Il libro ricostruisce la vita e il pensiero di Jean Guitton (1901-1999), il grande amico di Paolo VI, a quasi ventʼanni dalla sua morte. La vicenda umana di questo scrittore e filosofo cristiano ha attraversato quasi integralmente il XX secolo quale testimone diretto di eventi epocali: i primi tentativi ecumenici, le due guerre mondiali, le radicalizzazioni ideologiche del secondo dopoguerra, lʼera atomica e il Concilio Vaticano II. Il primo capitolo del volume è dedicato alla ricostruzione della vita di Guitton (...) e alle sue prime sintesi accademiche; ed esso fanno seguito altri due capitoli che trattano della sua antropologia (il tempo, il pudore, l'amore umano) e della sua cristologia filosofica (le condizioni di possibilità della rivelazione, la filosofia della risurrezione, la sua innovativa mariologia). Ne viene il ritratto di un pensiero di impronta umanista, ben radicato nella tradizione francese e che forse, come già lamentava Yves Congar nel 1963, non ha avuto, fino ad oggi, quellʼattenzione e quellʼaccoglienza che sembra meritare. (shrink)

Contro un preteso agostinismo di Martinetti e la proposta di un'ispirazione kantiano-spinoziana. Le riletture spinoziane nella filosofia italiana tra le due guerre mondiali.

Tra le figure più importanti del dibattito filosofico italiano del Novecento, Antonio Banfi ha svolto nell'Italia del secondo dopoguerra anche un ruolo politico di rilievo come senatore del PCI. La sua interpretazione del marxismo ha presentato una forte accentuazione umanistica. Tra i suoi scolari filosofi e storici della filosofia come Giulio Preti, Enzo Paci, Remo Cantoni, Paolo Rossi. Il saggio prende in esame la prima fase della riflessione filosofica di Banfi, nella quale ha una importanza decisiva la conoscenza diretta del (...) dibattito tedesco tra le due guerre mondiali, in primo luogo della fenomenologia di Husserl e della ontologia di N. Hartmann. I Principi di una teoria della ragione - libro apparso alla fine degli anni '20 - e poi una serie di incisivi saggi degli anni '30 documentano una conoscenza approfondita e critica di un dibattito di cui mostrerà di nutrirsi in misura decisiva l'interpretazione di Banfi non solo di Hegel, ma anche di Marx. Among the leading philosophers in Italy during the 20th century, Antonio Banfi played an important role not only in the cultural debate during the 1930s and the 1940s, but also in the political scene of post-war Italy, advocating - as a representative of the Italian Communist Party in Italian Senate - a liberal, humanist view of Marxism. Among his students were influential philosophers and historians of philosophy such as Giulio Preti, Enzo Paci, Remo Cantoni and Paolo Rossi. This paper investigates the first phase of Banfi's philosophical development, an analysis of which must include a scrutiny of Banfi's deep indebtedness to German debate between the two World Wars, primarily Husserl's phenomenology and Hartmann's critical ontology. Banfi's phenomenological apprenticeship at the school of Husserl, and the sensitive and critical attitude of his presentation of the German debate in his Principi di una teoria della ragione, are of substantial importance in nourishing his later interpretation of Hegel and Marx. (shrink)

La crisi della politica affonda le sue radici in uno spazio povero di riflessione culturale. Le scelte dell’Europa, dopo le due guerre mondiali, pesano come macigni sul futuro dei giovani i quali si trovano disorientati dalla crisi della politica e dell’economia dovuta, secondo l’Autore, alla loro separazione dall’etica. Nel libro viene auspicato un rinnovamento di fondo della concezione della politica, per realizzare il bene comune e promuovere la coscienza morale concretizzando una democrazia matura.

