The Clinical ethics centre in Paris offers its services equally to doctors and patients/proxies. Its primary goal is to re-equilibrate doctor–patient roles through giving greater voice to patients individually in medical decisions. Patients are present at virtually all levels, initiating consults, providing their point of view and receiving feedback. The implications of patients' involvement are threefold. At an operational level, decision-making is facilitated by repositioning the debate on ethical grounds and introducing a dynamic of decisional partnership, although contact with patients (...) can make it difficult to deny their demands and set the limits of our role. Ethically, it reinforces patients' autonomy and grants them a place of veritable ethics ‘actors’, with the danger that this may become excessively autonomy oriented. Finally, at a collective level, the programme fulfils its political purpose in promoting patients' rights and the ideal of démocratie sanitaire, but complicates balancing individual demands with collective values. (shrink)

La polifonía, vista como la coexistencia de distintas voces en un texto, guarda una estrecha relación con el pluralismo de voces, uno de los deberes del periodismo. Paralelamente, los medios de comunicación buscan ejercer influencia social, velando por sus intereses y los de las élites, especialmente en los editoriales, donde por excelencia se emite el discurso del medio. Ahora bien, las protestas sociales, al buscar el posicionamiento de ciertos temas en el espacio público, desafían la capacidad de pluralismo de los (...) medios. En el estallido chileno de 2019, el discurso periodístico fue crucial en el debate público sobre el delito, un tema clave para entender la legitimidad de la protesta social y que informa sobre el rol de los medios en el debate público. Al respecto, nos preguntamos: ¿Cómo se expresa el pluralismo de voces en los editoriales que versan sobre el delito en los dos diarios de referencia nacional durante el primer mes de la revuelta chilena de 2019? Nuestro objetivo es caracterizar el pluralismo de voces en el discurso sobre el delito en el contexto de la revuelta chilena del 2019, a través de la descripción de polifonía en el género editorial. Mediante el análisis cualitativo de un corpus de editoriales que versan sobre el delito en el contexto del estallido chileno del 2019, se identifican los actores cuya voz está presente en el corpus y se caracterizan sus enunciados. Como resultado, emergen seis modos de entrelazar los enunciados y el impacto que tienen las características polifónicas como modalidades discursivas en promover la postura del editorialista y el medio. La tendencia es de una polifonía más bien disfrazada que responde a las restricciones del género, empleada con fines persuasivos para promover, principalmente, un discurso de élite respecto a lo social. (shrink)

This contribution showcases the work of the Vienna Euchologia Project which aims to make accessible the ‘small prayers’ or ‘occasional prayers’ that are preserved in the Byzantine euchologia manuscripts from the late 8th to the mid 17th century as sources for daily life and social history. A brief introduction to the project is followed by three thematically focused studies that juxtapose the prescriptive prayers in the euchologia with descriptive evidence from other sources: exorcism and other prayers in hagiographical narratives, prayers (...) with relevance to political history, and prayers relating to women’s purity. (shrink)

This book explores repetition in contemporary performance and spectatorship. It offers an impassioned account of the ways in which speech, movement and structures repeat in performances by Pina Bausch, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Lone Twin Theatre, Haranczak/Navarre and Marco Berrettini. It addresses repetition in relation to processes of desire and draws attention to the forces that repetition captures and makes visible. What is it in performances of repetition that persuades us to return to them again and again? How might we (...) unpack their complexities and come to terms with their demands upon us? While considering repetition in relation to the difficult pleasures we derive from the theatre, this book explores ways of accounting for such experience of theatre in memory and writing--back cover. (shrink)

This paper focuses on the 12th-century Byzantine scholar Michael Glykas and the two main pillars of his multifarious literary production, Biblos Chronike and Letters, thoroughly exploring for the first time the nature of their interconnection. In addition to the primary goal, i. e. clarifying as far as possible the conditions in which these two works were written, taking into account their intertextuality, it extends the discussion to the mixture of features in texts of different literary genre, written in parallel, by (...) the same author, based on the same material. By presenting the evidence drawn from the case of Michael Glykas, the paper attempts to stress the need to abandon the strictly applied taxonomical logic in approaching Byzantine Literature, as it ultimately prevents us from constitute the full mark of each author in the history of Byzantine culture. (shrink)

