Although there is consensus on the fact that ionizing radiation used in radiological examinations can affect health, the stochastic nature of risk makes it difficult to anticipate and assess specific health implications for patients. The issue of radiation protection is peculiar as any dosage received in life is cumulative, the sensitivity to radiation is highly variable from one person to another, and between 20 % and 50 % of radiological examinations appear not to be necessary. In this context, one might (...) reasonably assume that information and patient consent would play an important role in regulating radiological practice. However, there is to date no clear consensus regarding the nature and content of—or even need for—consent by patients exposed to ionizing radiation. While law and ethics support the same principles for respecting the dignity of the person, in the context of radiology practice, they do not provide a consistent message to guide clinical decision-making. This article analyzes the issue of healthcare professionals’ duty to inform and obtain patient consent for radiological examinations. Considering that both law and ethics have as one of their aims to protect vulnerable populations, it is important that they begin to give greater attention to issues raised by the use of ionizing radiation in medicine. While the situation in Canada serves as a backdrop for a reflective analysis of the problem, the conclusions are pertinent for professional practice in other jurisdictions because the principles underlying health law and jurisprudence are fairly general. (shrink)

It has become a truism that the ethics of artificial intelligence (AI) is necessary and must help guide technological developments. Numerous ethical guidelines have emerged from academia, industry, government and civil society in recent years. While they provide a basis for discussion on appropriate regulation of AI, it is not always clear how these ethical guidelines were developed, and by whom. Using content analysis, we surveyed a sample of the major documents (_n_ = 47) and analyzed the accessible information regarding (...) their methodology and stakeholder engagement. Surprisingly, only 38% report some form of stakeholder engagement (with 9% involving citizens) and most do not report their methodology for developing normative insights (15%). Our results show that documents with stakeholder engagement develop more comprehensive ethical guidance with greater applicability, and that the private sector is least likely to engage stakeholders. We argue that the current trend for enunciating AI ethical guidance not only poses widely discussed challenges of applicability in practice, but also of transparent development (as it rather behaves as a black box) and of active engagement of diversified, independent and trustworthy stakeholders. While most of these documents consider people and the common good as central to their telos, engagement with the general public is significantly lacking. As AI ethics moves from the initial race for enunciating general principles to more sustainable, inclusive and practical guidance, stakeholder engagement and citizen involvement will need to be embedded into the framing of ethical and societal expectations towards this technology. (shrink)

Promotion of prescription drugs may appear to be severely limited in some jurisdictions due to restrictions on direct-to-consumer advertising. However, in most jurisdictions, strategies exist to raise consumer awareness about prescription drugs, notably through the deployment of direct-to-consumer information campaigns that encourage patients to seek help for particular medical conditions. In Canada, DTCI is presented by industry and regulated by Health Canada as being purely informational activities, but their design and integration in broader promotional campaigns raise very similar ethical concerns (...) as those associated with DTCA. Specifically, DTCI can be an effective means of familiarizing the public with the scope and benefits of a particular prescription drug and so, like DTCA, can promote increased patient-consumer demand and thus a problematic rise in the prescribing and use of medications that may be neither the most appropriate nor the most cost-effective. Yet, with DTCI the industry is playing within the existing rules and regulations set by health regulators. To respond appropriately to this regulatory incoherence, we argue that DTCI should be regulated as a type of direct-to-consumer indirect advertising. Even if the case and specific regulations presented here are Canadian, the implications extend to every country that has a partial or total prohibition on DTCA. (shrink)

Cho and Martinez-Martin (2023) provide a compelling critique of the profound influence that data sourcing for artificial intelligence (AI) has on the healthcare sector. They emphasize the need for...