Au sortir de la guerre, Merleau-Ponty considérait que tout ce qu’on croyait pensé et bien pensé – la liberté et les pouvoirs, la citoyenneté – est en ruine. En 1960, la Préface de Signes semble reconduire le constat, attestant cette fois de l’échec des philosophies de l’histoire dont les Aventures de la dialectique dessinaient le premier volet. Si la critique marxienne apparaissait contribuer à la clarté politique et constituer la réponse adéquate à une période de crise, quelle opportunité reste-t-il (...) au philosophe une fois la rupture avec le marxisme consommée? A l’abandon pur et simple de la philosophie politique suggéré par les interprètes et par le texte de Merleau-Ponty lui-même en certains endroits – « n’est-ce pas un incroyable malentendu si tous les philosophes ou presque se sont crus obligés d’avoir une politique? » (S, 13) – il faut préférer l’alternative de la philosophie militante, mentionnée à partir de 1956 en deux lieux textuels, seule issue possible d’une philosophie ayant abandonné ses droits au système sans se résoudre au mutisme – soit, dans une perspective encore marxiste, l’après devenir-monde de la philosophie. Comment dès lors conjuguer l’apparition du syntagme en 1946, où il semble réservé à la pensée de Marx par contraste avec la philosophie triomphante hégélienne, et son maintien hors du cadre de référence marxien, lorsque ce dernier est devenu, selon les dires de Merleau-Ponty lui-même, un auteur qu’il convient de méditer à la manière d’un classique? L’insuccès des pensées systématiques de l’histoire et des figures classiques de l’engagement (Sartre, Boukharine) dévoile la nécessité pour Merleau-Ponty d’interroger continument son expérience politique et la raison d’être de son militantisme, inscrit dans la chair de l’histoire.As the war ended, Merleau-Ponty considered that everything thought to be good and well thought – freedom, powers, citizenship – was in ruin. In 1960, the Preface to Signs seems to replicate this realization, attesting this time to the failure of philosophies of history of which Adventures of the Dialectic sketched the first phase. If the Marxist critique appeared to contribute to political clarity and to consist in an adequate response to a period of crisis, what opportunities remain for philosophy once the rupture with Marxism is finalized? To the pure and simple abandonment of political philosophy suggested by interpreters and by Merleau-Ponty’s text itself in certain instances – “Is it not an incredible misunderstanding that all, or almost all, philosophers have felt obliged to have a politics?” (S, 5) – one must favor the alternative of militant philosophy, first mentioned in 1956 in two textual locations. This alternative is the only outcome possible for a philosophy that has abandoned its rights to the system without resolving itself to silence. It is, from a still-Marxist perspective, the post becoming-world of philosophy. How, then, can we reconcile the appearance of the phrase in 1946 – where it seems reserved to Marxist thought in contrast with the triumphant Hegelian philosophy – with its retention outside of Marxist references, even as Marx has become, according to Merleau-Ponty himself, a writer who should be reflected upon as a classic? For Merleau-Ponty, the failure of systematic theories of history and of traditional figures of engagement (Sartre, Bukharin) reveals the necessity to continuously interrogate his own political experience and the ground of his militancy, inscribed in the flesh of history.Alla fine della guerra, Merleau-Ponty considerava che tutto ciò che credevamo ben fatto e ben pensato – la libertà e i poteri, la cittadinanza – fosse in rovina. Nel 1960, la Prefazione a Segni sembra ribadire questa constatazione, attestando questa volta il fallimento delle filosofie della storia di cui le Avventure della dialettica disegnavano la prima componente. Se la critica marxiana sembrava contribuire alla chiarezza politica e costituire la risposta adeguata a un periodo di crisi, quale opportunità resta al filosofo una volta consumata la rottura con il marxismo? All’abbandono puro e semplice della filosofia politica suggerito dagli interpreti, nonché in certi passaggi dei testi dello stesso Merleau-Ponty, bisognerebbe preferire l’alternativa della filosofia militante, menzionata a partire dal 1956 in due passaggi, sola via d’uscita possibile da una filosofia che ha ceduto i propri diritti al sistema e che però non vuole ridursi al mutismo. O invece, in una prospettiva ancora marxista, l’epoca successiva al divenire-mondo della filosofia. Come coniugare allora l’apparizione del sintagma nel 1946, apparentemente riservato al pensiero di Marx in contrasto con la filosofia hegeliana trionfante, con la sua salvaguardia fuori dal quadro di riferimento marxiano, dal momento in cui quest’ultimo è diventato, secondo lo stesso Merleau-Ponty, un autore sui cui è necessario riflettere alla maniera di un classico? L’insuccesso delle filosofie sistematiche della storia e delle figure classiche dell’impegno (Sartre, Bucharin) rivela la necessità per Merleau-Ponty d’interrogare continuamente la sua esperienza politica e la ragion d’essere della sua militanza, iscritta nella carne della storia. (shrink)

