Este estudo teve como objetivo estimar a Qualidade de Vida (QV) em pacientes com transtorno depressivo maior antes e após tratamento antidepressivo eficaz. Participaram do estudo 26 indivíduos (18 a 65 anos) com episódio agudo de Transtorno Depressivo Maior, segundo critérios do DSM-IV. A duração do..

Partindo do tratamento da questão sobre a função social do filósofo, constroem-se os aportes teóricos para direcionar alguns apontamentos para uma temática semelhante: a função social do professor de filosofia. Serão propostas quatro funções sociais para o filósofo como aportes para a discussão a respeito do papel social do professor de filosofia. É para chegar a esses aportes que a investigação é dividida em dois momentos. No primeiro a função social do filósofo é discutida com amparo das reflexões de Franklin (...) Leopoldo e Silva. Serão extraídas quatro funções sociais do filósofo. No segundo momento é discutida a relação entre filosofia e educação. As quatro funções sociais do filósofo serão aplicadas no contexto da atividade do professor de filosofia. O artigo se encerra com as Considerações Finais. (shrink)

Female sex steroids can affect the motor system, modulating motor cortex excitability as well as performance in dexterity and coordination tasks. However, it has not yet been explored whether FSS affects the cognitive components of motor behavior. Mu is a sensorimotor rhythm observed by electroencephalography in alpha and beta frequency bands in practices such as motor imagery and action observation. This rhythm represents a window for studying the activity of neural circuits involved in motor cognition. Herein we investigated whether the (...) alpha-mu and beta-mu power in the sensorimotor region and the alpha and beta power over frontal, parietal, and occipital regions are modulated differently in the menstrual, follicular, and luteal phases of menstrual cycles in right-handed dominant women. To do so, these women underwent MI and AO in the three menstrual cycle phases. The spectral activity of the cortical regions for the alpha and beta bands were compared between phases of the menstrual cycle and a correlation analysis was also performed in relation to estrogen and progesterone levels. For the hypothesis-based approach, beta-mu event-related desynchronization was significantly stronger in the C3 channel in the follicular phase than in the menstrual and luteal phases. For the data-driven approach, beta ERD during MI was higher in the follicular phase than in the menstrual and luteal phases in the frontal region. These findings suggest the effect of FSS on executive movement control. No effect of menstrual cycle phases was observed in cortical areas investigated during OA, but alpha and beta bands correlated positively with the follicular phase plasma estradiol level. Thus, the attenuation of alpha and beta bands referring to mirror neuron activities appears to be associated with inhibition of cortical activity when estradiol levels are lower, improving cognitive processing of motor action. (shrink)

This paper aims to develop a brief analysis of spirituality in the Christian perspective from Luke 10.25-37, emphasizing the existing elective affinities between the notion of spirituality expressed in this narrative and the Ethics of Alterity in Emmanuel Levinas. The method used in this research is the literature review. For methodological reasons, this reflection was developed from the historical-critical exegetical process. The considerations found in this research line up to a prospect that the Other/Next assumes a vital place in the (...) spirituality of the Christian faith. Despite of the existing elective affinities between the Philosophy of Alterity and the Christian spirituality, the relationship between spirituality and ethics is a complex and essential drama for the search field of philosophy of religion. (shrink)

While this is not the first study of reception histories of Indian and European ideas across East-West boundaries, Thomas J. Green's distinctive contribution is to show–via a microscopic focus on two thinkers whose intellectual trajectories cannot be fully understood within the history of any single nation–how the macroscopic processes of modernity and secularisation in the long nineteenth-century must be seen as transnational phenomena. The argument is centred on the German scholar of comparative religion, Friedrich Max Müller and the Bengali advocate (...) for Hindu socio-religious reform, Swami Vivekananda. Green masterfully brings to light the surprising convergences between these two figures... (shrink)

A fim de celebrar o bicentenário da publicação d´ O mundo como vontade e representação, rememoraremos uma polêmica de grandes proporções na filosofia alemã ao final do século XIX: a Pessimismus-Frage. Originada pela recepção da filosofia schopenhaueriana, essa polêmica suscitou – sobretudo após a morte de Schopenhauer - extensos debates entre os partidários do pessimismo filosófico e seus críticos. Iniciaremos descrevendo algumas características do horizonte intelectual alemão da época. A seguir, apresentaremos traços do pensamento de três representantes da chamada escola (...) de Schopenhauer, defensores do pessimismo filosófico. Posteriormente, elencaremos algumas das principais críticas dirigidas contra Schopenhauer e seu pessimismo, oriundas sobretudo do movimento neokantiano, ora dominante na filosofia universitária alemã. Concluiremos mostrando como a Pessimismus-Frage tinha como pressuposto uma discussão acerca da natureza e dos limites da própria filosofia, ressaltando a influência da filosofia schopenhaueriana durante a segunda metade do século XIX na Alemanha. (shrink)

