Background: This article describes the overall attitudes of children, their parents, and attending physicians toward including or excluding pediatric patients in medical communication and health care decision-making processes. Methods: Fifty-two interviews were carried out with pediatric patients (n = 17), their parents (n = 19), and attending oncologists (n = 16) in eight Swiss pediatric oncology centers. The interviews were analyzed using thematic coding. Results: Parenting styles, the child's personality, and maturity are factors that have a great impact upon the (...) inclusion of children in their health care processes. Children reported the desire to be heard and involved, but they did not want to dominate the decision-making process. Ensuring trust in the parent–child and physician–patient relationships and respecting the child as the affected person were important values determining children's involvement. These two considerations were closely connected with the concern that fantasies are often worse than reality. Seeking children's compliance with treatment was a practical but critical reason for informing them about their health care. The urge to protect them from upsetting news sometimes resulted in their (partial) exclusion. Conclusions: The ethical imperative for inclusion of children in their health care choices was not so much determined by the right for self-determination, but by the need to include them. If children are excluded, they imagine things, become more isolated, and are left alone with their fears. Nevertheless, the urge to protect children is innate, as adults often underestimate children's coping capacities. (shrink)

The practical use of a combination of trauma psychotherapy and neurofeedback [infra-low-frequency neurofeedback and alpha-theta training] is described for the treatment of patients diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder. The indication for this combined treatment is the persistence of symptoms of a hyper-aroused state, anxiety, and sleep disorders even with adequate trauma-focused psychotherapy and supportive medication, according to the Guidelines of the German Society of Psycho-Traumatology. Another indication for a supplementary treatment with neurofeedback is the persistence of dissociative symptoms. Last (...) but not least, the neurofeedback treatment after a trauma-focused psychotherapy session helps to calm the trauma-related reactions and to process the memories. The process of the combined therapy is described and illustrated using two representative case reports. Overall, a rather satisfying result of this outpatient treatment program can be seen in the qualitative appraisal of 7 years of practical application. (shrink)

Scientific knowledge has not stabilized in the current, early, phase of research and development of nanotechnologies creating a challenge to ‘upstream’ public engagement. Nevertheless, the idea that the public should be involved in deliberative discussions and assessments of emerging technologies at this early stage is widely shared among governmental and nongovernmental stakeholders. Many forums for public debate including focus groups, and citizen juries, have thus been organized to explore public opinions on nanotechnologies in a variety of countries over the past (...) few years. In Switzerland the Centre for Technology Assessment (TA-Swiss) organized such a citizen panel in fall 2006. Drawing from an ethnographic study of this panel called ‘publifocus on nanotechnologies, health, and environment’ this paper looks at the ways members of a stakeholder group deal with the epistemic uncertainty in their deliberation of nanotechnologies. By exploring the statements of the participants in the stakeholder discussion group, this paper reconstructs the narratives that constitute the epistemic foundations of the participants’ evaluations of nanotechnologies. (shrink)

This volume offers interdisciplinary perspectives on contemporary biomedicine as a cultural practice.

When information is transformed from what has traditionally been a paper-based format into digitized elements with meaning associated to them, new and intriguing discussions begin surrounding proper and improper uses of this codified and easily transmittable information. As these discussions continue, some health care providers, insurers, laboratories, pharmacies, and other healthcare stakeholders are creating and retroactively digitizing our medical information with the unambiguous endorsement of the federal government.Some argue that these enormous databases of medical information offer improved access to timely (...) information, evidence-based treatments, and complete records from which to provide care. To the extent that these claims are true, it would seem that this is a valuable asset that offers immeasurable benefit to all. Others believe this digitization to be an egregious invasion of privacy. In this article, I investigate the broad research questions of whether the public good aspect of capturing private health information outweighs individual interests and whether it is ethical to mandate participation in health information exchanges by all individuals who use the U.S. health system. (shrink)