Mitochondria hold diverse and pivotal roles in fundamental processes that govern cell survival, differentiation, and death, in addition to organismal growth, maintenance, and aging. The mitochondrial protein import system is a major contributor to mitochondrial biogenesis and lies at the crossroads between mitochondrial and cellular homeostasis. Recent findings highlight the mitochondrial protein import system as a signaling hub, receiving inputs from other cellular compartments and adjusting its function accordingly. Impairment of protein import, in a physiological, or disease context, elicits adaptive (...) responses inside and outside mitochondria. In this review, we discuss recent developments, relevant to the mechanisms of mitochondrial protein import regulation, with a particular focus on quality control, proteostatic and metabolic cellular responses, triggered upon impairment of mitochondrial protein import. (shrink)

On the 7th of June 2018, The National Archives UK held its inaugural digital lecture, delivered by Professor Luciano Floridi entitled “Semantic Capital: What it is and how to protect it”. The lecture was followed by a poster exhibition, showcasing nine cutting-edge digital research projects at The National Archives. This paper aims at giving a distinct overview of The National Archives’ digital research priorities, drawing on examples from the active and recently completed research projects, which were displayed at the exhibition (...) on the 7th of June 2018. The focus of this paper is to discuss the research challenges that we are facing as we seek to become a second-generation digital archive, that is digital by instinct and design. By placing a particular emphasis on the conceptual and epistemological challenges relating to trust and openness, the paper suggests that research is the key for us as a rapidly evolving digital archive; enabling us not only to inform but also innovate around the forthcoming digital challenges, and helping us to define future directions and lead the shaping of the future archive. (shrink)

Clinical ethics has developed significantly in Europe over the past 15 years and remains an evolving process. While sharing our experiences in different European settings, we were surprised to discover marked differences in our practice, especially regarding the position and role of patients. In this paper, we describe these differences, such as patient access to and participation or representation in ethics consults. We propose reasons to explain these differences, hypothesizing that they relate to the historic and sociocultural context of implementation (...) of clinical ethics consultation services (Cecs), as well as the initial aims for which each structure was established. Then, we analyse those differences with common ethical arguments arising in patient involvement. We conclude that there is no unique model of best practice for patient involvement in clinical ethics, as far as Cecs reflect on how to deal with the challenging ethical issues raised by patient role and position. (shrink)

Thomas Hobbes based his natural philosophy on definitions and general principles of matter in motion, which he refrained from calling “laws of nature.” Across the channel, René Descartes had presented his own account of matter in motion in such a way that laws of nature play a central causal-explanatory role. Despite some notable differences in the two systems of natural philosophy, the content of the three Cartesian laws of nature is shared by Hobbesian principles of motion. Why is it the (...) case that Hobbes never ‘transferred’ the concept of law of nature from the sphere of civil society to the realm of nature? What is the status of the Hobbesian principles of motion if they are not laws? Answering these questions is the main aim of this article. It is shown that Hobbes made available an importantly different and genuinely original way to do natural philosophy, which renders it free of metaphysics and eschews the need to ground it in anything other than ‘natural reason’. Briefly put, Hobbes took the category of ‘laws of nature’ to involve commitments that cannot be met in the natural world, unless natural philosophy loses its autonomy from theology and metaphysics. (shrink)

In the context of a viral outbreak and necessary physical distancing, the emergence of new or the evolution of older artistic behavioural schemes becomes evident. We correlate the isolation space of the artist with the cockpit of a spaceship and the navigation and communication interfaces used by an astronaut. The cybernetic domain between physical space(s) and artist(s) can be thought of as consisting of many ‘organs’. It includes a core (black box), many-layered limits: skin, walls, mental and digital borders as (...) well as mechanisms of connectivity with external entities (other astronauts in art spaceships). This space could be a bedroom, a studio, an office or any different location the artist uses as an isolated bubble of information sharing and manipulation (material and immaterial). For the construction of such an (astronaut, artist) ontology we use metaphors, etymological references, transformed concepts and creative analogies between the actual and the subjective space. As one case study for this paradigm, we experimented with a telematic performance of Heiner Müller’s Hamlet Machine titled, I want to be 171. (shrink)

