Fecal microbiota transplantation has demonstrated efficacy and is increasingly being used in the treatment of patients with recurrent Clostridium difficile infection. Despite a lack of high-quality trials to provide more information on the long-term effects of FMT, there has been great enthusiasm about the potential for expanding its applications. However, FMT presents many serious ethical and social challenges that must be addressed as part of a successful regulatory policy response. In this article, we draw on a sample of the scientific (...) and bioethics literatures to examine clusters of ethical and social issues arising in five main areas: informed consent and the vulnerability of patients; determining what a “suitable healthy donor” is; safety and risk; commercialization and potential exploitation of vulnerable patients; and public health implications. We find that these issues are complex and worthy of careful consideration by health care professionals. Desperation of a patient should not be the basis for selecting treatment with FMT, and the patient's interests should always be of paramount concern. Authorities must prioritize development of appropriate and effective regulation of FMT to safeguard patients and donors, promote further research into safety and efficacy, and avoid abuse of the treatment. (shrink)

With the advancement of human microbiome research, it is inevitable that a growing number of biobanks will include a collection of microbiota specimens to characterize the microbial communities that inhabit the human body and explore the relationships between the microbiota and their human hosts. Biobanks of human microbiota and their associated genetic information may become a valuable health resource. But, this area of research also presents ethical and social problems, some of which are distinct from those faced by biobanks that (...) store human tissue samples. This paper examines four core issues which are considered highly relevant to microbiome biobanking: the nature of human microbiome samples and how different understandings have an impact on benefit/risk evaluation, privacy, informed consent, and returning the result to participants. We argue that these issues should be addressed early on in microbiome research projects and also call for adjusting or developing new governance mechanism to better accommodate these changes. (shrink)

Fecal microbiota transplantation is reportedly the most effective therapy for relapsing Clostridium Difficile infection and a potential therapeutic option for many diseases. It also poses important ethical concerns. This study is an attempt to assess clinicians’ perception and attitudes towards ethical and social challenges raised by fecal microbiota transplantation. A questionnaire was developed which consisted of 20 items: four items covered general aspects, nine were about ethical aspects such as informed consent and privacy issues, four concerned social and regulatory issues, (...) and three were about an FMT bank. This was distributed to participants at the Second China gastroenterology and FMT conference in May 2015. Basic descriptive statistical analyses and simple comparative statistical tests were performed. Nearly three quarters of the 100 respondents were gastro-enterologist physicians. 89% of all respondents believed FMT is a promising treatment modality for some diseases and 88% of whom chose clinical efficacy as the primary reason for recommending FMT. High expectation from patients and pressure on clinicians was reported as the most frequent reasons for not recommending FMT. The clinicians who had less familiarity with FMT reported significantly more worry related to the dignity and psychological impact of FMT compared to those who have high familiarity with FMT.More than half of the respondents were concerned about the commercialization of FMT, although almost one in five respondents did not see this as a problem. We found most respondents have positive attitudes towards FMT but low awareness of published evidence. Informed consent for vulnerable patients, privacy and protection of donors were perceived as the most challenging ethical aspects of FMT. This study identified areas of limited knowledge and ways of addressing ethical issues and indicates the need to devise the education and training for clinicians on FMT. (shrink)

This study is a contribution to Chinese-Western dialogue of bioethics but perhaps the first one of its kind. From a Chinese-Western comparative ethical perspective, this work brings Chinese ethical theories, especially Confucian ethics, into a contemporary context of the epidemic of HIV/AIDS, and to see how the deeply-rooted thoughts of Confucius interact, compete, or integrate with concepts from Western ethical traditions. An underlying belief is that some ideas in Confucian ethics are important and insightful beyond their cultural and historical origins (...) in China and other Confucianism influenced societies.Methodologically, this thesis employs two approaches, conceptual normative analysis combined with critical interpretation. The ‘interpretive’ approach I employ, as an important methodology supplementing my normative analysis, not only deals with Chinese ancient texts, but also explains specific beliefs and practices in China.With a critical eye, this thesis carefully examines a number of key topics in the ethics of AIDS in China from a cross-cultural perspective. Topics including: views on personhood and the vulnerability of People Living with HIV/AIDS; prioritising and balancing the role of ‘harm reduction’ and the role of ‘eradication of deviant behaviour’ in AIDS policy in China; rights-based opt-out approach and duty-based family-centred approach in HIV testing and Biobanking; blood donation; moral responsibility and personal responsibility for health; and the popular rhetoric of ‘innocent infection’ versus ‘guilty infection’ in AIDS. My overall aim in this work is to present a cross-cultural bioethics study through the investigation of some ethical issues in AIDS in China from a Chinese-Western comparative perspective and also attempt to suggest a humane and effective policy for HIV/AIDS which I believe is appropriate to both traditions. I believe this work has contributed to our knowledge in three related but independent areas: the control of the epidemic of HIV/AIDS in China; medical ethics in China; and to both the methods and the utility of cross-cultural study of bioethics between China and the West. (shrink)

