The field of clinical ethics consultation has matured into a multidisciplinary profession, with clinical ethics consultants (CECs) being trained in bioethics, philosophy, theology, law, medicine, n...

International child rights law has the potential to change the way children are viewed and engaged by all social actors. It provides a child-centered perspective on all areas of children’s lives, including research with neonates. It differs from some bioethical perspectives by clearly articulating affirmative obligations owed to children and requiring rigorous monitoring mechanisms. The CRC’s focus on affirmative obligations and establishment of monitoring mechanisms provide additional useful elements that are not present in the dominant form of American pediatric bioethics.An (...) in-depth introduction to child rights and the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child is presented by Lansdown.. (shrink)

We estimate that 208,000 deep brain stimulation (DBS) devices have been implanted to address neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders worldwide. DBS Think Tank presenters pooled data and determined that DBS expanded in its scope and has been applied to multiple brain disorders in an effort to modulate neural circuitry. The DBS Think Tank was founded in 2012 providing a space where clinicians, engineers, researchers from industry and academia discuss current and emerging DBS technologies and logistical and ethical issues facing the field. (...) The emphasis is on cutting edge research and collaboration aimed to advance the DBS field. The Eighth Annual DBS Think Tank was held virtually on September 1 and 2, 2020 (Zoom Video Communications) due to restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting focused on advances in: (1) optogenetics as a tool for comprehending neurobiology of diseases and on optogenetically-inspired DBS, (2) cutting edge of emerging DBS technologies, (3) ethical issues affecting DBS research and access to care, (4) neuromodulatory approaches for depression, (5) advancing novel hardware, software and imaging methodologies, (6) use of neurophysiological signals in adaptive neurostimulation, and (7) use of more advanced technologies to improve DBS clinical outcomes. There were 178 attendees who participated in a DBS Think Tank survey, which revealed the expansion of DBS into several indications such as obesity, post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction and Alzheimer’s disease. This proceedings summarizes the advances discussed at the Eighth Annual DBS Think Tank. (shrink)

Existing research has examined if undergraduate factors influence chemistry and physics, or physical science, doctoral degree entry and whether variables during PhD programs associate with graduation. Yet research on the transition from bachelor’s degree to doctoral degree entry (i.e., PhD entry in less than 6 months, attainment of a master’s degree prior to doctoral degree entry, or working in a science-related job for more than a year prior to doctoral degree entry) on PhD degree graduation remains scarce. Our study examines (...) the transition from bachelor’s to doctoral degrees to see if experiences therein associate with female PhD graduation, after doctoral degree enrollment. Our logistic regression analysis, of female chemistry and physics doctorates (n = 867), indicated that attainment of a master’s degree did not change the likelihood of graduation, when compared to direct entry into physical science doctoral programs. Meanwhile working in a science-related job for a year or more is associated with a significantly lower likelihood of physical science doctoral graduation when compared to women who entered directly into PhD programs or received a master’s degree prior to enrollment. (shrink)

Ample research links mothers’ postpartum depression (PPD) to adverse interactions with their infants. However, most studies relied on general population samples, whereas a substantial number of women are at elevated depression risk. The purpose of this study was to describe mothers’ interactions with their 6- and 12-month-old infants among women at elevated risk, although with a range of symptom severity. We also identified higher-order factors that best characterized the interactions and tested longitudinal consistency of these factors from 6 to 12 (...) months of infant age. We leveraged data from eight projects across the United States (n = 647), using standardized depression measures and an adaptation of the NICHD Mother-Infant Interaction Scales. Overall, these depression-vulnerable mothers showed high levels of sensitivity and positive regard and low levels of intrusiveness, detachment, and negative regard with their infants. Factor analyses of maternal behaviors identified two overarching factors—“positive engagement” and “negative intrusiveness” that were comparable at 6 and 12 months of infant age. Mothers’ ability to regulate depressed mood was a key behavior that defined “positive engagement” in factor loadings. An exceptionally strong loading of intrusiveness on the second factor suggested its central importance for women at elevated depression risk. Mothers with severe depressive symptoms had significantly more “negative intrusiveness” and less “positive engagement” with their 6-month-old infants than women with moderate or fewer depressive symptoms, suggesting a potential tipping point at which symptoms may interfere with the quality of care. Results provide the foundation for further research into predictors and moderators of women’s interactions with their infant among women at elevated risk for PPD. They also indicate a need for evidence-based interventions that can support more severely depressed women in providing optimal care. (shrink)

