Shamans, healers, and doctors have always known that patients may improve even if no real therapy is administered. In the Charmides, Plato noted that to soothe a headache, one needed "a kind of leaf, which required to be accompanied by a charm, and if a person would repeat the charm at the same time he used the cure, he would be made whole; but that without the charm would be of no avail". Similarly, more than two millennia later, Thomas Jefferson (...) observed, "One of the most successful physicians I have even known has assured me that he used more bread pills, drops of colored water, and powder of hickory ashes, than of all other medication put together"; Jefferson famously labeled this... (shrink)

When the indispensability argument for mathematical entities (IA) is spelled out, it would appear confirmational holism is needed for the argument to work. It has been argued that confirmational holism is a dispensable premise in the argument if a construal of naturalism, according to which it is denied that we can take different epistemic attitudes towards different parts of our scientific theories, is adopted. I argue that the suggested variety of naturalism will only appeal to a limited number of philosophers. (...) I then suggest that if we allow for some degree of separation between different component parts of theories, IA can be formulated as an argument aimed at more than a limited number of philosophers, but in implementing this strategy the notion of indispensability needs spelling out. The best way of spelling out indispensability is in terms of theory contribution, but doing so requires adopting inference to the best explanation (IBE). IBE is however sufficient for establishing the conclusion that IA is supposed to establish. Thus, IA is a redundant argument. (shrink)

Background People who are at elevated risk of suicide stand to benefit from internet-based interventions; however, research in this area is likely impacted by a range of ethical and practical challenges. The aim of this study was to examine the ethical issues and practical barriers associated with clinical studies of internet-based interventions for suicide prevention. Method This was a mixed-methods study involving two phases. First, a systematic search was conducted to identify studies evaluating internet-based interventions for people at risk of (...) suicide, and information pertaining to safety protocols and exclusion criteria was extracted. Second, investigators on the included studies were invited to complete an online survey comprising open-ended and forced-choice responses. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to analyse the data. Results The literature search identified 18 eligible studies, of which three excluded participants based on severity of suicide risk. Half of the 15 suicide researchers who participated in the survey had experienced problems obtaining ethics approval, and none had encountered adverse events attributed to their intervention. Survey respondents noted the difficulty of managing risk in online environments and the limitations associated with implementing safety protocols, although some also reported increased confidence resulting from the ethical review process. Respondents recommended researchers pursue a collaborative relationship with their research ethics committees. Conclusion There is a balance to be achieved between the need to minimise the risk of adverse events whilst also ensuring interventions are being validated on populations who may be most likely to use and benefit from them. Further research is required to obtain the views of research ethics committees and research participants on these issues. Dialogue between researchers and ethics committees is necessary to address the need to ensure safety while also advancing the timely development of effective interventions in this critical area. (shrink)

The possibilities of a realistic interpretation of quantum mechanics are investigated by means of a statistical analysis of experiments performed on the simplest type of quantum systems carrying spin or helicity. To this end, fundamental experiments, some new, for measuring polarization are reviewed and (re)analyzed. Theunsharp reality of spin is essential in the interpretation of some of these experiments and represents a natural motivation for recent generalizations of quantum mechanics to a theory incorporating effect-valued measures as unsharp observables and generalized (...) systems of imprimitivity. (shrink)

In Sweden, palliative care has, over the past decades, been object to policies and guidelines with focus on how to achieve “good palliative care”. The aim of this study has been to analyse how experts make sense of the development and the current state of palliative care. Departing from this aim, focus has been on identifying how personal experiences of ‘the self’ are intertwined with culturally available meta-level concepts and how experts contribute to construct new scripts on palliative care. Twelve (...) qualitative interviews were conducted. Four scripts were identified after analysing the empirical material: 1. script of paths towards working within palliative care; 2. script of desirable and deterrent reference points; 3. script of tensions between improvement and bureaucracy; and 4. script of low status and uncertain definitions. The findings of this study illustrate how experts in complex ways intertwine experiences of ‘the self’ with meta-levels concepts in order to make sense of the field of palliative care. The participants did not endorse one “right way” of “good” deaths. Instead, palliative care was considered to be located in a complex state where the historical development, consisting of both desirable ideals, death denials and lack of guidelines, and more recent developments of strives towards universal concepts, “improvement” and increased bureaucracy altogether played a significant role for how palliative care has developed and is organised and conducted today. (shrink)

The role of uncertainty within an organization’s environment features prominently in the business ethics and management literature, but how corporate investment decisions should proceed in the face of uncertainties relating to the natural environment is less discussed. From the perspective of ecological economics, the salience of ecology-induced issues challenges management to address new types of uncertainties. These pertain to constraints within the natural environment as well as to institutional action aimed at conserving the natural environment. We derive six areas of (...) ecology-induced uncertainties and propose ecology-driven real options as a conceptual approach for systematically incorporating these uncertainties into strategic management. We combine our results in an integrative investment framework and illustrate its application with the case of carbon constraints. (shrink)

Transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 (TRPV4), a member of the TRP superfamily, is a broadly expressed, cell surface‐localized cation channel that is activated by a variety of environmental stimuli. Importantly, TRPV4 has been increasingly implicated in the regulation of cellular morphology. Here we propose that TRPV4 and the cytoskeletal remodeling small GTPase RhoA together constitute an environmentally sensitive signaling complex that contributes to pathological cell cytoskeletal alterations during neurological injury and disease. Supporting this hypothesis is our recent work demonstrating direct (...) physical and bidirectional functional interactions of TRPV4 with RhoA, which can lead to activation of RhoA and reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton. Furthermore, a confluence of evidence implicates TRPV4 and/or RhoA in pathological responses triggered by a range of acute neurological insults ranging from stroke to traumatic injury. While initiated by a variety of insults, TRPV4–RhoA signaling may represent a common pathway that disrupts axonal regeneration and blood–brain barrier integrity. These insights also suggest that TRPV4 inhibition may represent a safe, feasible, and precise therapeutic strategy for limiting pathological TRPV4–RhoA activation in a range of neurological diseases. (shrink)

Recent developments in novel therapies for neuromuscular diseases offer parents new perspectives on their affected children's future. This article examines how the emergence of new therapies impacts the lives of parents of children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy or spinal muscular atrophy type 2, two genetic neuromuscular disorders characterized by progressive muscle degeneration. Aiming for a first‐person perspective, fieldwork was conducted utilizing participant observation, semistructured interviews, and several internet sources. Six families with a total of 12 persons, all living in Denmark, (...) were included in the interviews. Two types of parents were identified who were at opposite ends in dealing with the new therapies—the cure optimists and the cure pragmatists. Different hopes resulted in different narratives for their children's futures. The article raises questions about how and when children with chronic diseases should be involved in their parent's hopes for a cure and highlights the dilemmas facing health professionals working in the field of children with chronic diseases for which the prospects of a cure are improving. We conclude that health professionals must find a way to carefully balance guidance and information about experimental medicines, including the fact that experimental medicine sometimes fails, does not work as well as hoped for, or does not become available, with sustaining parental hopes for their children's future. (shrink)

It has recently been suggested by Shaw (2007) that the distinction between voluntary active euthanasia, such as giving a patient a lethal overdose with the intention of ending that patient's life, and voluntary passive euthanasia, such as removing a patient from a ventilator, is much less obvious than is commonly acknowledged in the literature. This is argued by suggesting a new perspective that more accurately reflects the moral features of end-of-life situations. The argument is simply that if we consider the (...) body of a mentally competent patient who wants to die, a kind of ‘unwarranted’ life support, then the distinction collapses. We argue that all Shaw has provided is a perspective that makes the conclusion that there is little distinction between voluntary active euthanasia and voluntary passive euthanasia only seemingly more palatable. In doing so he has yet to convince us that this perspective is superior to other perspectives and thus more accurately reflects the moral features of the situations pertaining to this issue. (shrink)

This volume collects original, cutting-edge essays on the philosophy of recognition by international scholars eminent in the field. By considering the topic of recognition as addressed by both classical and contemporary authors, the volume explores the connections between historical and contemporary recognition research and makes substantive contributions to the further development of contemporary theories of recognition.

The traditional formulation of the indispensability argument for the existence of mathematical entities (IA) has been criticised due to its reliance on confirmational holism. Recently a formulation of IA that works without appeal to confirmational holism has been defended. This recent formulation is meant to be superior to the traditional formulation in virtue of it not being subject to the kind of criticism that pertains to confirmational holism. I shall argue that a proponent of the version of IA that works (...) without appeal to confirmational holism will struggle to answer a challenge readily answered by proponents of a version of IA that does appeal to confirmational holism. This challenge is to explain why mathematics applied in falsified scientific theories is not considered to be falsified along with the rest of the theory. In cases where mathematics seemingly ought to be falsified it is saved from falsification, by a so called 'Euclidean rescue'. I consider a range of possible answers to this challenge and conclude that each answer fails. (shrink)

Le Songe de Scipion est l’occasion pour Cicéron de revenir sur cette notion généralement dévalorisée politiquement qu’est l’espoir, par le biais de la longue narration d’un rêve, dans lequel Scipion a eu la vision, non seulement de sa destinée future, mais de l’ensemble de l’univers, et a été instruit du destin des âmes humaines après la mort. En réponse aux interrogations du républicanisme antique sur les limites dans lesquelles une République peut aspirer à la gloire et à l’expansion impériale, l’eschatologie (...) développée par Cicéron dans le Songe de Scipion vient relégitimer l’espoir, en le réorientant vers cette gloire céleste, et non plus terrestre, promise après la mort aux hommes politiques attachés à la vertu. Prêter attention au traitement de l’espoir dans le De Republica permet à la fois de ressaisir l’unité que forme le Songe avec le reste de l’œuvre et d’esquisser l’histoire d’une réflexion sur la valeur politique de l’espoir. (shrink)

In their thoughtful paper, Shen et al. (2024) discuss optimal solutions to address the challenge of returning individual research results from digital phenotyping in psychiatry. Their conclusion to...

