My fundamental thesis is that Rachels dismisses the traditional Western account of the morality of killing without offering a viable replacement. In this regard, I will argue that the substitute account he offers is deficient in at least eight regards: (1) he fails to justify the foundational principle of utilitarianism, (2) he exposes preference utilitarianism to the same criticisms he lodges against classical utilitarianism, (3) he neglects to explain how precisely one performs the maximization procedure which preference utilitarianism requires, (4) (...) his account of the sanctity of life is subject to the very criticism he levels against the traditional position, (5) he cannot justify the exceptions he makes to his interpretation of the sanctity of life, (6) his account could easily be used to justify murder, (7) his embrace of autonomy as an ethical principle undermines his preference utilitarianism, and (8) he cannot maintain the moral identification of acts of killing and letting die. (shrink)

Social health disparities are increasing in most countries around the world. During the past two decades, a large amount of evidence has emerged about the health consequences of social inequalities. Despite such evidence, the concept of medical fairness, as traditionally defined by the World Medical Association, has remained unchallenged and even reinforced by some scholars who emphasize that doctors should remain neutral to the socioeconomic status of their patients when providing clinical care. The inconsistency between public health and clinical care (...) perspectives raises tension between a narrow interpretation of the ethics of justice, which stresses the importance of equality and impartiality, and the ethics of care, which highlights the importance of particularity and individuality in clinical practice. This article analyzes the concept of medical fairness using the emerging evidence that demonstrates the impact of social health disparities on clinical care. It proposes a new approach of medical fairness based on equity rather than on equality and provides a consistent ethical framework based on Paul Ricoeur’s three levels of medical judgments. This integrative framework provides a better balance between public health and clinical care in medical practice. (shrink)

Na filosofia de Aristóteles, o sentimento de amizade apresenta uma ambivalência com as emoções de rivalidade (philotimia) como a cólera (orgê) e a emulação (zêlos). Neste sentido, este artigo tem como objetivo principal refletir sobre os aspectos emocionais que envolvem a noção de amizade, visando aprofundar a relação entre as emoções de rivalidade e as categorias do desejo em Aristóteles. A produtividade dessas reflexões, aponta que o modo como as diversas relações sociais e a construção do conhecimento desenvolvido, também são (...) emocionais, fato que expõem como condição necessária para o desenvolvimento de aspectos vinculados a formação humana. (shrink)

The paper examines the perception of nature and of the human-nature relationship which is deeply marked by the collective memory of human’s destroying domination over nature, especially in the Western world. In this segment the positive contribution of Christian theological eco-feminism is of utmost importance, as it discloses and breaks down the prejudice of the model of human’s superiority over nature by means of a critical historical overview of individual religious traditions. The centrepiece here is an analysis of the tensions (...) inherent in contemporary gender and nature religious policy and the implication of theological eco-feminist ethics of interdependence in everyday life and in understanding the identity of women and nature from this perspective. (shrink)

O tema da visão percorreu a obra de Merleau-Ponty. Desde o princípio, tratou-se de investigar o fenômeno da percepção, e nele descobrir o germe ou a presença de um sentido que a tradição intelectualista sempre tributou a uma operação do pensamento, considerando a sensibilidade apenas ocasião para seu exercício ou índice de realidade. Inscrito inicialmente nos quadros da filosofia da existência , o tema encaminha-se, posteriormente, para uma ontologia do Ser bruto. O objetivo deste trabalho é apresentar as reflexões estéticas (...) de Merleau-Ponty que marcam essa passagem, e que representam o encontro da sua filosofia com a pintura na tarefa da expressão de uma ontologia. (shrink)