The Western metaphor of self-as-identity?as a static, inherently exclusive entity?has been instrumental, historically, to our radical separation from nature, and still hampers a reviving of genuine participation with nature. Suggesting an alternative to this metaphor (informed by literacy as technology), I explore the more nature-informed metaphor of dynamic, complex self-systems, involving both natural and human subsystems. Through this latter metaphor, I re-vision radical participation with nature: in the process of perception, in epistemology/ontology, and in the ways of indigenous, oral cultures. (...) This systems metaphor also sheds contrasting light on literacy-informed, Western ways. (shrink)

Philosophy of religion is a general term, which includes the study of any religion in the world with philosophical perspective. Philosophy of religion with Christian perspective went through its three important stages in the 20th century. First in the 1960s, the topic was related to the arguments for the existence of God, the problem of evil, and the relation between faith and reason. A second major development, stemming from the late 1960s and early 1970s, was in the context of the (...) comparative study of religions and religious pluralism. A third major development has been in the application of techniques of philosophical analysis to the central doctrines of Christian faith-philosophical theology. Unfortunately, Christian philosopphy of religion, also known as Christian religious philosophy, is not distinguished from the general study of the philosophy of religion in the twentieth century. There is an urgent need of formulating a Christian philosophy of religion, which is a gift of the twenty-first century. It is a new branch under Christian Philosophy and a branch of philosophy that is concerned with the philosophical study of religion with Christian perspective. It is too late for us to come back to the philosophy of biblical Christianity. Only a Christ-centred philosophy can change the world from the anarchy and present chaos of the world. Many philosophical speculations and theories have emerged, but the need is a world-changing Christian philosophy. Contra-biblical philosophy stands against biblical teachings, extra-biblical philosophy may be partly acceptable and biblical philosophy is fully acceptable, because it is biblically based-Publisher. (shrink)

Ibn Arfaʿ Raʾs is the author of a famous collection of alchemical poems entitled Shudhūr al-dhahab. In addition to Shudhūr al-dhahab, he authored several other works, including a commentary on Shudhūr, which is discussed here at some length for the first time, and strophic poetry on alchemy. The attribution of other works to him seems to be incorrect, and this applies especially to two works on magic. This contribution focusses on our findings on the identity of Ibn Arfaʿ Raʾs and (...) on his life, challenging the identification of the alchemist Ibn Arfaʿ Raʾs with a Mālikī religious scholar known as Ibn al-Naqirāt. Based both on manuscripts and on bio-bibliographical literature, we argue that from an early period, two different people, both from sixth/twelfth century Morocco, have been fused into one. Considering all sources, we also suggest that Ibn Arfaʿ Raʾs might have left the Islamic west and have written at least some of his works in the east, more specifically in Egypt, thereby explaining the broad reception of Shudhūr al-dhahab throughout the Islamic world, particularly in the Mashriq. (shrink)

Arabo-Islamic alchemy enjoyed considerable popularity until well into the 19th and 20th centuries. It can be considered both as a predecessor of modern chemistry and as a natural philosophy whose purpose is to explain the world. Yet one of the unresolved questions concerning alchemy is how one was supposed to learn it, since it was an art that was meant to be kept secret and only revealed to a few select individuals. While the practicalities of the learning experience remain obscure, (...) it is noteworthy that Arabic alchemical literature often makes use of the literary form of the dialogue, a genre strongly associated with teaching and learning. This paper focuses on three Arabic dialogues on alchemy; namely, Masāʼil Khālid li-Maryānus al-rāhib, Kitāb Mihrārīs al-ḥakīm and Risālat al-ḥakīm Qaydarūs, and discusses how the transfer of secret knowledge is represented. I will focus on the literary frames of these texts, their mise-enscéne, the master-disciple relation as represented within them, and the question of interaction between unequal partners. (shrink)

