This Dictionary presents a broad range of topics relevant in present-day global bioethics. With more than 500 entries, this dictionary covers organizations working in the field of global bioethics, international documents concerning bioethics, personalities that have played a role in the development of global bioethics, as well as specific topics in the field.The book is not only useful for students and professionals in global health activities, but can also serve as a basic tool that explains relevant ethical notions and terms. (...) The dictionary furthers the ideals of cosmopolitanism: solidarity, equality, respect for difference and concern with what human beings- and specifically patients - have in common, regardless of their backgrounds, hometowns, religions, gender, etc. Global problems such as pandemic diseases, disasters, lack of care and medication, homelessness and displacement call for global responses.This book demonstrates that a moral vision of global health is necessary and it helps to quickly understand the basic ideas of global bioethics. (shrink)

This paper stems from the current global worsening of the scarcity of resources for healthcare, which will deepen even more in future public emergencies. This justifies strengthening the reflection on the allocation of resources which, in addition to considering technical issues, should also involve ethical concerns. The two plans in which the allocation of resources develops—macro and micro—are then systematized, both requiring the identification of ethical criteria for the respective complex decision-making. Then, we describe how the complexity at the macro (...) level focuses on the joint consideration of the rectitude of the principles, the goodness of the ends, and the integrity—respectively the deontological, teleological, and procedural perspectives; and at the micro level, it focuses in prioritizing people, which can result in the exclusion of some, as happened with the elderly during peaks of COVID-19. The main objective of this article is to show that, in public health emergency situations, in which the daily criteria for prioritizing access to health care are not efficient, it is possible not only to ration the available means but also to rationalize them. We argue that rationing and rationalization are different concepts, entail different consequences, have different ethical foundations, and draw different guidelines for patient care. We apply them to the distribution of intensive care and vaccines to the elderly thus demonstrating the ethically legitimate domain of implementation of each of these two prioritization criteria. We conclude that rationalization respects more strictly the core ethical principles of our common morality. (shrink)

The notion of “integrity” is currently quite common and broadly recognized as complex, mostly due to its recurring and diverse application in various distinct domains such as the physical, psychic or moral, the personal or professional, that of the human being or of the totality of beings. Nevertheless, its adjectivation imprints a specific meaning, as happens in the case of “scientific integrity”. This concept has been defined mostly by via negativa, by pointing out what goes against integrity, that is, through (...) the identification of its infringements, which has also not facilitated the elaboration of an overarching and consensual code of scientific integrity. In this context, it is deemed necessary to clarify the notion of “integrity”, first etymologically, recovering the original meaning of the term, and then in a specifically conceptual way, through the identification of the various meanings with which the term can be legitimately used, particularly in the domain of scientific research and innovation. These two steps are fundamental and indispensable for a forthcoming attempt at systematizing the requirements of “scientific integrity”. (shrink)

Biomedical research has a strong impact on a country’s scientific-technological and socioeconomic development. It can make a significant contribution at three different levels: promotion of public health; the exchange of knowledge within the scientific community; and economic/ financial profitability. Africa only attracts ~3.3% of the world’s clinical research. This small proportion is due to, among several factors, the absence of two fundamental aspects: specific robust legislation and capacity for regulatory and ethical evaluation. There are five Portuguese- speaking African countries – (...) Angola, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe. Despite presenting different degrees of clinical research development, these countries show a common serious insufficiency in the minimum conditions necessary for hosting, collaborating or leading biomedical research projects. These countries are also excluded from the support of international organisations for capacity building because of the language barrier. The Biomedical Ethics and Regulatory Capacity Building Partnership for Portuguese-Speaking African Countries project has developed methods to build capacity and partnership through research on national law, comparisons with international standards and by issuing recommendations at a national level. Through collaborative intensive training, trainees are taught to become educators at a national level. This, in turn, creates a sustainable impact at country level. BERC-Luso is a pioneering project, owing to a combination of innovative features. The partnership project: was developed exclusively in Portuguese; involves a large number of African countries, and national and international institutions; has been further enhanced by the diversity and complementarity of its action plans; and has also benefited from a broad participatory methodology based on resolution of recipients’ problems by the recipients themselves. It thus stands out as a model for similar future projects. (shrink)

