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Ethical, Legal and Social Implications ("ELSI") research has played an increasingly important role in scientific research. Tens of millions of dollars, many of which are public, are spent funding scientific research projects. Taxpayers are demanding that scientific advancement move forward, hand-in-hand with careful examination of the many ethical and social issues that are raised by the emerging sciences. It is not uncommon to find grants that include ELSI components. This raises a potential problem relating to the ability of ethicists to undertake serious, objective reflection and make independent, normative suggestions. If the Principal Investigator (PI) of the grant controls the funding of the ethics component and ELSI reflection suggests acts or omissions that would negatively affect the PI's scientific project, especially given the current economic climate in which reductions in ethics and humanities funding jeopardize other employment, ethicists may be placed in a position of having to decide between seriously jeopardizing their career, or ignoring the moral problem and compromising their professional integrity. One suggestion to avoid this conflict is to separate the funding of ELSI components from the scientific portion of the grant and to erect a secure firewall between the two. Other solutions certainly exist, and the purpose of this paper is to raise the issue to stimulate debate.

In recent years scholars across the humanities and social sciences have revitalized the ancient concept of cosmopolitanism. Dale Snauwaert illuminates why this is so in his thoughtful article on what it might mean to educate for a shared humanity. Snauwaert shows why many people find so-called "realism" an unsatisfactory political and moral orientation toward the world. In this article, the author is not convinced that what Snauwaert calls Mohandas Gandhi's "ontological grounding" is in fact "essential" for the project of world justice. He is not persuaded it is the only alternative to the sort of vulgar pragmatism Snauwaert is concerned to avoid, and rightly so since the other side of the reductionist coin of "realism" is the claim that human nature is "a complete social construction." The author imagines culture at three levels: (1) the familiar anthropological plane wherein communities reconfigure practices and ideals; (2) the level of cultures of art (teaching, practicing science, musical traditions the world over, etc.) in which new forms and techniques emerge in often surprising ways; and (3) the level of the individual person endeavoring to cultivate ("culturate") her or his life as meaningfully and seriously as circumstances permit. The recognition of cultural creativity at these levels can generate a deep, robust sense of hope in what humans "can" accomplish if they give themselves over to the task, as many have done across the ages. Moreover, in this task people do not need to "be" cosmopolitan, as if they must take on a new identity. It is more judicious to say they can be "cosmopolitan-minded" and "cosmopolitan-hearted" in various moments amidst the vicissitudes of their highly local, particularized lives. As sympathetic as he is with just about everything Snauwaert has put forward in his article, this author remains concerned that a fixed, "a priori" conception of human nature can inadvertently end up becoming state-like. (Contains 1 endnote.)

What are the humanities, and how should they be cultivated? With respect to this crucial question, opinions differ as to how widely the humanities should be construed and pursued. Initially connoting the study of Greek and Roman classics, the concept now more generally covers arts and letters, history, and philosophy. But does it also include the social sciences, which are often distinguished from the humanities and grouped as a separate academic division with greater pretensions to scientific status? And should our pursuit of humanistic study be concentrated on the traditional methods and topics of high culture that give the humanities an authoritative aura of established nobility, or should it extend to new and funkier forms of interdisciplinary research such as popular culture or race and gender studies? (Contains 37 notes.)

This article deals with Bernhard Poerksen's interviews with Humberto R. Maturana and Francisco J. Varela on science and the humanities. In Poerksen's conversation with Maturana, they talk about the: (1) responsibility of the teacher; (2) listening to the listening; (3) perception and illusion; and (4) all human beings are equally intelligent. In Poerksen's conversation with Varela, they talk about: (1) the computational model of the mind; (2) the symbol and world; (3) the philosophical problem factory; (4) from necessity to possibility; (5) the theory of emergence; (6) security in insecurity; (7) an ethics of spontaneous goodness; and (8) postmodern biology. (Contains 5 notes.)

