LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English. 本期探討宗教生命倫理學在當代的意義，涉及宗教生命倫理 學與世俗生命倫理學之問相互學習的BJ'能性、以及不同的宗教文 化之間進行對話的有益性，包括兩篇主題論文和15篇回應文章。(撮要取自內文首段) This issue of the journal covers two thematic essays and fifteen commentaries regarding the role of religious bioethics in contemporary society. Although bioethics was launched primarily by theologians in the last century, there have been debates about whether religious ideas are still relevant to today’s bioethical explorations. In addition, the essays in this issue indicate that bioethical dialogues do not occur only among peoples (such as Christians (...) and Confucians) embracing different religious convictions in attempting to understand each other, but they also take place between religious bioethics and secular bioethics so that they may be able to learn from each other and make further reflections on pressing bioethical challenges facing contemporary society. (shrink)

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English. 本期探討宗教生命倫理學在當代的意義，涉及宗教生命倫理 學與世俗生命倫理學之問相互學習的BJ'能性、以及不同的宗教文 化之間進行對話的有益性，包括兩篇主題論文和15篇回應文章。(撮要取自內文首段) This issue of the journal covers two thematic essays and fifteen commentaries regarding the role of religious bioethics in contemporary society. Although bioethics was launched primarily by theologians in the last century, there have been debates about whether religious ideas are still relevant to today’s bioethical explorations. In addition, the essays in this issue indicate that bioethical dialogues do not occur only among peoples (such as Christians (...) and Confucians) embracing different religious convictions in attempting to understand each other, but they also take place between religious bioethics and secular bioethics so that they may be able to learn from each other and make further reflections on pressing bioethical challenges facing contemporary society. (shrink)

In a pair of very important papers, namely “Space, Time and Individuals” in the Journal of Philosophy for October 1955 and “The Indestructibility and Immutability of Substances” in Philosophical Studies for April 1956, Professor N. L. Wilson began something which badly needed beginning, namely the construction of a logically rigorous “substance-language” in which we talk about enduring and changing individuals as we do in common speech, as opposed to the “space-time” language favoured by very many mathematical logicians, perhaps most notably (...) by Quine. This enterprise of Wilson's is one with which I could hardly sympathize more heartily than I do; and one wishes for this logically rigorous “substance-language” not only when one is reading Quine but also when one is reading many other people. How fantastic it is, for instance, that Kotarbinski1 should call his metaphysics “Reism” when the very last kind of entity it has room for is things —instead of them it just has the world-lines or life-histories of things; “fourdimensional worms”, as Wilson says. Wilson, moreover, has at least one point of superiority to another rebel against space-time talk, P. F. Strawson; namely he does seriously attempt to meet formalism with formalism—to show that logical rigour is not a monopoly of the other side. At another point, however, Strawson seems to me to see further than Wilson; he is aware that substance-talk cannot be carried on without tenses, whereas Wilson tries to do without them. Wilson, in short, has indeed brought us out of Egypt; but as yet has us still wandering about the Sinai Peninsula; the Promised Land is a little further on than he has taken us. (shrink)

We first show that a theorem by Cartan that generalizes the Frobenius integrability theorem allows us (given certain conditions) to obtain noncurvature solutions for the differential Bianchi conditions and for higher-degree similar relations. We then prove that there is no algorithmic procedure to determine, for a reasonable restricted algebra of functions on spacetime, whether a given connection form satisfies the preceding conditions. A parallel result gives a version of Gödel's first incompleteness theorem within an (axiomatized) theory of gauge fields.

A cross-cultural survey experiment revealed a dominant tendency to rely on a rule’s letter over its spirit when deciding which behaviors violate the rule. This tendency varied markedly across (k = 15) countries, owing to variation in the impact of moral appraisals on judgments of rule violation. Compared with laypeople, legal experts were more inclined to disregard their moral evaluations of the acts altogether and consequently exhibited stronger textualist tendencies. Finally, we evaluated a plausible mechanism for the emergence of textualism: (...) in a two-player coordination game, incentives to coordinate in the absence of communication reinforced participants’ adherence to rules’ literal meaning. Together, these studies (total n = 5,794) help clarify the origins and allure of textualism, especially in the law. Within heterogeneous communities in which members diverge in their moral appraisals involving a rule’s purpose, the rule’s literal meaning provides a clear focal point—an identifiable point of agreement enabling coordinated interpretation among citizens, lawmakers, and judges. (shrink)

