In the debate on the ethics of the non-medical use of pharmaceuticals for cognitive performance enhancement in healthy individuals there is a clear division between those who view “cognitive enhancement” as ethically unproblematic and those who see such practices as fraught with ethical problems. Yet another, more subtle issue, relates to the relevance and quality of the contribution of scholarly bioethics to this debate. More specifically, how have various forms of speculation, anticipatory ethics, and methods to predict scientific trends and (...) societal responses augmented or diminished this contribution? In this paper, we use the discussion of the ethics of cognitive enhancement to explore the positive and negative contribution of speculation in bioethics scholarship. First, we review and discuss how speculation has relied on different sets of assumptions regarding the non-medical use of stimulants, namely: terminology and framing; scientific aspects such as efficacy and safety; estimates of prevalence and consequent normalization; and the need for normative reflection and regulatory guidelines. Second, three methodological guideposts are proposed to alleviate some of the pitfalls of speculation: acknowledge assumptions more explicitly and identify the value attributed to assumptions; validate assumptions with interdisciplinary literature; and adopt a broad perspective to promote more comprehensive reflection. We conclude that, through the examination of the controversy about cognitive enhancement, we can employ these methodological guideposts to enhance the value of contributions from bioethics and minimize potential epistemic and practical pitfalls in this case and perhaps in other areas of bioethical debate. (shrink)

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a “young” disorder formally recognized in the early 1980s, although the symptoms have been noted for centuries particularly in relation to military conflicts. PTSD may develop after a serious traumatic experience that induces feelings of intense fear, helplessness or horror. It is currently characterized by three key classes of symptoms which must cause clinically significant distress or impairment of functioning: persistent and distressing re-experiencing of the trauma; persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma and numbing (...) of general responsiveness; and persistent symptoms of hyper-arousal. One of the possible symptoms within the second class is difficulty in remembering an important aspect of the traumatic event.PTSD is not an uncommon condition, with an estimated lifetime prevalence of about 7-9% based on studies conducted in the United States and Canada, with women at higher risk than men. While not everyone who experiences a significant trauma will go on to develop PTSD, about a third will do so. Sexual assault, along with other forms of assaultive violence, pose a comparatively high risk of PTSD. (shrink)

Research on the use of propranolol as a pharmacological memory dampening treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder is continuing and justifies a second look at the legal and ethical issues raised in the past. We summarize the general ethical and legal issues raised in the literature so far, and we select two for in-depth reconsideration. We address the concern that a traumatized witness may be less effective in a prosecution emerging from the traumatic event after memory dampening treatment. We analyze this (...) issue in relation to sexual assault, where the suggestion that corroborating evidence may remedy any memory defects is less likely to be helpful. We also consider the clinical ethical question about a physician's obligation to discuss potential legal consequences of memory dampening treatment. We conclude that this latter question reflects a general problem related to novel medical treatments where the broader socio-legal consequences may be poorly understood, and suggest that issues of this sort could usefully be addressed through the promulgation of practice guidelines. (shrink)

BackgroundFunctional changes after spinal cord injury are related to changes in cortical plasticity. These changes can be measured with electroencephalography and has potential to be used as a clinical biomarker.MethodIn this longitudinal study participants underwent a total of 30 sessions of robotic-assisted gait training over a course of 6 weeks. The duration of each session was 30 min. Resting state EEG was recorded before and after 30-session rehabilitation therapy. To measure gait, we used the Walking Index for Spinal Cord Injury (...) Scale, 10-Meter- Walking Test, Timed-Up-and-Go, and 6-Min-Walking Test. Balance was measured using Berg Balance Scale.ResultsFifteen participants with incomplete SCI who had AIS C or D injuries based on American Spinal Cord Injury Association Impairment Scale classification were included in this study. Mean age was 35.7 years and the mean time since injury was 17.08 months. All participants showed clinical improvement with the rehabilitation program. EEG data revealed that high beta EEG activity in the central area had a negative correlation with gait and balance measured at baseline, in a way that greater high beta EEG power was related to worse clinical function at baseline. Moreover, improvement in gait and balance had negative correlations with the change in alpha/theta ratio in the parietal area.ConclusionIn SCI, functional impairment and subsequent improvement following rehabilitation therapy with RAGT correlated with the change in cortical activity measured by EEG. Our results suggest that EEG alpha/theta ratio may be a potential surrogate marker of functional improvement during rehabilitation. Future studies are necessary to improve and validate these findings as a neurophysiological biomarker for SCI rehabilitation. (shrink)

Alberto Magno aprovecha lo mejor del neoplatonismo y del aristotelismo. Examina la doctrina aristotélica sobre el deseo de la verdad presente en la naturaleza humana y la ciencia metafísica que permite intuir la fuente de ese deseo, pero éste es analizado con más profundidad por el Pseudo Dionisio, siendo la ciencia teológica la que da más respuestas y la ciencia más universal, porque logra una mayor perfección no sólo intelectual sino de toda la persona.

