

En este artículo se estudia la aparición, auge y colapso de la inédita experiencia de democracia liberal partitocrática en Bolivia (1985-2006), a través de la trayectoria de dos movimientos autoidentificados como izquierdistas, el Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (1971), de Jaime Paz Zamora, última y más grande manifestación de la «izquierda patricia» boliviana, y el Movimiento al Socialismo (1997), de Evo Morales, vehículo político de la renacida oposición sindical rural al sistema vigente. También se exploran las causas de su colapso; (...) a saber: el crecimiento de las expectativas y el malestar de los sectores urbanos; la reactivación de la tradición sindical militante, en una versión más dinámica y mejor organizada, y, en el plano de la cultura política, la difusión y generalización del katarismo y sus variaciones indianistas. (shrink)

RESUMO O artigo estuda, em um primeiro momento, os processos de sujeição e subjetivação nos trabalhos de Michel Foucault e sua relação com a dupla dimensão, moral e material, da governamentalidade. Se em sua dimensão moral a produção de sujeições tem como contraponto os processos éticos de subjetivação, já em sua dimensão material predomina o governo biopolítico do meio vital no qual populações são reguladas e sujeitadas em detrimento das possibilidades de subjetivação. A ênfase do governo biopolítico é especialmente observável (...) entre as populações deslocadas em busca de sobrevivência. Em um segundo momento evoca-se, para além de Foucault, uma modalidade de população problematizada como objeto de recorrente normalização nos últimos decênios, constituída pelos migrantes de sobrevivência. O estudo percorre os traços do governo biopolítico dessa população, especialmente as reconfigurações dos processos de sujeição que a regulam. Conclui-se que ela apresenta poucas possibilidades de empreender processos de subjetivação como resistência às formas de sujeição operadas pela governamentalidade biopolítica. ABSTRACT At first, the article studies the processes of subjection and subjectivation in the works of Michel Foucault and their relationship with the double dimension, moral and material, of governmentality. If in its moral dimension the production of subjections has as its counterpoint the ethical processes of subjectivation, in its material dimension what predominates, in turn, is the biopolitical government of the vital means in which populations are regulated and subjected to the detriment of the possibilities of the subjectivation. The emphasis of the biopolitical government is especially noticeable among displaced populations seeking survival. In a second moment, besides Foucault, a modality of population that has been problematized as object of recurrent normalization in the last decades, made up by survival migrants, is evoked. The study goes through the traits of the biopolitical government of that population, especially the reconfigurations of the subjection processes that regulate it. We conclude that it presents few possibilities to undertake subjectivation processes as resistance to the forms of subjection operated by the biopolitical governmentality. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to examine the theoretical status of the hegelian concept of freedom as “being with oneself in one’s other”, as well as the mediation of the category of recognition in the relationship between the objective and subjective face that this concept portrays. In this perspective, no legitimate relations of domination and coercion are rejected on behalf of a intersubjective concept of freedom. The aim is also to highlight the important elements in the hegelian philosophy to (...) understand the meaning of freedom in the constitution of a social theory, which can be expressed in its approximation to the republicanism, in contemporary discussion of political and moral philosophy. (shrink)

El objetivo de esta comunicación es ahondar en la visión que ha mantenido Jürgen Habermas a propósito de la manipulación genética; en concreto, se pretende abordar críticamente su hipótesis de una pérdida de autoría del sujeto manipulado. A juicio del autor, la intervención genética positiva —aquélla que tiene por objeto la introducción de virtuales mejoras en el sujeto— alcanzaría a violar la conciencia de autoría de dicho sujeto, así como su autocomprensión en tanto agente moral. En este sentido, se pretende (...) investigar críticamente dos aspectos diferentes de la cuestión: en primer lugar, la corrección o no de la tesis habermasiana; en segundo lugar, la pertinencia o no de dicha tesis a la hora de oponerse a una generalización de la eugenesia positiva: ¿existen argumentos distintos, dentro del propio marco conceptual habermasiano, para oponerse a tal generalización? (shrink)

