This paper outlines, from a sociological and social psychological perspective, a theoretical framework with which to define and analyse consciousness, emphasizing the importance of language, collective representations, conceptions of self, and self-reflectivity in understanding human consciousness. It argues that the shape and feel of consciousness is heavily social, and this is no less true of our experience of collective consciousness than it is of our experience of individual consciousness. The paper is divided into two parts. Part One argues that the (...) problem of consciousness can be approached fruitfully by beginning with human group and collective phenomena: community, language, language-based communication, institutional and cultural arrangements, collective representations, self-conceptions, and self-referentiality. A collective is understood as a group or population of individuals that possesses or develops collective representations of itself: its values and goals, its structure and modes of operating, its strategies, developments, strengths and weaknesses, etc. Collective reflectivity emerges as a function of an organization or group producing and making use of collective representations of the self in its discussions, critical reflections, and planning. A collective monitors its activities, achievements and failures, and reflects on itself as a defined and on-going collective being. In this perspective, human consciousness is understood as a type of reflective activity: observing, monitoring, judging and re-orienting and re-organizing self; considering what characterizes the self, what self perceives, judges, could do, should do . The reflectivity is encoded in language and developed in conversations about collective selves. Part Two of the paper applies the framework to analysing the individual experience of consciousness, self-representation, self-reference, self-reflectivity and self-development. (shrink)

The aim of this study was to analyse experiences of moral concerns in intensive care nursing. The theoretical perspective of the study is based on relational ethics, also referred to as ethics of care. The participants were 36 intensive care nurses from 10 general, neonatal and thoracic intensive care units. The structural characteristics of the units were similar: a high working pace, advanced technology, budget restrictions, recent reorganization, and shortage of experienced nurses. The data consisted of the participants’ examples of (...) ethical situations they had experienced in their intensive care unit. A qualitative content analysis identified five themes: believing in a good death; knowing the course of events; feelings of distress; reasoning about physicians’ ‘doings’ and tensions in expressing moral awareness. A main theme was formulated as caring about - caring for: moral obligations and work responsibilities. Moral obligations and work responsibilities are assumed to be complementary dimensions in nursing, yet they were found not to be in balance for intensive care nurses. In conclusion there is a need to support nurses in difficult intensive care situations, for example, by mentoring, as a step towards developing moral action knowledge in the context of intensive care nursing. (shrink)

This article argues that parliamentary institutions have increasing difficulty in addressing and dealing with the growing complexity, highly technical character and rapidity of many developments in modern societies. Deficits in representation, in knowledge and competence, and in engagement or commitment effectively erode the authority and status of parliamentary government. Major rule- and policy-making activities are being substantially displaced from parliamentary bodies and central governments to global, regional and local agents as well as agents operating in the many sectors of a (...) highly differentiated, modern society. Governance - and sovereignty - are increasingly diffused upward, downward and outward beyond parliament and its government. The author identifies problems, practical as well as normative, with this general development and discusses the possibilities and limitations of reform. (shrink)

This article illustrates the important scientific role that a systems approach might play within the social sciences and humanities, above all through its contribution to a common language, shared conceptualizations, and theoretical integration in the face of the extreme (and growing) fragmentation among the social sciences (and between the social sciences and the natural sciences). The article outlines a systems theoretic approach, actor-system-dynamics (ASD), whose authors have strived to re-establish systems theorizing in the social sciences (after a period of marginalization (...) since the late 1960s). This is done, in part, by showing how key social science concepts are readily incorporated and applied in social system analysis. (shrink)

This article presents a relatively straightforward theoretical framework about distributive justice with applications. It draws on a few key concepts of Sociological Game Theory. SGT is presented briefly in section 2. Section 3 provides a spectrum of distributive cases concerning principles of equality, differentiation among recipients according to performance or contribution, status or authority, or need. Two general types of social organization of distributive judgment are distinguished and judgment procedures or algorithms are modeled in each type of social organization. Section (...) 4 discusses briefly the larger moral landscapes of human judgment – how distribution may typically be combined with other value into consideration. The article suggests that Rawls, Elster, and Machado point in this direction. Finally, it is suggested that the SGT framework presented provides a useful point of departure to systematically link it and compare the Warsaw School of Fair Division, Rawls, and Elster, among others. (shrink)

