This paper examines the correspondence and contacts between Galileo and a number of French intellectuals. It demonstrates that exchanges between Galileo and those Frenchmen did much to stimulate an interest in new scientific ideas in France, especially in astronomy; for example, Galileo provided a number of good telescopic lenses that did much to establish observational astronomy in France. The Frenchmen for their part provided Galileo with considerable useful information. Several were very active in his support after the condemnation of 1633 (...) and in publishing his later works. The paper further demonstrates the extent of the network of intellectuals who corresponded with Galileo and each other across Europe in the early seventeenth century. (shrink)

This study examines Russian politics in the Soviet and post-Soviet eras using sociologist Robert Merton’s middle-range theory. It analyzes ideology, decision making, political culture, public opinion, and democratization and offers an innovative approach to the study of Russian politics in the twenty-first century.

The present study extends the study of individuals' ethical ideology withinthe context of marketing ethics issues. A national sample of marketing professionals participated. Respondents' ethical ideologies were classified as absolutists, situationists, exceptionists, or subjectivists using the Ethical Position Questionnaire (Forsyth, 1980). Respondents then answered questions about three ethically ambiguous situations common to marketing and sales. The results indicated that marketers' ethical judgments about the situations differed based on their ethical ideology, with absolutists rating the actions as most unethical. The findings (...) are consistent with those of two earlier studies that utilized samples of business students (Barnett et al., 1994, 1995). The results suggest that personal moral philosophy is an important influence on ethical decision making that should be considered in empirical studies of business ethics. The results also support the utility of the Ethical Position Questionnaire (Forsyth, 1980) as a means for researchers and practitioners to assess individuals' ethical ideology. (shrink)

The idea that deep brain stimulation (DBS) induces changes to personality, identity, agency, authenticity, autonomy and self (PIAAAS) is so deeply entrenched within neuroethics discourses that it has become an unchallenged narrative. In this article, we critically assess evidence about putative effects of DBS on PIAAAS. We conducted a literature review of more than 1535 articles to investigate the prevalence of scientific evidence regarding these potential DBS-induced changes. While we observed an increase in the number of publications in theoretical neuroethics (...) that mention putative DBS-induced changes to patients’ postoperative PIAAAS, we found a critical lack of primary empirical studies corroborating these claims. Our findings strongly suggest that the theoretical neuroethics debate on putative effects of DBS relies on very limited empirical evidence and is, instead, reliant on unsubstantiated speculative assumptions probablyin lieuof robust evidence. As such, this may reflect the likelihood of a speculative neuroethics bubble that may need to be deflated. Nevertheless, despite the low number of first-hand primary studies and large number of marginal and single case reports, potential postoperative DBS changes experienced by patients remain a critical ethical concern. We recommend further empirical research in order to enhance theoretical neuroethics work in the area. In particular, we call for the development of better instruments capable of capturing potential postoperative variations of PIAAAS. (shrink)

Owing to an oversight, we noted that the acknowledgement section was missing from the original published version of this paper.

The article Deflating the "DBS causes personality changes" bubble, written by Frederic Gilbert, J. N. M. Viaña and C. Ineichen, was originally published electronically on the publisher’s internet portal on 19 June 2018 without open access.

Postmortem evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in the brains of American National Football League players who suffered concussions while playing have intensified concerns about the risks of concussion in sport.1 Concussions are frequently sustained by amateur and professional players of Australia’s three most popular football codes (Australian football, rugby league, and rugby union) and, to a lesser extent, other contact sports such as soccer. This raises major concerns about possible long-term neurological damage, cognitive impairment and mental health problems in (...) players of these sports. (shrink)

This book presents the work of Polish and American philosophers about Poland's transition from Communist domination to democracy. Among their topics are nationalism, liberalism, law and justice, academic freedom, religion, fascism, and anti-Semitism. Beyond their insights into the ongoing situation in Poland, these essays have broader implications, inspiring reflection on dealing with needed social changes.

In the present paper, I raise some questions referring to Chateaubriand’s discussion of the nature of language, its origin, its development and its functions in human live. These questions arise when his view is compared with the partly similar views defended by Gödel and Jørgensen, among others.No presente trabalho levanto algumas questões referentes à discussão de Chateaubriand sobre a natureza da linguagem, sua origem, seu desenvolvimento e suas funções na vida humana. Essas questões surgem quando seu ponto de vista é (...) comparado aos pontos de vista parcialmente similares defendidos por Gödel e Jorgensen, entre outros. (shrink)

Analysis of sites of newly integrated DNA in cellular genomes is important to several fields, but methods for analyzing and visualizing these datasets are still under development. Here, we describe tools for data analysis and visualization that take as input integration site data from our INSPIIRED pipeline. Paired-end sequencing allows inference of the numbers of transduced cells as well as the distributions of integration sites in target genomes. We present interactive heatmaps that allow comparison of distributions of integration sites to (...) genomic features and that support numerous user-defined statistical tests. To summarize integration site data from human gene therapy samples, we developed a reproducible report format that catalogs sample population structure, longitudinal dynamics, and integration frequency near cancer-associated genes. We also introduce a novel summary statistic, the UC50, which provides a single number summarizing possible clonal expansion. Using these tools, we characterize ongoing longitudinal characterization of a patient from the first trial to treat severe combined immunodeficiency-X1, showing successful reconstitution for 15 years accompanied by persistence of a cell clone with an integration site near the cancer-associated gene CCND2. Software is available at https://github.com/BushmanLab/INSPIIRED. (shrink)

Nineteenth-century references to the syllogism by J. S. Mill and Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. reveal a distinct approach to the logic of inference in the formative years of pragmatism. In the latter may be found an element of the emergence of generals from particulars. Fallibilism in law and science reflects their social dimension as part of the communal ordering of experience. This implies a distinct approach to uncertainty, as experience yet to be integrated within a developing system of classification.

