How can human beings acknowledge and experience the burdens of political responsibility? Why are we tempted to flee them, and how might we come to affirm them? Jade Larissa Schiff calls this experience of responsibility 'the cultivation of responsiveness'. In Burdens of Political Responsibility: Narrative and the Cultivation of Responsiveness, she identifies three dispositions that inhibit responsiveness - thoughtlessness, bad faith, and misrecognition - and turns to storytelling in its manifold forms as a practice that might facilitate and frustrate (...) it. Through critical engagements with an unusual cast of characters hailing from a variety of disciplines, she argues that how we represent our world and ourselves in the stories we share, and how we receive those stories, can facilitate and frustrate the cultivation of responsiveness. (shrink)

(Extra)Ordinary? edited by Jade Alexander and Katarzyna Bronk engages in research on the ways and means in which celebrity status has been created, controlled, dispersed and received in the past as well as the present.

Background Challenging false beliefs are common situations among people living with dementia. They frequently imply time-shifts, that is, situations in which the person re-lives past experiences. Since they have emotional implications and important ethical implications, they are difficult to manage by caregivers, who are faced with the decision of telling or not telling the truth. Aims The study aimed to explore professional staff’s perceptions of common and best practices to manage a situation in which a person living with dementia is (...) having a false belief, specifically a time-shift. The study compares technical staff’s and assistant carers’ responses. Participants and research context Forty-two staff members working in four Spanish long-term care facilities were interviewed. 21 were assistant carers and 21 were technical staff. Research design This study involved a qualitative design, content-analyzing participant’s responses to semi-structured interviews. Participants read a vignette about a person living with dementia having a time-shift and were asked (1) how a situation like that is commonly managed and (2) how it should be managed. Ethical considerations The principles of informed consent, confidentiality, and assessment of consequences for participants were observed throughout the entire study, which was approved by the University of Barcelona Ethics Committee (IRB 00003099). Written participant’s consent was obtained prior to interviews. Findings All the participants mentioned having experienced a situation similar to that described in the vignette. In the case of common practices, lying was the most frequently mentioned strategy. As for best practices, lying and telling the truth were mentioned as well as responses that lie in-between, such as distracting or relaxing. However, most assistant carers reported that they do not know how a challenging false belief should be managed. Conclusion Our findings stress the importance of organizational guidelines and staff development in the management of challenging false beliefs (and specifically time-shifts) in PLWD. (shrink)

While cellular phones have become common among Filipinos, it is contended that, even though, such accessibility may have bridged the digital gap, it is far from eradicating social divides between the rich and the poor. The class divide is very apparent based on usage alone. This divide is more a function of income and education than the availability of technology. Three aims of this study include: 1) finding out whether social stratification is evident in the text messages of people from (...) lower, middle, and upper classes; 2) affirming the relationship between social stratification and linguistic forms usage; and 3) exploring noticeable patterns in texting styles of participants. Employing mixed methods design, linguistic forms used by participants were described and analyzed. Noticeable patterns in the texting styles of 18 participants were also accounted. Three linguistic forms: shortenings, punctuations, and letters/numbers/homophones are frequently used by the participants across the three social classes to facilitate ease of texting and to shorten long words. Two form categories are socially stratified: punctuations and accent stylization. Thus, knowing the linguistic forms used by an individual can lead to knowledge of his/her social status. Keywords- Sociolinguistics, Computer-mediated Communication, social stratification, linguistic forms, textual analysis, mixed methods design, Philippines. (shrink)

In this paper, two Platonic texts are placed side by side – namely, the ascent passage from the Symposium and the Sun, Line and Cave analogies from the Republic – in order to dispel the notion that Plato recommends a highly intellectual pursuit of Ideas. We take here the often-neglected aspect of the cave analogy, which speaks of ethical involvement described in terms of descent, and use this to reinterpret the ladder of love. We find that it is not a (...) matter of renunciation and abstraction, but instead, an increasingly refined pursuit of excellence that has the beloved’s moral education as its impetus and goal. (shrink)