B a c k g r o u n d. Deng Xiaoping is considered the main architect of socialist reforms and the founder of China's modernization theory. He mastered and developed the socialist system, trying to adjust it to the national conditions of China. Deng Xiaoping believed that it was by following the course of "socialism with Chinese characteristics" that China would transform from a poor country into a highly developed one. The article provides a theoretical reconstruction of the main (...) content of Deng Xiaoping's concept of "socialism with Chinese characteristics." The main philosophical and socio-political aspects of the concept of building socialism with Chinese characteristics are presented in a systematic form in the context of the foundations of Chineseization of Marxism. M e t h o d s. In the article, a historical-logical approach was used to reveal the specified research topic, which allowed us to determine the socio-political prerequisites for the emergence of Chineseized Marxism. An interdisciplinary approach made it possible to carry out a theoretical analysis of social, economic, and political changes in modern China, which were caused by the proposed theory of Deng Xiaoping's "socialism with Chinese characteristics". Systemic, structural-functional, and constructivist methods, as well as methods of synthesis and generalization, were also applied. R e s u l t s. Because of the above, the purpose of this study was to carry out a theoretical reconstruction of Deng Xiaoping's theory of building "socialism with Chinese characteristics" and to find out how his ideas influenced the development of modern China after the completion of the "Great Leap Forward" and the "Cultural Revolution" of Mao Zedong. The key features of Deng Xiaoping's proposed theory of "socialism with Chinese characteristics" were established, including the idea of democratization of society and implementation of the legal basis of state functioning; the beginning of a new period of "reforms and openness"; determining the course for socialist modernization; following Marxism-Leninism and the ideas of Mao Zedong. C o n c l u s i o n s. In conclusion, it can be noted that the main feature of Deng Xiaoping's ideas was that they were inextricably linked with the national and cultural traditions of Chinese civilization, starting from Confucianism and the gradual synthesis with Marxist ideology. Evaluating the theory of Deng Xiaoping, it can be defined as a relatively complete scientific system that covers the fields of philosophy, political economy, and scientific socialism, it contains the doctrine of socialist ideology, and the doctrine of the essence and ways of socialist development, theories of the reform of socialist political and economic systems, the theory of building a socialist country. (shrink)

In recent years the writings of Ludwig Wittgenstein have received much attention from philosophers in general and especially from philosophers interested in religion; and there is no doubt that Wittgenstein's legacy of thought is both highly suggestive and highly problematical. It seems likely, however, that the vogue which Wittgenstein now enjoys owes not a little to his peculiar place in the development of modern philosophy and, in particular, of that empiricist tradition in philosophy which stems from what has been called (...) the revolution in philosophy in the early decades of the present century. (shrink)

This article blends cultural history and theoretical psychology in a discussion of new treatment methods for psychiatric casualties that emerged early in World War II. It draws on philosophical hermeneutics and Hacking's historical ontology to clarify how our interpretation of this history inevitably reflects current struggles making sense of PTSD while efforts to understand this history can enrich present-day reflections about war neurosis and the social good. 2012 APA, all rights reserved).

In his book on Karl Barth Professor T. F. Torrance spoke at one point of ‘the great watershed of modern theology’. ‘There are,’ he wrote, 1 ‘two basic issues here. On the one hand, it is the very substance of the Christian faith that is at stake, and on the other hand, it is the fundamental nature of scientific method, in its critical and methodological renunciation of prior understanding, that is at stake. This is the great watershed of modern theology: (...) either we take the one way or the other – there is no third alter native… one must go either in the direction taken by Barth or in the direction taken by Bultmann.’. (shrink)

