BackgroundRadiotherapy is an essential component of cancer treatment, yet many countries do not have adequate capacity to serve all patients who would benefit from it. Allocation systems are needed to guide patient prioritization for radiotherapy in resource-limited contexts. These systems should be informed by allocation principles deemed relevant to stakeholders. This study explores the ethical dilemmas and views of decision-makers engaged in real-world prioritization of scarce radiotherapy resources at a cancer center in Rwanda in order to identify relevant principles.MethodsSemi-structured interviews (...) were conducted with a purposive sample of 22 oncology clinicians, program leaders, and clinical advisors. Interviews explored the factors considered by decision-makers when prioritizing patients for radiotherapy. The framework method of thematic analysis was used to characterize these factors. Bioethical analysis was then applied to determine their underlying normative principles.ResultsParticipants considered both clinical and non-clinical factors relevant to patient prioritization for radiotherapy. They widely agreed that disease curability should be the primary overarching driver of prioritization, with the goal of saving the most lives. However, they described tension between curability and competing factors including age, palliative benefit, and waiting time. They were divided about the role that non-clinical factors such as social value should play, and agreed that poverty should not be a barrier.ConclusionsMultiple competing principles create tension with the agreed upon overarching goal of maximizing lives saved, including another utilitarian approach of maximizing life-years saved as well as non-utilitarian principles, such as egalitarianism, prioritarianism, and deontology. Clinical guidelines for patient prioritization for radiotherapy can combine multiple principles into a single allocation system to a significant extent. However, conflicting views about the role that social factors should play, and the dynamic nature of resource availability, highlight the need for ongoing work to evaluate and refine priority setting systems based on stakeholder views. (shrink)

In 2014, an international group of scholars from various fields analysed the “societal dimensions” of synthetic biology in an interdisciplinary summer school. Here, we report and discuss the biologists’ observations on the general perception of synthetic biology by non-biologists who took part in this event. Most attendees mainly associated synthetic biology with contributions from the best-known public figures of the field, rarely mentioning other scientists. Media extrapolations of those contributions appeared to have created unrealistic expectations and irrelevant fears that were (...) widely disconnected from the current research in synthetic biology. Another observation was that when debating developments in synthetic biology, semantics strongly mattered: depending on the terms used to present an application of synthetic biology, attendees reacted in radically different ways. For example, using the term “GMOs” rather than the term “genetic engineering” led to very different reactions. Stimulating debates also happened with participants having unanticipated points of view, for instance biocentrist ethicists who argued that engineered microbes should not be used for human purposes. Another communication challenge emerged from the connotations and inaccuracies surrounding the word “life”, which impaired constructive debates, thus leading to misconceptions about the abilities of scientists to engineer or even create living organisms. Finally, it appeared that synthetic biologists tend to overestimate the knowledge of non-biologists, further affecting communication. The motivation and ability of synthetic biologists to communicate their work outside their research field needs to be fostered, notably towards policymakers who need a more accurate and technical understanding of the field to make informed decisions. Interdisciplinary events gathering scholars working in and around synthetic biology are an effective tool in addressing those issues. (shrink)

Cette introduction invite à décadrer et à recadrer la thématique de l’effondrement, popularisée et médiatisée par la théorie dite « collapsologie », vers le plan des acteurs, des terrains, des temporalités, et des régimes d’énonciation. Nous appelons à documenter empiriquement ce que fait l’effondrement, et ce qu’en font celles et ceux à qui cette idée « fait » quelque chose. En effet, l’effondrisme pose la question des façons de se positionner non pas uniquement par rapport à une théorie, mais également (...) par rapport à des expériences individuelles et collectives. Le dossier vise à comprendre comment la réception de la « collapsologie » donne lieu à des jeux complexes entre désemparement et capacités d’agir. L’atterrissage sur un sol anthropocénique de plus en plus critique mérite une décisive discussion collective. L’hypothèse de cette majeure est que les expériences effondristes ont une valeur d’expérimentation à cet égard, notamment en créant un zone discursive et praxique où des cultures et des expériences politiques différentes sont amenées à se rencontrer et à collaborer. (shrink)

Bioethics, Volume 36, Issue 5, Page 500-510, June 2022.

Pseudo-Dionysius’ first principle is hyperousios. By definition, that concept is not theistic. In his oeuvre, however, Pseudo-Dionysius promotes Trinitarianism. A majority of Pseudo-Dionysius’ interpreters have maintained that these concepts are compatible. This article makes a case for the incoherence of that position.

