Every individual event, qua individual, is unique. THought renders events non-unique through classification and generalization. Historical explanation demands understanding causal connections, in turn requiring the use of generalizations. History is a consumer of established laws which introduce a locus of non-uniqueness into history. Also, history is a producer of limited generalizations, covering temporally confined structual patterns which constitute the locus of uniqueness in history. It is the temporal limitation of these patterns, and not the chronological description of facts, which gives (...) history its character of uniqueness. (shrink)

Background In June 2016, the Parliament of Canada passed federal legislation allowing eligible adults to request Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID). Since its implementation, there likely exists a degree of hesitancy among some healthcare providers due to the law being inconsistent with personal beliefs and values. It is imperative to explore how nurses in Quebec experience the shift from accompanying palliative clients through “a natural death” to participating in “a premeditated death.” Research question/aim/objectives This study aims to explore how Quebec (...) nurses personally and professionally face the new practice of MAID and their role evolution. Research design A grounded theory design was used. Participants and research context We recruited 37 nurses who participated in or coordinated at least one MAID. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted and audiotaped. Data collection and analysis followed Strauss and Corbin steps. Ethical considerations Ethics approval was received from the investigator’s affiliated University. Participants were informed regarding the research goal, signed a written consent, and were assigned pseudonyms. Findings/results Results show that nurses experienced the wide range of paradoxe during MAID centering around the following eight elements: 1) confrontation abouth death, 2) choice, 3) time of death, 4) emotional load, 5) new Bill, 6) relationship with the person, 7) communication skills, and 8) healthcare setting. The shifting of views and values in this new role is presented by the contradiction of opposites. Conclusions A better understanding of the paradox experienced by nurses involved with MAID paves the way for the development of interventions. (shrink)

There is a shortage of clergy, at least in the Roman Catholic Church. Protestant churches in general are experiencing more of a distribution or placement challenge than a shortage. The two greatest hindrances to addressing the Protestant clergy distribution challenge are a lack of adequate compensation for clergy and the undesirable geographical location of a number of churches, as perceived by clergy. Influences such as secularisation, duality of vocation, time management, change in type of ministry, family issues, congregational and denominational (...) conflict, burnout, sexual misconduct, divorce or marital problems, and suicide, affect clergy. Studies on the shortage of clergy have been conducted mostly in the USA and Europe and not in South Africa. This article focuses on the research gap by means of a practical theological grounded theory exploration of the exodus of clergy. Grounded theory methodology is used to identify the reasons why clergy trained at a Bible college of a Protestant charismatic mega church leave full-time pastoral ministry. Findings correspond to previous studies with two reasons appearing more frequently than others: responding to a call and leadership related issues. Firstly, respondents differed in their replies with respect to reconciling their exit from full-time pastoral ministry with their call. The replies included not being called, a dual call, or called but left anyway. Secondly, respondents indicated that leadership influence was mostly negative with regard to affirming their call. (shrink)

This paper investigates sun‑dried mudbrick architecture in the Minoan Palace at Malia on the north coast of Crete (Greece), excavated and studied by the French School at Athens since the beginning of the 20th century. Macroscopic study of the standing architectural remains is combined with geochemical (pXRF and XRD) and petrographic analyses of a selection of mudbrick samples in order to explore patterns and variations in bricklaying, mudbrick recipes, manufacturing practices and mudbrick performance throughout the Pre‑, Proto‑ and Neopalatial periods (...) (2450-1430 BCE). The microscopic composition of the mudbricks highlights the consistent procurement of local raw materials, despite marked differences in macroscopic composition related to varying manufacturing processes that impacted mudbrick performance. This diversity is important enough to indicate the completion of the Neopalatial building project by separate teams of builders, whose skills seem to have varied markedly. The participation in the Neopalatial building project of specialised mudbrick ‘master’ builders is attested but the workforce was also drawn from the site’s inhabitants who had the requisite knowledge to produce standing, though significantly less‑well performing, mudbrick walls. (shrink)

The nature of poetic truth, and of the belief claimed by poetry, has become for many thinkers a question of keener interest through the discussions of Dr. I. A. Richards. In a recent article in this Journal,1 Dr. Helen Wodehouse has expressed her own view, elicited in relation to that of Dr. Richards, concerning truth in poetry. She urges that “a great poem seems sometimes centrally to be showing us the full measure and nature of some aspect of the actual (...) world.” Our response involves essentially an element of belief in something revealed as rooted in reality, laying necessity upon the poet; even though that belief may not attach to all that the poet accepted as fact, and though we may be unable to formulate in reflective terms the nature of the truth discerned. (shrink)

