In this article I argue for an interpretive approach to bioethics with critically ill children. I begin by highlighting the dominant Anglo-American bioethical framework that defines standards for ethical care in critically ill children and then outline a critique of this framework. Drawing predominantly on the ideas of Charles Taylor, Michael Walzer and Richard Zaner, I call for a reconception of bioethics and propose an interpretive ‘thick’ framework that is centred on culture and context. Finally, I illustrate this interpretive approach (...) through a comparative study of two cases in pediatric intensive care: the narratives of Marc and Larry. These case studies reveal that ethical dilemmas in pediatric critical care can be traced to relational tensions over respect, trust and power rooted in the disparity of moral horizons among the persons involved. (shrink)

Accepted standards of parental decisional autonomy and child best interests do not address adequately the complex moral problems involved in the care of critically ill children. A growing body of moral discourse is calling for the recognition of `tragedy' in selected human problems. A tragic dilemma is an irresolvable dilemma with forced terrible alternatives, where even the virtuous agent inescapably emerges with `dirty hands'. The shift in moral framework described here recognizes that the form of conduct called for by tragic (...) dilemmas is the practice of phronesis. The phronetic agent has acquired a capacity to discern good agency in tragic circumstances. This discernment is practiced through the artful creation of moral narratives: stories that convey that which is morally meaningful in a particular situation; that is, stories that are `meaning making'. The phronetic agent addresses tragic dilemmas involving children as a narrator of contextualized temporal embodied human (counter)stories. (shrink)

Oscar de Beaux was professor of Zoology at Genova University and then director of Civil Museum of Natural History in the same town. The first contributions of de Beaux which included elements of biological ethics concerned the european bison of Bialowieza and the brown bear of the Alps between 1923–1929. In 1930 de Beaux published his most important study called “Biological ethics: an attempt to arouse a naturalistic conscience”, translated also in german (1932) and in english (1933). According to Oscar (...) de Beaux, biological ethics is the study and definition of man's moral position before the living beings which do not belong to the humane race, beginning with the morale premise that man was not able to create the species. With these outlook, man takes on a decisively active and intelligent position regarding the problem of conserving nature and its resources; on the basis of this definition of morality man becomes the wise administrator of life on earth. (shrink)

This article reviews empirical evidence and ethical norms in cross-linguistic nursing. Empirical evidence highlights that linguistic barriers between nurses and patients can perpetuate discrimination and compromise nursing care. There are significant organizational and relational challenges involved in ensuring adequate use of interpreters by nurses. Some evidence suggests that linguistic barriers are particularly problematic for nurses when compared with physicians. A comparative analysis of nursing ethical norms for cross-linguistic nursing was conducted using the codes of ethics of the American Nurses Association, (...) the Canadian Nurses Association, and the International Council of Nurses. Five principal ethical norms for cross-linguistic nursing were identified: (1) respect for the patient as a unique person; (2) respect for the patient’s right to self-determination; (3) respect for patient privacy and confidentiality; (4) responsibility for one’s own competence, judgment, and action; and (5) responsibility to promote action better to meet the needs of patients, families, and groups. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to highlight the under-recognized merits of clinical ethics committees (CECs), to help ensure that the development of roles for clinical ethics consultants do not unwittingly compromise the valuable contributions that CECs can continue to provide. I argue that CECs can offer distinctive contributions to the clinical ethics consultation process that can complement and enrich the input provided by a clinical ethics consultant. These distinctions and complementarities should be further examined and developed. This will help (...) to optimize the synergistic contributions that CECs and clinical ethics consultants can make to promote the ethical treatment of patients and their families. (shrink)

The heristic argument with which Meno questions the possibility of inquiry and knowledge is tackled by Socrates through the reference to an archaic and religious doctrine, according to which the soul is immortal and has seen all things. Through this reference Socrates actually wants to affirm the affinity between the soul and the world of forms. So behind the myth of the prenatal vision of forms by the soul Plato intends to assert the ontological condition of the soul, that is, (...) its affinity to forms. (shrink)