Increasing attention and efforts are being put towards engaging patients in health research, and some have even argued that patient engagement in research is an ethical imperative. Yet there is relatively little empirical data on ethical issues associated with PER. A three-round Delphi survey was conducted with a panel of early-career researchers involved in PER. One of the objectives was to examine the ethical dimensions of PER as well as ECRs’ self-perceived level of preparedness to conduct PER ethically. The study (...) was conducted among awardees of the Québec SPOR-SUPPORT Unit in Canada, who represent the next generation of researchers involved in PER. Many themes were addressed throughout the study, such as definition, values, patients’ roles, expected characteristics of patients, and anticipated challenges. Open-ended questions were used, and all quantitative data were collected through statements using 7-point Likert scales. Between April and November 2016, 25 ECRs were invited to participate; 18 completed both the first and second rounds, and 16 completed the third round. Panelists consisted of nine women and seven men with various backgrounds. The majority were between 25 and 44 years old. Panelists’ responses showed PER raises important ethical issues: 1) professionalization of patients involved in research ; 2) adequate remuneration of patients; 3) fair recognition of patients’ experiential knowledge; and 4) tokenism. While the panelists felt moderately prepared to confront these ethical issues, they reported being uncomfortable applying for an ethics certificate for a PER project. If PER is an ethical imperative, it is vital to establish clear ethical standards and to train and support the PER community to identify and resolve ethical issues. Despite their overall readiness to conduct PER, panelists did not feel adequately prepared to address many of these issues. It is not easy for ECRs to reconcile ethical desiderata and logistical imperatives. Additional research should focus on supporting the responsible conduct of PER, which, if not done, can undermine the credibility and feasibility of the entire PER enterprise. (shrink)

There has been increasing attention to financial conflicts of interest (COI) in public health research and policy making, with concerns that some decisions are not in the public interest. One notable problematic area is expert advisory committee (EAC). While COI management has focused on disclosure, it could go further and assess experts’ degree of (in)dependence with commercial interests. We analyzed COI disclosures of members of Québec’s immunization EAC (in Canada) using (In)DepScale, a tool we developed for assessing experts’ level of (...) (in)dependence. We found great variability of independence with industry and that companies with the highest vaccine sales were predominantly associated with disclosed COIs. We argue that EACs can use the (In)DepScale to better assess and disclose the COIs that affect their experts. Going forward our scale could help manage risk and select members who are less conflicted to foster a culture of transparency and trust in advisors and policy-makers. (shrink)

Cohen’s (2023) mapping exercise of possible bioethical issues emerging from the use of ChatGPT in medicine provides an informative, useful, and thought-provoking trigger for discussions of AI ethic...

Research Ethics, Volume 18, Issue 2, Page 126-131, April 2022. Engaging citizens and patients in research has become a truism in many fields of health research. It is now seen as a laudable—if not compulsory—activity in research for yielding more impactful and meaningful citizen/patient outcomes and steering research in the right direction. Although this research approach is increasingly common and commendable, we recently encountered a major obstacle in obtaining an ethics certificate from an institutional review board to conduct a study (...) that places citizen/patient perspectives on equal footing with those of academic/policy experts. The obstacle was the interpretation of fairness in terms of compensation for research participation. In terms of research ethics, this raised an important question: Should all types of participants be compensated equally, or should exceptions be made for citizen/patient participants? We argue that there are good reasons for exceptionalism and that clearer guidance on citizen/patient engagement in research should be embedded into research ethics doctrine. (shrink)

Bioethics, like the sixteenth-century commedia dell’arte, is a master of revelation. At the heart of this is a propensity to highlight that what we see is as much truthful and elegant as it is made up of pretence and staging. Must we persuade ourselves that what is false is not false, that what is true is changeable and fragile? Is it possible to serve two masters? Is it possible to get by without antics and disgrace? The Odelet is at once (...) a cryptic portent of the past, present and future of bioethics and a reflection on the capacity of the field (and its actors) to act as a motor for social change. (shrink)

Engaging patients in research conduct and agenda setting is increasingly considered as an ethical imperative, and a way to transcend views of patients as passive subjects by fostering their empowerment. However, patient engagement in research is still an emerging approach with debated definitional and operational frameworks. This song addresses the sometimes difficult encounter and elusive mutual understanding between researchers and patients. “What is PER?” is an impressionistic illustration of the challenges and issues that can be found in the universe of (...) patient engagement in research. (shrink)