Leaders play an important role in clergy's response to their call. Toxic leadership, also known as the dark side of leadership, negatively influences their decision to remain in full-time pastoral ministry. There is a shortage of clergy in the Roman Catholic Church and a distribution or displacement challenge facing the Protestant church. This shortage adversely affects the future of the church as clergy play an integral part in the preparation of congregants for their works of service. The purpose of this (...) study was to discover what factors were involved in clergy's response to the call to full-time pastoral ministry. A practical theological grounded theory approach was used to discover the properties of the category 'leadership'. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and data were coded using Glaser and Strauss's grounded theory methodology. The category of 'leadership' includes properties such as favouritism, leaders abdicating responsibilities, leaders taking no action/being inactive, leaders 'labeling' subordinates, leaders' 'unethical' behaviour, nepotism, poor conflict handling, poor handling of multi-racial issues, being placed on a pedestal, affirming subordinates and autocratic leadership style. Osmer's descriptive-empirical task was used as a practical theological lens through which to view the category 'leadership'. The results indicated three responses by clergy to the call to full-time pastoral ministry: not being called in the first place, a dual call and being called but leaving anyway because of, among other factors, toxic leadership. A steward leadership approach is recommended in response to the dark side of leadership. (shrink)

The church-funded CARFO or KARFO (Afrikaans Christian Filmmaking Organisation) was established in 1947, and aimed to ‘[socialise] the newly urbanized Afrikaner into a Christian urban society’ (Tomaselli 1985:25; Paleker 2009:45). This initiative was supported and sustained by the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC), which had itself been part of the sociopolitical and ideological fabric of Afrikaans religious life for a while and would guide Afrikaners through tensions between religious conservatism and liberalism and into apartheid. Given Afrikaans cinema’s ties with Christian religious (...) and political conservatism, we explore the role – even the centrality – of the Afrikaans church in cultural activity before 1994, and then after 1994. Here, Afrikaans church is an inclusive term that brings together various denominations of Afrikaans-speaking churches, but which mainly suggests the domination of the DRC. After establishing the role of the Afrikaans church in the way described above, we move towards the primary focus of our study: exploring the representation of clergy in the contemporary Afrikaans film Faan se Trein in order to describe certain theological implications of this representation. With reference to Faan se Trein, our article notes and comments on the shifts that have occurred in clergy representation in Afrikaans cinema over the past decades. Osmer’s four tasks of practical theology, namely, descriptive, interpretive, normative and strategic are used for theological reflection. With due contextual reference to Afrikaans film dramas such as Broer Matie [Brother Matie], Saak van Geloof [A Matter of Faith], Roepman [Stargazer], Stilte [Silence], Suiderkruis [Southern Cross] and Faan se Trein, we arrive at some preliminary conclusions about the representation of clergy in mainly contemporary Afrikaans cinema. (shrink)

Clinical trials emerged in rapid succession as the COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented need for life-saving therapies. Fair and equitable subject selection in clinical trials offering investigational therapies ought to be an urgent moral concern. Subject selection determines the distribution of risks and benefits, and impacts the applicability of the study results for the larger population. While Research Ethics Committees monitor fair subject selection within each trial, no standard oversight exists for subject selection across multiple trials for the same disease. (...) Drawing on the experience of multiple clinical trials at a single academic medical centre in the USA, we posit that concurrent COVID-19 trials are liable to unfair and inequitable subject selection on account of scientific uncertainty, lack of transparency, scarcity and, lastly, structural barriers to equity compounded by implicit bias. To address the critical gap in the current literature and international regulation, we propose new ethical guidelines for research design and conduct that bolsters fair and equitable subject selection. Although the proposed guidelines are tailored to the research design and protocol of concurrent trials in the COVID-19 pandemic, they may have broader relevance to single COVID-19 trials. (shrink)

Despite the rapid adoption of technology in human resource departments, there is little empirical work that examines the potential challenges of algorithmic decision-making in the recruitment process. In this paper, we take the perspective of job applicants and examine how they perceive the use of algorithms in selection and recruitment. Across four studies on Amazon Mechanical Turk, we show that people in the role of a job applicant perceive algorithm-driven recruitment processes as less fair compared to human only or algorithm-assisted (...) human processes. This effect persists regardless of whether the outcome is favorable to the applicant or not. A potential mechanism underlying algorithm resistance is the belief that algorithms will not be able to recognize their uniqueness as a candidate. Although the use of algorithms has several benefits for organizations such as improved efficiency and bias reduction, our results highlight a potential cost of using them to screen potential employees during recruitment. (shrink)