We shall revisit a debate which has been going on at least since pioneering British Indologists like William Jones first encountered the ‘Brahmanic theology’ we now know as Vedānta, namely, the nature of the relationship—if any—between certain forms of ‘western’ and ‘Indian’ idealisms, and how these metaphysical systems have influenced Christian theology. Specifically, we look at the question of possible thematic and conceptual convergences between Neoplatonism and Advaita Vedānta, and argue that significant parallels can be found in their common conception (...) of the Absolute as Being. Rather than attempt a comprehensive overview of the two systems, we take the divine ‘I AM’ revealed to Moses in Exodus 3.14 as the locus classicus of Christian philosophical interpretations of God as Being itself, and explore how four seminal figures read this passage in light of Neoplatonic and Vedāntic influences. We shall see that similarities and divergences in the readings of Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Meister Eckhart and Henri Le Saux can be understood in terms of how they negotiate the relation between the One and the many, or between ‘being’ and ‘knowing’. The more these figures allow themselves to be influenced by Neoplatonism and Advaita Vedānta, the more we see any clear ontological distinction between creature and Creator start to break down. This verse, therefore, proves to be an unusually fruitful test case for exploring the relation between the underlying Neoplatonic and Vedāntic metaphysics which structure varying Christian interpretations of it. (shrink)

Uma apresentação da categoria weiliana da obra Resumo: No presente artigo propomos uma apresentação da categoria weiliana da obra, a categoria da violência pura. Para tanto, dividimos o artigo em três seções. Na primeira, descrevemos a atitude e a categoria da obra. Trata-se da categoria weiliana da rejeição consciente da razão e do indivíduo que vive a sua atitude. Na segunda, mostramos como se dá a compreensão da obra pela filosofia weiliana. Essa compreensão só é possível emprestando à obra uma (...) linguagem que ela rejeita, a linguagem filosófica. Na terceira, concluímos com uma descrição do chamado homem da obra, conforme visto na categoria da obra. Utilizamos também a tipologia do líder das multidões desamparadas presente no ensaio Masses et individus historiques. Palavras-chave: Obra; Categoria; Violência; Eric Weil. A presentation of the Weilian category of the work Abstract: In this paper we propose a presentation of the Weilian category of the work, the category of pure violence. To this end, we divided the paper into three sections. In the first, we describe the attitude and the category of the work. It is the Weilian category of conscious rejection of reason and the individual who lives his attitude.In the second, we show how the category of the work is understood by Weilian philosophy. This understanding is only possible by lending the work a language that it rejects, the philosophical language.In the third, we conclude with a description of the so-called man of the work, as seen in the category of the work. In the last section, we also used the typology of the leader of the helpless crowd present in the essay Masses et individus historiques. Keywords: Work; Category; Violence; Eric Weil. Une présentation de la catégorie weilienne de l'œuvre Résumé: Dans cet article, nous proposons une présentation de la catégorie weilienne de l'œuvre, la catégorie de la violence pure. Pour ce faire, nous avons divisé l'article en trois différentes sections. Dans le premier, nous décrivons l'attitude et la catégorie de l'œuvre. C'est la catégorie weilienne du rejet conscient de la raison et de l'individu qui vit cette attitude. Dans la deuxième section, nous montrons comment l'œuvre est comprise par la philosophie weilienne. Cette compréhension n'est possible qu'en prêtant à l'œuvre un langage qu'elle rejette, le langage philosophique. Dans la troisième section, nous concluons par une description du soi-disant homme du travail, vu dans la catégorie travail. Nous avons également utilisé la typologie du chef de la foule désemparées présente dans l'essai Masses et individus historiques. Mots clés: Œuvre ; Catégorie ; Violence ; Eric Weil. Data de registro: 29/04/2021 Data de aceite: 01/12/2021. (shrink)

