An ethnographic field study about the informed consent process in investigational drug trials for seriously ill persons with hepatitis C suggests that nurses and physicians referred to these trials as giving treatment, even though they involved placebos. Interview data and informed consent documents contained frequent references to the term `treatment trial' or `treatment'. Although these findings were unexpected and not the original focus of our study, we consider them in the light of an extensive literature on the `therapeutic misconception' that (...) has been described among physicians and patients with AIDS and other serious illnesses. We also suggest that certain organizational and professional characteristics of nursing and medicine reinforce this tendency to refer to the trials as treatment. Implications for further research are provided. (shrink)

Social scientific reasoning (SSR) is essential to social science education and to a democratic society as a whole. Students are challenged to analyze and reason about social problems such as social inequality, crime, and poverty. However, students experience difficulties with SSR. This study addresses the research question: Which design principles can guide teachers in designing lessons that promote social scientific reasoning? In this design-based research, four social science teachers employed a conceptualization of SSR and its levels together with three initial (...) design principles to develop curriculum materials and activities. These design principles and curriculum materials were piloted in two secondary education classes (9th and 10th grades) and evaluated by four social science teachers, four social science teacher educators and 90 students. The study produced six design principles that can promote students’ SSR. In combination with the curriculum materials, those design principles can help develop teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge and guide the design of tasks and units that develop SSR. (shrink)

Mueller et al. discuss the role of acoustic cues in detecting language structure more generally. Across languages, there are clear links between acoustic cues and syntactic structure. They show that AGL experiments implementing analogous links demonstrate that prosodic cues, as well as various auditory biases, facilitate the learning of structural rules. Some of these biases, e.g. for auditory grouping, are also present in other species.

Recent scholarship emphasizes the scaffolding role of language for cognition. Language, it is claimed, is a cognition-enhancing niche (Clark, 2006), a programming tool for cognition (Lupyan and Bergen, 2016), even a neuroenhancement (Dove, 2019), and augments cognitive functions such as memory, categorization, cognitive control as well as meta-cognitive abilities (‘thinking about thinking’). Yet the notion that language enhances or augments cognition does not fit in with embodied approaches to language processing, or so we will argue. Accounts aiming to explain how (...) language enhances various cognitive functions often employ a notion of abstract representation. Yet embodied approaches to language processing have it that language processing crucially, according to some accounts even exclusively, involves embodied, modality-specific, i.e. non-abstract representations. In coming to understand a particular phrase or sentence, a prior experience has to be simulated or reenacted. The representation thus activated is embodied (modality-specific) as sensorimotor regions of the brain are thereby recruited. In the paper, we will first discuss the notion of representation, clarify what it takes for a representation to be embodied or abstract respectively, and distinguish between conceptual and (other) linguistic representations. We will then put forward a characterization of cognitive control and examine its representational infrastructure. The remainder of the paper will be devoted to arguing that language augments cognitive control. To that end, we will draw on two lines of research, which investigate how language augments cognitive control: i. research on the availability of linguistic labels, and ii. research on the active usage of a linguistic code, specifically in inner speech. Eventually, we will argue that the cognition-enhancing capacity of language can be explained once we assume that it provides us with a. abstract, non-embodied representations, and with b. abstract, sparse linguistic representations that may serve as easy-to-manipulate placeholders for fully embodied or otherwise more detailed representations. (shrink)

Goethe's objections to Newton's theory of light and colours are better than often acknowledged. You can accept the most important elements of these objections without disagreeing with Newton about light and colours. As I will argue, Goethe exposed a crucial weakness of Newton's methodological self-assessment. Newton believed that with the help of his prism experiments, he could prove that sunlight was composed of variously coloured rays of light. Goethe showed that this step from observation to theory is more problematic than (...) Newton wanted to admit. By insisting that the step to theory is not forced upon us by the phenomena, Goethe revealed our own free, creative contribution to theory construction. And Goethe's insight is surprisingly significant, because he correctly claimed that all of the results of Newton's prism experiments fit a theoretical alternative equally well. If this is correct, then by suggesting an alternative to a well-established physical theory, Goethe developed the problem of underdete... (shrink)

