La clase de filosofía, desde la perspectiva del docente, no debe considerarse como una mera actividad transeúnte o predicamental. El presente estudio quiere examinarla, siguiendo la metafísica de la vida de Tomás de Aquino, como una obra vital, que requiere, por un lado, que el profesor se haga una sola cosa —una sola vida, podemos decir— con la doctrina que va a explicar y, por el otro, que esta intelección actual, sin movimiento alguno, dé lugar a la «concepción» y al (...) «parto» de lo entendido en una palabra del corazón, la cual, por su dinamismo intrínseco, tiende, a su vez, a manifestarse exteriormente en una palabra sonora, en un «verbum vocis». Esta exteriorización, por la cual aquella íntima operación que constituye la vida del que filosofa se corporeiza en forma de «diálogo», es, precisamente, la clase de filosofía. La técnica pedagógica debe tener en cuenta el orden intrínseco por el cual la vida humana, mediante la formación de una palabra del corazón, procede a su propia perfección, y no debe olvidar que el perfeccionamiento vital del profesor es causa (instrumental) del perfeccionamiento vital del alumno; es decir, quien no «produce», quien no «engendra», quien no «crea» interiormente lo que está explicando —independientemente de si se trata o no de una novedad— difícilmente ofrecerá unos medios adecuados para que el alumno conciba y dé a luz, en la intimidad de su mente, a un «verbum cordis». (shrink)

En este libro, que se titula «Sobre los nombres divinos [De divinis nominibus]», siguiendo la costumbre de aquellos que han transmitido la ciencia magistralmente [artificiose], Dionisio empieza, en primer lugar, presentando algunas consideraciones necesarias para todo el estudio sucesivo, y, en segundo lugar, prosigue exponiendo el objeto principal [de su tratado] en el capítulo tercero.

En contra de les aparences, la meva intenció és ridiculitzar i desactivar l’estratègic ús de referències a personatges de ficció per part dels mass media, els quals pretenen identificar el fundador de WikiLeaks amb tot aquest projecte —quelcom que facilita tant la deslegitimació com la mercantilització. Així, aquest article qüestiona la dominant personalització de la web de filtracions en Julian Assange, tot mostrant algunes de les més rellevants diferències i/o contradiccions entre el rerefons normatiu de WikiLeaks i la pseudo-filosofia política (...) de l’australià. La meva tesi és que la justificació de la il·legal revelació d’informació secreta i confidencial com a pràctica de desobediència civil es posa en perill per la contaminació de postulats utilitaristes i neoliberals. (shrink)

En este artículo se investigan los presupuestos ontológicos de aquellos nombres divinos que pueden predicarse de Dios y de las criaturas. En un primer momento, se destaca la anterioridad metafísica del ente como atributo de Dios. Después, al descubrir que el ente es un concepto análogo, se examinan las distintas modalidades de analogía confrontando dos textos: Summa contra Gentiles, I, cap. 34 y De Veritate, q.2, a.11. Finalmente, se muestra que la analogía de proporcionalidad es la que debe preferirse para (...) predicar algo acerca de Dios, y se pone de manifiesto en qué medida se funda sobre la cuarta vía «ex gradibus qui in rebus inveniuntur». (shrink)

Si prescindiéramos de la composición acto-potencial entre «essentia» y «esse» en la línea del ente creado, necesariamente nos veríamos arrojados al monismo spinozista, esto es, a admitir que solamente hay una substancia (a) única, (b) infinita, (c) increada, (d) necesariamente existente, (e) acto puro, (f) identificada, en último término, con la misma substancia de Dios. En el capítulo LII del segundo libro de la Summa contra gentiles, Santo Tomás obtiene esos atributos divinos a partir de siete argumentos que tienen como (...) objetivo probar que, en el caso que no se aceptara la diferencia real entre essentia y esse en el ente finito —tanto material como inmaterial—, necesariamente deberíamos reconocer que sólo hay una substancia con los seis atributos anteriormente mencionados (cada argumento da lugar a un atributo distinto, exceptuando los dos primeros que desembocan en el mismo, a saber, el de la unicidad). En el artículo presente, siguiendo la interpretación de Norberto del Prado, nos proponemos exponer cómo puede refutarse el monismo spinozista desde la doctrina de Santo Tomás en dos etapas: la primera viene representada por el ya citado capítulo de la Summa contra gentes; la segunda, por la cuarta vía (Summa Theologiae, I, q.2, a.3). (shrink)

