A key feature of facial behavior is its dynamic quality. However, most previous research has been limited to the use of static images of prototypical expressive patterns. This article explores the role of facial dynamics in the perception of emotions, reviewing relevant empirical evidence demonstrating that dynamic information improves coherence in the identification of affect (particularly for degraded and subtle stimuli), leads to higher emotion judgments (i.e., intensity and arousal), and helps to differentiate between genuine and fake expressions. The findings (...) underline that using static expressions not only poses problems of ecological validity, but also limits our understanding of what facial activity does. Implications for future research on facial activity, particularly for social neuroscience and affective computing, are discussed. (shrink)

Can the evidence provided by software systems meet the standard of proof for civil or criminal cases, and is it individualized evidence? Or, to the contrary, do software systems exclusively provide bare statistical evidence? In this paper, we argue that there are cases in which evidence in the form of probabilities computed by software systems is not bare statistical evidence, and is thus able to meet the standard of proof. First, based on the case of State v. Loomis, we investigate (...) recidivism predictions provided by software systems used in the courtroom. Here, we raise problems for software systems that provide predictions that are based on bare statistical evidence. Second, by examining the case of People v. Chubbs, we argue that the statistical evidence provided by software systems in cold hit DNA cases may in some cases suffice for individualized evidence, on a view on which individualized evidence is evidence that normically supports the relevant proposition (Smith, in Mind 127:1193–1218, 2018). (shrink)

In our target article, “Learning and the evolution of conscious agents” we outlined an evolutionary approach to consciousness, arguing that the evolution of a form of open-ended, representational, and generative learning (unlimited associative learning, UAL) drove the evolution of consciousness. Our view highlights the dynamics and functions of consciousness, delineates its taxonomic distribution and suggests a framework for exploring its developmental and evolutionary modifications. The approach we offer resonates with biosemioticians’ views, but as the responses to our target article show, (...) our proposal also faces challenges and has led to suggestions that extend, develop and qualify it. Our response to the 14 varied and rich commentaries starts with the recurring and deep question raised by many of them – the relation between life and sentience. We explore this question by introducing and expanding on “vivaciousness”, a term we coined to describe the turbulent, flexible exploration-stabilization processes inherent in the living condition, as well as addressing the related concepts of Umwelt and selfhood. We then consider the question of the adequacy of unlimited associative learning (UAL) as an evolutionary transition marker (ETM) of minimal consciousness (rather than as a marker of a complex form of sentience), and the possible precursors of sentience. The engagement with these broad themes is entangled with a discussion of evolutionary transitions, constitutive emergence and the function/s of consciousness. The suggestions of our commentators, urging us to explore new concepts and new avenues of research within the framework of a richer view of evolution are then discussed. We end by briefly considering what we regard as a conceptual lacuna, which is leading to the indiscriminate use of the term “sentience” and which awaits further investigation. (shrink)

Contingent valuation surveys generally elicit stated preferences by asking how much a respondent would be willing to pay for an environmental improvement. By drawing on linguistic theory, we propose that the modal phrasing of this question establishes a particular type of commitment towards a hypothetical payment, namely a subjective want or desire. Based on the idea that beyond subjective desires, considerations about what is morally adequate may guide expressed values and that elicitation of these can be linguistically facilitated, we employ (...) an experimental framework to investigate the effects of different modals ( willing, should and appropriate) in the elicitation question on stated preferences. We find that elicited amounts with appropriate are higher than those elicited with willing and should for environmental improvements more associated with use values, while differences are non-significant for environmental improvements more associated with non-use values. We discuss the implications of our findings for stated preference studies, as well as the potential broader theoretical implications that our study entails regarding linguistic representations of the moral entrenchment of environmental values. (shrink)

Contrary to the widespread concern about over-treatment at the end of life, today, patient preferences for palliative care at the end of life are frequently respected. However, ethically challenging situations in the current healthcare climate are, instead, situations in which a competent patient requests active treatment with the goal of life-prolongation while the physician suggests best supportive care only. The argument of futility has often been used to justify unilateral decisions made by physicians to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment. However, (...) we argue that neither the concept of futility nor that of patient autonomy alone is apt for resolving situations in which physicians are confronted with patients' requests for active treatment. Instead, we integrate the relevant arguments that have been put forward in the academic discussion about ‘futile’ treatment into an ethical algorithm with five guiding questions: (1) Is there a chance that medical intervention will be effective in achieving the patient's treatment goal? (2) How does the physician evaluate the expected benefit and the potential harm of the treatment? (3) Does the patient understand his or her medical situation? (4) Does the patient prefer receiving treatment after evaluating the benefit-harm ratio and the costs? (5) Does the treatment require many resources? This algorithm shall facilitate approaching patients' requests for treatments deemed futile by the physician in a systematic way, and responding to these requests in an ethically appropriate manner. It thereby adds substantive considerations to the current procedural approaches of conflict resolution in order to improve decision making among physicians, patients and families. (shrink)

