oise Baylis, 1234 Le Marchant Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 3P7. Tel.: (902)-494–2873; Fax: (902)-494-2924; Email: francoise.baylis{at}dal.ca ' + u + '@' + d + ' '//--> . Abstract Recently, there has been a growing interest in public health and public health ethics. Much of this interest has been tied to efforts to draw up national and international plans to deal with a global pandemic. It is common for these plans to state the importance of drawing upon a well-developed (...) ethics framework and we argue that this framework should reflect the values and insights of feminist relational theory. More specifically, we argue that pandemic planning must be squarely situated in the larger realm of public health and that an ethics framework for public health will be one that recognizes the need to pay particular attention to the vulnerability of subpopulations lacking in social and economic power. We propose an ethics framework for public health that builds on the notions of relational personhood (including relational autonomy and social justice) and relational solidarity. In this way, we aim for a public health ethics that, as appropriate, promotes the public interest and the common good. CiteULike Connotea Del.icio.us What's this? (shrink)

Suddenly, COVID-19 has changed the world and the way people work. Companies had to accelerate something they knew was imminent in the future, but not immediate and extremely humongous. This situation poses a huge challenge for companies to survive and thrive in this complex business environment and for employees, who must adapt to this new way of working. An effective e-leadership, which promotes companies’ adaptability, is needed. This study investigates the existing knowledge on teleworking and e-leadership; and analyzes the supposed (...) challenges. The literature review shows that companies with effective e-leadership can view teleworking as an opportunity. It is advantageous for not only companies’ productivity but also the environment and people who work remotely. However, a traditional or no leadership can result in some risks. Thriving in remote work environments implies that managers must adjust the companies’ structure, making them less hierarchical, and developing new abilities to establish a strong and trustworthy relationship with their employees to maintain their competitiveness, while retaining a genuine concern for their employees’ well-being. Similarly, successful e-leadership must be able to consolidate and lead effective virtual teams to accomplish organizational goals. This study contributes to the literature and leaders during the pandemic. (shrink)

The correct identification of the abuse of political power during the COVID-19 crisis remains a challenge because officially declaring the pandemic allowed political representatives to exercise additional power disguisable as the maintenance of functioning social order under the principle of preserving humankind. One way to observe the abuse of power in its excess is the degree of compliance exhibited by the people who laid juridical restrictions for the purpose of combating COVID-19. The behaviour of political representatives was evidence of political (...) exceptionalism, for political representatives, as decisive authorities, were the first to disregard measures introduced without suffering negative consequences. Such abuse catalysed the collapse of trust in state communities, but has for its true result the consolidation of the class system in which the ethical value of trust is played out. In this paper, I discuss how the behaviour of state representatives demonstrates the existence of political exceptionalism based on the class system and what this means for the persistence of national trust. (shrink)

The primary objective of The Health Care Ethics Con sultant is to focus attention on an immediate practical problem: the role and responsibilities, the education and training, and the certification and accreditation of health care ethics consultants. The principal questions addressed in this book include: Who should be considered health care ethics consultants? Whom should they advise? What should be their responsi bilities and what kind of training should they have? Should there be some kind of accreditation or certification program (...) to ensure that those who call themselves ethics consultants are in fact qualified to advise, consult, research, and write in health care ethics? The distinguished authors ofthese articles are persons with diverse backgrounds, interests, presumptions, and val ues. Not surprisingly, therefore, diverse responses have emerged to the questions posed. Though the book's chapters are individually authored, they are informed by the group discussions that went on during active workshop sessions, and by knowledge of the contributions of others. All of the chapters meaningfully represent their consensus. This is not to say that there were no disagreements regarding specific details, but rather that there were no fundamental objections on the book's basic content among a panel of authors who share basic premises regarding the role, responsibilities, education, and certifica tion of health care ethics consultants. (shrink)