L’érosion actuelle de la confiance du public envers les campagnes de vaccination et les décisions de politiques publiques qui y sont associées, aggravée par des scandales comme ceux relatifs à la pandémie H1N1 et l’utilisation du Tamiflu™, risque de diminuer de façon significative l’efficacité de ces interventions importantes pour la santé publique. Un manque de confiance de la population envers les acteurs de santé publique peut conduire à une méfiance accrue face aux interventions, pouvant ainsi compromettre l’atteinte des objectifs recherchés (...) par une intervention spécifique et, conséquemment, avoir un impact important sur les bénéfices attendus pour la population visée par cette intervention. Dans la production des avis d’experts, les membres des comités consultatifs d’experts en immunisation (CCEI) peuvent avoir une influence importante sur la prise de décision publique, notamment, sur la sélection par les décideurs de santé publique de vaccins en particulier et la façon dont les campagnes de vaccination seront déployées. En contrepartie de cette influence sur les décisions publiques, une indépendance et une transparence sont attendues de leur part puisque des mécanismes de divulgation et de gestion de conflits d’intérêts (CI) imparfaits peuvent affecter négativement la confiance du public à l’égard de telles décisions. Il apparaît donc important de s’assurer que des mécanismes de gestion des CI, transparents et robustes, existent pour ces comités. Dans cette étude, les avis ou rapports d’évaluation de la pertinence de la vaccination préparés par un CCEI au Québec ont été examinés pour quatre types de maladies évitables par la vaccination (infections invasives à méningocoques et à pneumocoques, coqueluche et virus du papillome humain). Le but était de : 1) identifier les CI divulgués par les membres du CCEI dans leurs rapports comparativement à ceux déclarés dans leurs publications scientifiques pour ces mêmes infections ; 2) analyser la nature des CI (réel, potentiel, apparent, personnel, financier, institutionnel, etc.) et l’impact potentiel (risque) sur la prise de décision impartiale et sur la confiance du public ; et 3) évaluer les mécanismes de gestion de CI actuellement utilisés par ce CCEI. Les résultats de cette étude montrent que très peu de rapports du CCEI contiennent une section sur les CI par rapport à la pléthore divulguée dans les publications scientifiques publiées par les membres du CCEI. De plus, les CI divulgués dans les rapports fréquemment ne correspondent pas à ceux décrits dans les publications scientifiques. Il serait donc important d’introduire des mesures visant à accroître la transparence des experts en immunisation et d’améliorer les mécanismes de divulgation et de gestion des CI afin de veiller à ce que la confiance du public envers les décideurs en santé publique soit maintenue et améliorée. (shrink)

Over the last decade there has been a noticeable increase in attention, on the part of public health scholars and professionals, to the important ethical challenges that arise in the context of public health policy, practice and research. This has arguably been a driver for the development of public health ethics as both a specialized field of study in bioethics and a subject for professional education. But how is PHE taught in public health programs and schools? Are current educational approaches (...) sufficient to provide future professionals with the necessary tools to address the diverse ethical challenges they will encounter? In this article, we examine the international public health and bioethics literatures regarding PHE education in public health programs and schools. Specifically, we 1) summarize the results from studies that describe PHE education in the United States, Europe, Canada and in some developing countries, 2) explore current attitudes and educational approaches toward ethics curricula in public health, and 3) identify and discuss reported barriers to PHE education. We conclude with some general recommendations and a research agenda to guide future work on implementing PHE into different public health programs. (shrink)

Bioethics experts played a key role in ensuring a coherent ethical response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the fields of healthcare, public health, and scientific research in Canada. In the province of Quebec, a group of academic and practicing bioethicists met periodically in the early months of the pandemic to discuss approaches and solutions to ethical dilemmas encountered during the crisis. These meetings created the opportunity for a national survey of bioethics practitioners from different fields. The survey, in which forty-five (...) Canadian bioethics practitioners (clinical ethicists, ethicist members of REBs and government health policy ethicists, or any bioethicist practicing outside of academia) participated, explored their concerns, challenges and opportunities during the first wave of the pandemic, with the objective of informing bioethics research about the difficulties experienced by bioethicists “in the field”. Participants reported increased stress levels, increased workloads, and a greater proportion of their work being devoted to public health ethics. Most of their concerns focused on groups other than themselves, such as health professionals, patients, research participants, and people in vulnerable socio-economic situations. An optimism about the future of bioethics was noted due to an increased awareness of the importance of bioethics by the public and by health and research institutions. (shrink)

How to engage the public in a reflection on the most pressing ethical issues of our time? What if part of the solution lies in adopting an interdisciplinary and collaborative strategy to shed light on critical issues in bioethics? An example is Art + Bioéthique, an innovative project that brought together bioethicists, art historians and artists with the aim of expressing bioethics through arts in order to convey the “sensitive” aspect of many health ethics issues. The aim of this project (...) was threefold: 1) to identify and characterize mechanisms for the meeting of arts and bioethics; 2) to experiment with and co-construct a dialogue between arts and bioethics; and 3) to initiate a public discussion on bioethical issues through the blending of arts and bioethics. In connection with an exhibition held in March 2016 at the Espace Projet, a non-profit art space in Montréal, the project developed a platform that combined artworks, essays and cultural & scientific mediation activities related to the work of six duos of young bioethics researchers and emerging artists. Each duo worked on a variety of issues, such as the social inclusion of disabled people, the challenges of practical applications of nanomedicine and regenerative medicine, and a holistic approach to contemporary diseases. This project, which succeeded in stimulating an interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration between bioethics and arts, is an example of an innovative approach to knowledge transfer that can move bioethics reflection into the public space. (shrink)