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) describes the evolution of treatment‐resistant pathogens, with potentially catastrophic consequences for human medicine. AMR is driven by the over‐prescription of antibiotics, and could be reduced through consideration of the ethical dimensions of the dilemma faced by doctors. This dilemma involves balancing apparently opposed interests of current and future patients, and unique contextual factors in different countries, which may modify the core dilemma. We describe three example countries with different economic backgrounds and cultures—South Africa, Sri Lanka and the (...) United Kingdom. Then we discuss how country‐specific factors impact on the prominence of various ethical dimensions of the dilemma (visibility and moral equality of future generations; Rule of Rescue; prescribing autonomy and conflicts of interest; consensus on collective action). We conclude that a nuanced understanding of national prescribing dilemmas is critical to inform the design of effective stewardship approaches. (shrink)

People dedicate significant attention to others’ facial expressions and to deciphering their meaning. Hence, knowing whether such expressions are genuine or deliberate is important. Early research proposed that authenticity could be discerned based on reliable facial muscle activations unique to genuine emotional experiences that are impossible to produce voluntarily. With an increasing body of research, such claims may no longer hold up to empirical scrutiny. In this article, expression authenticity is considered within the context of senders’ ability to produce convincing (...) facial displays that resemble genuine affect and human decoders’ judgments of expression authenticity. This includes a discussion of spontaneous vs. posed expressions, as well as appearance- vs. elicitation-based approaches for defining emotion recognition accuracy. We further expand on the functional role of facial displays as neurophysiological states and communicative signals, thereby drawing upon theencoding-decodingandaffect-inductionperspectives of emotion expressions. Theoretical and methodological issues are addressed with the aim to instigate greater conceptual and operational clarity in future investigations of expression authenticity. (shrink)

Gibt es eine weibliche bzw. männliche Moral? Orientiert sich das Moralverhalten beider Geschlechter tatsächlich tendenziell an unterschiedlichen Wertvorstellungen? Diese in den letzten Jahren leidenschaftlich und äußerst kontrovers diskutierte Frage beantwortet Eva-Maria Schwickert aus der Perspektive der philosophischen Ethik. Im Blickpunkt des Interesses stehen die begriffliche Bestimmung und die moralische Legitimation beider Orientierungen. Den von Carol Gilligan erhobenen Vorwurf, die "männliche" Gerechtigkeitsmoral sei zu sehr auf Prinzipien konzentriert, findet die Autorin bestätigt und schlägt vor, das Defizit der Gerechtigkeits- durch die Fürsorgeethik (...) auszugleichen. Ziel des gesuchten Ausgleichs ist ein Vermittlungsmodell, das den berechtigten Einwänden Gilligans Rechnung trägt und dennoch nicht auf eine Prinzipienorientierung verzichtet. Das Ergebnis der Studie präsentiert sich als Brückenschlag zwischen der Kantischen Vernunftethik Kohlbergs einerseits und der Aristotelischen Wertethik Gilligans andererseits. Beide Ethiktypen – die der Gerechtigkeit und die der Fürsorge – fordern sich wechselseitig. Gemessen an diesem vertieften Ethikverständnis stellt sich das weibliche Zögern, ein moralisches Urteil zu fällen, nicht mehr als Ausdruck eines unzureichenden Prinzipienbewußtseins, sondern als das eines verantwortungsethisch reflektierten Urteilsvermögens dar. Die Untersuchung spannt einen Bogen zwischen hermeneutischen und ethischen ebenso wie zwischen historischen und systematischen Fragestellungen. Darüber hinaus bietet sie einen Einblick in die aktuelle Diskussion der Diskursethik. (shrink)

One of the most famous critiques of the Leibnitian calculus is contained in the essay “The Analyst” written by George Berkeley in 1734. His key argument is those on compensating errors. In this article, we reconstruct Berkeley's argument from a systematical point of view showing that the argument is neither circular nor trivial, as some modern historians think. In spite of this well-founded argument, the critique of Berkeley is with respect to the calculus not a fundamental one. Nevertheless, it highlights (...) central aspects of the calculus that are characteristic of modern scientific theories. (shrink)