Nosso propósito é utilizar a figura do literato-filósofo cunhada por Margutti para a compreensão do específico da filosofia brasileira, cujo caso-exemplo tomado por nós no presente artigo é Machado de Assis. Para tanto, o trabalho será dividido em três momentos. No primeiro faremos a apresentação de outras formas de expressão filosófica que não a forma tradicional de sistema, estabelecendo assim uma primeira relação entre filosofia e literatura. O segundo consiste na caracterização geral da filosofia brasileira tendo por premissa a apresentação (...) contida no momento inicial. Destacamos três elementos que serão apresentados para caracterizar a filosofia brasileira: o procedimento do caminho inverso, a dependência das características culturais dos povos ibéricos e o uso do paralelo. A partir desses elementos será possível introduzir na discussão a figura do literato-filósofo. Finalizamos então com a discussão se existe ou não uma filosofia em Machado de Assis, consoante com o exposto nas etapas anteriores. Para tanto, sintetizamos duas leituras de Machado como um autor em que não há uma densidade propriamente filosófica, a de Benedito Nunes e a de Miguel Reale, para em seguida contrapormos duas leituras opostas, em que o veio filosófico do Bruxo do Cosme Velho corre mais vigoroso: as de Maia Neto e Margutti. (shrink)

A visão de Hegel como um pensador conservador não é um fenômeno isolado. Para alguns críticos, Hegel é comumente considerado um apologeta do Estado prussiano e um filósofo daquilo que comumente se denomina estatismo. Eric Weil, contudo, não considera essa definição como condizente com uma retratação fiel do filósofo alemão, assemelhando-se mais a uma caricatura. Nesse sentido, Weil defende uma leitura do pensamento político hegeliano que põe em xeque essa visão, fazendo uma crítica da crítica que, tal como Kant é (...) o rigorista moral, ou Platão é o filósofo das Idéias, coloca Hegel como o filósofo do estatismo e para quem o indivíduo é nada e o Estado é tudo. Para determinar até que ponto essa perspectiva possui lastro, Weil advoga em favor de uma análise do pensamento político de Hegel, inquirindo sobre a real dimensão que o Estado possui no seio desse pensamento. É dessa maneira que é possível delimitar até que ponto esse retrato comumente traçado de Hegel corresponde com a realidade. (shrink)

Eric Weil, Karl Jaspers e Martin Heidegger são três filósofos alemães, um deles, judeu: Weil apresenta na categoria do finito uma possibilidade entre os discursos filosóficos que compreende Heidegger e Jaspers. O presente artigo propõe uma compreensão parcial de Jaspers e Heidegger por meio da categoria do finito weiliana e da retomada operada por essa possibilidade do discurso – a finitude – da categoria da obra, cuja fenomenologia é o nazismo. Para esse objetivo, dividiu-se o artigo em três seções, seguidas (...) de uma introdução. Na Introdução apresentamos a relação entre os três pensadores dada por meio de dois textos de Weil. Também elencamos os motivos da escolha das obras de Heidegger e Jaspers que serão discutidas. A primeira seção do artigo contém uma apresentação dos conceitos weilianos que são a base para as seções seguintes. Na segunda seção, esses conceitos são cotejados com o pensamento heideggeriano. Na terceira seção, aplicamos o mesmo método ao pensar de Jaspers, mostrando as limitações que o pensamento de Heidegger encontra no plano político. Encerramos com um pequeno balanço da discussão. (shrink)

O mal radical em Eric Weil compreende a suspeita a respeito das paixões: encontra-se nelas o motivo da ação? As paixões, entretanto, podem ser domesticadas. É nessa perspectiva que o mal radical se relaciona com a instrução. Para abordar essa relação, nosso estudo desenvolve um tratamento do mal, desafio para a filosofia, que em Weil tem como resposta o conceito de violência. Após situarmos o desafio do mal como violência, é possível entender no que Weil se difencia de Kant ao (...) apresentar o conceito de mal radical. Apresentarmos brevemente a leitura de Weil do mal radical kantiano, para em seguida comparar as semelhanças e diferenças entre ambos. Encerramos apresentando o modo como a instrução pode educar as paixões. (shrink)

O mal ocupa a condição de problema para a filosofia desde a Antiguidade. Passando pelas ponderações dos estóicos e de Santo Agostinho, tratado no contexto da teodiceia por Leibniz, o mal aporta como objeto de preocupação para a moral em Kant. Muito conhecido por sua definição como um kantiano pós-hegeliano, é com Kant, mas indo além dele que Weil trata do mal, pensando-o como formas de violência. Considerada como o outro do sentido e da razão, a violência se manifesta de (...) maneiras variadas. Nosso intuito é determinar o conceito de mal em Eric Weil enquanto forma de violência. Para isso, nos propomos a situar no esquema conceitual da violência duas formas de mal discutidas por Weil nos seus textos: o mal radical e o mal diabólico. (shrink)