In Québec, the Act Respecting Access to Documents Held by Public Bodies and the Protection of Personal Information provides an exception to transparency to most public institutions where public health research is conducted by allowing them to not disclose their uses of personal data. This exceptionalism is ethically problematic due to important concerns and we argue that all those who conduct research should be transparent and accountable for the work they do in the public interest.

Au Québec, la Loi sur l’accès aux documents des organismes publics et sur la protection des renseignements personnels offre une exception en matière de transparence à la plupart des institutions publiques où la recherche en santé publique est menée en leur permettant de ne pas divulguer leurs utilisations de données à caractère personnel (souvent collectées sans le consentement des personnes étudiées). Cette exception est éthiquement problématique en raison de préoccupations importantes (ex. : la protection de la vie privée et les (...) inconvénients potentiels des utilisations secondaires de données) et nous soutenons que tous ceux qui mènent des recherches doivent être transparents et responsables du travail qu’ils accomplissent dans l’intérêt public. (shrink)

This paper opens a critical conversation about the ethics of international bioethics conferencing and proposes principles that commit to being anti-discriminatory, global, and inclusive. We launch this conversation in the Section, Case Study, with a case example involving the International Association of Bioethics’ (IAB’s) selection of Qatar to host the 2024 World Congress of Bioethics. IAB’s choice of Qatar sparked controversy. We believe it also may reveal deeper issues of Islamophobia in bioethics. The Section, Principles for International Bioethics Conferencing, sets (...) forth and defends proposed principles for international bioethics conferencing. The Section, Applying Principles to Site Selection applies the proposed principles to the case example. The Section, Applying Principles Beyond Site Selection addresses other applications of the proposed principles. The Section, Objections responds to objections. We close (in the Section, Conclusion) by calling for a wider discussion of our proposed principles.One-Sentence Capsule Summary: How should bioethicists navigate the ethics of global bioethics conferencing? (shrink)

The Buddhist Jātaka tells the tale of a hare lounging under a palm tree who becomes convinced the Earth is coming to an end when a ripe bael fruit falls on its head. Soon all the hares are running; other animals join them, forming a stampede of deer, boar, elk, buffalo, wild oxen, rhinoceros, tigers and elephants, loudly proclaiming the earth is ending.1 In the American retelling, the hare is ‘chicken little,’ and the exaggerated fear is that the sky is (...) falling. The story offers a cautionary tale for considering the trend towards calamity thinking in artificial intelligence (AI). A growing chorus of tech leaders has warned that AI poses existential risk (X-Risk) that could result in the extinction of the human species, the collapse of civilisation, or a colossal decline in human potential and culture. In 2014, Hawking told the Washington Post that AI, ‘could spell the end of the human race’.2 Musk has repeatedly warned about AI’s perils, calling AI, ‘more dangerous than nukes’, recommending colonising Mars to ensure ‘a bolt-hole if AI goes rogue and turns on humanity’,3 and donating 10 million dollars to the Future of Life Institute to jumpstart research on AI’s X-Risk. Gates has stated, ‘I am in the camp…concerned about super intelligence…I agree with … Musk and some others on this and don’t understand why some people are not concerned’.4 Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has fretted that technologies OpenAI was building could endanger humanity—‘even destroying the world as we know it’.5 This paper offers a critical appraisal of the rise of calamity thinking in the scholarly AI ethics literature. It cautions against viewing X-Risk in isolation and highlights ethical considerations sidelined when X-Risk takes centre stage. Section I introduces a working definition of X-Risk, considers its likelihood and …. (shrink)

