Strategies based on performance measurement and feedback are commonly used to support quality improvement among nurses. These strategies require practice change, which, for nurses, rely to a large extent on their capacity to coordinate with each other effectively. However, the levers for coordinated action are difficult to mobilize. This discussion paper offers a theoretical reflection on the challenges related to coordinating nurses' actions in the context of practice changes initiated by performance measurement and feedback strategies. We explore how Jürgen Habermas' (...) theory of Communicative Action may shed light on the issues underlying nurses' collective actions and self‐determination in practice change and the implications for the design of strategies based on performance measurement and feedback. Based on this theory, we propose differences between communicative and functional coordination according to the nature of the actions and the purposes involved. The domains of action underlying these coordination processes, which Habermas referred to as the lifeworld and the system, are then used to draw a parallel with aspects of nursing practice. Further exploration of these concepts allows us to consider the tensions between the demands of the system and the self‐determination of nurses within their practice. (shrink)

Brian Epstein has argued (in The Ant Trap and ‘Anchoring versus grounding’) that social kinds ‘export’ across worlds. Although the conditions for war criminality are not ‘fixed’ in the Empire, for instance, Darth Vader is a war criminal there. And, according to Epstein, an account of social construction should imply that he is. Ultimately, he argues that ‘grounding-only’ accounts of social construction – like those proposed by Jonathan Schaffer and Aaron Griffith – imply that social kinds do not export across (...) worlds. As a result, he argues that we need more than grounding; in particular, we need both grounding and what he calls ‘anchoring’ to account for it. In this paper, I argue that, once we draw a distinction between what I call ‘thick’ and ‘thin’ social kinds, Epstein’s argument is either invalid or irrelevant. (shrink)

Compared to other animals, humans appear to have a special motivation to share experiences and mental states with others (Clark, 2006;Grice, 1975), which enables them to enter a condition of ‘we’ or shared intentionality (Tomasello & Carpenter, 2005). Shared intentionality has been suggested to be an evolutionary response to unique problems faced in complex joint action coordination (Levinson, 2006;Tomasello, Carpenter, Call, Behne, & Moll, 2005) and to be unique to humans (Tomasello, 2014). The theoretical and empirical bases for this claim, (...) however, present several issues and inconsistencies. Here, we suggest that shared intentionality can be approached as an interactional achievement, and that by studying how our closest relatives, the great apes, coordinate joint action with conspecifics, we might demonstrate some correlate abilities of shared intentionality, such as the appreciation of joint commitment. We provide seven examples from bonobo joint activities to illustrate our framework. (shrink)

Modern literature, viewed superficially, presents two phenomena that attest its vitality rather than its decline, at least in our Vestern countries: the anormal development of the novel and the advent of criticism as a genre.The novel today appears to be omniscient and does not always succeed in disguising its didactic intent. Formerly, the various disciplines—once their methods were acquired and their end discerned—detached themselves from literature, leaving to it exclusively the domain of fiction. Devoured by the voracity of the novel, (...) not only the young and as yet uncertain sciences such as psychoanalysis, ethnology, and criminology, but older ones as well, like philosophy, history or law, come back to it and use it readily in maintaining their theses and in emphasizing their needs. Thus the novel takes over their diverse ambitions. (shrink)

IntroductionIn this paper I would like to compare two forms of utilitarianism: the late eighteenth-century doctrine systematized by Jeremy Bentham and the philosophy advocated by its most visible contemporary proponent, Peter Singer . Here is how the latter introduces the former in the headword “Ethics” of the Encyclopaedia Britannica:[…] Jeremy Bentham is properly considered the father of modern Utilitarianism. It was he who made the Utilitarian principle serv..

