A useful report on the health and prospects of sixteen disciplines, ranging from such traditional sciences as anthropology and political science to such recent ones as cybernetics and game theory. Each field is examined as to its proper content, methods, current results, present controversies and terminological difficulties. The authors offer assessment and a limited bibliography for each, as well as a guide to more general literature on behavioral science. It is suggested that inadequate understanding of modern scientific methods and confusion (...) over terms prevail, but that hope lies in the direction of interdisciplinary effort.—N. S. C. (shrink)

A collection of 19 essays by 16 philosophers critical of the merits of linguistic analysis. Everything has appeared previously. The editor's hope is to provide samples of criticism which might "create a somewhat less one-sided impression of the course of recent philosophy than prevails in many quarters at present." The essays settle, roughly, around two themes: the worth of appeals to ordinary language, and consequences for problems in the philosophy of mind. Contributors include Broad, Blanshard, Quine, Kneale, Black, Campbell, Findlay, (...) Hampshire, Ayer.--N. S. C. (shrink)

Social philosophy with heady aims. The author sets out to "reconstruct the ontology of natural society," i.e., to develop a scheme that copes with all aspects of man qua social being. The chief influences are perhaps Whitehead and Aristotle. The upshot seems largely a program, leaning on a "functional" view of the mind, and a principle of evolution.—N. S. C.

This book contains detailed Colet scholarship, translations of marginalia in Colet's copy of Ficino's Epistolae and correspondence between the two men, an essay on their intellectual and biographical relations, and supporting appendices. The author describes Colet's career, suggests an ordering of his works, and argues that Colet neither met Ficino nor agreed with his theology.—N. S. C.

The results of the Oberlin Colloquium of 1962, featuring papers by Warnock on Austin's correspondence theory of truth, Prior on some epistemic puzzles, symposia papers by Searle on speech-act theories of meaning, Garver on Wittgenstein's use of criteria, and Castañeda on the private language argument. Commentators on the latter include Vendler, Benacerraf, Ginet, Siegler, Ziff, Chappell and J. F. Thomson.—N. S. C.

The proceedings of an international colloquium held at Helsinki in 1962, containing twenty papers likely to further debate in the title areas. Contributors include Anderson, Geach, Hintikka, Lemmon, Marcus, Montague, Prior, Rescher and others.—N. S. C.

The Lindley Lecture, in which Brandt argues against the view that the proper business of moral philosophy is chiefly the descriptive analysis of everyday uses of ethical terms.—N. S. C.

This anthology includes twelve essays, the editor's introduction, and a bibliography. Two new or nearly new things here: Warnock's translation of an Austin essay originally written in French, plus a discussion of it by American, English and French philosophers, and Linsky's "Reference and Referents," one part short of being previously unpublished. Also included: a second article by Austin, two essays by Ryle, and articles by Rhees, Strawson, Urmson, Cartwright, Hall, Searle, and Toulmin and Baier. In his introduction, the editor misses (...) his chance to sketch relations among the essays or to put the problems discussed in some type of perspective.--N. S. C. (shrink)

Chiefly a treatment of two problems in the philosophy of history: the nature of historical understanding, and its bearing upon political life, science and philosophy. As regards the first, the author proposes an account of what it is to follow an "evidenced narrative." The burden of discussion of the second is to argue for positive uses of historical understanding, including its capacities for moral guidance, and its use for appreciating how philosophical problems may be clarified.—N. S. C.

A welcome reader in recent literature on the methodology and commitments of social science, including 21 sizable essays from the works of Simmel, Winch, Nagel, Hempel, Weber, Ayer, Merleau-Ponty and others. The editor provides an impressive introduction, brief prefaces to the five sections, an index, notes on the contributors, and an extensive bibliography. What makes this volume exciting is its dialectical make-up: it is conceived as an argument, the selections being arranged to form a sustained debate on a number of (...) issues clustered around the idea of a social science. Some of the issues involved: is social science a science?, the nature of theory construction, the merits of Verstehen as method, the place of value theory in social science, and the bearings of theory on practice.--N. S. C. (shrink)

A large collection of materials, subtitled "An Introduction to Philosophy," and divided into the three parts suggested by the title. "Philosophy," "Religion," and "Science" are treated by the editor as attitudes or ways of thinking. There are biographical sketches before each selection, and questions for discussion and bibliographies after. The editor also includes an introduction, a glossary, an index, and a concluding chapter entitled "Towards a Philosophy of Life."--N. S. C.

A source book offered chiefly as a text for courses in the philosophy of science, containing 27 specimen explanations by historical and contemporary figures grouped under five headings: Pre- and early-scientific explanations ; Physics ; Biology ; Motivation, Behavior and Personality ; and Sociology and History. The editor provides brief introductions for each section and a bibliography. The collection, strange to say, includes no philosophical studies of the nature of explanation.--N. S. C.

