Always connect—that is the imperative of today’s media. But what about those moments when media cease to function properly, when messages go beyond the sender and receiver to become excluded from the world of communication itself—those messages that state: “There will be no more messages”? In this book, Alexander R. Galloway, Eugene Thacker, and McKenzie Wark turn our usual understanding of media and mediation on its head by arguing that these moments reveal the ways the impossibility of communication is (...) integral to communication itself—instances they call excommunication. In three linked essays, _Excommunication_ pursues this elusive topic by looking at mediation in the face of banishment, exclusion, and heresy, and by contemplating the possibilities of communication with the great beyond. First, Galloway proposes an original theory of mediation based on classical literature and philosophy, using Hermes, Iris, and the Furies to map out three of the most prevalent modes of mediation today—mediation as exchange, as illumination, and as network. Then, Thacker goes boldly beyond Galloway’s classification scheme by examining the concept of excommunication through the secret link between the modern horror genre and medieval mysticism. Charting a trajectory of examples from H. P. Lovecraft to Meister Eckhart, Thacker explores those instances when one communicates or connects with the inaccessible, dubbing such modes of mediation “haunted” or “weird” to underscore their inaccessibility. Finally, Wark evokes the poetics of the infuriated swarm as a queer politics of heresy that deviates from both media theory and the traditional left. He posits a critical theory that celebrates heresy and that is distinct from those that now venerate Saint Paul. Reexamining commonplace definitions of media, mediation, and communication, _Excommunication_ offers a glimpse into the realm of the nonhuman to find a theory of mediation adequate to our present condition. (shrink)

These essays examine how some perennial problems in philosophy and religion are significant for understanding contemporary life. Issues discussed include: capitalism; public philosophy; man-made mass death; psychoanalysis; feminism; fundamentalism; and the desire to be happy.

If stem cell-based therapies are developed, we will likely confront a difficult problem of justice: for biological reasons alone, the new therapies might benefit only a limited range of patients. In fact, they might benefit primarily white Americans, thereby exacerbating long-standing differences in health and health care.

Book reviewed in this article: Ethical Issues in Social Research. Edited by Tom L. Beauchamp, Ruth R. Faden, R. Jay Wallace, Jr., and LeRoy Walters. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982. xii + 436 pp. $25.00 (hardcover); $8.95 (paper). Ethics of Human Subject Research. Edited by Allan J. Kimmel, Jr. San Francisco: Jossey‐Bass, 1981. 106 pp. $6.95 (paper). Social Research Ethics. Edited by Martin Bulmer. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1982. xiv + 284 pp. $39.50 (hardcover); $14.50 (paper). (...) The Ethics of Social Research: Field‐work, Regulation and Publication. Edited by Joan E. Sieber. New York: Springer‐Verlag, 1982. x + 187 pp. $23.50 (hardcover). The Ethics of Social Research: Surveys and Experiments. Edited by Joan E. Sieber. New York: Springer‐Verlag, 1982. xii + 249 pp. $23.50 (hardcover). (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 10.2 (2000) 171-174 [Access article in PDF] Bioethics Inside the Beltway The Oversight of Human Gene Transfer Research LeRoy Walters Jesse Gelsinger's death last September in a gene transfer study being conducted at the University of Pennsylvania has helped to spark a national debate. In part, this debate parallels the broader discussion of how human subjects research should be reviewed and regulated in (...) the United States. However, human gene transfer research is one of a handful of biomedical technologies that seem to deserve special attention, at least in the early years of their development.The major participants in the national debate on human gene transfer include the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Bioethics Advisory Commission, members of Congress, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, disease-oriented advocacy groups, reporters, and academics. At the December 1999 meeting of the NIH Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC), the protocol that involved Jesse Gelsinger was a central focus of discussion, but other topics emerged as well. One ad hoc panel reviewed adverse events that had occurred in other research protocols using adenovirus vectors, while a second proposed changes in the general system for reporting adverse events to NIH and the RAC.During the first several months of the year 2000, the United States Congress also became involved in the human gene transfer debate. In February, Senator Bill Frist (R-TN) convened a hearing to which Jesse Gelsinger's father, representatives of NIH and FDA, and several other witnesses were invited. At approximately the same time, the House Commerce Committee and its Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations initiated their own inquiries, asking the Office of Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services to review the oversight roles of NIH and FDA. In March and April, the House committee also wrote directly to the NIH Director, the FDA Commissioner, and the President of the University of Pennsylvania, requesting extensive documentation on gene transfer, in general, and the trial in which Jesse Gelsinger was involved, in particular. Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) have also raised questions and proposed solutions in multiple letters to the NIH Director and the Secretary of Health and Human Services. [End Page 171]The major general questions that have emerged from this discussion are the following:(1) What kinds of information about adverse events should be reported by researchers or sponsors during the course of human gene transfer trials?(2) To what group or groups should adverse-event information be reported? How often and in what ways should the information be analyzed?(3) Should the information about adverse events remain confidential, or should it be discussed publicly?(4) How can the disclosure and consent process in gene transfer trials be improved?(5) Which federal agency should have primary responsibility for overseeing human gene transfer research, and how can it best fulfill its oversight role?How these questions are answered will have immediate relevance to the field of human gene transfer research as it enters into its next phase. At the same time, the models that are created for this important cutting-edge field also may be useful in other complex or controversial arenas of biomedical research, for example, xenotransplantation or human embryonic stem-cell research. In addition, the lessons learned from this one important area of human subjects research may suggest ways to improve protections for all the volunteers who make clinical research--and medical progress--possible.In the remainder of this article, I will turn from reporting, in as objective a way as possible, on the status of the public policy debate about human gene transfer research to suggesting measures for improving the current oversight system for such research. My initial general recommendation is that we should not expect a single regulatory agency to be solely responsible for a field as large and dynamic as human gene transfer research. Rather, there should be some helpful redundancy or, to change the metaphor, checks and balances in the public oversight of this field. Thus, an... (shrink)

