This paper is one of the four interrelated action agenda papers resulting from the National Summit on Public Health Legal Preparedness convened in June 2007 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and multi-disciplinary partners. Each of the action agenda papers deals with one of the four core elements of legal preparedness: laws and legal authorities; competency in using those laws; and coordination of law-based public health actions; and information.This action agenda offers options for consideration by those responsible for (...) or interested in ensuring that public health professionals, their legal counsels, and relevant partners understand the legal framework in which they operate and are competent in applying legal authorities to public health emergency preparedness.Competencies are critical to an individual's ability to make effective legal response to all-hazards public emergencies. (shrink)

Author note: Keith E. Yandell is Professor of Philosophy and South Asian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

In this paper, we discuss and critically evaluate the National Health and Medical Research Council’s recently released document entitled ‘Draft Values and Ethics in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research’. We provide a brief account of its development, philosophy and contents, and then consider how the document could be used by HRECs. We recommend that three specially targeted documents be developed from this one document, to meet the particular needs of HRECs, Indigenous people and researchers. We propose a system (...) of Indigenous ethics advisers as a way to implement the central ideas of the new draft guidelines, without falling into the legalism and rule-following that these guidelines explicitly aim to avoid. (shrink)

Imbalance in analytical legal theory's approach to prima facie legal phenomena : re-balancing after imbalance : an incremental addition to analytical legal theory -- Legal officials, the rule of recognition, and international law -- The hierarchical view of legal system and non-state legality -- Meta-theoretical-evaluative motivations -- An inter-institutional theory -- An inter-institutional account of non-state legality -- Pathologies of legality : novel technologies and their implications for conceptions of legality : the consequences of re-socializing a descriptive-explanatory view of law.

We attempt to defend the species-as-individuals hypothesis by examining the logical role played by the binomials (e.g., "Homo sapiens," "Pinus ponderosa") in biological discourse about species. Those who contend that the binomials can be properly understood as functioning in biological theory as singular terms opt for an objectual account of species and view species as individuals. Those who contend that the binomials can in principle be eliminated from biological theory in favor of predicate expressions opt for a predicative account of (...) species and view species as kinds. We contend that biologists' talk about species is talk about species as individuals, and we conclude that the most plausible account of species is an objectual account. (shrink)

Human culture is built upon nature to help humans adapt to their environment – first natural, but later natural-cultural. Cultural practices are aimed at aiding survival in changing environments, and in different settings they meet different environmental pressures, causing later changes in trajectories. According to cultural evolutionism, behaviours, ideas and artefacts are subject to inheritance, competition, accumulation of modifications, adaptation, geographical distribution, convergence and changes of function – these are mechanisms present also in biological evolution. In the following paper, we (...) examine women’s dance and physical exercise practices, which contain similar postures performed in comparable circumstances, as found in initiation ritual dances in chosen East African communities and in Slavic gymnastics for women in the Belarusian tradition. In times of globalization and the mixing of cultures, the position on knees and elbows is recontextualized in a visually attractive form of contemporary dances like Kangamoko and Baikoko, or more widely different variants of ‘twerking’ and reconstructed physical exercises. Approaching ‘twerking’ positions, especially on knees and elbows as a cross-genre performance, we find common roots in the communal support for women’s good wife and mother status teachings in various cultures, showing the importance of women’s circles, women’s health and well-being for the community. (shrink)

McNaught, Keith; Shaw, Geoffrey Organisations ubiquitously seek feedback from their customers, for a vast range of reasons. The data may assist in improving services, responding to concerns, celebrating excellent service, or determining that desired standards are being achieved. Australian hospitals utilise a range of techniques to collect patient feedback, and to use that patient feedback as part of continuous improvement. Whilst every hospital in Australia is expected to provide excellent medical care and treatment, private hospitals regularly purport to offer (...) some form of 'distinctive care', and options for patients that do not usually exist in public hospitals. Most often, private hospital patients are contributors to private health insurance, which is expensive, and additional 'out of pocket' expenses are the norm. Patients, therefore, often have particular expectations of a private hospital, which may include their choice of doctor, surgeon or anaesthetist; a private room and ensuite bathroom; a high standard of food choices; being kept well-informed with regard to their treatment; flexible hours and arrangements for visitors; a longer stay; and personalised care. (shrink)

As a result of in-house discussions stimulated by previous Gonzaga engineering ethics conferences, Coffman Engineers began the implementation of what is to be a company-wide ethics training program. While preparing a curriculum aimed at consulting engineers, we found very little guidance as to how to proceed with most available literature being oriented towards the academic environment. We consulted a number of resources that address the teaching of engineering ethics in higher education, but questioned their applicability for the Consulting Engineering environment. (...) This lack of guidance led us to informal research into the ethical knowledge and attitudes of both consulting engineers and engineering students. Some of our findings were unexpected, and suggest that a simpler approach to teaching ethics to working professionals might be preferred to that typically promoted in higher education. (shrink)