Much of the literature supports the moral development theory as a justification for teachers to care, where teachers should care for their students because it contributes to their moral education as caring persons. If no causal relationship can be established, the question remains whether we would want teachers to care, preferably one that does not merely import its external normative significance into teaching. I argue that an understanding of teaching, and moreover, of good teaching already has embedded within it conceptions (...) of care. Understanding that teaching involves care would then challenge virtue/character-based conceptions of the good teacher. While these clarifications are modest in scope, taking caring seriously in teaching has implications on how we conceptualize the good teacher, which in turn affects how both teacher education and professional ethics might be understood. (shrink)

In this paper I argue that the Canberra Plan is ill-equipped to offer a satisfactory theory of gender. Insofar as the Canberra Plan aims to provide a general and unified approach to philosophical theorising, this is a significant problem. I argue that this deficit in their method stems from the robust role assigned to pre-theoretical beliefs in constructing philosophical analyses. I utilise a critical conception of ideology to explain why our pre-theoretic beliefs about certain social kinds are likely to deliver (...) politically dubious metaphysics of the social world. The first half of the paper is dedicated to exercising this theoretical shortcoming. In the second half, I suggest a way in which the Canberra Plan can address and rectify this problem, with a view to maintaining the theoretical viability of the Canberra Plan with respect to politically important concepts. (shrink)

This study explored possible changes in family functioning from the perspective of parents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thirty-four parents/guardians of children under 18 years completed a semi-structured interview, average length 47 min. Interviews focussed on changes in different aspects of family functioning including family roles, routines, and rules; parenting practices; communication and relationships; and strengths, challenges, and tensions. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis applied in an idiographic and inductive manner to reduce the loss of individual experiences and perspectives. (...) Four superordinate themes were identified: shifting family roles and boundaries throughout the pandemic; impacts on routines and relationships; opportunities and resourcing; and, experiences of support and unity. Gender differences were evident across some themes, particularly changing roles, workload and work-home boundaries. Challenges and tensions were frequently highlighted, particularly by “vulnerable” family groups such as those with children with disabilities. Parents also described a renewed sense of family and community that underpinned adaptive coping responses. The results highlight the importance of family connectedness in times of need. (shrink)

‘Food sovereignty’ plays an increasingly important political role as a focus for grassroots agri-food organisations, such as La Via Campesina, in their attempts to contest the social injustices, health impacts and ecological damage resulting from the increasing global dominance of corporate/industrial agriculture. While not seeking to detract from the successes of such movements, there remain ethical, political and ecological concerns about just how the ‘sovereignty’ in food sovereignty is to be interpreted and what, if any, its relation to previous histories, (...) definitions and applications of political sovereignty might be. Sovereignty's role, for example, in settler colonialism and environmental destruction is rarely addressed in the food sovereignty literature, with advocates focusing instead on its definitional malleability and contemporary political utility. Yet critical appropriations of Schmitt's infamous definition of sovereignty help to specify its colonial, anti-political and anti-ecological modus operandi, and make clear certain dangers inherent in uncritically adopting the term. (shrink)

En Guedi, un oasis en la orilla occidental del Mar Muerto, es uno de los más importantes yacimientos del desierto de Judea. En el periodo romano—bizantino En Guedi fue famosa par sus excelentes dátiles y por sus plantaciones de bálsamo. En la última fase de su sinagoga hay una extraña inscripción, cuya interpretación ha ocupado el interés de muchos estudiosos. El presente artículo es un intento de aproximación al correcto significado de la inscripción de En Guedi con inclusión de los (...) últimos datos conocidos. (shrink)

Humans have a complex and dynamic mating system, and there is evidence that our modern sexual preferences stem from evolutionary pressures. In the current paper we explore male use of a dual mating strategy: simultaneously pursuing both a long-term relationship (pair-bonding) as well as short-term, extra-pair copulations (variety-seeking). The primary constraint on such sexual pursuits is partner preferences, which can limit male behavior and hence cloud inferences about male preferences. The aim of this study was to investigate heterosexual male mating (...) preferences when largely unconstrained by female partner preferences. In service of this goal, female full-service sex workers (N = 6) were surveyed on the traits and behaviors of their male clients (N = 516) and iterative cluster analysis was used to identify male mating typologies. Two clusters emerged: clients seeking a pair-bonding experience and clients seeking a variety experience. Results also suggested that romantically committed men were more likely to seek a variety experience than a relationship experience. We conclude that men desire both pair-bonding and sexual variety, and that their preference for one might be predicted by fulfilment of the other. These findings have implications for relationships, providing insight into motivations for male infidelity. (shrink)