No curso La société punitive, Michel Foucault indica até que ponto as lutas em torno do poder político produzem efeitos de realidade. Um deles é o nascimento de um novo sistema de penalidade no começo do século XIX. Ele surge de uma reconfiguração das lutas políticas em relação ao século XVIII. O conceito explicativo que fundamenta essa reconfiguração é o de ilegalismo, retomado mais tarde em Vigiar e punir. No século XVIII, ele designa um conjunto de transgressões de ordem política (...) que são toleradas e praticadas por diferentes agentes sociais, dentre eles a burguesia; no decorrer do século XIX, as lutas e resistências das camadas populares e trabalhadores contra o sistema político vigente deixam de ser toleradas e são tipificadas como infração à ordem estabelecida pela nascente penalidade burguesa. A transformação dos ilegalismos em ilegalidades é coetânea à elaboração de táticas de inserção da moral punitiva no interior do sistema penal. No artigo, percorremos a mudança estatuto das lutas políticas em torno do poder e em que sentido a nova penalidade não deixa de ser a continuidade da guerra social por outros meios. Enfatizamos, enfim, a importância do conceito de guerra civil introduzido nesse curso, tanto para a elaboração teórica da analítica do poder quanto pelo seu cruzamento com as lutas do presente em torno das práticas judiciárias. (shrink)

No Discurso sobre as Ciências e as Artes, seu primeiro discurso, Rousseau defende a polêmica tese de que o progresso das ciências e das artes, contrariamente ao que pretendia o Iluminismo, estava contribuindo mais para a degeneração dos costumes e da sociedade do que para seu aperfeiçoamento. O Primeiro Discurso foi escrito em 1749, há quase 300 anos. Nesse período, a ciência e a nossa compreensão sobre ela mudaram profundamente. Mais importante, nesse período surgiu da ciência algo imprevisto para Rousseau (...) no Primeiro Discurso: a tecnologia moderna. A proposta deste trabalho é, pois, revisitar as críticas de Rousseau à ciência com um olhar contemporâneo, buscando avaliar o quanto daquelas críticas ainda faz sentido nos panoramas científico e social atuais. Para tanto, classificamos esquematicamente as críticas de Rousseau em dois grupos: as que acusam a inutilidade das ciências e as que acusam como nociva a sofisticação que as ciências produzem na sociedade. Defenderemos que o surgimento da tecnologia moderna tornou obsoletas as críticas quanto à inutilidade ao mesmo tempo que potencializou as críticas quanto à sofisticação. Assim, uma parte importante de suas críticas à ciência pode ser recuperada, vestida em nova roupagem e aplicada justamente na crítica à tecnologia.: In the Discourse on the Arts and Sciences, his first discourse, Rousseau supports the polemical thesis according to which the scientific and artistic progress were contributing more to moral degeneration than to the improvement of society. The First Discourse was written in 1749, almost 300 years ago. Since then, science and our understanding of it have changed completely. More important, in this period something new and unpredictable from Rousseau's view point has emerged from science: modern technology. In this essay, thus, we intend to review Rousseau's criticisms of science from a contemporary perspective to evaluate if they are still appropriate in face of our transformed society and science. To do so, we classify Rousseau's criticisms in two groups: those which claim that science is futile and those which blame science for the sophistication of society. We argue that the emergence of technology has become obsolete the criticisms of the first group meanwhile has made powerful those of the second group. Consequently, as we intend to show, an important part of his criticisms of science can be useful to criticize modern technology. Keywords: Science. Technology. Rousseau. (shrink)

This article aims to analyze some important categories of Lima Vaz’s ethics, such as: recognition, consensus, achievement, dignity and moral person, in order to prove the idea that there is no ethical act in the community ethics rather than recognizing that ethical subjects need to reciprocally recognize the dignity of every human being and consent to the pursuit of the good. Therefore, we seek to articulate the text in three moments. First, it seeks to argue that the human being, as (...) structural being and being relational, seeks to fulfill itself as such. Second, it is a matter of showing that ethical action is dialectically effective in the bosom and in the life of the community that takes as its end the horizon of the Good in which the ethical subject achieves its fulfillment. And, third, to present the category of moral person as the crowning achievement of Lima Vaz’s ethics, since realizing one’s own life fundamentally supposes an appeal to the human being to become on the plane of duty to be, that is, on the plane of ethics, that which is already on the ontological plane, namely, person. Keywords: Lima Vaz. Consensus. Realization. Dignity. Moral person. (shrink)