There has been a move in medicine towards patient-centred care, leading to more demands from patients for particular therapies and treatments, and for wish-fulfilling medicine: the use of medical services according to the patient's wishes to enhance their subjective functioning, appearance or health. In contrast to conventional medicine, this use of medical services is not needed from a medical point of view. Boundaries in wish-fulfilling medicine are partly set by a physician's decision to fulfil or decline a patient's wish in (...) practice. In order to develop a better understanding of how wish-fulfilling medicine occurs in practice in The Netherlands, a qualitative study (15 semistructured interviews and 1 focus group) was undertaken. The aim was to investigate the range and kind of arguments used by general practitioners and plastic surgeons in wish-fulfilling medicine. These groups represent the public funded realm of medicine as well as privately paid for services. Moreover, GPs and plastic surgeons can both be approached directly by patients in The Netherlands. The physicians studied raised many arguments that were expected: they used patient autonomy, risks and benefits, normality and justice to limit wish-fulfilling medicine. In addition, arguments new to this debate were uncovered, which were frequently used to justify compliance with a patient's request. Such arguments seem familiar from conventional medicine, including empathy, the patient–doctor relationship and reassurance. Moreover, certain arguments that play a significant role in the literature on wish-fulfilling medicine and enhancement were not mentioned, such as concepts of disease and the enhancement–treatment dichotomy and ‘suspect norms’. (shrink)

The Ethics of Dust: Doge's Palace, Venice, is an installation resulting from the experimental preservation of the pollution accumulated on the Doge's Palace of Venice. Traditionally, only the intentional products of human labor, such as art or architecture, have been considered part of our cultural heritage. Pollution is a formless byproduct that was never intentionally shaped; yet it is perhaps our civilization's most significant cultural product. Jorge Otero-Pailos' preservation of pollution expands the notion of world heritage to include our unintentional (...) outputs. Published on the occasion of the presentation of The Ethics of Dust: Doge's Palace, Venice​ at the 53rd International Art Exhibition / Biennale di Venezia, 2009. The Ethics of Dust: Doge's Palace, Venice​ was commissioned and produced by TBA21. The book includes text contributions Daniel Birnbaum, Francesca von Habsburg, Thordis Arrhenius, Daniel A. Barber, Valeria Burgio, Dorota Chudzicka, Lorenzo Fusi, David Gissen, Caroline A. Jones, Jorge Otero-Pailos , Adam Phillips, Raqs Media Collective, Mark Wigley. (shrink)

The word 'bisexuality', unknown to the ancients, is used here in two senses to indicate an individual with male and female sex organs or who copulates with people of both sexes. The phenomenon of bisexuality is then analysed with reference to the Greek myth of Hermaphrodite, a 'bisexual' being, born of a nymph's love for a young man of divine descent: in the guise of a fable, the myth recounts the birth of a 'monster', who raises a question-mark over the (...) fundamental rule of the division between the sexes. As regards behaviour, the paper then shows that in both Greece and Rome bisexual behaviour was the rule for men. The concept of 'homosexuality', in contrast to heterosexuality, was not introduced till the Christian era, and then not without difficulty. Condemnation of the practice as 'against nature' began with the emperor Justinian in the 6th century. (shrink)

The Guadeloupean writer and critic Maryse Condé has for the last twenty-five years divided her time between her native Guadeloupe and the United States. If the author's work has attracted much critical attention in the United States, it is her fictional works that have been the focus of this attention, with these predominantly read in the light of political themes such as identity and resistance. In these intelligent and sensitive readings, Eva Sansavior argues in favour of adopting a broader thematic (...) and generic approach to the author's work. Sansavior accounts for the multiple and oblique uses of literature in Condé's literary and critical work, tracking its complex interactions with tradition, reception, politics and autobiography and also the singular possibilities that these interactions present for re-imagining the ideas of politics, literature, identity and, ultimately, the nature of critical practice itself. Eva Sansavior is Career Development Fellow in French (Francophone Caribbean Studies) at Oriel College, Oxford. (shrink)

Contrasting two standard models of corporate responsibility—the so-called “collectivist” and “individualist” model—this essay proposes a third option, namely, a discursive conception of responsibility and examines whether and how this conception can be applied to the corporate level. It does so by taking a careful look at one of the preconditions of individual discursive responsibility, i.e. discursive practical reason, and discussing how corporate agents can meet this precondition. Building on this new concept, the essay also offers a novel approach to justifying (...) corporate responsibility by referring to an argument advanced by Rainer Forst stating that a fundamental human right to justification is the normative core of any kind of responsibility and combining it, in a second step, with an argument recently proposed by Philip Pettit and Christian List showing the impossibility of forming consistent group attitudes and beliefs as a function of the attitudes and beliefs of individual group members. Finally, this essay outlines certain preliminary conclusions about the incorporation of responsibility in a corporate context. (shrink)

Laughter:. Scientific Investigation. By Robert R. Provine. 2000. New York: Viking. $24.95 (cloth).

