Just War scholarship has adapted to contemporary crises and situations. But its adaptation has spurned debate and conversation--a method and means of pushing its thinking forward. Now the Just War tradition risks becoming marginalized. This concern may seem out of place as Just War literature is proliferating, yet this literature remains welded to traditional conceptualizations of Just War. Caron E. Gentry and Amy E. Eckert argue that the tradition needs to be updated to deal with substate actors within the (...) realm of legitimate authority, private military companies, and the questionable moral difference between the use of conventional and nuclear weapons. Additionally, as recent policy makers and scholars have tried to make the Just War criteria legalistic, they have weakened the tradition's ability to draw from and adjust to its contemporaneous setting. The essays in The Future of Just War seek to reorient the tradition around its core concerns of preventing the unjust use of force by states and limiting the harm inflicted on vulnerable populations such as civilian noncombatants. The pursuit of these challenges involves both a reclaiming of traditional Just War principles from those who would push it toward greater permissiveness with respect to war, as well as the application of Just War principles to emerging issues, such as the growing use of robotics in war or the privatization of force. These essays share a commitment to the idea that the tradition is more about a rigorous application of Just War principles than the satisfaction of a checklist of criteria to be met before waging "just" war in the service of national interest. (shrink)

Although a great deal has been written on Plato's ethics, his cosmology has not received so much attention in recent times and its importance for his ethical thought has remained underexplored. By offering accounts of Timaeus, Philebus, Politicus and Laws X, the book reveals a strongly symbiotic relation between the cosmic and human sphere. It is argued that in his late period Plato presents a picture of an organic universe, endowed with structure and intrinsic value, which both urges our respect (...) and calls for our responsible intervention. Humans are thus seen as citizens of a university that can provide a context for their flourishing even in the absence of good political institutions. The book sheds light on many intricate metaphysical issues in late Plato and brings out the close connections between his cosmology and the development of his ethics. (shrink)

Concussions in professional sports have received increased attention, which is partly attributable to evidence that found concussion incidence rates were much higher than previously thought. Further to this, professional hockey players articulated how their concussion symptoms affected their professional careers, interpersonal relationships, and qualities of life. Researchers are beginning to associate multiple/repeated concussions with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, a structural brain injury that is characterized by tau protein deposits in distinct areas of the brain. Taken together, concussions impact many people in (...) the sporting community from current and former professional athletes and their families to medical and health professionals and researchers. In light of the growing awareness and sensitivity towards concussions, the purpose of this paper is to provide recommendations that are designed to improve player safety in professional hockey and address the ethical issues surrounding these suggestions. (shrink)

Com o desenvolvimento robusto da física, as fronteiras das interpretações dos fenômenos naturais foram empurradas até limites antes bem delimitados. O professor dr. Eduardo Simões explora como as intepretações da ciência física, de uma forma geral, e da mecânica quântica, em especial, está suportada sobre uma metafísica que pressupõe a criação da realidade a partir da própria teoria elaborada inicialmente para explicá-la. Abordando desde os primórdios da física, ainda na filosofia natural atomista grega, até a física moderna, Simões demonstra que (...) o pensamento metafísico sempre esteve subjacente ao pensamento físico ora enfrentado oposição, ora recebendo apoio entre diversos pensadores. O rico levantamento feito pelo autor permite uma visão abrangente das mudanças históricas na física, com destaque para as ideias atomistas gregas que permeia todo o desenvolvimento da física, chegando à atualidade com os desafios próprios a cultura popular de incorporar uma mística quântica alicerçada em um pensamento que cruza a fronteira turva entre a teoria científica quântica e o mundo cotidiano. (shrink)

O texto apresenta uma análise sobre a fenomenologia husserliana e sua crítica ao objetivismo, que tem orientado a filosofia, as ciências e as demais práticas humanas. Inicia-se com a apresentação da origem da fenomenologia, seguida da crítica ao objetivismo, da concepção husserliana sobre a ética e das contribuições destas concepções para a educação. É uma pesquisa bibliográfica realizada a partir de obras de Husserl e de comentadores do pensamento deste filósofo.The paper presents an analysis of Husserl phenomenology and his critique (...) of objectivism that has guided philosophy, science and other human practices. It begins with the presentation of the origin of phenomenology, followed by the critique of objectivism, Husserl conception about ethics and the contributions of these conceptions for education. It is a bibliographical research realized from Husserl works and commentators of the thought of this philosopher. (shrink)