Fragments of painted plaster found in the destruction layer of three first floor rooms in the House of Seals and of one first floor room of the House of the Sword had broken from the ceiling. They allow the restoration of the schema in the room of the House of the Sword and of two of the rooms in the House of Seals, the latter in colour. Composed of bands surrounding a quadrangular field, these décorations, evoking carpets stretched on the (...) ceiling, are richer (costly pigments, gold leaf) and more complex (some fifteen motifs) than those in tombs of the same period, which adopted the same « carpet » composition and which borrowed from the same repertoire, often confirmed by the textiles. Since we know of no other ceiling decoration in habitation rooms, it is unwise to contrast the exuberance of these ceilings with the tomb ceilings. The room that could not be restored had moreover a much more perfunctory decoration. (shrink)

In this article, I argue that there is no compelling therapeutic ‘need’ for human nuclear genome transfer to prevent mitochondrial diseases caused by mtDNA mutations. At most there is a strong interest in this technology on the part of some women and couples at risk of having children with mitochondrial disease, and perhaps also a ‘want’ on the part of some researchers who see the technology as a useful precedent – one that provides them with ‘a quiet way station’ in (...) which to refine the micromanipulations techniques essential for other human germline interventions and human cloning. In advance of this argument, I review basic information about mitochondrial disease and novel genetic strategies to prevent the transmission of mutated mitochondria. Next, I address common features of contemporary debates and discussions about so-called mitochondrial replacement. First, I contest the cliché that science-and-technology is fast outpacing ethics. Second, I dispute the accuracy of the term ‘mitochondrial replacement’. Third, I provide a sustained critique of the purported ‘need’ for genetically-related children. In closing, I call into question the mainly liberal defense of human nuclear genome transfer. I suggest an alternative frame of reference that pays particular attention to issues of social justice. I conclude that our limited resources should be carefully expended in pursuit of the common good, which does not include pandering to acquired desires. (shrink)

Rad pripremno ocrtava etično načelo saturiranosti u svrhe boljeg razumijevanja zdravog radnog okruženja. Načelo se oprimjeruje razmatranjem zajedničke biti ljudskih problema vezanih za uzrok, razvoj, učinke i posljedice COVID–19 virusne pandemije koja je potvrdila dugo znane, sustavne probleme opterećenja u ljudskom društvu, naročito u području poslovanja. Posebno treba istaknuti područje kadrovski i financijski potkapacitiranih nacionalnih sustava, poput znanstvenog sustava u Republici Hrvatskoj, u kojem vlada i problem višestrukog radnog identiteta. Izabrana optika motrenja služi približavanju moralne i organizacijske važnosti i korisnosti (...) kriterija saturiranosti za, s jedne strane, optimalnu organizaciju rada, ali i, s druge strane, očuvanje dostojanstva čovjeka u radnom okruženju. (shrink)

Philosophe, l'auteur tente de resituer le mouvement de la pensée d'Hannah Arendt, ses grandes articulations et ce qui fait d'elle un auteur majeur et précurseur.

Rad se sastoji od dva dijela. U prvom dijelu, tragom prethodnih istraživanja, prvenstveno Petrovićevih i Marottijevih, ispitujem sadržaj i primjenu temeljnog filozofijskog pojmovlja zasnovanoga na riječi i pojmu biti, pri čemu je glavna primijenjena strategija filozofijsko tumačenje mišljenja tvorenog putem mehanizama hrvatskoga jezika. U drugom dijelu, tragom Veljakovih istraživanja o metafizičkim utvarama, ispitujem opasnosti usvajanja moguće nepotpuno razumljenog pojmovlja pomoću kojega oblikujemo predodžbe o (društvenoj) zbilji i po njoj djelujemo. Sidrište je razmatranja problem hipostaze jednoga, a u dijalogu s Veljakovim (...) razmatranjima hipostaziranja partikularnih bića nastojim raščistiti polazišno mjesto za mišljenje promjena u odnosu prema zbilji opstojanja. (shrink)

We outline a number of ethical objections to genetic technologies aimed at enhancing human capacities and traits. We then argue that, despite the persuasiveness of some of these objections, they are insufficient to stop the development and use of genetic enhancement technologies. We contend that the inevitability of the technologies results from a particular guiding worldview of humans as masters of the human evolutionary future, and conclude that recognising this worldview points to new directions for ethical thinking about genetic enhancement (...) technologies. (shrink)

