Introduction: Nurses who work in an emergency department regularly care for acute patients in a fast-paced environment, being at risk of suffering high levels of burnout. This situation makes them especially vulnerable to be accountable for decisions they did not have time to consider or have been pressured into. Research objective: The objective of this study was to find which factors influence ethical, legal and professional accountability in nursing practice in an emergency department. Research design: Data were analysed, codified and (...) triangulated using qualitative ethnographic content analysis. Participants and research context: This research is set in a large emergency department in the Midlands area of England. Data were collected from 186 nurses using participant observation, 34 semi-structured interviews with nurses and ethical analysis of 54 applicable clinical policies. Ethical considerations: Ethical approval was granted by two research ethics committees and the National Health Service Health Research Authority. Results: The main result was the clinical nursing accountability cycle model, which showed accountability as a subjective concept that flows between the nurse and the healthcare institution. Moreover, the relations among the clinical nursing accountability factors are also analysed to understand which factors affect decision-making. Discussion: The retrospective understanding of the factors that regulate nursing accountability is essential to promote that both the nurse and the healthcare institution take responsibility not only for the direct consequences of their actions but also for the indirect consequences derived from previous decisions. Conclusion: The decision-making process and the accountability linked to it are affected by several factors that represent the holistic nature of both entities, which are organised and interconnected in a complex grid. This pragmatic interpretation of nursing accountability allows the nurse to comprehend how their decisions are affected, while the healthcare institution could act proactively to avoid any problems before they happen. (shrink)

Contemporary healthcare practice has been progressively more regulated to increase efficiency, service user safety and practice quality. However, ethical issues in clinical practice that have not been implemented into regulations are undervalued by policymakers and healthcare institutions Considering the issues found by other authors, the use of a simple tool for policymakers to consider recurrent ethical issues could reduce those issues in a policy-driven clinical practice. The lack of tools to support structured ethical assessment of clinical policies was the main (...) reason to create the Clinical Policy Ethics Assessment Tool, but we realised of its possible advantages: limiting ethical dilemmas posed by policies, ensuring ethical practice by the use of policies and developing a consistent process for policymakers, institutions and healthcare professionals. Nonetheless, even if a tool can be implemented and it supports the creation of policies that reduce ethical issues, if the healthcare professionals are not aware of them they will not be implemented and the issues will continue. (shrink)

Contemporary healthcare practice has been progressively more regulated to increase efficiency, service user safety and practice quality. However, ethical issues in clinical practice that have not been implemented into regulations are undervalued by policymakers and healthcare institutions Considering the issues found by other authors, the use of a simple tool for policymakers to consider recurrent ethical issues could reduce those issues in a policy-driven clinical practice. The lack of tools to support structured ethical assessment of clinical policies was the main (...) reason to create the Clinical Policy Ethics Assessment Tool, but we realised of its possible advantages: limiting ethical dilemmas posed by policies, ensuring ethical practice by the use of policies and developing a consistent process for policymakers, institutions and healthcare professionals. Nonetheless, even if a tool can be implemented and it supports the creation of policies that reduce ethical issues, if the healthcare professionals are not aware of them they will not be implemented and the issues will continue. (shrink)

Introduction: Clinical policies control several aspects of clinical practice, including individual treatment and care, resource management and healthcare professionals’ etiquette. This article presents Clinical Policy Ethics Assessment Tool, an ethical assessment tool for clinical policies that could be used not only by clinical ethics committees but also by policy committees or other relevant groups. Aim: The aim of this study was to find or create a tool to identify ethical issues and/or confirm ethical validity in nursing practice policies, protocols and (...) guidelines. Methodology: The development of Clinical Policy Ethics Assessment Tool involved first a literature review, followed by modification of the Research Protocol Ethics Assessment Tool, which was created to identify research protocols’ ethical issues, and finally, a trial of Clinical Policy Ethics Assessment Tool to ensure its reliability and validity. Ethical consideration: The policies analysed trialling Clinical Policy Ethics Assessment Tool were in the public domain and did not contain any confidential information. Despite that, Clinical Policy Ethics Assessment Tool also had the approval of a research ethics committee. Results: Research Protocol Ethics Assessment Tool was chosen as the template for a Clinical Policy Ethics Assessment Tool, to which several modifications were added to adapt it to work within a nursing practice context. Clinical Policy Ethics Assessment Tool was tested twice, which resulted in a general test–retest reliability coefficient = 0.86, r = 0.84, α1 = 0.817, α2 = 0.824 and interclass correlation coefficient = 0.874. Discussion: Contemporary nursing practice in a developed country is often ruled by clinical policies. The use of Clinical Policy Ethics Assessment Tool could confirm the ethical validity of those clinical practice policies, impacting on nurses’ education, values and quality of care. Conclusion: Clinical Policy Ethics Assessment Tool has the potential to detect ethical issues and facilitate the correction and improvement of clinical policies and guidelines in a structured way. This is especially so as it has shown reliability in detecting issues in clinical policies involving human participants and in encouraging policymakers to consider common ethical dilemmas in nursing practice. (shrink)