Given that it seems uncontroversial that Socrates displays considerable contempt towards rhetoric in theGorgias,the title of this paper might strike one as an oxymoron. Indeed, a reading of the text has more than once encouraged scholars to posit an Opposition between the elenctic procedures championed by Socrates and the rhetorical procedures of his interlocutors. At least three features have been highlighted that seem to indicate this contrast:1.the Socratic interest in short questions and answers versus his interlocutors’ use of long speeches(makrologia);2.the (...) Socratic interest in truth regardless of the opinion of the many, the latter seeming an important concern of the rhetorician;3.the supposed Socratic appeal to the intellectual powers of the interlocutor, which is usually contrasted with the appeal to the emotions which is distinctive of rhetoric. (shrink)

Increasing privacy concerns are arising from expanding use of aggregated personal information in health practices. Conversely, in light of the promising benefits of data driven healthcare, privacy...

Claudel est le « poëte » de la présence de la Vérité, pour qui la « poësie » est manifestation musicale de la pensée. Le poëte chante la présence dans le monde de la Cause du monde, présence transcendante au monde, mais médiatisée, à la différence du divin de Hölderlin. L'Absolu n'est pas muet, il parle par le Christ, présent dans l'Église par l'eucharistie. De là vient l'idée d'une « poësie intégrale ». Contre la voie de l'apophatisme, Claudel invoque la (...) co-naissance de l'homme et de Dieu. Le poëte est l'homme de l'être, fidèle à Mnémosyne, la mère des Muses, qui est la grâce. Claudel est conscient que ses œuvres sont et seront méconnues en raison de l'ontologie et de l' exégèse biblique qui les nourrissent. Claudel is the poet of the presence of Truth, for whom the poetry is a musical manifestation of thought. The poet sings the presence in the world of the Cause of the world, the transcendent presence to the world, but mediated, unlike Hölderlin's divine. The Absolute is not dumb, it speaks through Christ, present in the Church through the Eucharist. From there comes the idea of an « integral poetry ». Against the way of apophatism, Claudel calls upon the co-birth of the man and the God. The poet is the man of the being, the believer to Mnemosyne, the mother of Muses, who is grace. Claudel is aware that his works are and will be underestimated because of the ontology and of the biblical exegesis which feed them. (shrink)

Scientific understanding is a fundamental goal of science. However, there is currently no good way to measure the scientific understanding of agents, whether these be humans or Artificial Intelligence systems. Without a clear benchmark, it is challenging to evaluate and compare different levels of scientific understanding. In this paper, we propose a framework to create a benchmark for scientific understanding, utilizing tools from philosophy of science. We adopt a behavioral conception of understanding, according to which genuine understanding should be recognized (...) as an ability to perform certain tasks. We extend this notion of scientific understanding by considering a set of questions that gauge different levels of scientific understanding, covering information retrieval, the capability to arrange information to produce an explanation, and the ability to infer how things would be different under different circumstances. We suggest building a Scientific Understanding Benchmark (SUB), formed by a set of these tests, allowing for the evaluation and comparison of scientific understanding. Benchmarking plays a crucial role in establishing trust, ensuring quality control, and providing a basis for performance evaluation. By aligning machine and human scientific understanding we can improve their utility, ultimately advancing scientific understanding and helping to discover new insights within machines. (shrink)

IntroductionInformation and communication technologies are becoming an integral part of medical practice, research and administration and their use will grow as telemedicine and electronic medical record use become part of routine practice. Security in maintaining patient data is important and there is a statuary obligation to do so, but few health professionals have been trained on how to achieve this. There is no information on the use of computers and email by doctors and nurses in South Africa in the workplace (...) and at home, and whether their current computer practices meets legal and ethical requirements. The aims of this study were to determine the use of computers by healthcare practitioners in the workplace and home; the use and approach to data storage, encryption and security of patient data and patient email; and the use of informed consent to transmit data by email.MethodsA self-administered questionnaire was administered to 400 health care providers from the state and private health care sectors. The questionnaire covered computer use in the workplace and at home, sharing of computers, data encryption and storage, email use, encryption of emails and storage, and the use of informed consent for email communication.Results193 doctors and 207 nurses in the private and public sectors completed the questionnaire. Forty (10%) of participants do not use a computer. A third of health professionals were the only users of computers at work or at home. One hundred and ninety-eight respondents (55%) did not know if the data on the computers were encrypted, 132 (36.7%) knew that the data were not encrypted and 30 (8.3%) individuals knew that the data on the computers they were using were encrypted. Few doctors, 58 (16%), received emails from patients, with doctors more likely to receive emails from patients than nurses (p = 0.0025). Thirty-one percent of individuals did not respond to the emails. Emails were saved by 40 (69%) recipients but only 5 (12.5%) doctors encrypted the messages, 19 (47.5%) individuals knowingly did not encrypt and 16 (40.0%) did not know if they encrypted the data. While 20% of health professionals have emailed patient data, but only 41.7% gained consent to do so.ConclusionsMost health professionals as sampled in South Africa are not compliant with the National Health Act or the Electronic Communications Transactions Act of South Africa or guidelines from regulatory bodies when managing patient data on computers. Many appear ignorant or lack the ability to comply with simple data security procedures. (shrink)