Over 2,000 years ago, Aristotle wrote a treatise on ethics in which he proposed that there were both intellectual and moral virtues to be developed in the human being. Virtue ("aristeia") was roughly equivalent to the English word "excellence" and the unifying virtue that was both a moral and an intellectual virtue was prudence. Excellence lay not in some intellectual ideal as his teacher, Plato, had suggested or simply in the knowledge of the good or true as Socrates had suggested, but in the "ability of a person to act excellently." Aristotle believed that in most instances right action lay in the intermediary point between two extremes of excess and lack, the golden mean. Education in these times has been plagued by often stultifying battles between extremes, each position containing important insights that are critical for promoting excellence in human development but are also distortions born of extremes. Educational battles in the last century have raged between intellectual and moral education, the sciences and the humanities, traditional and progressive education, behaviorism and constructivism, and between masculine and feminine. With the advent of new legislation, battles in education have centered on differing definitions and positions regarding social justice and accountability. A review of the extreme positions on social justice and accountability suggests that excellence in either social justice or academic achievement for students can only be met by meeting both goals simultaneously. There simply is no social justice without accountability for excellence in achievement and no accountability without social justice. This article discusses social justice and academic excellence, and reviews the extreme positions that place roadblocks to achieving both excellence and equity. The best social justice program a nation can offer its youth is an excellent education. This education begins in the home and includes the classroom and larger community. There is a need to continue to clarify the national vision, beyond the extremist ideological positions standing in opposition to one another, which serve to block progress to closing the achievement gap. Then it is necessary to develop a system where teachers can encourage student uniqueness while helping all learners achieve excellence.

Humanity defines itself through an animal other, the animal in Jacques Derrida's definition of "absolute alterity," cannot return the human gaze. In this paper I explore the possibilities of accommodation and hospitality which posthuman philosophy provides in conceptualizing the position of alterity of the "animal". Building on the writing of Jacque Derrida and Giorgio Agamben I will argue how Posthumanism can radicalize the way in which the anthropocentric worldview looks at the animal as other, questioning the positioning and relevance of speciesism and species boundary. Also, the issue of agency has been interrogated in this research article. I have also argued for a new mode of conceptualizing the "other" / the "animal" which abolishes the hierarchical view of anthropocentric conception of nonhuman but instead views the other from the lens of companionship, borrowing from the ideas of "companionship" and "Chuthulucene" of Donna J. Haraway. The paper is an attempt to expand the humanist exclusionary boundaries and is an exercise in developing a posthuman ethics through which the category of human can be radically questioned and can be made more hospitable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses the concept of adequacy central for Pertażycki's methodology. According to Petrażycki any valuable scientific theory should be adequate, that is, neither limping (to broad with respect its actual scope) nor jumping (too narrow with respect to its actual scope). Consequently, adequacy of a theory is a stronger condition than its truth. Every adequacy theory is true, but not conversely. However, there is problem, because scientific laws are conditionals (implications). This suggests that adequacy is too strong conditions, because the consequence of an implication has a wider scope than its antecedent. Thus, laws should have the form of equivalence. The paper shows how modeltheoretic characterization of theories allows to recognize truth and adequacy, consistently with Petrażycki's claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of the paper is to analyse T. G Masaryk’s ideas about the importance of education in democratic systems. In particular, the study analyses the ideas that Masaryk associates directly or indirectly with the nature of democracy or with the improvement of the democratic system through changes in the education system. The first part of the paper traces the basic aspects of democratic systems in his work that immediately condition ideas about the importance and role of education in democratic systems. The second part analyses the importance of education in the reproduction of national values, the role of the arts and humanities in the formation of the “democratic man”, and the significance of education of broad social strata and political authorities in democratic systems.