Next SectionMaking threats and offers to patients is a strategy used in community mental healthcare to increase treatment adherence. In this paper, an ethical analysis of these types of proposal is presented. It is argued (1) that the primary ethical consideration is to identify the professional duties of care held by those working in community mental health because the nature of these duties will enable a threat to be differentiated from an offer, (2) that threatening to act in a way (...) that would equate with a failure to uphold the requirements of these duties is wrong, irrespective of the benefit accrued through treatment adherence and (3) that making offers to patients raises a number of secondary ethical considerations that need to be judged on their own merit in the context of individual patient care. The paper concludes by considering the implications of these arguments, setting out a pathway designed to assist community mental healthcare practitioners to determine whether making a specific proposal to a patient is right or wrong. (shrink)

Community treatment orders are a legal mechanism to extend powers of compulsion into outpatient mental health settings in certain circumstances. Previous ethical analyses of these powers have explored a perceived tension between a duty to respect personal freedoms and autonomy and a duty to ensure that patients with the most complex needs are able to receive beneficial care and support that maximises their welfare in the longer-term. This empirical ethics paper presents an analysis of 75 interviews with psychiatrists, patients and (...) family carers to show how these ethical considerations map onto the different ways that community treatment orders are used and experienced in practice. A complex and nuanced account of how the requirements to respect patients’ autonomy, to respect patients’ liberty and to act beneficently should be interpreted in order to make judgements about the ethics of community treatment orders is presented. The article argues that, due to such complexity, no general ethical justification for community treatment orders can be provided, but a justification on the basis of the promotion of patients’ autonomy could provide an ethical reason for community mental health practitioners to make use of a community treatment order in some limited circumstances. (shrink)

Community treatment orders are a legal mechanism to extend powers of compulsion into outpatient mental health settings in certain circumstances. Previous ethical analyses of these powers have explored a perceived tension between a duty to respect personal freedoms and autonomy and a duty to ensure that patients with the most complex needs are able to receive beneficial care and support that maximises their welfare in the longer-term. This empirical ethics paper presents an analysis of 75 interviews with psychiatrists, patients and (...) family carers to show how these ethical considerations map onto the different ways that community treatment orders are used and experienced in practice. A complex and nuanced account of how the requirements to respect patients’ autonomy, to respect patients’ liberty and to act beneficently should be interpreted in order to make judgements about the ethics of community treatment orders is presented. The article argues that, due to such complexity, no general ethical justification for community treatment orders can be provided, but a justification on the basis of the promotion of patients’ autonomy could provide an ethical reason for community mental health practitioners to make use of a community treatment order in some limited circumstances. (shrink)

Emotion processing is known to be impaired in psychopathy, but less is known about the cognitive mechanisms that drive this. Our study examined experiencing and suppression of emotion processing in psychopathy. Participants, violent offenders with varying levels of psychopathy, viewed positive and negative images under conditions of passive viewing, experiencing and suppressing. Higher scoring psychopathics were more cardiovascularly responsive when processing negative information than positive, possibly reflecting an anomalously rewarding aspect of processing normally unpleasant material. When required to experience emotional (...) response, by ‘getting into the feeling’ of the emotion conveyed by a negative image, higher factor 1 psychopathic individuals showed reduced responsiveness, suggesting that they were less able to do this. These data, together with the absence of corresponding differences in subjective self-report might be used to inform clinical strategies for normalising emotion processing in psychopathic offenders to improve treatment outcome, and reduce risk amongst this client group. (shrink)

In this article, Tom Wanchick addresses a common criticism of theism — that the concept of God is logically incoherent. Elizabeth Burns responds to Wanchick in the piece that follows.