The individualism and restless mobility of modernity have become disorienting and frightening. Our nostalgia for premodern times when natural bonds to kith and kin were unshakable continues to surface, most recently in the popular phenomenon of support groups. On Community examines this crucial philosophical issue of community for the postmodern mind by presenting 13 readable, original essays by some of the top experts currently working on this problem. The first four essays, by Eliot Deutsch, R. W. Hepburn, Hilary Putnam, and (...) Leroy S. Rouner, examine philosophies of community, emphasizing metaphysical analysis and definition of the nature of community. The second section considers the theme in a cross-cultural context. Merry I. White, Katherine Platt, Benjamin Schwartz, and Huston Smith illustrate in this section the various ways in which community is understood and experienced in Japan, North Africa, China, and India. The final section, which contains contributions by Patrick Hill, Jurgen Moltmann, Catherine Keller, and George Rupp, explores the future of community, focusing on community building in Western societies. While the authors represent diverse interests, they also share common ground. Virtually all agree that a creative community needs some form of individualism in order to make a community effective. And there is a consensus among the essays that community is a good thing and that the quest for community in our time is a significant fact. Finally, the contributors suggest that the critique of the liberal view of the autonomous individual, in vogue in recent years, now seems to have waned. (shrink)

Le rôle de David Hume dans la philosophie moderne, par A. L. Leroy.--The enlightenment of David Hume, by E. C. Mossner.--Hume and Jurieu: possible Calvinist origins of Hume's theory of belief, by R. H. Popkin.--Hume: philosopher or psychologist? A problem of exegesis, by T. E. Jessop.--L'astrazione nella filosofia di Hume, di M. Dal Pra.--Infinite divisibility in Hume's "Treatise," by A. Flew.--Note a "La rgola del gusto," di E. Migliorini.--Kant, Hamann-Jacobi and Schelling on Hume, by P. Merlan.--Bibliografia humiana dal 1937 (...) al 1966, di E. Ronchetti. (shrink)