In this paper, we reflect upon our role as researchers embedded in humanities in the KNOTS project. In the course of the project, we noticed various misapprehensions among both staff and students stemming, among others, from different cultural, political, and educational backgrounds. While a diversity of inputs and perspectives is considered an advantage for transdisciplinary projects, cooperation among actors with various backgrounds can also be challenging. Based on our observations and previous experience living and working in Vietnam, we created a session focusing on ethics for the last summer school in Ho Chi Minh City. We decided to bring participants' attention to research ethics and issues of cross-cultural communication, and suggested reflection and discussion as a coping strategy. In the course of a three years long mutual learning process, we realized that striving to create a common understanding of research ethics and cross-cultural awareness is an indispensable element of teaching and doing transdisciplinary research in a multicultural environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As software developers design artificial agents (AAs), they often have to wrestle with complex issues, issues that have philosophical and ethical importance. This paper addresses two key questions at the intersection of philosophy and technology: What is deception? And when is it permissible for the developer of a computer artifact to be deceptive in the artifact's development? While exploring these questions from the perspective of a software developer, we examine the relationship of deception and trust. Are developers using deception to gain our trust? Is trust generated through technological 'enchantment' warranted? Next, we investigate more complex questions of how deception that involves AAs differs from deception that only involves humans. Finally, we analyze the role and responsibility of developers in trust situations that involve both humans and AAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article has strictly a theoretical and non-empirical character. The author presents examples resulting from various observations. The aim of the paper is to present the causes, functions, and results of fouls, fouling, and foul play. Although fouls do not comply with the rules of games, the paper demonstrates that fouls are often used; they enjoy a quiet acceptance of the sporting world; they are tolerated and accepted; even more, they are often - more or less explicitly - desirable. The author employed the idiographic method (descriptive), that is, an approach typical for the general methodology applied in the nonempirical humanities and social sciences; the analytical method (referring to the British analytical philosophy);the nomothetic method (explanatory), the approach based on exegesis and hermeneutics of cultural texts utilized in order to create a closer understanding of the phenomenon of foul; the axiological method (evaluating of the use of foul);and the synthetic method, which was mainly used in the summary and the abstract. Author also applied a specific methodology typical for sociology, which refers to interpretationism based, in this case, on a genetic approach (referring to the sources and causes of phenomenon of foul), as well as on a realistic and empathetic approach [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Comparative Literature / Primerjalna Književnost is the property of Slovenian Comparative Literature Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Inciso is the property of Universidad La Gran Colombia, Seccional Armenia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the contemporary debate about the nature of persistence, stage theory is the view that ordinary objects (artefacts, animals, persons, etc.) are instantaneous and 'persist' by being suitably related to other instantaneous objects. In this paper I focus on the issue of what stage theorists should say about the semantics of ordinary proper names, like 'Socrates' or 'London'. I consider the remarks that stage theorists actually make about this issue, present some problems they face, and finally offer what I take to be the best alternative available for them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peter Singer has famously argued that people living in affluent western countries are morally obligated to donate money to famine relief. The central premise in his argument is that, “If it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we ought, morally, to do so.” The present paper offers an argument to the effect that affluent people ought to support foreign aid projects based on a much weaker ethical premise. The new premise states that, “If it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of moral importance, we ought, morally, to do so.” This premise, supplemented with a notion of final value drawing on Amartya Sen's concept of freedom as capabilities and functionings, is conceived as a special version of a weak, egalitarian Pareto principle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some futurists and philosophers have urged that recent developments in biotechnology promise advancements that challenge standard accepted views of human nature, the self, and ethical obligation. Additionally, some have urged that developments in artificial intelligence similarly raise interesting new challenges to our conceptions of the mind, morality, and the future direction for conscious entities generally. Some have even gone so far as to argue in defense of "artificial replacement," which is the view that humanity should be prepared to "hand over the keys," so to speak, to a new sort of intelligent collection of entities and that we should go extinct gracefully. These views suggest a new challenge to the anti‐natalist view that people should stop procreating: perhaps humanity is obligated to not allow itself to go extinct quite yet, at least until we have ensured that these next stages of intelligent entity have emerged. When we take into consideration some possibilities for entities with minds relevantly different from our own, we confront a challenge to the asymmetry argument that concerns human‐like minds. Call this the "future minds challenge to anti‐natalism." I will examine some assumptions that underlie such a challenge, and I will argue that some famous articulations of the anti‐natalist stance should be revised in light of such technological advancements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines recent attempts to defend Rule-Consequentialism against a traditional objection. That objection takes the form of a dilemma, that either Rule-Consequentialism collapses into Act-Consequentialism or it is incoherent. Attempts to avoid this dilemma based on the idea that using RC has better results than using AC are rejected on the grounds that they conflate the ideas of a criterion of rightness and a decision procedure. Other strategies, Brad Hooker‘s prominent amongst them, involving the thought that RC need contain no overarching concern to maximize the good are acknowledged to avoid the original dilemma, but lead to further problems of motivating and justifying RC in the absence of such a concern. The paper argues that Hooker‘s attempt to deal with these problems by using a ‘Reflective Equilibrium plus‘ method is unsuccessful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the contents of Alan Gewirth's paper "Reason and Morality". Roots of morality in philosophers; Acceptance of certain evaluative and deontic judgments.