How to Read the Old Testament. By Etienne Charpentier. Pp.124, London, SCM Press, 1982, £3.95. How to Read the New Testament. By Etienne Charpentier. Pp.129, London, SCM Press, 1982. £3.95. Beginning Old Testament Study. Edited by John Rogerson. Pp.vi, 157, London, SPCK, 1982, £3.95. Welt aus der die Bibel kommt Welt aus der die Bibel kommt: Biblische Hil ‘swissenschaften’. By Mechthild Kellermann, Stanisław Medala, Michele Piccirillo and Eugene Sitarz. Pp.263, Kevelaer, Butzon und Bercker; Stuttgart, Verlag Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1982, DM 28. (...) The Structure of Biblical Myths. The Structure of Biblical Myths. By Heinz Westman. Pp.xxii, 477, Dallas, Spring Publications, 1983, no price given. Toward Old Testament Ethics. Toward Old Testament Ethics. By Walter C. Kaiser, Pp.xii, 345, Grand Rapids, Academie Books, 1983, £13.95. Das Evangelium and die Evangelien. Das Evangelium and die Evangelien. Edited by Peter Stuhlmacher. Pp.viii, 454, Tubingen, J.C.B. Mohr, 1983, DM 178. Once More Astonished Once More Astonished: The Parables of Jesus. By Jan Lambrecht. Pp.xiv, 245, New York, Crossroad Publishing, 1983, $9.95. Mark: The Gospel as Story. Mark: The Gospel as Story. By Ernest Best. Pp.vii, 155, Edinburgh, T & T. Clark, 1983, £8.95. The ‘Son of Man’ as The Son of God. The ‘Son of Man’ as The Son of God. By Seyoon Kim. Pp.x, 118, Tübingen, J.C.B. Mohr, 1983, DM 48. Paul and the Law. Paul and the Law. By Heikki Räisänen. Pp.xi, 320, Tübingen, J.C.B. Mohr, 1983, DM 108. Pauline Christianity. Pauline Christianity. By John Ziesler, Pp.ix, 157, Oxford University Press, 1983, £3.50. God as the Mystery of the World God as the Mystery of the World: On the Foundations of the Theology of the Crucified One in the Dispute between Theism and Atheism. By Eberhard Jüngel, translated by Darrell L. Guder.Pp. xvi, 414, Edinburgh, T. and T. Clark, 1983, £14.95. Theologia: The Fragmentation and Unity of Theological Education. Theologia: The Fragmentation and Unity of Theological Education. By Edward Farley. Pp.xiv, 206, Philadelphia, Fortress Press, 1983, $14.50. Unity in Theology Unity in Theology: Lonergan's Framework for Theology in its New Context. By Michael C. O'Callaghan. Pp.xlii, 553, Lanham, University Press of America, 1980, $24.50, $16.75. Understanding Karl Rahner, vol.1: A Theologian in Search of a Philosophy. Understanding Karl Rahner, vol.1: A Theologian in Search of a Philosophy. By George Vass. Pp.xix, 153, London, Sheed and Ward, 1985, £8.50. Understanding Karl Rahner, vol.2: The Mystery of Man and the Foundations of a Theological System. By George Vass. Pp.xvii, 200, London, Sheed and Ward, 1985, £9.50. Ignatius von Loyola Ignatius von Loyola: Die Exerzitien. By Lothar Lies, Pp. 142, Innsbruck‐Vienna, Tyrolia Verlag, 1983, DM 26. The Name of Christ The Name of Christ: The Names of Jesus Used by the Early Cristians, The Development of the Jesus Prayer. By Irenée Hausherr. Pp.viii, 358, Kalamazoo, Cistercian Publications, 1978, $8.00. The Easter Sermons of Gregory of Nyssa. The Easter Sermons of Gregory of Nyssa. Edited by Andreas Spira and Christopher Klock. Pp.x, 384, Cambridge, The Philadelphia Patristic Foundation, 1981, $10.00. Anonymus in Ecclesiasten Commentarius qui dicitur Catena Trium Patrum. Anonymus in Ecclesiasten Commentarius qui dicitur Catena Trium Patrum. Edited by Santo Lucá. Pp.lvi, 139, Turnhout, Brepols, and Leuven, University Press, 1983, no price given. The Medieval Inquistion. The Medieval Inquistion. By Albert Clement Shannon. Pp viii, 153, Washington D.C., Augustinian College Press, 1983, $10.00. John