IntroductionThe Managing Cancer and Living Meaningfully therapy for patients with advanced cancer was tested against a supportive psycho-oncological counseling intervention in a randomized controlled trial. We investigated whether CALM was delivered as intended ; whether CALM therapists with less experience in psycho-oncological care show higher adherence scores; and whether potential overlapping treatment elements between CALM and SPI can be identified.MethodsTwo trained and blinded raters assessed on 19 items four subscales of the Treatment Integrity Scale covering treatment domains of CALM. A (...) random sample of 150 audio recordings were rated on a three-point Likert scale with 1 = “adherent to some extent,” 2 = “adherent to a sufficient extent,” 3 = “very adherent.”ResultsAll 19 treatment elements were applied, but in various frequencies. CALM therapists most frequently explored symptoms and/or relationship to health care providers and allowed expression of sadness and anxiety about the progression of disease. The exploration of CALM treatment element SC_1 was most frequently implemented in a satisfactory or excellent manner, whereas the treatment element SMP_4: Therapist promotes acknowledgment that some life goals may no longer be achievable was not implemented in a satisfactory manner. In terms of treatment differentiation, no treatment elements could be identified which were applied significantly more often by CALM therapists than by SPI therapists.ConclusionResults verify the application of CALM treatment domains. However, CALM therapists’ adherence scores indicated manual deviations. Furthermore, raters were not able to significantly distinguish CALM from SPI, implying that overlapping treatment elements were delivered to patients. (shrink)

The focus on translational research in clinical trials has the potential to generate clinically relevant genetic data that could have importance to patients. This raises challenging questions about communicating relevant genetic research results to individual patients. An exploratory pharmacogenetic analysis was conducted in the international ovarian cancer phase III trial, AGO-OVAR 16, which found that patients with clinically important germ-line BRCA1/2 mutations had improved progression-free survival prognosis. Mechanisms to communicate BRCA results were evaluated, because these findings may be beneficial to (...) patients and their families. Communicating individual BRCA results was not anticipated during clinical trial design. Consequently, options were not available for patients to indicate their preference for receiving their individual results when they signed pharmacogenetic informed consent. Differences in local requirements, clinical practice, and opinion regarding the ethical aspects of how to convey genetic results to patients are all potential barriers to returning individual BRCA results to patients. Communicating the aggregate BRCA result from this study provided clinical investigators with a mechanism to disseminate the overall study finding to patients while taking individual circumstances, local guidelines and clinical practice into account. This study illustrates the importance of increasing the clarity and scope of informed consent and the need for patient engagement to ensure clinical trial participants can indicate their preference regarding receipt of potentially important individual pharmacogenetic results. This study was registered in the NCT Clinical Trial Registry under NCT00866697 on March 19, 2009, following approval from participating ethics committees. (shrink)

Solar radiation management (SRM) may help to reduce the negative outcomes of climate change by minimising or reversing global warming. However, many express the worry that SRM may pose a moral hazard, i.e., that information about SRM may lead to a reduction in climate change mitigation efforts. In this paper, we report a large-scale preregistered, money-incentivised, online experiment with a representative US sample (N = 2284). We compare actual behaviour (donations to climate change charities and clicks on climate change petition (...) links) as well as stated preferences (support for a carbon tax and self-reported intentions to reduce emissions) between participants who receive information about SRM with two control groups (a salience control that includes information about climate change generally and a content control that includes information about a different topic). Behavioural choices are made with an earned real-money endowment, and stated preference responses are incentivised via the Bayesian Truth Serum. We fail to find a significant impact of receiving information about SRM and, based on equivalence tests, we provide evidence in favour of the absence of a meaningfully large effect. Our results thus provide evidence for the claim that there is no detectable moral hazard with respect to SRM. [Open access]. (shrink)

An introduction to semantics for the general reader. How things mean, from animal communication to music.