¿Es posible un decálogo del agua en la era de la globalización y la liberalización de todos los mercados y recursos naturales? Maude Barlow así lo cree y nos propone 10 principios básicos para mantener un equilibrio del agua entre las necesidades humanas y el mundo natural. El agua no puede concebirse simplemente como un recurso explotable, sino como un patrimonio del planeta y para las próximas generaciones. Los 10 principios de Barlow, más que un código, representan una invitación a (...) pensar la sustentabilidad a partir de lo local. (shrink)

« Il y a 9 mois, pour que les choses changent et après avoir travaillé sur mon sujet depuis plus de 15 ans, je fais le choix d'abandonner mon confort en devenant (bénévolement) la nouvelle déléguée nationale à l'Environnement chez Les Républicains. Je l'ai accepté dans le but unique de porter mes convictions. J'y ai proposé un programme précis, destiné à être appliqué. Puis je suis partie en campagne pour les régionales et j'ai été élue vice-présidente au développement durable, à (...) l'énergie et à la mer en PACA. J'ai la volonté de transformer ma région en un laboratoire d'idées. Je suis déterminée pour qu'elle devienne le porte-drapeau d'une écologie qui rime avec économie. Je veux agir dans ma région sans langue de bois, faire progresser l'écologie en étant réaliste et cohérente. Il est temps de dire la vérité. Je veux donner les vrais chiffres, arrêter le catastrophisme, « l'écologiquement correct », ne pas faire de calcul populiste. On est en 2016, il serait temps de secouer les choses et de changer de modèle. Je suis prête à en payer le prix, ma cause en vaut la peine : des tempêtes j'en ai vu d'autres. Je veux aussi parler de la place des femmes en politique, du sexisme. De l'intérieur, je vais vous raconter ce basculement d'une vie de sportive ayant été nommée personnalité de l'année par le Times magazine, à un milieu d'hommes auxquels seule la loi impose la mixité. Je veux agir pour la qualité de notre environnement et sur nos choix énergétiques comme on monte une entreprise, avec sérieux mais sans oublier qui je suis. Osons! J'ai décidé de remettre en jeu tout ce que j'avais construit/acquis ces dernières années pour faire avancer mes convictions pour l'environnement. L'avenir me dira si le jeu en valait la chandelle. » Maud Fontenoy. (shrink)

En 1990, Georges Didi-Huberman, filósofo e historiador del arte contemporáneo, anuncia que va a elaborar una «estética del síntoma». La expresión está cargada de consecuencias epistemológicas. Nos proponemos exponer aquí las claves de tal filosofía del arte y aclarar los problemas que plantea. ¿Cuáles son, según Didi-Huberman, los síntomas de las imágenes? Antes de responder a esta pregunta es preciso hacer un rodeo por el pensamiento crítico de Freud mostrando lo que es para él un síntoma y evocando sobre todo (...) la figura de la histeria. El concepto de síntoma, tomado en su acepción freudiana y reactualizado en los confines de la obra de arte, permite a Didi-Huberman hacer ver de qué forma compleja significaciones heterogéneas pueden resumirse, articularse en una imagen. Designa esta articulación de sentidos mediante la noción de síntoma, cuyo «pan» es una circunstancia particular. Retomando los análisis de Didi-Huberman sobre la pintura de Fra Angelico, mostramos todo el poder de los síntomas de la pintura y la apertura epistemológica que imponen a los teóricos del arte. (shrink)

La méconnaissance du virus SARS-CoV-2 et une communication publique déficiente ont contribué à alimenter l’incertitude radicale depuis le début de la pandémie. Cette conjoncture est propice au déferlement de contre-discours dits complotistes dans les arènes numériques et autres « forums hybrides ». Les institutions publiques et médiatiques, en privilégiant une approche épistémologique basée sur le debunking, échouent à comprendre la préférence d’une frange de la population pour les vérités « alternatives » au détriment des preuves scientifiques. En analysant les formes (...) médiatiques et alèthurgiques d’un tel contre-discours, nous montrons comment il se nourrit de l’incertitude pour asseoir son pouvoir et son autorité, témoignant du retour d’une (mauvaise) parrêsia. (shrink)