En la teoría de Marx hay un dilema bien conocido entre la crítica de la ética y la condena del capitalismo como injusto. Por un lado, el marxismo ha considerado que la evaluación moral tiene componentes ideológicos cuya elucidación afecta a la posibilidad de emancipación política. Por otro lado, Marx detectó importantes limitaciones éticas en el individualismo liberal, pero tampoco consideraba aceptable el tradicionalismo comunitarista. Este artículo explora cuestiones éticas relacionadas con el cuidado y la dependencia para avanzar en la (...) resolución de esas paradojas. (shrink)

ABSTRACTIn this paper, we provide a normative analysis of the Women’s Tennis Association revised policy on maternity leave, which is regulated by its special ranking rule. To do so, we first explore how the revised policy functions when probed in relation to the nature of competitive sport. Then, we examine the revised policy through the lens of the literature on maternity discrimination. We argue that, when compared to its previous formulation, the revised special ranking rule is morally defensible because it (...) better protects female players’ interest in being able to combine their professional careers and their personal lives. However, we also identify several pronounced vulnerabilities and criticisms to the revised policy. (shrink)

Las universidades tienen la tarea de formar profesionales de la docencia adecuadamente capacitados en el campo científico, humanístico y tecnológico, con principios morales y valores de alto nivel humano, por el hecho de tener la responsabilidad de contribuir al mejoramiento de la manera de ser y de estar en el mundo de las generaciones actuales y futuras a través de las acciones educativas. Para ello, los planes y programas de formación docente que poseen las universidades deben prever competencias que (...) le permitan al educador reflexionar en su acción y sobre su acción profesional, y que de esa manera el trabajo pedagógico siempre sea intencionado. Esta investigación está orientada hacia la formulación de herramientas de naturaleza teórico – prácticas para la formación de docentes reflexivos, cuya operacionalización en la práctica constituyen aportes para la formación de educadores que estén preparados para planificar, ejecutar y evaluar acciones pedagógicas desde una reflexión permanente en la práctica y sobre la práctica profesional. (shrink)

Cultural diversity is an inescapable reality and a concern in many businesses where it can often raise ethical questions and dilemmas. This paper aims to offer suggestions to certain problems facing managers in dealing with cultural diversity through the inspiration of Thomas Aquinas. Although he may be perceived as a voice from the distant past, we can still find in his writings helpful and original ideas and criteria. He welcomes cultural differences as a part of the perfection of the universe. (...) His systemic approach leads one to place the problem in its proper context, and to reflect on it from the perspective of virtue ethics, with a central role for practical wisdom and giving primacy to neighborly love and natural moral law. Rather than a set of rigid standards with no consideration of diversity Aquinas focuses on the common human ground, which allows for the indispensable dialogue between different positions. When dealing with practical questions, the problem is one of finding the right balance between general principle and cultural specifics, tolerance, and dialogue, always guided by practical wisdom. In this way, Aquinas’ approach is neither rigid ethical universalism with no consideration for diversity nor moral relativism with no place for any transcultural and absolute morals. (shrink)

In this paper, we argue that lesbian couples who wish to have children who are genetically related to both of them should be allowed access to mitochondrial replacement techniques. First, we provide a brief explanation of mitochondrial diseases and MRTs. We then present the reasons why MRTs are not, by nature, therapeutic. The upshot of the view that MRTs are non-therapeutic techniques is that their therapeutic potential cannot be invoked for restricting their use only to those cases where a mitochondrial (...) DNA disease could be ‘cured’. We then argue that a positive case for MRTs is justified by an appeal to reproductive freedom, and that the criteria to access these techniques should hence be extended to include lesbian couples who wish to share genetic parenthood. Finally, we consider a potential objection to our argument: that the desire to have genetically related kin is not a morally sufficient reason to allow lesbian couples to access MRTs. (shrink)

This article analyzes the issue of organizational transparency through the lens of Thomas Aquinas’ ethics. It provides moral justification for current claims about corporate transparency and sheds light on the ethical values and virtues affecting information disclosure decisions. Transparency is conceptualized as an informational mechanism necessary for performing the virtues of truthfulness, justice, and prudence. This article extends the organizational transparency and corporate social responsibility literatures by providing an alternative moral justification grounded in virtue-based theory, which extends our understanding of (...) the information disclosure decisions made by management. (shrink)