Viruses are essentially composed of a nucleic acid (segmented or not, DNA, or RNA) and a protein coat. Despite their simplicity, these small pathogens are responsible for significant economic and humanitarian losses that have had dramatic consequences in the course of human history. Since their discovery, scientists have developed different strategies to efficiently detect viruses, using all possible viral features. Viruses shape, proteins, and nucleic acid are used in viral detection. In this review, the development of these techniques, especially for (...) plant and mammalian viruses, their strengths and weaknesses as well as the latest cutting-edge technologies that may be playing important roles in the years to come are described. (shrink)

Previous developmental research shows that young children display a preference for ingroup members when it comes to who they accept information from – even when that information is false. However, it is not clear how this ingroup bias develops into adolescence, and how it affects responses about peers who misinform in intergroup contexts, which is important to explore with growing numbers of young people on online platforms. Given that the developmental span from childhood to adolescence is when social groups and (...) group norms are particularly important, the present study took a Social Reasoning Developmental Approach. This study explored whether children and adolescents respond differently to a misinformer spreading false claims about a peer breaking COVID-19 rules, depending on the group membership of the misinformer and their target and whether the ingroup had a “critical” norm that values questioning information before believing it. 354 United Kingdom-based children and adolescents read about an intergroup scenario in which a peer spreads misinformation on WhatsApp about a competitor. Participants first made moral evaluations, which asked them to judge and decide whether or not to include the misinformer, with follow-up “Why?” questions to capture their reasoning. This was followed by asking them to attribute intentions to the misinformer. Results showed that ingroup preferences emerged both when participants morally evaluated the misinformer, and when they justified those responses. Participants were more likely to evaluate an ingroup compared to an outgroup misinformer positively, and more likely to accuse an outgroup misinformer of dishonesty. Adolescents attributed more positive intentions to the misinformer compared with children, with children more likely to believe an outgroup misinformer was deliberately misinforming. The critical norm condition resulted in children making more positive intentionality attributions toward an ingroup misinformer, but not an outgroup misinformer. This study’s findings highlight the importance of shared group identity with a misinformer when morally evaluating and reasoning about their actions, and the key role age plays in intentionality attributions surrounding a misinformer when their intentions are ambiguous. (shrink)

Nonbelievers represent an understudied population in Greece. This investigation reports on the translation, cultural adaptation, and initial validation of the Nonreligious-Nonspiritual Scale, a measure designed to assess nonbelief. Data from 1754 participants were collected to examine the psychometric properties of the Greek version of the instrument and to assess the nationwide interpretability of the measure. Factor analyses suggested that the 16-item scale retained its bifactor model. Convergent validity was supported through associations with additional measures, namely, the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (...) and the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale, which were used as reference criteria. Potential utility of the measure and future directions for ongoing development are discussed. (shrink)

The present study examined British children’s and adolescents’ individual and perceived group evaluations of a challenger when a member of one’s own group excludes a British national or an immigrant newcomer to the school from participating in a group activity. Participants included British children and adolescents, who were inducted into their group and heard hypothetical scenarios in which a member of their own group expressed a desire to exclude the newcomer from joining their activity. Subsequently, participants heard that another member (...) of the ingroup challenged the exclusionary act by stating that they should be inclusive. Children’s and adolescents’ individual evaluations of the bystander who challenged the social exclusion of an immigrant peer were more positive than their perceived group evaluations, recognizing that groups are often exclusionary. Only adolescents but not children differed in their individual and perceived group evaluations in the social exclusion of British peers. When the newcomer was an immigrant peer, adolescents were more likely to evaluate the challenger positively in both their individual and perceived group evaluations compared to children. Further, children, compared to adolescents, were more likely to reason about social and group norms to justify their evaluations only when the excluded peer was an immigrant but not when the excluded peer was British. Adolescents were more likely to reason about fairness, rights, and equality. The findings indicate that exclusionary group norms surrounding immigrants begin in childhood. Interventions that focus on changing group norms to be more inclusive could be effective in reducing prejudicial attitudes toward immigrants in childhood. (shrink)