La circolazione dell’Arte della guerra di Machiavelli ha dato un fondamentale contributo allo sviluppo della cultura militare europea in volgare del Cinquecento. Questo saggio analizza alcuni specifici aspetti della ricezione di quest’opera nella produzione scrittoria militare del tempo e in particolare si concentra su quegli elementi di pensiero legati al tema delle “armi proprie” fortemente propagandato dal libro machiavelliano. A questo proposito, si è qui deliberatamente scelto di offrire l’esempio di due opere diverse per natura ideologica e altezza cronologica: l’una (...) risalente alla prima metà del Cinquecento, l’altra originatasi nell’ambito delle guerre di religione e della diaspora dei protestanti francesi in area elvetica. Si tratta, in effetti, di due libri che permettono di comprendere sfumature poco note del processo di riuso di certi concetti machiavelliani che all’epoca potevano essere considerati politicamente controversi. Al tempo stesso, le due opere sono capaci di far risaltare le difficoltà che emergono ogni volta che si prova ad applicare il moderno concetto di autore a testi nati in un contesto caratterizzato da un continuo riutilizzo e dalla rielaborazione di temi ed elementi ascrivibili a una lunga e articolata tradizione di scrittura militare che si sviluppò lungo il corso del secolo, la quale, tuttavia, aveva trovato un momento di passaggio cruciale nel contributo di Machiavelli. (shrink)

La publication, par J. Bousquet, du trésor de Cyrène dans le fascicule II des Fouilles de Delphes proposait d'assigner à ce bâtiment la fondation XIII (Atlas 203). L'auteur avait cependant relevé de nombreuses non-correspondances entre cette fondation et la crépis du trésor, qu'il expliquait par une interruption des travaux due à la troisième guerre sacrée. Un nouvel examen de la fondation XIV (Atlas 302), située immédiatement au-dessus de XIII, permet d'y replacer sans difficulté le trésor, dont le plan s'inscrit, (...) au pied des murs, dans un rectangle de 20 x 30 pieds. La date d'érection du trésor est précisée : entre 334 et 323 avant J.-C. La restitution du système de couronnement du péribole, sur lequel le trésor s'appuyait à l'Est, indique les niveaux de sols antiques autour de l'édifice. (shrink)

Post-market pharmaceutical surveillance or ‘pharmacovigilance’ relies on the reporting of suspected adverse drug reactions to regulatory databases. Recently, more ‘active’ methods that directly involve patients in identifying and reporting suspected adverse drug reactions have been suggested. This is different than traditional ‘passive’ methods, e.g., using databases without contacting patients directly. Though there are benefits to active pharmacovigilance, it is not without its potential risks. Here I highlight one of those risks – the nocebo effect. Nocebo effects are harms that are (...) thought to arise by conditioning or negative expectation. If a patient engaged in active pharmacovigilance is improperly motivated to seek out and report suspected adverse drug reactions, nocebo harms can occur. Not only is this a bioethical concern about harm, but it is also an epistemic or data-quality problem. Since nocebo effects are not due to the pharmacological properties of the drugs under investigation, nocebo effects reported as suspected adverse drug reactions constitute false positives in these databases. (shrink)

This book provides a clear and concise introduction to the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze. It analyses his key theoretical concepts, such as difference and the body without organs, and covers all the different areas of his thought, including metaphysics, the history of philosophy, psychoanalysis, political theory, the philosophy of the social sciences and aesthetics. As the first book to offer a comprehensive analysis of Deleuze's writings, it reveals both the internal coherence of his philosophy and its development through a series (...) of distinct phases. Reidar Due offers an entirely new interpretation of Deleuze's philosophy, centred around the notion of thought as a capacity to form relations. These relations are embodied in nature, in language and in the unconscious; in art, science and social practice. With this concept of embodied thought, Deleuze challenges our most entrenched beliefs about the self and about signs whether linguistic or social. He develops an original theory of power and social systems and presents a method for understanding any signifying practice, from language and ritual to the unconscious, including cinema, literature and painting. Due analyses the different strands in this theoretical edifice and shows its implications for a wide range of human sciences, from history and psychology to political theory and cultural studies. (shrink)