La derni re dition des Lettres sur les animaux, ouvrage de l'encyclop diste mineur Charles-George Le Roy, date de 1896. Cette nouvelle dition propose une pr sentation tr s respecteuse de la pens e originale de l'auteur, elle pr cise dans quelles circonstances les divers l ments du livre furent successivement publi s et retrace son volution depuis les articles HOMME (Morale) et INSTINCT de l'Encyclop die jusqu' l' dition compl te de 1802. L'introduction situe les Lettresdans l'uvre de Le (...) Roy qui, comptant l' criture parmi ses activit s, fut d'autant plus m l aux conflits d'id es de l' poque. Des documents in dits permettent d' tablir avec exactitude combien Le Roy a su mettre profit ses fonctions de lieutenant des chasses des Parcs de Versailles pour exercer ses talents d'auteur. A la lumi re de divers autres documents, et parmi eux des in dits, il appara t que Le Roy fr quentait quelques-uns des penseurs les plus connus de l' poque (Condillac, Buffon, Diderot, Helv tius, d'Holbach), ainsi que des personnalit s de la haute soci t (en particulier Mme de Marchais), deux mondes don't l'influence est perceptible dans les Lettres sur les animaux. Celles-ci font cho non seulement aux crivains que leur auteur connaissit personnellement, mais aussi aux nombreux autres qu'il avait lus, notamment Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau. Inspir et nourri de ces contacts scientifiques, litt raires et philosophiques, Le Roy a su s'en d gager pour d velopper sa propre pens e et, l'image de l'excellent accueil que les contemporains et la post rit ont r serv l'ouvrage, ses id es ne peuvent qu' veiller un vif int r t. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:BOOK REVIEWS 269 severally through hearing, tasting, and smelling, so that we should have on our hands five spatially unrelated spaces. He can find no reason for abandoning the spontaneous commonsense conviction that the puffing I hear is that of the locomotive I am looking at, that the chocolate I am tasting is the one I have put in my mouth, that what I am smelling is the rose (...) I am seeing and also perhaps holding; and, to return to Berkeley, that I perceive the surface I am seeing to be the very one that I am touching with my finger. Mr. Armstrong seems to be laying down the basis of a general theory of perception, that no given perception can be reduced to the datum proper to the sense-organ used plus an associate, a guess, or an inference. To turn this negative statement into a positive one, to say what the activity is that grasps more than the presumed datum, and what makes it reliable, is, as the history of the theory of perception makes plain, desperately hard. Far from grumbling at Mr. Armstrong for not having gone forward to this task, I am grateful for his having given us a book that is so intelligent, acute, clear, stimulating, and blessedly concise--one that deserves to be read by anyone interested in Berkeley, or the theory of vision, or the theory of perception generally. T. E. Jzssov Hull, England Studies in the Philosophy of David Hume. A new edition. By Charles W. Hendel. (Indianapolis, New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1963. 14 x 21. Pp. li + 516.) Cette nouvelle 6dition des Studies a subi d'importants changements non seulement dans sa pr6sentation, mais aussi dans son esprit. Elle nous prouve combien la pens6e d'un homme se d6veloppe sans cesse et s'enrichit. L'interpr&ation d'un philosophe et la pens& m~me du philosophe ont connu et connaissent encore ces transformations. La pens& humaine ne consid~re jamais sa t$che comme achev&. C'est pourquoi nous ne devons jamais cesser d'ftendre le champ de nos &udes philosophiques pour provoquer la naissance de nouvelles comparaisons f&ondes. Nous y passons certes beaucoup de temps, en retour, nous discernons mieux les complexit6s de la nature humaine. Nous savions d6jh qu'il y avait plusieurs Platon, car le progr& de l'homme se poursuivait de dialogue en dialogue; nous savons maintenant qu'il y a plusieurs David Hume, et que le Hume de Kant ou le Hume du dernier siecle, ne peuvent plus 6tre les n6tres. Comme le remarque Charles Hendel, dans son introduction, vingt-cinq annfes ont suffi h renouveler l'interpr&ation que nous donnions de Hume. Aujourd'hui c'est l'imagination qui se forme l'habitude de repr&enter par un seul mot une collection d'id&s semblables et qui nous sugg~re d'user de l'id& de causalit~ pour interpr&er le retour de cons&utions analogues. C'est aussi l'imagination, plus que la raison, qui nous r&~le la probabilit~ d'un &6nement donn6. Hendel nous rapelle aussi que Buder pourrait bien avoir inspir6 ~t Hume l'importance morale de la sympathie, et que l'Alciphron de Berkeley aurait sugg6r6 le Cl~anthe des Dialogues sur la Religion Naturelle. Hendel a 6galement raison d'insister sur l'importance des interpr&ations de Norman Kemp Smith. Cette nouvelle et si 6rudite &ude de Hendel nous fait mieux comprendre ~ la fois les variations des pens6es de Hume, de Kemp Smith et de Hendel lui-m~me. Nous sommes ainsi mieux avertis des difficult6s de l'histoire de la philosophie, dues non seulement au d6veloppement des sciences, mais aussi du progr&s moral et spirituel, sujet h tant de fluctuations dans l'histoire et m~me, ~t une m~me epoque, d'homme h homme. Aussi cette nouvelle ~dition ne manquera pas d'apporter de nouvelles dart& h nombre de ses lecteurs. ANDV.a~ Lotas LEROY Sorbonne... (shrink)