A sociedade moderna weiliana se caracteriza entre outras coisas pela sua sua concepção de ciência. Ambas fundadas no princípio do cálculo eficaz, a compreensão de seu funcionamento e de suas limitações caminham juntas. Assim, analisar a sociedade moderna contempla uma discussão da instância que funciona como sua autoconsciência: a concepção de ciência que lhe é própria, as ciências sociais, cuja matriz é a ciência da natureza. Ciência e sociedade moderna são compreendidas no âmbito da categoria weiliana da condição. Aqui não (...) existe apelo a um princípio incondicionado. Desse modo, a questão do sentido não pode ser feita. Não se trata com isso de renunciar às conquistas da ciência moderna. Na visão de Weil, entretanto, deve-se reconhecer que a questão do sentido pode ser feita adequadamente. Isso porque ela deve ser posta pela filosofia. Nosso objetivo no presente trabalho é discutir a relação entre sociedade moderna, ciência moderna e o sentido. Isso porque se existe uma ciência de uma sociedade eficaz também existe uma ciência do sentido: essa é a filosofia. (shrink)

O objetivo do presente trabalho é oferecer uma via de acesso ao pensamento de Eric Weil por meio de uma apresentação de alguns dos seus principais conceitos. Trata-se dos conceitos de atitude, categoria e retomada, elementos que constituem o léxico próprio do pensamento weiliano e cuja compreensão é capital para o enfrentamento de sua principal obra, a Lógica da filosofia. Oferece-se no presente artigo uma explanação introdutória sobre algumas das ferramentas conceituais fundamentais para a pesquisa na filosofia weiliana. Para tanto, (...) dividiu-se o artigo em três seções. Na primeira, introduziu-se a discussão weiliana a respeito da filosofia e do seu outro, a violência, bem como de uma lógica da filosofia. Encerra-se essa etapa apresentando informações importantes sobre as categorias weilianas. Na segunda seção discute-se de modo mais detido as categorias e atitudes, sua dinâmica e a passagem entre elas. Diferenciam-se atitudes reais das atitudes puras, aquelas que geram as categorias. Na terceira seção, tratamos do conceito de retomada. Concluí-se essa seção com as categorias formais que esquematizam a lógica da filosofia e realizam a transição do formal para o concreto: sentido e sabedoria. (shrink)

ABSTRACT In Eric Weil’s Logic of Philosophy, the work appears as a rupture with the absolute, an attitude of pure violence, whose opposition is realized by acting, therefore, it is mute. And yet, this attitude has a language. This paper seeks to understand how this contradiction is possible, characterizing the language that the work makes use of. To this end, we have divided this paper into three sections. In the first section, we present the distinction between language and discourse as (...) understood by Weil. Thus arises the resource through which the loan of a discourse to violence is understood, which allows access to its language. In the second section we propose a division of the language of the work into three levels: phenomenon, formality and form. In this section we also discuss an example of the formality with the condition category. In the last section, we propose six features that constitute the third level of the language of the work: myth, metaphor, feeling, usefulness, proposition and imperative. The paper concludes with a review of the aspects worked in the light of the lie and with the proposal of an imperative that is opposed to the imperative of the work, therefore, to its language. (shrink)

Entendendo a violência como a negação do sentido e da razão, bem como a recusa daquilo que compõe a essência do mundo do homem que vive em uma determinada atitude, nosso objetivo no presente trabalho é analisar esse conceito na Lógica da Filosofia de Eric Weil, que apresenta o conjunto dos discursos filosóficos no seu itinerário na forma de categorias, nos detendo naquelas nas quais a violência aparece na forma de mal. Tenciona-se tratar do mal na sua especificidade conforme ele (...) é apresentado pelo autor nas categorias selecionadas, constituindo assim um panorama segundo as variadas possibilidades discursivas. Levamos em conta para isso tanto a sucessão das várias categorias bem como a relação das mesmas com as suas respectivas atitudes. Finalmente, procuramos entender o mal não como um falso problema, mas como uma dificuldade real que se apresenta para a elaboração de um sentido para o mundo do homem. (shrink)