À partir des deux théophanies de Nicolas de Cues et de Leibniz, qui donnent à l’homme une place privilégiée au sein du monde créé, du fait de son statut de miroir ou image vivante qui reflète ou exprime le monde dans sa totalité, et de conceptions qui pensent la présence de l’infini dans le fini, on s’interroge ici sur la conception de la connaissance comme perspective de la monade chez Leibniz et la connaissance « quo modo capere possunt » des (...) créatures connaissantes dans l’univers cusain afin de voir si se tissent des liens de filiation évidents. On se demandera enfin si le système de l’expression, chez Leibniz, qui fait que toute monade exprime l’univers tout entier – ce qui semble proche de l’idée cusaine de la mens comme miroir ou image vivante – ne dépasse pas le perspectivisme « restrictif » de la conception cusaine et n’inscrit pas la démarche leibnizienne dans un dessein beaucoup plus large, qui nécessite un tissu de relations entre les différentes monades que constitue la compossibilité. Tout mouvement de connaissance est connaissance de toutes choses, mais dans un système de relations qui précède l’existence de la monade et qui résulte du calcul du meilleur, soumis au principe de non-contradiction.Ainsi, si un héritage réel semble se dessiner entre Nicolas de Cues et Leibniz, qui place le sujet connaissant au centre de l’édifice créé par Dieu, ou Création, dans une démarche à la fois libre et dépendante du principe premier, il faut comprendre que les deux systèmes de pensée ne répondent pas tout à fait au même dessein. (shrink)

Take the Time What do you notice when you take the time to stop, listen, and experience? This pensive and peaceful book encourages children to slow down and become deliberate with their day-to-day actions and thoughts. With gentle rhythms and soothing imagery, kids may be guided toward a quiet self-awareness and mindfulness. And when a day feels stressful or topsy-turvy, kids can use such self-awareness to calm.

Maud Boyer Arnaud Destrebecqz Axel Cleeremans.

The contemporary books of Cassius Dio's Roman History are known for their anecdotal quality and lack of interpretive sophistication. This paper aims to recuperate another layer of meaning for Dio's anecdotes by examining episodes in his contemporary books that feature masquerades and impersonation. It suggests that these themes owe their prominence to political conditions in Dio's lifetime, particularly the revival, after a hundred-year lapse, of usurpation and damnatio memoriae, practices that rendered personal identity problematic. The central claim is that narratives (...) in Dio's last books use masquerades and impersonation to explore paradoxes of personal identity and signification, issues made salient by abrupt changes of social status at the highest levels of imperial society. (shrink)

Cet ouvrage collectif est issu d’un colloque international qui s’est tenu à l’École française de Rome en 2016, pour marquer le vingt-cinquième anniversaire de la publication des cinq volumes de L’Histoire des femmes en Occident (en italien : Storia delle donne in Occidente) dirigés par Michelle Perrot et Georges Duby, et de Storia delle donne in Italia, paru cinq ans plus tard. Les directrices de ce volume mettent la publication de ces deux sommes en perspective et proposent une première tent...