'Peut-être que putain tu as juste un peu besoin de te calmer/calm the fuck down. Je m'appelle Jenny et j'offre des services de coaching stoïcien avec juste un tantinet de grossièreté/dash of profanity/et des résultats', lance sur son site promotionnel avec sa photo souriante en noir-et-blanc une jeune 'coach' à lunettes. 'En tant que coach, annonce un autre du même âge qui pose avec un livre à la main doctus cum libro, j'apporte l'expertise d'un praticien stoïcien professionnel ainsi que la (...) connaissance de la façon dont le cerveau apprend de nouvelles informations. Avec huit ans de pratique stoïcienne quotidienne, je suis le témoignage vivant de son succès. C'est ma passion d'armer les gens avec les techniques mentales pour vivre une vie pleine et calme/full and calm life!' Le néo-stoïcisme est en vogue auprès de la jeunesse, élixir d'endurance pour époque tourmentée. Ce nouveau courant est-il fidèle au geste cynique initial qui inspira jadis Zénon, Cléanthe, et Chrysippe? Fournit-il des réponses adaptées à la dictature écologique qui vient, au culte de la guerre, aux fantasmes du transhumanisme? Il donne en tout cas ici l'occasion d'un retour sur 2300 ans d'histoire d'une philosophie de la liberté humaine, en des temps où celle-ci est de plus en plus déniée"--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

J’aimerais présenter quelques réflexions autour du concept de vérité dans les travaux de Michel Foucault. Elles seront extrêmement schématiques, et pourtant ce problème de la vérité est, chez Foucault, à la fois compliqué et central. Il est particulièrement présent dans le dernier cours prononcé au collège de France, à travers par exemple l’analyse de la mort de Socrate ou l’étude des cyniques. La question qu’on pourrait poser, à travers cette relecture, est celle du rapport entre vérité et obéissance, vérité et (...) désobéissance. (shrink)

L’objectif de cet article est le repérage de la composante constructiviste du « discours dominant » qui, de Bruno Latour à la géo-ingénierie, conduit à la justification de l’Anthropocène et des délices du développement technologique débridé. J’appelle géo-constructivisme la politique globale qui a généré les changements climatiques et les solutions technologiques qui sont proposées pour les réguler.

Ce livre propose de relire la philosophie de Walter Benjamin à partir de sa cosmologie. Le cosmos de Benjamin n'est pas un univers ordonné, composé de corps célestes identifiables, mais l'occasion d'une expérience fulgurante: dans l'univers post-copernicien de Benjamin, l'intériorité du désir et l'extériorité des étoiles, le politique et le théologique, le présent et le distant passé se rencontrent sans fusionner. Situant Benjamin dans la tradition philosophique (G. W. Leibniz, K. Marx, F. Hegel) tout en s'appuyant sur des pensées contemporaines (...) (J. Butler, S. Hartmann, M. Löwy), ce livre crée une 'correspondance' entre Benjamin et notre actualité. Dans un monde soumis aux replis nationalistes, aux virus destructeurs d'altérité et à l'intrusion technologique, le lointain semble s'évanouir. En prise avec l'histoire la plus récente, celle du New Space et de la Sixième Extinction, de Black Lives Matter et des Communes éphémères, ce livre soutient qu'aucune transformation politique radicale, aucune émancipation, aucun communisme n'est possible, et souhaitable, sans relation avec un lointain telle l'Étoile du Nord que les esclaves en fuite suivaient dans le ciel nocturne pour les guider vers la liberté."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

This is a review of Alexandre Kojève, The Religious Metaphysics of Vladimir Solovyov, translated by Ilya Merlin and Mikhail Pozdniakov, Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2018. This slim book is a translation of Kojève’s essay “La métaphysique religieuse de Vladimir Soloviev,” which was first published in two installments in the Revue d’histoire et de philosophie religieuses in 1934. The French text was itself based on Kojève’s doctoral dissertation, Die religiöse Philosophie Wladimir Solowjews, defended in Heidelberg under the direction of Karl Jaspers (...) in 1926. The translation is accompanied by an introduction from the translators discussing translation issues. In this review, I summarize Kojève’s essay and editorialize on the issue of the principal influences on Solovyov’s metaphysics. Kojève claims that most of Solovyov’s metaphysics was in fact borrowed from Schelling and perhaps also to some extent from Jakob Böhme. If that is the case, then what is usually considered the prototypical Russian metaphysics is... not Russian. (shrink)