Music can reduce stress and anxiety, enhance positive mood, and facilitate social bonding. However, little is known about the role of music and related personal or cultural variables in maintaining wellbeing during times of stress and social isolation as imposed by the COVID-19 crisis. In an online questionnaire, administered in 11 countries, participants rated the relevance of wellbeing goals during the pandemic, and the effectiveness of different activities in obtaining these goals. Music was found to be the most effective activity (...) for three out of five wellbeing goals: enjoyment, venting negative emotions, and self-connection. For diversion, music was equally good as entertainment, while it was second best to create a sense of togetherness, after socialization. This result was evident across different countries and gender, with minor effects of age on specific goals, and a clear effect of the importance of music in people's lives. Cultural effects were generally small and surfaced mainly in the use of music to obtain a sense of togetherness. Interestingly, culture moderated the use of negatively valenced and nostalgic music for those higher in distress. (shrink)

The main objective of the article is to understand the notion of power in Foucault as an action on action in a relationship of forces. In principle, the power of sovereignty and biopower in classical times are investigated. Where it is perceived that the former has negative and repressive connotations, while this one has positive and productive connotations of facts, happenings. Then, an analysis of Foucault's power is analyzed, where it is possible to verify that there is no construction of (...) a Theory of Power in Foucault, but only an ascending analysis of power, thus departing from specificity for general aspects. Finally, we will analyze the power relationship, seen as an action over action, in this action-reaction movement, there is its need, its becoming, its truth, which is the exercise of power, functioning. Thus, from the molecular to the complex composition, from the invisible to the visible, from the body to the population, power is understood, that is, power relations in the Foucaultian web. (shrink)

The indisputable success of the European integration project also prompted other regions of the world to follow suit. On the other side of coin, these regional blocs cultivated free trade within but remained protectionist vis-àvis the outside, thereby impeding the progress of the multilateral trade system. But also the soaring number of WTO member states accompanied by their incompatible interests, its ambitious agenda spanning over 20 diverse issues and, in particular, the single undertaking approach emerged as the Doha’s Round “stumbling (...) blocks”. The utter dismay over the Doha’s Round deadlock has provoked countries to opt for alternative for a outside the WTO in their endeavor to expedite far-reaching trade liberalization. Besides the vast economic growth in Asia and the rise of international production networks, this urge for deeper integration represents one of the central root causes for the most recent wave of PTAs which has been gathering force over the course of the 21st century and increasingly puts the WTO’s raison d’être under critical scrutiny. (shrink)

In this book Daniel Wegner offers a novel understanding of the relation of consciousness, the will, and our intentional and voluntary actions. Wegner claims that our experience and common sense view according to which we can influence our behavior roughly the way we experience that we do it is an illusion.

Physicalism, the thesis that everything is physical, is one of the most controversial problems in philosophy. Its adherents argue that there is no more important doctrine in philosophy, whilst its opponents claim that its role is greatly exaggerated. In this superb introduction to the problem Daniel Stoljar focuses on three fundamental questions: the interpretation, truth and philosophical significance of physicalism. In answering these questions he covers the following key topics: -/- (i)A brief history of physicalism and its definitions, (ii)what (...) a physical property is and how physicalism meets challenges from empirical sciences, (iii)'Hempel’s dilemma’ and the relationship between physicalism and physics, (iv)physicalism and key debates in metaphysics and philosophy of mind, such as supervenience, identity and conceivability, and (v)physicalism and causality. -/- Additional features include chapter summaries, annotated further reading and a glossary of technical terms, making Physicalism ideal for those coming to the problem for the first time. (shrink)

In his new book, eminent psychologist - Daniel Stern, explores the hitherto neglected topic of 'vitality'. Truly a tour de force from a brilliant clinician and scientist, Forms of Vitality is a profound and absorbing book - one that will be essential reading for psychologists, psychotherapists, and those in the creative arts.

We suggest that philosophical accounts of epistemic effects of diversity have given insufficient attention to the relationship between demographic diversity and information elaboration, the process whereby knowledge dispersed in a group is elicited and examined. We propose an analysis of IE that clarifies hypotheses proposed in the empirical literature and their relationship to philosophical accounts of diversity effects. Philosophical accounts have largely overlooked the possibility that demographic diversity may improve group performance by enhancing IE, and sometimes fail to explore the (...) relationship between diversity and IE altogether. We claim these omissions are significant from both a practical and theoretical perspective. Moreover, we explain how the overlooked explanations suggest that epistemic benefits of diversity can depend on epistemically unjust social dynamics. (shrink)