Tri‐methylation of lysine 4 on histone H3 (H3K4me3) is a near‐universal chromatin modification at the transcription start site of active genes in eukaryotes from yeast to man and its levels reflect the amount of transcription. Because of this association, H3K4me3 is often described as an ‘activating’ histone modification and assumed to have an instructive role in the transcription of genes, but the field is lacking a conserved mechanism to support this view. The overwhelming finding from genome‐wide studies is that actually (...) very little transcription changes upon removal of most H3K4me3 under steady‐state or dynamically changing conditions, including at mammalian CpG island promoters. Instead, rather than a major role in instructing transcription, time‐resolved experiments provide more evidence supporting the deposition of H3K4me3 into chromatin as a result of transcription, influencing processes such as memory of previous states, transcriptional consistency between cells in a population and transcription termination. -/- . (shrink)

The paper classifies euthanasia and discusses its typological presence in storytelling video games. It aims to illustrate the importance of experiencing simulated moral challenges in the context of gameworlds as a significantly influential, exponentially growing form of interactive media. In contrast to older works of art and media, such as film and literature, the difference should be emphasized in light of the player’s ability to make choices in video games. Although the influence of gameworld content depends on the player, the (...) experiences and knowledge gained from playing storytelling video games may influence the player’s problem-solving orientation in the landscape of difficult moral dilemmas they may encounter throughout their lives. (shrink)

Début 1871, Helmholtz donne une conférence à Heidelberg, devant un public de non spécialistes, sur « la genèse du système planétaire », dont le sujet sera ce qu’il appelle la théorie de Kant-Laplace. Plutôt que de commencer par expliquer ce qu’il faut entendre par cette dernière, Helmholtz expose devant ses auditeurs la représentation que l’on se fait désormais de la formation des corps célestes et de leur devenir probable, en s’appuyant sur les progrès des connaissances, la découverte de nouvelles lois, (...) l’usage d’instruments de plus en plus perfectionnés. C’est ainsi que la validité de l’hypothèse de Kant et de Laplace se trouve confirmée a posteriori et leur audace légitimée. Aussi, la démarche adoptée par Helmholtz relativise-t-elle implicitement, et peut-être à son insu, la rigueur postulée de la bonne méthode scientifique. La cosmogonie esquissée par Helmholtz ressemble à un spectacle bien étudié dont les auditeurs sont les spectateurs, les savants, les acteurs, et la science épurée, l’enjeu. L’analyse de ce texte a donc pour objectif principal d’identifier et de rappeler les éléments contextuels qui lui confèrent son épaisseur, depuis la guerre franco-prussienne jusqu’aux tensions idéologiques, philosophiques, scientifiques qui en sont l’arrière-plan. (shrink)

The paper examines Fritz Jahr as a possible role-model in bioethical education. It consists of two parts. The first part builds upon the acknowledged data and theories about how Fritz Jahr proposed the bioethical imperative and changed his way of thinking. It provides arguments for and against known claims and expands the knowledge background with the focus on reconstructing the thought process and some presumptions that led to the formulation of bioethical imperative. The second part uses these results to infer (...) five features to show how we can extract and define methodological features from Jahr’s personality and activity, which confirm and enhance integrative projects. An attempt has been made to understand that something such as “Jahrian methodology”, might be sensible enough to provide scientific knowledge and cultural orientation without simplifying the bios, but that it is pointless without integration with educational models, and to emphasise this I conclusively consider the role of bioethicists in the 21st century. (shrink)