We appreciate the helpful commentaries on our paper, ‘AI and the falling sky: interrogating X-Risk’.1 We agree with many points commentators raise, which opened our eyes to concerns we had not previously considered. This reply focuses on the tension many commentators noted between AI’s existential risks (X-Risks) and justice here and now. In ‘Existential risk and the justice turn in bioethics’, Corsico frames the tension between AI X-Risk and justice here and now as part of a larger shift within bioethics.2 (...) They think the field is increasingly turning away from ‘big picture’ questions new technologies raise and focusing on narrower justice concerns of less significance. They compare our paper’s emphasis on justly transitioning to more AI-centred societies with the approach of environmentalists fretting about human protection against climate change while losing sight of the need to protect the planet and all living things. Corsico doubts there is much point to pressing for ‘justice on a dead planet’, so too Corsico questions our concern with just transitions. Presumably, that matters little if intelligent life on Earth is destroyed. Corsico’s recommends bioethicists return to big questions, like: ‘Should we develop AI at all, given AI X-Risk?’. Yet this question is increasingly moot. The genie is already out of the bottle. The Future of Life Institute’s 2023 call for a temporary pause on training AI systems more powerful than ChatGPT fell on deaf ears, in part because freely accessible source codes enable anyone to train systems and create AI applications.3 The focus now must be managing the genie. While we take AI X-Risk seriously, …. (shrink)

Drug exceptional access programs (DEAPs) exist across Canada to address gaps in access to pharmaceuticals. These programs circumvent standard procedures, raising epistemic, economic, social and political issues. This commentary provides insights into these issues by revealing the context and procedures on which these programs depend.

In their target article, Salloch and Eriksen (2024) argue that a “meaningful process of interrogating” between physicians and patients is the most appropriate way to evaluate medical AI, supporting...

Volume 24, Issue 10, October 2024, Page 85-88.

BioéthiqueOnline was launched in March 2012 as a non-peer reviewed journal with the aim of providing a platform to facilitate and encourage the development of a bilingual bioethics community in Canada and internationally. In light of discussions amongst the Editorial Committee over the past few months regarding the growth of the journal, we have decided to move to a peer-reviewed process for articles submitted to the journal.

This scoping review addresses the issues of responsible conduct of research (RCR) that can arise in the practice of research-creation (RC), an emergent, interdisciplinary, and heterogeneous field at the interface of academic research and creative activities. Little is yet known about the nature and scope of RCR issues in RC, so our study examined three questions: (1) What are the specific issues in RC in relation to RCR? (2) How does the specificity of RC influence the understanding and practice of (...) RCR? (3) What recommendations could help address the issues highlighted in the literature To answer these questions, we conducted a scoping review of the academic literature (n = 181 texts) dealing with RCR in RC. We found that researcher-creators faced some very different RCR challenges in comparison with their colleagues in the rest of academia. Addressing these issues is important for both the RCR and RC communities in order to ensure that the rapid development of this field occurs in line with the norms of RCR which, nonetheless, should be adapted to respect the particularities of RC and allow its contributions to the academic world. (shrink)

Les prestataires de soins de santé (HCP) ont joué un rôle central dans l'endiguement de la pandémie de COVID-19. Bien que potentiellement très bénéfique, la mise en oeuvre de tests sérologiques rapides à grande échelle soulève des dilemmes éthiques et affecte la capacité des HCP à travailler dans des conditions optimales. À cet égard, nous appelons l'attention sur les questions éthiques spécifiques et urgentes qui affectent de manière distincte les HCP suite à la disponibilité et à l'éventuelle utilisation obligatoire de (...) tests sérologiques rapides pour COVID-19. (shrink)

Jean-Christophe Anderson Cet article interroge la présence, dans la Critique de la raison pure, d’une « clause anthropologique » redoublant le procès de la raison. À partir de la critique formulée par Husserl, selon laquelle Kant se montrerait coupable, en dépit de ses percées transcendantales, d’une forme de relativisme anthropologique, il s’agit plus précisément de clarifier la fonction limitative de l’incise « pour nous hommes » qui ponctue le texte de la première Critique. En dépit des apparences qui (...) ont pu mener Husserl à soutenir que Kant cherche à expliquer par cette clause la validité universelle des jugements synthétiques a priori, mais se trouve par le fait même à limiter cette validité, il est possible de soutenir que l’humanité de notre pouvoir de connaître n’est jamais présupposée par Kant et constitue en réalité une découverte de la raison à son propre sujet. (shrink)

La fameuse « Préface-annexe » de La Religieuse reprend le texte de la « confession » que, dix ans plus tôt, Grimm avait publié dans son périodique pour confesser son rôle dans la mystification qui avait été jouée au marquis de Croismare. La « reprise » de Diderot accompagne la résurrection du roman que Grimm avait enterré, sans se soucier des affirmations contradictoires qui en résultent. La polygraphie de Diderot est polyphonie ; elle participe de la représentation des pouvoirs de (...) l’écriture, que conquiert Suzanne, l’héroïne du roman. (shrink)