Among Benjamin Libet's experiments on the relationship between consciousness and neural activity, those pointing at a substantive difference between subjective timing of a sensory experience and the experimental measure of the time needed to produce that experience appear particularly interesting. From a subjective standpoint, one is immediately conscious of a sensory experience, whereas, as a result of objective measured time of reaction, unconscious neural activation in the presence of a sensory stimulus begins 500 msec before one being aware of the (...) stimulus. In order to compensate this discrepancy, Libet introduces the notion of antedating. However, there is no fully satisfactory answer to the question about the conditions of possibility for antedating. Therefore, the very notion of antedating is highly problematic, though not infertile: the paradoxes present in this conception foster a profound review of the meaning of our experience of time and of the relationships between objective and subjective time. (shrink)

Il saggio esamina la produzione musicale dell'ultimo trentennio alla luce degli accadimenti più importanti che hanno caratterizzato la recente storia del mondo globalizzato. La molteplicità di proposte offerte dalla scena musicale contemporanea, nei campi popular, 'classica' e jazz, presenta caratteristiche di livellamento estetico e produttivo nonché di reciproca contaminazione e meticciato frutto dell'esaurirsi di una progettualità lineare e chiara sostituita dall'accavallarsi di esperienze individuali, provvisorie e superficialmente seducenti il cui scopo primario è da un lato la comunicazione, dall'altro la conquista (...) del mercato attraverso sconfinamenti e ibridazioni in grado di sollecitare estemporaneo quanto effimero interesse. Il saggio propone una periodizzazione del manifestarsi di questo fenomeno segnata da alcuni eventi epocali, sul piano storico, sociale ed economico che in parte hanno influito sulla produzione musicale del periodo in esame, in parte ne sono stati anche una conseguenza. Al crollo del muro di Berlino del 1989 non è estranea la diffusione globale, tramite emittenti televisive, della popular music di stampo occidentale con messaggi nell'ambito del consumismo e delle libertà individuali che hanno sollecitato lo spirito di omologazione delle giovani generazioni delle nazioni del blocco dell'est; l'estinguersi della guerra fredda a sua volta ha favorito il superamento di ideologie e di programmi estetici formalizzati in favore di libere quanto 'anarchiche' manifestazioni della creatività. A seguito di altri snodi epocali quali il crollo delle Twin towers (2001) e quello del sistema finanziario internazionale (2008) la produzione musicale ha intensificato l'esplorazione di inediti percorsi creativi ed il superamento di confini stilistici e produttivi a compensazione dello smarrimento di linee guida organiche e coerenti ed in risposta alla cresciuta domanda di un uso compulsivo dell'ascolto musicale sollecitato dalle recenti tecnologie digitali. (shrink)

Vladimir Jankelevitch nato nel 1903 da genitori russi nel 1933 consegue il dottorato con due tesi, un a fondamentale e L'odissee de la con science dans la derniere philosophie de Schelling, l'altra complementare s'intitola Valeur et signification de la mauvaise con science. Queste opere contengono gia molti spunti e dimostrano una certa sensibilita di moralista. Intanto dopo aver insegnato in vari licei arrivo la seconda guerra mondiale e nonostante faccia parte della Resistenza contro i tedeschi, continua a scrivere: a Lione (...) nel 1942 vengono pubblicate Du mensogne e Le nocturne. Scrive nelle sue opere che quelli erano tempi in cui si combatteva per una speranza assurda e contro ogni buon senso non si voleva capitolare; tempi in cui gli eroi della resistenza sapevano morire senza parlare, nonostante i piu feroci supplizi. Autore prolifero fu anche musicologo e strumentista. Jankelevitch vede la dignita dell'uomo nella sua azione, sottolineando l'importanza della liberta come fondamento della soprannaturalita umana, in quanto ci permette di superare le tendenze della nostra natura e di dedicarci all'ideale dell'amore. In una trattazione morale, si presuppongono le caratteristiche della volonta, la sua liberta il suo potere e i suoi limiti considerazioni piuttosto a carattere fenomenologico. L'attenzione dell'autore si concentra invece sull'analisi dell'agire umano, le sue qualita intime, dunque invece di vedere la dottrina morale gia costituita la vede nel suo rapportarsi a questo centro soggettivo che e la volonta. (shrink)