Uncontrollable anger is common following an acquired brain injury, with impaired emotion regulation being one of the main contributors. Existing psychological interventions appear moderately effective, though studies typically include limitations such as small sample sizes, issues of long-term efficacy, and standardization of content. While ER has been a popular research field, the study of ER for anger management after ABI is less well investigated, and contains few interventions based on the widely used Process Model of ER. This review surveys the (...) efficacy of ER strategies in individuals with ABI, and proposes a novel research design for future interventions. Recommendations are made about: strategy number and type, shared decision-making, approaches to data analysis, and mode of delivery. (shrink)

Digital technological advances give society a dynamism and speed never seen in history. Every day new discoveries and inventions emerge to make people’s lives easier. Everything is presented with the aim of giving quality to the lives of human beings in their daily lives and enabling them to resolve problems that afflict them more and more quickly. Information circulates faster, borders are overcome by establishing new forms of communication, science advances to the point of prolonging life and thus, all life (...) is transformed. This is the scenario of change and transformation that affects people and institutions, in order to question and give new meaning to processes and standards. Thus, it appears that the very understanding of teaching and learning is given new meaning, establishing new parameters for education. The advent of the internet, the emergence of AI (Artificial Intelligence), the widespread use of media and technologies put old educational models to the test. But many of these new parameters are not that new, which means that some clues given today for the qualification of educational processes are in line with the legacy left by some people from the past, among whom Francisco de Assis stands out. This saint marked an epoch and perpetuated another way of seeing life and men, in such a way as to support the emergence of another humanism different from those that already existed in that historical period. Such Franciscan humanism becomes important for the present time, for the elaboration of educational processes, for the idealization of a humanizing curriculum and for the constitution of relationships based on the appreciation of what is different as the maximum expression of fraternity. (shrink)

O livro do Anônimo Perusino descreve a vida, palavras e feitos de Francisco de Assis, um santo que oferece perspectivas e referências para além de seu tempo. Trata-se de um texto permeado de fé com a intencionalida- de de nortear os caminhos de franciscanos que querem manter vivos a espiritualidade e carisma franciscano. A descrição do “jeito franciscano de ser” remete às pistas necessárias para uma educação permeada de Princípios, Valores e Atitudes.

A reflexão sobre a educação franciscana emerge da compreensão do humano, em todas as suas dimensões, tendo como base o modelo grego de formação marcado pelos termos Paideia e Arete. Por estes, consolida-se um olhar educacional de cunho humanista, em que imperam a busca de desenvolver virtudes e não somente oferecer uma formação puramente cognitiva e conceitual. A Paideia franciscana surge como resposta às necessidades deste tempo, visto que a tarefa da escola é formar o humano para o ser e (...) o atuar pessoal e socialmente neste mundo. Desenvolver Princípios e Valores Franciscanos para que surjam atitudes positivas e transformadoras. Para tanto, há que se buscar no exemplo e legado deixado por Francisco de Assis, pistas para a relação fraternal entre professor e estudante, de modo a concretizar um caminho pautado pelo diálogo respeitoso, pela mútua aprendizagem, pela valorização do diferente, ao mesmo tempo em que se projeta a autonomia e o protagonismo do estudante. (shrink)

O tema central deste artigo é a persuasão e como ela aparece no pensamento político arendtiano. Nos ocuparemos desta tópica no intuito de mostrar sua fecundidade e seus limites no que concerne à esfera dos assuntos humanos. Em Arendt, as reflexões sobre a persuasão são suscitadas em referência à atividade política do discurso e ao papel da argumentação persuasiva. Nossa aposta é que uma investigação acerca das nuances da persuasão em Arendt comporta duas direções distintas e, portanto, assumiremos duas linhas (...) de pensamento que nos possibilitarão uma incursão neste debate. Com efeito, examinaremos a perspectiva arendtiana no que concerne à persuasão, por um lado, quando o tema aparece na recuperação da experiência da _polis_ grega, por outro, quando ele é tangenciado pelo relato do julgamento de Adolf Eichmann. Isto posto, nossa principal pretensão é explorar como a questão da persuasão é formulada de maneira contrastante no pensamento arendtiano. Para tanto, a modulação constitutiva do debate será demonstrada a partir de considerações pontuais no tocante à presença da persuasão em dois espaços de natureza pública, quais sejam, a _ágora_ grega e o tribunal. (shrink)