Die vorliegende Studie ist die erste umfassende Darstellung, die Kierkegaards Verfahren einer indirekten Mitteilung als hermeneutischen Schl ssel zu seinem Gesamtwerk entfaltet. Erkenntnisleitend ist das philosophische Interesse, die indirekte Mitteilung als Kierkegaards denkerische Methode und als das bestimmende Strukturprinzip seiner Existenzphilosophie zu begreifen. Indirekte Mitteilung meint nicht blo eine u erliche Form maieutischer und existenzieller Kommunikation, sie ist vielmehr zugleich eine Theorie ber die Grenze von Sprache und Begriff. Zudem ist die perspektivisch gebrochene, experimentalphilosophische Methode ein Gegenentwurf zur geschlossenen Form (...) des Systems. Hierin zeigt sich Kierkegaards geschichtliche Zwischenstellung in der Umbruchskonstellation von Idealismus und Moderne: Er st t sich im Ganzen vom Systemdenken Schellings und Hegels ab und weist voraus auf die Experimentalphilosophie Nietzsches und das Differenzdenken Derridas. Die Studie ist in dreierlei Hinsicht strukturiert: Systematisch wird die indirekte Methode als ein gegen sich selbst arbeitendes, prinzipiell unabgeschlossenes Verfahren bestimmt; geschichtlich wird sie vor dem Hintergrund der Tradition der Ironie und weiterer paradoxaler Begriffskonstellationen entfaltet; werkgeschichtlich-exegetisch werden Kierkegaards weit verzweigte Reflexionen ber den Begriff der indirekten Methode rekonstruiert, ihre Praxis und Durchf hrung anhand ausgew hlter Werke exemplarisch herausgearbeitet. (shrink)

We want to highlight the strong link between learning systems such as deep learning neural networks and neutrosophy. The latter is above all a representation considering a neutral state which is at the heart of many phenomena of reality as well as mathematical and information theories. Here, we start from the recent understanding of neural networks, which considers their internal functioning and the learning that characterizes them as based on adapted representations (both of the information to be processed and of (...) the task to be performed) that are in fact optimal compressions. Compression means discriminating the similar and the different between cases by identifying representative characteristics through focusing on the most significant and rejecting of the rest. These three operations of neural processing, learning and compression owe their existence to non-linear treatments which essentially amount to distinguishing a neutral zone between two filtered zones, corresponding to the neutrosophical approach. (shrink)

A study of how contemporary cinema and film-philosophers explore radical skepticism about our knowledge of the world.

Qu'est-ce que l'homme? Ce livre est une méditation de l'énigme de l'homme, à l'époque du transhumanisme. Il invite à considérer la différence entre l'homme antique et l'homme moderne selon ses principaux aspects : la vie, la production de biens, la technique et le travail, l'action et l'État, et enfin la pensée. Le fil conducteur en est le rapport avec la nature. L'homme antique vivait selon la Nature, selon l'ordre cosmique et la nature des choses, en espérant simplement habiter ce monde. (...) Chaque chose avait une place naturelle déterminée, dans le monde (dieu, homme, animal), dans la famille (masculin et féminin) et dans la Cité. L'homme moderne, au contraire, nie la Nature, en voulant vivre selon le "Faire" et le "construire", selon la "culture". Il tend à ne voir dans la Nature qu'un réservoir de "matières premières" livrées à son audace démiurgique, et il tend à mener une existence désincarnée, hors du monde de la vie. Cependant, entre une vie fondée sur la nature et une vie sans nature, demeure une autre possibilité : l'incarnation de la liberté dans la nature, la création d'un monde spirituel, qui est une 'seconde nature'. Ni nature, ni anti-nature, ni hors nature, mais un esprit libre dans la nature. Ce qui exige une âme incarnée et demande une philosophie de l'incarnation, en nous demandant : qui sommes-nous? Tout tient donc à la question du corps charnel, face au corps machine. Bâtir et sauver un monde humain bon, donc habitable, tel est notre défi."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

"Heidegger est la dernière autorité philosophique de notre histoire. Il est le dernier grand initiateur dont le jugement soit assuré. Il est aussi le dernier homme de l'ancien monde selon ses trois destinations élevées : le culte, la guerre militaire, l'aristocratie native. En partant d'une lecture de Être et Temps, cet essai se confronte aux grands thèmes de la pensée initiée par Heidegger et propose un nouveau sens de l'individuation appelé l'individualité moderne.".

This chapter examines the neo-republican thesis of the compatibility between freedom and the state under conditions of ‘equally shared control’. It first considers the neo-liberal conception of the relation between freedom and the state as well as the socialist-social-democratic criticism of the neo-liberal understanding of freedom. It then discusses the neo-republicanism of Philip Pettit and the ‘republican thesis’ that freedom and political order are not contradictory to each other. It also analyses Robert Nozick's libertarianism and Friedrich Hayek's liberalism, along with (...) their argument that all actions of a government should be in strict accordance with the rule of law. Furthermore, it looks at the political philosophy of neo-liberalism, the implications of nondomination and the ‘neo-republican thesis’ that even a state's power and interferences can be controlled by its citizens. The chapter concludes by rejecting the thesis that freedom and the state are compatible. (shrink)