Noncompliance exasperates health care professionals, leaves them worrying about the effective outcome of medical care, and results in noncompliant patients being labelled as 'difficult' or 'troublesome'. It is suggested that professionals who label a patient as noncompliant are following convenient paternalistic principles rather than considering the impact of a prescribed regimen on an individual patient. In this paper, the author considers autonomy and respect to be foremost in patient care. Further, compliance does not necessarily indicate that both professional and patient (...) have developed a collaborative understanding relationship. Noncompliance is described as a lack of recognition by the health care professional of the meaning of the regimen to the patient. Treatment interventions will be most successful when the patient participates in the prescription. Without acknowledgement of the patient as an equal partner, and listening to his or her narrative, care will be, at best, paternalistic. Les soignants peuvent devenir exasperes par les malades qui n'acquiescent pas à leur traitement. Cela laisse les soignants souciant des résultats de leurs soins et abouti à ce que les malades sont qualifiés de difficiles ou insoumis. On propose ici que le personnel qui traite les malades d'insoumis suit des principes paternalistes plutôt que de considérer les suites des regimes prescrits pour les particuliers. Dans cet article l'auteur considère l'autonomie et le respet comme primordiaux pour les soins. L'acqiescement ne veut pas toujours dire que malades et infirmiers/ères ont développés des rapports collaborateurs. Le refus d'acquiescer est aperçu comme un manque de reconnaissance par la personne soignante de la significance du traitement médical du malade. Les interventions réussissent le mieux quant les malades participent à leurs soins. Si l'on n'accepte pas les malades comme partenaires en écoutant leurs récits, les soins sont au plus du paternalisme. Die Ablehnung der verordneten Behandlung durch die Patienten kann das Pflege personal zur Verzweiflung bringen und den Ausgang der Behandlung in Frage stellen und führt dazu, die Patienten als schwierig oder problematisch einzustrafen. Hier wird die Ansicht vertreten, dass das Pflegepersonal, das Patienten als unkooperativ oder ablehnend bezeichnet, einem paternalistischen Prinzip folgt und nicht an die Wirkung denkt, die die verschriebene Behandlung auf einzelne Patienten hat. In diesem Artikel bezeichnet die Autorin die Selstbestimmung der Patienten und den Respekt ihnen gegenüber als das Wichtigste in der Krankenpflege. Fügsamkeit deutet nicht unbedingt auf eine Zusammenarbeit zwischen Patienten und Pflegenden hin. Zuwiderhandlung der Patienten wird als Mangel an Verständnis von Seiten des Pflegepersonals gesehen, das die Bedeutung, die die Behandlung für Patienten hat, nicht einzuschatzen weiss. Die Behandlung wird nur dann den grösstmöglichen Erfolg bringen, wenn die Patienten daran teilnehmen. Wenn Patienten nicht als gleichberechtigte Partner angesehen werden, deren Meinungen gehört und respektiert werden, ist die Pflege höchstens patemalistisch. (shrink)

It is a curious fact that the much maligned ontological argument to prove the existence of God has in recent times enjoyed a revival of interest to which even Karl Barth, the arch-enemy of natural theology has contributed; but since the revival of interest has appared in a wide diversity of intellectual contexts, both philosophical and theological, the revival is itself almost as problematic as the argument itself.

Contributed articles on Buddhist doctrines and philosophy; festschrift in honor of Narayan Hemandas Samtani, Buddhist scholar.

In his article ‘Professor Bartley's Theory of Rationality and Religious Belief’ Mr W. D. Hudson has brought considerable clarification to the rather confused situation occasioned by Professor W. W. Bartley's book The Retreat to Commitment and its subsequent discussion; but the process can, I think, be carried still further.

The period between 1945 and 1952 marked the development of Professor Ryle's conception of the principles of inference as performance rules. This development has paralleled that of his now well-known distinction between knowing-how and knowing-that. Indeed, the former is a corollary to the latter. Beginning with the inaugural address to the Aristotelian Society in 1945 and reaching full fruition in The Concept of Mind in 1949, it finds its most detailed and illuminating expression in “‘If’, ‘So’, and ‘Because’,” which appeared (...) in 1950. The present essay will attempt to explore this conception of rules in some detail, in the hope of clarifying the nature of Professor Ryle's views on classical logic and on certain problems within the philosophy of logic. Professor Ryle belongs, if his views may be so labeled, to the school of informal language analysts. On the other hand, we incline more toward formalism. We tend to agree with those philosophers who consider certain schemata indispensable tools for the solution of philosophical problems. Logic and the philosophy of logic are, as everyone knows, the areas in which the formalists’ technique originated. In these areas it is accepted by virtually everybody. The only recent exception is a group of English writers, many of whom take their inspiration from Ryle. One may hope, then, that the present criticism of Ryle's view from the other standpoint will throw some light on both positions. What follows falls naturally into two parts. The first deals mainly with Ryle's objections to current logical theory, the second with his own philosophy of logic. (shrink)