It is time to challenge the issue of pleasure associated with the core of medical practice. Its importance is made clear through its opposite: unhappiness—something which affects doctors in a rather worrying way. The paper aims to provide a discussion on pleasure on reliable grounds. Plato’s conception of techne is a convenient model that offers insights into the unique practice of medicine, which embraces in a single purposive action several heterogeneous dimensions. In Aristotle’s Ethics, pleasure appears to play a central (...) role for action’s assessment and intensification. Pleasure is also tightly associated with the Kantian faculty of reflective judgment, which operates at the heart of clinical reasoning. Indeed, practicing medicine means to deal with the particular and the manifold, requiring clinical judgment, but also relying on embodied habitus . With Bourdieu’s notion of habitus , pleasure is the mark of a happy practice, which presupposes a deep involvement in one’s field. Throughout our inquiry, the question of pleasure comes to offer a critical reappraisal of real medical practice and leads to consider ethics more as a component of techne than as a separate realm of concern. (shrink)

Little consensus exists about the effectiveness of transnational private governance in domains such as labor, the environment, or human rights. The paper builds on recent scholarship on labor standards to emphasize the role of labor agency in transnational private governance. It argues that the relationship between transnational private regulatory initiatives and labor agency depends on three competences: first, the ability of workers’ organizations to gain access to processes of employment regulation, implementation, and monitoring; second, their ability to insist on the (...) inclusion of employers and state agencies within such processes; and third, the ability of workers to effectively exercise leverage in pursuit of particular goals. The paper develops a framework, called hybrid production regime, for examining how workers’ capacity to act at the local level depends on how these three collective competences are addressed in the institutionalization of capital–labor relations between the transnational and national levels. (shrink)

Sense of Agency (SoA) is the subject of growing attention. It corresponds to the capacity to claim authorship over an action, associate specific consequences with a specific action, and it has been claimed to be a key point in the development of consciousness. It can be measured using the Sense of Agency Scale (SoAS), originally proposed by Tapal et al. (2017), who distinguished it into two-factor: Sense of Positive Agency (SoPA) and Sense of Negative Agency (SoNA). This study reports on (...) the first adaptation of the SoAS into another language, French. For this French version of the Sense of Agency Scale (F-SoAS), we analyzed responses from a sample of 517 native French-speakers. Our results indicate that the scale has good psychometric properties. Factor analysis confirm the same two-factor model as Tapal et al. (2017). However, some items were removed due to insufficient loadings with factors, leading to a short version of the scale (7-item). Furthermore, we observed gender differences that are consistent with findings in the literature. Specifically, women report higher SoNA scores and lower SoPA scores than men. We conclude by discussing possible uses and future directions for the scale. (shrink)

Tous les textes publiés dans l'ouvrage parlent directement de l'œuvre de Jean-Michel Berthelot. La première partie, " Sociologie de Jean-Michel Berthelot ", rassemble les contributions restituant des traits de son œuvre à l'aide d'études de cas précis ou de panoramas plus larges, et balise des domaines de recherche dans lesquels il s'est illustré : sociologie de l'éducation, du corps, des sciences, épistémologie des sciences sociales. La deuxième partie rend compte des perspectives ouvertes par ses travaux et de la (...) manière dont des chercheurs ont mis en œuvre ses réflexions pour leurs propres recherches. Il s'agit donc de restituer la façon dont on peut faire de la sociologie " avec " Jean-Michel Berthelot - à l'aide de ses travaux et des jalons qu'ils posent. La troisième partie est biographique en restituant l'itinéraire académique, intellectuel et humain de Berthelot, que ce soit son parcours universitaire et social, notamment à l'ENS durant mai 68, ou encore sa période " toulousaine " où sa carrière universitaire a débuté et qui en constitue une partie essentielle. Dirigé par Jean-Christophe Marcel et Olivier Martin, cet ouvrage rassemble les contributions de collaborateurs, d'anciens étudiants ou de proches collègues de Jean-Michel Berthelot. (shrink)