Papers and discussions on the title theme in either English or French from a meeting of the International Institute of Philosophy held at Oxford. There are papers by Ryle, Findlay, Calogero, Ayer, Ingarden, Zaragüeta, Perelman and Passmore, plus a "rapport de synthèse" by Devaux, and the meeting's opening and closing remarks by the President, Kotarbinski. The discussions following the papers are sometimes lively, though at other times they reflect not only philosophical dissension but a lack of communication.--N. S. C.

A discussion of the development of the idea of history in Western thought, some current views of the nature of history and the condition of contemporary American academic history. The author rejects such views as that history is a science and that historical interpretation improves with greater distance in time from past events, and criticizes excessive specialization in the structure of graduate education in history and the prevailing canons of historical writing. He writes that today we have "better training, more (...) resources, more monographs, more historians, and, generally speaking, worse history."—N. S. C. (shrink)

The editor of this anthology discusses the distinction between normative ethics and meta-ethics, and provides lucid organizational prefaces to each of the five chapters. The first four are arranged on a "thesis-reply" model. For example, essays by Ayer and Stevenson present an 'emotive-imperative' account of moral judgments, while essays by Blanshard and Baier afford critical replies. There are similarly arranged treatments of objectivism, subjectivism and instrumentalism. The final chapter is given over to "new directions" in meta-ethical theory, and contains readings (...) on the use of moral words and the logic of moral reasoning.--N. S. C. (shrink)

Snow's well-known lecture on the lack of communication among intellectual camps, and its consequences, plus a second look at the lecture after four years and much comment. The second look offers not second thoughts so much as remarks on criticisms, modernist literature, and a possible third culture made up of social historians.--N. S. C.

Background Protecting a person’s right to privacy and confidentiality is important in healthcare services. As future health professionals, nursing students should bear the same responsibility as qualified health professionals in protecting patient privacy. Objectives To investigate nursing students’ practices of patient privacy protection and to identify factors associated with their practices. Research design A cross-sectional study design was adopted. A two-part survey was used to collect two types of data on nursing students: (1) personal characteristics, including demographics, clinical experience and (...) use of information and communication technology and social media and (2) practice of patient privacy protection, collected using the Patient Privacy Scale. Participants and research context: A total of 319 nursing students aged 18 or above, studying pre-registration nursing programmes and who had attended at least one block of clinical placement, were recruited from a university in Hong Kong. Ethical considerations The study received ethical approval from the Survey and Behavioural Research Ethics Committee of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The participants were informed of the study aim and written consent was obtained before completing the survey. Findings: The mean total score on the Patient Privacy Scale was 119.7 out of 135. Nursing students who were regular users of Instagram and those who had never taken photographs with patients and hence did not need to obtain patient consent were associated with better practices of patient privacy protection (higher total scores on the Patient Privacy Scale). Conclusions The findings improve our understanding of nursing students’ practice of patient privacy protection and the associated factors. This will inform the development and revision of current strategies to enhance nursing students’ practice of patient privacy protection, especially their use of social media. (shrink)

Chiefly a treatment of two problems in the philosophy of history: the nature of historical understanding, and its bearing upon political life, science and philosophy. As regards the first, the author proposes an account of what it is to follow an "evidenced narrative." The burden of discussion of the second is to argue for positive uses of historical understanding, including its capacities for moral guidance, and its use for appreciating how philosophical problems may be clarified.—N. S. C.

Objectives: To report the attitudes and opinions of subjects in US clinical trials about whether or not, and why, they should receive post-trial access (PTA) to the trial drug, care and information. Design: Focus groups, short self-administered questionnaires. Setting: Boston, Dallas, Detroit, Oklahoma City. Participants: Current and recent subjects in clinical trials, primarily for chronic diseases. Results: 93 individuals participated in 10 focus groups. Many thought researchers, sponsors, health insurers and others share obligations to facilitate PTA to the trial drug, (...) if it benefited the subject, or to a therapeutic equivalent. Some thought PTA obligations include providing transition care (referrals to non-trial physicians or other trials, limited follow-up, short-term drug supply) or care for long-term adverse events. Others held, in contrast, that there are no PTA obligations regarding drugs or care. However, there was agreement that former subjects should receive information (drug name, dosage received, market approval date, long-term adverse effects, trial results). Participants frequently appealed to health need, cost, relationships, reciprocity, free choice and sponsor self-interest to support their views. Many of their reasons overlapped with those commonly discussed by bioethicists. Conclusion: Many participants in US trials for chronic conditions thought there are obligations to facilitate PTA to the trial drug at a “fair” price; these views were less demanding than those of non-US subjects in other studies. However, our participants’ views about informational obligations were broader than those of other subjects and many bioethicists. Our results suggest that the PTA debate should expand beyond the trial drug and aggregate results. (shrink)