Thought is the primary force of humans for their survival, it consists in the use of knowledge and beliefs to determine the most appropriate action in the current situation according to a rationally inspired treatment. The usual knowledge used in practical life is based on models that are representative of reality, such as descriptions and pairs of opposites. We discuss here our thesis that these types of representations of knowledge induce restrictive effects on thought. Indeed, in particular, these two types (...) have specific characteristics that lead to binding effects on thinking such as limitation and influence. The result is a decrease in the capacity of being a rational autonomous agent harmful to one's own interests, which is characterized by deleterious behaviors: lack of reflection (resulting in), inaction, submission, imitation, being just a follower, persuasion by one's group, confusion, handing over to others... However, types of representations that are hardly more complex allow for a better consideration of one's preferences, including a type of representation that enables to move away from couples of opposites by adding neutrality, which produces a distancing from the immediacy of choices (and contrary binary alternatives) while facilitating personal appreciation. This type is in line with the mechanism for finding an optimal solution based on preferential weighting, which is one of the most widely used cognitive operations in human life. We indicate here that this type of representation is typical of neutrosophy, which is an extension of the dialectical thinking of Western philosophy. (shrink)

Es wird gezeigt, dass gerade in kulturellen Kontaktzonen nicht nur das kulturell Unterschiedliche ubernommen oder angeeignet wird. Vielmehr entsteht im transkulturellen Ubersetzungsprozess etwas Drittes. Dieses Dritte resultiert sowohl aus der kulturellen Vermittlung jedweder Wahrnehmung als auch aus der menschlichen Bestimmung zur Kulturalitat. Indem die empirischen Kulturwissenschaften dieses Dritte im Dialog mit der Kulturphilosophie wieder mehr zum Thema machen, konnen sie ihren Mangel an einem inneren Zusammenhang uberwinden.

V. Waibel compare Hôlderlin et le jeune Hegel. Une seule contribution est consacrée à Fichte : celle de V. Kokoszka sur la Wissenschafislehre tardive. Deux études portent sur Kant.

L'idéalisme allemand est une philosophie enracinée dans la problématique religieuse. C'est Kant qui en inaugure la réflexion avec l'exposé de " la religion dans les limites de la raison ". Fichte fléchit le discours en repensant sa Doctrine de la Science à partir de l'Évangile de Saint-Jean. Mais c'est avec Hegel et Schelling que l'idéalisme postkantien se donne la tâche de ressourcer la dogmatique chrétienne à partir d'une ontothéologie spéculative. Hegel laisse d'admirables Leçons sur la philosophie de la religion, Schelling (...) construira sa Philosophie Positive à partir des " données " de la mythologie et de la révélation. Ce recueil, issu des travaux d'un colloque au Centre de Recherches sur Hegel et l'Idéalisme allemand de l'Université de Poitiers, rassemble des textes d'auteurs belges, français, allemands, italiens, libanais, luxembourgeois et américains. Ils traitent aussi bien des grands idéalistes que de leurs prédécesseurs essentiels. P. Valenza étudie Jacobi et Reinhold, J. Lambinet parcourt la voie qui va de Paracelse et de Boehme à Schelling. V. Waibel compare Hôlderlin et le jeune Hegel. Une seule contribution est consacrée à Fichte : celle de V. Kokoszka sur la Wissenschafislehre tardive. Deux études portent sur Kant. R. Schaeffler réfléchit sur le rôle de l'histoire dans le système critique, R. Theis explore les perspectives de la théologie kantienne à partir de la philosophie de Wolff. Deux études sont également consacrées à Schelling. J. Hatem traite de sa vision de l'intuition intellectuelle contre l'arrière-fond de la mystique tandis que A. Ardovino en étudie les travaux bibliques et patristiques. Quant à l'oeuvre de Hegel, elle fait l'objet de trois articles, ceux de Ph. Soual, de B. Mabille et de J.-L. Vieillard-Baron, une oeuvre que M. Westphal approche à partir de la critique de Kierkegaard. Le recueil est conclu par des travaux comparatifs portant sur chacun des grands idéalistes. E. Brito traite de la notion de la foi chez Kant, Fichte, Hegel, Schelling et Schleiermacher quand J.-F. Marquet donne un exposé de l'enseignement des idéalistes sur le mystère de la Trinité. (shrink)