Quan shu fen "Zengzi shi pian", "Zengzi quan shu", "Zengzi bu yi" he fu lu si bu fen. qi zhong, "Zengzi shi pian" wei Han dai Dai De suo ji, shou lu yu "Da dai li ji" ; "Zengzi quan shu" wei nan Song Wang Zhuoji lu, shou wen fen wei nei pian he wai pian, nei pian shou wen liang pian,wai pian shou wen shi pian, gong shou wen shi er pian; "Zengzi bu yi" ze wei zheng li zhe (...) xin ji, cai liao lai yuan zhu yao shi li dai jing, shi, zi xiang guan wen xian; fu lu bu fen zhu yao shou lu xiang guan xu ba, kao zheng deng, gong fen liu pian. (shrink)

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in English ; abstract also in Chinese. The cultural differences between East and West, as well as the differences in attitudes on bioethical issues, are hot topics in the international bioethics community. Scandals in biomedical research in recent years have further increased the prominence and importance of these issues. For example, high-profile cases involving head transplant experimentation and gene-edited babies have provoked international outrage, criticism, and condemnation. Among the responses, there have been reflections on the (...) issue of “why China?” Some researchers blame cultural differences, while others argue that there is a lack of rigorous research ethics oversight in the country. In “The Real Problem With Human Head Transplantation,” it is argued that China “is a country that has a history of taking positions on bioethical issues that diverge from most commonly accepted conceptions of medical and research ethics.” (Abstract taken from first paragraph of document) 當下一系列的生物醫學醜聞以及人們對其多元的反應，突顯了更深入的跨文化生命倫理研究的重要性，以加深多元文化和宗教的理解，促進長期共存和繁榮。作為對Tham文章的拓展，本文駁斥了跨文化生命倫理比較研究中將 中國文化和西方文化的簡單二元對立傳統，提出應警惕兩種錯誤傾向：沙文主義和種族中心主義傾向以及不可通約傾向。. (shrink)

Di 1 juan. San song tang zi xu -- di 2-3 juan. Zhongguo zhe xue shi -- di 4-5 juan. Zhen yuan liu shu -- di 6 juan. Zhongguo zhe xue jian shi [translation of Short history of Chinese philosophy] -- di 7-9 juan. Zhongguo zhe xue shi xin bian -- di 10 juan. Zhe xue lun wen ji.

The collection contains published and unpublished essays, lecture transcripts, notes, poems, etc., often with handwritten edits and comments. Topics vary, with a focus on Chinese philosophy, comparison of Chinese and Western thought, contemporary intellectual and social reform movements, biographical reflections and self-criticism. The collection may reflect how 20th century political developments, especially the Cultural Revolution, impacted Feng Youlan's thought.

Our understanding of the complexity of the oral biome and of the role of the various constituent bacteria in the aetiology of dental disease is growing. Probiotics and their relationship with prebiotics, as well as other microbiome‐based interventions, could be useful in preventing and treating dental disease and in promoting oral health. However, given the promise and early stage of this treatment approach, there are also a number of ethical, social and regulatory issues associated with innovative probiotic therapy. In this (...) article, a brief update is given on contemporary theories of the aetiology and management of the two commonest dental diseases, and on the roles of pre‐ and probiotics and oral biome transplant in the management of these diseases. The focus is primarily on four core issues: informed consent, risk–benefit assessment, how to determine suitable healthy donors, and commercialization and regulation. We discuss the safety and benefits of oral probiotics, not only concerning the products and quality control during their manufacture, but also regarding the depth of public knowledge about this topic. We point out that the requirement of listing ingredients honestly might be insufficient, and that the prevalent rhetoric of ‘natural’ and ‘organic’ as well as some health claims in the translational, innovative probiotic industry and markets are themselves misleading and should be carefully scrutinized. Finally, we suggest an ethical imperative to find a balance between scientific research and industry, and public health in the regulation of probiotics. (shrink)

本书选取冯友兰作品中关于哲思的经典篇目,讲述作者对人生诸多领域的思考,对诸多人生问题的剖析,处处洋溢着丰富的智慧与哲人的洞见.