Objetivo: Analizar los riesgos psicosociales sufridos durante la pandemia por docentes. Método: Análisis descriptivo correlaciones y de comparación de medias. Muestra: 265 docentes no universitarios. Instrumentos: Cuestionario validado extraído de UNIPSICO Battery, Evaluación del Burnout- BAT y Escala de Inseguridad Laboral y cuestionario ad-hoc para medir recursos, información, medidas e impacto. Resultados: Inequidad seguido de sobrecarga son los mayores riesgos. Perciben falta de justicia organizacional, conflicto de rol e interpersonal, mayor carga de trabajo. Apoyo social alto. Recursos, información y medidas (...) insuficientes y un impacto moderado-alto en su desempeño profesional. Valores no significativos en cuanto a burnout y salud. (shrink)

Nos complace presentar este número especial de la Revista Las Torres de Lucca, dedicado íntegramente a la investigación sobre injusticia epistémica. El proyecto de esta publicación se gestó entre 2017 y 2018, en conversaciones entre Cristina Bernabéu e Isabel Gamero; a las que luego se sumaron Alba Moreno y Llanos Navarro. Los directores de Las Torres de Lucca, Diego Fernández Peychaux y Juan Antonio Fernández Manzano, aceptaron la propuesta con interés. Estamos muy agradecidas a ambos por ello, así (...) como por el acompañamiento que nos han hecho durante todo el proceso, desde la publicación de la convocatoria hasta la conclusión del número que ahora presentamos. La motivación que subyace a este trabajo es el interés en la noción de injusticia epistémica, en la que encontramos una poderosa herramienta para visibilizar qué voces tienen más presencia en los distintos contextos sociales situados en los que participamos y qué prácticas habría que aplicar para lograr una distribución más justa de capacidades, tan básicas y cruciales, como las de dar testimonio y comunicar las propias experiencias. El debate sobre injusticia epistémica ha crecido significativamente a raíz de la publicación del libro de Miranda Fricker Epistemic Injustice. Desde entonces, la discusión se ha desarrollado sobre todo en el contexto de la epistemología social feminista y antirracista, aunque ha tenido otras ramificaciones. Este número en particular reúne una serie de trabajos que aplican la noción de injusticia epistémica, tal y como fue propuesta por Fricker, a ámbitos diversos de discusión, que incluyen el análisis jurídico, el análisis del discurso y la estrategia políticos o el desarrollo de formas de resistencia epistémica, y que abordan problemas como la atribución errónea de género ─conocida como misgendering por su voz inglesa─ y el fenómeno del silenciamiento. Nos satisface comprobar que el debate es tan rico en sus ramificaciones y aplicaciones, así como haber podido reunir una muestra de esta riqueza. (shrink)

Nel 1881, per i tipi dell’editore Brigola di Milano, vedeva la luce Macchiette parigine, un compendio di profili biografici che lo scrittore siciliano Emanuele Navarro della Miraglia (1838-1919) dedicava a eminenti personalità della cultura letteraria e artistica francese di metà Ottocento.Francesista, a lungo residente a Parigi (1864-1872), in contatto a Milano con gli ambienti della scapigliatura lombarda (1872-1882) e da ultimo professore di Lingua e letteratura francese presso l’Istituto superiore di magistero femminile di Roma (1883-1913), Navarro della Miraglia (...) includeva fra le sue “macchiette” anche due ritratti d’artisti dedicati rispettivamente a Gustave Courbet e a Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux.Questo contributo si propone di definire il contesto e le ricadute di una lettura non allineata alla tempestiva e più “ortodossa” discussione della lezione di Courbet promossa da Diego Martelli presso i macchiaioli toscani, a beneficio di una geografia culturale diversamente articolata fra le aperture cosmopolite del naturalismo meridionale e le frange più avanzate della scapigliatura lombarda. Allo stesso modo il resoconto dell’atelier di Carpeaux è riconsiderato alla luce del coevo dibattito sulla scultura monumentale e delle ricerche in corso a Milano su un modellato più mosso e nervoso. (shrink)