Studies of individuals under conditions of confinement or severe social and physical restrictions have consistently shown deleterious mental health effects but also high levels of adaptability when dealing with such conditions. Considering the role of physical activity and sport in psychological adaptation, this paper describes a longitudinal study to explore to what extent the imposed restrictions due to the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 may have affected athletes’ mental health outcomes and how far the process of adaptation to confinement conditions is differentially (...) affected depending on whether the sports activity was practiced individually or in a group, and outdoors, indoors, or both. Two hundred and seventy-four athletes were assessed over 7 weeks using the GHQ-28 and an ad hoc survey exploring the practice of physical activity. A mixed-model fixed effects ANCOVA was used to analyze the effects of time, place, and company in which the sport was practiced, with an index of the amount of physical activity expended as a covariate. Results show a significant effect of time in three out of four of the GHQ-28 subscales, in all cases showing a consistent adaptation to conditions over time. Results also show that playing sport indoors, outdoors, or both, and practicing alone vs. with others differentially affect the somatic symptoms exhibited during confinement: Athletes who practiced sport with others showed higher levels of somatic symptoms at the beginning of the set of data but a quicker rate of adaptation. Differences arising from practicing sport alone or with others were more pronounced in the case of indoor sports, which could be related to the fact that physical activity that can be practiced during confinement is more similar to that practiced indoors alone. Implications relating to what sport psychologists and other health professionals may offer to athletes in stressful situations are discussed. (shrink)

The impact of digital devices and the Internet has generated various changes at social, political, and economic levels, the repercussion of which is a great challenge characterized by the changing and globalized nature of today's society. This demands the development of new skills and new learning models in relation to information and communication technologies. Universities must respond to these social demands in the training of their future professionals. This paper aims to analyze the empirical evidence provided by international studies in (...) the last eleven years, related to the digital literacy of university students, including those pursuing degrees related to the field of education. Our findings highlight the fact that the digital literacy that is offered in universities to graduate/postgraduate students, in addition to treating digital literacy as a central theme, also focuses on perceived and developed self-efficacy. This is done by strengthening competencies related to digital writing and reading, the use of databases, the digital design of content and materials, and the skills to edit, publish or share them on the web, or applications aimed at treating digital literacy as emerging pedagogies and educational innovation. Secondly, we found studies related to digital competencies and use of the Internet, social networks, web 2.0, or the treatment of digital risks and their relationship with digital literacy. Thirdly, we found works that, in addition to focusing on digital literacy, also focused on different psychological constructs such as motivation, commitment, attitudes, or satisfaction.Systematic review registration:https://www.scopus.com/home.uri; https://www.recursoscientificos.fecyt.es/. (shrink)

Resumen A fines del siglo pasado, con especial notoriedad en los años 80 y 90, surgieron diversos intentos de revuelta anti-hermenéutica que propusieron una transformación materialista de las Ciencias sociales y las Humanidades. Resulta especialmente llamativo el hecho de que algunas de las propuestas más influyentes en ese contexto hayan recurrido explícitamente al pensamiento de Martin Heidegger. En efecto, tanto Hans-Ulrich Gumbrecht cuanto Friedrich Kittler reconocen a Heidegger como una de sus principales influencias. ¿Cómo es posible que el pensamiento (...) de Heidegger, un referente de la filosofía hermenéutica, se haya convertido en un eficaz apoyo para la revuelta contra la orientación hermenéutica de las Ciencias del Espíritu? Esta cuestión exige, por una parte, tomar en consideración el contexto académico de la época, especialmente las tensiones intergeneracionales y el surgimiento de nuevas orientaciones interdisciplinares. Por otra parte, la cuestión reclama una tarea de indagación temática. Es preciso explicitar qué planteamientos de problemas y qué desarrollos específicos provenientes de Heidegger fueron objeto de una recepción creativa conducente a un rediseño materialista de las Ciencias del Espíritu.Diverse anti-hermeneutical attempts that proposed a materialist transformation of the Social Sciences and the Humanities developed in the late 20th century, particularly during the 80s and 90s. It is striking that some of the most influential proposals in that context explicitly appealed to Martin Heidegger's thought. In fact, Hans-Ulrich Gumbrecht and Friedrich Kittler acknowledged Heidegger as one of their main influences. How is impossible that Heidegger's thought, a well-known referent of hermeneutics, became a productive resource for the revolt against the hermeneutical orientation of the ‘Geisteswissenschaften? On the one hand, this question requires us to consider the academic context of that time, especially the intergenerational tensions and the birth of new interdisciplinary orientations. On the other hand, it demands a thematic inquiry. We need to explain what problems and specific developments of Heidegger's thought mere interpreted in a materialist fashion in order to reshape the ‘Geisteswissenschaften ’. (shrink)