This is a philosophical book about the idea of human freedom in the context of Chinese philosophy on truth, the good, and beauty. The book shows that there is a coherent and sophisticated philosophical discourse on human freedom throughout the history of Chinese Philosophy in aesthetics, ethics, and epistemology. Feng Qi discusses the development of freedom in light of the Marxist theory of practice. In the history of philosophy, the relation between thought and existence, which is fundamental to philosophy, (...) has stimulated many debates. These debates, though they have assumed diverse forms in Chinese and Western philosophy, have eventually concentrated on three inquiries: the natural world (the objective material world); the human mind; and the concepts, categories, and laws that are representative forms of nature in the human mind and in knowledge. In Chinese philosophy, the three inquiries are summarized using three notions: qi (气 breath, spirit), xin (心 heart), dao (道 the Way). What relationship do the three notions have with each other? This book explores the way to human freedom through the divergent paths in Chinese philosophy. This book’s investigation of human activities brings the typical Chinese philosophical discourse from the cosmological realm into the realm of human beings as individuals. In this regard, the three inquiries can be described as being about real life, ideals, and individuals. (shrink)

A well established technique toward developing the proof theory of a Hilbert-style modal logic is to introduce a Gentzen-style equivalent (a Gentzenisation), then develop the proof theory of the latter, and finally transfer the metatheoretical results to the original logic (e.g., [1, 6, 8, 18, 10, 12]). In the first-order modal case, on one hand we know that the Gentzenisation of the straightforward first-order extension of GL, the logic QGL, admits no cut elimination (if the rule is included as primitive; (...) or, if not included, then the rule is not admissible [1]). On the other hand the (cut-free) Gentzenisations of the first-order modal logics M3 and ML3 of [10, 12] do have cut as an admissible rule. The syntactic cut admissibility proof given in [18] for the Gentzenisation of the propositional provability logic GL is extremely complex, and it was the basis of the proofs of cut admissibility of the Gentzenisations of M3 and ML3, where the presence of quantifiers and quantifier rules added to the complexity and length of the proof. A recent proof of cut admissibility in a cut-free Gentzenisation of GL is given in [5] and is quite short and easy to read. We adapt it here to revisit the proofs for the cases of M3 and ML3, resulting to similarly short and easy to read proofs, only slightly complicated by the presence of quantification and its relevant rules. (shrink)

Starting from the many-world interpretation of quantum mechanics, this work gives a holistic view of consciousness. The entirety is complete and does not possess any particular physical properties or subjective experience. It is the superposition of all possibilities. Its partition, however, gives rise to physical properties and subjective experience simultaneously. They play complementary roles to each other. The latter cannot be conveyed to a third person, and cannot be reduced to the former. It in fact fills the informational gap which (...) is impossible for the former to fill. The casual effect and the privilege of subjective experience are related to the role it plays, which is to identify the subject's self location. (shrink)

We examine the impact of a government-initiated CSR project on corporate misconduct using the unique setting of China’s Targeted Poverty Alleviation (TPA) program. The difference-in-differences estimates show that firms participating in the TPA program engage in fewer misconduct activities than do their counterparts. This finding is robust to the parallel trends test, the placebo test, alternative regression specifications, alternative research designs, the reverse causality analysis, and the bivariate probit model with partial observability. Further analysis shows that TPA participation enhances the (...) ability of external financial professionals to monitor performance by stimulating the dissemination of TPA-related incremental information, thereby contributing to the decline in corporate misconduct. The cross-sectional heterogeneity analysis shows that the impact of TPA participation on corporate misconduct is more pronounced in firms with higher information asymmetry, with weaker political connections, and with weaker internal governance. Furthermore, we find evidence that TPA participation improves corporate financial performance but does not deteriorate information transparency. (shrink)