At this polarizing moment in American politics identifying with the experiences of others feels especially difficult, but it is vital for sharing a world in common. Scholars in a variety of disciplines have argued that narratives, and especially literary ones, can help us cultivate this capacity by soliciting sympathetic identification with particular characters. In doing so, narratives can help us to be more ethically and political responsive to other human beings. This is a limited view of the potential for narratives (...) to solicit sympathetic identification, and it prevents us from identifying and grappling with our resistances to identifying with others. In this article I propose a more expansive view – inspired by Elizabeth Costello, a character in JM Coetzee’s novel of the same name – that there are no bounds to our capacities for sympathetic identification. Through critical readings of Waiting for the Barbarians and Animal Farm I explore the possibility that we might identify with people who cause others to suffer, and perhaps even with animals too. Both sorts of identification engender fierce resistance. Identifying with those who cause suffering demands that we grapple with our own capacities for cruelty and violence. Identifying with animals demands that we confront what is animal in ourselves – the perilous instincts that, unmoderated, incline us to aggression. Acknowledging and working through – without rejecting or disavowing – our capacities for cruelty and our animal instincts is necessary for the practices of sympathetic identification upon which sharing a world depends. (shrink)

Drawing from Stanley Cavell's distinct understanding of skepticism, this paper first considers current and incessant obsession with notions of or related to ‘educational standards,’ ‘school effectiveness and improvement,’ ‘evidence-based education,’ ‘performance indicators’ and ‘performativity’ in various educational policies and discourses as consequences resulting from our very human desire to overcome or solve skepticism. Insidiously, this has led to the creation of a strict and distinct conception of what a good teacher should be. Ironically, this human desire to overcome skepticism, which (...) led to this particular good teacher model, has ‘dehumanized’ the teacher. In this light, this paper further proposes Cavell's distinction between perfectionism and perfectability as a possible alternative response to this austere ‘good teacher model’ which has dominated discourses on the teaching profession. His discussion on skepticism and moral perfectionism hopefully leads to a more holistic and democratic concep.. (shrink)

Memory is everywhere in Blade Runner 2049. From the dead tree that serves as a memorial and a site of remembrance (“Who keeps a dead tree?”), to the ‘flashbulb’ memories individuals hold about the moment of the ‘blackout’, when all the electronic stores of data were irretrievably erased (“everyone remembers where they were at the blackout”). Indeed, the data wiped out in the blackout itself involves a loss of memory (“all our memory bearings from the time, they were all damaged (...) in the blackout”). Memory, and lack of it, permeates place, where from the post-blackout Las Vegas Deckard remembers it as somewhere you could “forget your troubles.” Memory is a commodity, called upon and consumed by the Wallace Corporation, purchased from the memory-maker, Dr Ana Stelline, who constructs and implants “the best memories” in replicants so as to instil in them real human responses. Memory is ubiquitous in Blade Runner 2049, involving humans, replicants, objects, and machines. Even “God,” we are told, “remembered Rachael.” Nowhere, though, is the depiction of memory more important than in the attempt to solve a question of identity. Officer K has a memory of his past. Even though he knows it is an implant, it is a memory he is emotionally attached to, frequently narrating it to Joi, his digital girlfriend. But it is a memory that starts to puzzle and trouble him. When K discovers the remains of a dead replicant, a female NEXUS-7, he uncovers a secret—this replicant was pregnant and died during childbirth, a discovery that could “break the world.” K is charged with hunting down the child and making the problem disappear. Yet as K starts seeking answers to the question of the child’s identity he gets inextricably caught up in the mystery. Is he merely Officer K, or is he Joe, the miracle child of Rachael and Deckard? The answer to this question hinges on K’s memory. But is the memory genuine? Is the memory his? Blade Runner 2049 encourages us to think deeply about the nature of memory, identity, and the relation between them. Indeed, the film does not just serve as a starting point for thinking about philosophical issues related to memory and identity. Rather, as we show in this chapter, the film seems to offer a view on these philosophical issues. Blade Runner 2049 offers us a view of memory as spread out over people, objects, and the environment, and it shows us that memory’s role in questions of identity goes beyond merely accurately recalling one’s past. Identity depends not on memory per se, but partly on what we use memory for. (shrink)