In this introductory chapter, I first offer an overview of the two themes addressed in the present collection - namely, disagreement and skepticism - and their connection, then present the purpose and content of the volume.

In this paper, I critically engage with Casey Perin's interpretation of Sextan Pyrrhonism in his book, The Demands of Reason: An Essay on Pyrrhonian Scepticism. From an approach that is both exegetical and systematic, I explore a number of issues concerning the Pyrrhonist's inquiry into truth, his alleged commitment to the canons of rationality, and his response to the apraxia objection.

The question of whether the Pyrrhonist adheres to certain logical principles, criteria of justification, and inference rules is of central importance for the study of Pyrrhonism. Its significance lies in that, whereas the Pyrrhonist describes his philosophical stance and argues against the Dogmatists by means of what may be considered a rational discourse, adherence to any such principles, criteria, and rules does not seem compatible with the radical character of his skepticism. Hence, if the Pyrrhonist does endorse them, one must (...) conclude that he is inconsistent in his outlook. Despite its import, the question under consideration has not received, in the vast literature on Pyrrhonism of the past three decades, all the attention it deserves. In the present paper, I do not propose to provide a full examination of the Pyrrhonist’s attitude towards rationality, but to focus on the question of whether he endorses the law of non-contradiction (LNC). However, I will also briefly tackle the question of the Pyrrhonist’s outlook on both the canons of rational justification at work in the so-called Five Modes of Agrippa and the logical rules of inference. In addition, given that the LNC is deemed a fundamental principle of rationality, determining the Pyrrhonist’s attitude towards it will allow us to understand his general attitude towards rationality. (shrink)

This paper approaches the current epistemological debate on peer disagreement from a neo-Pyrrhonian perspective, thus adopting a form of skepticism which is more radical than those discussed in the literature. It makes use of argumentative strategies found in ancient Pyrrhonism both to show that such a debate rests on problematic assumptions and to block some maneuvers intended to offer an efficacious way of settling a considerable number of peer disputes. The essay takes issue with three views held in the peer (...) disagreement debate: there is an objective fact of the matter about at least most controversial questions; we possess theory-neutral evidence bearing on those questions which grants us access to the truth of the matter; and many peer controversies are resolved by attending to which disputant has correctly evaluated the objective evidence. With respect to the first two views, it is argued that the belief in both objective facts and theory-neutral evidence is subject to fierce dispute, and should not therefore be taken for granted in the discussion of peer disagreement. As for the third view, it is argued that from either a first- or a third-person perspective, there seems to be epistemic symmetry between the disputants which makes it necessary to suspend judgment. (shrink)

The discussions of these past twenty years have significantly improved our knowledge about the foundation of bioethics and the meaning of the four bioethical principles with concern to at least three different points: that they are organised hierarchically, and therefore not “prima facie” of the same level; that they have exceptions, and consequently lack of absolute character; and that they are neither strictly deontological nor purely teleological. The only absolute principle of moral life can be the abstract and unconcrete respect (...) of human beings. But when determining the material content of this respect, principles become contingent and relative. Therefore, moral reasoning must have necessarily no less than three moments, one absolute but merely formal, namely respect for all human beings, and the other two relative and material. The first material moment is comprised of the four bioethical principles, divided into two levels, one private, including the principles of autonomy and beneficence, and the other one public, including those of nonmaleficence and justice. The second material moment deals with specific cases, and requires analysis of their context, including their circumstances and consequences. Only when following these steps, and therefore balancing principlism and contextualism, can moral reasoning be correct and complete. (shrink)