The paper is devoted to a conceptual model of cell patterning, based on a generalized notion of the epigenetic code of a cell determining its state. We introduce the concept of signaling depending both upon the spatial distance between cells and the distance between their cell states (s-distance); signaling can repel cells in the space of cell states (s-space) or attract them. The influence of different types of repelling signaling on the evolution of cells is considered. Stabilizing signaling, namely a (...) signaling monotonically decreasing with s-distance, causes the restoring of cell states after perturbations; destabilizing signaling, i.e., the one in which the signaling monotonically increases with s-distance, causes the appearance of pairs of cells with alternating cell states (one close to the state conventionally called “head”, and another close to the “tail” state). Non-monotonic (in s-space) signaling splits the cells into groups. The model shows that different types of signaling may provide different types of cellular patterns. General principles for applying this model to complex cellular structures are discussed. (shrink)

J. F. C. Harrison has written that ‘for each age there is a new view of Mr Owen’, which is proof of the fertility and continuing relevance of his ideas. Not just in Britain and America but today around the world anti-poverty campaigners, birth-controllers, collectivists, communitarians, co-operators, ecologists, educationalists, environmentalists, feminists, humanitarians, internationalists, paternalistic capitalists, secularists, campaigners for social justice, trade unionists, urban planners, utopians, welfare reformers can all find something to admire and inspire in the treasure trove that is (...) the thought and actions of Robert Owen. Owen was a creative genius of global significance, a radical writer and activist of international reputation and reach who has inspired those seeking to change human society for the better. The contributors to this volume include not only many of the recognized experts on the life, work and legacy of Owen, but also work from younger scholars or scholars coming to the field afresh. The volume presents the most recent and original research on Owen. Owen notoriously (and impressively) dabbled in many spheres, and this is reflected in the its breadth of content. The unifying themes are Owen’s profile in his own time, and the relevance of his ideas for the generations that followed. His importance for educational and social philosophy, for political economy and for the political theory of socialism are all discussed, as are his contribution as a philanthropic employer, his political activities and the specificities of his historical context. (shrink)

A well-documented defense of the thesis that St. Augustine held the city of man, especially Rome, to contain many relative goods, however evil it was from the absolute standpoint of goodness consisting in the worship of the true God. O'Meara discusses in some detail many contemporary critics, e.g., Ernest Barker, who oppose this interpretation, and argues on the basis of historical circumstance and Augustine's own declarations in works other than the City of God.--R. C. N.

OBJECTIVE: To report and analyse the pattern of end-of-life decision making for terminal Chinese cancer patients. DESIGN: Retrospective descriptive study. SETTING: A cancer clinical trials unit in a large teaching hospital. PATIENTS: From April 1992 to August 1997, 177 consecutive deaths of cancer clinical trial patients were studied. MAIN MEASUREMENT: Basic demographic data, patient status at the time of signing a DNR consent, or at the moment of returning home to die are documented, and circumstances surrounding these events evaluated. RESULTS: (...) DNR orders were written for 64.4% of patients. Patients in pain (odds ratio 0.45, 95% CI 0.22-0.89), especially if requiring opioid analgesia (odds ratio 0.40, 95% CI 0.21-0.77), were factors associated with a higher probability of such an order. Thirty-five patients were taken home to die, a more likely occurrence if the patient was over 75 years (odds ratio 0.12, 95% CI 0.04-0.34), had children (odds ratio 0.14, 95% CI 0.02-0.79), had Taiwanese as a first language (odds ratio 6.74, 95% CI 3.04-14.93), or was unable to intake orally (odds ratio 2.73, 95% CI 1.26-5.92). CPR was performed in 30 patients, none survived to discharge. CONCLUSIONS: DNR orders are instituted in a large proportion of dying Chinese cancer patients in a cancer centre, however, the order is seldom signed by the patient personally. This study also illustrates that as many as 20% of dying patients are taken home to die, in accordance with local custom. (shrink)

Recognising and responding appropriately to emotions is critical to adaptive psychological functioning. Psychopathic traits (e.g. callous, manipulative, impulsive, antisocial) are related to differences in recognition and response when emotion is conveyed through facial expressions and language. Use of emotional music stimuli represents a promising approach to improve our understanding of the specific emotion processing difficulties underlying psychopathic traits because it decouples recognition of emotion from cues directly conveyed by other people (e.g. facial signals). In Experiment 1, participants listened to clips (...) of emotional music and identified the emotional content (Sample 1, N = 196) or reported on their feelings elicited by the music (Sample 2, N = 197). Participants accurately recognised (t(195) = 32.78, p <.001, d = 4.69) and reported feelings consistent with (t(196) = 7.84, p <.001, d = 1.12) the emotion conveyed in the music. However, psychopathic traits were associated with reduced emotion recognition accuracy (F(1, 191) = 19.39, p <.001) and reduced likelihood of feeling the emotion (F(1, 193) = 35.45, p <.001), particularly for fearful music. In Experiment 2, we replicated findings for broad difficulties with emotion recognition (Sample 3, N = 179) and emotional resonance (Sample 4, N = 199) associated with psychopathic traits. Results offer new insight into emotion recognition and response difficulties that are associated with psychopathic traits. (shrink)