Alchemy is the art of transforming base metals into precious ones, usually silver and/or gold. The most important method conceived to reach this goal was the creation of the elixir, also called the philosophers’ stone, which, applied to the prime-matter, would lead to an accelerated process of ripening of metals, eventually ending in gold. How did Arabo-Islamic alchemists suppose that the transmutation worked? What were the conditions the adept had to fulfil in order to succeed? And what did they think (...) would happen when one finally has created the philosophers’ stone? Will the economy collapse because gold and silver will lose their validity? Will the alchemist simply lean back and enjoy? Or will the world end, because man has finally attained the knowledge that should be God’s only? (shrink)

The main concern of both Berdjaev's and Bulgakov's philosophical strivings consists in developing a concept of the person as the foundation of human dignity and creativity within a Christian world view. Once attracted by Marxism with its emphasis on human dignity and social justice, they started to struggle against Marxism's atheist materialism because of its lack of a concept of person. However, the same concern will lead both thinkers down very different paths with different consequences. This paper argues that, even (...) though Berdjaev has become famous as a philosopher of the person and a herald of creative ethics, Bulgakov developed a more solid Christian justification of the same claims. Both systems are presented by means of comparing some crucial notions within their concepts of personality—potentiality, trinity and autonomy. (shrink)

We investigate the determinants of decision rights transfer and its effects on the motivation of an agent. The study is based on a laboratory experiment conducted on 130 subjects playing an innovative principal–agent game. Interestingly, the results show that agents do not favour a delegation and a decision is considered rather burdensome. Although the experiment could not give support for the behavioural hypothesis of higher effort provided by participants who receive choice subsequently, the survey illuminates the interaction between delegation motives, (...) effort motivators, goals and other perceptions of the agents. (shrink)

This paper explores how scientists perceive public engagement initiatives. By drawing on interviews with nanoscientists, it analyzes how researchers imagine science–society interactions in an early phase of technological development. More specifically, the paper inquires into the implicit framings of citizens, of scientists, and of the public in scientists’ discourses. It identifies four different models of how nanoscientists understand public engagement which are described as educational, paternalistic, elitist, and economistic. These models are contrasted with the dialog model of public engagement promoted (...) by social scientists and policymakers. The paper asks if and in what ways participatory discourses and practices feed back into scientists’ understandings, thus co-producing public discourses and science. (shrink)

The authors present the preliminary publication of seven hitherto unpublished inscriptions from the Roman colony at Philippi in the province of Macedonia. These inscriptions make known a number of new notables who were active in the colony during the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. Amongst them is a soldier from Philippi who had pursued a career in the cohortes vigilae in Rome, as well as several municipal magistrates and seviri augusti from Philippi. All the inscriptions connected with the institutions of (...) the colony, and also those mentioning members of the senatorial and equestrian orders and soldiers, will shortly be included in the first volume of the Corpus of Greek and Latin Inscriptions of Philippi. The assembling of the epigraphic material relating to the municipal and imperial administration of Philippi, enriched by numerous unpublished inscriptions, will enable us to renew our acquaintance with the social and political structures of the colony. (shrink)

Gender discrimination continues to plague organizations. While the advent of the Internet and the digitization of commerce have provided both a mechanism by which goods and services can be exchanged, as well as an efficient way for consumers to voice their opinions about retailers (i.e., via online rating systems), recent work has begun to uncover significant biases that manifest during the review process. In particular, it has been suggested that the gig-economy’s elimination of previously anonymous arm’s-length transactions may re-introduce bias (...) into perceptions of quality. In this work, we build upon research that has identified biases based on ascriptive characteristics in rating systems of ridesharing platforms. In doing so, we conduct an online experiment using a series of factorial vignettes to consider not only willingness to transact but post-transaction perceptions of quality. Findings suggest that female drivers are not penalized ex ante for taking on gender incongruent roles, i.e., driving, and experience no penalty when a rider reports a high-quality experience. However, conditional upon a lower quality experience, there is a disproportionate penalty for female drivers. Strikingly, we also observe that historic high quality does not serve as a buffer against such penalties, as prior literature would suggest. These findings underscore the challenges platforms face in ensuring their participants are being evaluated in a fair and impartial way, and highlight the difficulties present when non-employees (customers) are rating non-employees (drivers) of the firm. (shrink)