Fiona Allon writes that “ home, now more than ever, is seen as firmly connected to the world of politics and economics, as actively shaped and defined by the public sphere rather than existing simply as a refuge from it.” 1 From this perspective, claims to home as they are located in a relationship to claims of both national and local belonging are often a contested site within Australia, where notions of who is seen to be at home in Australia (...) are constantly being challenged and reworked. Structured around the desire amongst white people to retain Australia as a “white nation,” claims to home may be seen as operating in complex ways in regards to the rights that arise from the ongoing existence of Indigenous sovereignties, and the politics surrounding levels of immigration from groups of people perceived as belonging to minority racial groups. In this context, the notion of home is frequently drawn upon in relation to both how people perceive the way in which they, and others, belong in a country, and this raises questions surrounding who is legitimately able to call Australia home. Such discourses of home evoke feelings of ownership in people who feel that they have a legitimate claim to a country for reasons primarily of race or location of birth. In Australia, despite the powerful presence and voice of Indigenous peoples, popular perceptions of the country tend to place such homely rights firmly in the laps of white people, who, through images of white nuclear families in front of white picket fences, perceive themselves as already and rightfully at home in Australia. Yet such conceptions of Australia are not accepted without struggle. Notions of home are very much contested, especially in terms of Indigenous sovereignty and non-white immigration, both of which question the legitimacy of a normatively white Australia. Such ideas of home as being a contested space in which issues of national belonging are played out in Australia were seen quite clearly in relation to the 2005 Cronulla riots, in which thousands of white Australians gathered around Cronulla beach, shouting at and threatening those located as “Lebanese Muslim” people. The people involved in the riots made it quite clear that whilst Australia was a home for them, it ought not to be home to people who were identified as Lebanese Muslims. Such racist opinions exemplified the fact that Australia is seen to be a white country, and therefore as a legitimate home to white people rather than to non-white minority groups or even to Indigenous Australians. This is discussed in more detail later in this paper. (shrink)

Side effects are ubiquitous in medicine and they often play a role in treatment decisions for patients and clinicians alike. Philosophers and health researchers often use side effects to illustrate issues with contemporary medical research and practice. However, technical definitions of ‘side effect’ differ among health authorities. Thus, determining the side effects of an intervention can differ depending on whose definition we assume. Here I review some of the common definitions of side effect and highlight their issues. In response, I (...) offer an account of side effects as jointly (i) unintended and (ii) effects due to the causal capacities or invariances of an intervention. I discuss (i) by examining the intentions or reasons behind therapeutic interventions, and I discuss (ii) by appealing to a manipulationist model of causation. The analysis here highlights that side effects are conceptually distinct from related outcomes like adverse events, adverse drug reactions, and placebo effects. The analysis also allows for reflection on the utility of ‘side effect’ as a technical term in medical research and practice. (shrink)

Face-to-face interaction is a primordial site for human activity and intersubjectivity. Empirical studies have shown how people reflexively exhibit a face orientation and work to establish a formation in which everyone is facing each other in local participation frameworks. The Face has also been described by, e.g., Levinas as the basis for a first ethical philosophy. Humans have established these Face-formations when interacting since time immemorial, but what happens when one of the participants is present through a telepresence robot? Based (...) on ethnomethodology, Peircean/goodwinian semiotics, multimodal conversation analysis and video data from a Danish residential rehabilitation center, the article shows the ways in which participants manage to interactively, cooperatively, and moment by moment achieve an F-formation in situ. The article contributes a detailed analysis and discussion of the kind of participant a telepresence robot is, in and through situated interactions: I propose that we term this participant the RoboDoc, given that it is an assemblage of a doctor who controls a robot. By focusing on the affordances of mobility, the article contributes to a renewed understanding of the importance and relevance of establishing Face-orientations in an increasingly technofied telepresence world. (shrink)