For several years, scholars have (for good reason) been largely preoccupied with worries about the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) tools to make decisions about us. Only recently has significant attention turned to a potentially more alarming problem: the use of AI/ML to influence our decision-making. The contexts in which we make decisions—what behavioral economists call our choice architectures—are increasingly technologically-laden. Which is to say: algorithms increasingly determine, in a wide variety of contexts, both the sets of (...) options we choose from and the way those options are framed. Moreover, artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) makes it possible for those options and their framings—the choice architectures—to be tailored to the individual chooser. They are constructed based on information collected about our individual preferences, interests, aspirations, and vulnerabilities, with the goal of influencing our decisions. At the same time, because we are habituated to these technologies we pay them little notice. They are, as philosophers of technology put it, transparent to us—effectively invisible. I argue that this invisible layer of technological mediation, which structures and influences our decision-making, renders us deeply susceptible to manipulation. Absent a guarantee that these technologies are not being used to manipulate and exploit, individuals will have little reason to trust them. (shrink)

This text focuses on the theory of popular politics constructed within the context of analytical Marxism, and asks if rational choice theory provides an adequate basis for explaining patterns of social, political and economic behaviour in traditional China.

The whole drug industry campaign for mood drugs in the 1950s was to broaden to absurd limits the definition of illness.... If the facts in these ads were not untruths, then their implications often were.1Sponsorship bias occurs when a funder of scientific research has a vested interest in what claims the research supports, which consequently shapes the research or the reporting of its results to align with that interest. This article examines the relationship between sponsorship bias and misleading claims, understood (...) as claims that are not necessarily false but which encourage those exposed to them to infer false conclusions. Such claims are important insofar as being common in examples of alleged sponsorship... (shrink)

Moral distress in healthcare has been an increasingly prevalent topic of discussion. Most authors characterize it as a negative phenomenon, while few have considered its potentially positive value. In this essay, I argue that moral distress can reveal and affirm some of our most important concerns as moral agents. Indeed, the experience of it under some circumstances appears to be partly constitutive of an honorable character and can allow for crucial moral maturation. The potentially positive value, then, is twofold; moral (...) distress carries both aretaic and instrumental value. Granted, this position is not without its caveats, but by making these clear, I provide a novel framework for policy recommendations regarding when, if ever, we should work to reduce moral distress. (shrink)

Much has been written about the fittingness, epistemic, and standing norms that govern blame. In this paper, we argue that there exists a norm of blame that has yet to receive philosophical discussion and without which an account of the ethics of blame will be incomplete: a norm proscribing comparatively arbitrary blame. By reflecting on the objectionableness of comparatively arbitrary blame, we stand to elucidate a substantive, and thus far overlooked, norm governing our attributions of responsibility. Accordingly, our aim in (...) this paper is to develop a comparative non-arbitrariness condition on blame that can enrich our understanding of the ethics of blame. (shrink)

Medical errors are all too common. Ever since a report issued by the Institute of Medicine raised awareness of this unfortunate reality, an emerging theme has gained prominence in the literature on medical error. Fears of blame and punishment, it is often claimed, allow errors to remain undisclosed. Accordingly, modern healthcare must shift away from blame towards a culture of safety in order to effectively reduce the occurrence of error. Against this shift, I argue that it would serve the medical (...) community well to retain notions of individual responsibility and blame in healthcare settings. In particular, expressions of moral emotions—such as guilt, regret and remorse—appear to play an important role in the process of disclosing harmful errors to patients and families. While such self-blaming responses can have negative psychological effects on the individual practitioner, those who take the blame are in the best position to offer apologies and show that mistakes are being taken seriously, thereby allowing harmed patients and families to move forward in the wake of medical error. (shrink)

For decades, physicians, philosophers, theologians, lawyers, and the public considered brain death a settled issue. However, a series of recent cases in which individuals were declared brain dead yet physiologically maintained for prolonged periods of time has challenged the status quo. This signals a need for deeper reflection and reexamination of the underlying philosophical, scientific, and clinical issues at stake in defining death. In this paper, I consider four levels of philosophical inquiry regarding death: the ontological basis, actual states of (...) affairs, epistemological standards, and clinical criteria for brain death. I outline several candidates for the states of affairs that may constitute death, arguing that we should strive for a single, unified ontological definition of death as a loss of integrated functioning as a unified organism, while acknowledging that two states of affairs may satisfy this concept. I argue that the clinical criteria for determining whole-brain death should be bolstered to meet the epistemic demand of sufficient certainty in defining death by adding indicators of cerebro-somatic dis-integration to the traditional triad of loss of consciousness, loss of brainstem function, and absence of confounding explanations. (shrink)