Calvin. John Calvin. Edited by G.R. Potter and M. Greengrass. Pp.xvi, 176, London, Edward Arnold, 1983, £4.95. When Fathers Ruled. Family Life in Reformation Europe. When Fathers Ruled. Family Life in Reformation Europe. By Steven Ozment. Pp.x, 238, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1983, £14.85. The Apocalypse in English Renaissance Thought and Literature. The Apocalypse in English Renaissance Thought and Literature. Edited by C.A. Patrides and Joseph Wittreich. Pp. ix, 452, Manchester University Press, 1984, £37.50. The Contribution of British Writers between 1560 and 1830 to the Interpretation of Revelation 13.16–18. By David Brady, Pp.vii, 335, Tubingen, J.C.B. Mohr, 1983, DM 98. Typologies in England, 1650–1820. Typologies in England, 1650–1820. By Paul J. Korshin. Pp.xvii, 437, Princeton University Press, 1982, £26.10. The Great Debate on Miracles. The Great Debate on Miracles. By R.M. Burns. Pp.305, Lewisburg, Bucknell University Press, 1981, £12.00. Coleridge's Religious Imagination. Coleridge's Religious Imagination. By Stephen Happel. Pp.xii, 943, Salzburg, Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, 1983, no price given. Jacques Maritain and the French Catholic Intellectuals. Jacques Maritain and the French Catholic Intellectuals. By Bernard Doering, Pp.x, 268, Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame Press, 1983, £18.25. Dorothy Day: A Biography. Dorothy Day: A Biography. By William D. Miller. Pp.xv, 527, New York, Harper and Row, 1982, $18.00, $10.50. For God and Clarity: New Essays in Honour of Austin Farrer. For God and Clarity: New Essays in Honour of Austin Farrer. Edited by Jeffrey C. Easton and Ann Loades. Pp.xiii, 205, Allison Park, Pickwick Publications; Edinburgh, T. & T. Clark, 1983, £11.75. God, Free Will, and Morality. God, Free Will, and Morality. By Robert J. Richman. Pp.xi, 195, Dordrecht, D. Reidel, 1983, $36.95. God and Skepticism: A Study in Skepticism and Fideism. God and Skepticism: A Study in Skepticism and Fideism. By Terence Penelhum. Pp.xii, 186, Dordrecht, D. Reidel, 1983, $34.00. Religious Belief and Religious Skepticism. Religious Belief and Religious Skepticism. By Gary Gutting. Pp.xi, 192, Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame Press, 1982, £11.20. A Philosopher's Search for the Infinite. A Philosopher's Search for the Infinite. By Jules M. Brady. Pp.94, New York, Philosophical Library, 1983, $10.00 Realism and Reason: Philosophical Papers, Vol.3. Realism and Reason: Philosophical Papers, Vol.3. By Hilary Putnam. Pp.xviii, 312, Cambridge University Press, 1983, £22.50. Perception, Learning and the Self. Perception, Learning and the Self. By D.W. Hamlyn. Pp.viii, 311, London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1982, £14.95. Science and Speculation: Studies in Hellenistic Theory and Practice. Science and Speculation: Studies in Hellenistic Theory and Practice. Edited by Jonathan Barnes. Pp.xxvii, 351, Cambridge University Press, 1983, £25.00. Plato: Hippias Major. Plato: Hippias Major. Translated with a commentary and essay by Paul Woodruff. Pp.xvi, 211, Oxford, Basil Blackwell 1983, £12.50. Max Scheler: The Man and his Work. Max Scheler: The Man and his Work. By John H. Nota, translated by T. Plantinga and J. Nota. Pp.vii, 213, Chicago, Franciscan Herald Press, 1983, $12.00. Searching: Practices and Beliefs of the Religious Cults and Human Potential Groups. Searching: Practices and Beliefs of the Religious Cults and Human Potential Groups. By Harriet S. Mosatche. Pp.432, New York, Straven Educational Press, 1983, £10.95. (shrink)