Este artículo transmite dos ideas destacadas: por un lado, defiende la justicia y la verdad de la democracia deliberativa; por el otro, denuncia el carácter ficticio del paradigma «westfaliano». Las dos hipótesis aparecen gracias a las filtraciones éticas de WikiLeaks. De cara a evaluarlas, previamente examino de forma crítica la evolución de la concepción política de Jürgen Habermas. Mi aportación es reinterpretar su deliberacionismo como una combinación entre una teoría del poder y una de la opinión pública.

En primer lugar, la presente comunicación describe brevemente un suceso un tanto insólito: el que una página web haya puesto en jaque al considerado gobierno nacional más poderoso del mundo. En segundo lugar, se ofrece una posible perspectiva teórica para interpretar tal acontecimiento: la teoría de la opinión pública, principalmente desde su articulación en el seno de la Teoría Crítica de Jürgen Habermas. En tercer lugar, se evalúan someramente las luces y las sombras tanto de WikiLeaks como de Habermas mediante (...) la comparación crítica. En general, este trabajo se propone iniciar el análisis de las potencialidades de internet como herramienta y espacio en favor de la democracia y la emancipación de una ciudadanía participativa y no encerrada en sus clásicos límites estatales. (shrink)

Explores the extraordinary states of expanded consciousness that arise during comas, both positive and negative.

All-encompassing text examines every aspect of coma from neurochemistry, monitoring, and treatments to prognostic factors.

Herbert, Michael Clinicians are beginning to understand the varied outcomes following severe brain injury, one of which is post-coma unresponsiveness (PCU). However, much still needs to be done to fully comprehend this elusive state. Current clinical knowledge is outlined below.

In this report, we describe the case of a patient who has remained in a comatose state for more than one year after a traumatic and hypoxic brain injury. This state, which we refer to as long-lasting coma (LLC), may be a disorder of consciousness with significantly different features from those of conventional coma, the vegetative state, or brain death. On the basis of clinical, neurophysiological and neuroimaging data, we hypothesize that a multilevel involvement of the ascending reticular (...) activating system is required in LLC. This description may be useful for the identification of other patients suffering from this severe disorder of consciousness, which raises important ethical issues. (shrink)

For a homicidal tyrant Domitian was disconcertingly droll. A number of examples of is ‘sardonic wit’ survive. One of them was so good that Marcus Aurelius supposedly repeated it, and attributed it to Hadrian rather than Domitian on the grounds that good sayings had no moral force if they came from tyrants.3 Domitian also possessed a talent for writing. Suetonius and Tacitus claim that his interest in literature was merely a pretence, but Domitian′s contemporaries claim for him genuine ability, and (...) here for once they seem much closer to the mark, as Coleman argues. (shrink)

For a homicidal tyrant Domitian was disconcertingly droll. A number of examples of is ‘sardonic wit’ survive. One of them was so good that Marcus Aurelius supposedly repeated it, and attributed it to Hadrian rather than Domitian on the grounds that good sayings had no moral force if they came from tyrants.3 Domitian also possessed a talent for writing. Suetonius and Tacitus claim that his interest in literature was merely a pretence, but Domitian′s contemporaries claim for him genuine ability, and (...) here for once they seem much closer to the mark, as Coleman argues. (shrink)

Aim: To elicit preferences for prognostic information, attitudes towards withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment (WLST) and perspectives on acceptable quality of life after post-anoxic coma within the adult general population of Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the United States of America. Methods: A web-based survey, consisting of questions on respondent characteristics, perspectives on quality of life, communication of prognostic information, and withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, was taken by adult respondents recruited from four countries. Statistical analysis included descriptive analysis and chi2-tests (...) for dierences between countries. Results: In total, 2012 respondents completed the survey. In each country, at least 84% indicated they would prefer to receive early prognostic information. If a poor outcome was predicted with some uncertainty, 37-54% of the respondents indicated that WLST was not to be allowed. A conscious state with severe physical and cognitive impairments was perceived as acceptable quality of life by 17–44% of the respondents. Clear differences between countries exist, including respondents from the U.S. being more likely to allow WLST than respondents from Germany (OR = 1.99, p < 0.001) or the Netherlands (OR = 1.74, p < 0.001) and preferring to stay alive in a conscious state with severe physical and cognitive impairments more than respondents from Italy (OR = 3.76, p < 0.001), Germany (OR = 2.21, p < 0.001), or the Netherlands (OR = 2.39, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Over one-third of the respondents considered WLST unacceptable when there is any remaining prognostic uncertainty. Respondents had a more positive perspective on acceptable quality of life after coma than what is currently considered acceptable in medical literature. This indicates a need for a closer look at the practice of WLST based on prognostic information, to ensure responsible use of novel prognostic tests. (shrink)