The theme of consent is, without question, associated with the origins of bioethics and is one of its most significant paradigms that has remained controversial to the present, as is confirmed by the proposal for its debate during the last World Congress of Bioethics. Seen broadly as a compulsory minimum procedure in the field of biomedical ethics, even today it keeps open the issues that it has raised from the start: whether it is really necessary and whether it can be (...) proven to be effective. My goal will be to attempt to determine the most genuine and relevant meaning of consent, going back from its present dominant normative meaning and, from there, identifying or simply sketching other possible forms of its expression in the world we live in, so as to justify its pertinence and validity. This objective will involve three stages: (1) ‘Consent’ as a privileged paradigm of bioethics (the ethical-juridical sense), (2) The symbolic value of ‘consent’ (the social-cultural sense), and (3) ‘Consent’ as promotion of the human (the humanistic-personal sense) .It is concluded that the common notion of normative consent is not the only one, nor does it hold universal validity; that, from a historical-cultural perspective, new expressions of consent appear, adapted to different social contexts and to possibly be implemented in developing countries; and, finally, that consent is strictly indispensable in situations of extreme dependence, in its symbolic relational character, in as much as it promotes ethical relationships among strangers and ensures that they remain so. (shrink)

Ortega y Gasset enriqueceu os seus estudos na Alemanha entre 1905 e 1908, nas cidades de Leipzig, Berlim e Marburgo, tendo sido aqui discípulo do neokantiano HermannCohen. Tomando essa circunstância como ponto de partida, propõe-se, neste artigo,levar a cabo uma indagação sobre as ideias estéticas de Ortega, contrastando com os fundamentos das fontes kantianas ou neokantianas da sua formação universitária alemã,traçar uma linha que permita demarcar claramente até onde Ortega segue Kant e onde,pelo contrário, o filósofo espanhol trilha o seu (...) solitário e original caminho. Tomam-se como baluartes desta análise os quatro momentos do juízo de gosto inerentes à terceira crítica kantiana e a questão da genialidade. (shrink)

Ortega y Gasset enriqueceu os seus estudos na Alemanha entre 1905 e 1908, nas cidades de Leipzig, Berlim e Marburgo, tendo sido aqui discípulo do neokantiano HermannCohen. Tomando essa circunstância como ponto de partida, propõe-se, neste artigo,levar a cabo uma indagação sobre as ideias estéticas de Ortega, contrastando com os fundamentos das fontes kantianas ou neokantianas da sua formação universitária alemã,traçar uma linha que permita demarcar claramente até onde Ortega segue Kant e onde,pelo contrário, o filósofo espanhol trilha o seu (...) solitário e original caminho. Tomam-se como baluartes desta análise os quatro momentos do juízo de gosto inerentes à terceira crítica kantiana e a questão da genialidade. (shrink)

Este trabalho objetivou verificar as diferenças significativas no clima para a criatividade em turmas de 5ª série do Ensino Fundamental, as possíveis relações entre as interações professor-aluno e o clima para criatividade em sala e de que forma as concepções dos professores acerca da criatividade s..