“Todo o poder emana do povo...” “ Todos são iguais perante a lei...” (BRASIL, 1988) Estes pequenos trechos, respectivamente do Parágrafo Único do Artigo 1º e do Artigo 5º da constituição brasileira de 1988 não foram redigidos por acaso, ou porque os legisladores assim quiseram, pois acharam que soaria bem; e nem porque de fato acreditavam nisso, mesmo enquanto representantes escolhidos pelo povo, quando de sua promulgação. O Brasil como membro fundador da Organização das Nações Unidas, incorporou em sua constituição (...) diversos pontos da Declaração Universal dos Direitos Humanos (ORGANIZAÇÃO DAS NAÇÕES UNIDAS (UN), 1948). Em 1992, o Brasil se torna signatário da Convenção Americana Sobre Direitos Humanos (ORGANIZAÇÃO DOS ESTADOS AMERICANOS (OAS), 1969), (também conhecido como Pacto de San José da Costa Rica) que existia desde 1969, e que provavelmente não fora ratificado antes devido ao, vamos chamar assim, Estado de Exceção (1964 a 1985). A teoria é que estes tratados permitam uma maior igualdade entre as pessoas, se agreguem à política e às agendas de seus países signatários, e de alguma forma, tenham valor de lei ou ao menos de referência em questões legais. Em última instância, se alguma lei local não tiver como decidir por algo, recorre-se aos tratados internacionais. A ideia por trás deste artigo é analisar o viés individualista destas cartas, remetendo sua origem a Hobbes e Rousseau, mostrando a manutenção da desigualdade entre os homens. Vale ressaltar, no entanto, que seus artigos – são 30 no da ONU, e 82 no da OEA - transpassam, perpassam e unem diversas obras, de forma que fica impossível tratar de apenas um autor ou obra específica nos trechos analisados. (shrink)

This article discusses the new reproductive technology of egg freezing in the context of existing literature on gender, medicalization, and infertility. What is unique about this technology is its use by women who are not currently infertile but who may anticipate a future diagnosis. This circumstance gives rise to a new ontological category of “anticipated infertility.” The author draws on participant observation and a qualitative analysis of scientific, mainstream, and marketing literature to identify and compare the representation of two different (...) candidates for egg freezing: women with cancer and healthy young women. Although both populations experience anticipated infertility, their dichotomous portrayals as appropriate candidates are demonstrative of gender norms linking women to motherhood. Egg freezing is a concise illustration of how the medicalization of women’s bodies and bodily processes masks a host of cultural anxieties about aging, illness, reproduction, and risk. (shrink)

Starting from the reflection that humans are constituted as such throughout history, it is necessary to highlight that everything is a process, it is overcoming, it is transformation and ultimately, it is in a continuous movement of re-elaboration. Everything in life changes, transforms and remakes itself. It is right then to say that human beings have found new ways of communicating, created other ways of moving, discovered other ways of curing illnesses and solving problems, conquered new places reaching new levels (...) of life, as well as devising new methods for movement. of learning and teaching. In this sense, it is worth saying that the teacher is not ready, since even the trainer of many has not stopped training and updating himself. In this way, continued training becomes justifiable and must be offered and undertaken by individuals and communities. It is within this horizon that the training offered in the Franciscan Itinerary is located, which is nothing more than a process of rescuing purposes, expanding knowledge, offering clues for the mission of teaching, and ultimately, supporting the constitution of a Franciscan identity., essential for educational action in the Franciscan Schools of the SCALIFRA-ZN network. (shrink)