Recent works have suggested an analytical complementarity in mixing big and thick data sources. These works have, however, remained as programmatic suggestions, leaving us with limited methodological inputs on how to archive such complementary integration. This article responds to this limitation by proposing a method for ‘blending’ big and thick analytical insights. The paper first develops a methodological framework based on the cognitivist linguistics terminology of ‘blending’. Two cases are then explored in which blended spaces are crafted from engaging big (...) and thick analytical insights with each other. Through these examples, we learn how blending processes should be conducted as a rapid, iterative and collaborative effort with respect for individual expertise. Further, we demonstrate how the unique, but often overlooked, granularity of big data plays a key role in affording the blending with thick data. We conclude by suggesting four commonly appearing blending strategies that can be applied when relying upon big and thick data sources. (shrink)

In this paper, I present a nominalist ethics of intersubjectivity based on the principle of a discourse transcendent reality of the Other within an intersubjective relationship. Through a discussion of the authors Foucault, Sartre, and Hegel, and the film Drive My Car, the article presents a phenomenology of the appearance of one’s own body and of the body of the Other, according, either, to evaluative criteria or to existential criteria not accessible to discursive handling. The argument is nominalist in its (...) denial of a discursive purchase on the Other. It is realist in its exploration of the discourse transcendent reality of the Other. The argument moves between different orders of scale. (shrink)

Side effects are a concern in medical decision making and a robust area of biomedical research. However, there is relatively little philosophical investigation into side effects as such, especially given that side effects are appealed to for various applications in philosophy of medicine. In addition, health authorities like the FDA, CDC, and WHO have contrary definitions of ‘side effect.’ Moreover, these definitions have clear counterexamples. This dissertation aims to provide a complete account of what side effects are. I posit that (...) an account of side effects ought to draw clean conceptual lines between side effects and related treatment outcomes. I contend that an account of side effects must address two components: the reasons behind an intervention that produced the side effect, and the causal powers of the intervention that brought about that effect. With this account in mind, I address contemporary philosophical models that distinguish placebo effects from side effects. These arguments, respectively in chapters 2 and 3, yield a more complete, less problematic account of side effects than previous accounts. The dissertation then turns to the process of discovering side effects, specifically in the post-market context. Given the paucity of external validity in pre-market drug trials, chapter 4 argues that post-market ‘phase IV’ trials blur the received distinction of ‘confirmatory’ versus ‘exploratory’ experimentation in philosophy of science. The other component of post-market drug research is spontaneous reporting, or the voluntary reporting of a suspected side effect to a regulatory body. Chapter 5 uses the framework of risks and values in science to examine why clinicians underreport, which hinders our ability to prevent drug-related harms. Chapter 6 looks at how patients could mitigate underreporting and develops a social-epistemic, pragmatic, and ethical framework which can evaluate proposals to engage patients to spontaneously report their suspected side effects. In short, this dissertation aims to firstly address the conceptual problems in how we define ‘side effect’ and relate it to other treatment outcomes, and secondly it addresses issues that hinder the scientific investigation of side effects. (shrink)

The underreporting of suspected adverse drug reactions hinders pharmacovigilance. Solutions to underreporting are oftentimes directed at clinicians and health care professionals. However, given the recent rise of public inclusion in medical science, solutions may soon begin more actively involving patients. I aim to offer an evaluative framework for future possible proposals that would engage patients with the aim of mitigating underreporting. The framework may also have value in evaluating current reporting practices. The offered framework is composed of three criteria that (...) are bioethical, social-epistemic, and pragmatic: (i) patients should not be exposed to undue harms, e.g., nocebo effects; (ii) data should be collected, analyzed, and communicated prioritizing pharmacovigilance’s aims, i.e., free from industry bias; and (iii) proposals should account for existing and foreseeable pragmatic constraints like clinician ‘buy in’ and existing reporting infrastructure. Proposals to engage patients in pharmacovigilance that fulfil or address these criteria are preferable to those that do not. (shrink)

In this paper, we study the interactional organization of an instructed object exploration among sighted and visually impaired people (VIPs) in order to contribute to studies of instructional activities and the observable accomplishment of haptic perception. We do this by showing the situated, interactional, and co-operative organization of achieving object understanding. We focus on the dynamics of haptic perception as being reliant on instructions, while at the same time being an observable production that furnishes further instructions. We show the organization (...) of visual and verbal instructions versus the touching of objects for haptic perception. Based on ethnomethodological conversation analysis of video data, we study a VIP’s haptic actions in interaction with a professional, sighted ICT consultant who provides instructions on what an object is and what it can do. We show how the instructions are sequentially adjusted to make them relevant for a simultaneous, emerging exploration in which the VIP uses their hands and fingers to perceive very specific details of the object. We argue that achieving object understanding is accomplished in and through the fine-tuned coordination of haptic exploration, both as a response to verbal instructions and also as a means of conveying perception-related actions, which the ICT uses to build new actions. The paper thus makes a case for instructed and distributed haptic perception as observable in social interaction and as a resource for building object understanding within phenomenal fields. (shrink)