A experiência do corpo próprio desempenha, na filosofia de Merleau-Ponty, o papel de subversão das categorias da metafísica clássica entre sujeito e objeto. Mais especificamente, das antinomias cartesianas entre pensamento e extensão . Nesse sentido, existe-se como coisa ou como pensamento e, com isso, toda sorte de dicotomias herdadas dessa metafísica, sobretudo a grande dificuldade em articular o que é pura extensão, relações externas entre partes e processos objetivos do mundo físico, com a consciência, que é "inextensa", que parece não (...) ocupar lugar algum, a despeito de sua articulação e dependência com os processos do mundo físico . O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar, da Fenomenologia da percepção, a análise de três exemplos nos quais Merleau-Ponty procura superar essas dicotomias, ultrapassando a concepção objetivista de corpo a partir da própria fisiologia.In the philosophy of Merleau-Ponty, the experience of one's own body plays the role of subverting the classical metaphysics categories of subject and object, or more specifically, of the cartesian antinomies between thinking and extension . In this sense, existence is possible as thing or as thought. This generates all sorts of the dichotomies inherited form such a metaphysics, mainly the great difficulty in articulating what is pure extension, external relationships between parts, objective processes of the physical world with consciousness, which is "non extensive", which seems not to occupy any place in spite of its known articulation, or dependence, with the physical world processes . The objective of the present paper is to present an analysis of three examples, included in the "Phenomenology of Perception", in which Merleau-Ponty tries to overcome these dichotomies by going over the objectivistic conception of body, starting from the very Physiology. (shrink)

In this paper I critically examine the implications of the uncodifiability thesis for principlism as a pluralistic and non-absolute generalist ethical theory. In this regard, I begin with a brief overview of W.D. Ross’s ethical theory and his focus on general but defeasible prima facie principles before turning to 2) the revival of principlism in contemporary bioethics through the influential work of Tom Beauchamp and James Childress; 3) the widespread adoption of specification as a response to the indeterminacy of abstract (...) general principles and the limitations of balancing and deductive approaches; 4) the challenges raised to fully specified principlism by the uncodifiability thesis and 5) finally offer a defense of the uncodifiability thesis against various critiques that have been raised. (shrink)

In her important and well-known discussion “On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion,” Mary Anne Warren regrets that “it is not possible to produce a satisfactory defense of a woman’s right to obtain an abortion without showing that the fetus is not a human being, in the morally relevant sense.” Unlike some more cautious philosophers, Warren thinks that we can definitively demonstrate that the fetus is not a person. In this paper, Warren’s argument is critically examined with a focus (...) especially on the question of the foundation and the boundaries of the moral community. The fundamental thesis of the paper is that Warren’s approach is flawed for at least four reasons: (1) that being a person is not as obviously central to having full moral rights as Warren assumes, (2) that her exclusivism regarding moral status has dubious moral consequences independent of the abortion issue, (3) that it is not clear that a fetus is not a person, even on Warren’s own criteria, and (4) her criteria for personhood are themselves suspect. (shrink)

Solon's extraordinary claim, that we should call "no one happy who is still living", presents a fascinating and distinctive argument about happiness and the length of a human life. The issues Solon raises are important, and even if we think his pessimistic conclusion is an exaggeration we can still appreciate his central concern how conceptions of happiness and the length of a human life are connected. The purpose of this paper is to explore a few of these problems, in particular (...) the reason why Aristotle's reply to Solon in the Nicomachean Ethics is somewhat ambiguous. We find Aristotle addressing Solon's claim at the outset of Eth. Nic. A 10, troubled in one sense by its conclusion, yet struck by its partial truth. On the one hand, he thinks that requires a "complete life" or at the very least, a sufficient and "complete span of time", both of which are compatible with Solon's advice that we should postpone calling someone happy until a later point in life. But on the other hand Aristotle defines in such a way that raises the question whether he needs to accept Solon's claim in any form. In particular, if happiness is defined in terms of excellent activity as Aristotle repeatedly claims, why should we wait until a person dies to call him or her happy? Why shouldn't excellent actions, at the very time they are performed, count someone as happy? The puzzle, in short, is the fact that Aristotle defines happiness in terms of activities that are complete without developing over time, and yet also claims that happiness requires a "complete lifetime". (shrink)