Jian Zhou,* Weiqiang Ju,* Xiaopeng Yuan, Xiaofeng Zhu, Dongping Wang, Xiaoshun HeOrgan Transplant Center, First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work: Hyperosmolar nonketotic hyperglycemic coma is a serious, rare complication induced by methylprednisolone pulse therapy for acute rejection after orthotopic liver transplantation. Herein, we report an unusual case of a 58-year-old woman who experienced acute rejection at 30 months after OLT, only one case in which HNKHC resulted in (...) MP pulse therapy for acute rejection in all 913 recipients in our center. The general morbidity of HNKHC was 1.09‰ in this study. HNKHC is characterized by rapid onset, rapid progression, and a lack of specific clinical manifestations. High-dose MP management was a clear risk factor. The principle of treatment included rapid rehydration, low-dose insulin infusion, and correcting disorders of electrolytes and acidosis. In conclusion, clinicians considering MP pulse therapy after OLT should be alert to the occurrence of HNKHC. Keywords: liver transplantation, complications, hyperosmolar nonketotic hyperglycemic coma, methylprednisolone pulse therapy, principle of treatment. (shrink)

Following coma, some patients will recover wakefulness without signs of consciousness (only showing reflex movements, i.e., the vegetative state) or may show non-reflex movements but remain without functional communication (i.e., the minimally conscious state). Currently, there remains a high rate of misdiagnosis of the vegetative state (Schnakers et. al. BMC Neurol, 9:35, 8) and the clinical and electrophysiological markers of outcome from the vegetative and minimally conscious states remain unsatisfactory. This should incite clinicians to use multimodal assessment to detect (...) objective signs of consciousness and validate para-clinical prognostic markers in these challenging patients. This review will focus on advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques such as magnetic resonance spectroscopy, diffusion tensor imaging, and functional MRI (fMRI studies in both “activation” and “resting state” conditions) that were recently introduced in the assessment of patients with.. (shrink)

In this paper, the incidental clauses delimited by commas are inquired from a computational linguistic perspective. Some theoretical aspects based on grammatical criteria, and a discussion about its nature and definition are proposed. For this objective, we consider (i) the possibility that incidental clause has (or not) a syntactic function, (ii) the possibility that the incidental clauses interrupts (or not) the regular order of the sentence where it is inserted, and (iii) the different levels where the incidental clauses could be (...) situated. From these issues, a classification and a definition of incidental clauses delimited by commas are proposed, and a method for automatic detection of these expressions using the Smorph and MPS softwares are described; this method got adequate accuracy and coverage percentages. Finally the contribution of this paper for the grammatical studies and the computational linguistics are presented, and new topics for future works are proposed. (shrink)

McGovern, Kevin This article reviews three statements from the National Health and Medical Research Council on post-coma unresponsiveness (PCU). One of the functions of the NHMRC is to propose standards and guidelines for health care in Australia. The paper explores the causes and neuropathology of PCU, imaging and other tests and prognosis from unresponsiveness.