The underreporting of suspected adverse drug reactions remains a primary issue for contemporary post-market drug surveillance or ‘pharmacovigilance.’ Pharmacovigilance pioneer W.H.W. Inman argued that ‘deadly sins’ committed by clinicians are to blame for underreporting. Of these ‘sins,’ ignorance and lethargy are the most obvious and impactful in causing underreporting. However, recent analyses show that diffidence, insecurity, and indifference additionally play a major role. I aim to augment our understanding of diffidence, insecurity, and indifference by arguing these sins are underwritten by (...) value judgments arising via epistemic risk. I contend that ‘evidence-based’ medicine codifies these sins. (shrink)

This book is about film's encounter with love throughout the medium's history. It is also about the philosophy of love... [it] outlines a new metaphysics and ontology of love as a reciprocal erotic relationship. This study argues that film's special narrative language is particularly well suited to depicting love in this way. It begins with early silent directors, such as Joseph von Sternberg, and concludes with contemporary filmmakers, such as Sophia Coppola; it also compares classical French and American love films (...) of the 1940s with modernist films by Luis Buñuel, François Truffaut, and Wong Kar Wai, amongst many others"--Page [4] of cover. (shrink)

L’article propose une analyse de la gestion politique de la pandémie, élaborant un concept de domination nouvelle qui, du côté de l’Etat comme du côté du citoyen, et des attitudes normatives que l’on attend de lui, aurait été caractérisé par un type de réflexion rationnelle à échelle temporelle brève. L’article analyse les implications temporelles et politiques de ce lien de domination nouveau en comparant la raison d’Etat des gouvernements occidentaux durant la pandémie à des conceptions du pouvoir défini en termes (...) d’idéologie ou de “biopolitique”. Ensuite, il cherche à déterminer la nature du citoyen-sujet qui entre dans cette nouvelle forme de domination par comparaison avec trois formes de subjectivité canoniques : le sujet kantien, l’individu sociologique et la subjectivité contingente et éthique théorisée par Hannah Arendt. Par ce biais, il définit la singularité du citoyen-sujet nouveau par sa réactivité. (shrink)

This paper seeks to present a kind of skeptical, and, in an indirect way, Wittgensteinian perspective upon purpose and meaning in architecture. The argument presented here revolves around the two notions that, first, there are different categories, which we have available for making architecture seem intelligible to us, and, second, that there are distinct historical discourses in which architecture has been made intelligible in specific ways.

Exploratory experiments are widely characterized as experiments that do not test hypotheses. Experiments that do test hypotheses are characterized as confirmatory experiments. Philosophers have pointed out that research programmes can be both confirmatory and exploratory. However, these definitions preclude single experiments being characterized as both exploratory and confirmatory; how can an experiment test and not test a hypothesis? Given the intuition that some experiments are exploratory, some are confirmatory, and some are both, a recharacterization of the relationship between exploratory and (...) confirmatory experimentation is needed. I discuss ‘phase IV’ trials to show what this recharacterization could look like. Phase IV trials can be exploratory and confirmatory insofar as they concurrently test hypotheses and explore for unforeseen phenomena. Even if it is uncontroversial that a single experiment can have multiple aims, the recharacterization of the relationship between exploratory and confirmatory experimentation is still required for these aims to be held together coherently. I offer an alternative characterization of the relationship between exploratory and confirmatory experimentation where the former remains a distinct kind of experimentation but is not characterized as non-hypothesis-testing. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Semiotica Jahrgang: 2014 Heft: 202 Seiten: 207-240.

Journal Name: Semiotica Issue: Ahead of print.