La publicación de los escritos y los cursos impartidos por Heidegger en la primera mitad de los años veinte ha dejado en claro la importancia de Aristóteles en el camino filosófico que conduce hacia Ser y tiempo. El presente trabajo intenta explicitar aspectos centrales de esa relación. En concreto, se mostrará que la influencia de Aristóteles es decisiva para el paso de la fenomenología de la vida fáctica hacia la ontología del Dasein, y esto a partir de un doble aporte: (...) por una parte, Heidegger encuentra en los estudios aristotélicos de la praxis un modelo donde enriquecer e integrar las determinaciones de la vida fáctica anteriormente obtenidas. Por otra parte, los estudios de Aristóteles sobre las significaciones del ser le ofrecen el acceso a la perspectiva ontológica, desde la cual, y presentando su propia posición, ha de reinterpretar las estructuras de la praxis como estructuras del Dasein. (shrink)

New Proposals for New Questions Nuevas propuestas para nuevas cuestiones In six sections, the volume deals with different questions of political philosophy. The first section focuses on democratic theories, the second on conceptual debates, discussing topics such as collective rights, the terrorist phenomenon, Libertarianism and conceptions of freedom. In a third section on contemporary debates, perspectives on sovereignity and legitimacy as well as discourse theory versus political liberalism are discussed. The volume also features essays on democracy and law, and in (...) a section entitled oJudicial construction of democracyo papers on constitutional reviews by judges in the Netherlands as well as the construction of democracy in the context of Latin-American democracies. Finally, in the last section the volume deals with the European Constitutional Treatise, analysing the arguments and examining the legitimacy crisis and the main objections displayed against this treatise. Contents I. On Democratic theory / Teoria de la democracia: Eerik Lagerspetz: The Problem of the Common Good in Democratic Theory Sergiy Maksymov: The Kantian Project of the Law Governed Society and New Democracies II. Conceptual debates / Debates conceptuales: Martin Blanchard: Recognition and the Case of Indigenous Reparations: A Habermasian Critique of Habermas Bronik Matwijkiw: The failed Model of Terrorism Susumu Morimura: The Libertarian View of Human Nature Jonathan E. Soeharno: Freedom as Second Nature. Exploring the value of Hegel's concept of Autonomous Personality for Global institutional theory Hashimoto Tsutomu: On the Concept of Positive and Negative Liberty III. Contemporary debates / Debates contemporaneos: Terhi Kiiskinen: Sovereignty Revisited: On Inalienable Constitutional Power Luiz B. Leite Araujo: A Decade of Debate: Discourse Theory versus Political Liberalism IV. Democracy and law / Democracia y derecho: Kenneth E. Himma: Does it really mather whether a Judicial Decision is morally Legitimate? The practical implications of Judicial Illegitimacy in a otherwise Legitimate State Carl Lebeck: Commitments, Rules and the limits of Constitutionalism Oliver W. Lembcke: Exception Rules? Freedom and the Order in a State of Exception Bart van Klink: Does Necessity knows no Laws? Application of Law in a State of Exception Costanza Margiotta: Ideas and Values of the oLegalo State Jiri Priban: Constitution-Making. Morality and Legal Symbolism: on Identity, Temporality and Differentiation of the legal, political and moral Systems V. Judicial construction of democracy / Construccion judicial de la democracia: Maurice Adams: Judging the Constitution: the Third Way. Some reflections on the introduction of Constitutional Review by Judges in The Netherlands Larry Alexander: What is the Problem of Judicial Review? Roberto Corona Copado: Las reglas del juego democratico. La Suprema Corte de Justicia de Mexico en la solucion de controversias entre organos del poder politico desde 1995 Jose de J. Ibarra Cardenas: La construccion judicial de la Democracia en Iberoamerica VI. Deliberation on European constitutional norm / Deliberacion sobre la nueva constitucion europea: Olaf Tans: Deliberating European Constitucional Norms. An Analysis of arguments Carla M. Zoethout: The Court and the Charter or Who Guards the Court of Justice of the EU under the new Constitution?. (shrink)