Increasingly, physicians are being asked to provide technical services that many believe are morally wrong or inconsistent with their beliefs about the meaning and purposes of medicine. This controversy has sparked persistent debate over whether practitioners should be permitted to decline participation in a variety of legal practices, most notably physician-assisted suicide and abortion. These debates have become heavily politicized, and some of the key words and phrases are being used without a clear understanding of their meaning. In this essay, (...) I endeavor, firstly, to clarify the meaning of some of these terms: conscience, conscientious action, professional judgment, conscientious objection, conscience clauses, civil disobedience, and tolerance. I argue that use of the term conscientious objection to describe these refusals by health care professionals is mistaken and confusing. Secondly, relying on a proper understanding of the moral and technical character of medical judgment, the optimal deference that the state and markets ought to have toward professions, and general principles of Lockean tolerance for a diversity of practices and persons in a flourishing, pluralistic, democratic society, I offer a defense of tolerance with respect to the deeply held convictions of physicians and other health care professionals who hold minority views on contested but legal medical practices. (shrink)

A small but growing body of philosophically informed survey work calls into question whether the value-free ideal is a dominant viewpoint among scientists. However, the survey instruments in used in these studies have important limitations. Previous work has also made little headway in developing hypotheses that might predict or explain differing views about the value-free ideal among scientists. In this article, we review previous survey work on this topic, describe an improved survey instrument, report results from an initial administration of (...) it that strengthen and refine previous results, and develop two hypotheses that may account for gender effects found in the data. (shrink)

Impossible fictions are not just the creations of puzzle-seeking philosophers or artists experimenting with the limits of fiction. Impossibilities can be found in relatively mundane fiction as well. This article argues that the device of personification, especially of abstract entities such as death or duty, yields impossible fictions, arguing against a number of strategies that might be tried to show that these cases of personification do not yield impossibilities.

Daniel Sutherland - Kant on Arithmetic, Algebra, and the Theory of Proportions - Journal of the History of Philosophy 44:4 Journal of the History of Philosophy 44.4 533-558 Muse Search Journals This Journal Contents Kant on Arithmetic, Algebra, and the Theory of Proportions Daniel Sutherland Kant's philosophy of mathematics has both enthralled and exercised philosophers since the appearance of the Critique of Pure Reason. Neither the Critique nor any other work provides a sustained and focused account of his (...) mature views on mathematical cognition, forcing readers to glean what they can from disparate contexts. Despite these hurdles, Kant's views have been of great interest to philosophers of mathematics. They have also been of interest to philosophers wishing to understand Kant's philosophy more generally, since Kant maintains that mathematical judgments are synthetic a priori and that the type of synthesis underlying mathematics is the same as that underlying the perception of objects . Our understanding of Kant's views has been greatly improved during the last four decades by work on Kant's philosophy of mathematics. Despite these advances, however, I think the recent work has largely neglected the importance of Kant's theory of magnitudes and the extent to which that theory is influenced by the Eudoxian theory of proportions presented in Euclid's Elements. As a consequence, an important feature of Kant's.. (shrink)

This article examines the relevance of survey data of scientists’ attitudes about science and values to case studies in philosophy of science. We describe two methodological challenges confronting such case studies: 1) small samples, and 2) potential for bias in selection, emphasis, and interpretation. Examples are given to illustrate that these challenges can arise for case studies in the science and values literature. We propose that these challenges can be mitigated through an approach in which case studies and survey methods (...) are viewed as complementary, and use data from the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative to illustrate this claim. (shrink)

I introduce an underdiscussed type of moral luck, which I call interpersonal moral luck. Interpersonal moral luck characteristically occurs when the actions of other moral agents, qua morally evaluable actions, affect an agent’s moral status in a way that is outside of that agent’s capacity to control. I suggest that interpersonal moral luck is common in collective contexts involving shared responsibility and has interesting distinctive features. I also suggest that many philosophers are already committed to its existence. I then argue (...) that agents who are susceptible to interpersonal moral luck are usually for this reason defeasibly entitled to make demands of those agents who are the source of that luck. This is the phenomenon of normative entanglement. I conclude by discussing some of the important ways in which normative entanglement can shape the norms that govern the actions of agents in collective contexts as well as explain some of our intuitions about what participants in these contexts owe one another. (shrink)

The experience of ‘moral distress’ is an increasing focal point of contemporary medical and bioethics literature, yet it has received little attention in discussions intersecting with ethical theory. This is unfortunate, as it seems that the peculiar phenomenon may well help us to better understand a number of issues bearing both practical and theoretical significance. In this article, I provide a robust psychological profile of moral distress in order to shed a newfound light upon the longstanding problem of ‘dirty hands’. (...) I argue that moral distress offers evidence of the existence of dirty hands situations. By examining moral distress and its relationship to cases of dirty hands, it appears that few of us are completely immune to susceptibility to these sorts of troubling experiences. With this concern in mind, I provide various recommendations to help alleviate our morally distressing personal and professional lives. (shrink)