Epistemic Angst offers a completely new solution to the ancient philosophical problem of radical skepticism—the challenge of explaining how it is possible to have knowledge of a world external to us. Duncan Pritchard argues that the key to resolving this puzzle is to realize that it is composed of two logically distinct problems, each requiring its own solution. He then puts forward solutions to both problems. To that end, he offers a new reading of Wittgenstein's account of the structure (...) of rational evaluation and demonstrates how this provides an elegant solution to one aspect of the skeptical problem. Pritchard also revisits the epistemological disjunctivist proposal that he developed in previous work and shows how it can effectively handle the other aspect of the problem. Finally, he argues that these two antiskeptical positions, while superficially in tension with each other, are not only compatible but also mutually supporting. The result is a comprehensive and distinctive resolution to the problem of radical skepticism, one that challenges many assumptions in contemporary epistemology. (shrink)

Support is canvassed for a novel solution to the sceptical problem regarding our knowledge of the external world. Key to this solution is the claim that what initially looks like a single problem is in fact two logically distinct problems. In particular, there are two putative sceptical paradoxes in play here, which each trade on distinctive epistemological theses. It is argued that the ideal solution to radical scepticism would thus be a biscopic proposal—viz., a two-pronged, integrated, undercutting treatment of both (...) putative sceptical paradoxes. A particular biscopic proposal is then explored which brings together two apparently opposing anti-sceptical theses: he Wittgensteinian account of the structure of rational evaluation and epistemological disjunctivism. It is argued that each proposal enables us to gain a purchase on one, but only one, aspect of the two-sided sceptical problem. Furthermore, it is argued that these proposals are not only compatible positions, but also mutually supporting and advanced in the same undercutting spirit. A potential cure is thus offered for epistemic angst. (shrink)

I discuss the difficulty posed by the ineliminability of reflective epistemic luck and offer one way of responding to this difficulty. I begin by considering Wittgenstein’s remarks on knowledge from On Certainty and consider, in particular, the specific claims he makes about the so-called ’hinge’ propositions that contextually determine the nature of epistemic evaluation. I claim that what underlies Wittgenstein’s remarks in this respect is a certain view about the ultimately groundless nature of our reason-giving practices. This way of thinking (...) about the structure of reasons is, I argue, correlative to the thesis described here regarding the ineliminability of reflective luck. Moreover, I contend that it is our implicit philosophical recognition of this problem that gives rise to a certain kind of general anxiety about our epistemic position that I refer to as epistemic angst. This contention is further illustrated by critically evaluating John McDowell’s content externalist response to scepticism that incorporates a strongly anti-sceptical account of reasons. I close on a positive note by arguing that while there is no epistemic response available to the problem posed by reflective luck, there is a plausible pragmatic resolution to this difficulty. Indeed, I claim that an anti-sceptical thesis of this sort can be discerned from Wittgenstein’s own fragmentary remarks on scepticism, and I develop such a view in the light of Hans Reichenbach’s pragmatic response to the problem of inductive scepticism, which I maintain is cast along similar lines. (shrink)

Die Auseinandersetzung mit der Angst und ihren zahlreichen Facetten gehört zum Kernbestand der psychoanalytischen Forschung und Diskussion. Darüber hinaus hat die Beschäftigung mit der Angst als einem komplexen, äußerst vielschichtigen Phänomen der Conditio humana zu zahlreichen Kontroversen und mehreren Spaltungen in der psychoanalytischen Bewegung geführt, die so weit reichten, dass die jeweiligen Betrachtungsweisen über die Angst sich zu einer Identitätsfrage psychoanalytischer Orientierungen ausgestalteten. Der vorliegende Aufsatz gibt eine Übersicht über die Entwicklung wesentlicher Angstkonzepte in der Psychoanalyse.

