In recent years, Cesar Chavez’s life and legacy have been subjected to increased scrutiny. The ensuing reevaluations of Chavez, wittingly or not, are matters of ethical, as well as historical and biographical, concern. This article has two aims. First, it reconstructs Chavez’s account of exemplarity and uses it to assess his legacy. Second, it provides an account of exemplarity situated within social practices. As I argue, exemplarity operates through social practices, rather than mystically as posited by a contagion model. The (...) end result is an ethically nuanced reassessment of Chavez and an account of exemplarity that includes its social dimension. (shrink)

Prenatal screening pathways, as nowadays offered in most Western countries consist of similar tests. First, a risk-assessment test for major aneuploides is offered to pregnant women. In case of an increased risk, invasive diagnostic tests, entailing a miscarriage risk, are offered. For decades, only conventional karyotyping was used for final diagnosis. Moreover, several foetal ultrasound scans are offered to detect major congenital anomalies, but the same scans also provide relevant information for optimal support of the pregnancy and the delivery. Recent (...) developments in prenatal screening include the application of microarrays that allow for identifying a much broader range of abnomalities than karyotyping, and non-invasive prenatal testing that enables reducing the number of invasive tests for aneuploidies considerably. In the future, broad NIPT may become possible and affordable. This article will briefly address the ethical issues raised by these technological developments. First, a safe NIPT may lead to routinisation and as such challenge the central issue of informed consent and the aim of prenatal screening: to offer opportunity for autonomous reproductive choice. Widening the scope of prenatal screening also raises the question to what extent ‘reproductive autonomy’ is meant to expand. Finally, if the same test is used for two different aims, namely detection of foetal anomalies and pregnancy-related problems, non-directive counselling can no longer be taken as a standard. Our broad outline of the ethical issues is meant as an introduction into the more detailed ethical discussions about prenatal screening in the other articles of this special issue. (shrink)

Prenatal screening pathways, as nowadays offered in most Western countries consist of similar tests. First, a risk‐assessment test for major aneuploides is offered to pregnant women. In case of an increased risk, invasive diagnostic tests, entailing a miscarriage risk, are offered. For decades, only conventional karyotyping was used for final diagnosis. Moreover, several foetal ultrasound scans are offered to detect major congenital anomalies, but the same scans also provide relevant information for optimal support of the pregnancy and the delivery.Recent developments (...) in prenatal screening include the application of microarrays that allow for identifying a much broader range of abnomalities than karyotyping, and non‐invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) that enables reducing the number of invasive tests for aneuploidies considerably. In the future, broad NIPT may become possible and affordable.This article will briefly address the ethical issues raised by these technological developments. First, a safe NIPT may lead to routinisation and as such challenge the central issue of informed consent and the aim of prenatal screening: to offer opportunity for autonomous reproductive choice. Widening the scope of prenatal screening also raises the question to what extent ‘reproductive autonomy’ is meant to expand. Finally, if the same test is used for two different aims, namely detection of foetal anomalies and pregnancy‐related problems, non‐directive counselling can no longer be taken as a standard. Our broad outline of the ethical issues is meant as an introduction into the more detailed ethical discussions about prenatal screening in the other articles of this special issue. (shrink)

This article seeks to explore the relationship between populism, 21st-century socialism, and the emergence of what has been referred to as an ‘ estado delincuente’, in the case of Venezuela. That is, a state structure permeated with transnational organized crime mafias in the executive and the judiciary, in the financial system, the prosecutor’s office, the police, the armed forces, the prison system, state-owned companies, governorships, and city councils, among other state institutions. First, I review conceptual aspects of populism to understand (...) how this served as the basis for creating the postulates of 21st-century socialism, which promoted the institutional destruction of Venezuelan democracy and created the conditions for the unbridled dissemination of state corruption. Second, emblematic cases of white-collar and blood crimes, nepotism and other corrupt activities are discussed to provide an idea of the magnitude of the issues that permeate the state apparatus. To conclude, I provide a critical summary of the consequences of this way of doing politics in contemporary Venezuela. (shrink)

Para responder a la pregunta: ¿Qué es la literatura?, Sartre propone el concepto de unidad como su característica exclusiva que la relaciona con la sociedad por la vía del compromiso. Se analiza tal exclusividad, así como las objeciones de Adorno a la noción de compromiso, para encontrar, en medio de sus grandes diferencias, algunas afinidades que permitan establecer las relaciones entre la literatura y la sociedad.