Ce texte a déjà paru sur Deleuze International en février 2009. Nous remercions Jean-Christophe Goddard de nous avoir autorisé à le reproduire ici. En introduction à L'art, l'éclair de l'être, paru en 1993, Maldiney consacre un texte à un article d'Oskar Becker initialement publié en 1929 et traduit et annoté en 1986 par Jacques Colette dans le n° 9 de la revue Philosophie. Le titre de l'article de Becker est « La fragilité du beau et la nature aventurière (...) de l'artiste. Une recherche ontologique dans le (...) - Philosophie – Nouvel article. (shrink)

English summary: Within the span of a single century (from the mid-15th to the mid-16th centuries), the Greek language, which was well on its way to oblivion, became the focus of one of the most heated debates of the Renaissance period. Greek was accused by what was then a Catholic and Latin Europe of being a vehicle for ancient paganism, Byzantine schism, and even Lutheran heresy. The Council of Trent, which deemed that Roman authority was being undermined by the Vulgate's (...) philological criticism, went so far as to confirm the obvious collusion that existed between Greek and heresy. In fact, behind such accusations can be discerned the power struggles that were taking place between ecclesiastical, academic and political factions. Analysis of such confrontations and of the difficulties that Humanists had in circumventing them, infers that, despite its ultimate success, Greek literature remained suspect in Europe throughout the Counter-Reformation. In this very meticulous study, based on previously unpublished texts, of what was at stake in this anti-Greek movement (a resistance actually based on free, progressive and critical thought), the author combines the thoroughness of an historian with a mine of true anecdotes about the moral standards of that era : the censure practices, legal disputes, self-serving denouncements, etc. That, indeed, were the most evident driving forces behind the intellectual and power struggles. French description: Le grec, disparu d'Europe depuis les Grandes Invasions, fit un retour spectaculaire au XVe siecle. Mais l'enthousiasme des humanistes pour la langue d'Homere a fait oublier la violence des resistances que lui opposerent les maitres scolastiques. Lorsque Erasme osa contester la Vulgate latine au nom de la verite grecque (1516), le scandale eclata publiquement et Luther en prit argument pour contester l'autorite de Rome, si bien que les hellenistes furent accuses de faire le jeu de la Reforme. Le statut du grec se vit etroitement lie a celui de l'hebreu, l'autre langue sacree rivale du latin (l'Affaire Reuchlin). Pour extirper le mal a sa racine, le concile de Trente decida finalement d'imposer la legitimite du latin biblique (1545) et d'interdire l'acces aux sources grecques et hebraiques, puis de mettre a l'index les principaux hellenistes et leurs imprimeurs. Les etudes grecques allaient en rester durablement affaiblies dans l'Europe de la Contre-Reforme. En faisant revivre les oeuvres et les hommes qui en furent les acteurs, et en devoilant ses veritables enjeux, ce livre retrace les deux siecles de cette bataille du grec, restee un point aveugle dans l'histoire de la culture occidentale. Jean-Christophe Saladin est docteur en Histoire. (shrink)

À l’heure où l’essence de la médecine cherche à être ressaisie pour repenser une pratique en crise d’identité, la notion de personne peut apparaître comme un point d’ancrage possible. L’auteur examine l’usage qui en est fait dans la littérature professionnelle et dans les avis du Comité consultatif national d’éthique (CCNE) entre 2005 et 2010. La notion de personne apparaît complexe et sert des idéologies qui s’affrontent. Les traditions juridique, théologique et philosophique qui la sous-tendent ont cédé en partie à une (...) nouvelle conception affirmée par la Déclaration universelle des droits de l’Homme de 1948. Celle-ci n’évite pas deux écueils : l’exaltation de l’individu autonome et responsable de la modernité laisse un nombre croissant d’êtres parlants sur le bord du chemin ; l’attention portée au vivant minore le souci des conditions politiques et sociales de l’existence. Faisant retour sur l’éthique de la pratique, l’auteur suggère qu’elle n’a pas besoin, pour consister, de recourir à la notion polémique, complexe et problématique de la personne. (shrink)