Background: Chronic Pain (CP) has serious medical and social consequences, and leads to economic burden that threatens the sustainability of healthcare services. Thus, optimized management of pain tools to support CP patients in adjusting to their condition and improving quality of life is timely. Although Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is considered an evidence-based psychological approach for CP, evidence for the efficacy of online-delivered ACT for CP is still scarce. At the same time, studies suggest that self-compassion mediates the change (...) in disability and psychopathological symptoms in ACT interventions for CP, although self-compassion is not a specific target in ACT. Thus, an explicit focus on self-compassion might increase the efficacy of ACT interventions for CP, although this hypothesis has not been tested. This study aims to develop an eHealth ACT and compassion-based self-management intervention for CP, the iACTwithPain, and to compare its efficacy in improving health outcomes to a similar ACT-only intervention and a waiting list group. Methods: The eHealth platform that will host the interventions will be developed using a flat design identity and will be interactive. The iACTwithPain intervention will comprise 8 weekly self-management sessions, and will be developed taking into consideration the psychological flexibility model applied to CP, with the addition of explicit compassion-based components. To analyse whether the iACTwithPain intervention will present superiority in improving CP’s impact and related health markers over the two other conditions, this study will follow a RCT design with three arms. CP patients will be recruited through direct contact with patient associations and healthcare services and a national press release in Portugal. Outcome measurement will be conducted at baseline, post-intervention and at 3- and 6-months follow-ups. The interventions’ acceptability will also be assessed. Discussion: The iACTwithPain intervention is expected to improve CP patients’ psychosocial functioning, quality of life, and empowerment, by promoting adaptive disease management and regulation of pain-related internal experiences. Results will contribute to a better understanding on the pertinence of adding compassion elements to ACT for CP and to reach an optimized intervention for CP. (shrink)

BackgroundThis pilot study aims to test the usability of the iACTwithPain platform, an online ACT-based intervention for people with chronic pain, to obtain information on which intervention and usability aspects need improvement and on expected retention rates.MethodsSeventy-three Portuguese women with chronic pain were invited to complete the first three sessions of the iACTwithPain intervention assess their quality, usefulness and the platform’s usability. Twenty-one accepted the invitation. Additionally, eight healthcare professionals working with chronic medical conditions assessed the platform and the intervention (...) from a practitioner’s point of view.ResultsThis study presented a considerable attrition rate (71.43%) among chronic pain participants, with six completers. There were no significant differences in demographic or clinical variables between dropouts and completers except for completed education (participants who dropped out presented less education than completers). Reasons for dropout were related to difficult personal events occurring during the time of the intervention, lack of time, or having forgotten. There seemed to be an overall satisfaction with both the intervention, its contents and form of presentation of information, and the platform, concerning its design, appearance, and usability. Real image videos were preferred over animations or audio by chronic pain participants. Healthcare professionals emphasized the appealing and dynamic aspects of the animation format.ConclusionThis study informs the ongoing improvement of the iACTwithPain platform and provides valuable information on aspects researchers should consider while developing online psychological interventions for chronic pain. Further implications are discussed. (shrink)

This article proposes to analyse some aspects of the appropriation of New School thinking in Brazil, particularly Deweyan pragmatism, in the 1950s and 1960s. The analysis is based on the assumption that the developmentalist ideology that punctuated the debate on the economic, political and social restructuring of the country in these two decades constituted fertile ground for the return and expansion of pragmatist thinking amongst Brazilian educators, articulating itself, sometimes in contradictory ways, with this ideology. The focus of the analysis (...) will be on the writings of the group of educators which circulated around the figure of Anísio Teixeira, at the time director of the National Institute for Pedagogic Studies, an organ linked to the Ministry of Education and Culture, which set itself the task of producing research that would support public policy in the field of education, as well as constituting itself as a center for teacher education and the stimulus and development of innovative experiences in the public school system. The appropriation of Deweyan pragmatism, in this context, had a triple perspective: pragmatism as scientific method, implying a specific conception of science, particularly the social sciences, with emphasis on the application of scientific knowledge in the solution of practical problems; as a way of democratic life; and as a synonym for experimentalism, in the sphere of schooling. (shrink)