Copyright of Global Media Journal: Canadian Edition is the property of Global Media Journal: Canadian Edition and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Focuses on arguments in Simon Blackburn's paper "Moral Realism". Condition of supervenience on moral truth; Acceptance of moral principle.

Copyright of Word & Text: A Journal of Literary Studies & Linguistics is the property of Petroleum - Gas University of Ploiesti and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Ethical, Legal and Social Implications ("ELSI") research has played an increasingly important role in scientific research. Tens of millions of dollars, many of which are public, are spent funding scientific research projects. Taxpayers are demanding that scientific advancement move forward, hand-in-hand with careful examination of the many ethical and social issues that are raised by the emerging sciences. It is not uncommon to find grants that include ELSI components. This raises a potential problem relating to the ability of ethicists to undertake serious, objective reflection and make independent, normative suggestions. If the Principal Investigator (PI) of the grant controls the funding of the ethics component and ELSI reflection suggests acts or omissions that would negatively affect the PI's scientific project, especially given the current economic climate in which reductions in ethics and humanities funding jeopardize other employment, ethicists may be placed in a position of having to decide between seriously jeopardizing their career, or ignoring the moral problem and compromising their professional integrity. One suggestion to avoid this conflict is to separate the funding of ELSI components from the scientific portion of the grant and to erect a secure firewall between the two. Other solutions certainly exist, and the purpose of this paper is to raise the issue to stimulate debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Problems / Problemos is the property of Vilnius University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper explores the growing use of tools from the arts and humanities for investigation and dissemination of social science research. Emerging spaces for knowledge transfer, such as the World Wide Web, are explored as outlets for "performative social science". Questions of ethnics and questions of evaluation which emerge from performative social science and the use of new technologies are discussed. Contemporary thinking in aesthetics is explored to answer questions of evaluation. The use of the Internet for productions is proposed as supporting the collective elaboration of meaning supported by Relational Aesthetics. One solution to the ethical problem of performing the narrations of others is the use of the writer's own story as autoethnography. The author queries autoethnography's tendency to tell "sad" stories and proposes an amusing story, exemplified by "The One about Princess Margaret" (see Appendix). The conclusion is reached that the free and open environment of the Internet sidelines the usual tediousness of academic publishing and begins to explore new answers to questions posed about the evaluation and ethics of performative social science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparative religious ethics is a complicated scholarly endeavor, striving to harmonize intellectual goals that are frequently conceived as quite different, or even intrinsically opposed. Against commonly voiced suspicions of comparative work, this essay argues that descriptive, comparative, and normative interests may support rather than conflict with each other, depending on the comparison in question, and how it is pursued. On the basis of a brief comparison of the early Christian Augustine of Hippo and the early Confucians Mencius and Xunzi on the topic of“human nature,” this paper advocates a particular account of comparative religious ethics, and argues for the complexity of the idea of“human nature.” Different elements of this family of concerns are central to religious ethics generally, and to theories and practices of moral development and personal formation specifically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the mind and language of an omniscient being from a supervaluationist perspective. Two questions hall receive special attention. How ought the supervaluationist explicate the concept of omniscience? And what ought the supervaluationist expect an omniscient speaker to say about a Sorites series? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Not all those who write philosophy are recognized as philosophers. In this paper I argue that Dutch writer Isabelle de Charrière, usually known as a novelist, is actually engaged in doing moral philosophy. In the second half of the eighteenth century, Charrière wrote novels about characters who endorsed moral theories and commitments. Her novels track the dilemmas that these characters face in trying to live according their moral theories and commitments. I consider the case for treating fiction as philosophically valuable, and argue that Charrière's novels fall into the category of philosophically valuable fiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carol Gilligan's temporally embedded caring subjects reason in terms of relationships with and forward-looking responsibilities to others, and consider how their decisions will shape future ties. Subsequent work in philosophy and economics has had difficulty developing these aspects because of an underlying social ontology that excludes them. This paper draws on a heterodox tradition, post-Keynesianism, to develop an alternative social ontology and an analysis of material life that takes time fully into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Interface - Comunicação, Saúde, Educação is the property of Fundacao UNI and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Moral Agency Within Social Structures and Culture: A Primer on Critical Realism for Christian Ethics. Ed. Daniel K. Finn. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2020. Paper. 115 p. $29.95. In [...]