« La médecine reste en quête d’une épistémologie propre, car l’opposition entre science des maladies et art de soigner ne parvient pas à rendre compte de l’unité d’une pratique. Cette épistémologie peut être dégagée en ressaisissant ce qui se produit dans la clinique, véritable laboratoire de la médecine : lieu de son effectuation et lieu de son élaboration, où l’expérience vécue et l’expérience acquise fournissent les coordonnées d’une expérimentation. La clinique a un point de départ : la demande d’un malade (...) en proie à une intrication symptomatique maladive qui convoque le corps mais aussi le langage, et dont le médecin fait cas. La complexion symptomatique fait l’objet d’une analyse critique (diagnostic) qui débouche sur la détermination d’une thérapie. La clinique est alors une technique productive de remédiations diverses qui mobilise un ensemble hétéroclite de savoirs et de facultés pour trouver des solutions aux problèmes concrets des individus qui s’adressent à elle. Quand bien même la clinique importe pour son usage des biotechnologies et des algorithmes, elle reste incertaine et conjecturale car individuée. Si bien qu’en son cœur, la pratique médicale garde des allures infra-techniques, mobilisant des esthésies, une praxis, une sagacité pratique. Cette hétérogénéité épistémologique est la seule qui soit adéquate à son objet. ». (shrink)

Nul ne disconvient de l’existence d’un malaise dans la médecine contemporaine, mais les points de vue divergent concernant ses causes. Notre analyse prend comme point de départ le discord entre l’expérience vécue du malade et le statut de patient inauguré par la rencontre médicale, pour suggérer l’existence d’un motif de basse continue à une dysharmonie qui n’est pas la seule conséquence du contexte actuel, mais qui tient à un hiatus irréductible. Les mouvements tendanciels destinés à « corriger le tir » (...) risquent de manquer leur but, faute d’avoir pris en considération le caractère inévitablement bancal de la pratique médicale. Faisant retour sur ce qui « a lieu » dans la consultation, la question initiale en vient à être déplacée : conviendrait-il, tout bien considéré, de ne pas trop (chercher à) comprendre le malade? (shrink)

Poly(ADP‐ribosyl)ation is an immediate DNA‐damage‐dependent post‐translational modification of histones and other nuclear proteins that contributes to the survival of injured proliferating cells. Poly(ADP‐ribose) polymerases (PARPs) now constitute a large family of 18 proteins, encoded by different genes and displaying a conserved catalytic domain in which PARP‐1 (113 kDa), the founding member, and PARP‐2 (62 kDa) are so far the sole enzymes whose catalytic activity has been shown to be immediately stimulated by DNA strand breaks. A large repertoire of sequences encoding (...) novel PARPs now extends considerably the field of poly(ADP‐ribosyl)ation reactions to various aspects of the cell biology including cell proliferation and cell death. Some of these new members interact with each other, share common partners and common subcellular localizations suggesting possible fine tuning in the regulation of this post‐translational modification of proteins. This review summarizes our present knowledge of this emerging superfamily, which might ultimately improve pharmacological strategies to enhance both antitumor efficacy and the treatment of a number of inflammatory and neurodegenerative disorders. A provisional nomenclature is proposed. BioEssays 26:882–893, 2004. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

Le livre d’Anatole Lucet, issu de sa thèse de doctorat, soutenue en 2018 à l’ENS de Lyon, constitue la première monographie consacrée à la pensée du socialiste anarchiste allemand Gustav Landauer (1870-1919). Le fait qu’il s’agisse là d’un travail sans équivalent, y compris dans le pays d’origine de cet auteur, suffirait à lui seul à justifier l’existence d’un tel ouvrage. En France, la réception de Landauer a été tardive, et on ne disposait de presque rien qui fût traduit de lui (...) avant les an... (shrink)

Cette contribution cherche à déterminer les rapports entre anarchie et démocratie chez Proudhon en partant de la place qu’il accorde au conflit. La première partie revient sur la prise en compte de ce que Proudhon nomme antagonisme ou antinomie et sur les différents types de conflits qu’il range sous cette rubrique, qui est au centre de son projet d’ontologie sociale. La deuxième partie s’intéresse à un cas d’antinomie, à la fois limite et fondamental : celui de la différence sexuelle, qui (...) est désignée comme une antinomie tout en se voyant dénier le statut de rapport conflictuel. La dernière partie montre comment la prise en compte du conflit chez Proudhon conduit à une critique de la démocratie et à un projet positif désigné par le terme de fédéralisme. (shrink)

This paper seeks to determine the relationship between anarchy and democracy in Proudhon’s thought, considering the place of the conflict in this autor. The first part exposes what Proudhon names antagonism and antinomy in his social ontology and the different sorts of conflicts this ontology takes into account. The second part focuses on a case of antinomy, that is at the same time a basic and a borderline case : sexual difference, that Proudhon considers as an antinomy, but not as (...) a conflict. The last part shows how this theory of conflictuality leads to a criticism of democracy and to a positive federalist project. (shrink)