L’ouvrage de Florence Weber, Le sang, le nom, le quotidien : une sociologie de la parenté pratique, s’inscrit dans une démarche ambitieuse, en croisant deux ensembles d’analyses généralement séparés : d’une part, les travaux sur le care et la prise en charge familiale des personnes dépendantes, enfants, malades et vieillards (domaine des spécialistes des politiques sociales et de la santé, économistes, sociologues et politistes) et, d’autre part, les analyses portant sur les transformations c...

Hermann Weyl was one of the early contributors to the mathematics of general relativity. This article argues that in 1929, for the formulation of a general relativistic framework of the Dirac equation, he both abolished and preserved in modified form the conceptual perspective that he had developed earlier in his “analysis of the problem of space.” The ideas of infinitesimal congruence from the early 1920s were aufgehoben in the general relativistic framework for the Dirac equation. He preserved the central idea (...) of gauge as a “purely infinitesimal” aspect of symmetries in a group extension schema. With respect to methodology, however, Weyl gave up his earlier preferences for relatively a-priori arguments and tried to incorporate as much empiricism as he could. This signified a clearly expressed empirical turn for him. Moreover, in this step he emphasized that the mathematical objects used for the representation of matter structures stood at the center of the construction, rather than interaction fields which, in the early 1920s, he had considered as more or less derivable from geometrico-philosophical considerations. (shrink)

Modern medicine provides unprecedented opportunities in diagnostics and treatment. However, in some situations at the end of a patient’s life, many physicians refrain from using all possible measures to prolong life. We studied the incidence of different types of treatment withheld or withdrawn in 6 European countries and analyzed the main background characteristics.

ObjectiveThe COVID-19 pandemic and government measures implemented to counter the spread of the infection may be a major stressor affecting the psychological health of university students. This study aimed to explore how anxiety symptoms changed during the pandemic.Methods676 students at Zurich University of Applied Sciences participated in the first and second survey waves. Anxiety symptoms were assessed using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-Scale-7. Risk and protective factors were examined.ResultsGAD-7 scores decreased significantly from T0 to T1. Participants with moderate-to-severe anxiety score were (...) 20.2 and 15.6% at T0 and T1, respectively. The following positively predicted anxiety: older age, female gender, non-Swiss nationality, loneliness, participants’ concern about their own health, and interaction between time and participants’ concern about their own health. Resilience and social support negatively predicted anxiety.ConclusionsOur findings provide information for public health measures and psychological interventions supporting the mental health of university students during the COVID-19 emergency. (shrink)

In this article, the conceptual instrument that pragma-dialectical argumentation theory offers is elaborated for the analysis and evaluation of problem-solving discussions. The elaboration is aimed expressly at taking into account the discussion character of the discourse, in order to show how the developing process evolves and what the obstacles are therein. In addition, it focuses expressly on the verbal behaviour of the participants and on showing how this behaviour controls the evolving process. The analysis and evaluation is based on insights (...) and methods of conversational analysis and discourse analysis. One fragment of a problem-solving discussion is analysed and evaluated. (shrink)

This article examines the relationship between trust and solidarity. Juxtaposing trust and solidarity reveals how they are different and how they recursively build on each other. By looking specifically at trust in political solidarity, I argue for an account of trust within solidarity movements for social change, one that suggests avenues for creating and building trust, rather than merely presuming it. Finally, reflecting on the interplay between trust and solidarity, I end with a nod to the transformative impact of solidarity (...) on communities. (shrink)

With a global commitment to scaling up AIDS care and treatment in resource-poor settings for some of the most HIV-affected countries in Africa, availability of antiretroviral treatment is no longer the principal obstacle to expanding access to treatment. A shortage of trained healthcare personnel to initiate treatment and manage patients represents a more challenging barrier to offering life-saving treatment to all patients in need. Physician-centered treatment policies accentuate this challenge. Despite evidence that task shifting for nurse-centered AIDS patient care is (...) effective and can alleviate severe physician shortages that currently obstruct treatment scale-up, political commitment and policy action to support task shifting models of care has been slow to absent. In this paper we review the evidence in support of task shifting for AIDS treatment in Africa and argue that continued policy inaction amounts to unwarranted healthcare rationing and as such is ethically untenable. (shrink)