Before it succumbed to political censorship in Croatia in 1974 and afterward, a movement known as praxis philosophy reached its pinnacle as a critical response to the conceptually and socially corrupted dialectical and historical materialism which dominated the former Yugoslavian region. Two of the most prominent philosophers of "praxis movement" – Milan Kangrga and Gajo Petrović – the Praxists – remained to be an inspirational source for junior and senior scholars to date. Recently, a debate was initiated regarding the value (...) of "praxis philosophy", and has notably produced a series of assessments that were atypical in comparison to virtually all previous reviews. The praxis movement was scorned by many commentators who concluded that Praxists were logically inconsistent and that their errors were covered up by too abstract, confusing concepts that lacked proper articulation. Among other things, it was significantly pointed out that their philosophical investigations neither had nor will have any useful application in our society. In this paper, I offer (1) a refutation of these conclusions by (2) describing the structure of praxis philosophy, thus far absent from praxis studies. My ultimate objective was to show that Praxists intentionally developed an alternative philosophical thought to subdue the type of thinking which is fundamental for sterile criticism, and thus I aimed to explain that Praxists self-consciously chose to oppose the approach they were accused of neglecting. Their central idea was to send a message opposite of what their recent criticists think they failed to do. (shrink)

Die zentralen Fragestellungen bezüglich der wahren Beschaffenheit des Universums betreffen Folgendes: seinen Ursprung, seine Entstehung, die Existenz und Kontingenz seiner Gesetze, seine Intentionalität, Fassbarkeit, Transzendenz und die Anwendung erster Grundsätze, die diesen Phänomenen zugrunde liegen. Häufig sind die entsprechenden Untersuchungen jedoch belastet von (1) einer „semantischen Transmutation“ von Konzepten und Begriffen zwischen und innerhalb von drei allgemeinen Wissensfeldem - dem physikalischen, philosophischen und theologischen - sowie von (2) den Einschränkungen der anfänglichen Leitgedanken des Betrachters, die oft von skeptischen Annahmen geleitet (...) werden und uns hindern, die Möglichkeiten zu erforschen, die unserer ursprünglichen Einstellung widersprechen. Obwohl ich mich im Laufe meiner Untersuchung mit diesen Problemen beschäftigen werde, ist das Hauptergebnis dieser Studie ein Erklärungsvorschlag zum Phänomen des „Nichts“ und insbesondere seines Verhältnisses zum Universum oder zu Gott. Das Nichts ist eine der Hauptquellen argumentativer Abhandlungen für und gegen die Existenz und Anerkennung Gottes auf Grundlage von Argumenten bezüglich des Ursprungs unseres Universums. Der Erklärungsvorschlag soll als Anleitung zu einer Konstruktion von Gegenargumenten dienen, die vielen der Annahmen widersprechen, die einer Vielzahl an Autoren als „kosmologische“, „logische“, „ontologische“, „physikotheologische“ und ähnliche Beweissysteme für oder gegen die Existenz Gottes dienen. Hauptsächlich werden die Problemstellungen des Ursprungs und der Schöpfung unseres Universums diskutiert. Im Zuge dessen beschäftige ich mich jedoch auch mit den anderen genannten Fragen. Der Hauptfokus liegt auf der Schwierigkeit, das Phänomen des Nichts in kosmologische Auseinandersetzungen über Ursache und Ursprung des Universums einzubeziehen. Dies wird in drei Untersuchungen betrachtet. Die erste Untersuchung konzentriert sich auf die Begriffe des Seins, des Nichtseins, des Absoluten und des Nichts, da diese üblicherweise bei der Erforschung des Universums und des Wesens Gottes verwendet werden. Die Untersuchung entwickelt sich dann in Form eines dialektischen Vergleichs ausgewählter Philosophen weiter, die sich mit dem gewählten Thema befasst haben und endet in einer übergreifenden Synthese, in der ich versuche, die Zusammenhänge zu klären und den Begriff des Einzig-Absoluten für die zweite und dritte Untersuchung zu definieren. (shrink)

In the paper, laid out are the categories of the presence of the philosophical dimension of narrative content in video games, to establish a ground for more thorough thinking of practical and historical relation of philosophy and video games. In the introductory, described is the appearance of the philosophical dimension of the narrative content in the fifth generation of video games, and the importance of that happening is highlighted. The central part of the paper describes the categories of the presence, (...) differentiating among video games that use its narrative content to focus attention to issues of philosophical nature, video games that have content within which they philosophise in layman terms about philosophical problems, and videogames that apply professional philosophy to construct narrative content. Conclusively, the paper briefly discusses the issue of the category of games as complete philosophical works, understood in such a way that by removing their philosophical dimension both their narrative content and playing mechanisms would collapse and they would fully lose their meaning. (shrink)