A response to the preceding article by Tom Wanchick.

In 1946, Tom Brock spent part of his summer dumping mustard gas bombs off a barge into the Atlantic Ocean. Brock was a civilian employed by the United States Army Transport Service in Charleston, South Carolina. His job was to dispose of surplus bombs and drums filled with mustard gas. Sulphur mustard, commonly called “mustard gas,” can take several forms: a liquid, a solid, or a vapour. Mustard gas, named for its mustard-like color and smell, is a vesicant that is (...) toxic to humans and causes blistering and burns, affecting the lungs, eyes, and skin. Brock recalled that he and the soldiers enjoyed watching the occasional bomb explode as it sunk into the water. “We thought it was fun,” explained Brock. “I was 18 or 19 years old. We weren’t scared. We didn’t fear any explosive. We thought we were immortal.” Later that summer he was required to guard a barge of bombs that were leaking mustard gas, which looked to him like hot molasses. Due to the known health risks, Brock was told to wear a protective suit and gas mask. However, it was a hot day so he loosened the straps around his legs. As a result, enormous blisters developed, swelling out like a balloon from his toes to his knees. His summer job was no longer fun as he experienced firsthand the health hazards of exposure to mustard gas. (shrink)

Tyler conducted a longitudinal study of 1,575 Chicago inhabitants to determine why people obey the law. His findings show that the law is obeyed primarily because people believe in respecting legitimate authority, not because they fear punishment. The author concludes that lawmakers and law enforcers would do much better to make legal systems worthy of respect than to try to instill fear of punishment.

This book defends Aestheticism- the claim that everything is aesthetically valuable and that a life lived in pursuit of aesthetic value can be a particularly good one. Furthermore, in distilling aesthetic qualities, artists have a special role to play in teaching us to recognize values; a critical component of virtue. I ground my account upon an analysis of aesthetic value as ‘objectified final value’, which is underwritten by an original psychological claim that all aesthetic values are distal versions of practical (...) values. This is followed by systematic accounts of beauty, sublimity, comedy, drama, and tragedy, as well as appendix entries on the cute, the cool, the kitsch, the uncanny, the horrific, the erotic, and the furious. (shrink)

The fear of death resists philosophical attempts at reconciliation. Building on theories of emotion, I argue that we can understand our fear as triggered by a de se mode of thinking about death which comes into conflict with our will to live. The discursive mode of philosophy may help us to avoid the de se mode of thinking about death, but it does not satisfactorily address the problem. I focus instead on the voluntary diminishment of one’s will to live. I (...) argue that we can encourage a natural tendency for the will to live to decline as we approach death. I then consider two objections: Is not the will to live too fundamental for us to control? And even if we can control it, would not a declining will to live result in a general despair that it is better to resist? I argue that both of these objections can be overcome. (shrink)

This article defends a persona theory of musical expressivity. After briefly summarising the major arguments for this view, it applies persona theory to the issue of whether music can express complex emotions. The expression of jealousy is then discussed by analysis of two examples from Piazzolla and Janacek.

In this chapter I analyse group flow: a state in which performers report intense interpersonal absorption with the music and each other. I compare group flow to individual flow, and argue that the same essential structure can be discerned. I argue that group flow does not justify an anti-representationalist enactivist interpretation. However, I claim that the cognitive task in which the music is produced is irreducibly collective.

