The burgeoning field of biomedical research involving the mixture of human and animal materials has attracted significant ethical controversy. Due to the many dimensions of potential ethical conflict involved in this type of research, and the wide variety of research projects under discussion, it is difficult to obtain an overview of the ethical debate. This paper attempts to remedy this by providing a systematic review of ethical reasons in academic publications on human-animal chimera research. We conducted a systematic review of (...) the ethical literature concerning human-animal chimeras based on the research question: “What ethical reasons have been given for or against conducting human-animal chimera research, and how have these reasons been treated in the ongoing debate?” Our search extends until the end of the year 2017, including MEDLINE, Embase, PhilPapers and EthxWeb databases, restricted to peer-reviewed journal publications in English. Papers containing ethical reasons were analyzed, and the reasons were coded according to whether they were endorsed, mentioned or rejected. Four hundred and thirty-one articles were retrieved by our search, and 88 were ultimately included and analyzed. Within these articles, we found 464 passages containing reasons for and against conducting human-animal chimera research. We classified these reasons into five categories and, within these, identified 12 broad and 31 narrow reason types.15% of the retrieved passages contained reasons in favor of conducting chimera research, while 85% of the passages contained reasons against it. The reasons against conducting chimera research fell into four further categories: reasons concerning the creation of a chimera, its treatment, reasons referring to metaphysical or social issues resulting from its existence and to potential downstream effects of chimera research. A significant proportion of identified passages fell under Category C. We hope that our results, in revealing the conceptual and argumentative structure of the debate and highlighting some its most notable tendencies and prominent positions, will facilitate continued discussion and provide a basis for the development of relevant policy and legislation. (shrink)

Tiedepolitiikkaa on hallinnut ajatus, että rahankäyttöä voidaan tehostaa ja tutkimuksen laatua parantaa kilpailuttamalla, arvioimalla ja keskittämällä rahoitus huippututkimukselle. Huippututkimuksen ajatellaan edellyttävän suuria tutkimusryhmiä. Lisäksi rahoitusta keskitetty yhä enemmän tieteidenvälisille hankkeille. Kirjoituksessa tarkastellaan näitä trendejä kriittisesti viimeaikaisen tieteentutkimuksen ja tieteenfilosofian parhaan tiedon valossa. Näyttää siltä, että suosittu politiikka ei johda toivottuihin lopputuloksiin.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnizia (1646–1716) on usein kutsuttu universaalineroksi. Luonnehdinta on varsin osuva ottaen huomioon Leibnizin intressien laajuuden, hänen luovan panoksensa monille eri aloille ja metafyysis-kulttuurisen vision, joka kajasti kaikkien hänen hankkeidensa, niin teoreettisten kuin käytännöllistenkin, taustalla. Leibniz tunnetaan nykyään ennen kaikkea filosofina ja matemaatikkona, mutta ei juurikaan siitä, että hän toimi suuren osan elämästään kahden eri kirjaston hoitajana: Hannoverin herttuallisen kirjaston ja edelleen maineikkaan, Wolfenbüttelissä sijaitsevan Herzog August Bibliothekin. Tämä katsausartikkeli esittelee Leibnizin kirjastouraa ja hänen kirjastonhoitoa koskevia näkemyksiään, jotka eivät (...) omana aikanaan olleet aivan tavanomaisia. Leibnizin universaalikäsityksen mukaan kirjasto ei nimittäin ole kirjoilla täytetty tila vaan heijastus koko inhimillisen tiedon tilasta. Artikkelissa luodaan katsaus aiheesta kirjoitettuun kansainväliseen tutkimuskirjallisuuteen ja Leibnizin kirjastonhoitoa käsitteleviin muistoihin. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Peter Singer’s ChallengeEugene GoodheartThe politicizing of the Terri Shiavo case has made it difficult to think clearly and judiciously (as distinguished from judicially) about what it means to decide to end the life of a terminally ill or disabled person. Can we take seriously the rhetoric of the sanctity of human life from the mouths of exponents of the death penalty? And yet there are those who consistently and (...) in good faith hold euthanasia in whatever form morally anathema. Many of those who share this view have expressed disapproval of government intervention in the Shiavo case. They cannot be accused of having a political agenda. Over the years, philosopher Peter Singer has made the case for euthanasia most forcefully. This may be a good time to consider critically his arguments, free of the immediate tumult surrounding the Shiavo case. Such consideration may even help us in our understanding of the issues involved in that case.Singer has been variously characterized as "the most controversial," "the most influential" and "the most notorious" philosopher in the world. His books cover a wide range of ethical issues, from animal liberation to euthanasia (including infanticide), and from globalization to the workings of George W. Bush's mind. The controversy, influence and notoriety come from positions he has taken, with a candor that one rarely finds in the work of a respectable philosopher, on the most sensitive issues of life and death. Whether or not one is in agreement with his views (I am not, as will soon become evident), they are argued with a provocative clarity and consistency. A radical advocate of animal [End Page 238] rights, he wants to dissolve the species distinction between human beings and non-human animals. An advocate of euthanasia and infanticide, he substitutes the commandment that honors the sanctity of human life for one that sanctifies the quality of life. In both instances, human beings are being denied a privileged place in the world simply by virtue of being human.If, as Copernicus demonstrated, the universe is not earth-centered, and if, as Darwin has shown, human beings are not the separate creation of God, there can be no justification for providing human beings with a separate ethical system, often at the expense of non-human animals. Singer calls this speciesism and analogizes it to racism. In Rethinking Life and Death: The Collapse of Our Traditional Ethics (New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 1994), he argues against speciesism that in their susceptibility to pain and pleasure, in their capacity for consciousness and even in certain instances a rudimentary self-consciousness, animals deserve to be treated with the same consideration as human beings. He does not deny the superior capacities of human beings, but he views the differences between human and non-human animals as differences in degree and not kind. He provides the following memorable account of the gorilla Koko:She communicates in sign language, using a vocabulary of over 1000 words. She also understands spoken English and often carries on 'bilingual' conversation, responding in sign to questions asked in English. She is learning the letters of the alphabet, and can read some printed words, including her own name. She has achieved scores between 85 and 95 on the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test.talk about what happens when one dies, but she becomes fidgety and uncomfortable when asked to discuss her own death or the death of her companions. She displays a wonderful gentleness with kittens and other small animals. She has even expressed empathy for others seen only in pictures.(p. 181)Why then should animals (Koko is unusual but not alone in these capacities) not be accorded the same ethical consideration as human beings? The differences between human and non-human animals in intelligence, linguistic and symbolic capacity, consciousness and self-consciousness may be a difference in degree, but of such an order of magnitude that quantity becomes quality. To say that non-human animals have 98% of DNA in common with human beings tells us nothing of the effective intellectual superiority of human beings. No matter. Singer provides a deeper reason for his anti-speciesism. "Whether or not dogs and pigs [animals... (shrink)