Heuristička propulzivnost bioetike u posljednjih trideset godina potaknula je na značajno proširenje područnog opsega: na metodološkom planu razvoj je obilježen kretanjem od disciplinarnosti do transdisciplinarnosti, a na problemskom planu od biotehničkih izazova do mišljenja cjeline živog svijeta. Međutim, bioetička ispitivanja još uvijek u obzir ne uzimaju probleme iz humanističke i prirodoznanstvene kozmologije, čak ni u sklopu projekta integrativne bioetike, što je izrazito problematično s obzirom na važnost njihovih jezgri znanja. Razvijanje ljudskog društva prema objedinjavanju s prostorom izvan planeta Zemlje te (...) čvrsta povezanost fenomena života s osnovnom ustrojstvom i dinamikom pojmljivog svemira poziva na pripremno usmjeravanje pozornosti na bioetičke i društveno–znanstvene probleme u kojima kozmološki elementi nose važnu ulogu. Cilj je ovoga članka ponuditi istraživačko gledište u kozmobioetike kao ispomoći u daljnjem proširenju spoznajne senzibilnosti za istinu o kompleksnosti (društvenog) bivstvovanja na Zemlji i oko nje. Obrada problema zasniva se na multidisciplinarnoj komunikaciji relevantnih jezgri znanja metodom klasičnog filozofijskog izlaganja. (shrink)

S obzirom na tri poretka u sklopu kozmičke cjeline, integrativnom analizom kozmoloških spoznaja metafizičara i prirodoznanstvenika raznorodnih orijentacija najprije dolazim do konkluzije o spregnutosti dvaju izvedenih kozmičkih načela koja određuju sveukupni totalitet odnosa stvari i smisla. Prvo načelo nazivam sabiruće-jedno-sve, koje opisujem arhe-kompleksom. Drugo nazivam sebi-usuprot-težeće, koje opisujem eris-kompleksom. Na temelju pomaka iz zatvorenog sustava u otvoreni sustav, obrazlažem da arhe- i eris-kompleks stvaraju logos-kompleks i agon-kompleks te na koji se način novo spregnuće u tjelesnosti oblikuje u društvo, u najširem (...) smislu pojavljujući se kao napetost između real-politike i utopijskog stremljenja. U daljnjoj razradi predlažem artikuliranje konkretnog civilizacijskog stanja kao biopolitičkog agona u kojem se protočnost moći odvija relejima inosfere. Zasniva se na raščlanjivanju živog u konvertibilne informacije čija se uporabnost nalazi u moći regulativnosti, odnosno sposobnosti biopolitičkog da logos regulativnošću podvrgne agonu kroz sam logos, što nastojim pojasniti povezivanjem s navedenim fenomenima. S tjelesnošću kao instrumentom transformativne bȉtizacije, dalje argumentiram naginjanje društva prema ukidanju izvornog smisla logos-kompleksa i razvlašćenje nad kontrolom tjelesnog određenja, što nastojim ukratko ocrtati i povezati s ishodištem istraživanja. (shrink)

Beverly Beckham writes in the Boston Globe in praise of Lisa Genova’s Still Alice: “You have to get this book. … I couldn’t put it down. …” After I read Still Alice, a book of fiction about an accomplished Harvard professor with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, I too wanted to tell everyone to get this book, but not because “I couldn’t put it down.” The first time I read it, I put it down several times to cry. It was too painful (...) to read in one stretch. Years back, my mother, Gloria Baylis,1 had been diagnosed with vascular dementia, and recently there had been findings suggestive of an atypical presentation of Alzheimer’s disease. The story of Alice Howland, the Alice of Still Alice, was both too... (shrink)