Several objections against the morality of researching or employing mitochondrial replacement techniques have been advanced recently. In this paper, I examine three of these objections and show that they are found wanting. First I examine whether mitochondrial replacement techniques, research and clinical practice, should not be carried out because of possible harms to egg donors. Next I assess whether mitochondrial replacement techniques should be banned because they could affect the study of genealogical ancestry. Finally, I examine the claim that mitochondrial (...) replacement techniques are not transferring mitochondrial DNA but nuclear DNA, and that this should be prohibited on ethical grounds. (shrink)

In this work I present a detailed critique of the dignity-related arguments that have been advanced against the creation of human–nonhuman chimeras that could possess human-like mental capacities. My main claim is that the arguments so far advanced are incapable of grounding a principled objection against the creation of such creatures. I conclude that these arguments have one, or more, of the following problems: they confuse the ethical assessment of the creation of chimeras with the ethical assessment of how such (...) creatures would be treated in specific contexts, they misrepresent how a being could be treated solely as means towards others’ ends, they fall short of demonstrating how humanity’s dignity would be violated by the creation of such entities, and they fail to properly characterise the moral responsibilities that moral agents have towards other moral agents and sentient beings. (shrink)

O objetivo deste artigo é comparar a maneira como Pascal trata das relações entre ceticismo e dogmatismo em duas de suas principais obras, os Pensamentos e Conversa com o Senhor de Sacy, as quais, embora não conflitantes, trazem uma relevante mudança de pontos de vista. A Conversa aborda o debate ceticismo/dogmatismo diretamente pelo ângulo moral, de modo que os riscos morais para os leitores serão o critério fundamental de avaliação das duas filosofias. É igualmente do ponto de vista moral que (...) Epiteto e Montaigne, representantes do dogmatismo e do ceticismo, serão considerados inconciliáveis, visto que a aniquilação recíproca de vícios e virtudes impossibilita a constituição de uma moral perfeita. Nos Pensamentos, o ponto de vista assumido é o da teoria do conhecimento, ainda que se termine o embate no mesmo impasse moral da Conversa. A diferença mais importante, porém, é que os Pensamentos trazem o embate para o interior da natureza humana. Ambas as obras concordam em apontar ao apontar a religião cristã como fonte de explicação para os paradoxos da condição humana. (shrink)

At the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 became a global problem. Despite all the efforts to emphasize the relevance of preventive measures, not everyone adhered to them. Thus, learning more about the characteristics determining attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic is crucial to improving future interventions. In this study, we applied machine learning on the multi-national data collected by the International Collaboration on the Social and Moral Psychology of COVID-19 (N = 51,404) to test the predictive efficacy of constructs from (...) social, moral, cognitive, and personality psychology, as well as socio-demographic factors, in the attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic. The results point to several valuable insights. Internalized moral identity provided the most consistent predictive contribution—individuals perceiving moral traits as central to their self-concept reported higher adherence to preventive measures. Similar was found for morality as cooperation, symbolized moral identity, self-control, open-mindedness, collective narcissism, while the inverse relationship was evident for the endorsement of conspiracy theories. However, we also found a non-negligible variability in the explained variance and predictive contributions with respect to macro-level factors such as the pandemic stage or cultural region. Overall, the results underscore the importance of morality-related and contextual factors in understanding adherence to public health recommendations during the pandemic. (shrink)

For more than three decades, Integrative Social Contracts Theory (ISCT) has been lauded as a business ethics theory particularly well suited to the international arena, especially because of its alleged ability to reconcile respect for cultural idiosyncrasies and normative teeth. However, this theory has also faced various objections, many of which its authors have responded to with varying degrees of satisfaction. As a contribution to this debate, this article provides a unifying rationale for many of those objections by exploring their (...) rooting in the Separation thesis. It submits that this fact negatively impacts the theory with three major challenges, namely: significant limitations to correctly frame moral issues and situations; poor identification of hypernorms; and insufficient theoretical grounding of hypernorms. This critique highlights the need for the entanglement of the normative and the empirical in business ethics theorizing. (shrink)