Si les animaux d’élevage comme les animaux d’expérimentation intéressent depuis une trentaine d’années de plus en plus de personnes – de chercheurs, de militants –, les animaux dit de compagnie, en revanche, semblent toujours pâtir du préjugé selon lequel, parce qu’ils relèveraient d’une relation privée, ils seraient sans intérêt scientifique ou philosophique. Donna Haraway propose une façon tout à fait singulière de court-circuiter cet arrêt de la pensée afin de pouvoir re-problématiser cette relation à nouveau frais. Ce qui change immédiatement, (...) c’est le caractère non plus privé mais politique de cette co-relation : l’histoire biologique et politique qui nous unit à ces animaux dit de compagnie apparus massivement dans les années 1970 est toute aussi complexe que celle que nous partageons par ailleurs avec nos autres espèces compagnes. Comment raconter cette histoire et hériter des conséquences de cette co-évolution? Comment prendre au sérieux, moralement, politiquement nos relations inter-espèces? (shrink)

Au début de la deuxième vague de COVID-19, le 7 novembre 2020, était organisé le séminaire « Questions d’éthique » au Lieu Unique à Nantes (France). La conférence du Pr. Axel Kahn était axée sur la perspective éthique des relations entre information et médias, chercheurs et essais cliniques, liberté individuelle et démocratie sanitaire, mais également l’urgence des soins, le tri des patients et le confinement. Partant du caractère indispensable de l’ « éthique en temps de crise », titre de sa (...) conférence, il analyse sa pratique à travers le prisme de la liberté et de la responsabilité. (shrink)

In “A Public Health Ethics Framework for Populations with Limited English Proficiency,” Chipman and colleagues present a valuable framework for addressing health disparities linked to limited Engli...

This dissertation shows that Proclus provides a consistent reading of Plato's late dialogues, and develops a three level ontology which stands on its own. By augmenting the reserve of Platonist philosophy with Post Platonic developments of Greek mathematics and astronomy and physics, at points where Platonism ceased to provide operating principles, Proclus, reached for formulations which went beyond Plato. His own metaphysics, though sometimes obscured by theurgic allusions, grounds Being in an infinite One. ;One of the problems that Proclus attempts (...) to solve through the posit of three infinities, is that an iterative potential infinity, seen in the interval structure of the physical world, could divide to oblivion if uncolonized by Principle. The 'One Being', which brings Limit and noetic sameness, is itself entrapped in Self Reflexivity. An infinity of a third kind, one beyond all Limit and Unlimit is posed to solve this problem. This is Proclus' NeoPlatonic solution to the fact that Being alone, albeit under the rule of intellect, cannot guarantee itself. ;Platonism assumes a "universe" i.e. One grounding Many, which predetermines the place of all structure. $\rm A\nu\lambda o\gamma\iota\alpha$ is a principle of substitution which governs the visible cosmos and makes it comprehensible by mathematical formulations. Plato's emphasis on the self same as the epitome of Being, with circularity as the highest form for thought, helps Proclus provide a consistent account of: Creation ; Infinity as a Simultaneous Whole ; Soul and Nous, Dialectic is valorized over other forms of thought as most like $$ the eternal truth and a means to assimilation. Procession and reversion forms a circle which demonstrates a metaphysical successor of cosmic revolutions found to exist as the heavenly bodies carry out their noetic patterns. ;Finally Eternity encapsulates Time; but again its infinite circularity is only recouped by a One beyond all Limit which can carry out the Providence of a final cause. (shrink)

When the grounded theory appears in the 60s, it is presented and received as methodological innovation in break by the scientific traditional model. Though it is novel in several aspects, the TA is also tributary of the American sociology and the phenomenology, a double heredity that was, and contin..

Background/ObjectiveSeveral studies have examined the impact of Parkinson’s disease on the quality of couples’ relationships. To date, few studies have explored how couples experience their relationship dynamic by taking into account the disease stage. The objectives of this study were to understand the experience of each partner and to study the mechanisms that underlie their couple organization in the advanced stage of PD.MethodsSemistructured individual interviews conducted with fifteen patients and their partners were the subject of a dyadic interpretative phenomenological analysis.ResultsThree (...) themes were identified from the analysis: the first, “A Closeness That Separates,” allows the identification of different patterns of interactions that lead to emotional distancing between the partners; the second, “The Adversity Is Not Unbearable, But Going It Alone Would Be,” emphasizes the importance of how the assisting partner provides support; and the third, “Be Prepared for Anything and Facing an Uncertain Future,” reveals the extent and modes of the dyadic regulation of the emotions linked to what the future may hold.ConclusionPsychological support is important to help couples express both their feelings and their respective needs in the evolving context of PD. (shrink)

