Kant’s emphasis on the immorality of lying even to a murderer at the door who is asking about a victim hidden inside has drawn criticism ever since. The example originally given by Constant has been read as the thread of morality by totalitarian ruthlessness. In order to defend the importance of Kant’s moral philosophy, many critics have tried to update his position by taking into account the threat of modern totalitarianism. Nonetheless, this article tries to argue that Kant is right, (...) especially since the rise of post-truth politics. Sincerity towards oneself and towards others remains the basis of democracy: we have to admit what seems to be the truth regardless of our feelings about it. (shrink)

ABSTRACT While the first generation of the so-called Frankfurt School has promoted a strong interconnection between social critique and knowledge of the social world, contemporary critical theory seems to consider that epistemological issues don’t deserve anymore consideration. Is it really possible to elaborate a convincing theory of social critique without taking seriously the various links between social critique and knowledge? This article argues that the answer is no. In a first step, it recalls the ways in which the philosophical debate (...) about social critique is currently articulated and how it disconnects social critique and knowledge. One of the reasons for such a disconnection relates to a vision of politics as consisting mainly in a conflict between normative principles, notably between conceptions of social justice. This vision of politics is criticized in the second step of this paper. A second reason, examined in the third part of the paper, relates to the risk of epistemic violence. The shared but questionable assumption is that any sociological or philosophical attempt to produce knowledge would necessarily lead to epistemic violence rather than to epistemic empowerment. (shrink)

When the Matrix trilogy was published in the mid-1980s, it introduced to mass culture a number of post-human tropes about the conscious machines that have haunted our collective imaginaries ever since. This volume explores the social representations and significance of technological developments - especially AI and human enhancement - that have started to transform our human agency. It uses these developments to revisit theories of the human mind and its essential characteristics: a first person perspective, concerns and reflexivity. It looks (...) at how the smart machines are used as agents of change in the basic institutions and organisations that hold contemporary societies together: for example in the family and the household, in commercial corporations, in health institutions, or in the military. Its main purpose it to enrich the ongoing public discussion of the social and political implications of the smart machines by looking at the extent to which they further digitalize and bureaucratize the world, in particular by asking whether they are used to develop techno-totalitarian societies that corrode normativity and solidarity. talize and bureaucratize the world, in particular by asking whether they are used to develop techno-totalitarian societies that corrode normativity and solidarity. (shrink)

This squib attempts to constrain semantic theories of agree wh constructions by broadening the data set and collecting naive speakers’ intuitions. Overall, our data suggest relatively permissive truth-conditions for these constructions. They also suggest a previously undiscussed presupposition for agree wh and also indicate that agree wh is not straightforwardly reducible to agree that. Although some accounts suggest differences in truth conditions among different asymmetrical agree with constructions and symmetrical agree constructions, we do not find any indication of such truth-conditional (...) distinctions. In the course of our exploration of the data, we offer a new approach to distinguishing between truth, falsity and presuppositional failure. (shrink)

Emmanuel Levinas is a major voice in twentieth century European thought. Beginning his intellectual career in the 1920s, he has developed an original and comprehensive post rationalist ethics of social responsibility and obligation. The influence of his work has already been profound and far-reaching, readily acknowledged by such diverse and important figures as Jean-Paul Sartre, Jacques Derrida, and Enrique Dussel. Time and The Other was first presented as a series of lectures in 1946-47 at the College Philosophique and is (...) probably the clearest statement of Levinas' thought. Along with Existence and Existents (1947), it represents the first formulation of Levinas' own philosophy, later more fully developed in Totality and Infinity (1961) and Otherwise than Being or Beyond Essence (1974. (shrink)

It has been reported by some studies that the desire to be involved in decisions concerning one’s healthcare especially with regard to obtaining informed consent is related to educational status. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to assess the influence of educational status on attitude towards informed consent practice in three south-eastern Nigerian communities.