" Mai 68, avec ses slogans parfois stupides et son jargon marxisant - déjà kitsch à l'époque -, était une période joyeuse. On s'y levait tard pour gagner moins. On faisait des pieds de nez aux statues des grands hommes. On prenait au sérieux la question du bonheur. Ceux qui haïssent Mai 68, au fond, sont à plaindre : ils avouent que déjà, à vingt ans, ils étaient des petits vieux qui regardaient passer l'avenir dans un rétroviseur. Et pourtant ce (...) sont eux les vrais utopistes. Ils croient qu'une victoire électorale suffira à faire perdre le goût de l'émancipation à celles et à ceux qui en jouissent. Si ce n'était pas si revanchard, ce serait presque émouvant de naïveté. ". (shrink)

This book investigates the ethical frameworks within modern corporations and their impact on the communities they serve, focusing on autonomous decision making in complex quandaries.

This paper tries to reconstruct Ernst Cassirer's potential reception of the EPR argument, as exposed by Einstein in his letter to Cassirer of March 1937. It is shown that, in conformity with his transcendental epistemology taking the conditions of accessibility as constitutive of the quantum object, Cassirer would probably have rejected the argument. Indeed, Cassirer would probably not have subscribed to its separability/local causality presupposition (which goes against his interpretation of the quantum formalism as a self-suf!cient condition constitutive of the (...) quantum object, without any reliance on spatial intuition), nor to its completeness requirement (as his partial endorsement of Bohr's complementarity, and his rejection of the Kantian "idea of complete determination", illustrate). By rejecting both of its premises, Cassirer's philosophy of physics thus enables to escape the EPR dilemma, and exhibits what, in Kantian terms, might be called a "negative utility" with respect to physical science. A further investigation of the anti-reductionist utility of Cassirer's systematic philosophy with respect to physics and other "symbolic forms" is !nally suggested. (shrink)

Events have beginnings, ends, and often overlap in time. A major question is how perceivers come to parse a stream of multimodal information into meaningful units and how different event boundaries may vary event processing. This work investigates the roles of these three types of event boundaries in constructing event temporal relations. Predictions were made based on how people would err according to the beginning state, end state, and overlap heuristic hypotheses. Participants viewed animated events that include all the logical (...) possibilities of event temporal relations, and then made temporal relation judgments. The results showed that people make use of the overlap between events and take into account the ends and beginnings, but they weight ends more than beginnings. Neural network simulations showed a self‐organized distinction when learning temporal relations between events with overlap versus those without. (shrink)

2020 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title In this book, Philipp von Wussow argues that the philosophical project of Leo Strauss must be located in the intersection of culture, religion, and the political. Based on archival research on the philosophy of Strauss, von Wussow provides in-depth interpretations of key texts and their larger theoretical contexts. Presenting the necessary background in German-Jewish philosophy of the interwar period, von Wussow then offers detailed accounts and comprehensive interpretations of Strauss's early masterwork, Philosophy and Law, (...) his wartime lecture "German Nihilism," the sources and the scope of Strauss's critique of modern "relativism," and a close commentary on the late text "Jerusalem and Athens." With its rare blend of close reading and larger perspectives, this book is valuable for students of political philosophy, continental thought, and twentieth-century Jewish philosophy alike. It is indispensable as a guide to Strauss's philosophical project, as well as to some of the most intricate details of his writings. (shrink)

Animal research suggests that central serotonergic neurons are involved in behavioral suppression, particularly anxiety-related inhibition. The hypothesis linking decreased serotonin transmission to reduced anxiety as the mechanism in the anxiolytic activity of benzodiazepines conflicts with most clinical observations. Serotonin antagonists show no marked capacity to alleviate anxiety. On the other hand, clinical signs of reduced serotonergic transmission (low 5-HIAA levels in the cerebrospinal fluid) are frequently associated with aggressiveness, suicide attempts, and increased anxiety. The target article attempts to reconcile such (...) human and animal findings by investigating whether anxiety reduction or increased impulsivity is more Likely to account for animal behavioral changes associated with decreased serotonergic transmission. The effects of manipulating central serotonin in experimental anxiety paradigms in animals (punishment, extinction, novelty) are reviewed and compared with the effects of antianxiety drugs. Anxiety seems neither necessary nor sufficient to induce control by serotonergic neurons on behavior. Further evidence suggests that behavioral effects of anxiolytics thought to be mediated by decreases in anxiety are not caused by the ability of these drugs to reduce serotonin transmission. Blockade of serotonin transmission, especially at the level of the substantia nigra, results in a shift of behavior toward facilitation of responding. This behavioral shift is particularly marked when there is competition between acting and restraining response tendencies and when obstacles prevent the immediate attainment of an anticipated reward. It is proposed that serotonergic neurons are involved not only in behavioral arousal but also in enabling the organism to arrange or tolerate delay before acting. Decreases in serotonin transmission seem to be associated with the increased performance of behaviors that are usually suppressed, though not necessarily because of the alleviation of anxiety, which might contribute to the suppression. (shrink)