Certainly NBPW can justify metaphysical evil, which is all Leibniz intended it to do. Probably, as suggested by Bruce Reichenbach, NBPW can rebut an atheistic argument from the non-existence of the best possible world. It could even augment a GGD by defending against a divine obligation to have created a “larger” world. But NBPW by itself cannot serve to derail the logical problem of evil in any way whatsoever; theists must find refuge in a GGD if they are to find (...) it at all. Lacking a GGD, NBPW is irrelevant; given a GGD, NBPW is superfluous. (shrink)

This article supports H. L. A. Hart's “any reasons” thesis (defended consistently from the first edition of The Concept of Law in 1961 to the Postscript to the second edition of 1994) that legal officials may accept law for any reasons, including non‐moral reasons. I develop a conception of non‐moral aesthetic ideals of official conduct which may provide legal officials with reasons to accept and apply even morally iniquitous law. I use this conception in order to rebut Gerald Postema's and (...) Joseph Raz's criticisms of Hart's view, and suggest that my revisions offer reasons for renewed confidence in Hart's account of law's normativity. (shrink)

Autoantibodies to three eukaryotic 60S ribosomal phosphoproteins P0, P1 and P2 have been found in the sera of 10–20% of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). These three proteins share a common epitope contained within the carboxy terminal 22 amino acids of each protein. Because central nervous system disturbances, with major behavioural disorders, occur in a significant fraction of SLE patients, the antiribosomal autoantibodies were measured in this subset of SLE individuals to determine whether or not there was an association. (...) This antibody is present in 90% of SLE patients who were diagnosed as having psychosis, secondary to the disease. (shrink)

'This is a powerful piece of advocacy. I'd pick Ewing and Gearty for my counsels any day.' -Bernard Porter, LRBThis book is an account of the struggle for civil liberties against the State in which groups such as the anti-war protestors, the Irish nationalists, the Communist party, trade unionists, and the unemployed workers' movement found themselves involved in the first half of the twentieth century. All had to fight for their civil liberties in the face of strong opposition from the (...) State, including the judges whose attitude to civil liberties was often deeply hostile, and at odds with their supposed role as defenders of freedom. (shrink)

This article comprises a dialogue between two historians who have attempted, individually, to narrate the life of Lord George Gordon (1751 – 93), the Scottish prophet, revolutionary, and convert to Judaism. For modern cultural historians, Gordon's peregrinations between identities offer a kaleidoscopic view of Britain in the overlooked but crucial interstice between the upheavals of 1776 and 1789. Yet the partial nature of the evidence, the long omission of Gordon from the historiography of eighteenth-century Britain, and the complex, often furtive (...) nature of Gordon's activism create multiple ambiguities in his story. These ambiguities are compounded here by the authors' differing approaches. Marsha Keith Schuchard argues for a Gordon shaped by Scottish origins; Dominic Green, for a Gordon responding to English opportunities. They disagree over the likely date of Gordon's conversion to Judaism and, crucially, over whether he was a religious atavist or a Romantic pioneer. This dialogue is meant to illustrate the utility of a scholarship that acknowledges fuzziness rather than attempting to overclarify it. The article is also meant to show, however, that on the public stage fuzziness can be less benign: Gordon was a religious politician, who reworked his complexities and confusions into a violent, uncompromising critique of eighteenth-century British social order. (shrink)

This paper explores the manner in which educational and political conservatives attempted to control the content and purposes of the history curriculum in English schools during the period 1987-1994. It focuses upon this particular coalition because, since the late 1970s, it has set the agenda for the debate and dominated the race to produce a history curriculum designed to help produce a particular kind of society. The paper argues that the New Right's claim to be engaging in an educational debate (...) is spurious. Rather, its concern is primarily ideological and only educational in terms of its use of history education as a vehicle through which to disseminate a specific set of values and beliefs. (shrink)

Au-delà d’une bataille écologique tenace pour l’abandon du projet d’aéroport, le bocage de Notre-Dame des Landes a constitué un terrain d’expérimentation pour transformer l’occupation militante en droit pérenne d’usage des terres. Les « zadistes » se sont battus pour devenir agriculteurs et exploiter collectivement la terre au service d’une agriculture « écolo et non Monsanto ». Ils ont parié sur le fait de mener une bataille sur le droit face à l’administration et, en échange de fiches de projets, ont obtenu (...) des baux ruraux individuels de neuf ans, comme les paysans résistants et les paysans cumulards, qui exploitaient les terres avant la préemption. Le rêve éveillé est devenu réalité, même si l’un des principes de base initiaux, « la terre en commun », a subi des altérations. (shrink)

Neste artigo apresenta-se a noção de uma cultura da juventude romântica em Walter Benjamin e as ideias relacionadas a ela, a saber: crítica, espírito e formação. Analisa-se a crítica do autor quanto ao conceito de experiência, relacionada ao adulto/filisteu, e sua proposta para o cultivo da cultura da juventude. Utilizam-se os ensaios Experiência, Sobre o programa da filosofia futura e A vida dos estudantes.