The purpose of the present research is to shed light on whether and how migrants’ goal pursuit relates to their acculturation and well-being. Previous research has demonstrated the beneficial role that striving for and attaining intrinsic goals has for well-being. Yet, the relationship between the pursuit of intrinsic goals and acculturation has hardly been addressed. To fill this void, we investigated whether migrants’ acculturation and well-being can be seen as a function of their pursuit of intrinsic goals. We posited that (...) the attainment of intrinsic goals would positively predict migrants’ level of acculturation and subsequent well-being, particularly when migrants deemed these goals to be important. We tested our hypotheses in two scenario studies and two field-studies. In all four studies we confirmed our hypothesis that migrants’ intrinsic goal attainment and well-being (measured by satisfaction with life and by anxiety is mediated by their acculturation level. However, in only two of the four studies did we find support for our hypothesis that the relationship between intrinsic goal attainment and acculturation is moderated by intrinsic goal importance. We discuss the theoretical importance and the practical consequences of our findings. Furthermore, we outline future research directions that could deepen understanding of the relationship between migrants’ goal pursuit and their acculturation. (shrink)

This article sets out to assess the opportunities and risks for the advancement of gender equality in the European Union offered by the establishment of the European Institute for Gender Equality. It argues that the formal aims and objectives of the Institute mirror the wider political context today ; for the same reason, however, the Institute may be hard-pressed to fulfil those functions originally envisaged by a specific but broad range of actors in the field of equal opportunities. Whether or (...) not the Institute will be able to live up to the challenge will depend in large part on its ability to link with the gender studies research community and to forge critical political alliances with other strategic feminist actors. (shrink)

In the spring of 2008, the artist Georg Schneider announced an art performance with a mortally ill person. Most of the responses to this art project were very critical. While the artist argued that the exhibition of a dying person should be understood as a humanistic intervention against the social taboo of death, commentators often criticized the exhibition as voyeuristic. Based on this discussion, the article explores what it means to stage a dying person as a piece of art and (...) investigates the historical conditions of this project by locating the longing for ethic and aesthetic self-determination within the humanistic tradition of the modern concept of the work of art. (shrink)

Journal of Religious Ethics, Volume 49, Issue 2, Page 270-289, June 2021.

Each of the three volumes of Erasmus Francisci’s Acerra Exoticorum (1672-74), a collection of stories and reports from all corners of the known world, begins with a Vorrede to the reader. These texts address the rationale for his work, apologize for errors in spelling and/or meaning, and outline his thinking about stories and histories, or more precisely, the difference between reports of current events and histories proven true by the test of time. Each of the three tomes offers stories from (...) all over the known world, gathered and arranged without any easily perceptible organizing principle. Still, some of the narratives do suggest a teaching or moralizing function, while others seem to serve mostly to inform and entertain introducing the reader to »meldungswürdige Sitten/ Gewonheiten / so wol als andrer anmercklicher Sachen außheimischer Sachen,« as truthfully and historically accurate as possible. Francisci presents his Acerra Exoticorum as a receptacle of events outside of Germany. He will inform the reader about old and new »Ordnungen und Gewohnheiten,« corroborated by the writings of trusted authors. While paying special attention to the programmatic Vorreden of the three Acerra-volumes, I will examine how Francisci handles both textual and narrative varieties, news reports and historical texts, and what this tells us about his historical, cultural, and geographic reach. (shrink)