Background The use of lengthy, detailed, and complex informed consent forms is of paramount concern in biomedical research as it may not truly promote the rights and interests of research participants. The extent of information in ICFs has been the subject of debates for decades; however, no clear guidance is given. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine the perspectives of research participants about the type and extent of information they need when they are invited to participate in (...) biomedical research. Methods This multi-center, cross-sectional, descriptive survey was conducted at 54 study sites in seven Asia-Pacific countries. A modified Likert-scale questionnaire was used to determine the importance of each element in the ICF among research participants of a biomedical study, with an anchored rating scale from 1 to 5. Results Of the 2484 questionnaires distributed, 2113 were returned. The majority of respondents considered most elements required in the ICF to be ‘moderately important’ to ‘very important’ for their decision making. Major foreseeable risk, direct benefit, and common adverse effects of the intervention were considered to be of most concerned elements in the ICF. Conclusions Research participants would like to be informed of the ICF elements required by ethical guidelines and regulations; however, the importance of each element varied, e.g., risk and benefit associated with research participants were considered to be more important than the general nature or technical details of research. Using a participant-oriented approach by providing more details of the participant-interested elements while avoiding unnecessarily lengthy details of other less important elements would enhance the quality of the ICF. (shrink)

We propose a formalization of Meinong's theory of objects with the help of Hilbert's $\epsilon$-symbol and a paraconsistent logical system, with an eye towards its application in an axiomatization of the natural sciences.

In recent years, the genetic testing and selection of IVF embryos, known as preimplantation genetic testing (PGT), has gained much traction in clinical assisted reproduction for preventing transmission of genetic defects. However, a more recent ethically and morally controversial development in PGT is its possible use in selecting IVF embryos for optimal intelligence quotient (IQ) and other non–disease-related socially desirable traits, such as tallness, fair complexion, athletic ability, and eye and hair colour, based on polygenic risk scores (PRS), in what (...) is referred to as PGT-P. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning–based analysis of big data sets collated from genome sequencing of specific human ethnic populations can be used to estimate an individual embryo’s likelihood of developing such multifactorial traits by analysing the combination of specific genetic variants within its genome. Superficially, this technique appears compliant with Islamic principles and ethics. Because there is no modification of the human genome, there is no tampering with Allah’s creation (_taghyīr khalq Allah_). Nevertheless, a more critical analysis based on the five maxims of Islamic jurisprudence (_qawa'id fiqhiyyah_) that are often utilized in discourses on Islamic bioethics, namely _qaṣd_ (intention), _yaqın̄_ (certainty), _ḍarar_ (injury), _ḍarūra_ (necessity), and _`urf_ (custom), would instead reveal some major ethical and moral flaws of this new medical technology in the selection of non–disease-related socially desirable traits, and its non-compliance with the spirit and essence of Islamic law (shariah). Muslim scholars, jurists, doctors, and biomedical scientists should debate this further and issue a fatwa on this new medical technology platform. (shrink)

The method of approximate reasoning using a fuzzy logic introduced by Baldwin (1978 a,b,c), is used to model human reasoning in the resolution of two well known paradoxes. It is shown how classical propositional logic fails to resolve the paradoxes, how multiple valued logic partially succeeds and that a satisfactory resolution is obtained with fuzzy logic. The problem of precise representation of vague concepts is considered in the light of the results obtained.

But a body of rigorous mathematical theory has also gradually developed, and this is the first book to present that theory.

Degtev, A.N., On p-reducibility of numerations, Annals of Pure and Applied Logic 63 57–60. If α and β are two numerations of a set S, then αpβ if there exists a total recursive function f such that [s ε S][α-1=[x:[y ε Df][Dyβ-1]]], where Dn is a finite set with canonical number n. It is proved that if α and β are two computable numerations of some family of recursively enumerable sets A and αpβ, then there is a computable numeration, γ, (...) of S such that αpγ and βshrink)