O ato de amamentar apresenta diversos benefícios tanto à mãe quanto ao bebê. No entanto, amamentar um bebê com cardiopatia requer inúmeros desafios. Este estudo tem o propósito de compreender a vivência do aleitamento materno de bebês com cardiopatia congênita e as propostas dos serviços de saúde à paciente com essas condições. Estudo descritivo, qualitativo, realizado por meio de entrevista semiestruturada com mães de bebês internados em hospital de referência em cardiopediatria. Utilizou-se a técnica de análise de conteúdo de Minayo, (...) com referencial teórico específico para embasamento da discussão. Os resultados encontrados apontam para a dura realidade dessas mães que se deparam com inúmeras dificuldades diante do enfrentamento da doença e das repercussões emocionais e físicas advindas dela. O impacto emocional e inviabilização dos cuidados com a amamentação exige uma equipe de saúde especializada para oferecer suporte afetivo, fortalecer vínculo mãe-bebê e minimizar prejuízos que a doença pode ocasionar. (shrink)

Na doença falciforme, o genótipo HbSS da anemia falciforme, considerado a forma mais grave, prevalente no continente africano, tem alta morbidade e mortalidade. Objetivo: identificar se a estrutura instalada na atenção às pessoas com anemia falciforme e seus familiares, contribui para a redução da mortalidade precoce em Angola. Material e Método: pesquisa exploratória descritiva, realizada em Luanda-Angola, no período entre agosto e dezembro de 2022. Foram aplicados questionários estruturados para 20 pessoas com doença falciforme e 15 familiares, todos com mais (...) de 21 anos. A metodologia utilizada foi bola de neve. Para análise e discussão dos dados, foi utilizado o referencial teórico de Donabedian, com ênfase no eixo estrutura. Resultados: diagnóstico feito por sinais e sintomas, idade do diagnóstico entre 1 e 5 anos. A crise de dor predominou entre eventos agudos. Conclusão: inexistência de estrutura instalada de saúde em Luanda que garantam no serviço público gratuito o acesso à medicamentos, transfusão de sangue, vacinas especiais e exames complementares. A transferência de tecnologias sociais da organização de sociedade civil brasileira para a de Luanda mostra ser adequada. (shrink)

The susceptibility of Habermas' socio-political theory (and notion of constitutional patriotism) to the charge of motivational impotence can be traced to a problem in the way in which he conceives of discursive practical reason. By implicitly constructing the notion of discursive rationality in contrast to, and in abstraction from, the rhetorical and affective components of language use, Habermas' notion of discursive practical reason ends up reiterating the same binaries — between reason and passion, abstract and concrete, universal and particular — (...) that provide the tacit parameters used by his critics to motivate the charge of impotence. Habermas' project of reconciling social integration and political rule with freedom can succeed only by rebuilding his discourse-ethical theory of politics upon a notion of discursive practical reason that overcomes these philosophy/rhetoric binaries common to both camps. (shrink)

Razón, poesía, historia.--La cuestión del estoicismo español.--El querer.

The text analyses rituals as endeavours to preserve the identity of a people or a portion of a people. Rituals present or re-present the supposed common history of all the migrants. Social memory and history then tend to merge and to forget... forgetfulness is the driving force behind the writing of history. Particularly critical is the moment when the migration starts, because the need to adapt to new conditions as well as to maintain what is represented as their social identity (...) makes dual – and at times contradictory – demands on the migrants’ imagination. Examples taken from Portuguese migrations are offered as expressions of the conceptual issues raised. (shrink)

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

Dibujar el pensamiento de Seneca es dibujar su figura viva, trazar el esquema de su persona. Seneca es un mediador que para alzarse sobre nosotros necesita de nuestra necesidad, pues solo apoyado en nuestra indigencia tiene sentido. Maria Zambrano lleva a cabo un lucido estudio de la figura y significacion del pensador cordobes y presenta una seleccion de sus escritos.