Cette anthologie critique vise à établir une archéologie de la théorie de limage contemporaine, en particulier dans son versant germanophone, celui de la 'science de l'image' ou Bildwissenschaft. Pour des raisons diverses (obstacle de la langue, hermétisme des débats, dispersion des positions), cette discipline reste encore peu connue dans la sphère francophone. Pourtant, le développement exponentiel de la théorie de l'image depuis les années 1990 appelle une nouvelle cartographie des études visuelles ainsi qu'une redéfinition philosophique de l'image et de l'expérience (...) qui en découle."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Confidentiality and Its LimitsMaude Laliberté, John D. Lantos, and Sonia GowdaMultiple sclerosis is believed to be an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system. However, according to Italian physician Paolo Zamboni, it is related to cerebrospinal vascular insufficiency. Zamboni claims that MS can be treated by remedying this condition with venous angioplasty. This surgery is offered as treatment for MS in various countries—Poland, Bulgaria, and Costa Rica, for example. (...) But the Medical Board of Quebec, Canada, does not allow its members to perform the surgery and strongly advises patients against seeking it elsewhere. This opposition is based on the lack of evidence to support the procedure and the serious risks associated with it (including venous thrombosis, stroke, and pulmonary embolism). As a result, many Canadian MS patients have traveled to other countries to receive the surgery. Quebec physicians have been reluctant to provide surgical follow-up for patients who undergo the surgery in other countries due to the lack of information regarding the procedure. No alternative treatments are effective to partially or completely cure MS, and so the treatments available in Canada aim only to manage its symptoms.Jade is a forty-year-old Canadian woman with MS. She is on long-term disability leave, complains of growing fatigue and muscle stiffness, and has painful sensations in her limbs. She has been followed by an interdisciplinary team in a specialized hospital in Quebec for the past twenty years, since she was diagnosed. At her last appointment, Jade told her physical therapist that she recently underwent the experimental Zamboni surgery in Poland, despite her physician’s strong recommendation not to. Jade fears her physician’s reaction, so she asks the physical therapist to keep this information from the rest of her medical team.Jade is shy and tends to distrust health care professionals. It took many years for her physical therapist to gain her trust and to develop a positive therapeutic relationship with her. However, the physical therapist knows that serious complications can occur in patients who have had Zamboni’s surgery. Not telling Jade’s physician about the surgery could result in harm; Jade could have complications that are not recognized. Providing the information to the rest of the team would allow them to adjust her treatment to respond to the surgery and give her information and postoperative education that she will need. Moreover, keeping this secret could threaten team cohesion and trust if they find out about it later.Jade decided to undergo a risky surgery against her doctor’s advice in the hope of improving her quality of life. This was her autonomous choice. How should the physical therapist respond?CommentaryMaude Laliberte (bio)Laws and professional codes of ethics direct clinicians to respect their patients’ autonomy through confidentiality and informed consent unless there are compelling reasons not to do so. Health professionals are deeply committed to helping patients; above all, they want to avoid harming them. Therefore, a key component of this case is the possibility that respecting Jade’s desire to conceal information from the team may put her at direct risk if any postoperative complications are not detected, and at indirect risk if Jade’s trust in her medical team is undermined to the point where she turns away from them.The physical therapist must determine if the possible physical risks to Jade are imminent and serious enough to go against her autonomous choice. One risk that can occur following Zamboni’s surgery is inflammation of a vein caused by a blood clot. This is a life-threatening situation (although it may not be a likely complication for Jade). But the physical therapist can teach Jade to recognize the physical signs that can alert her to this problem, giving her ample time to seek treatment. Thus, even though she may be in danger from a life-threatening risk, there may be ways to manage it besides violating her confidentiality.The respect for autonomous choice is a crucial aspect of our democratic values. It promotes a process of exchange in the therapeutic alliance: the professional guides and informs the patient, but the patient is a partner in care planning and treatment. An important... (shrink)

By the time Baudelaire starts his work-in-progress prose-poems project, the Petits Poëmes en prose, also known as Le spleen de Paris,1 the poor, a recurrent protagonist of these short narratives, have already achieved a successful literary career of three decades. This evolution has mainly taken place in the rising genre of the novel, which, from the 1830s onward, interacts with an emerging mass public, whether one thinks of Dickens' Oliver Twist; or, the Parish Boy's Progress, the Newgate novels, Eugène Sue's (...) likewise widely popular Les mystères de Paris, George Sand's La mare au Diable or Francois le Champi. At that time, Hugo's masterpiece, Les... (shrink)

L’opéra est un art né sous l’égide de deux idéaux concurrents : l’idéal de la musique grecque et l’idéal de la tragédie grecque. Cette ambiguïté originelle conduit à de fréquents conflits de normes sur le plan théorique, artistique et esthétique. Ce n’est pas la même chose de mettre en scène une œuvre musicale n’ayant qu’une relation analogique au livret représenté sur scène, et de mettre en scène une œuvre pleinement fictionnelle et théâtrale. Les critères d’évaluation d’une bonne interprétation vocale sont (...) eux-mêmes conflictuels : faut-il privilégier des critères strictement musicaux, ou des défauts musicaux sont-ils admis au nom de l’interprétation théâtrale? L’expérience esthétique de l’opéra est sans cesse sur le fil d’une hiérarchie indécise entre le registre visuel et le registre sonore. Sur un plan plus théorique se pose le problème du statut du chant opératique : fait-il partie du médium musical, ou a-t-il un statut fictionnel? (shrink)

En 2013, à l’occasion du tricentenaire de Diderot, l’équipe « Identité et Subjectivité » consacrait, le 23 janvier, une journée d’étude à l’esthétique de l’encyclopédiste et philosophe français, à laquelle participèrent tous les auteurs de ce recueil. On pourrait s’étonner qu’une équipe de recherche dont l’axe principal porte sur la métaphysique, ait choisi de s’intéresser aux réflexions esthétiques de Diderot plutôt qu’à ses textes plus proprem...