Book reviewed in this article: Ethical Issues in Social Research. Edited by Tom L. Beauchamp, Ruth R. Faden, R. Jay Wallace, Jr., and LeRoy Walters. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982. xii + 436 pp. $25.00 (hardcover); $8.95 (paper). Ethics of Human Subject Research. Edited by Allan J. Kimmel, Jr. San Francisco: Jossey‐Bass, 1981. 106 pp. $6.95 (paper). Social Research Ethics. Edited by Martin Bulmer. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1982. xiv + 284 pp. $39.50 (hardcover); $14.50 (paper). (...) The Ethics of Social Research: Field‐work, Regulation and Publication. Edited by Joan E. Sieber. New York: Springer‐Verlag, 1982. x + 187 pp. $23.50 (hardcover). The Ethics of Social Research: Surveys and Experiments. Edited by Joan E. Sieber. New York: Springer‐Verlag, 1982. xii + 249 pp. $23.50 (hardcover). (shrink)

This volume brings together a number of essays on various historical and thematic problems in the philosophy of Leibniz. The contributors include Prof. Leclerc, Milic Capek, Nicholas Rescher, N. L. Wilson, and Leroy E. Loemker. The book represents a kind of retrospective show of Prof. Loemker’s contribution to Leibniz scholarship, the other essays emphasizing points upon which he has commented less fully. As such the book serves three major functions: 1) it is a splendid introduction to Leibniz’ thought and (...) his historical context as a whole; 2) it complements nicely Professor Loemker’s recent study of the background to Leibniz’ thought ; 3) it puts into proper perspective another recent collection of English and American essays on Leibniz, in which Prof. Loemker is not represented. The essays are grouped under three headings, "Investigations," "Assessments," and "Historical Studies," corresponding in general to expository, critical and historical matters. (shrink)

Part of the Philosophes series, this very useful introduction to Locke opens with a little ceremony which really does seem necessary in order to assure French readers of the relevance of foreign thinkers. It takes the form here of Voltaire's praise of Locke in his thirteenth Lettre philosophique. Voltaire's consecration however does serve to cast some eighteenth century light on Locke, which is an excellent way to begin the subject. There follows an outline of Locke's life and philosophy, with brief (...) considerations of the Letter on Tolerance and Two Treatises on Government, and an extended treatment of the four books of the Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Leroy uses a method of paraphrase with very limited commentary, a good device for getting inside a subject but one which involves a sacrifice in perspective. Some sixty pages of excerpts from the Essay are well chosen, indexed, and provided with topic headings. A minimal bibliography follows.--C. M. R. (shrink)