This paper explores how to explain the applicability of classical mathematics to the physical world in a radically naturalistic and nominalistic philosophy of mathematics. The applicability claim is first formulated as an ordinary scientific assertion about natural regularity in a class of natural phenomena and then turned into a logical problem by some scientific simplification and abstraction. I argue that there are some genuine logical puzzles regarding applicability and no current philosophy of mathematics has resolved these puzzles. Then I introduce (...) a plan for resolving the logical puzzles of applicability. (shrink)

Introduction: On the Huang-Lao tradition of Daoist thought. Looking at the basic characteristics of Huang-Lao Daoism -- Reviewing past research and looking to the future -- How does the idea of a "Huang-Lao Daoist" school stand up to scrutiny? -- A brief introduction to the contents of this book -- Conclusions -- Huang-Lao Daoism research in light of excavated texts. Introduction -- Two types of theories regarding Dao and governance in the Huangdi Sijing -- Early Huang-Lao thought in bamboo manuscripts (...) from the ancient state of Chu -- Conclusions -- Huang-Lao thought and folk techniques and calculations: using clues from excavated texts. A look back at previous studies -- Techniques and calculations in textual images of the Yellow Emperor -- The relationships between the concepts of "forms and names" and "forms/punishment and virtue/bounty" and techniques and calculations -- Linguistic characteristics of techniques and calculations in Huang-Lao texts -- Conclusion -- The literary structure and characteristics of the thought in the bamboo manuscript known as All Things Flow into Forms (Fanwu Liuxing). Introduction -- The literary structure of the Fanwu Liuxing -- The characteristics of thought in the Fanwu Liuxing -- Some last observations -- From auto-creation to autonomy: an analysis of political philosophy in the Hengxian. Introduction -- Past research -- Self-generation from Pre-Qin, throughout Qin to the Han dynasties -- The parallel between the sections of the Hengxian -- Concluding remarks -- The idea of names or naming as one of the key concepts in the Huangdi Sijing: discussing the relationship between the concepts of the schools of Dao, names and legality. Preface -- The kinds of names seen in the Huangdi Sijing -- Surveying names in the Huangdi Sijing -- The relationship between ruler and names -- The relationship between names and law -- Conclusion. (shrink)

1920s, Bergson intellectual philosophy was very popular in China, this time also happens to be the trend of modern Neo-Confucianism began to grow and rise time, Liang Shuming and Xiong Shili have been thinking of the profound impact of Bergson. Liang Shuming trying to integrate Buddhist philosophy of Consciousness-only school and Bergson's view of life, to explain and play the Confucian "students" of the essence of philosophy, to rebuild the Confucian ideal personality. Xiong Shili cf Bergson through reflection and philosophical (...) view of life and nature, has made ​​his unique view of life body, thus the creation of "Xi provision to change" Dahua popular theory and "tacit knowledge will permit," the intuition that. Last century 20 decade, Bergson philosophy in China ideological circle considerably popular, is also right now coincidentally, Modem new Confucianism trend begins sprout and springs up, bang Shuming and Xiong Shili have gotten Bergson ideological deep influence. Hang Shuming attempt to fuse Buddhist Dharmalaksana and the viewpoint of Bergson life philosophy, to explain and develop the Confucianism the philosophy of livelihood shrewd justice, to rebuild the ideal personality of the Confucianism. Xiong Shili pass through self-examination and are contrasted Bergson philosophy on view of life and view of nature, have made his unique view for life-ontology, so, found "Xi-Bi become to change", big change view and "silent know certificate thing" intuition view. (shrink)

Drawing upon Roland Barthes’ posthumously published notebooks from his 1974 trip to China, in which he remarks upon the ‘complete absence of fashion. Clothing degree zero’, this article offers a ‘late’ reading of Barthes’ interest in fashion, suggested here as a form of writing. In reference to the late works, specifically Barthes’ penultimate lecture course on the Neutral and Travels in China, supplemented by François Jullien’s comments on Barthes’ trip to China, as well as mention of Michelangelo Antonioni’s film Chung (...) Kuo-Cina, it is possible to draw together a reading of fashion as a neutral form. As a final step, reflection is given to Susan Buck-Morss’ reading of ‘history as passing’, as discontinuous moments. Barthes’ writerly mode – which works upon incidental details – is revealed to be a pertinent method. (shrink)