È possibile rendere compiutamente conto di ciò che gli artefatti e le tecnologie fanno, senza per questo sminuire il ruolo dell’agentività umana, ossia la capacità dell’essere umano di essere all’origine dell’azione e del senso?Per quanto determinismo tecnologico e sociocostruzionismo siano ormai approcci sufficientemente integrati, sembra quasi impossibile poter riconoscere l’uno senza pagare nulla di più che un piccolo contributo all’altro.Gli autori sottolineano quanto questa cesura che apparentemente riguarda un fenomeno circoscritto e settoriale come il ruolo degli artefatti nella costruzione del (...) mondo sociale, rispecchia in qualche modo l’antica distinzione proposta da Dilthey tra scienze della natura e scienze dello spirito. Il fatto é che tale divisione del lavoro scientifico sembra il risultato più che il punto di partenza di un lavoro deliberato di purificazione dei due domini . Per quanto utile da un punto di vista epistemologico, essa corre costantemente il rischio di proclamare a priori l’incapacità di alcune metodologie di indagare oggetti che si situerebbero al di là della loro giurisdizione . Inoltre, gli autori ritengono che questa distinzione sia alquanto problematica quando si tratta di questioni ontologiche. In linea con il pensiero di filosofi come Whithead , Delueze e Guatatri e Tarde , sostengono che tanto l’approccio sociocostruzionista quanto l’approccio tecno-determinista soffrano di un simile riduzionismo ontologico: ridurre l’oggetto di indagine a quanto la prospettiva inscritta in ciascuna metodologia consente di vedere e di analizzare.Prendendo le distanze da tale riduzionismo, questo articolo intende dimostrare che la materialità, la tecnologia e persino la natura intrudono costantemente nel mondo del significato, della comunicazione, del discorso. Allo stesso tempo, cultura e significato conferiscono senso e persino forma al mondo naturale . A fronte della propensione diffusa a pensare l’interazione come qualcosa che riguarda soltanto gli essere umani, gli autori mostrano che altre cose si autoconvocano costantemente nelle nostre conversazioni e che é legittimo ipotizzare che tali cose facciano «cose con le parole», per usare la famosa espressione che John Langshaw Austin coniò per indicare ciò che le persone fanno attraverso i loro atti linguistici.Attraverso un esempio tratto dalle osservazioni sul campo in un presidio medico d’urgenza operato da Medici senza Frontiere, gli autori mostrano che il sottolineare quanto e come le cose siano partecipanti attivi in una conversazione non significa evacuare il contributo umano all’attività di parola. Se le cose fanno cose con le parole é perché portano prospettivamente le persone a dire quel che dicono e, retrospettivamente, a far dire loro quel che hanno detto. Piuttosto che postulare che i soli partecipanti umani siano all’origine di quanto vien detto durante una conversazione, diventa possibile ritracciare altre origini o elementi che influenzano e condizionano ciò che le persone fanno mentre parlano tra loro.Il fatto che gli oggetti siano spesso trasformati dalla loro stessa incursione sulla scena interattiva viene vista come una prova della « realtà » del loro contributo alla conversazione. Utilizzando la metafora del ventriloquismo, gli autori mostrano che se i partecipanti umani fanno sì che le cose facciano cose con le parole, ciò é anche dovuto al fatto che le cose stesse fanno far loro cose con le parole, in quella sorta di oscillazione ventriloqua già sottolineata da David Goldbaltt . Individuare le tracce sia dell’agentività umana sia dell’agentività tecnologica, porta a riconoscere il grado di passività o passione inerente a qualunque attività o azione. Tale riconoscimento é cruciale dal momento che tale passività fa parte dei modi con cui le persone rendono razionale/giustificabile/legittimabile/ sanzionabile ciò che esse fanno e dicono nel corso di una interazione.Invece di ridurre l’interazione ad un fenomeno che riguarda esseri umani tra loro, appare più costruttivo riconoscere tutte le figure che popolano la scena interattiva, siano esse tecnologie, regolamenti, principi, emozioni o artefatti. La proposta avanzata dagli autori può dunque essere vista come un tentativo di riabilitare metaforicamente l’analisi del parlare prendendo seriamente in considerazione ciò che le figure letteralmente hanno da dire su come noi, gli umani, comunichiamo e lavoriamo.Se poiesis significa fabbricazione, allora forse poesia può diventare un modo innovativo di comprendere come funzionano le tecnologie e come noi interagiamo con esse.While we tend to think of interaction as involving human beings only, this paper proposes to show that other things – technologies, in particular – are continuously inviting themselves in our conversations and that these things can even be said to “do things with words.” Using the metaphor of ventriloquism, we show that if human participants make things do things with words, it is also because things animate them, a form of ventriloqual vacillation or oscillation already noticed by David Goldblatt . Acknowledging both human and technological agencies therefore leads us to recognize the degree of passivity or passion that is inherent in any activity or action, a recognition that is especially important given that its marks the accountable / reasonable / intelligible / justifiable / sanctionable character of what people do and say in interaction. (shrink)