Much of our understanding of human thinking is based on probabilistic models. This innovative book by Jerome R. Busemeyer and Peter D. Bruza argues that, actually, the underlying mathematical structures from quantum theory provide a much better account of human thinking than traditional models. They introduce the foundations for modelling probabilistic-dynamic systems using two aspects of quantum theory. The first, 'contextuality', is a way to understand interference effects found with inferences and decisions under conditions of uncertainty. The second, 'quantum entanglement', (...) allows cognitive phenomena to be modeled in non-reductionist ways. Employing these principles drawn from quantum theory allows us to view human cognition and decision in a totally new light. Introducing the basic principles in an easy-to-follow way, this book does not assume a physics background or a quantum brain and comes complete with a tutorial and fully worked-out applications in important areas of cognition and decision. (shrink)

What is conscientious objection? -- Should conscientious objectors be accommodated? -- Assessing objectors' beliefs and reasons -- Accommodation and conscientious provision.

Medieval interpretations of hylomorphism, in which substances are conceived as metaphysical composites of prime matter and substantial form, are receiving attention in contemporary philosophy. It has even been suggested that a recovery of Aquinas's conception of prime matter as a ‘pure potentiality’, lacking any actuality apart from substantial form, may be expedient in hylomorphic interpretations of quantum mechanics. In this paper, we consider a recent hylomorphic interpretation of non-relativistic quantum mechanics, the theory of Cosmic Hylomorphism, which does not explicitly invoke (...) any notion of prime matter in its original formulation. We argue that prime matter does in fact play a role in constituting and individuating particles in this theory. However, we demonstrate that the notion of prime matter which features in the extended version of Cosmic Hylomorphism that we propose here is distinct from Aquinas's conception of prime matter, inasmuch as it has discrete metaphysical parts. (shrink)

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses an increasing threat to patient care and population health and there is a growing need for novel therapies to tackle AMR. Bacteriophage (phage) therapy is a re-emerging antimicrobial strategy with the potential to transform how bacterial infections are treated in patients and populations. Currently, in the UK, phages can be used as unlicensed medicinal products on a ‘named-patient’ basis. We make an ethical case for why it is crucially important for the UK to invest in Good (...) Manufacturing Practice (GMP) for both ongoing unlicensed and future licensed phage therapy. Access to phages produced to GMP (GMP phages) will ensure effective patient care and better outcomes as well as health systems benefits. The UK also has the potential to become a global leader in the timely and cost-efficient manufacturing and supply of a therapy that meets internationally recognised standards. (shrink)

This book puts forward a radical, unorthodox thesis with respect to the Anthropocene, the philosophy of Deleuze/Guattari and education. This book analyses the Anthropocene for its unconscious drives and develops a parallel mode of education and social change.

_This paper discusses the concept of compassion fatigue in light of the importance that political decisions, especially the application of the concept of public spirit, have had on care and nursing in a Danish hospital context during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper is based on recent research literature in the field as well as the author’s own participatory observation study. The paper suggests that nurses already show a sense of public spirit due to their authorization and professional ethics, but at (...) the same time they must balance the ambiguity of nursing care. A linguistic-philosophical study of public spirit shows that the concept can have a discursive, double-binding and interpellative effect on nurses, who may therefore have an experience of inadequacy and compassion fatigue. In this context, compassion fatigue must be understood as the fact that nurses cannot provide the care they want or that is expected of them. Public spirit can be said to have had a renaissance and linguistic and moral supremacy during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper views the concept of __waywardness 1 as a possible response for how to prevent or completely avoid compassion fatigue, so that nurses instead have an experience of compassion / self-compassion. This could in the end be important for encouraging more nursing students and nurses who have the desire and opportunity to stay in the profession._ _Keywords_: Nursing care, compassion fatigue, public spirit, compassion, COVID-19 pandemic. (shrink)