Background: Less sedated and more awake patients in the intensive care unit may cause ethical challenges. Research objectives: The purpose of this study is to describe ethical challenges registered nurses experience when patients refuse care and treatment. Research design: Narrative individual open interviews were conducted, and data were analysed using a phenomenological hermeneutic method developed for researching life experiences. Participants and research context: Three intensive care registered nurses from an intensive care unit at a university hospital in Norway were included. (...) Ethical considerations: Norwegian Social Science Data Services approved the study. Permission was obtained from the intensive care unit leader. The participants’ informed and voluntary consent was obtained in writing. Findings: Registered nurses experienced ethical challenges in the balance between situations of deciding on behalf of the patient, persuading the patient and letting the patient decide. Ethical challenges were related to patients being harmful to themselves, not keeping up personal hygiene and care or hindering critical treatment. Discussion: It is made apparent how professional ethics may be threatened by more pragmatic arguments. In recent years, registered nurses are faced with increasing ethical challenges to do no harm and maintain dignity. Conclusion: Ethically challenging situations are emerging, due to new targets including conscious and aware critical care patients, leaving an altered responsibility on the registered nurses. Reflection is required to adjust the course when personal and professional ideals no longer are in harmony with the reality in the clinical practice. RNs must maintain a strong integrity as authentic human beings to provide holistic nursing care. (shrink)

Post- and decolonial theory have contested the idea of historical progress as a Eurocentric, hegemonic, or neocolonialist misconception. Does this imply that we should give up any idea of moral progress? This paper critically examines Allen Buchanan’s and Russell Powell’s book The Evolution of Moral Progress and their claim that there is still a need for a theory of moral progress. For Buchanan and Powell, such theory should allow and guide a better understanding of what moral progress consists of. Even (...) though they do not claim to already provide us with such a comprehensive theory of moral progress they aim to work out whether and how certain types of moral progress are possible and assess their limits. In doing so they mainly focus on improvements in terms of social participation as an uncontroversial type of moral progress. In the following, I will first discuss the characteristics of the authors’ notion of progress and then raise some critical concerns about the example they have chosen of the history of human rights as a history of progress and, particularly, about the history of the rights of people with disabilities. (shrink)

The marked intertextual patterning of Maryse Condé’s first novel Heremakhonon is a widely acknowledged feature, with the relationship between Condé’s novel and Aimé Césaire's Notebook of a Return to my Native Land attracting the bulk of critical attention. Through close readings of to date unexamined dramatic codes in Heremakhonon, this article proposes to extend the cultural context in which Condé’s text is traditionally read. Moving beyond the standard critical discussions of authenticity, I track Heremakhonon's mobile positionings in relation to polarizing (...) debates in the broader French literary-critical field between engagement and modernism. This focus allows for an exploration of the complex sets of relationships between the cultures of modernism and engagement that provide the conditions of possibility for Condé’s novel. (shrink)

Temporal dynamics have been increasingly recognized as an important component of facial expressions. With the need for appropriate stimuli in research and application, a range of databases of dynamic facial stimuli has been developed. The present article reviews the existing corpora and describes the key dimensions and properties of the available sets. This includes a discussion of conceptual features in terms of thematic issues in dataset construction as well as practical features which are of applied interest to stimulus usage. To (...) identify the most influential sets, we further examine their citation rates and usage frequencies in existing studies. General limitations and implications for emotion research are noted and future directions for stimulus generation are outlined. (shrink)

This is an interview with author Ken Wilber, whose work on consciousness over the last twenty‐five years has been tremendously influential. His work blends "Eastern" and "Western" approaches and has influenced scholars in psychology, philosophy, and religion, as well as in anthropology. His work on transpersonal psychology is especially well‐known, and his first book, The Spectrum of Consciousness, arguably marks the beginning of transpersonal studies. Frances Vaughan has referred to Wilber's work as the "work of genius." Daniel Goleman once listed (...) Wilber among the "ranks of the grand theorists of human consciousness" including "Ernst Cassirer, Mircea Eliade, and Gregory Bateson." Wilber discusses the scope of the consciousness problem as well as contributions to the field that anthropologists might be well suited to make. (shrink)