BackgroundAntipsychotic-induced weight gain is a contributing factor in the reduced life expectancy reported amongst people with psychotic disorders. CYP2D6 is a liver enzyme involved in the metabolism of many commonly used antipsychotic medications. We investigated if CYP2D6 genetic variation influenced weight or BMI among people taking antipsychotic treatment.MethodsWe conducted a systematic review and a random effects meta-analysis of publications in Pubmed, Embase, PsychInfo, and CENTRAAL that had BMI and/or weight measurements of patients on long-term antipsychotics by their CYP2D6-defined metabolic groups.ResultsTwelve (...) studies were included in the systematic review. All cohort studies suggested that the presence of reduced-function or non-functional alleles for CYP2D6 was associated with greater antipsychotic-induced weight gain, whereas most cross-sectional studies did not find any significant associations. Seventeen studies were included in the meta-analysis with clinical data of 2,041 patients, including 93 poor metabolizers, 633 intermediate metabolizers, 1,272 normal metabolizers, and 30 UMs. Overall, we did not find associations in any of the comparisons made. The estimated pooled standardized differences for the following comparisons were PM versus NM; weight = –0.07, BMI = 0.40. IM versus NM; weight = 0.09 and BMI = 0.09. UM versus EM; weight = 0.01 and BMI = –0.08.ConclusionOur systematic review of cohort studies suggested that CYP2D6 poor metabolizers have higher BMI than normal metabolizers, but the data of cross-sectional studies and the meta-analysis did not show this association. Although our review and meta-analysis constitutes one of the largest studies with comprehensively genotyped samples, the literature is still limited by small numbers of participants with genetic variants resulting in poor or UMs status. We need further studies with larger numbers of extreme metabolizers to establish its clinical utility in antipsychotic treatment. CYP2D6 is a key gene for personalized prescribing in mental health. (shrink)

We examined developmental changes in British children’s (8- to 10-year-olds) and adolescents’ (13- to 15-year-olds,N = 340; FemaleN = 171, 50.3%) indirect bystander reactions (i.e., judgments about whether to get help and from whom when witnessing social exclusion) and their social-moral reasoning regarding their reactions to social exclusion. We also explored, for the first time, how the group membership of the excluder and victim affect participants’ reactions. Participants read a hypothetical scenario in which they witnessed a peer being excluded from (...) a school club by another peer. We manipulated the group membership of the victim (either British or an immigrant) and the group membership of the excluder (either British or an immigrant). Participants’ likelihood of indirect bystander reactions decreased from childhood into adolescence. Children were more likely to get help from a teacher or an adult than getting help from a friend, whereas adolescents were more likely to get help from a friend than getting help from a teacher or an adult. For both indirect bystander reactions, children justified their likelihood of responding by referring to their trust in their teachers and friends. Adolescents were more likely to refer to group loyalty and dynamics, and psychological reasons. The findings support and extend the Social Reasoning Developmental (SRD) approach by showing the importance of group processes with age in shaping children’s judgments about how to respond indirectly by asking for help from others, when they are bystanders in a situation that involves exclusion. The findings have practical implications for combating social exclusion and promoting prosocial bystander behavior in schools. (shrink)

Psychiatric disorders like eating disorders might be underpinned by differences in decision making. However, little previous research has investigated this potential relationship using longitudinal data. This study aimed to understand how components of decision making measured by the Cambridge Gambling Task in the United Kingdom’s Millennium Cohort Study at age 11 might explain clusters/types of ED prodrome involving body dissatisfaction, intention to lose weight, dietary restraint, excessive exercise and significant under/overweight measured in the MCS at age 14. Latent class analysis (...) revealed two groups within the cohort: a non-prodromal eating pathology group, who were more likely to be of “average” weight, according to the UK90, with minimal disordered attitudes and behaviors in relation to eating and weight; and a second group with prodromal eating pathology, who had more body dissatisfaction, a desire to lose weight, were using dietary restriction and exercise to influence weight and were more likely to be “overweight” according to the UK90. Logistic regression showed that, after adjustment for confounding, higher risk-taking scores were associated with a 60% greater probability of being in the prodromal eating pathology group, and higher scores on quality of decision making were associated with a 30% lower probability of being in the prodromal eating pathology group. Helping young people to engage in moderate risk taking and improving decision making might reduce the later presence of ED prodromes. (shrink)