We understand the workings of the human body as a series of interdependent physiological relationships: muscle interacts with bone as the heart responds to hormones secreted by the brain, all the way down to the inner workings of every cell. To make an organism function, no one component can work alone. In light of this, why is it that the accepted understanding that the physical phenomenon of the mind is attributed only to the brain? In The Embodied Mind, internationally renowned (...) psychiatrist Dr. Thomas R. Verny sets out to redefine our concept of the mind and consciousness. He brilliantly compiles new research that points to the mind's ties to every part of the body. The Embodied Mind collects disparate findings in physiology, genetics, and quantum physics in order to illustrate the mounting evidence that somatic cells, not just neural cells, store memory, inform genetic coding, and adapt to environmental changes-all behaviors that contribute to the mind and consciousness. Cellular memory, Verny shows, is not just an abstraction, but a well-documented scientific fact that will shift our understanding of memory. Verny describes single-celled organisms with no brains demonstrating memory, and points to the remarkable case of a French man who, despite having a brain just a fraction of the typical size, leads a normal life with a family and a job. The Embodied Mind shows how intelligence and consciousness-traits traditionally attributed to the brain alone-also permeate our entire being. Bodily cells and tissues use the same molecular mechanisms for memory as our brain, making our mind more fluid and adaptable than we could have ever imaged. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Basic Resources in Bioethics*Mary Carrington Coutts (bio)OrganizationsKennedy Institute of Ethics Georgetown University Washington, DC 20057 National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature 800-MED-ETHX or 202-687-3885The Hastings Center 255 Elm Road Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510 914-762-8500Society for Health and Human Values 6728 Old McLean Village Drive McLean, VA 22101 703-556-9222NOTE: There are numerous organizations in the United States and abroad that deal with bioethical issues. For a more comprehensive listing of (...) those organizations, see:American Hospital Association. Directory of Biomedical Ethics Organizations. Chicago: American Hospital Association, 1989.National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature. International Directory of Bioethics Organizations edited by Robert Iosco. Washington, DC: Georgetown University, 1986.Encyclopedia and DictionaryDictionary of Medical Ethics. Edited by A.S. Duncan, G.R. Dunstan, and R.B. Welborn. New rev. ed. New York: Crossroad, 1981. [End Page 75]Encyclopedia of Bioethics. Edited by Warren T. Reich. 4 vols. New York: Macmillan-Free Press, 1978; or 1982 reprint in 2 volumes available to members of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics through the membership office, 202-687-8099.Online DatabaseBioethicsline. Produced by the Kennedy Institute of Ethics for the National Library of Medicine. Searchable through the MEDLARS system. Focuses on questions of ethics and public policy in the fields of health care and biomedical research. Searches available upon request to the National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature. For information on securing a personal access code from the National Library of Medicine, call 800-638-8480.BibliographiesBibliography of Bioethics. Edited by LeRoy Walters and Tamar Joy Kahn. Washington, DC: Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University. Issued annually since 1975. Corresponds to the BIOETHICSLINE database. Provides references to resources on ethical and public policy issues in medicine and biomedical research. Includes abstracts; arranged by broad subject categories.Ethics in Nursing. Edited by Terry Pence. 2nd ed. New York: National League for Nursing, 1986. An annotated bibliography of nursing ethics. Includes author and subject indexes.Goldstein, Doris M. Bioethics: A Guide to Information Sources. Detroit: Gale Research, 1982. A selected, annotated bibliography to the literature of bioethics.The Hastings Center's Bibliography of Ethics, Biomedicine and Professional Responsibility. Compiled by the staff of the Hastings Center. Frederick, MD: University Publications of America, 1984.Medical Ethics: An Annotated Bibliography. Edited by Mark Siegler, Peter A. Singer and David L. Schiedermayer. Philadelphia: American College of Physicians, 1988.Current Awareness ServicesNOTE: Several journals have sections where they highlight new publications. See, for example, the "In The Literature" section of the Hastings Center Report, or the "Medicolegal Reference Shelf" section of Law, Medicine and Health Care. Other services include:BioLaw. Edited by James F. Childress and Ruth D. Gaare. Frederick, MD: [End Page 76] University Publications of America, 1983 to present. Annual with bimonthly updates. (Previous title: Bioethics Reporter.) A compendium of articles and legal documents on ethical and legal issues in medicine, health care administration and human experimentation. Includes the text of important legal decisions in the Resources section.New Titles in Bioethics. Edited by Luanda Fitch Huttlinger. Washington, DC: National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature, Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University. Published monthly 1975-1989; quarterly 1990—present. List of acquisitions by the National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature. Organized