Precision medicine functions by grouping patients along genetic, molecular, and related ‘-omics’ factors. This stratification relies on large, growing databases of patient-volunteered information. Both private companies and government bodies incentivize patients to volunteer this genetic information appealing to the creation of collaborative patient partnerships and the concept of empowerment. This paper aims to address two related questions: (1) what is the actual nature of patient participation in precision medicine research? And (2) is this participation in precision medicine research really that (...) empowering for the average patient? I contend that firstly, the nature of this participation is best conceived of as merely contributory. Contributory participation, as it will be shown, falls short of collaboration. The partnership created by participation in precision medicine research is not one of sharing values, equal say in decisions, or shared benefit. Secondly, I contend that there are important caveats to claims that patient participation in precision medicine is empowering. Empowerment is hindered by the type of participation, the practical use or actionability of genetic data, genetic literacy, the cost of precision drugs for patients that qualify for them, and bioethical considerations of informed consent. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: Meet the Celebrity Moms How to be a Good Mother Working Mothers How to be a Bad Mother Conclusion: Mothering as Boring Notes.

Trusting and its Tribulations -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Preface -- Introduction -- 1 Unfixed Trust -- 2 Witchcraft -- 3 Trusting the Untrustworthy -- 4 The Puzzle of the Animal Witch -- 5 'Sharing Secrets' -- 6 Eddies of Distrust -- 7 Intimate Documents -- 8 Trustworthy Bodies -- 9 Habitus of Trust -- 10 'You Can Tell the Company We Done Quit' -- Index.

Gilles Deleuze famously expressed distaste for the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein and his followers. The two thinkers are here seen as irreconcilable. The critique of false problems and the refutation of scepticism found in Wittgenstein have no resonance in Deleuze, who was a systematic metaphysical philosopher in the tradition of pre-Kantian rationalism. Pragmatic-sceptical self-limitation of thought's capabilities on the grounds of existing practice flies in the face of aesthetic experience. Moreover Deleuze explicitly upholds modern literature as a locus of philosophical (...) innovation. The comparison between Deleuze and Wittgenstein is pursued in an examination of the questions of ‘rule following’, literary practice and semiotics. Deleuze was hostile to ‘pragmatism’, whereas Wittgenstein and his followers could often be described as pragmatists. (shrink)

This essay raises some questions concerning the method and conceptual structure of Sartre's Being and Nothingness. Three substantially different types of interpretation of this text have been put forward. One of the main issues separating the three interpretative strategies is the relationship that they each establish between Sartre's three fundamental concepts: consciousness, nothingness and freedom—each of which can be seen to play the fundamental role in the argument. It therefore seems crucial for any interpretation of Being and Nothingness to determine (...) the exact relationship between these terms. However, Being and Nothingness presents a hybrid argument that interweaves metaphysical deduction, phenomenological description and moral-existential argument in a way that makes it almost impossible to decide which of the strands of the argument should be seen to dominate the others. It is therefore perhaps equally difficult to ascertain which of its principal concepts has the most central place in the system. One could therefore argue that a reading of Being and Nothingness should aim to account for (rather than dismiss) the hybridity of the argument and then seek to assign relative functions to its different strands. The following remarks are intended as a step in that direction. (shrink)

Whilst feminist commentators have long critiqued surrogacy as a practice of commodification, surrogacy as a mode of family formation continues to grow in popularity. In this paper we explore public representations of surrogacy through a discourse analytic reading of submissions made in Australia to an Inquiry regarding surrogacy legislation. The findings suggest that many submissions relied upon normative understandings of surrogates as either ‘good women’ or ‘bad mothers’. This is of concern given that such public representations may shape the views (...) of those who utilize surrogacy services in ways that limit attention to the ethics of surrogacy. (shrink)

The paper contributes to previous studies of identity as locally and interactionally produced by pointing to some of the multimodal resources employed by participants to achieving, challenge and manage the professional identity of ‘leader’ in different workplace settings. We examine professional identity work in sequential environments where it provides a resource for handling the resistance to improvement displayed by another participant. We show how leader identity work gets embedded within a four-part structure of: identifying a problem, proposing improvements, misaligning with (...) others’ proposals, and managing the misalignment. The paper is based on video ethnographic fieldwork and recordings of face-to-face institutional interaction at two different institutional settings in Denmark. The study provides insight about the role of identity work in the interactional achievement of institutional procedures. (shrink)