Current research on the neural basis of consciousness is based mainly on neuroimaging, physiology and psychophysics. This target article reviews what is known about biochemical factors that may contribute to the development of consciousness, based on loss of consciousness (i.e., coma). There are two theories of the biochemical mode of action of general anaesthetics. One is that anaesthesia is a direct (i.e., not receptor-mediated) effect of the anaesthetic on cellular neurophysiological function; the other is that some alteration of receptor (...) function occurs. General anaesthetics are mainly GABA agonists but some (such as ketamine) are glutamate antagonists. They also affect other systems, particularly cholinergic ones. There are various comas of metabolic origin. For example, a combination of small doses of the iron chelators desferrioxamine and prochlorperazine induce a profound and long lasting coma in humans. The mechanisms that might mediate this include redox mechanisms at the glutamate synapse, post-synaptic endocytosis of dopamine and iron, and intracellular iron-dopamine complexes, which are powerful dismuters of the superoxide anion. New findings in cell biology relating to endocytosis and recycling of receptors are discussed in a wider context. These biochemical events may induce coma by two mechanisms: (i) Consciousness may depend on widespread cortical (or cortico-thalamic) activation. (ii) Whereas these biochemical changes are widespread, only the changes in a subset of consciousness' neurons may count. An experimental program to distinguish between these two alternatives is proposed. (shrink)

THE PRIMARY AIM OF THIS ESSAY is to advance discussion on how best to treat comatose patients. Its principal conclusion will be Some purportedly irreversibly comatose humans ought to be kept alive indefinitely. Of course, merely keeping such patients alive is not how best to treat them. How they are being treated while being kept alive is of paramount importance. Note that is compatible with the truth of All comatose humans ought to be kept alive indefinitely. I shall say nothing (...) more about. It will serve my present purpose if I can adequately defend, where "some" is to be understood in the usual manner, namely, as "at least one." The term "indefinitely," as one might surmise, is meant to convey some unspecified period of time. (shrink)

Detecting conscious awareness in a patient emerging from a coma state is problematic, because our standard attributions of conscious awareness rely on interpreting bodily movement as intentional action. Where there is an absence of intentional bodily action, as in the vegetative state, can we reliably assume that there is an absence of conscious awareness? Recent neuroimaging work suggests that we can attribute conscious awareness to some patients in a vegetative state by interpreting their brain activity as intentional mental action. (...) I suggest that this change of focus, from the interpretation of motor behaviour as intentional bodily action to the interpretation of neural activity as intentional mental action, raises philosophical issues that affect the interpretation of the neuroimaging data. (shrink)

Cet article propose un regard sur la place des familles au chevet des patients comateux et leur rôle potentiel dans le processus d’éveil, notamment en ce qui concerne le travail de mémoire et le partage d’affect, principalement la honte. Il s’appuie sur l’expérience de travail de plusieurs années d’un psychologue en service de réanimation adulte. La réanimation est un lieu dans lequel la place de chaque objet est pensée en fonction de son utilité pour le soin du patient, mais peu (...) dans la perspective du lien à l’entourage. Certains objets comme la famille sont porteurs de complexité à résonances affectives. L’article montre que cette complexité, si elle est accompagnée par le psychologue et l’équipe soignante, peut jouer un rôle favorable dans le processus d’éveil et dans le travail de réappropriation de son vécu par le patient. (shrink)

Cet article propose un regard sur la place des familles au chevet des patients comateux et leur rôle potentiel dans le processus d’éveil, notamment en ce qui concerne le travail de mémoire et le partage d’affect, principalement la honte. Il s’appuie sur l’expérience de travail de plusieurs années d’un psychologue en service de réanimation adulte. La réanimation est un lieu dans lequel la place de chaque objet est pensée en fonction de son utilité pour le soin du patient, mais peu (...) dans la perspective du lien à l’entourage. Certains objets comme la famille sont porteurs de complexité à résonances affectives. L’article montre que cette complexité, si elle est accompagnée par le psychologue et l’équipe soignante, peut jouer un rôle favorable dans le processus d’éveil et dans le travail de réappropriation de son vécu par le patient. (shrink)

The essay examines Robin Cook’s Coma and Priscille Sibley’s The Promise of Stardust that dramatize the reified and disposable status of the brain-dead patients who are classified as nonpersons. The essay argues that the man-machine entanglement as depicted in the novels constructs a deterritorialized and entangled form of subjectivity that intervenes in the dominant biomedical understanding of personhood and agency that we notionally associate with a conscious mind. The essay concludes its arguments by discussing Alexander Beliaev’s Professor Dowell’s Head (...) which depicts human subjectivity as an essentially embodied and distributive phenomenon and interrogates the Cartesian mind body dualism embedded in the dominant biomedical narratives. (shrink)