by subject categories. Includes ordering information for difficult-to-find items. Annual cumulation available.Scope Notes Series. Washington, DC: National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature, Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University. A series of issue briefs including annotated bibliographies on the following popular bioethical topics:No 1. Dangerousness, September 1982, 5 p.No 2. Living Wills and Durable Powers of Attorney: Advance Directive Legislation and Issues, Revised February 1990, 15 p.No 3. Ethics Committees in Hospitals, Revised June 1989, 12 p.No 4. Diagnosis Related Groups and the Prospective Payment System, June 1984, 11 p.No 5. Baby Fae, January 1985, 19 p.No 6. Surrogate Mothers, Revised January 1988, 12 p.No 7. Withholding or Withdrawing Nutrition or Hydration, Revised September 1988, 12 p.No 8. AIDS: Law, Ethics and Public Policy, April 1988, 12 p.No 9. Bioethics Audiovisuals 1982 to Present, September 1988, 12 p.No 10. Ethical Issues in... (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Teaching Ethics in the Health Care SettingPart II: Sample SyllabusMary Carrington Coutts (bio)The National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics receives many inquiries from instructors at institutions that are just beginning to teach medical ethics. In an effort to assist those individuals, we have devised a syllabus that could be adapted for many uses. This is intended to be an introductory level syllabus, perhaps (...) one that would be appropriate for continuing staff education in a hospital or for an undergraduate college course. Of course, every instructor has his or her own style and preference for course content. This is offered merely as a place to start.Recognizing that participants bring a variety of backgrounds to a course, four possible text books and two casebooks have been selected as texts for a course in health care ethics. There are a number of other books that also could have been chosen. Some of these are listed in Scope Note 15: Basic Resources in Bioethics (published in the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 1 (1): 75-90, March 1991). Other video selections are listed in Scope Note 9: Bioethics Audiovisuals: 1982-Present (1988); (available directly from the National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature). Additional recommendations for works that provide cross-cultural or international views of medical ethics appear in the supplemental readings list at the end of this syllabus.TextbooksBiomedical Ethics. Edited by Thomas A. Mappes and Jane S. Zembaty. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1990, 641 pp. Cited: (M&Z). This text is well-suited for undergraduate education, with selected readings by philosophers, lawyers, and physicians. Includes 45 brief case studies to [End Page 263] illustrate various units of readings.Contemporary Issues in Bioethics. Edited by Tom L. Beauchamp and LeRoy Walters. 3rd ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Pub. Co., 1989, 655 pp. Cited: (B&W). Appropriate for upper-level undergraduate or graduate education, this text includes selected readings by important philosophers, lawyers, physicians, and organizations. Includes the abridged texts of many significant court cases and government or organizational documents. Does not include case studies.Ethical Issues in Modern Medicine. Compiled by John Arras and Nancy K. Rhoden. 3rd ed. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield, 1989, 585 pp. Cited: (A&R). This text is suitable for upper-level undergraduate or graduate studies. It includes selections from well-respected lawyers, philosophers, and a few physicians. Includes excerpts from important court cases and policy documents. Provides only a few hypothetical case studies but does relate some authentic cases that are relevant to the various sections.Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Bioethical Issues. Edited by Carol Levine. 3rd ed. Guilford, CT: Dushkin Pub. Group, 1989, 370 pp. Cited: (L). A compilation of contrasting readings from the popular Hastings Center Report, this book is appropriate for undergraduate or continuing health care education. It does not include an introduction to basic biomedical ethical theory. Perhaps less systematic in its approach to bioethics than the previous textbooks, this book covers twenty topics relating to reproduction, death and dying, human and animal experimentation, and selected public policy issues. Provides pro and con arguments for each issue.CasebooksCases in Bioethics: Selections from the Hastings Center Report. Edited by Carol Levine. Rev. and updated ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989, 291 pp. Cited: (HCR). This text includes cases studies taken from the well-known Hastings Center Report. Two or three commentaries usually accompany each case.Pence, Gregory E. Classic Cases in Medical Ethics: Accounts of the Cases That Have Shaped Medical Ethics, With Philosophical, Legal, and Historical Backgrounds. New York: Mc-Graw-Hill, 1990, 398 pp. Cited: (CC). This book describes a collection of famous (and infamous) cases from the history of biomedical ethics. The accounts of the cases here are more detailed than in other texts, and the style is more casual. [End Page 264]Course OutlineBelow are possible topics for discussion, listed with the relevant portions for each book. It is anticipated that only one textbook and one casebook would be chosen for a course. Whenever possible, price information for video purchase or rentals has been included, however this information is subject to change.Session 1... (shrink)