This paper will present and discuss our conclusions about the ethics of living donation for liver transplant (LDLT) after 8 year of collaboration between our clinical ethics consultation service and liver transplant teams, in the course of which we met with all donor-candidates. We will focus on the results of a follow-up study that was conducted in order to evaluate the long-term consequences for potential donors and to interview them on the ethical aspects of the screening process. This study was (...) conducted from April 2007 to November 2009 and consisted of interviews with donor-candidates, regardless of whether they underwent harvest surgery, at least 1 year after the recipient’s transplant. We explored their views about their own and the recipients’ physical and psychological condition, changes in family and career dynamics, their experience as potential or real donors, and their views about LDLT process in general. Results shed new light on the ethical grounds of LDLT and allow us to envisage new ways of improving the ethical soundness of current procedures and practices. In particular, we argue that the purpose of an ethics committee should be to provide follow-up support for the donors rather than merely to check the freedom of donors’ consent. We also suggest that the recipient’s consent deserves more attention than it currently receives. (shrink)

Dietmar Heinke and Eirini Mavritsaki (eds): Computational Modelling in Behavioural Neuroscience Content Type Journal Article Category Book Review Pages 57-60 DOI 10.1007/s11023-011-9265-8 Authors Juan Felipe Martinez Florez, Institute of Psychology, Universidad del Valle, Campus Universitario Melndez, Ed. 388, Of. 4017, Cali, Colombia Journal Minds and Machines Online ISSN 1572-8641 Print ISSN 0924-6495 Journal Volume Volume 22 Journal Issue Volume 22, Number 1.

Un concepto que solía pertenecer al mundo de la informática (hacking) ahora se combina con las ciencias de la vida (bio). Sin gran dificultad, hemos empezado a ver la vida como un conjunto de datos, el ADN como un código, el cuerpo como una máquina y la mente como un software... todos susceptibles de ser leídos, manipulados y ahora incluso hackeados. ¿Pero manipulados por quiénes? Las comunidades de biohackers y DYIbio (do-it-yourself biology) quieren la biotecnología disponible para todos y la (...) información compartida abiertamente. En este trabajo, propongo una reflexión sobre qué está pasando y el posible por qué. En la primera parte, presento el biohacking como un fenómeno social, dando algunos ejemplos de biohackers y diferenciando tipos de biohackers. En la segunda parte, hago un acercamiento al Transhumanismo. La existencia de biohackers sólo es posible gracias a la creciente disponibilidad de información y biotecnología combinada con una cierta mentalidad. El principal objetivo es profundizar en la reflexión sobre la relación entre biohacking y Transhumanismo. Analizo el biohacking como una de las expresiones de este movimiento y uno de los fenómenos que contribuyen a él. Al final, ofrezco una reflexión sobre la cultura, deseos y miedos de nuestra sociedad, reconociendo también algunas de las preguntas que ellos provocan. (shrink)

En estas páginas hemos presentado varios argumentos para defender que existe una conexión entre el empleo de heurísticas y los procesos de deliberación. En lugar de caracterizar las heurísticas en función de las disciplinas, los campos y/o los ámbitos en que se emplean—tal y como hace, por ejemplo, el grupo ABC, i.e. racionalidad ecológica—las hemos proyectado sobre nuestros enclaves deliberativos, esto es, sobre un espacio eminentemente retórico y político. En dichos enclaves, tal y como solía recordarnos Quintín Racionero, la téchne (...) de la persuasión se nos presenta como parte del órganon de la filosofía práctica porque está aplicada a un espacio ontológico fundado por la comunicación humana. Y es en el seno de dicha comunicación como cabe entender la proliferación de razonamientos heurísticos encaminados al cálculo, la estimación y/o la ponderación, con ayuda de los cuales no sólo se orienta la acción colectiva sino las mismas fases de la deliberación. (shrink)