Positive and negative forms of social control are commonly used to regulate another person’s health-related behaviors, especially in couples. Social control efforts have been shown to result in desirable, but also undesirable effects on different outcomes. Little is known for which outcomes, when, and under which contextual conditions these different effects unfold in people’s everyday lives. Using the dual-effects model of health-related social control, we predicted that same-day and previous-day positive social control would result in desirable effects on target behavior, (...) and same-day positive control on affect. Same-day and previous-day negative control was assumed to result in undesirable effects on reactant responses, and same-day negative control on affect. Further, we explored whether it makes a difference if one or both partners intend to change their health behavior. Three daily diary studies addressed these questions for smoking, and physical activity. Receiving more positive control related to more desirable target behavior, and feeling better; more negative control was associated with more reactant responses and feeling worse. Social control unfolded its effects within 1 day, but hardly across days, indicating that control and its reactions to it are fast-acting processes in daily life. The pattern of results were the same for couples with one and both partners intending to change their behavior. Further, results replicated when using partner-reported provided control. Based on these results, social control cannot be unanimously recommended as a behavior change strategy in couples. Future studies should follow up on dyadic and temporal dynamics of social control in couples’ everyday lives in different contexts. (shrink)

This paper looks at some prominent discussions of rape in war as a violation of human rights within Radical Feminism. I begin with a brief overview of United Nations declarations and actions on the subject of rape in war. I then look at some radical feminist accounts of rape in war as a violation of human rights with particular emphasis on the discussions of Susan Brownmiller and Catharine MacKinnon. I conclude the paper with a critical analysis of these radical feminist (...) accounts and show how our human rights talk must distinguish between types of rape in war situations or risk silencing the individual victims. (shrink)

This paper looks at some prominent discussions of rape in war as a violation of human rights within Radical Feminism. I begin with a brief overview of United Nations declarations and actions on the subject of rape in war. I then look at some radical feminist accounts of rape in war as a violation of human rights with particular emphasis on the discussions of Susan Brownmiller and Catharine MacKinnon. I conclude the paper with a critical analysis of these radical feminist (...) accounts and show how our human rights talk must distinguish between types of rape in war situations or risk silencing the individual victims. (shrink)

This essay considers the theoretical attention that recent social theories show for wayward object relations and inquires as to how this adjusts to the philosophical occupation with the status of "things". For while we find, at least since the 18th century and most notably with regard to epistemology, the dismissal of "the thing" as an ontological entity, this new attention, with its interest in material matters, seems, at first glance, to contradict that tradition.

In Stephen Nathanson’s important new book, he offers and defends a definition of terrorism that relies on a conception of innocence that blends both moral innocence and status innocence. I argue that this understanding of innocence needs to be modified in two ways. First, status innocence ought to incorporate the notion of opposition. It is not just in becoming a soldier that one sacrifices status innocence; it is in the context of war or opposition. Second, I argue that moral innocence (...) understood according to a liability-based notion of responsibility is insufficient. It does not address the various relational elements of responsibility. To remedy that gap, I suggest that we add a vulnerability-based notion of responsibility together with the liability-based model for a more complete account of moral innocence. (shrink)

In Stephen Nathanson’s important new book, he offers and defends a definition of terrorism that relies on a conception of innocence that blends both moral innocence and status innocence. I argue that this understanding of innocence needs to be modified in two ways. First, status innocence ought to incorporate the notion of opposition. It is not just in becoming a soldier that one sacrifices status innocence; it is in the context of war or opposition. Second, I argue that moral innocence (...) understood according to a liability-based notion of responsibility is insufficient. It does not address the various relational elements of responsibility. To remedy that gap, I suggest that we add a vulnerability-based notion of responsibility together with the liability-based model for a more complete account of moral innocence. (shrink)

Iris Marion Young took a strong stance against humanitarian intervention and other so-called legitimate instances of what she calls ‘official violence’. Nevertheless, she was also aware that there may be some situations for which military humanitarian intervention should at least be considered. Young was concerned that some states will use their obligation to defend against human rights violations as a mechanism in securing or maintaining global dominance. In addition, she recognized that what counts as a violation of human rights is (...) not uncontroversial; human rights norms and conventions are interpreted, negotiated, and otherwise contested. In this article, I build on Young’s arguments for a social connection model of responsibility by applying it to a situation where a forceful response to violence might be justified. I juxtapose Young’s position with the emerging international standard called ‘the responsibility to protect’ in order to suggest an account of intervention for global governance relations. (shrink)

Der Aufsatz rekonstruiert die historische Genese der politischen Ökologie im 19. Jahrhundert am Beispiel des Zoologen Karl August Möbius. Als entscheidendes Paradigma der Vorgeschichte wird die Bevölkerungsdebatte um 1800 herausgearbeitet. Vor diesem Hintergrund entsteht die politisch-ökologische Perspektive durch die Übertragung klassischer Prinzipien der Ökonomie auf Tiergemeinschaften und von dort wieder zurück auf eine zoologisch verstandene Menschenwelt.