How can an abstract sequence of sounds so intensely express emotional states? In the past ten years, research into the topic of music and emotion has flourished. This book explores the relationship between music and emotion, bringing together contributions from psychologists, neuroscientists, musicologists, musicians, and philosophers .

This article explores the experiences of employed and unemployed Ontario Basic Income recipients in the Hamilton and Brantford pilot site. Integrating data from surveys and interviews, the self-reported outcomes of both groups are summarized. These outcomes pertain to employment, physical health, mental health, use of health services, food security, housing stability, financial well-being and social activities. The article highlights the difference in the degree of improvements between recipients who were working before and during the pilot versus those who were not (...) employed at both times. Its broad conclusion is that both groups reported significant benefits, but it was recipients who were continuously employed that reported the greatest improvements. This suggests that basic income could be an important policy tool to improve the lives of low-income and precarious workers in Ontario and perhaps elsewhere. (shrink)

For all its apparent debate bioethical discourse is in fact very narrow. The discussion that occurs is typically within limited parameters, rarely fundamental. Nor does it accommodate divergent perspectives with ease. The reason lies in its ideology and the political and economic perspectives that ideology promotes. Here the ideology of bioethics' fundamental axioms is critiqued as arbitrary and exclusive rather than necessary and inclusive. The result unpacks the ideological and political underpinnings of bioethical thinking and suggests new avenues for a (...) broader debate over fundamentals, and a different approach to bioethical debate. (shrink)

This article addresses the ability of Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP) networks to generate stagewise cognitive development in accordance with Piaget's theory of cognitive epigenesis. We carried out a replication study of the simulation experiments by McClelland (1989) and McClelland and Jenkins (1991) in which a PDP network learns to solve balance scale problems. In objective tests motivated from catastrophe theory, a mathematical theory of transitions in epigenetical systems, no evidence for stage transitions in network performance was found. It is concluded (...) that PDP networks lack the ability to recover the positive outcomes of analogous catastrophe analyses of real cognitive developmental data. In an attempt to further characterize the learning behaviour of PDP networks, we carried out a second simulation study using the discrimination‐shift paradigm. The results thus obtained indicate that PDP learning is compatible with the learning of stimulus‐response relationships, not with the acquisition of mediating rules such as conceived in (neo‐)Piagetian theory. In closing, we speculate about the feasibility of simulating stagewise development with alternative network architectures. (shrink)

Canadian ethicists Jocelyn Downie and Udo Schuklenk seek to assess the effect of Canada’s decriminalisation of ‘medical assistance in dying’ ‘to inform Canada’s ongoing discussions and because other countries will confront the same questions if they contemplate changing their assisted dying law.’1 Their assessment focuses on two arguments earlier levied against expansion of these procedures. The first is that of a ‘slippery slope’ and the second is what they disingenuously call, ‘social determinants of health’. They conclude that, in both cases, (...) the effect of legislation permitting first limited and then expanded options for medical termination has been benign. The argument in this brief commentary is that the ‘slippery slope’ is clearly evident and support for those with chronic, progressive diagnoses a clear contributor to the ever increasing number of persons seeking MAID. Downie and Schuklenk first review the legal and legislative history of MAID. In Carter v Canada, the courts found …. (shrink)

This article explores the Nuffield Council on Bioethics’ recent report about non-invasive prenatal testing. Given that such testing is likely to become the norm, it is important to question whether there should be some ethical parameters regarding its use. The article engages with the viewpoints of Jeff McMahan, Julian Savulescu, Stephen Wilkinson and other commentators on prenatal ethics. The authors argue that there are a variety of moral considerations that legitimately play a significant role with regard to (prospective) parental decision-making (...) in the context of NIPT, for example, views on the morality of abortion and understandings of the impact of disability on quality of life. The variable nature of such considerations, both singularly and combined, suggests that any approach to NIPT should be sensitive to and understanding of similarly variable parental assessments and decisions. The implications of the approach developed for current and future policies in this area are explored, along with the impact of such arguments on ideas about procreative beneficence. (shrink)