The ability to process center‐embedded structures has been claimed to represent a core function of the language faculty. Recently, several studies have investigated the learning of center‐embedded dependencies in artificial grammar settings. Yet some of the results seem to question the learnability of these structures in artificial grammar tasks. Here, we tested under which exposure conditions learning of center‐embedded structures in an artificial grammar is possible. We used naturally spoken syllable sequences and varied the presence of prosodic cues. The results (...) suggest that mere distributional information does not suffice for successful learning. Prosodic cues marking the boundaries of the major relevant units, however, can lead to learning success. Thus, our data are consistent with the hypothesis that center‐embedded syntactic structures can be learned in artificial grammar tasks if language‐like acoustic cues are provided. (shrink)

The area of biomedicine is one of the fastest developing areas of science and technology. The perception of its possible and expected positive or negative impacts results in the growing number of bioethical discussions in scientific community, politics and public. Their intensity, focus and used methods differ from country to country. Th e authors of the prologue have tried to map the state of the art and expected development of bioethical discussion in the countries of Middle and Eastern Europe. In (...) the beginning, they addressed the bioethical experts with short questionnaire from 7 “new” European countries and two “old” European countries. In the end, seven experts have responded their questions and expressed their expectations and difficulties of the development of bioethical discussions and institutionalisations in their countries. The authors summarize in the prologue the most interesting results. (shrink)

Light upon Light: Essays in Islamic Thought and History in Honor of Gerhard Bowering brings together studies that explore the richness of Islamic intellectual life in the pre-modern period. Leading scholars around the world present nineteen studies that explore diverse areas of Islamic Studies, in honor of a renowned scholar and teacher: Professor Dr. Gerhard Bowering (Yale University). The volume includes contributions in four main areas: (1) Quran and Early Islam; (2) Sufism, Shiism, and Esotericism; (3) Philosophy; (4) (...) Literature and Culture. These areas reflect the enormous breadth of Professor Bowering's contributions to the field over a lifetime of scholarship, teaching, and mentoring. Contributors: Hussein Ali Abdulsater, Mushegh Asatryan, Shahzad Bashir, Jonathan Brockopp, Yousef Casewit, Jamal Elias, Janis Esots, Li Guo, Matthew Ingalls, Tariq Jaffer, Mareike Koertner, Joseph Lumbard, Matthew Melvin-Koushki, Mahan Mirza, Bilal Orfali, Gabriel Reynolds, Nada Saab, Amina Steinfels & Alexander Treiger. (shrink)

Wilson et al. focus on one class of AGL tasks: the cognitively demanding task of detecting non‐adjacent dependencies (NADs) among items. They provide a typology of the different types of NADs in natural languages and in AGL tasks. A range of cues affect NAD learning, ranging from the variability and number of intervening elements to the presence of shared prosodic cues between the dependent items. These cues, important for humans to discover non‐adjacent dependencies, are also found to facilitate NAD learning (...) in several nonhuman animal species. (shrink)

This article presents results from a multidisciplinary research project on the integration and transfer of language knowledge into robots as an empirical paradigm for the study of language development in both humans and humanoid robots. Within the framework of human linguistic and cognitive development, we focus on how three central types of learning interact and co-develop: individual learning about one's own embodiment and the environment, social learning (learning from others), and learning of linguistic capability. Our primary concern is how these (...) capabilities can scaffold each other's development in a continuous feedback cycle as their interactions yield increasingly sophisticated competencies in the agent's capacity to interact with others and manipulate its world. Experimental results are summarized in relation to milestones in human linguistic and cognitive development and show that the mutual scaffolding of social learning, individual learning, and linguistic capabilities creates the context, conditions, and requisites for learning in each domain. Challenges and insights identified as a result of this research program are discussed with regard to possible and actual contributions to cognitive science and language ontogeny. In conclusion, directions for future work are suggested that continue to develop this approach toward an integrated framework for understanding these mutually scaffolding processes as a basis for language development in humans and robots. (shrink)

Wilson et al. focus on one class of AGL tasks: the cognitively demanding task of detecting non‐adjacent dependencies (NADs) among items. They provide a typology of the different types of NADs in natural languages and in AGL tasks. A range of cues affect NAD learning, ranging from the variability and number of intervening elements to the presence of shared prosodic cues between the dependent items. These cues, important for humans to discover non‐adjacent dependencies, are also found to facilitate NAD learning (...) in several nonhuman animal species. (shrink)

Though we agree with their argument that language is shaped by domain-general learning processes, Christiansen & Chater (C&C) neglect to detail how the development of these processes shapes language change. We discuss a number of examples that show how developmental processes at multiple levels and timescales are critical to understanding the origin of domain-general mechanisms that shape language evolution.