‘Hated in the Nation’ invites us to reflect about our social media responsibility: in this episode, the hashtag #DeathTo sends a swarm of killing bee‐drones to the most unpopular candidate of the day. But, although there are no tiny bee drones yet in real life, it is not uncommon to shame someone online for a variety of reasons, and the consequences can be life‐changing. But, is this online trial truly fair? In this chapter I take some central points from the (...) philosophy of John Rawls and Hannah Arendt to explore under what conditions these online trials might be adequate. (shrink)

Pinhas Sadeh was considered as an unorthodox writer as regards his environment, the “State Culture” in Israel. In the first part of this paper I present the biography of the author and his most representative work, Life as a parable, published in 1958, as well as his romantic and frankist roots and his leaning towards Christianity according to the Gospel. In the second part a mythical analysis of this work is made according to the inner journey of hero, through which (...) the main character is looking for his life meaning. In this second part I present my methodology, based on works of the Eranos Society (Mircea Eliade, C.G. Jung, Gilbert Durand). Afterwards, I analyse the mithems that I have found in Life as a parable. Finally, I make a mythical comparison between this novel and Siddharta, of Hermann Hesse. (shrink)

This article considers the issue of racial difference in the Goddess movement, using the mythological figure of Arachne, a skilful weaver whom the goddess Athena transformed into a spider, to explore the unequal relational dynamics between white Goddess feminists and women of colour. Bringing Goddess spirituality and thealogical metaphors of webs and weaving into dialogue with postcolonial and black feminist perspectives on the politics of voice, marginality and representation, the article points to some of the ways in which colonial narratives (...) weave through Goddess feminism, including practices of silencing and the romanticization of racial difference. Ultimately, I argue that feminist spirituality must recognize and address structural inequality between white women and women of colour, or in other words, listen to Arachne’s voice. (shrink)

Para responder a la pregunta: ¿Qué es la literatura?, Sartre propone el concepto de unidad como su característica exclusiva que la relaciona con la sociedad por la vía del compromiso. Se analiza tal exclusividad, así como las objeciones de Adorno a la noción de compromiso, para encontrar, en medio de sus grandes diferencias, algunas afinidades que permitan establecer las relaciones entre la literatura y la sociedad. In response to the question "What is literature?", Sartre proposes the concept of unity as (...) the exclusive characteristic that relates it to society by means of commitment. This exclusivity is analyzed, along with Adorno's objections to the notion of commitment. In the midst of great differences, some affinities are found that permit the establishment of the relationship between literature and society. (shrink)

En las últimas décadas, el uso exponencial de Internet ha generado en la población mundial el miedo de ser vigilados por los gobiernos locales o extranjeros. Países como Corea del sur y China hacen ya uso de una potente red de datos y de múltiples cámaras de reconocimiento facial para rastrear a su población. Estos mecanismos de cibervigilancia fueron criticados por los ciudadanos, los pensadores y los dirigentes de Europa y América argumentando, principalmente, que el “modelo chino” encarna una violación (...) de los derechos humanos. La cibervigilancia y la transferencia de datos son ya utilizados en los países occidentales, sin embargo, su uso no viola ningún derecho humano pues se emplea para rastrear, vigilar y expulsar a los “migrantes clandestinos”. El presente trabajo busca demostrar cómo el desarrollo tecnológico actual está vinculado a la experimentación con figuras no-humanas, como es el caso de los migrantes clandestinos quienes personifican una especie de conejillos de Indias para los experimentos digitales de las potencias europeas. In the last decades, the exponential use of the Internet has stimulated in the world population the fear of being watched by local or foreign governments. Countries like South Korea and China already use a powerful data network and multiple facial recognition cameras to track their populations. These cyber surveillance mechanisms were criticized by citizens, thinkers and various leaders from Europe and America, arguing mainly that the “Chinese model” embodies a violation of human rights. Cyber surveillance and data transfer are already used in Western countries; however, its use does not violate any human right because it is used to track, monitor and expel "clandestine migrants". The present work seeks to demonstrate how current technological development is linked to experimentation with non-human figures, as is the case of clandestine migrants who personify a kind of guinea pig for digital experiments by European powers. (shrink)