Alan Donagan, in The Theory of Morality, famously claims that the principles of “common morality” (i.e., the morality of the Judeo-Christian tradition) form a consistent system that can be derived from a single fundamental principle: It is impermissible not to respect every human being, oneself or any other, as a rational creature. In particular, I want to show that the prohibition contained in the fundamental principle is interpreted by appeal to prior convictions about particular sorts of cases, whether they involve (...) the violation of “respect” or not, and that this has unfavorable consequences for Donagan’s claim that the principles of common morality form a truly deductive system of morality. (shrink)

First, we investigate the pertinence of Deleuze-Guattari's criticisms to the philosophy of the flesh, in Merleau-Ponty, particularly this criticism of introducing the image of the transcendent in the immanence of the experience. Finally, we outline the possibility of the affection concept in Deleuze-Guattari be a way of addressing the ontological issue that Merleau-Ponty faced, overcoming the boundaries of the flesh concept, particularly the one of the supposed ambiguity still present in the pair "flesh of the world" and my flesh, according (...) to the criticism of Renaud Barbaras. (shrink)

RESUMO Nossa intenção é apresentar a filosofia da vida de Renaud Barbaras, reunida em Le désir et le monde, e o lugar que ela nos parece ocupar na fenomenologia. Barbaras divide sua filosofia da vida em três níveis: fenomenológico, cosmológico e metafísico. Sem deixar de contemplar seu projeto total, nosso enfoque será mais fenomenológico, destacando, e discutindo, suas noções de desejo, sentimento e relação com o outro. ABSTRACT Our intent is to present Renaud Barbaras' philosophy of life, assembled in his (...) book 'Le désir et le monde', as well as the place it seems to us it occupies in phenomenology. Barbaras divides his philosophy of life in three levels: the phenomenological, the cosmologic and the metaphysic levels. Though not foregoing his overall project, our focus will be rather a phenomenological one, highlighting and discussing his notions of desire, feeling and relationship with the other. (shrink)

resumo O texto aborda algumas noções centrais nos estudos que Merleau-Ponty realizava através de seus cursos nos Collège de Fra nce ent re os anos de 1954 e 1960. Trata da passagem da anima l idade ao corpo hu mano, e tão importante quanto marcar sua diferença, procura mostrar seu Ineinander, um no outro ou pertença comum. A seguir, dá destaque às noções de instituição e de inc o ns c ie nte: com a prime i ra, o filósofo pretende (...) superar os limites da noção de cons c i ê ncia, com a segunda, marca distânc ia da noção em Lévi-Strauss e intensifica o debate com o freudismo. palavras-chaves Fenomenologia; Merleau-Ponty; natureza; corporeidade; inconsciente. (shrink)

We raise two objections to Slote’s article. First, empathy cannot provide information about the world in the direct way Slote proposes. Emotional contagion might be able to do so, but this type of process is different from the empathic one. Second, even if we accept his view of empathy, his claim that we make moral judgments via empathizing with the ‘warmth’ or ‘coldness’ of the actor seems misguided because, we usually empathize with the patient, and we empathize with emotions, not (...) “temperatures”. (shrink)

O objetivo do artigo é trazer o debate de alguns autores sobre a crise atual da sociedade ocidental contemporânea, a partir de três questões que nos parecem discriminar parte considerável dos seus principais problemas: a autonomização da economia, a razão instrumental e a decadência cultural. Com a primeira e a segunda questão se acusam os riscos da separação da economia, da ciência e da técnica diante das necessidades da vida, e com a terceira se acusa nosso estado atual de impotência (...) para responder a tais desafios. O objetivo é fomentar a discussão crítica desses problemas, que nos parecem questões incontornáveis no presente de nossas vidas. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper is to show the relevance of Michel Henry's thinking towards a reflection on the phenomenological meaning of life. A reflection that will question both history of philosophy and historical phenomenology, and which will implicate the very history of modern and contemporary Western society. Our presentation of Michel Henry's philosophy is divided into five sections: the question of the prerogative of Greek’s meaning of phenomenon and truth in the history of philosophy; the concept of “flesh” to (...) the definition of life; the transcendental illusion of life through the ego; the abstraction of life or devitalization of the world, due to this illusion; and, finally, the diagnosis of the decay of life in modern Western society, as the result of this process. (shrink)