How might one study the complex processes of the mind? The method favored by early philosophers and psychologists was introspection. While introspection is still used today, perhaps the major source of evidence used by cognitive scientists to understand cognition is data collected from experiments in which subjects are engaged in some type of relevant task. While these data all come from some type of experiment, the methods differ widely, and, as we shall see, the type of method is strongly influenced (...) by the area of inquiry. (shrink)

A right to family privacy is considered a cornerstone of American life, and yet access to it is apportioned by race. Our notion of the “racialization of privacy” refers to the phenomenon that family privacy, including the freedom to create a family uninhibited by law, pressure, and custom, is delimited by race. Building upon racial formation theory, this article examines three examples: the Native American boarding school system (1870s to 1970s), eugenic laws and practices (early/mid 1900s), and contemporary deportation. Analysis (...) reveals that state-sponsored limitations on family privacy is a racial project that shapes the racial state. Performing an ideological genealogy with our cases, this article makes three contributions: it illustrates how the state leverages policies affecting families to define national belonging; it reveals how access to family privacy is patterned by race, ethnicity, gender, class, sexuality, and national origin; and it distills how Whiteness and a national racial hierarchy are socially constructed and maintained over time. With the racialization of privacy, we identify how the state seeks to reproduce institutionalized White supremacy and the effects this has on families. We argue that families are the linchpin in state-sponsored racial projects that construct the nation and that the racialization of privacy, as a form of inequality, is a defining characteristic of the color-line. (shrink)

I read Kant or Adorno or Aristotle not in order to detect the request they themselves tried to answer by writing, but in order to hear what they are requesting from me while I write or so that I write. J.-F. Lyotard.

Recent writers concerned with general theories of law have taken little notice of the new information communication technologies . This situation ought to change. General theories of law ought to take into account the potential of the new ICTs to enable significant changes in the relations between legal authorities and legal subjects. This paper takes legal positivism as a stalking horse for examination of the way the new ICTs may affect presumptions regarding citizens' and officials' knowledge, attitudes, and allegiance to (...) law. The positivist account of legal normativity, key to its general account of law, is significantly threatened by the prospect that e-consultation and e-petitioning may breach presumed differences between officials and citizens in life under law. This argument brings various consequences for the positivist view of normativity and legal system, all inclining toward the conclusion that the positivist view may lose its basis in social fact and so present an unrealistic account of law. (shrink)

This article identifies and advocates one part of a renewed research agenda for analytical legal theory: a renewed ‘relational’ approach to characterization of the concept of law, following the lead set by Hart’s exploration of law’s relation to morality, coercion, and social rules. We advocate further descriptive-explanatory investigation of law’s relation to security, environment, and information technology, in the context of state and extra-state legal orders. This investigation is responsive to emerging legal phenomena as identified by the inter-institutional account of (...) legality developed in our recent book Legality’s Borders (Oxford University Press, 2010), and is further responsive to the interests and perspective of a modernized version of Hart’s ‘ordinary citizen.’ A renewed relational approach will provide a means to deeper characterization of the forms of legality arising within and around the increasingly unsteady municipal state in the modern era of increased interdependence and interconnection amongst state and extra-state legal orders.Resumen:El objetivo de este artículo es identificar y defender una parte de la renovada agenda de investigación de la teoría jurídica analítica: un renovado enfoque “relacional” sobre la manera de caracterizar el concepto de derecho —siguiendo la línea trazada por Hart de investigar la relación del derecho con la moral, la coerción y las reglas sociales—. Nosotros defendemos una investigación adicional de carácter descriptivo-explicativo sobre la relación que tiene el derecho con la seguridad, el medio ambiente y las tecnologías de la información, en el contexto de disposiciones jurídicas estatales y extra-estatales. Esta investigación responde a fenómenos jurídicos recientes del modo en que fueran identificados por la tesis inter-institucional de la legalidad desarrollada en nuestro reciente libro Legality’s Borders (Oxford University Press, 2010), y asimismo responde a los intereses y a la perspectiva de una versión modernizada del “ciudadano ordinario” de Hart. Un renovado enfoque “relacional” proporcionará los medios para un análisis más profundo de las formas de legalidad que surgen al interior y alrededor del cada vez más inestable estado municipal, en la era moderna de una mayor interdependencia e interconexión entre las disposiciones jurídicas estatales y extra-estatales. (shrink)

The purpose of this study is to probe the implications of Derrida’s linguistic theories in his late philosophy. Adopting an interdisciplinary and deconstructive approach to critical discourse analysis that erodes the foundation of anthropocentric binary thought paradigms, this exploration of Derrida’s ecolinguistic dream of a more biocentric language problematizes three specific cognitive structures that represent an unsustainable form of dichotomous thinking. The philosopher illustrates that the concept of “human” and “animal,” the “genesis myth,” and the Cartesian notion of the Bête (...) machine are deadly delusions that must be replaced with a more biocentric outlook on life. (shrink)