How should we make choices where the values we subscribe to give conflicting recommendations? I will be defending a reduction of decision making under conflict to decision making under indeterminacy, in the spirit of Broome. To defend this, I set out and endorse the basic features of decision making under conflict that Ruth Chang identifies. I show that we find exactly those features in cases of decision making under indeterminacy not involving conflicting values. Further, my theory of decision making under (...) indeterminacy predicts and explains these features. Particular attention will be paid to the aspect that Chang emphasizes as the decisive problem for the Broomean reduction: the resolutional residue, or angst, that decision making under conflict evinces. (shrink)

In this paper, I focus on teachers’ lived experiences during the COVID-19 outbreak. Specifically, I explore the emotional impact the abrupt shift to online teaching had on teachers’ work and life throughout the various phases of the lockdown. I develop my argument by analyzing teachers’ everyday work, using a qualitative approach, and constructing a small-scale empirical study. Philosophically, my attempt is phenomenologically developed and is framed by Heidegger’s and Arendt’s thoughts. Methodologically, my attempt falls within an emerging research horizon that (...) combines educational philosophy with empirical research. Drawing from research data, I argue that teachers’ experience bears witness to a deep modification of the schooling space-time, namely, the horizon in which the very perception of students, themselves, and teaching arise. In the case of teachers experiencing discomfort, fear, and even angst, the totality of their gestures and emotions was, as it were, swallowed by this unknown and disquieting horizon; teachers in distress were experiencing the collapse of any projecting without being freed by projecting itself. In the case of teachers experiencing feelings of fulfillment and even joy, a different horizon was allowed to emerge. Such a different space-time, rather than producing a sense of distance and alienation, created a new intimacy and nearness, which allows for a different attitude toward the topics and the educational community. Students became more sensitive, susceptible to transformation, and open to what was being said. At the same time, relationships were caught in a new web of meanings that transcended them, thus giving birth to an educational experience in its own right. I conclude with some remarks about the building of the educational community. (shrink)

Im vorliegenden Artikel wird anhand von detailliertem klinischem Material beschrieben, wie »harte« Ideologien oft als mental-autistische, fetischistische, schalenartige Objekte fungieren, durch die die Kommunikation blockiert wird, aber tief­reichende, archaische osmotisch-diffuse Ängste gelindert werden. Diese Ängste entstehen, weil das Gefühl, als eine abgegrenzte Einheit in Zeit und Raum zu existieren, brüchig ist. »Harte« Ideologien schützen vor diesen Ängsten, greifen aber gleichzeitig sowohl die geistige Gesundheit des Patienten als auch die des Analytikers an und führen zu einem Zustand des psychischen Nirgendwoseins. Menschen, (...) die sich an diese defensiv organisierten »harten Ideologien« halten, sind innerlich häufig aufgewühlt, für sie gibt es keine Balance zwischen ihren psychotischen und nicht-psychotischen Persönlichkeitsanteilen. Darüber hinaus leiden sie an einer autistischen »Verkapselung«, die durch ein starkes Gefühl des Nirgendwoseins gekennzeichnet ist. Sie sind daher rigide auf Themen wie den Schutz der Heimat, der nationalen Grenzen und Identität fixiert und mit den extremen konkreten Maßnahmen beschäftigt, die zu deren Aufrechterhaltung erforderlich sind. (shrink)

Tato studie se věnuje výkladu násobení podle čtyř nejstarších latinských středověkých autorů, kteří sepsali své texty o početních úkonech na abaku kolem roku 1000, tedy podle Gerberta z Remeše (Pravidla pro počítání na abaku, Regulae de numerorum abaci rationibus), Herigera z Lobbes (Pravidla počítání na abaku, Regulae numerorum super abacum), Abbona z Fleury (Komentář k Victorioně spisu Calculus, In Calculum Victorii commentario; resp. tzv. Abbonův abakus, Abbonis abacus) a Bernelia mladšího z Paříže (Kniha o abaku, Liber abaci). Po představení, vysvětlení (...) a srovnání pravidel pro násobení podle těchto spisů následuje v příloze originální znění a překlad Herigerových, Gerbetových a Abbonových pravidel pro násobení. (shrink)