Ethics review processes are frequently perceived as extending from codes and protocols rooted in biomedical disciplines. As a result, many researchers in the humanities and social sciences (HASS) find these processes to be misaligned, if not outrightly obstructive to their research. This leads some scholars to advocate against HASS participation in institutional review processes as they currently stand, or in their entirety. While ethics review processes can present a challenge to HASS researchers, these are not insurmountable and, in fact, present opportunities for ethics review boards (ERBs) to mediate their practices to better attend to the concerns of the HASS disciplines. By highlighting the potential value of the ethics review process in recognising the nuances and specificity across different forms of research, this article explores the generative possibilities of greater collaboration between HASS researchers and ERBs. Remaining cognisant of the epistemic and methodological differences that mark different disciplinary formations in turn will benefit the ethical conduct of all researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deke Caiñas Gould (2021) argues that the possibility of future non‐human‐like minds who are not harmed by coming into existence poses a challenge to David Benatar's well‐known Asymmetry Argument for anti‐natalism. Since the good of these future minds has the potential to outweigh the current harms of human existence, they can be appealed to in order to justify procreation. I argue that Gould's argument rests on a fundamental misunderstanding of Benatar's argument. According to the Asymmetry Argument, if a person experiences any harm at all, then bringing them into existence is unjustified. It does not depend upon on‐balance judgments about the relative harms and benefits of existence. It therefore remains impermissible to procreate right now in our world, regardless of the prospect of future humans contributing to the successful development of beings who are not harmed by existence. I conclude by addressing two alternate readings of Gould, which, for the sake of argument, permit such on‐balance judgments, and show why they fail to rescue his case. Benatar's Asymmetry Argument might be unsound, but not for any reason identified by Gould. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Better memory, greater motivation and concentration lead to greater productivity, efficiency and performance, all of which are features that are highly valued in a modern society focused on productivity. In the effort for better cognitive abilities, otherwise healthy individuals use cognitive enhancers (also known as nootropics), medicines for the treatment of cognitive deficits of patients with various disorders and health problems, such as Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, stroke, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ageing. The use of these is more common in professions with emphasised cognitive abilities, or in occupations that require more attention, focus and alertness. Their use is also associated with the general working population, in that they are supposed to use them to alleviate the effects of sleep deprivation and to cope with increasing workloads.In the paper, we are addressing the ethical issue and the dilemmas of the use of pharmaceutical enhancements by healthy people who have no medical reason for taking such substances, in the context of improving their cognitive functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is time that universities reexamine what is meant by globalization. Contemporary scholars in the humanities, such as Peter Critchley, Noam Chomsky, Lewis Mumford, Elinor Ostrom, Charles Eisenstein, David Orr, Vandana Shiva, Naomi Klein, Lynn Margulis, Mustafa Tolba, Martha Nussbaum, Henry Giroux, Carolyn Merchant, Paulo Freire, Fritjof Capra, and Pier Luigi Luisi have aptly redefined the concept of "world" as a biological and cultural ecosystem. This paper seeks ways to integrate the theory and practice of eco-citizenship into various cross-disciplinary aspects of higher education, with a focus on curricular adjustments steered by World Languages and Cultures programs. It vests universities with a mission to engage themselves both as places of resistance against the neoliberal privatization of the commons and as the interactive, practical, analytical, and creative grounds needed for a healthy rebuilding of our global community. Through an assertive commitment in favour of eco-citizenship, universities will help clarify and resolve the strong conflict we are witnessing today between neoliberal orientations and an ecological exigency clearly delineated by scientific and humanistic scholarship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pay to publish and open access have been studied extensively, but less so in disciplines such as philosophy and ethics. This study examines the habits and perceptions of researchers from these two fields in Spain. The study draws on data from a survey (completed by 201 out of 541 researchers), a public debate with 26 researchers, and 14 in‐depth interviews. Our results offer some interesting insights into the criteria researchers apply when selecting publishers and journals, notably the value they place on the absence of publication fees. However, habits differ for publishing an article or a book, since payment to publish books is more widespread. The study finds contrasting views on the market for publishing books and journals: some respondents perceived what they consider to be the commercialisation of publishing in academic journals, while others provide arguments to support the Spanish book industry. Sceptical views were also voiced on pay to publish as a funding model. Finally, the study finds broad agreement among the researchers surveyed that publicly funded research should be free to read. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we reflect upon our role as researchers embedded in humanities in the KNOTS project. In the course of the project, we noticed various misapprehensions among both staff and students stemming, among others, form different cultural, political, and educational backgrounds. While a diversity of inputs and perspectives is considered an advantage for transdisciplinary projects, cooperation among actors with various backgrounds can also be challenging. Based on our observations and previous experience living and working in Vietnam, we created a session focusing on ethics for the last summer school in Ho Chi Minh City. We decided to bring participants’ attention to research ethics and issues of cross-cultural communication, and suggested reflection and discussion as a coping strategy. In the course of a three years long mutual learning process, we realized that striving to create a common understanding of research ethics and cross-cultural awareness is an indispensable element of teaching and doing transdisciplinary research in a multicultural environment.