"In recent years, design has grown in importance for economic and technical development projects. This increase is in turn associated with very topical social issues. Yet, how can this dimension of design, i.e. "social design", be researched and made visible? This was the question that was tackled by the authors of this book to shed light on the specific rationalities of the processes and methods of design. Based on eight selected projects of applied design at the Zurich University of the (...) Arts, from the areas of Industrial design, Interaction design and Game design, various networks of heterogeneous actors are described and discussed from various academic perspectives. The investigated design productions represent an intrinsic logic than can neither be limited to standardized sets of methods within the discipline nor to established methods outside it. At the same time, decoding the complexity of singular design processes contributes to the advancement of the formulation of design theory."--Site Web de l'éditeur. (shrink)

La théorie de l’organisme social était une approche foncièrement et largement répandue au début du 20ème siècle, qui était acceptée par de nombreuses orientations théoriques dans la sociologie et l’économie. L’approche de Rudolf Steiner s’y rapportant est bien connue. La théorie de Gerhard Stolzmann ne l’est pas autant. Ce dernier était un représentant de ce qu’on appelle le « mouvement des droits sociaux de l’économie politique » et au plan philosophique, il défendait le néo-kantisme (école de Marburg, de l’Allemagne (...) du sud-ouest). Stolzmann a connu et cité les écrits de Steiner sur l’organisme social, comme on peut le prouver. Dans cet essai, on va mettre au jour les communautés et tendances dans le concept de l’organisme social chez Stolzmann et Steiner. Tous deux ont mis en exergue l’importance du spirituel et en conséquence de la sphère du droit, pour la société et l’économie dans leur théorie. Mais Steiner eut essentiellement une amorce plus pratique. Son concept d’organisme social est plus une proposition de réforme pour l’économie et la société, alors que Stolzmann fait ressortir la signification théorique générale toujours valable de sa théorie. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Nursing Ethics:A Selected Bibliography, 1987 to PresentDoris Mueller Goldstein (bio)The ethics of nursing is emerging as a discipline distinct from bioethics or medical ethics. Although these areas have many concerns in common, nurses are demonstrating that their perspective can make a unique contribution to ethical debate.An especially dynamic area of discussion within nursing ethics is the philosophy of caring. The work on moral development by Harvard educator Carol Gilligan (...) in her book, In a Different Voice, is pivotal in this discussion (IV B, Cooper 1989). Jean Watson, a nurse at the University of Colorado Center for Human Caring, also has written extensively on the philosophy of caring. She states that "an ethic of caring has a distinct moral position: caring is attending and relating to a person in such a way that the person is protected from being reduced to the moral status of objects...." (I, Watson 1988).Even as the philosophy of caring becomes more predominant, however, nurses today are often drawn away from the caring role by forces prevalent in the modern hospital. First, modern technology can divert the nurse's attention away from the patient and toward the operation of complex equipment, and second, large hospitals are often managed as bureaucracies (I, Fitzpatrick 1988).A recent study examined the frequency and seriousness of ethical issues encountered in nursing practice (IV A, Berger 1991). A survey instrument that included 32 potential ethical issues was developed by the authors. Respondents were asked to identify what kinds of issues concerned them and with what frequency, and to indicate what resources were used to cope with these dilemmas. The study found that nurses were frequently faced with inadequate staffing, heroic measures for prolonging life, inappropriate resource allocation, situations where patients are being discussed inappropriately, and coping with irresponsible activity of colleagues.The variety of ethical dilemmas encountered on a daily basis by nurses and their expressed interest in developing a moral grounding for the profession of [End Page 177] nursing, along with increased attention to ethical issues in nursing education have led to an explosion in the literature on these topics. In the preparation of this bibliography over 1,000 citations were retrieved in computer searches of various databases: BIOETHICSLINE, MEDLINE and CATLINE (National Library of Medicine), CINAHL (Current Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature), BOOKS IN PRINT PLUS, and ETHX (the online public access catalog for articles at the National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature). What is offered here is a small sampling of that literature. Books and special issues of periodicals are briefly annotated, but citations to articles are simply arranged by broad subject, and within that, alphabetically by author. The subcategories reflect the topics receiving the most discussion in current literature.This bibliography updates "The Ethics of Nursing: A Selected Bibliography," by Doris Mueller Goldstein, which covered the earlier literature and was published as an appendix to Ethical Decision Making in Nursing Administration (I, Silva 1990).I. BooksAustralian Nursing Federation. Ethics: Nursing Perspectives, vol. 2. North Fitzroy, Victoria: The Federation, 1989. 102 p. (Publisher's address: 373-375 St. Georges Road, postal code 3068.) The National Professional Development Committee of Australia fostered the publication of a second volume of papers on nursing ethics. Articles cover patients' rights, ethical theory in decisionmaking behaviors, the nurse and the DNR order, and whistleblowing. Several appendices represent difficult-to-obtain documents, such as the RANF (Royal Australian Nursing Federation) position statements on terminal care, AIDS and occupational health, professional practice problems, and conscientious objection.Bandman, Elsie L., and Bandman, Bertram. Nursing Ethics Through the Life Span. 2nd ed. Norwalk, CT: Appleton & Lange, 1990. 288 p. Following an extensive review of the moral foundations of decision making in nursing, the authors take the reader through a chronology of nursing ethics issues as they occur in the human life span, beginning with the procreative family period and concluding with the end of life. Each chapter contains discussion questions—an aid to educators using this as a textbook.Benjamin, Martin, and Curtis, Joy. Ethics in Nursing. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986. 206 p. An overview of the nature of ethical inquiry and theory is followed by... (shrink)