Hitherto, the African intellect had been decimated by notable European scholars such as David Hume, Charles Darwin, Friedrich Hegel, Lucien Levy-Bruhl to name a few. The common denominator among these male scholars is that the African intellect is not yet developed to the extent that it can accommodate logical reasoning. Whereas notable African scholars have responded to these charges as misleading whilst exploring ways of coming up with a logic system that can mediate the theory, thought and practice peculiar to (...) Africans yet applicable in other climes, the role of women in this journey has usually been downplayed. This research thereby seeks to fill this void by making a case for the contribution of the Australian Helen Verran who did not engage in armchair scholarship as most of her European male counterparts who deny the African the ability to reason logically, but journeyed to Nigeria to perform some experiments with the Yorùbá numerical system. She is persuaded that through the traditional Yorùbá numerical pattern, an underlying logic system is implied. Even when her conclusions are questionable on several fronts, this research concludes that her role in instilling confidence in the development of artificial logic in Africa must not go unmentioned. (shrink)

This paper examines the metaphysical status of Ezumezu logic in the direction of logical realism. While presenting Ezumezu logic as a prototype of African logic, Chimakonam makes statements that somewhat entail logical monism. Using the method of critical analysis of related literature, the paper argues that presenting Ezumezu logic as one of the prototypes of African logic while at the same time making claims that elevate it to a hegemonic status, gives rise to what is regarded in the paper as (...) the monist-pluralist paradox. Drawing lessons from Abakedi’s ID paradox, the paper argues that a monist logical foundation for African logic cannot be consistently defended without paradoxes. The paper proposes that different African philosophies should be grounded by different African logics such that one need not be trained in one particular prototype such as Ezumezu logic or argue in conformity to it to qualify as an African professional or scholar. (shrink)

Résumé Le principe de précaution engage les rapports entre la connaissance, les risques et l’action ; appréhendé d’un point de vue simultanément éthique et politique, il pose également un défi aux institutions et au public pour ce qui est de sa mobilisation dans le débat et de sa mise en œuvre dans l’action, en tant que principe possédant une portée générale. L’article propose une description des problèmes spécifiques que comporte, à cet égard, le choix des interprétations. Cette description conduit à (...) une appréciation positive du nouveau rôle dévolu aux démarches participatives dans la discussion des enjeux éthiques et des risques acceptables. (shrink)

This article argues that Bowers and Paternoster’s emphasis on a moral community marks an important step towards a more ethical and effective approach to anti-doping. However, it also argues that the authors’ proposed strategies undermine their stated goal of effectively engaging athletes as partners in anti-doping efforts and raise ethical concerns. Their proposed emphasis on exploiting shaming as a punishment and their general view of athletes as adversaries fosters mistrust between athletes and those who enforce the anti-doping rules. Instead, this (...) article describes a model for empowering athletes as stakeholders in anti-doping policy as a means to provide anti-doping rules with increased moral legitimacy among athletes. (shrink)

Zjawisko globalizacji wymaga podejść badawczych, które są na przemian opisowe i normatywne, a często zarówno opisowe, jak i normatywne. Dlatego konieczne jest opracowanie analiz, które pozwolą zrozumieć, w jaki sposób cele lub zasady działań publicznych (krajowych lub międzynarodowych) ewoluują w odpowiedzi na zmiany w warunkach międzynarodowej koordynacji i współpracy. W artykule szczególności omówiono wpływ globalizacji na relacje między państwami i wdrażanie zasad takich jak prawa podstawowe.

Cette étude d'une dédicace à Artémis Tauropole, trouvée à Amphipolis, qui mentionne Persée, le dernier roi de Macédoine, ainsi que des magistrats de la cité d'Amphipolis, deux politarques, montre qu'il ne s'agit pas d'une dédicace commune du roi et de la cité, mais que la dédicace du peuple d'Amphipolis fut gravée à une date plus récente, peu après la mainmise romaine sur la Macédoine, afin de remplacer la dédicace de Persée. Par suite, même s'il apparaît que la mention des politarques (...) sur cette inscription est une des plus anciennes qui soient connues en Macédoine, le problème de l'apparition de cette institution reste ouvert. (shrink)