The relationship between science and philosophy has always been difficult. During thewhole classical and medieval periods, philosophy denied that science was an autonomousactivity, by defining it as epistéme or apodictic and deductive knowledge. Science thus cameto be confused with philosophy. This impeded the development of experimental scienceuntil well into the modern world. When, at the beginning of the 17thcentury, it breaks ontothe stage, a new process begins that will culminate in the 19th century, with philosophyturning into a theory of science. (...) Now it is science that denies a role to the philosophy.Such it was the work of the positivism. Zubiri considers that both science and philosophythey have their own specificity, but that they converge in a fundamental point, viz. beingknowledge about ousía or reality. There are three periods: between 1942 and 1960 he defines reality as “there are”; from 1960 to 1972 it is the “reality thing” as opposed to the“meaning thing”; and between 1973 and 1983 the character of “actuality” stands out. It ismainly in this last stage when Zubiri distinguishes three intellectual modes of actualizingreality: the most basic and immediate, common to science and philosophy, or “primordialapprehension of reality”, that proper to “logos”, merely descriptive, and that specificic to“reason” or what is formally explanatory. It is at this last level where both scientific andmetaphysical investigation unfold. Reason never exhausts reality, and for that reason itsknowledge is always penultimate. Whence the necessity to make explicit its ultimategrounds, which are those characteristic of the two previous strata.Las relaciones entre ciencia y filosofía han sido siempre difíciles. Durante toda la épocaclásica y medieval, la filosofía anuló a la ciencia como actividad autónoma, al definirla comoepistéme o saber apodíctico y deductivo. Ciencia venía a confundirse, de ese modo, confilosofía. Ello impidió el desarrollo de la ciencia experimental hasta bien entrado el mundomoderno. Cuando, a partir del siglo XVII, irrumpe con fuerza la ciencia moderna, se iniciaun nuevo proceso que culminaría en el siglo XIX, al convertirse la filosofía en teoría de laciencia. Ahora es la ciencia la que anula a la filosofía. Tal fue la obra del positivismo. Zubiri considera que ambas, ciencia y filosofía, tienen su propia especificidad, pero que convergen en un punto fundamental, el ser saberes sobre la ousía o realidad. Se diferencian tresperiodos: entre 1942 y 1960 define la realidad como “haber”, de 1960 a 1972 caracteriza la“cosa-realidad” por oposición a la “cosa-sentido”, y entre 1973 y 1983 resalta su carácter de“actualidad”. Es sobre todo en esta última etapa cuando Zubiri distingue tres modos intelectuales de actualización de la realidad, el más básico e inmediato, común a ciencia y filosofía, o “aprehensión primordial de realidad”, el propio del “lógos” o meramente descriptivo,y el específico de la “razón” o formalmente explicativo. Es en este último nivel en el que sedesarrollan tanto la investigación científica como la metafísica. La razón nunca agota larealidad, y por eso su conocimiento es siempre penúltimo. De ahí la necesidad de hacerexplícitos sus fundamentos últimos, que son los propios de los dos estratos previos. (shrink)

I discuss Paolo Casalegno's objections to my views about semantic normativity as presented in my book Lexical Competence (MIT Press, 1997) and in a later paper. I argue that, contrary to Casalegno's claim, the phenomenon of semantic deference can be accounted for without having to appeal to an “objective” notion of reference, i.e. to the view that words have the reference they have independently of whatever knowledge or ability is available to or within the linguistic community. Against both Casalegno and (...) Timothy Williamson, I argue that a semantic norm based on objective reference would be really inapplicable, even though a speaker might believe to be guided by such a norm. (shrink)