Georg Lukács (1885-1971) was one of the most original Marxist philosophers and literary critics of the twentieth century. His work was a major influence on what we now know as critical theory. Almost fifty years after his death, Lukács's legacy has come under attack by right-wing extremists in his native Hungary. Despite efforts to erase his memory, Lukács remains a philosophical gadfly. In Confronting Reification, an international team of fourteen scholars explicate, reassess, and apply one of Lukács's most significant philosophical (...) contributions, his theory of reification. Based on papers presented at the 2017 Legacy of Georg Lukács conference held in Budapest, the essays in this volume demonstrate the vitality of Lukács's thought and its relevance. Contributors include: Rüdiger Dannemann, Frank Engster, Andrew Feenberg, Joseph Grim Feinberg, Andraž Jež, Christian Lotz, Csaba Olay, Tom Rockmore, Gregory R. Smulewicz-Zucker, Mariana Teixeira, Michael J. Thompson, Tivadar Vervoort, Richard Westerman, and Sean Winkler. (shrink)

Daniel Kahneman's book Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011) has had a worldwide impact. The book's insights are profound and have changed the thinking of both decision scientists and general audiences about how choices are made. Kahneman, however, claims that standard utility theory cannot explain these insights because it 1) lacks “reference points” from which gains and losses can be measured, 2) does not predict loss aversion, and 3) assumes preferences are stable (amid supposed counter evidence). These alleged failures of utility (...) theory are what led Kahneman and Tversky (1979, 1991) to develop prospect theory. This brief article shows that a close reading of Thinking, Fast and Slow reveals fundamental oversights in these criticisms. Not only does loss aversion arise naturally within utility theory for rational economic agents with stable preferences, but the very measurements of gains and losses rely directly upon reference points. Rather than overturning the insights of prospect theory, proper use of utility theory and its indifference curve representations reveals these behavioral insights and places them within the sturdier, longer- established framework of neoclassical microeconomic theory. (shrink)

This essay examines the many problems with public and private development aid and argues that global liberalization of trade and immigration would have a greater direct effect in reducing global poverty. It also examines and rejects the view that people in rich countries have a strong moral obligation to give to the global poor. Such an obligation is in tension with an ethic that prizes personal projects. A political morality of equal respect and concern is congenial not with foreign aid, (...) but with recognizing the agency of the global poor by lifting the many obstacles they currently face to participating in the market as producers and consumers. (shrink)

L'humanisme classique et le monde moderne, par R. Grousset. -- L'actualité du message chrétien, par K, Barth. -- L'actualité du message chrétien, par R. P. Maydieu. -- L'homme des civilisations orientales, par P. Masson-Oursel. -- L'homme des révolutions techniques et industrielles, par M. Leroy. -- L'homme des révolutions politiques et sociales, par H. Lefebvre. -- L'homme dans l'univers au regard d'un savant, par J. B. S. Haldane. -- L'hommee dans l'univers au regard d'un écrivain, par J. Middleton-Murry. -- Conditions (...) et possibilites d'un nouvel humanisme, par K. Jaspers. (shrink)