Filosofisia tutkielmia sisältää Leibnizin tärkeimmät metafyysiset teokset ja lisäksi varsin laajan valikoiman lyhyitä kirjoituksia monilta hänen filosofiansa aloilta: logiikkaa, tieto-oppia, etiikkaa, oikeusfilosofiaa, fysiikkaa, matematiikkaa ja eri uskontokuntien uskontunnustusten yhteensovittamisesta. Tutkielman lisäksi mukana on osia kirjeenvaihdosta Antoine Arnauld’n kanssa ja koko kuuluisa kirjeenvaihto Samuel Clarken kanssa. Teos sisältää myös johdannon sekä selitysosan, jotka avaavat nykylukijalle tämän monipuolisen filosofian ajattelua. A collection of Leibniz writings translated to Finnish with introduction and notes.

Nykyaikaisen formaalisen logiikan kehityksen alkutaivalta leimasivat kunnianhimoiset tavoitteet ja vahva optimismi. Tavoitteena oli osoittaa koko matematiikalle ehdottoman varma perusta. Parhaimmillaan filosofian ongelmienkin uskottiin ratkeavan formaalisen logiikan avulla. Filosofisesti kuitenkin on mielenkiintoisinta, että nykyaikainen formaalinen logiikka on mahdollistanut formaalisen lähestymistavan rajoitusten kiistattoman ja matemaattisen täsmällisen osoittamisen. Tämäntyyppisillä tuloksilla on monia tärkeitä filosofisia seurauksia. Esittelen tässä artikkelissa tiettyjä keskeisiä tällaisia logiikan rajoittavia tuloksia.

Michael Dummett (1925- ) lienee sotienjälkeisen ajan vaikutukseltaan merkittävin brittifilosofi. Hän on toiminut lähes koko aikuisen ikänsä Oxfordin yliopistossa, ensiksi opettaen matematiikan filosofiaa ja lopulta logiikan professorina, mistä virasta hän jäi eläkkeelle vuonna 1992.