La doctrina aristotélica de la elección desempeña un papel clave en su concepción de la virtud ética y de la praxis moral. El objeto de este artículo es analizar el planteamiento aristotélico y cómo es interpretado por Aspasio en el siglo II d.c. El hecho de que el Comentario aspasiano sea el primero conservado, nos permite rastrear su evolución, los problemas a los que responde y las consecuencias de este proceso. Siendo su interpretación fiel a la concepción aristotélica, incorpora elementos (...) de la visión estoica de la teoría de la acción, que tiene como consecuencia una modificación de la doctrina de la voluntariedad de los actos. (shrink)

O objetivo deste artigo é o de explorar as relações entre psicologia, metafísica e literatura, a partir do exame do Ensaio sobre os dados imediatos da consciência; mais exatamente, a partir da compreensão dos "sentimentos profundos", que representa, no Ensaio, o momento privilegiado para apreender a estrutura temporal da consciência. Porém, o presente estudo não abordará unicamente o texto de Bergson, suas descrições dos sentimentos profundos (como as emoções estéticas e morais), o que muito provavelmente seria repetitivo. O uso de (...) um exemplo extraído da própria literatura (no caso, o romance Grande sertão: veredas, de Guimarães Rosa) será imprescindível aqui para compreender a possibilidade de uma descrição qualitativa do "fluxo da consciência", revelando sua estrutura temporal. A partir disso, espera-se determinar com um pouco mais de clareza as interações entre psicologia, metafísica e literatura, na filosofia de Bergson. This paper aims to explore the relation between psychology, metaphysics and literature, through an examination of Bergon's Time and Free Will: An Essay on the Immediate Data of Consciousness, or, more precisely, through the description of "deep feelings", which represent in the Essay a privileged moment for understanding the temporal structure of consciousness. However, this study will not be restricted only to Bergson's text and its descriptions of deep feelings (such as aesthetic and moral emotions), which would probably be repetitive. Instead, we shall use a work of literature (Guimarães Rosa's novel, Grande sertão: veredas) to exemplify the possibility of a qualitative description of "stream of consciousness", revealing its temporal structure. We hope in this way to clarify the interaction between psychology, metaphysics and literature in the philosophy of Bergson. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to critically examine David Shaw, Wybo Dondorp, and Guido de Wert’s arguments in favour of the procurement of human organs from human/nonhuman-primate chimeras, specifically from great-ape/human chimeras. My main claim is that their arguments fail and are in need of substantial revision. To prove this I first introduce the topic, and then reconstruct Shaw et al.’s position and arguments. Next, I show that Shaw et al.: (1) failed to properly apply the subsidiarity and proportionality (...) principles; (2) neglected species overlapping cases in their ethical assessment; (3) ignored the ethics literature on borderline persons; and (4) misunderstood McMahan’s two-tiered moral theory. These mistakes render an important part of their conclusions either false or problematic to the point that they would no longer endorse them. Finally I will briefly mention a possible multipolar solution to the human organ shortage problem that would reduce the need for chimeras’ organs. (shrink)

Este trabalho tem como objetivo abordar os conceitos esclarecimento, educação e autonomia na concepção do filósofo Immanuel Kant. Para tanto, no primeiro momento, faz-se a leitura do Opúsculo Kantiano de 1783, Resposta à pergunta: que é esclarecimento?, com o propósito de analisar o conceito esclarecimento, a fim de compreender de que modo, em Kant, se dá a passagem do homem de seu estado de menoridade à maioridade. Num segundo momento, a partir da leitura da obra publicada em 1803, Sobre a (...) pedagogia, ainda que haja dúvidas se, de fato, essa obra tenha sido escrita por Kant ou, mais provavelmente, por seu aluno, Theodor Rink, busca-se evidenciar a tese kantiana de que a emancipação do homem não se dá sem a educação. E, por fim, num terceiro momento, à luz da análise feita dos dois conceitos-base deste trabalho, esclarecimento e educação, investiga-se a conexão entre ambos, na obra sobre filosofia moral kantiana de 1785, Fundamentação da metafísica dos costumes, tentando sustentar a tese de que esclarecimento e educação estão conectados com a autonomia moral, terceiro conceito-base desta investigação. A partir desses três momentos, salienta-se, por conseguinte, que a educação, segundo a proposta de Kant, possibilita ao homem desenvolver, aprimorar cada vez mais a capacidade e a coragem de sair do estado de menoridade e alcançar a maioridade, tornando-se, progressivamente, um sujeito esclarecido, autônomo e, consequentemente, moral. (shrink)