Scientific understanding is a fundamental goal of science. However, there is currently no good way to measure the scientific understanding of agents, whether these be humans or Artificial Intelligence systems. Without a clear benchmark, it is challenging to evaluate and compare different levels of scientific understanding. In this paper, we propose a framework to create a benchmark for scientific understanding, utilizing tools from philosophy of science. We adopt a behavioral conception of understanding, according to which genuine understanding should be recognized (...) as an ability to perform certain tasks. We extend this notion of scientific understanding by considering a set of questions that gauge different levels of scientific understanding, covering information retrieval, the capability to arrange information to produce an explanation, and the ability to infer how things would be different under different circumstances. We suggest building a Scientific Understanding Benchmark (SUB), formed by a set of these tests, allowing for the evaluation and comparison of scientific understanding. Benchmarking plays a crucial role in establishing trust, ensuring quality control, and providing a basis for performance evaluation. By aligning machine and human scientific understanding we can improve their utility, ultimately advancing scientific understanding and helping to discover new insights within machines. (shrink)

In this paper I re-examine the status of the mind-body relation in several of Plato’s late dialogues. A range of views has been attributed to Plato here. For example, it has been thought that Plato is a substance dualist, for whom the mind can exist independently of the body; or an attribute dualist, who has left behind the strong dualistic commitments of the Phaedo by allowing that the mind may be the subject of spatial movements. But even in cases where (...) a classification of Plato as a holder of a particular ontology of the mind has been left undefined, it has been a shared assumption that in the late dialogues the mind itself must be immaterial. I take issue with these various views and show that none of them is necessitated by the text. In the first place, I argue there is strong evidence against the view that Plato should, in his late period, be committed not only to substance dualism, but also to attribute dualism. Furthermore, it is possible that Plato may have allowed that the mind itself be a three-dimensional corporeal entity (in a way that sets up a precedent for later Stoic developments). But even if this is not the only possible reading of the text, it is shown how at any rate the mind must be seen in late Plato as the principle of organization of a body and ontologically inseparable from it. Despite prima facie affinities with Aristotle here, we shall see a Plato emerge for whom the mind (without exception) and the body cannot exist without one another – a thesis more radical than that of Aristotle’s. To bring out the provocative nature of this suggestion, I start, in section I, by laying out the state of the question and compare what I shall argue is the late Platonic view with standard interpretations of his previous work, stressing the historical force that I expect this thesis to have. Afterwards, in three respective sections, I proceed to pay heed to relevant passages in the Timaeus, Philebus and Laws in order to establish the main point of this paper. Finally, in section V, I consider the challenge apparently introduced against my thesis by Plato’s occasional talk of immortality and eschatology in those dialogues, and argue instead that many of those passages add further strength to the view defended in this essay. (shrink)