La atención relativamente escasa que los estudiosos del filósofo y científico norteamericano Charles S. Peirce (1839-1914) han prestado a lo largo de los años a las dimensiones religiosas de su pensamiento siempre me ha parecido cuando menos sorprendente. Desde mis primeras lecturas de Peirce me impresionó profundamente esa desatención que tanto contrastaba con la ubicuidad de las referencias religiosas en los escritos de Peirce, especialmente en sus años de madurez. En mis encuentros con reconocidos estudiosos peirceanos solía preguntarles acerca de (...) Dios y la religión en Peirce, y la respuesta que recibí casi siempre fue que efectivamente había una gran cantidad de cuestiones religiosas en su obra, pero que no estaban interesados en ellas. Por otra parte, me sorprendió gratamente que el fallecido novelista Walker Percy se considerara a sí mismo en su correspondencia con Ken Ketner como “un ladrón de Peirce”, aspirando a “usar a CSP como uno de los pilares de la apologética cristiana”. Me pareció que el novelista converso al catolicismo estaba en algún sentido mucho más cercano al Peirce real que aquellos estudiosos a los que les había preguntado acerca de Dios y la religión en Peirce. -/- El objetivo de este artículo es subrayar el hecho de que para Peirce la creencia en Dios no es sólo un producto natural de la abducción o "instinto racional", de las conjeturas educadas del científico o del hombre corriente, sino que también la creencia en Dios y el desarrollo científico están interrelacionados. No sólo la creencia en Dios es capaz de cambiar la conducta del creyente, sino que de acuerdo con Peirce la realidad de Dios dota de sentido a toda la empresa científica. Esto puede sonar un poco extraño a los oídos positivistas contemporáneos, pero para comprender realmente a Peirce es preciso estudiar sus preocupaciones religiosas, que de forma creciente se consideran quizá tan importantes filosóficamente como sus preocupaciones científicas6. Más aún, en algún sentido quiero sugerir que para Peirce la actividad científica es una empresa genuinamente religiosa, quizá incluso la actividad religiosa por excelencia, y que separar religión y ciencia es contrario tanto al espíritu científico como al Peirce real. (shrink)

La atención relativamente escasa que los estudiosos del filósofo y científico norteamericano Charles S. Peirce (1839-1914) han prestado a lo largo de los años a la dimensión religiosa de su pensamiento siempre me ha resultado un tanto sorprendente. Desde mis primeras lecturas de Peirce me impresionó profundamente la ubicuidad de las referencias religiosas en sus escritos, especialmente en los años de madurez. En mis encuentros con reconocidos estudiosos peirceanos solía preguntarles acerca de Dios y la religión en Peirce, y la (...) respuesta que recibí casi siempre era que efectivamente había una gran cantidad de cuestiones religiosas en su obra, pero que no estaban interesados en ello. Dentro del espacio disponible, mi exposición está organizada en cuatro secciones: 1) Una presentación del artículo de 1908; 2) La noción de realidad; 3) ¿Cuál es realmente el Argumento Olvidado?, y 4) Una discusión de su alcance destacando el poder de la abducción. Citaré a algunos de los comentaristas más relevantes y aportaré un texto del propio Peirce interpretando su artículo que no he visto hasta ahora citado: se trata de la carta de Peirce del 28 de noviembre de 1908 (L 212) en la que explica a su amiga Mary Huntington el artículo publicado en el Hibbert Journal poco tiempo antes. (shrink)

