¡Cuán lejos estamos del clasicismo, y cuánto necesitamos de él! La necesidad de incorporar más estudios humanísticos es una necesidad que no puede sino sonar hoy terriblemente arcaica, inadaptada a los tiempos que –literalmente– corren, inútil a una democracia que ha perdido el rumbo y que trepida a la consolidación de lo técnico, donde la deliberación ha sido reemplazada por lo instintivo, por la irreflexión, por el espectáculo; en fin, si hay una consigna que hoy suena como una bella sinfonía (...) opacada por el ruido circundante, no es sino aquella que clama por la reivindicación del humanismo en nuestra educación como una condición ineludible de una democracia realmente deliberativa. Esto ya lo había atisbado nuestra poetisa, cuando señaló que las briznas apenas asomadas del humanismo fueron quemadas en varios países “y que lo científico entró con una presencia borrosa de fantasma, es decir, sin capacidad para suceder a la patrona arrojada de las aulas” (98). (shrink)

Inspired by legal reasoning, this paper presents a formal framework for assessing conflicting arguments. Its use is illustrated with applications to realistic legal examples, and the potential for implementation is discussed. The framework has the form of a logical system for defeasible argumentation. Its language, which is of a logic-programming-like nature, has both weak and explicit negation, and conflicts between arguments are decided with the help of priorities on the rules. An important feature of the system is that these priorities (...) are not fixed, but are themselves defeasibly derived as conclusions within the system. Thus debates on the choice between conflicting arguments can also be modelled.The proof theory of the system is stated in dialectical style, where a proof takes the form of a dialogue between a proponent and an opponent of an argument. An argument is shown to be justified if the proponent can make the opponent run out of moves in whatever way the opponent attacks. Despite this dialectical form, the system reflects a declarative, or relational approach to modelling legal argument. A basic assumption of this paper is that this approach complements two other lines of research in AI and Law, investigations of precedent-based reasoning and the development of procedural, or dialectical models of legal argument. (shrink)

Health-care professionals in end-of-life care are frequently confronted with patients who seem to be ‘ambivalent’ about treatment decisions, especially if they express a wish to die. This article investigates this phenomenon by analysing two case stories based on narrative interviews with two patients and their caregivers. First, we argue that a respectful approach to patients requires acknowledging that coexistence of opposing wishes can be part of authentic, multi-layered experiences and moral understandings at the end of life. Second, caregivers need to (...) understand when contradictory statements point to tensions in a patient’s moral experience that require support. Third, caregivers should be careful not to negatively label or even pathologize seemingly contradictory patient statements. (shrink)

One approach to the analysis of ethical dilemmas in medical practice uses the “four principles plus scope” approach. These principles are: respect for autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice, along with concern for their scope of application. However, conflicts between the different principles are commonplace in psychiatric practice, especially in forensic psychiatry, where duties to patients often conflict with duties to third parties such as the public. This article seeks to highlight some of the specific ethical dilemmas encountered in forensic psychiatry: (...) the excessive use of segregation for the protection of others, the ethics of using mechanical restraint when clinically beneficial and the use of physical treatment without consent. We argue that justice, as a principle, should be paramount in forensic psychiatry, and that there is a need for a more specific code of ethics to cover specialised areas of medicine like forensic psychiatry. This code should specify that in cases of conflict between different principles, justice should gain precedence over the other principles. (shrink)

Since the founding of the University of Limburg (1974), in The Netherlands, an innovative medical curriculum has been guided by educational principles of problem-orientation, continuous assessment, student initiative and attitude development. The teaching of medical ethics was built into the preclinical curriculum from the start. However, the clinical years remained largely unaffected, and only recently has an effort been made to extend the educational philosophy to this more or less traditional part of medical education. Within this context, an experiment of (...) clinical ethics teaching was introduced in the Obstetrics and Gynaecology (Ob/Gyn) clerkships. The objectives, methods and results of this experimental programme are described in this paper. The success of the teaching is based on three features of the programme: 1) its student-centred approach; 2) the programme is designed in a way similar to regular patient conferences; 3) the programme is taught by a team consisting of both clinician and ethicist. Before starting a longitudinal programme of ethics teaching during the clinical years, it proved very helpful to experiment with a well designed and evaluated pilot programme. (shrink)

Features Foundations of Political Theory, a section of the American Political Science Association that exists to advance the linkage of political theory and philosophy with political science as a discipline. Lists the officers and contains bylaws and membership information. Offers information on recent books, journals, and conferences, as well as on fellowships and grants. Links to the APSA home page.

Chapter SETTING THE STAGE As is fitting for a beginning chapter, attempts are made here to provide historical perspectives and insights from various vantage ...