We observed that despite international declarations on child-rights, outsourced domestic girl-child labour still persists. Raising the question whether outsourced domestic girl-child labour constitutes hermeneutical injustice, we respond affirmatively. Relying on two indigenous victimology-narratives that are newspaper reports, we expose some of the horrors that the victims of outsourced domestic girl-child labour suffer. Comparing these reports with other victimology-narratives of hermeneutical injustice as reported by Miranda Fricker and Hilkje Hänel, we argue that the victims of outsourced domestic girl-child labour suffer a (...) hermeneutical gap and hermeneutical interference; and that the perpetuators of this practice, help to foster what we call ‘hermeneutical obstruction’. We recommend different counteracting measures such as: a radical feminization of educational curricula, which will allow for the introduction of the relevant hermeneutical resources that female children need in making sense of their experiences, into the classrooms and other places of learning; establishing feminist liberation agencies in all schools, religious institutions and hospitals, as ways of increasing the level of awareness about the rights of the girl-child in children and adults; feminizing legislation and legislative processes, to allow for the enactment of laws to protect the rights of the girl-child; and campaigning for a more rigorous enforcement of child-rights laws. (shrink)

Several factors have been put forward to explain the variability of moral judgments for superficially analogous moral dilemmas, in particular in the paradigm of trolley cases. In this paper we elaborate on Mikhail's view that (i) causal analysis is at the core of moral judgments and that (ii) causal judgments can be quantified by linguistic methods. According to this model, our moral judgments depend both on utilitarian considerations (whether positive effects outweigh negative effects) and on a representation of the causal (...) structure of the action (whether the negative effects are essentially side-effects rather than main goals). However, the exact contribution of each factor, as well as the precise way in which causal considerations interact with utilitarian considerations, has yet to be quantified and investigated. We present several variations on trolley dilemmas in which subjects had to assess the morality of the action and to evaluate their preference between two competing descriptions of the scene (.. (shrink)

Does the second writing of the commentary on Petrus Lombardus, Sent. II (dist. 1) by Giles of Rome constitute a break compared to the first writing? The accurate comparison of the problem of the temporal beginning of the world and its treatment - where Reportatio and Ordinatio take the shape of a commentary on Phys., VIII, 1 - shows that the presence of Thomas Aquinas is even stronger after 1277. Refusing Aristotle’s and “modern” theologians’ arguments, in Ordinatio in continuity with (...) Reportatio Giles advocates a philosophical position in favor of the temporal beginning of the world - theoretically possible though not given - as opposed to Thomas’ standard position, but not to his argumentation in Thomas de Aquino, In VIII Phys, 2. (shrink)

Resumen: La Regla de San Benito (RB) ha experimentado una revitalización en el panorama intelectual contemporáneo, trascendiendo su origen monástico para convertirse en un referente para diversos movimientos sociales y filosóficos. Siguiendo esta lógica hermenéutica actual, propongo una lectura de la RB a través de la lente de la Filosofía de la Liberación de Enrique Dussel, con el objetivo de explorar su potencial para ofrecer una crítica y una alternativa a los modelos de desarrollo imperantes de la Modernidad. En este (...) marco, distingo un primer momento poiético (naturaleza-cultura), centrado en el análisis de la revolución tecnológica y civilizatoria subyacente a la RB; y un segundo momento praxístico (cultura-cultura), en el que se destaca el opus benedictino como un ejemplo paradigmático de la “Nueva Política Económica de Liberación”, es decir, como una propuesta alternativa de organización social y cultural, capaz de superar las limitaciones del Capitalismo y el Socialismo Real del s. XX, ya que logra propiciar la reproducción de la vida material bajo parámetros éticos. Abstract: The Rule of Saint Benedict (RB) has undergone a revitalization in the contemporary intelectual landscape, transcending its monastic origin to become a reference point for various social and philosophical movements. By following this current hermeneutic logic, I propose a reading of RB through the lens of Enrique Dussel’s Philosophy of Liberation, with the aim of exploring its potential to offer a critique and an alternative to the prevailing development models of Modernity. In this framework, I distinguish a first poietic moment (nature-culture), focused on the analysis of the technological and civilizational revolution underlying RB; and a second praxistic moment (culture-culture), in which the Benedictine opus is highlighted as a paradigmatic example of the “New Economic Politics of Liberation”, that is, as an alternative proposal of social and cultural organization, capable of overcoming the limitations of Capitalism and Real Socialism of the 20th century, since it succeeds in fostering the reproduction of material life under ethical parameters. (shrink)