Im vierten und letzten Buch, mit dem die Edition des "Convivio" abgeschlossen ist, interpretiert Dante sein Gedicht "Le dolci rime d'amor ch' i' solia" und erörtert die komplexe Frage der wahren Edelkeit. In diesem Rahmen diskutiert er den Umfang der kaiserlicher Macht und die Bedeutung des Römischen Reiches sowie das Verhältnis von Philosophie und Politik bzw. von philosophischer und politischer Kompetenz.Die Bewertung des Römischen Reiches und die Erörterung der Autorität des Aristoteles für die Philosophie und das menschliche Denken schlechthin (...) implizieren eine Stellungnahme zur Beziehung zwischen christlicher und antik-heidnischer Weltauffassung. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Contexts and Dialogue: Yogācāra Buddhism and Modern Psychology on the Subliminal Mind, and: SciousnessBenjamin J. ChickaContexts and Dialogue: Yogācāra Buddhism and Modern Psychology on the Subliminal Mind. By Tao Jiang. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2006. xi + 198 pp.Sciousness. Edited by Jonathan Bricklin. Guilford, CT: Eirini Press, 2006. 229 pp.It has become popular to view Buddhist concepts as nothing more than self-help techniques. The tradition, stripped (...) of religious content, is now used to foster human growth. Given such interests, psychological comparisons have become prevalent and Buddha has been understood as the first to explore the ego. This is a review of two books—Jiang’s Contexts and Dialogue and Bricklin’s Sciousness—approaching such developments from different directions. In Contexts and Dialogue, Tao Jiang worries that jumping into comparison too hastily risks losing original meanings when words are made relative to whatever structure in which they are placed. The original contexts of Yogācāra Buddhism and modern psychology both need to be understood in order to reveal existing presuppositions about how the two can be brought together. Jonathan Bricklin’s Sciousness has more hope for comparative work because he believes he has found an untapped resource for comparison in the theory of sciousness developed by William James (1842–1910). Pragmatic philosophy has yet to be compared with Buddhist traditions in depth, even though both favor practical solutions to problems over merely theoretical pondering.Jiang is a specialist in comparative philosophy. His method is to deconstruct current comparisons between different systems by recovering the original meanings of their different terminologies in their original context and in relation to the particular problems each system was addressing. Comparison can then be reconstructed out of these original contexts so that genuine similarities and differences can emerge. Regarding Yogācāra thought, the systematic theory of mind /consciousness, ālayavijñāna (“storehouse consciousness”) is at its center. This “storehouse of consciousness” is a subliminal reservoir for memories and habits that has made a correlation with the psychological unconscious tempting (pp. 9–10). However, rather than ask whether ālayavijñāna can serve the needs of modern psychology, Jiang first explores what problem it was originally meant to address. He achieves this goal by examining the seventh-century Chinese Buddhist work Cheng Weishi Lun (Discourse on the Perfection of Consciousness-only) of the Buddhist monk pilgrim Xuanzang (Hsüan-tsang, ca. 600–664). Only when this journey is complete does Jiang compare [End Page 201] ālayavijñāna to the psychological theories of Sigmund Freud (1856 –1939) and Carl Jung (1875–1961). The result Jiang argues for is that notions of transcendence and immanence are emphasized differently in the three theories of consciousness offered by Xuanzang, Freud, and Jung.Yogācārins were dealing with deep meditative states in which consciousness is supposed to cease and with the problem of how meditators could arise from such meditative states without violating the doctrine of anātman (“no-self ”). What supports the meditator in these states if no enduring substantive self exists? How can there be identity and change without substantial reification? On the other hand, how can impermanent existence account for the seeming continuity of the world we experience?The answer given by Xuanzang is that an empirical self can be embraced while a metaphysical one is rejected. However, without such a metaphysical self, the question of “whose” arises (p. 27). Whose consciousness of continuous experience is being dealt with if not that of a metaphysical self? The radical solution offered is that ālayavijñāna contains subliminal seeds that produce continuity between successive dharma moments. This solution must be possible without violating the simultaneity of cause and effect. Thus, Xuanzang spoke of dharmas as actual and bījas, seeds of the potential for production, as only potential (p. 60). Perishing dharmas are maintained by the seeds to be manifested in the future and substantive entities are not introduced because seeds are only potential (p. 42). The result is that after deep meditative states when mental activities halt, the mind can emerge from the seeds of mental activity without needing antecedent actual mental activity.Xuanzang’s approach... (shrink)