L’autore ricostruisce l’impatto del saggio di Max Weber sulla città nella storiografia tedesca a partire dalla fine degli anni Ottanta. Esso indica altresì il significato politico della “scoperta” weberiana della città come nucleo genetico della politica occidentale, con il suo universalismo che Weber data addirittura all’incontro tra gli apostoli Pietro e Paolo ad Antiochia. La “città” è per Weber la sede della possibilità teorica e fattuale di creare un diritto autonomo e nuovo. Essa è certamente il luogo di origine della (...) predominanza politica della borghesia, ma nel paradigma weberiano basato sulla razionalizzazione come processo tipico della cultura occidentale, essa indica un percorso che prosegue ancora oggi nell’epoca delle migrazioni e della globalizzazione. (shrink)

Dans ce texte, Gerhard Krüger cherche à déterminer la nature du problème philosophique de l’histoire et/ou de l’historicité. L’histoire est-elle devenue – comme beaucoup de contemporains de Krüger le prétendent, s’affligeant de leur propre impuissance à surmonter une crise de l’historicisme qui met selon eux en danger l’être-homme de la manière la plus radicale – notre problème philosophique le plus urgent, le plus compréhensif et le plus difficile? Et si, comme le suspecte Krüger, le problème de l’histoire n’est pas (...) aussi urgent, compréhensif et obscur qu’on le croit, qu’est-ce qui a conduit la philosophie contemporaine à lui accorder ce statut? (shrink)

Gerhard Krüger s’interroge sur la genèse, le sens – tout autant philosophique qu’historique – et les résultats de la philosophie romantique. Il s’efforce de démontrer que le romantisme est une réaction à une décision antérieure qui avait fondé l’ Aufklärung : le retrait de la pensée dans le for intérieur de la conscience réflexive, la séparation entre le Selbst pensant et le corps propre, la communauté politique et Dieu. Le romantisme part du constat d’une douloureuse absence de contenu dans (...) l’existence moderne. L’intention qui anime la philosophie romantique dans son ensemble – chez Fichte, Schelling et Hegel est de soulager cette douleur en rendant par divers moyens à l’homme moderne ce dont la fondation de l’ Aufklärung avait exigé qu’il se sépare. (shrink)

Gerhard Krüger s’interroge sur la genèse, le sens – tout autant philosophique qu’historique – et les résultats de la philosophie romantique. Il s’efforce de démontrer que le romantisme est une réaction à une décision antérieure qui avait fondé l’ Aufklärung : le retrait de la pensée dans le for intérieur de la conscience réflexive, la séparation entre le Selbst pensant et le corps propre, la communauté politique et Dieu. Le romantisme part du constat d’une douloureuse absence de contenu dans (...) l’existence moderne. L’intention qui anime la philosophie romantique dans son ensemble – chez Fichte, Schelling et Hegel est de soulager cette douleur en rendant par divers moyens à l’homme moderne ce dont la fondation de l’ Aufklärung avait exigé qu’il se sépare. (shrink)