Now that stem cell scientists are clamouring for human eggs for cloning-based stem cell research, there is vigorous debate about the ethics of paying women for their eggs. Generally speaking, some claim that women should be paid a fair wage for their reproductive labour or tissues, while others argue against the further commodification of reproductive labour or tissues and worry about voluntariness among potential egg providers. Siding mainly with those who believe that women should be financially compensated for providing eggs (...) for research, the new stem cell guidelines of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) legitimise both reimbursement of direct expenses and financial compensation for many women who supply eggs for research. In this paper, the authors do not attempt to resolve the thorny issue of whether payment for eggs used in human embryonic stem cell research is ethically legitimate. Rather, they want to show specifically that the ISSCR recommended payment practices are deeply flawed and, more generally, that all payment schemes that aim to avoid undue inducement of women risk the global exploitation of economically disadvantaged women. (shrink)

À partir de l'étude de la constitution et de l'histoire des archives du parlement de Paris et de leur traitement archivistique, ainsi que des multiples collections de copies et d'extraits dont elles ont été l'objet, cet article propose une réflexion sur la manière dont ce fonds d'archives, qui allie une exceptionnelle importance matérielle et historique et une particulière complexité, a pu être traité par les archivistes et utilisé par les chercheurs, ainsi que sur les perspectives qu'il peut ouvrir à la (...) recherche. Ces archives du Parlement illustrent en effet toute la gamme des problèmes de conservation, de traitement, de communication au public et d'exploitation et rendent particulièrement manifeste la complémentarité et l'interpénétration nécessaires, voire la confusion, des approches historique et archivistique ; elles démontrent que la connaissance par les chercheurs de l'histoire du fonds d'archives va bien au-delà de la simple pratique archivistique et contribue à la perception de la documentation comme« source» d'histoire. (shrink)

In January 2008, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority issued two 1-year licenses for cytoplasmic hybrid embryo research. This article situates the HFEA's decision in its wider scientific and political context in which, until quite recently, the debate about human embryonic stem cell research has focused narrowly on the moral status of the developing human embryo. Next, ethical arguments against crossing species boundaries with humans are canvassed. Finally, a new argument about the risks of harm to women egg providers resulting (...) from research involving the creation of humanesque cytoplasmic hybrid embryos is elaborated. Taken together these ethical concerns about the moral status of the human embryo, about the ethics of crossing species boundaries with humans, and about the potential harms to women, provide good reason to eschew humanesque cytoplasmic hybrid embryo research in favor of less ethically controversial means to the laudable end of successful regenerative medicine. (shrink)

Françoise Dastur describes her efforts to practice history of philosophy in a non-historical fashion. She discusses her concept of the historical, and argues that the only true way to be of one's time is to be against one's time.

Françoise Dastur describes her efforts to practice history of philosophy in a non-historical fashion. She discusses her concept of the historical, and argues that the only true way to be of one's time is to be against one's time.

En partant de la définition des rituels, et notamment du rôle de la parole, qu'elle soit verbale ou non-verbale, cet article interroge la façon dont la ritualisation peut contribuer à l'éducation, notamment en milieu scolaire. Après un tour d'horizon des principaux aspects rituels de l'enseignement et de l'école, l'auteur questionne plus particulièrement les rituels d'apprentissage, c'est-à-dire ceux qui structurent la relation enseignant/enseigné au sein de la classe. En s'appuyant sur une théorisation psychanalytique elle montre alors comment les rituels peuvent ou (...) non, notamment en fonction de leur degré « d'ouverture », contribuer à faire exister les élèves dans leur singularité et, ce faisant, les aider à se construire dans leur rapport au savoir.Starting from the definition of rituals, including the role of speech, either verbal or non-verbal, this article examines how ritual can contribute to education, particularly in schools. After an overview of the main aspects of teaching and rituals of the school, especially the author questions the rituals of learning, that is to say those that structure the relationship teacher / learner in the class. Based on psychoanalytic theorizing it then shows how rituals may or may not, depending on their particular degree of "openness" to help students exist in their singularity, thereby helping to build in their relation to knowledge. (shrink)