In this comment on Johan Von Essen’s contribution on the meaning of volunteering we make some remarks about Von Essen’s starting point, which reveals a particular perspective on meaningfulness, namely that people perceive reality as meaningful when their actions and the things they encounter are part of a meaningful whole. By introducing another perspective on meaningfulness, namely that the shattering of a meaningful whole is full of meaning, we question if practices of volunteering which occur in face-to-face situations—and thus outside (...) the public realm—can be fully captured by the five predicates that make up the phenomenological structure of volunteering. (shrink)

Ce livre explore l’interface entre la science économique, notamment l’économie comportementale, et la condition animale. L’économie comportementale, champ d’étude relativement récent de l’économie inspiré de la psychologie offre en effet de nombreuses perspectives sur le sujet du bien-être animal. On découvre dans ce livre que la discipline économique fournit des outils notionnels et pratiques nombreux pour penser une société où les intérêts des êtres humains et les intérêts des autres anima...

Le présent article établit deux résultats distincts mais complémentaires : il montre d’abord que Jan Patočka découvre, dans les années soixante-dix, le primat épistémologique de la donation, à partir duquel la question du monde dans son rapport au problème du donné se pose et se résout – le monde comme donné en totalité, le donné comme avance du monde ; il montre ensuite que cette découverte permet au philosophe tchèque de poser à nouveaux frais la question du sujet et de (...) faire émerger une nouvelle figure du sujet, dont les principales caractéristiques anticipent sur celles de l’adonné – le sujet comme adonné-au-monde. Cet article aboutit ainsi à montrer que les concepts fondamentaux de la phénoménologie de la donation (donné, adonné, contre-expérience, témoin, appel-réponse, etc.), quand ils sont appliqués à la phénoménologie de Patočka, ne fonctionnent pas comme des catégories anachroniques, mais au contraire comme des clés herméneutiques qui révèlent à la fois l’originalité et l’actualité de cette phénoménologie. (shrink)

This paper draws on an in-depth phenomenological analysis of some interviews taken from volunteers, inviting them to reflect on their lived experiences of meaningfulness in the context of volunteering and citizenship. It is found that while some testimonies reinforce the standard conceptions of meaningfulness, other testimonies vary from it. The main challenge of this contribution consists in phenomenologically describing this alternative picture of meaningfulness, depicted as the event of wit(h)nessing. In a final part, the authors consider how volunteering is at (...) times especially prone to further experiences of wit(h)nessing. (shrink)

The idea that mythos and logos are incompatible, and that truth is a product of scientific and dialectical thinking, was certainly disproven by later Platonic philosophers. Deploying the works of Hesiod and Homer, Homeric Hymns and other such literature, they considered myth a valuable and significant augment to philosophical discourse. Plato’s denigration of myth gave his followers an incentive to read myth as allegory. The Stoics and first-century philosophers such as Philo, treated allegory as a legitimate interpretive strategy. The Middle (...) Platonists incorporated myth, for example, deifying the Monad and Dyad, as did 2nd century Platonists. Plutarch’s Isis and Osiris, for example, equates Isis and Osiris with form and matter: the god sows in matter logoi from himself. Porphyry’s allegorizing of Plato’s Cave of the Nymphs is another example. Plotinus is a strong influence on how the late Neoplatonists regarded myth. This paper argues that these philosophers’ use of allegory prepared the way for the Neoplatonists treatment of myth as inspired symbolism. Proclus and Syrianus, as reported by Hermias, did something more extreme by using mythology to construct inspired symbolic argument. Mythos becomes another type of logos, a vehicle for representing the invisible world of being, another kind of truth that can even serve a function in anagogic ascent. (shrink)

Résumé Aux années soixante-dix, Roland Barthes désigne le Zen japonais par « L’empire des signes », alors que la culture chinoise par la « fadeur des signes ». François Jullien reprend ultérieurement l’idée de la « fadeur » au niveau de son sens « non dualiste » dans le cadre de la philosophie comparée. Depuis les courants poststructuraliste et déconstructionniste, de plus en plus de recherches sémiotiques et philosophiques portent sur l’étude bouddhique, dont le point nodal se situe alors dans (...) un parallélisme au bénéfice des échanges interculturels. En vue d’une déspécialisation du jargon propre à chaque domaine, il semble impératif de mettre en relation les concepts de base en commun. Pour mettre en évidence l’apport de l’étude terminologique et méthodologique, cet article commence par les travaux philologiques sur la « traduction » des textes bouddhiques. Ensuite, la discussion se concentre sur la « dualité » à partir de la « réception » de l’exégétique saussurienne. Il s’agit concrètement d’une étude embryonnaire sur le terme propre couple « signifiant/signifié »: l’exégétique saussurienne s’est répandue efficacement en Chine grâce aux emprunts à la terminologie bouddhique, ce qui offrirait une perspective positive vis-à-vis du dialogue interculturel. En même temps, il serait aussi possible de traduire les termes bouddhiques par le biais sémiotique en regard d’une osmose transdisciplinaire. (shrink)