Las ciencias de la vida, a la luz de la teoría de la evolución, están aportando, según A. Moya, un territorio mestizo que obliga a pensar desde la ciencia cuestiones que parecían patrimonio exclusivo de las humanidades: la naturaleza y sentido del ser humano y de la vida. Las preguntas metafísicas sobre el ser humano y la vida, propias de la tradición humanista, pasan ahora inexorablemente por la ciencia, por los hallazgos recientes en biología molecular y evolutiva, biogénetica, bioquímica, neurobiología, (...) sociobiología, psicología evolutiva, biocomputerización, etc. Entre cientificismo antihumanista y humanismo espiritualista, entre el desprecio de las humanidades y el desprecio de las ciencias —desprecio basado en la ignorancia mutua y/o en presupuestos ideológicos—, cabe un cientismo humanista, fiel a la mejor tradición intelectual de nuestra cultura. Contra este desencuentro, poco ilustrado, Moya muestra su convencimiento de que se debe y se puede superar ese hiato profundo, a partir, sobre todo, de los avances que la biología evolutiva, y en general las ciencias de la vida, podrían proporcionar como territorio común sobre el que pensar y desde el que pensar tanto la misma ciencia como la vida, tanto el sentido de la ciencia como el sentido de la vida humana. La aventura intelectual de A. Moya se presenta como un ejemplo de honestidad y de rigor, abogando contra cualquier reduccionismo por mantener abiertas las tensiones creativas entre biología y espíritu. (shrink)

El debate de la teoría de la evolución sigue vivo en torno a cuestiones fronterizas suscitadas desde la ética y desde la religión. Francisco J. Ayala, biólogo darwiniano y científico humanista, propone un equilibrio elegante en las relaciones entre ciencia, ética y religión, contra fundamentalismos cientistas y religiosos, considerando la teoría darwiniana de la selección natural como un regalo para la ciencia y para la teología, y defendiendo la compatibilidad de ambas para una visión más rica de la vida humana. (...) Los tres apartados de este escrito pueden valer como una primera introducción al pensamiento filosófico del profesor Ayala, que piensa desde la ciencia, pero más allá de la ciencia: 1) la revolución darwiniana, 2) la naturaleza humana biológica y cultural y 3) la complementariedad entre ciencia y religión. (shrink)

Microbes can influence host physiology and behavior in many ways. Here we review evidence suggesting that some microbes can contribute to host stress (and other microbes can contribute to increased resilience to stress). We explain how certain microbes, which we call “stress microbes,” can potentially benefit evolutionarily from inducing stress in a host, gaining access to host resources that can help fuel rapid microbial replication by increasing glucose levels in the blood, increasing intestinal permeability, and suppressing the immune system. Other (...) microbes, which we term “resilience microbes,” can potentially benefit from making hosts more resilient to stress. We hypothesize that “stress microbes” use a fast life history strategy involving greater host exploitation while “resilience microbes” use a slow life history strategy characterized by more aligned evolutionary interests with the host. In this paper, we review the evidence that microbes affect host stress and explain the evolutionary pressures that could lead microbes to manipulate host stress, discuss the physiological mechanisms that are known to be involved in both stress and microbial activity, and provide some testable predictions that follow from this hypothesis. (shrink)

África Occidental representa a día de hoy un lugar clave para la geopolítica del islam contemporáneo. Esta situación no es una nueva, al contrario, ya que es un territorio que históricamente ha estado ligado a la religión musulmana. Actualmente, esta región supone un lugar estratégico prioritario para los intereses de los países occidentales, de países musulmanes aliados de estos y de insurgentes y rebeldes ligados a ideologías neo-fundamentalistas. El objetivo de este trabajo es mostrar desde una perspectiva transdisciplinar el juego (...) geopolítico del islam en África Occidental, como influyen las diversas escuelas de pensamiento islámico contemporáneo en las identidades locales y que estrategias siguen las potencias actuales para intentar influir identitariamente en la zona. Para este propósito, abordaremos algunos hechos históricos acaecidos, especialmente, en Senegal, Mali, Nigeria y Mauritania. (shrink)

As an instrument for participatory technology development, Scenario-Based Design offers significant potential for an early inclusion of future users. Over the course of a 3-year research project, this method was examined as a procedure for participatory technology development. Methods and instruments aimed at achieving a potential user’s participation, and the resulting cooperation of heterogeneous social groups can be seen as translation tools. Their purpose is to act as translators between different social fields and the specific knowledge associated with them. These (...) translation capabilities and participatory methods should result in the best possible convergence of different orientations and purposes. In this paper, attempting to achieve the best possible convergence is described as a dilemma of alignment. Several approaches will be used to describe the dynamic of the alignment dilemma within the above-mentioned project. The reconstruction follows one question that is proposed as a heuristic pattern to meet the requirements of an accurate analysis of holistic participatory methods: Who or what has to adjust to whom or what, why, when, and in which way? The main conclusions include the finding that the alignment dilemma is not equally balanced, that the agency of epistemic objects within the process has to be captured, and that it is easy for translation—provided primarily by core instruments of the participatory method used—to begin to overwrite the needs and purposes of one social group with the interests and orientations of another. (shrink)