The book is one of a longstanding series of humanities anthologies issued by Wadsworth that I fi rst encountered a decade ago in Louis Pojman?s compilation of classic philosophy texts, The Quest for Truth. But in contrast to Plato and Aristotle, the fi elds of ethics and science and technology studies simply won?t stand still, so publishers are justifi ed in bringing out new editions in this area every few years. The mix of papers and essays in this collection strikes a good balance between relatively timeless and historical material on the one hand, and up-to-date topical discussions of current topics such as globalization, genetic engineering, and climate change on the other. This anthology began with a course the authors developed in 1993 at the College of New Jersey, assisted by NSF support for the fi eld of science and technology studies. The book is divided into two parts: Perspectives on Technology, which carries works on the history, politics, and ethics of technology in general; and Contemporary Technology and the Future, focused on five topical areas. The typography and layout of the book follow the pleasing well-established Wadsworth style. I detected a few signs of haste in copyediting: a typo here and there, and, most seriously, a place where apparently an entire page of references was left out. Considering that the office of proofreader was abolished by most publishers somewhere around 1995, this book is still better than average in its freedom from errors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract Better memory, greater motivation and concentration lead to greater productivity, efficiency and performance, all of which are features that are highly valued in a modern society focused on productivity. In the effort for better cognitive abilities, otherwise healthy individuals use cognitive enhancers (also known as nootropics), medicines for the treatment of cognitive deficits of patients with various disorders and health problems, such as Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, stroke, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ageing. The use of these is more common in professions with emphasised cognitive abilities, or in occupations that require more attention, focus and alertness. Their use is also associated with the general working population, in that they are supposed to use them to alleviate the effects of sleep deprivation and to cope with increasing workloads. In the paper, we are addressing the ethical issue and the dilemmas of the use of pharmaceutical enhancements by healthy people who have no medical reason for taking such substances, in the context of improving their cognitive functions.

The aim of this articole is to discover traces of humanitas in late antique and mediaval literature. Starting from the classic meaning of this notion, the paper finds three meaningful episodes: the controversy between Ambrosius and Symmachus about the Altar of Victory, the Dialogue of a Philosopher with a Jew and a Christian by Peter Abelard and the spread of the Life of Balaam and Josaphat. Through these examples, the article builds a new idea of humanitas, free from historical restricion, a blend of literary passion, acceptance of diversity and multiculturalism.

From 12th to 16th September 2017 the 10th edition of the CeSPeC’s Summer School took place in Cuneo (Italy). This event revolved around the role of the humanities in the contemporary world and had the purpose of explaining the various perspectives which may demonstrate how still the contribution of such disciplines is important to interpret the world and the reality in the post-modern, global and post-digital era. In this introduction we provide a focus on the main topic and a brief presentation of the reflections composing the present papers collection.