Suddendorf & Corballis (S&C) argue that animals are not capable of mental time travel (MTT) or its components. However, new results on chimpanzees suggest that they plan for the future and possess some MTT components. Moreover, future-oriented behaviour and episodic-like memory in other animals suggest that not all animals are limited to the present. Animals' capacities should not be dismissed without testing them.

Granting that arguments and explanations that answer a why-question are the products of two species of the activity of reason-giving, do they make an exclusive and exhaustive classification? The orthodox distinction between argument and explanation already faces some tough cases, which are discussed. This paper shows that most of the criteria used to distinguish argument and explanation on the basis of the status of their conclusions cause tough cases to proliferate unless a debatable decision is made. This suggests that the (...) orthodox distinction should be improved. (shrink)

Soul is the self-moving, self-constituting entity linking the transcendent with the immanent. Proclus distinguishes many types of souls. This chapter concentrates on the World Soul and the rational human soul. The World Soul infuses the sensible, temporal, divided, and material cosmos with unity and Forms ultimately deriving from the One and Intelligible Being, in a manner reminiscent of human phantasia. The mathematical psychology of the Timaeus is explained as referring to the Soul’s activity, rather than its essence. Concerning the human (...) soul, with its eternal essence and temporal activity, the authors concentrate on the function and nature of the many ‘vehicles’, assisting the soul’s descent and, in a different manner, its ascent. (shrink)

Cette note de recherche prend pour point de départ un certain nombre d’observations empiriques sur les pratiques d’écritures relatives à la « rédaction web ». Son ancrage est celui de l’analyse du discours, envisagée comme discipline interprétative et lecture critique des énoncés mais aussi comme démarche susceptible d’apporter sa contribution à une didactique de l’écrit. Nous y livrons quelques premiers éléments de réflexion pour la caractérisation discursive des textes issus de la rédaction web, prenant en compte pour cela à la (...) fois la composante discursive de ces productions et les discours construisant la rédaction web comme pratique d’écriture. A partir de deux exemples, nous montrons que les normes dominantes de la rédaction web, liées notamment aux contraintes du support et à des enjeux économiques, sont diversement prises en compte suivant la sphère d'activité où sont produits les textes. (shrink)

Translation for this volume by Lydia Patton of Chapter 9 (pages 179-200) of Émilie du Châtelet's Institutions de Physique (Foundations of Physics). Original publication date 1750. Paris: Chez Prault Fils.

This paper examines Irish campaigns for condom access in the early 1990s. Against the backdrop of the AIDS crisis, activists campaigned against a law which would not allow condoms to be sold from ordinary commercial spaces or vending machines, and restricted sale to young people. Advancing a conception of ‘transformative illegality’, we show that illegal action was fundamental to the eventual legalisation of commercial condom sale. However, rather than foregrounding illegal condom sale as a mode of spectacular direct action, we (...) show that tactics of illegal sale in the 1990s built on 20 years of everyday illegal sale within the Irish family planning movement. Everyday illegal sale was a long-term world-making practice, which gradually transformed condoms’ legal meanings, eventually enabling new forms of provocative and irreverent protest. Condoms ‘became legal’ when the state recognised modes of condom sale, gradually built up over many years and publicised in direct action and in the courts. (shrink)

Inferential communities are communities using specific substantial argumentative schemes. The religious or scientific communities are examples. I discuss the status of the mathematical community as it appears through the position held by the French mathematician Henri Poincaré during his famous ar-guments with Russell, Hilbert, Peano and Cantor. The paper focuses on the status of complete induction and how logic and psychology shape the community of mathematicians and the teaching of mathematics.