Introduction: Loss of employment is an experience that is lived and interpreted differently depending on a series of individual variables, including the psychological resources available to the affected person, as well as their perception of their degree of employability. Losing one’s job can be one of the most painful and traumatic events a person has to withstand. Following a dismissal, the worker needs to overcome a period of emotional adaptation to the loss. But that period of grieving can also condition (...) the process of job search of the person, and be influenced by different variables, highlighting the age and work experience. The objective of this study is to analyze the relationship between intensity and type of affliction due to the loss of employment in older workers and their level of employability. Method: We carried out a descriptive, analytical, cross-sectional study. The sample consisted of 140 unemployed participants, from 19 to 65 years of age, users of job Orientation in the Public Employment Service of Andalusia (España). Of the total participants, 66 were unemployed and over 45 years of age. They all took the Labour Insertion Potential Assessment Test, and the Texas Inventory revised adapted to job loss Results: Significant differences are shown in the grieving process due to loss of employment between both groups, with the older unemployed living the process more intensely. In relation to the employability potential, differences are found between both groups in terms of availability, perceived difficulties and fears. Interrelationships between total grieving intensity and the importance that older jobseekers give to work are also indicated. Conclusion:Loss of employment and the psychological and health consequences of this situation are identified with those that arise in the grieving process. Older workers present a series of features that determine that their job loss grieving process is more intense and lasts longer than that of other younger workers, regardless of whether the job loss was recent or not. On the other hand, it is shown that the intensity of grieving is related to the decrease of certain variables that are part of the concept of employability. (shrink)

A cognitive bias is a pattern of deviation in our judgment or our processing of what we perceive. Its raison d'être is the evolutionary need to produce immediate judgments in order to adopt a position quickly in response to stimuli, problems, or situations that catch our attention for some reason. They have a social dimension because they are present in the interactions and decision-making processes of ordinary life. They can be understood to be an adaptive response to human inability to (...) process all of the available information that we receive and selectively filter through biased reasoning or through procedures and heuristic rules. (shrink)

Constituye la primera publicación del Seminario Internacional de Jóvenes Investigadores, foro creado en el Instituto de Filosofía, perteneciente al Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas.

Jones & Love (J&L) contend that the Bayesian approach should integrate process constraints with abstract computational analysis. We agree, but argue that the fundamentalist/enlightened dichotomy is a false one: Enlightened research is deeply intertwined with the basic, fundamental work upon which it is based.

La lógica borrosa se ha definido como un sistema preciso de razonamiento, deducción y computación en el que los objetos del discurso se encuentran asociados a información que, por lo general, consideramos imprecisa, incompleta, incierta, poco fiable, parcialmente verdadera o parcialmente posible.

En el presente trabajo estudio el modo en que la novela Maldita yo entre las mujeres se apropia deconstructivamente de los principios y funciones de las novelas nacionales de América Latina, a fin de producir un efecto crítico en lo que respecta a la consolidación del régimen colonial en este espacio geopolítico y enfatizar en el carácter doloroso y desgarrado de la experiencia mestiza. De este modo, en lugar de que el sujeto mestizo sea representado en la novela como parte (...) de un romance que sirva de alegoría de un vínculo conciliatorio entre grupos sociales o étnicos en pugna; se articularía en torno a este sujeto, personificado en la Quintrala, mujer-mestiza-bruja, un ejercicio de violencia epistémica y de disciplinamiento identitario, que obtiene como respuesta de su parte la práctica de una estrategia de resistencia al poder colonial. (shrink)

Experimental high-energy and nuclear physics was created in Spain thanks to Joaquín Catalá de Alemany, who founded the Institute of Corpuscular Physics (IFIC) at the University of Valencia in 1950. The physics of photographic emulsions, cheap and easy to manipulate, were well adapted to the depressed situation in Spain following the Civil War. This essay describes how, using these techniques, Catalá de Alemany created a group, established links with international laboratories, and fostered a tradition that continues today.