This paper re-evaluates the role that Plato confers to pleasure in the "Philebus." According to leading interpretations, Plato there downplays the role of pleasure, or indeed rejects hedonism altogether. Thus, scholars such as D. Frede have taken the "mixed life" of pleasure and intelligence initially submitted in the "Philebus" to be conceded by Socrates only as a remedial good, second to a life of neutral condition, where one would experience no pleasure and pain. Even more strongly, scholars such as Irwin (...) have seen the "Philebus'" arguments against false pleasures as an actual attack on hedonism, showing -- in Irwin's words -- "why maximization of pleasure cannot be a reasonable policy for the best life." Against these claims, I argue that the mixed life of pleasure and intelligence is presented in the "Philebus" as a first best and not just as a second best for humans, and that, accordingly, Socrates proposes to incorporate -- rather than reject -- pleasure as one of the intrinsically desirable aspects of the happy life. Thus, I offer alternative readings of controversial passages that have given rise to the prevalent interpretation criticized here, and advance positive evidence that at least some pleasures are seen by Plato as inherently good. In addition, I demonstrate that Plato's arguments against false pleasures do not by themselves constitute an attack on hedonism. Rather, they can be seen as a strategy to show the hedonist that, in order to be a maximal, or even a consistent, hedonist, he should go for true, and not fake pleasures, if after all pleasure is the object of his pursuit. But, since this cannot be achieved without intelligence, then the mixed life of pleasure and intelligence is to be accepted even by hedonist themselves. (shrink)

Il est habituel de reprocher à la pensée heideggérienne de ne pas penser le corps et de n’établir de lien conceptuel qu’avec ce qu’elle a voulu dénommer comme Dasein. L’auteur de Sein und Zeit ne fait en effet qu’effleurer le problème du corps mais donne pourtant, déjà, à qui sait voir, de précieuses indications pour la reprise de la dimension corporelle de l’homme au sein d’un déploiement plus originaire n’ayant pour Heidegger jamais encore été pensé. Le texte décisif de Heidegger (...) sur la question est un ouvrage mal connu , les Séminaires de Zollikon, qui clôt le débat de manière décisive en livrant la profondeur de la pensée heideggérienne grâce à la notion de chair et en élevant cette dernière à un niveau de réalité que la phénoménologie n’atteint pas. Avec la théorie de la chair ek-statique, Heidegger plonge la dimension corporelle de l’homme dans l’ouverture à l’être et rejoint aussi bien l’expérience quotidienne de l’advenue de l’objet au simple regard que celle du jaillissement de la réalité aux yeux du poète. Heidegger's philosophy is often criticized for addressing the question of the body by merely establishing a conceptual relation between body and Dasein. The author of Sein und Zeit only mentions the question of the body but gives to those who want to see many indications on its signification – in a way that no one did before for him. The key piece Heidegger wrote on this issue is not well known . This specific work introduces the concept of flesh and rises it to a level of reality that even pheomenology did not reach. With the theory of the ek-static flesh, Heidegger plunges the human body into the opening to the being and joins both the daily experience of the object and the burst of reality to the eyes of the poet. (shrink)

THE TENTH BOOK OF THE LAWS, which contains Plato's last word on cosmology and theology, has often been considered as presenting Plato's views in a more exoteric way in contrast with the more esoteric style of the Timaeus. And there are good reasons to think that this view is correct. Whereas the Timaeus stresses that "to find the maker and father of this All is difficult, and, having found it, it is impossible to communicate it to the crowd", Plato is (...) in Laws 10 intending to establish a "proemium" or rational foundation for his laws against impiety, which are supposed to be known by all. In this proemium Plato tries to argue for three propositions: that the gods exist ; that they take care of human affairs ; that they cannot be bribed by sacrifices or prayers. The underlying assumption is that learning these facts about the gods will also help to prevent impiety which, like any kind of vice, is often due to ignorance. (shrink)

Les descendants aux prises avec le passé familial traumatique et exilaire se voient bien souvent tiraillés par des enjeux identitaires paradoxaux, manifestés par des symptômes étranges, sans en posséder les signifiants historiques qui les motivent. Partant d’une étude de cas appréciée sous l’angle de la phénoménologie et de la psychanalyse, les auteurs mènent leurs réflexions sur l’histoire d’une descendante de parents algériens qui ont immigré en France pendant la guerre d’Algérie. Au creux des pages sinistrées du vécu familial, brisé par (...) le traumatisme de guerre et l’exil, seul un « objet métaphoriseur » sera le témoin du désir inconscient ultime de reliaison filiale. (shrink)

In A Philosophy of Luxury Lambert Wiesing offre una trattazione originale del concetto di lusso in una prospettiva meramente estetica. Avendo escluso ogni relazione con concetti sociali, quali prestigio, ostentazione, status, Wiesing dichiara che per lusso si deve intendere un’esperienza estetica di tipo particolare. Poiché solo l’uomo indulge nel lusso, ciò che va analizzato è la relazione che intercorre tra un soggetto e un dato oggetto, prescindendo dalle qualità estetiche proprie di quest...