Honest signalling theory suggests that humans and chimpanzees can extract socially relevant information relating to personality from the faces of their conspecifics. Humans are also able to extract information from chimpanzees’ faces. Here, we examine whether personality characteristics of chimpanzees, including measures of psychopathy, can be discerned based purely on facial morphology in photographs. Twenty-one chimpanzees were given naïve and expert personality ratings on the Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) and the Chimpanzee Triarchic Model of Psychopathy (CHMP-Tri) before and following (...) behavioural observations. Characteristics relating to openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and disinhibition could be distinguished from the faces of chimpanzees. Individuals higher on disinhibition have lower scores on conscientiousness and emotional stability and higher scores on extraversion, while those higher on meanness have lower conscientiousness and agreeableness. Facial expressions are linked to personality traits present in the TIPI and CHMP-Tri models: the Relaxed Face and the Grooming Face were displayed more by chimpanzees higher on agreeableness, whereas the Compressed Lips Face was observed more in those individuals higher on boldness, and the Full Open Grin was displayed more by chimpanzees higher on extraversion but lower on emotional stability and conscientiousness. Facial expressions were also found to be associated with particular behavioural contexts, namely the Grooming Face in affiliative contexts and the Relaxed and Relaxed Open Mouth Faces in neutral contexts. Dominant chimpanzees display higher levels of boldness and more Compressed Lips Faces, Relaxed Open Mouth Faces, and Grooming Faces than subordinate individuals. These findings support and extend evidence for an honest signalling system and a personality structure shared between humans and chimpanzees. Future research could further explore how personality is conveyed through the face, perhaps through more than just singular aspects of character, and maybe reflecting what chimpanzees themselves are able to do. (shrink)

The United States has become an ideal marketplace for those seeking selective technologies that are illegal, inaccessible, or unavailable in their own countries. Specifically, technologies such as commercial egg donation, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, and sex selection are prohibited or highly regulated in many nations, but remain legal and largely unregulated in the United States. Based on in-depth interviews with US fertility industry providers, including physicians and egg donor and surrogate brokers, this article analyzes how the ideologies of genetic determinism and (...) consumer choice are embedded in the industry. These are transformed into competitive advantages that may appeal to foreign nationals unable to acquire the technologies, services, and reproductive materials to which they feel entitled. Regardless of providers’ particular attitudes regarding the uses of selective technologies, their overall practice reinforces intended parents’ desires to have some control over their potential children’s appearance, temperament, abilities, and behavior. Despite other nations’ laws and policies, ideologies supportive of the use of selective technologies do not, obviously, end at the US borders, and the globalization of communications, media, and transportation technologies enable their spread. (shrink)

We propose a novel interpretation of Lewis on the analysis of modality that is constructed from primary sources, comprehensive and unprecedented. Our guiding precepts are to distinguish semantics from metaphysics, while respecting the inter-relations between them, and to discern whatever may be special, semantically or metaphysically, about the modal case. Following detailed presentation, we amplify and advocate our interpretation by providing a conforming genealogy of Lewis’s theory of modality and applying it to construct a detailed and newly illuminating version of (...) the Lewisian theory of modality de re. (shrink)

The exponential accumulation, processing and accrual of big data in healthcare are only possible through an equally rapidly evolving field of big data analytics. The latter offers the capacity to rationalize, understand and use big data to serve many different purposes, from improved services modelling to prediction of treatment outcomes, to greater patient and disease stratification. In the area of infectious diseases, the application of big data analytics has introduced a number of changes in the information accumulation models. These are (...) discussed by comparing the traditional and new models of data accumulation. Big data analytics is fast becoming a crucial component for the modelling of transmission—aiding infection control measures and policies—emergency response analyses required during local or international outbreaks. However, the application of big data analytics in infectious diseases is coupled with a number of ethical impacts. Four key areas are discussed in this paper: automation and algorithmic reliance impacting freedom of choice, big data analytics complexity impacting informed consent, reliance on profiling impacting individual and group identities and justice/fair access and increased surveillance and population intervention capabilities impacting behavioural norms and practices. Furthermore, the extension of big data analytics to include information derived from personal devices, such as mobile phones and wearables as part of infectious disease frameworks in the near future and their potential ethical impacts are discussed. Considered together, the need for a constructive and transparent inclusion of ethical questioning in this rapidly evolving field becomes an increasing necessity in order to provide a moral foundation for the societal acceptance and responsible development of the technological advancement. (shrink)