A remarkable number of Nietzsche's substantive moral psychological views have been borne out by evidence from the empirical sciences. Moral judgments are products of affects on Nietzsche's view, but the latter are in turn causally dependent upon more fundamental features of the individual. Nietzsche accepts a doctrine of types. The path is short from the acceptance of the Doctrine of Types to the acceptance of epiphenomenalism, as Leiter, and more recently, Riccardi argue. This chapter explains Nietzsche's phenomenological account of willing, (...) which serves as independent motivation for the view that Nietzsche denies the causal efficacy of conscious acts of willing. It also explores that in spite of an absence of volitional freedom, self‐control can be usefully understood on a strength‐model of motivational resources. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of how Nietzsche, without employing the contemporary methods of empirical psychology, could nonetheless be such a prescient moral psychologist. (shrink)

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 2-9.

In this paper I draw the distinction between intuitive and theory-relative accounts of the time reversal symmetry and identify problems with each. I then propose an alternative to these two types of accounts that steers a middle course between them and minimizes each account’s problems. This new account of time reversal requires that, when dealing with sets of physical theories that satisfy certain constraints, we determine all of the discrete symmetries of the physical laws we are interested in and look (...) for involutions that leave spatial coordinates unaffected and that act consistently across our physical laws. This new account of time reversal has the interesting feature that it makes the nature of the time reversal symmetry an empirical feature of the world without requiring us to assume that any particular physical theory is time reversal invariant from the start. Finally, I provide an analysis of several toy cases that reveals differences between my new account of time reversal and its competitors. (shrink)

Why should one person obey another? Why (to ask the question from the first-person perspective) ought I to submit to another and follow her judgment rather than my own? In modern political thought, which denies that some are born rulers and others are born to be ruled, the most prominent answer has been: “Because I have consented to her authority.” By making authority conditional on the subjects’ consent, political philosophers have sought to reconcile authority’s hierarchical structure with the equal moral (...) standing of governor and governed. Yet such consent accounts of authority have long been deemed problematic on a number of grounds, not the least of which is that few citizens have given their consent to the state under whose laws they live. So unless we are willing to deny the state’s authority over those who have not consented, or revert to the pre-modern assumption of a natural political hierarchy, we must find another way of reconciling authority with our standing as free and equal moral agents. In recent political and legal philosophy, the most influential solution to this problem has been Joseph Raz’s service conception of authority, according to which legitimate authority, while it does not require the consent of the governed, must exist for their sake, or serve them. The normal way to justify someone’s authority, on the service conception, is to show that, by treating her directives as binding, the subjects are likely better to conform to reasons that apply to them anyway. The service conception has, however, recently been criticized (by, among others, Thomas Christiano, Scott Hershovitz, and Jeremy Waldron) for being insufficiently attuned to the significance that procedural, and in particular democratic, features of political and legal institutions have for the justification of their authority. If these ‘democratic critics’ are right, then two commitments that many in the liberal-democratic tradition may find independently attractive turn out to be in tension: the liberal idea that authority is normally legitimate only insofar as it serves its subjects, and the democratic idea that legitimate authority can (and regularly does) rest on fair procedures. In this article I argue that the critics’ arguments rest on a misunderstanding of the service conception; yet their worries point the way to an under-appreciated and interesting view of democracy as an authoritative arbitration procedure. After introducing the service conception’s view of justified authority, I briefly distinguish a broad and a narrow interpretation of it, and suggest that we should embrace the latter to make sense of the idea that political authority serves its subjects (Section I). Next I turn to the objection raised by the democratic critics: the service conception, they say, cannot make room for the intrinsic fairness of democratic procedures because it is preoccupied with the quality of outcomes (Section II). But, I argue, the objection rests on an illicit identification of two different kinds of outcomes: the outcome of the decision-making procedure on the one hand, the outcome or result of treating that first outcome as authoritative on the other. Distinguishing between these is crucial for an adequate understanding of democracy’s authority. While the service conception is indeed organized around the latter, this does not commit it to an exclusive concern with the former; yet it is a singular commitment to the former that is problematic from a democratic point of view (Section III). To bring home this point, I sketch a model of authority as arbitration that is frequently overlooked in recent discussions of authority even though it is centrally concerned with procedural (and ultimately democratic) values and fits squarely into the service conception of authority (Section IV). (shrink)