El autor, tras apuntar las razones por las que el debate en la UE y en España continúa ignorando lo que él califica como significado radicalmente político del fenómeno migratorio, trata de argumentar las condiciones y las consecuencias del reconocimiento de la inmigración como cuestión (incluso, la cuestión) política. Se centra en particular en el problema del acceso de los inmigrantes a la ciudadanía, para proponer, como Rubio o Carens, un reconocimiento gradual (en tiempo y ámbito) pero meramente temporal (...) -basado en la residencia estable- de la ciudadanía a los inmigrantes que entiende como pieza de un concepto plural, múltiple e inclusivo de ciudadanía. (shrink)

There is no adequate understanding of contemporary Jewish and Christian theology without reference to Martin Buber. Buber wrote numerous books during his lifetime (1878-1965) and is best known for I and Thouand Good and Evil. Buber has influenced important Protestant theologians like Karl Barth, Emil Brunner, Paul Tillich, and Reinhold Niebuhr. His appeal is vast--not only is he renowned for his translations of the Hebrew Bible but also for his interpretation of Hasidism, his role in Zionism, and his writings (...) in psychotherapy and political philosophy. In addition to a general introduction, each chapter is individually introduced, illuminating the historical and philosophical context of the readings. Footnotes explain difficult concepts, providing the reader with necessary references, plus a selective bibliography and subject index. (shrink)

A corrected and extensively annotated version of the sole meeting between two of the most important figures in twentieth-century intellectual life.

This comprehensive, critical account of Buber's life and work incorporates extensive research and draws on the author's experiences as Buber's coworker and friend.

Martin Buber appartient à plusieurs mondes : celui de la Vienne fin de siècle dans laquelle il naît en 1878, du sionisme culturel, de la République de Weimar et de la renaissance juive, celui de la lutte contre le nazisme, de l'exil dans la Palestine du Mandat où il débarque en 1938, enfin celui de la naissance du jeune État d'Israël. Philosophe, historien des religions, interprète de la mystique juive, il a correspondu avec tous les grands esprits de son (...) temps. À sa mort à Jérusalem en 1965, c'est une conscience de l'humanisme hébreu qui disparaît. Pour la première fois en français, un choix de lettres traduites de plusieurs langues permet de restituer un itinéraire intellectuel à nul autre pareil, quelques époques à jamais disparues, et la réalisation d'une utopie, le retour des juifs en Terre sainte. Professeur à Francfort et à l'Université hébraïque, traducteur de la Bible, penseur du dialogue, militant de l'entente avec les Arabes et exégète inspiré des Hassidim, ses lettres sont une pièce capitale de la pensée allemande et européenne. Y apparaissent les figures de Kafka, de Benjamin, d'Einstein, de Scholem, de Rosenzweig, mais aussi de Gandhi, de Jung, de Barth ou de Georg, de Rang, de Dibelius, de Lou Andreas-Salomé et de tant d'autres, juives ou non, qui trouvèrent en Buber un interlocuteur privilégié. (shrink)

The studies of the Czech phenomenologist Jan Patočka has been flourishing recently. Martin Ritter’s book Into the World: The Movement of Patočka’s Phenomenology offers an important contribution to the debate and a long-awaited critical presentation of Patočka’s asubjective phenomenology as well as creative re-reading of Patočka's central doctrine of the movements of existence.

El propósito de este escrito radica en precisar los sentidos de los existenciarios Existenz y Jemeinigkeit, presentes en la Analítica del Dasein, que Martin Heidegger desarrolla en Sein und Zeit. Estos, aun cuando no sean el inicio del citado despliegue teórico, son troncales para entender la reflexión sobre el ser del ente humano que allí se expone. Además, mostraremos cómo aparecen conceptualizadas ambas nociones en la lección del semestre de verano de 1925 tituladas Prolegomena zur Geschichte des Zeitbegriffs. Asimismo, (...) destacaremos como Heidegger interpreta a la Existenz de Sein und Zeit en Brief über den Humanismus. Cabe aclarar que la labor exegética de la obra magna de 1927 se efectuará basándonos también en estos dos últimos escritos, es decir, en Prolegomena zur Geschichte des Zeitbegriffs y en Brief über den Humanismus. (shrink)