The relationships between text or talk and the context are among the basic fields of pragmatic research and an insight into their nature may contribute to a better understanding of language use. In this article, we use the results of an analysis of discourse marker use in two different conversational genres in an attempt to examine the impact of context on the use of discourse markers, generalized for each analysed genre. In the first stage of the analysis, we observe important (...) differences between the two genres: discourse markers are far more frequently used in telephone conversations than in television interviews. In the second stage of the analysis, we identify several contextual factors which contribute to the differences in the use of discourse markers. In this way, we obtain insight into this particular aspect of genre context-talk relationships, and identify some of the characteristics of the genres in question. (shrink)

GNèS LEJBOWICZ. — Pour comprendre votre réflexion, pouvez-vous nous parler en introduction de votre parcours au sein de l’armée ? 2 JEAN-RENé BACHELET. — Je ne suis pas un officier « de droit divin » ; mon père a été tué dans la Résistance, et j’ai été enfant de troupe à 10 ans. Je suis d’une génération qui est à cheval sur deux ères : celle d’un temps ancien qui se termine avec la fin du monde bipolaire et celle de (...) temps nouveaux, chaotiques et ouverts par une exceptionnelle conjugaison de ruptures, notamment géostratégiques. (shrink)

Most mainstream psychologists consider philosophy irrelevant to their work, but see themselves as realists. Various opposition movements embrace philosophy but reject realism, either completely or partially, despite upholding ideas consistent with a realist philosophy. Many on both sides see the Tower of Babel that constitutes psychology as a sign of healthy diversity, not fragmentation. We argue that relations among the three factors – philosophy, realism and fragmentation – deserve closer scrutiny. With philosophy’s core method of conceptual analysis deprioritized, both mainstream (...) psychology and the opposition fracture into an array of “partial realisms”, falling away from a realism that is thoroughly consistent. These are the source of psychology’s fragmentation. The conceptual neglect and resulting confusions can be seen in psychology’s recent replicability crisis, and in the widespread adoption of a representationalist approach to the mind/brain. We argue that the metatheoretical coherence and methodological maturity required for genuine scientific progress involves a consistent adherence to realism. We spell out what that involves and consider several reasons why this has been so difficult for psychology. (shrink)

Mistrust and fear of research often exist in minority communities because of assumptions, preconceived ideas, and historical abuse and racism that continue to influence research participation. The research establishment is full of well-meaning ‘outsider’ investigators who recognize discrimination, health disparities, and insufficient health care providers in minority communities, but struggle in breaking through this history of mistrust. This article provides ethical insights from one such ‘insider-outsider’, community-based participatory research project implemented via community health advisors in the Mississippi Delta. Both community-based (...) participatory research and community health advisors provide opportunities to address the ethical issues of trust, non-maleficence, and justice in minority communities. Implications for ethics-driven nursing research are discussed. (shrink)

One of the debated issues regarding Residual Normality (RN) is frequency sensitivity in Williams syndrome (WS). We present some data on frequency sensitivity in Hungarian WS subjects. Based on vocabulary measures, we suggest that instead of the across-the-board frequency insensitivity proposed by some, a higher frequency threshold characterizes these subjects’performance. Results from a category fluency task show that whereas frequency sensitivity in WS is in line with controls, error patterns imply a qualitatively distinct, looser categorical organization. Regarding the much-debated issue (...) of morphological overgeneralizations, our data suggest that frequency sensitivity cuts across the divisions proposed by dual-process theories. In general, some of the frequency effects are the same as in typically developing populations, but with a delayed pattern. Frequency may be interpreted as supporting RN, but in WS it operates with higher thresholds that might be a general processing feature of WS individuals. (shrink)