At first glance singularity would seem to be necessarily opposed to the physical sciences, indeed to any kind of science. As the hallowed saying goes: “Science deals only in universals.” According to this view, the aim of any true scientific endeavor must be the discovery of universals or, in other words, the value of such an endeavor is based on its ability to explain phenomena in terms of universals. The status of singularity in science is a direct result of this (...) approach. Singularity is associated with the presence, either in a person or an object, of an unusual or exceptional quality, or of an individual trait. Singularity so conceived must therefore be seen as inherently compromising the aims of any scientific endeavor, since the purpose of that endeavor is universality as defined above. In this sense, the basis of scientific explication is the ability to determine a feature common to a collection of objects, thus allowing them to be explained by deductive reasoning. This common feature can therefore not be individual, if individual is understood as unusual or exceptional. (shrink)

The paper discusses the practice of genetic counseling and elective abortion in the German Democratic Republic. Keywords: elective abortion, embryo transfer, in vitro fertilization, protection of human life, reproductive ethics, German Democratic Republic, bioethics CiteULike Connotea Del.icio.us What's this?

In the twentieth century, the UN Declaration of 1948 is considered to be the international standard for universal human rights. In 1791, Olympe de Gouges critically analysed the French Declaration of Human Rights of 1789, and found that women were excluded from it.1 This paper is a critical examination of the 1948 UN Declaration, with equally troubling findings.

Many consumers are motivated to attend Farmers’ Markets because of the opportunity to purchase fresh and local products. The subsequent interactions at FMs provide an important pathway for the direct exchange of information. While previous research suggests that people value local food and the FM shopping experience and that purchasing directly from producers can lead to transformative learning, little is known about exactly how the shopping experience at FMs can influence consumer purchasing behavior. This study examines the extent of and (...) mechanism for such “influencing.” Using data from surveys, observations, and interviews gathered at six FMs, we analyze the interactions between consumers and vendors, including the motivations and values of both parties. We explore the question, “How do farmers’ markets facilitate change in consumer purchasing behavior?” We propose that the dynamic of change in consumer purchasing behavior at FMs takes root in the exchange of information between consumers and vendors during interactions. Our results suggest that there are three specific characteristics shared by FM consumers and vendors that lead to these meaningful interactions at FMs: symmetry of motivations to attend FMs, shared values, and mutual dependence on interactions. Then, when a consumer learns new information from a FM vendor during an interaction, the consumer is more likely to make a change in their immediate purchase. Information about the products for sale and the modes of production of those items can especially impact consumers’ immediate purchases at FMs. We found that FM interactions can also impact long-term purchasing behavior, such as purchasing more organic or locally produced foods. Our results suggest that FM interactions may have significant implications for consumer health, local economies, and the environment. (shrink)

This commentary posits that the social-constructionist view of emotion should be clearly distinguished from related theoretical views on how emotions are shaped by and shape social interactions and relationships. Differentiating between distinct theoretical perspectives is essential in order to specify the unique knowledge about emotions gained by the social-constructionist approach and to create empirical paradigms that can be applied to test assumptions derived from the social-constructionist view.

Paper prepared for the XVIII World Congress of Philosophy, Brighton, U.K.

It has become a commonplace in neo-republican thinking to claim that if the notion of rights can be allowed a place in republican political theory, it can never achieve the prominence that liberalism allegedly grants it. Philip Pettit’s book, Republicanism, provides several arguments to buttress this thesis. This article aims at examining these arguments in order to show that once properly stated, they must on the contrary be considered as powerful arguments to the effect that republicans take rights very seriously.

This paper is a response to scholars who have called for exploring and interrogating new strategies of data collection and new approaches to more traditional methods, such as interviewing in the context of the internet. Drawing on feminist standpoint theory, ‘reflexive email interviewing’ is proposed as a method for feminist research. The method is illustrated using a recent case study of email interviews with self-identified women who are members of World Pulse, an online community that aims to unite and amplify (...) women's voices worldwide. Through this case study, issues of power and resistance in the researcher/researched relationship and of participant reflexivity are interrogated. Lastly, criteria for reflexive email interviewing are proposed, including 1) strategies to interrogate and disrupt power hierarchies within the research process, 2) researcher reflexivity as a continuous part of the research process, and 3) continued invitations for participants to directly reflect on and respond to the research process. Reflexive questions are offered for researchers to use during research design and in each phase of their research process to ensure reflexivity is achieved. (shrink)

Over the past several years, the bioethics community has seen considerable attention being given in the bioethics literature and in various initiatives to the matter of standards and quality in hea...

t. 1. Compendia et logica -- t. 2. Moralis -- t. 3. Metaphysica -- t. 4. Physica generalis -- t. 5. Physica particularis.

t. 1. Logica, metaphysica, philosophia moralis -- t. 2. Physica generalis et specialis tripartita.