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

Spectroscopy is a scientific topic at the interface between Chemistry and Physics, which is taught at high school level in relation with its fundamental applications in Analytical Chemistry. In the first part of the paper, the topic of spectroscopy is analyzed having in mind the well-known Johnstone’s triangle of chemistry education, putting in evidence the way spectroscopy is usually taught at the three levels of chemical knowledge: macroscopic/phenomenological, sub-microscopic/molecular and symbolic ones. Among these three levels, following Johnstone’s recommendations the macroscopic (...) one is the most useful for high school students who learn spectroscopy for the first time. Starting from these premises, in the second part of the paper, we propose a didactic sequence which is inspired by the historical evolution of spectroscopic instruments from the first spectroscopes invented by Gustav Kirchhoff and Robert Bunsen in 1860 to the UV–vis spectrophotometers which became common since the 1960s. The idea behind our research is to analyze the conceptual advancements through the history of spectroscopy and to identify the key episodes/experiments and spectroscopic instruments. For each of them, a didactic activity, typically an experiment, is then proposed underlining the relevant aspects from the chemistry education point of view. The present paper is the occasion to reflect on the potentialities of an historical approach combined with a laboratorial one, and to discuss the role of historical instruments and related technological improvements to teach spectroscopy. (shrink)

Hilary Putnam is one of the world’s leading philosophers. His highly original and often provocative ideas have set the agenda for a variety of debates in philosophy of science, philosophy of mind and philosophy of language. His now famous philosophical thought experiments, such as the ‘Twin earth’ and ‘the brains in the vat’ have become part of the established canon in philosophy and cognitive science. _Reading Putnam_ is an outstanding overview and assessment of Hilary Putnam’s work by a team of (...) international contributors, and includes replies by Putnam himself. Divided into clear sections, it contains chapters on key aspects of Putnam’s large body of writing, including: Scientific realism and the changes that Putnam’s thought has undergone on this topic analyticity and ontology, including the important interconnections between the views of Putnam and Quine Putnam’s arguments concerning externalist views of meaning and reference, questions of conceptual relativity, and his preoccupation with ethics through a denial of the fact–value dichotomy Putnam’s developing views on perception. Offering an excellent survey of Putnam’s work, _Reading Putnam_ is essential for those studying philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and philosophy of science, as well as for anyone interested in contemporary philosophy. (shrink)

In the literature, the pragmatic dimension of metaphors has been clearly acknowledged. Metaphors are regarded as having different possible uses, especially pursuing persuasion. However, an analysis of the specific conversational purposes that they can be aimed at achieving in a dialogue and their adequacy thereto is still missing. In this chapter, we will address this issue focusing on the classical distinction between the explanatory and persuasive uses of metaphors, which is, however, complex to draw at an analytical level and often (...) blurred and controversial also from a theoretical point of view. Building on the analysis of explanation in different theories and fields of study, we show how it can be conceived as characterized by a cognitive and a pragmatic dimension, where the transference of understanding is used pragmatically for different dialogical goals - such as informing, making a joint decision, and most importantly persuading. In this sense, the cognitive effects of understanding are not incompatible with a persuasive dialogical purpose. This theoretical proposal will be applied to examples drawn from the medical context, to show how a pragmatic approach to explanation can account for the complexity of the cases that can be found in actual dialogical contexts. (shrink)

This article explores Hannah Arendt's insights into the forms of social control operating especially in democracies, together with the possibility of resistance to such control. Since the way in which one defines freedom informs one's understanding of the techniques that suppress, regulate, and modify behaviour, the article begins by sketching Arendt's notion of freedom, and compares this to its liberal counterpart. That discussion leads to Arendt's conception of power, whose corollary is freedom, and whose suppression amounts to control. The institutional (...) and ideological infrastructure that accompanies the encroachment of ?the social? ? which Arendt links to the hegemony of liberalism ? is conceived as rendering the individual both powerless and apathetic. The article concludes with suggestions regarding resistance to modern forms of control, viewing Arendt's ontology as a source of tenable strategies for the deepening of democracy. (shrink)