Do people morally deserve what they earn in the market? More specifically, can people legitimately claim to deserve what they earn in the market in a way that counts against redistributing those earnings? As most liberal political philosophers do, I argue that the answer is no. Unlike many of these philosophers, however, I do not focus on whether or not people can be deserving. Instead, I focus on the relationship between social institutions and moral desert, and advance two claims. First, (...) in the market, desert claims are undermined by the very nature of the market even if people can be deserving in general. Second, part of the intuition that motivates accounts of moral desert may be explained instead with reference to a principle of fairness that demands the fulfillment of people's legitimate expectations as to what they will receive, and this principle places much weaker restrictions on redistributive policies than do claims of moral desert. (shrink)

Dewey's 1896 paper, "The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology," was acclaimed 50 years later as the most important paper published in The Psychological Review in its first half-century of history. Today, Dewey's paper appears to be headed toward oblivion. Considering it worthy of resurrection, we use it as a starting point for tracing out the gradual evolution of Dewey and Bentley's formulation of their transactional viewpoint to its culmination in their book, Knowing and the Known. An exposition of the transactional (...) paradigm is developed via competing, contemporary self-actional and interactional theoretical systems. Then, the space-time postulates of self-actional, interactional, and transactional approaches are spelled out as they enter into philosophical, biological and psychological inquiry. Among prevailing theories, most of which fall into the self-actional/interactional categories, Kantor's interbehavioral viewpoint stands apart from the rest. And while it shares a certain similarity with the transactional approach, the historical record should document it as an independent and parallel development, dating back to Kantor's first publications almost seven decades ago. Furthermore, Kantor's system goes far beyond Dewey and Bentley's "unfractured observation," by providing highly refined analytic procedures in his theoretical constructs. (shrink)

This paper examines the US Atomic Energy Commission's radioisotope distribution program, established in 1946, which employed the uranium piles built for the wartime bomb project to produce specific radioisotopes for use in scientific investigation and medical therapy. As soon as the program was announced, requests from researchers began pouring into the Commission's office. During the first year of the program alone over 1000 radioisotope shipments were sent out. The numerous requests that came from scientists outside the United States, however, sparked (...) a political debate about whether the Commission should or even could export radioisotopes. This controversy manifested the tension between the aims of the Marshall Plan and growing US national security concerns after World War II. Proponents of international circulation of radioisotopes emphasized the political and scientific value of collaborating with European scientists, especially biomedical researchers. In the end, radioisotopes were shipped from the Commission's Oak Ridge facility to many laboratories in England and continental Europe, where they were used in biochemical research on animals, plants, and microbes. However, the issue of radioisotope export continued to draw political fire in the United States, even after the establishment of national atomic energy facilities elsewhere. (shrink)

Objectives To investigate risk perception relating to living kidney donation, to compare the risk donors would accept with current practice and identify influential factors. Design An observational study consisting of questionnaires completed by previous living donors and the general public. Participants selected the risk they would accept from a list of options, in various scenarios. Risk communication was investigated by randomly dividing the sample and presenting risk differently. Setting Primary care (two centres) and secondary care (one centre), London. Participants 175 (...) questionnaires were sent to patients who had previously undergone living-donor nephrectomy and to members of the public consulting a general practitioner. The living-donor sample comprised 77 consecutive donors at Guy's Hospital from May 2003 to January 2005. The general-public sample was recruited from two London healthcare centres. Of the eventual 151 participants, 61 were living donors and 90 were from the general public. Main outcome measure The amount of risk a participant would accept to donate a kidney. Results 74% of participants were willing to accept a risk of death higher than 1/3000. The most commonly accepted risk was 1/2 (29%). Those presented with a ‘chance of survival’ accepted higher risks than those presented with a ‘risk of death’ (p<0.01). Greater risks were accepted when the recipient was closely related and, for some, when the recipient's prognosis was worse. No difference was observed between the living-donor and general-public groups. Conclusions Kidney donors will accept a higher risk of death than is currently quoted, especially if risks are presented in terms of chance of survival. (shrink)