Este artigo analisa a posição de um grupo específico de cidadãos, os agricultores, face a uma legislação particularmente importante em educação: a instauração da frequência escolar obrigatória. O texto refere-se à realidade quebequense, mas trata de um tema que vai além das particularidades do contexto sócio histórico norte-americano. Em recente missão de trabalho no Brasil, foi possível verificar como a instrução obrigatória representa um momento importante do desenvolvimento do aparelho escolar brasileiro, em especial para o grupo dos agricultores. Espera-se que (...) a presente análise fomente uma reflexão fecunda, numa perspectiva comparativa, entre essas duas realidades sociais, a partir das questões aqui abordadas. (shrink)

O presente artigo discute a inclusão do imigrante em contextos políticos democráticos. Pretende demonstrar que o paradigma procedimental de direito proposto por Jürgen Habermas oferece as condições formais requeridas para a solução da tensão entre cidadania e identidade, produzida pelo fenômeno das migrações. O modelo habermasiano visa a assegurar, mediante a estrutura reflexiva do direito, a inviolabilidade da pessoa e a neutralidade ética do Estado democrático de direito. Todavia, embora tenha fundado o Princípio da Democracia na ideia de reconhecimento intersubjetivo, (...) Habermas não se deteve em explicitar o teor normativo de tal noção. Dado que a noção de reconhecimento possa ser interpretada em sentido meramente descritivo, buscamos sustentar, com base no modelo teórico-crítico de Honneth, que a plausibilidade do procedimentalismo habermasiano depende de uma concepção reconhecimento enquanto postura moral de afirmação fática do valor intrínseco de uma pessoa ou grupo de pessoas. (shrink)

Por meio de uma análise reconstrutiva da filosofia político-jurídica de Jürgen Habermas e de Rainer Forst, bem como com auxílio de literatura secundária, são analisados os conceitos de direitos culturais e tolerância. O objetivo da presente pesquisa é visualizar como Habermas e Forst desenvolvem os referidos conceitos. Para este fim, o artigo é dividido em duas seções, a partir de uma justificativa introdutória da investigação dos objetivos traçados. A primeira seção trata da questão que envolve os direitos culturais, seu significado, (...) evolução e maneira de efetivar sua garantia. A segunda seção aborda o conceito de tolerância, que Habermas trabalha enquanto necessidade procedimental a partir de direitos subjetivos a iguais liberdades de ação, enquanto Forst o trabalha a partir de uma concepção como respeito ao outro, em que será essencial o princípio de justificação da justiça, amparado no uso público da razão. Ao final, as últimas considerações apontam para o fato de que Habermas mantém seu edifício teórico da década de 1990, trabalhando a possibilidade de tolerância e a garantia de direitos culturais a partir de procedimentos democráticos e de justiça política, nos quais normas e leis devem ser racionalmente aceitas em uma cultura política compartilhada. Já Forst busca um rumo prático-normativo, em que a razão prática requer pessoas razoáveis e autônomas moralmente, trabalhando a necessidade de justificação por via procedimental. (shrink)

This text examines the distinction and relation between legal philosophy and legal theory in the book Law and Democracy by Jürgen Habermas. To that end, I seek at first to reflect on the concepts of law sociology and philosophy of justice from the dialogue that opposes Habermas to Dworkin and Rawls, on the philosophical basis of equality and distribution. Subsequently, we analyse the arguments about the social integrative function of law that Habermas develops from the works of Parsons and Weber, (...) in order to see what Habermas meant by integrative function of law as well as the contribution of that category for a reconstructive theory of the society. The conclusion points to the link between his philosophy of right to a sociological theory, when, through the concept of communicative reason, he eschews metaphysical discussions of the absolute and seeks to develop a concept of society capable of resisting the dimensions of the life world and system. (shrink)

Neste artigo o autor relaciona os pensamentos políticos de Locke e Sidney para defender que Locke não pode ser inserido na tradição republicana da qual os escritos de Sidney fazem parte. Isto porque: 1) inexiste na teoria política lockeana uma visão de que a virtude cívica seja o suporte para instituições livres, tal como existe na referida tradição evocada por Sidney; 2) Locke reconhece o fundamento constitucional da prerrogativa do rei, o que para os republicanos, Sidney entre eles, é incompatível (...) com a liberdade; 3) Locke retrata um povo excessivamente cordato e permissivo com o uso do poder por parte do governante, e também pouco disposto ao exercício do direito de resistência. Diferentemente, Sidney recorre à história para defender que os povos livres revelam as qualidades necessárias para conduzir essa resistência, já que o reconhecimento de que o governo de si mesmo e a resistência à tirania é uma questão de dignidade do homem como ser de liberdade. (shrink)