O presente artigo tem o objetivo de analisar como Eric Weil entende a Educação com vistas à compreensão do ser humano no mundo. Pretende-se demonstrar que a Educação Moral, defendida por Eric Weil, é um caminho privilegiado, sine qua non, que auxilia o ser humano no enfrentamento da violência. Evidencia que o educador toma lugar de destaque nessa discussão, pois lhe cabe a responsabilidade de indicar os meios e os caminhos para a universalização, para que a não violência possa subsidiar (...) uma cultura de paz entre os seres humanos. Para tanto, percorre o caminho metodológico fazendo uma abordagem na ampla teoria filosófica de Eric Weil, em especial, nas obras: Lógica da filosofia e Filosofia política, a fim de analisar os pontos mais relevantes para ancorar a concepção de imprescindibilidade da Educação e, também, por sua vez, do educador. Esta pesquisa será eminentemente lastreada por levantamentos bibliográficos nas obras do próprio Eric Weil, bem como nos comentários de alguns de seus comentadores. (shrink)

In this paper I explore some of the moral issues that could emerge from the creation of human–nonhuman chimeras capable of human gamete production and human pregnancy. First I explore whether there is a cogent argument against the creation of HNH-chimeras that could produce human gametes. I conclude that so far there is none, and that in fact there is at least one good moral reason for producing such types of creatures. Afterwards I explore some of the moral problems that (...) could emerge from the fact that a HNH-chimera could become pregnant with a human conceptus. I focus on two sets of problems: problems that would arise by virtue of the fact that a human is gestated by a nonhuman creature, and problems that would emerge from the fact that such pregnancies could affect the health of the HNH-chimera. (shrink)

http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1808-1711.2012v16n1p1 A teoria darwinista tem contribuído para a discussão de problemas nos mais diversos campos filosóficos, entre os quais se inclui a ética e a teoria moral. A sociobiologia e a psicologia evolucionista elucidaram muitos aspectos do comportamento social de diversas espécies animais, a partir de mecanismos como a seleção de parentesco e o altruísmo recíproco que, contudo, são insuficientes para explicar a cooperação no caso humano. Como alternativa, a teoria da dupla herança busca explicar o comportamento humano considerando tanto (...) a biologia quanto as ciências sociais. Segundo esta abordagem, a psicologia social humana é caracterizada por instintos sociais tribais e marcadores simbólicos, que resultam em uma mente que pressupõe princípios morais inatos e universais, selecionados para a vida em grupos orientados por normas sociais, mas que são plasticamente moldados à realidade cultural de cada sociedade. (shrink)

Jürgen Habermas is regarded as a central bioconservative commentator in the debate on the ethics of human prenatal genetic manipulations. While his main work on this topic, The Future of Human Nature, has been widely examined in regard to his position on prenatal genetic enhancement, his arguments regarding prenatal genetic therapeutic interventions have for the most part been overlooked. In this work I do two things. First, I present the three necessary conditions that Habermas establishes for a prenatal genetic manipulation (...) to be regarded as morally permissible. Second, I examine if mitochondrial replacement techniques meet these necessary conditions. I investigate, specifically, the moral permissibility of employing pronuclear transfer and maternal spindle transfer. I conclude that, according to a Habermasian perspective on prenatal genetic manipulation, maternal spindle transfer and pronuclear transfer are morally impermissible. Maternal spindle transfer is, in principle, morally permissible, but only when we have beforehand preselected a sperm and an egg for our reproductive purpose. These findings are relevant for bioconservatives, both for those who hold a Habermasian stance and for those who hold something akin to a Habermasian stance, because they answer the question: what should bioconservatives do regarding mitochondrial replacement techniques? In fact, the answer to this question does not only normatively prescribe what bioconservatives should do in terms of their personal morality, but it also points towards what kind of legislation regulating mitochondrial replacement techniques they should aim at. (shrink)