It is claimed that the indispensability argument for the existence of mathematical entities (IA) works in a way that allows a proponent of mathematical realism to remain agnostic with regard to how we establish that mathematical entities exist. This is supposed to be possible by virtue of the appeal to confirmational holism that enters into the formulation of IA. Holism about confirmation is supposed to be motivated in analogy with holism about falsification. I present an account of how holism about (...) falsification is supposed to be motivated. I argue that the argument for holism about falsification is in tension with how we think about confirmation and with two principles suggested by Quine for construing a plausible variety of holism. Finally, I show that one of Quine's principles does not allow a proponent of mathematical realism to remain agnostic with regard to how we establish that mathematical entities exist. (shrink)

This is an entry to the Compendium of Quantum Physics, edited by F Weinert, K Hentschel and D Greenberger, to be published by Springer-Verlag.

Having trouble putting down your Nikon D80 long enough to read the manual? Slip this convenient, full-color guide into your camera bag instead. You'll find big, clear color photos to help you identify the camera's many controls, complete information on using each button and dial, and breathtaking examples of the results. Then discover step-by-step recipes for shooting terrific photos in more than 15 specific situations. This indispensable guide is like having a personal photographic assistant. Test-drive your Nikon D80 with a (...) Quick Tour. Learn to efficiently operate all your camera's controls. Review photographic basics like exposure, lighting, and composition. Explore different types of lenses. Discover the appropriate lens, ISO setting, aperture or mode, shutter speed, and lighting for a variety of subjects and situations. Get expert tips on downloading and editing your photos. Order today so you'll have this go-anywhere guide along wherever you go. (shrink)

This is an entry to the Compendium of Quantum Physics, edited by F Weinert, K Hentschel and D Greenberg, to be published by Springer-Verlag.

It is widely acknowledged that surrealism has had a profound impact on postmodern philosophy. The skepticism that surrealism brought to bear on rationality and its revisionist influence on theories of the subject have been received in philosophical literature through writings such as those of Bataille or Artaud. However, current discourse has largely failed to recognize the wider influence surrealism has exerted on the theoretical study of the image. This essay aims to show the relevance of a surrealistic understanding of the (...) image for contemporary French philosophy, and to argue that it is most of all the substantial contribution surrealist painting has made in pointing up the obsessive character of the image that is in fact a major influence on the debate concerning the crisis of and in pictorial representation. (shrink)

As debate continues1 we hope to shed some light on the development of Sartre's thought by returning to his philosophical beginnings, to his phenomenology, confident that it is here, in its origins, that we will find what has always been the very center of his thought.

The intention of the discussion is twofold: to offer a reading of sartre's entire philosophy based on his reworking of husserl's "epoche", And to apply this reading to his treatment of human relationships. Care is taken to show how an understanding of sartre's use of the reduction illuminates his presentation of human relationships in "being and nothingness" and the later "critique".

L'Aufklärung allemande s'est réapproprié polémiquement le concept rousseauiste de perfectibilité, souvent avec d'importants déplacements. Théologie, philosophie, histoire naturelle, pédagogie, anthropologie concourent à un débat critique par lequel cette anthologie montre la pluralité des Lumières. --.

Innerhalb der Kritischen Theorie der Frankfurter Schule hatten anerkennungsbezogene Überlegungen lange Zeit eine randständige Existenz. Geprägt wurde die Arbeit der Schule zunächst durch marxistische Theoreme und später durch Theorien der sozialen Evolution, die vor allem auf Fragen der kommunikativen Rationalisierung und der systemischen Steuerung bezogen waren. Umso bemerkenswerter ist es, dass sowohl Max Horkheimer als auch Jürgen Habermas weitreichende anerkennungsbezogene Überlegungen entwickelt haben. Diese Überlegungen werden in den ersten beiden Hauptteilen der vorliegenden Untersuchung erörtert. Im Anschluss daran wird die von (...) Axel Honneth vorgenommene Neuausrichtung der Kritischen Theorie, mit der „Anerkennung“ zu dem zentralen Konzept der Frankfurter Schule wird, rekonstruiert und in ihren Folgen diskutiert. (shrink)