La médecine est intimement liée à la philosophie en un dialogue permanent. Ce rapport n'est pas exclusif car bien d'autres composantes des sciences humaines, la sociologie, l'anthropologie, le droit, la psychologie, entre autres, côtoient la médecine. Cependant, médecine et philosophie demeurent autonomes, même si la pratique médicale rend les deux nécessaires. Cet ouvrage revient sur les perspectives du devenir de la condition humaine, qui, transformées par les nouvelles technologies, vont bouleverser l'approche philosophique de la médecine, la rendant plus indispensable que (...) jamais. (shrink)

Etwa um 1800 kommt es zu einem konstitutiven und irreduziblen Bruch mit der Vorstellung des Kosmos. Hieraus folgt ein signifikantes und kritisches Ineinanderwirken von wissenschaftlichen, philosophischen und ästhetischen Diskursen. Der Kollaps kosmologischer Vorstellungen veranlasst das Ich, das sich nunmehr selbst begreift, zu grundlegend veränderten Darstellungsweisen. Diesen Zusammenhang, so die These der Untersuchung, entdeckt zuerst die Frühromantik. Sie zieht damit zum einen die Konsequenzen aus der Verunmöglichung des Kosmos und erkennt hierin die Möglichkeitsbedingung moderner Subjektivität. Zum anderen macht sie die Erfahrung (...) des Akosmismus zur Voraussetzung ihrer eigenen Poetik. (shrink)

We expand on the article “Ethical Challenges Arising in the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Overview from the Association of Bioethics Program Directors (ABPD) Task Force” to consider the ways in which rural...

Most arguments about conscientious objections in medicine fail to capture the full scope and complexity of the concept before drawing conclusions about their permissibility in practice. Arguments favoring and disfavoring the accommodation of conscientious objections in practice tend to focus too narrowly on prima facie morally contentious treatments and religious claims of conscience, while further failing to address the possibility of moral perspectives changing over time. In this paper, I argue that standard reasons against permitting conscientious objections in practice—that their (...) permission may result in harm to patients, the idea that medical providers willingly enter into the medical field, and that conscientious objections stand contrary to medical professionalism—do not apply in all cases and that the medical field and health systems in which many physicians now practice should continue to tolerate conscientious objections in practice. (shrink)

Near-death experiences are a big challenge to the fields of science and philosophy; termed as hallucinatory by neurologists and “stuff of which fantasies are made off” by sceptics, there are some unique near-death experiences which defy these claims. Memories generated during these experiences are of specific interest as they are created without a body and can be recalled post the experience. Call it the mind, soul, psyche or consciousness, if deliberated as a form of quantum generated energy, a strong correlation (...) under a reductionist based perspective can be obtained. Life at a macroscopic level may not be similar to life at a quantum level, and has been proved in quantum physics through its spooky properties like quantum entanglement. Self-sustaining quantum generated energy through entanglement is the answer to all mystical realties and the answer lies in believing in its existence in and around us. It is this energy that brings in the awareness of one’s existence and which performs tasks beyond the imagination of the current self; an energy created at the creation of all that exists; a true supernatural force. This paper reviews a unique void near-death experience and hypothesizes quantum entanglement to be involved in the conception and storage of these energy-based memories in a quantum subatomic cloud which can be restated if returned back to the body or lost to the environment upon death. (shrink)

This is a study that investigated the extent of use of the three principles of ethics – utility, morality, and justice – in managerial ethical decision making, in addition to the personal attitude towards them. It involved undergraduate and graduate business students (total N=163) from the Olayan School of Business in the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. Two kinds of measurements were done: self assessment, and testing with the Saschkin’ s Managerial Value Profile (1997). It showed that morality was the (...) overriding ethical principle used, especially in the graduate group (professionals). Business students still believed in the justice system despite the weakness of the country’s law. Utility was the least used, although males were found to be more utilitarian than females. Finally there was no relation between personal attitudes toward the three ethical principles, and the intentional behavior when faced with ethical dilemmas. The findings were discussed and recommendations were given. (shrink)