Upon doing something generous for someone with whom you are close, some kind of reciprocity may be appropriate. But it often seems wrong to actually request reciprocity. This chapter explores the wrongness in making these requests, and why they can nevertheless appear appropriate. After considering several explanations for the wrongness at issue (involving, e.g. distinguishing oughts from obligation, the suberogatory, imperfect duties, and gift-giving norms), a novel proposal is advanced. The requests are disrespectful; they express that their agent insufficiently trusts (...) the hearer to recognize their own reasons to reciprocate, and the close relationship between them morally requires this kind of trust. This proposal is articulated and situated in the recent discussion of the normativity of requests. The chapter concludes by explaining how these requests may appear appropriate. Agents in these relationships often have standing to make requests, though the standing is lacking in these particular cases. (shrink)

Este trabalho apresenta a experiência de uma abordagem interdisciplinar, desenvolvida na modalidade de pesquisa-ação, no atendimento ambulatorial a um grupo de 20 pacientes em tratamento da hepatite C. As especialidades envolvidas no projeto foram: assistência social, enfermagem, gastroenterologia, ..

O presente artigo visa apresentar algumas das regras normativas do código monástico budista relacionadas ao ato de esmolar alimentos pelos renunciantes de ambos os sexos das comunidades budistas, Saṃgha. O ato de esmolar alimentos, assim como todo o conjunto de características comportamentais e morais relacionado aos praticantes monásticos, se tornou um importante elemento que proporcionou identidade para as Saṃghas do Buda, uma vez que benfeitores – que moravam nas cidades e vilas ao entorno das comunidades – acabavam por reconhecer monges, (...) bhikṣus e monjas, bhikṣunīs distinguindo das demais religiosidades e comunidades da Índia Antiga. Essas regras instituídas pelo Buda histórico, e preservadas pelas comunidades, evidenciam o grande cuidado no tocante à nutrição dos praticantes, especialmente em relação ao como e o que se alimentar, a higiene pessoal, bem como o comportamento dos bhikṣus e das bhikṣunīs com todo esse processo. O objetivo da atenção à alimentação não era outro que proporcionar condições adequadas para o desenvolvimento dos praticantes em relação aos estudos e à meditação. (shrink)

The discovery of participation of astrocytes as active elements in glutamatergic tripartite synapses (composed by functional units of two neurons and one astrocyte) has led to the construction of models of cognitive functioning in the human brain, focusing on associative learning, sensory integration, conscious processing and memory formation/retrieval. We have modelled human cognitive functions by means of an ensemble of functional units (tripartite synapses) connected by gap junctions that link distributed astrocytes, allowing the formation of intra- and intercellular calcium waves (...) that putatively mediate large-scale cognitive information processing. The model contains a diagram of molecular mechanisms present in tripartite synapses and contributes to explain the physiological bases of cognitive functions. It can be potentially expanded to explain emotional functions and psychiatric phenomena. (shrink)

Chinese philosphy of cults, Falun Gong and Indian mysticism.

At some point in his long career, the eminent physicist J. A. Wheeler (1911-2008), who played a seminal role in framing a remarkable number of the issues that his students and colleagues have been struggling with during the previous decades, started to take Leibniz as an interlocutor sui generis. Up to now, such a confrontation has been hardly appreciated or noticed. In this introductory article, the presence of Leibniz in Wheeler’s thought will be assessed and contextualized within the framework of (...) the issues of physics the latter was meditating upon. This example, as well as the methodology followed in dealing with it properly, should, hopefully, prompt broader considerations at the intersection(s) of the areas involved - mainly, but not only, physics, philosophy, history of science. (shrink)

Монография представляет собой исследование философских взглядов одного из представителей второй половины XIX века, мыслителя, публициста, литературного критика, переводчика, издателя, Н. Н. Страхова.

Монография представляет собой исследование философских взглядов одного из представителей второй половины XIX века, мыслителя, публициста, литературного критика, переводчика, издателя, Н. Н. Страхова.