Some theories assume that sentences like (i) with a presupposition trigger in the scope of a quantifier carry an existential presupposition, as in (ii); others assume that they carry a universal presupposition, as in (iii). No student knows that he is lucky. Existential presupposition: At least one student is lucky.Universal presupposition: Every student is lucky. This work is an experimental investigation of this issue in French. Native speakers were recruited to evaluate the robustness of the inference from (i) to (iii). (...) The main result is that presuppositions triggered from the scope of the quantifier aucun‘no’ are in fact universal. But the present results also suggest that the presuppositions triggered from the scope of other quantifiers depend on the quantifier. This calls for important changes in the main theories of presupposition projection. (shrink)

The notion of transparency regularly comes up in discussions about the secondary uses of health data. Few studies, however, examine the impact of the presence or absence of transparency on members of the public. This literature review responds to this gap in the scientific literature. It is the result of a secondary analysis of 124 texts from an exploratory review on transparency, following the PRISMAS-ScR guidelines. The results help to identify negative or positive impacts and associate these with certain communication (...) components relating to secondary uses of health data. They also make it possible to identify the components associated with communication deemed transparent or opaque by stakeholders. Transparency, and more specifically continuity of communication, is strongly associated with increased trust and social acceptability, whereas members of the public generally perceive a lack of transparency negatively. This literature review also deepens our understanding of the potential negative impacts of transparent communication. (shrink)

El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo reconstruir y ordenar aquella parte de la obra de Michel Foucault dedicada a la cuestión del poder y desarrollada fundamentalmente alrededor de la década de 1970. Partiendo de un análisis exhaustivo de las fuentes, se presenta un estudio bibliográfico que no solo cataloga las principales aportaciones de Foucault a este debate, sino que las organiza cronológicamente con minuciosidad. De este modo, acudiendo a los originales, así como a los diferentes estudios que han tratado de (...) ordenar su producción, se ofrece un catálogo detallado de sus textos fundamentales para comprender tanto el alcance como las inflexiones del trabajo desarrollado en el marco de ese «momento político» de su obra. (shrink)

Jusqu'à quel point Descartes emprunte-t-il à Suarez les notions de « dieu trompeur » et de « mauvais génie » ? En fait, bien qu'elles aient leur source dans la scolastique en général (et pas seulement chez Suarez), l'originalité de Descartes est de les avoir utilisées dans le cadre d'une recherche du fondement de la science. L'auteur de cet article y discute les opinions d'Emanuela Scribano. The question at stake is to know up to what point Descartes borrows the concepts (...) of a deceitful God and an evil genius from Suarez. In fact, though the latter concepts may find their origins in scolastics as such (and not only in Suarez), Descartes' originality rests in having used them within the framework of a research of the foundations of science. The author of the present paper hebery studies and discusses Emanuela Scribano's opinions. (shrink)

In this paper, I claim that to understand Hegel’s theory of psychiatric treatment, we must frame the relation between the psychiatrist and her patient using Hegel’s concept of genius as developed in the Anthropology section of the Encyclopedia (§405). As I argue, this notion of genius is both complex and ambiguous, since Hegel presents examples both of good and evil geniuses. What is interesting is that the psychiatrist can potentially correspond to both figures, which reveals what is perhaps Hegel’s greatest (...) contribution to contemporary psychiatry as a practice: the imperative for the practitioner to reflect on its own motivation in the treatment, its own role of authority and, conversely, the condition of its patients. (shrink)

La priorité que la phénoménologie classique accorde à la première personne se voit déplacée de différentes manières par les penseurs post-phénoménologiques, dont Jacques Derrida. L’article a pour but d’indiquer la fonction stratégique qu’occupe dans la pensée derridienne la figure du témoin, que ce soit en tant que tiers qui déstabilise la métaphysique de la présence dans ses premiers écrits mais surtout, comme figure spéculative dans l’œuvre tardive, entre foi et savoir. Des remarques dispersées de Derrida sur le témoignage, on peut (...) dégager une petite grammaire du témoignage, avec ses trois paradoxes constitutifs: la substituabilité de l’insubstituable, la fondation de l’infondable, la répétition de l’irrépétible. En faisant apparaître la logique constitutive du témoignage, Derrida indique comment la figure du témoin en appelle à une complication de la phénoménologie, qu’on peut résumer par la notion de remédiation. (shrink)