Contre l’opposition entre vertu et droit que Pocock a mise au cœur de son modèle de lecture de l’histoire de la pensée politique, cet article avance l’hypothèse qu’il existe une tradition républicaine qui intègre le droit naturel comme pièce essentielle de son dispositif argumentatif. Pocock a interprété les concepts de vertu civique et de droit naturel d’une manière qui ne correspond pas à l’usage qu’en font les auteurs considérés ici . En particulier, c’est parce que le détenteur du droit naturel (...) est conçu davantage comme un sujet moral que comme un centre de désirs qu’il n’y a pas de contradiction entre sa liberté et ses obligations, i.e. sa vertu, de citoyen. De même, c’est parce que la vertu du citoyen se définit moins par la pratique de ses capacités politiques que par l’exercice mesuré de sa liberté qu’il n’est pas contradictoire qu’il revendique un droit naturel à changer de gouvernement et à résister au pouvoir.— Contrary to the now received opposition between virtue and right that lays at the heart of Pocock’s historiographical pattern, this paper suggests that there is a republican tradition which integrates natural right to its argumentative structure. Pocock has construed the concepts of civic virtue and natural right in a way that does not fit the doctrines of the authors here considered . Since the natural right bearer is conceived by those authors more as a moral subject than as a source of desires, he needs to be a virtuous citizen to be free. Likewise, since the citizen’s virtue is not determined by his political capacities but by an exercise of his liberty, it is not absurd that he can claim a natural right to change government and to resist power. (shrink)

Cet article cherche à retracer l’insertion professionnelle et sociale de jeunes diplômés dix ans après leur « entrée dans la vie adulte ». Après avoir discuté les thèses en vogue sur les jeunes et le travail, l’auteur expose les résultats de l’analyse de leurs récits d’insertion. Aujourd’hui, les jeunes diplômés de l’époque ont, non sans mal, pris pied dans l’orbite du travail et dans la société. Le travail revêt dans leur esprit une fonction instrumentale et une fonction expressive, y compris (...) quand il se réduit à un moyen de subsistance. Cela traduit un véritable renversement par rapport au point de vue que les mêmes interlocuteurs soutenaient voilà dix ans.This article traces the professional and social integration of young graduates ten years after their « entry into adulthood ». Having discussed the topical themes pertaining to youth and work, the author delves into the lessons emerging from the analysis of their integration stories. The young graduates of those times have now gained solid footing in the workplace and society, after a fair amount of struggle, it should be said. As they see it, work has both instrumental and expressive functions, even when it is simply a livelihood. This is a full reversal of the view that those same people held ten years ago. (shrink)

Cet article propose une discussion critique de plusieurs études récentes, en histoire intellectuelle et en histoire de la philosophie, qui portent sur la liberté d’expression. Ainsi examine-t‑il la cohérence des démarches historiques et questionne-t‑il l’ambition commune de contribuer, de façon directe ou indirecte, aux débats contemporains. Il souligne les forces et les faiblesses des approches continuistes et discontinuistes, et met en avant les tentatives d’éclairer de façon non rétrospective la généalogie de ce droit fondamental.

L’actualité des publications en sociologie vient mettre en question sa capacité à expliquer ce qu’elle prend pour objet sans véritablement définir ce que signifie ce mot, expliquer. Le présent article cherche à répondre aux questions suivantes : qu’est-ce donc qu’expliquer? Que signifie exactement ce terme associé à la science? En quoi et pourquoi la visée que sous-tend le mot trouve-t-elle difficilement son droit, ou sa pertinence, en sociologie? Comment se conçoit l’explication en termes opératoires? Les réponses avancées ici s’appuient d’abord (...) sur les nuances apportées par l’épistémologie contemporaine à la caractérisation de la science associée aux trois maîtres mots que sont décrire, comprendre et expliquer. L’analyse d’une entrevue qualitative vient ensuite illustrer les opérations en vertu desquelles expliquer devient possible dans cette discipline, dès lors susceptible d’être considérée comme une science, elle-même conçue comme une connaissance par objet, par concept et par méthode. (shrink)

Souvenir du passé, variation sur le présent, imagination de l'avenir : la littérature s'est toujours nourrie de ces ressorts immémoriaux de l'art du récit. Mais qu'en est-il de la littérature contemporaine? Comment agence-t-elle la mémoire et l'espérance, le " déjà plus " et le " pas encore ", le maintenant et l'autrefois? Quels sont les rythmes et les durées, les passés et les futurs qui fondent la singularité de la littérature du présent, de notre présent? Ce cahier de recherche, qui (...) rassemble les interventions de douze jeunes chercheurs, interroge la manière dont les littératures québécoise et française disent notre contemporanéité et son imaginaire du temps. (shrink)