This article discusses the possibilities of the ontology of hospitality running across the categories of angst, responsibility and aporia. In this way it seeks to address the radical finitude of our concrete death, incorporating the needed, existentive, and ontic considerations of dying, which the heideggerian previous attempt moved away as irrelevant, being not original ones to philosophical reflection. This recovery does not mean, absolutely not, that death and dying have lost their true character and perplexing mystery, or that they (...) have dissolved the very nature of our aporetic existence. Rather, death is and will remain being such an indeterminate and always present concern, restlessness disturbing thought, as beautifully as Schopenhauer had said before: "death is the true inspirational genius or Musagetes of philosophy". (shrink)

This paper argues for an interpretation of what Heidegger means by 'angst' in Being and Time that begins from the methodological role angst is supposed to play in Division I as that which disrupts falling. It argues that angst is a distinctive kind of ontological insight.

L’histoire du texte des Régles pour la Direction de l’Esprit (Regulae) de Descartes est un peu singulière: non publié du vivant de Descartes, il n’a paru qu’en 1701, dans les Opera Posthuma d’Amsterdam. De façon plus significative, et contrairement aux autres traités cartésiens perdus, ce texte secret n’est jamais explicitement evoqué par Descartes, fût-ce au détour d’une correspondance. Par leur étroite dépendance vis à vis des mathématiques, les Regulae sont cependant un texte majeur, constitutives de la pensée de leur auteur (...) dans ses années de jeunesse (1619-1628), et par là de toute la philosophie moderne. Descartes avait jugé le texte suffisamment important pour I’emmener à Stockholm, où il a été découvert apres sa mort, dans ses papiers.Entre les mathématiques et les Regulae, ce texte “éclatant et obscur” (J.P. Weber), il est ces trois types principaux de rapports croisés que nous tâcherons d’analyser: historiquement d’abord, quelles furent la formation et I’expérience mathématique du jeune Descartes, qui constituerent, à notre sens, I’armature conceptuelle du texte. Quelles sont ensuite les voies par lesquelles, dans les Regulae, Descartes a putransmuer cette expérience mathématique premiere à la fois en une pratique, une méthode, une théorie de la connaissance, enfin en une épistémologie assez radicalement neuve. Enfin, et prenant Descartes au sérieux nous examinerons à I’occasion cette question: quel est le sort réservé, de nos jours, à cette épistémologie cartésienne, en particulier confrontée aux mathématiques contemporaines? (shrink)

Die vorliegende Studie hat „Angst und Entängstigung“ in Kierkegaards Schrift „Begriff Angst“ zum Thema und versucht, durch detaillierte Textarbeit das hier beschriebene Phänomen der Angst als einen wesentlichen Teil des menschlichen Gefühlslebens in seiner vollen Begrifflichkeit zu entfalten. Die Arbeit ist in drei Teile gegliedert: der erste Teil beschäftigt sich mit den theologischen und metaphysisch-existentialistischen Grundlagen von Kierkegaards Schrift, der zweite Teil behandelt die Begriffe Angst und Entängstigung, der dritte Teil stellt die Angstthematik in den philosophischen (...) Horizont der idealistischen und nachidealistischen Philosophie. Der Übergang zum dritten Kapitel ist eine detaillierte tabellarische Darstellung der Angst in ihren wesentlichen Momenten, die die komplexe Entfaltung der Angstthematik übersichtlich macht und vor allem die These von der anthropologischen Grundlegung in ihren verschiedenen Stadien nachzeichnet. Mit der sich am Text durchgängig bestätigenden These, dass Kierkegaards Ansatz eine hamartologisch begründete Anthropologie zugrunde liegt, will die Studie eine der schwierigsten und dunkelsten Abhandlungen Kierkegaards in ihrer ganzen Komplexität erhellen. (shrink)