This is an interview with neurologist Antonio Damasio, MD, PhD, whose work on consciousness has influenced scholars in a variety of fields, including anthropology. Damasio addresses a number of issues, including the neurobiology of altered states, the neurology of flow and other optimal, pleasurable states, and the potential to identify biological markers that are common to the experience of altered states in a variety of cultures. Damasio also discusses the relationship between body and brain, and concludes by discussing the scope (...) of the consciousness problem and contributions to the solution that anthropologists might be well suited to make. Key words: body, consciousness, altered states, interview. (shrink)

This is an interview with author Ken Wilber, whose work on consciousness over the last twenty‐five years has been tremendously influential. His work blends "Eastern" and "Western" approaches and has influenced scholars in psychology, philosophy, and religion, as well as in anthropology. His work on transpersonal psychology is especially well‐known, and his first book, The Spectrum of Consciousness, arguably marks the beginning of transpersonal studies. Frances Vaughan has referred to Wilber's work as the "work of genius." Daniel Goleman once listed (...) Wilber among the "ranks of the grand theorists of human consciousness" including "Ernst Cassirer, Mircea Eliade, and Gregory Bateson." Wilber discusses the scope of the consciousness problem as well as contributions to the field that anthropologists might be well suited to make. (shrink)

This is an interview with Erika Bourguignon, who has been a presence in the anthropology of consciousness for decades. Her work has examined possession, altered states of consciousness, religion, psychological anthropology, and shamanism. Her own fieldwork in Haiti has been augmented by book‐length comparative work with Lenora Greenbaum as well. In a 1996 article in Ethos, Melford Spiro notes that Bourguignon is a scholar who has resisted the trends of "postmodernists and interpretivists" and he describes her as "a preeminent psychological (...) anthropologist as well as the premier anthropological authority on trance, possession, and altered states of consciousness.". (shrink)

This is an interview with neurologist Antonio Damasio, MD, PhD, whose work on consciousness has influenced scholars in a variety of fields, including anthropology. Damasio addresses a number of issues, including the neurobiology of altered states, the neurology of flow and other optimal, pleasurable states, and the potential to identify biological markers that are common to the experience of altered states in a variety of cultures. Damasio also discusses the relationship between body and brain, and concludes by discussing the scope (...) of the consciousness problem and contributions to the solution that anthropologists might be well suited to make. Key words: body, consciousness, altered states, interview. (shrink)

Making The Body Beautiful:. Cultural History of Aesthetic Surgery. By Sander L. Gilman. 1999. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. $29.95 (cloth).

Two populations are subdivided into two categories of individuals (hawks and doves). Individuals fight to have access to a resource which is necessary for their survival. Conflicts occur between individuals belonging to the same population and to different populations. We investigate the long term effects of the conflicts on the stability of the community. The modelis a set of ODE's with four variables corresponding to hawk and dove individuals of the two populations. Two time scales are considered. A fast time (...) scale is used to describe frequent encounters and fightings between individuals trying to monopolize the resource. A slow time scale is used for the demography and the long term effects of encounters. We use aggregation methods in order to reduce this model into a system of two ODE's only for the total densities of the two populations which is found to be a classical Lotka-Volterra competition model. We study different cases of proportions of hawks and doves in both populations on the global coexistence and the mutal exclusion of the two populations. Pure dove tactics in both populations are unstable. In cases of mixed hawk and dove in both populations, there is coexistence. Pure dove or mixed hawk-dove tactics in one population can coexist with pure hawks in the other one when the costs of fightings between hawks are large enough. (shrink)

Proč by se měl filozof vědy zajímat o počítačové simulace? Autorka ve své práci argumentuje tezi, podle níž je počítačová simulace nejen samozřejmou součástí vědeckých metod, ale navíc má potenciál rozvíjet na poli filozofie vědy zcela nové metodologické koncepty a kategorie. Na příkladu tzv. numerického experimentu, který představuje jednu z nejčastějších podob počítačových simulací ve vědě, je ukázán jejich nejasný metodologický status. Na jedné straně lze u simulací (konkrétně numerického experimentování) sledovat vlastnosti, které jsou typické pro teoretický přístup ve vědě, (...) na druhé straně však rovněž vystupují v roli velmi blízké empirické evidenci, čímž se naopak blíží experimentu. V textu autorka představuje zejména Humphreysovu interpretaci počítačové simulace jako hybridní kategorie, která vzbuzuje diskuzi nad založením zcela nové, simulace lépe postihující teorie vědy. (shrink)

In this book, a new theory of grammar based on word order is proposed: a deep word order as the multipartioned communicative-information structure of the ...