Given the evolution of the public health (PH) and the changes from the phenomenon of globalization, this area has encountered new ethical challenges. In order to find a coherent approach to address ethical issues in PH policy, this study aimed to identify the evolution of public health ethics (PHE) frameworks and the main moral values and norms in PH practice and policy. According to the research questions, a systematic search of the literature, in English, with no time limit (...) was performed using the main keywords in databases Web of Science (ISI) and PubMed. Finally, the full text of 56 papers was analyzed. Most of the frameworks have common underpinning assumptions and beliefs, and the need to balance PH moral obligation to prevent harm and health promotion with respect for individual autonomy has been specified. As such, a clear shift from liberal values in biomedical ethics is seen toward the community’s collective values in PHE. The main moral norms in PH practice and policy included protecting the population against harm and improving PH benefits, utility and evidenced-based effectiveness, distributive justice and fairness, respect for all, privacy and confidentiality, solidarity, social responsibility, community empowerment and participation, transparency, accountability and trust. Systematic review of PHE frameworks indicates utilization of the aforementioned moral norms through an practical framework as an ethical guide for action in the PH policy. The validity of this process requires a systematic approach including procedural conditions. (shrink)

Complexity is pleased to announce the installment of Prof Hiroki Sayama as its new Chief Editor. In this Editorial, Prof Sayama describes his feelings about his recent appointment, discusses some of the journal’s journey and relevance to current issues, and shares his vision and aspirations for its future.

This new collection illuminates and explains the political and moral importance in justifying the exercise of judicial power.Explores enduring questionsFocusing ...

This paper examines how institutions for managing environmental resources change over time with economic development and the seriousness of various environmental problems. Different problems tend to be more serious at different levels of development requiring different approaches. Traditional systems of management in poorer countries were often effective at managing common good resources, and institutions that replicate their advantages may work at higher levels of economic development as well. Problems of inter-level relations are also be considered.

The structures of spherical RNA plant tiruses, containing 180 copies of one protein subunit, are closely related to those of the animal RNA picornaviruses, which are built of 60 copies of each of three larger capsid proteins. Other spherical RNA and DNA viruses utilize the same structural motif as building units of the viral capsid. It is therefore probable that many of the simple RNA viruses, whether found in animals or plants, have had a common genetic origin. The original gene (...) may have coded for a protein that bound to specific molecules on the cell surface. (shrink)

Qu’elle soit promesse d’intelligibilité ou même ce qui fait qu’une chose est ce qu’elle est, une forme nous garantit stabilité, nous permet de nous repérer dans le flux du devenir. Principe ou support de notre connaissance, constante, elle nous permet d’accéder à l’éternité. Les formes spécifiques en zoologie ou en botanique ne font pas excep­tion, et Lamarck le premier a relevé le paradoxe qu’il y a à parler d’espèce lorsque l’on se place dans un cadre transformiste ou, dans notre cadre (...) inte... (shrink)

In order to demonstrate the great importance of Philosophy in the elaboration of current scientific theories, a parallel was drawn between concepts of pre-Socratic Philosophy and current modern theories. Thus, throughout this essay, the convergences between some elaborations developed by philosophers and their reinterpretation from a scientific point of view, supported by the scientific method and the present technological apparatuses, were exposed. In this sense, having as its core the reflection about the atomic theory of Leucippus and Democritus, we investigate (...) the way in which atomism dialogues with the modern Atomic Theory to the Quantum Theory, through concepts of Kosmos and Cosmology. In a second moment, origin of life theories were revisited from the pre-Socratic concepts of Psykhe. Finally, Philosophy and Science are brought together as possible and complementary tools for the restoration of the amplification of thought and investigative processes. (shrink)

This essay examines the impact of evolutionary theory on religious thinking in Victorian Britain. Four cultural shifts are identified that were associated with Darwin’s scientific achievement and its implications. One was the deepening of divisions concerning how scientific knowledge and religious beliefs were best related. Another was a difficult adjustment to the continuity between animals and humans that Darwin’s theory of “descent with modification” enshrined. A third was the eventual elimination from technical scientific literature of references to a Creator, and (...) a fourth was the attenuation of apologetic literature that purported to harmonise biblical exegesis with the latest science. Specific theological issues are then examined in greater depth. These include the doctrines of imago dei and of the ‘fall’, the problem of suffering, and revisions to traditional conceptions of the deity. Contrary to popular accounts of the Darwinian debates, the diversity of the religious response is emphasised. (shrink)

The Positive Evolution of Religion CHAPTEB I ORTHODOX CRITICISM IT may surprise not a few, but it is certainly true that on general principles, in spirit, ...

The theory of evolution is supported by the theory of genetics, which provides a single causal mechanism to explain the activities of replicators and interactors. A common misrepresentation of the theory of evolution, however, is that interaction (involving interactors), and transmission (involving replicators), are distinct causal processes. Sandra Mitchell (1987) is misled by this. I discuss why only a single causal mechanism is working in evolution and why it is sufficient. Further, I argue that Mitchell's mistaken view (...) of the causal mechanism in evolution prevents her from resolving the conflict between Dawkins and Brandon. I conclude that the unit-of-selection question remains very much alive. (shrink)

“Much as I dislike the idea of ages, I think a good case can be made that science has now moved from an Age of Reductionism to an Age of Emergence, a time when the search for ultimate causes of things shifts from the behavior of parts to the behavior of the collective” (Laughlin 2005 , p. 208). This quotation by Nobel laureate in physics, Robert B. Laughlin, in his recent book, A Different Universe , raises interesting scientific and philosophical (...) issues. Bench chemists continue successfully to synthesize new compounds and report results through quantitative and structural analyses of constitutive elements. The whole continues to be understood by analysis of the parts. The relatively recent science of emergence comes with a different perspective: how to explain novel, irreducible, and unpredictable appearances in cosmic evolution? New wholes seem to be more that the sum of their parts. How do these wholes come to exist? Do classical concepts of matter satisfy the science of emergence? Descriptions of nature’s phenomena that challenge classical interpretations of the “Age of Reductionism” are presented to stimulate possible new scientific and philosophical concepts for an age of reductionism and emergence. (shrink)

Rejecting evolutionary principles is a mistake, because evolutionary processes produced the irrational human minds for which Colman argues. An evolved cultural ability to acquire information socially and infer other's mental states (mind-reading) evokes Stackelberg reasoning. Much of game theory, however, assumes away information transfer and excludes the very solution that natural selection likely created to solve the problem of cooperation.

In: B. Hardy-Vallee & N. Payette, eds. Beyond the brain: embodied, situated & distributed cognition. (Cambridge: Cambridge Scholar’s Press), in press. Abstract: In this article, I do three main things: 1. First, I introduce an approach to the mind motivated primarily by evolutionary considerations. I do that by laying out four principles for the study of the mind from an evolutionary perspective, and four predictions that they suggest. This evolutionary perspective is completely compatible with, although broader than, the embodied cognition (...) approach. 2. Then I look at one prediction in depth, the idea that the brain evolved by exaptation–reusing exiting functional units, and combining them in novel ways to generate new cognitive capacities. 3. Finally, I try to lay out some of the implications, both of the in-depth example, and of the more general approach. (shrink)