Human eggs for basic, fertility and stem-cell research are in short supply. Many experiments that require their use cannot be carried out at present, and, therefore, the benefits that could emerge from these are either delayed or never materialise. This state of affairs is problematic for scientists and patients worldwide, and it is a matter that needs our attention. Recent advances in chimera research have opened the possibility of creating human/non-human animal chimeras intended for human gamete production (chimeras-IHGP). In this (...) paper, I examine four arguments against the creation of such chimeras and prove that all of them are found wanting. I conclude by showing that there is a strong moral reason for scientists to pursue this research avenue. (shrink)

Evidence about whether reflective thinking may be induced and whether it affects utilitarian choices is inconclusive. Research suggests that answering items correctly in the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT) before responding to dilemmas may lead to more utilitarian decisions. However, it is unclear to what extent this effect is driven by the inhibition of intuitive wrong responses (reflection) versus the requirement to engage in deliberative processing. To clarify this issue, participants completed either the CRT or the Berlin Numeracy Test (BNT) – (...) which does not require reflection – before responding to moral dilemmas. To distinguish between the potential effect of participants’ previous reflective traits and that of performing a task that can increase reflectivity, we manipulated whether participants received feedback for incorrect items. Findings revealed that both CRT and BNT scores predicted utilitarian decisions when feedback was not provided. Additionally, feedback enhanced performance for both tasks, although it only increased utilitarian decisions when it was linked to the BNT. Taken together, these results suggest that performance in a numeric task that requires deliberative thinking may predict utilitarian responses to moral dilemmas. The finding that feedback increased utilitarian decisions only in the case of BNT casts doubt upon the reflective-utilitarian link. (shrink)

The Olympic Games and the soccer World Cup are large international mega-events that demonstrate how highly valued sport is around the world. However, alongside the celebrations of sporting excellences is the opportunity to reflect upon and criticize the International Olympic Committee, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, and the host cities for ethical concerns that often accompany these events. One recent example is FIFA’s decision to ban women’s soccer players from wearing hijabs. Yet the IOC has encoded in its own (...) charter ethical and axiological mandates that it terms Olympism. This Olympic philosophy can be fruitfully understood as an intersubjective moral approach to sport and sport governance. So conceived, it can be used to gain clarity on FIFA’s decision, both in terms of its ethical decision-making process and its conclusions. While FIFA recently lifted the ban, concerns about the process are still evident. (shrink)

O presente artigo analisa aspectos do filme Seven de David Fincher, correlacionando-o à chamada crise da modernidade e da própria razão Iluminista. Nesse contexto trabalha-se a relação psicótica do personagem John Doe à própria hipertrofia da racionalidade, ou seja, a exacerbação da razão destrói a própria essência da racionalidade, gerando uma situação de anomia, que foi marcada pela tentativa de se resgatar uma racionalidade ética cristã, através da punição dos 7 pecados capitais e da seqüência mórbida dos crimes cometidos, que (...) nos leva a refletir, por onde anda a razão. (shrink)

In 2015 the United Kingdom (UK) became the first nation to legalize egg and zygotic nuclear transfer procedures using mitochondrial replacement techniques (MRTs) to prevent the maternal transmission of serious mitochondrial DNA diseases to offspring. These techniques are a form of human germline genetic modification and can happen intentionally if female embryos are selected during the MRT clinical process, either through sperm selection or preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). In the same year, an MRT was performed by a United States (U.S.)-based (...) physician team. This experiment involved a cross-border effort: the MRT procedure per se was carried out in the US, and the embryo transfer in Mexico. The authors examine the ethics of MRTs from the standpoint of genetic relatedness and gender implications, in places that lack adequate laws and regulation regarding assisted reproduction. Then, we briefly examine whether MRTs can be justified as a reproductive option in the US and Mexico, after reassessing their legalization in the UK. We contend that morally inadequate and ineffective regulations regarding egg donation, PGD, and germline genetic modifications jeopardize the ethical acceptability of the implementation of MRTs, suggesting that MRTs are currently difficult to justify in the US and Mexico. In addition to relevant regulation, the initiation and appropriate use of MRTs in a country require a child-centered follow-up policy and more evidence for its safety. (shrink)