This article focuses on the sociology of sociology. Persons working in the sociology of sociology are allegedly groping for some model or means by which to understand and measure changes in dominant sociological perspectives. In addition to attending primarily to the making and maintaining of meanings, rather than the functional integration of institutions, one approach tends more toward field work or participant-observation as a research style. To view a social theory from its own perspective can allegedly be an interesting index of sociological self-consciousness. It seems that any thoroughing reality constructionist would analyze the shifts in the perspectives that dominate sociology in terms of the process of conversion. It should be made clear at the outset that a distinction is made between the moral careers of good and bad converts. The distinction comes from various sources within establishment sociology but is also accepted by some of the more pure converts. A bad convert is a person who has taken on the new sociology and defined it as pleasurable, yet has failed first to undergo the necessary personal and intellectual struggle with the old sociology. In addition, the morality of the moral career of the bad convert is somewhat questionable.

The author asserts the need to improve ethics guidelines for conducting human research. Topics discussed include major characteristics of non-medical human research, research ethics involving human subjects in South Africa, and the management of the issues of confidentiality, anonymity and data protection of human subjects.

The article offers information on course for medical students that addresses aspects of medical practice that are hard to assess and make concrete, including professionalism, communication, ethics, humanities, and culture. It mentions that according to a research micro-aggressions and trigger warnings might affect the educational experience offers a possibly useful social context for further examination of our imbroglio.

This paper is a contribution to the debate about value of research attempts aimed at reinstating a fertile dialogue between science and humanities. Indeed, the complex relationships between the “two cultures” in the past century can be analysed through three relevant examples of the main “pathologies” which affected interdisciplinary studies: Bergson’s interpretation of the Theory of Relativity, Thom’s implementation of Catastrophe Theory on Linguistics, and Sokal’s hoax against a cultural studies journal. Rethink critical issues and underline analogies and differences should help avoiding errors and misunderstandings which may exacerbate the mutual incommunicability. My aim is to highlight the causes of the conflict (misunderstanding, misuses, ideology, and disciplinary interest) and to endorse the desirability of interdisciplinary studies if guided by intellectual honesty.

Several trends in contemporary philosophy have revived the question of the good life. This article addresses the more elaborate notion of an 'art of living' in the specific context of the technosphere on the basis of recent works in philosophy of technology. It also brings ideas from Asian philosophy and from Buddhism in particular into the discussion. The focus is on the notion of non-confrontation, which could lead to a decisive change in the methods and scope of technology assessment within the humanities. The art of living in the technosphere emerges as an existential virtuosity that pertains to practical wisdom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When reasoning about the stories and dramas of television series, it is useful to resort to an ethical and anthropological criterion. This approach calls for distinguishing between an anthropological reason applicable to people in the real world and thedramatis personae. There are two coherent anthropological behaviors that may contribute to a viewers’ active position. The first one is to consider that Aristotle's Poetics and the contemporary extension of his content can rationally account for those stories and dramas, today precisely qualified as ‘tragic’. The second one is to understand the real world and its dramatic representations, in accordance with the Leonardo Polo’s transcendental anthropology, the vision which Jürgen Habermas finds in religions, and Joseph Ratzinger - articulating reason and faith - has summed up as livingveluti si Deus daretur. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of this paper is to show why the humanities are more necessary than ever as part of the university education in our contemporary cosmopolitan age. We need the humanities if our educational institutions are to overcome the threats from narrow-minded politicians and business people to reduce education in schools and universities to simple instruction in management without guidance from the cultures of the world as expressed in art and literature, knowledge of languages, history, and philosophy.

It is time that universities reexamine what is meant by globalization. Contemporary scholars in the humanities, such as Peter Critchley, Noam Chomsky, Lewis Mumford, Elinor Ostrom, Charles Eisenstein, David Orr, Vandana Shiva, Naomi Klein, Lynn Margulis, Mustafa Tolba, Martha Nussbaum, Henry Giroux, Carolyn Merchant, Paulo Freire, Fritjof Capra, and Pier Luigi Luisi have aptly redefined the concept of “world” as a biological and cultural ecosystem. This paper seeks ways to integrate the theory and practice of eco-citizenship into various cross-disciplinary aspects of higher education, with a focus on curricular adjustments steered by World Languages and Cultures programs. It vests universities with a mission to engage themselves both as places of resistance against the neoliberal privatization of the commons and as the interactive, practical, analytical, and creative grounds needed for a healthy rebuilding of our global community. Through an assertive commitment in favour of eco-citizenship, universities will help clarify and resolve the strong conflict we are witnessing today between neoliberal orientations and an ecological exigency clearly delineated by scientific and humanistic scholarship.

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