Una reflexión sobre los efectos del cuestionamiento de los esquemas con que se interpretaba la historia. XVII Premio de Ensayo Miguel de Unamuno. Intentar pensar hoy en lo que solía llamarse «rumbo de la historia» se ha tornado una labor muy complicada. Los tres elementos que componían el eje vertebral del tiempo histórico –pasado, presente y futuro– han abandonado su condición de fundamentos de inteligibilidad para transformarse en fuentes de perplejidad. A partir de esta percepción, el autor emprende la tarea (...) de volver a pensar la función de la memoria, la prioridad de la política sobre la historia, el insoportable estrechamiento de nuestro presente o lo que podría denominarse la muerte del futuro. En línea con la metáfora aristotélica «Seamos con nuestras vidas como arqueros que tienen un blanco», no queda más remedio que preguntarse si, efectivamente, la flecha de la historia, fuera de todo control, vuela por el tiempo sin rumbo alguno. El presente texto no hace otra cosa que trasladarle al lector esa pregunta. (shrink)

Hay un proverbio que circula en algunos países europeos que dice: “el futuro es un mal recuerdo del presente”. Esta expresión, algo paradójica, cobra un sentido claro a la luz de la lectura del último trabajo de Patxi Lanceros, profesor de filosofía política y teoría de la cultura en la Universidad de Deusto. En El robo del futuro, el autor trata de reflexionar, lucida y sosegadamente, acerca de alguno de los fenómenos políticos más acuciantes de nuestros tiempos; de la emergencia (...) migratoria al retorno de viejas formas de intolerancia, de la guerra global permanente a los nuevos miedos colectivos. A lo largo de los tres capítulos que componen en libro, Lanceros procura contestar la pregunta, tremendamente actual: ¿hacia dónde vamos si ya no hay ningún lugar adonde ir? El autor analiza pues un presente “huérfano de pasado e incapaz de futuro”, y lo hace sin nostalgia por un futuro que, según el conocido chiste, ya “no es lo que solía ser”. Es este presente, que procede al paso de una globalización ingobernable, que está al centro del análisis crítico de Lanceros. (shrink)

¿Son más o menos religiosos los jóvenes de hoy? A la hora de abordar esta pregunta me he acordado de un profesor de filosofía de bachillerato, amigo y compañero de claustro, que ante preguntas tipo "¿Es libre más hoy que antes el ser humano?" solía responder: "Defíneme ser humano, defíneme libertad, defíneme hoy y defíneme antes, y empezamos a hablar". Pues bien, en nuestro caso sería sencillo definir "joven" para responder nuestra cuestión, no sólo en e l sentido de acotar (...) la edad (¿de los 15 a los 25 ó 30?), sino sobro todo el lugar: está claro que los jóvenes africanos son mucho más religiosos que los europeos o los norteamericanos, y los terceros mucho más que los segundos. Pero el problema se complica a la hora de definir "religión". Porque creemos que, desde el punto de vista amplio o inclusivo, un buen porcentaje de los jóvenes -incluso europeos- siguen siendo religiosos. Mientras que desde otro punto de vista, que podríamos llamar "religioso institucional", son cada vez menos religiosos. (shrink)

De mi padre recuerdo que solía decir: “No deseo que llegue el día de los grandes elogios, pues sé que, entonces, no los necesitaré”. Mi padre, a su modo, tenía esa veta estoica que recorre el sentir de los pueblos costeños, hechos de una sabiduría que se ha forjado en las faenas de la mar y cuyo talante les aprovisiona de una resignada actitud ante la vida y la muerte. Pensando en ello, he de reconocer que mi querido amigo Jairo (...) Escobar ya no precisa de mis elogios. Si acaso, como suele suceder, soy de los que ha de detenerse a preguntar: ¿Por qué soy deudo suyo? (shrink)

Open peer commentary on the article “Building Bridges to Algebra through a Constructionist Learning Environment” by Eirini Geraniou & Manolis Mavrikis. Upshot: In their article, Geraniou and Mavrikis describe an environment to help children explore algebraic relationships through pattern building. They report on transfer of learning from the computer to paper, but also implicit is transfer from concrete to abstract contexts. I make the case that transfer from abstract to concrete contexts should complement such approaches.

Open peer commentary on the article “Building Bridges to Algebra through a Constructionist Learning Environment” by Eirini Geraniou & Manolis Mavrikis. Upshot: Geraniou and Mavrikis raise the important issue of “transfer,” when students transition from activity in technological tools to paper-and-pencil tasks. In this commentary, I contribute to the conversation by focusing on the relationship between task design and students’ development of knowledge.