Pseudo‐mechanistic explanations in psychology and cognitive neuroscienceThis paper focuses on the level of systems/cognitive neuroscience. It argues that the great majority of explanations in psychology and cognitive neuroscience is “pseudo‐mechanistic.” On the basis of various case studies, Hommel argues that cognitive neuroscience should move beyond what he calls an “Aristotelian phase” to become a mature “Galilean” science seeking to discover actual mechanisms of cognitive phenomena.

Este artículo se concentra en la discusión crítica que Pseudo Justino dirigió hacia ciertos principios básicos de la filosofía de la naturaleza de Aristóteles. Pseudo Justino dirige su crítica a la doctrina aristotélica de la eternidad del movimiento, del tiempo y del mundo. También argumenta contra Aristóteles para mostrar la no-eternidad del éter, implicando una unificación de los reinos terrestre y celestial.

A pseudotree is a partially ordered set for which is a linear ordering for each . Define , the pseudo treealgebra over T, as the subalgebra of the power set of T generated by where . It is shown that every pseudo treealgebra is embeddable into an interval algebra; thus it is a retractive Boolean algebra. Moreover, superatomicity of is described using conditions on.

According to some cosmologists, the big bang cosmogony and even the (now largely defunct) steady-state theory pose a scientifically insoluble problem of matter-energy creation. But I argue that the genuine problem of the origin of matter-energy or of the universe has been fallaciously transmuted into the pseudo-problem of creation by an external cause. A fortiori, it emerges that the initial "true" and "false" vacuum states of quantum cosmology do not vindicate biblical divine creation ex nihilo at all.

This article deals with Slavic pseudo-mythology, comprising myths and deities that do not exist in authentic mythology and folklore or whose existence is doubtful or refuted. It is typically an artificial construct and may be created by scholars who freely interpret scarce sources. This pseudo-mythology, as we will see, has created a false reality. The image we have of Slavic paganism is in fact very vague for lack of sources. On the contrary, today we are used to talking (...) about a well-constructed mythology which in fact rests on the construction based on assumptions and pseudo-theories of the 18th, mainly of the 19th and 20th centuries. This phenomenon is also related to Rodnovery or Rodnovery, which is a Slavic neo-pagan reconstructionist movement. (shrink)

Les nombreux débats conflictuels entourant l’application du principe de grève de masse au sein du Parti social-démocrate allemand témoignent de la lente agonie des idéaux marxistes au sein de ce parti de masse. La fragile victoire des idéaux prônés par la faction radicale du Parti contre ceux des réformistes, entre 1900 et 1906, connaît un retour de balancier sans appel après la première révolution russe. De 1906 à 1910, la logique légalo-parlementaire allait progressivement devenir la seule voie légitime aux yeux (...) des dirigeants du Parti. Ce changement de tactique et de stratégie visant à conquérir le pouvoir, sera grandement contesté par plusieurs militants influents du Parti. Le conflit intellectuel entre Rosa Luxemburg et Karl Kautsky, qui éclata publiquement en 1910 alors que les mouvements contestataires en Allemagne étaient très forts, nous permet de comprendre, par l’analyse du discours de ces penseurs marxistes, les raisons qui conduisirent le SPD à ne pas appliquer la grève de masse. Ceci, alors qu’une motion favorable à ce principe avait été votée en 1905 lors du Congrès d’Iéna. Du point de vue pseudo-sérendipien qui était le sien, Luxemburg croyait fermement que la temporalité était favorable à l’application de la grève de masse. L’interprétation temporelle et électoraliste de Kautsky l’amènera plutôt à critiquer les effets pseudo-sérendipiens, non contrôlés par le SPD, entourant ce type d’action politique. (shrink)

The pseudo-Platonic Definitions seems to ascribe to ὄνοµα, ‘name’, the function of signifying two kinds of predicate. This is problematic, and I propose an emendation of the text, arguing that a definition of ῥῆµα, ‘verb’, has fallen out.

This chapter presents a critical edition and translation of so-called Pseudo-Joscelin’s ‘Tractatus de generibus et speciebus’, an anonymous work from the early twelfth century, which offers a sustained treatment of mereological metaphysics unlike any other work we know, as well as providing information about philosophical views of universals held at the time. The presentation includes discussion of the authorship, unity, date, and philosophical significance of the treatise, with special attention given to its defense of atomism and ‘collective realism’.

Pseudo-appeals to conscience stress that the dictates of conscience are always either morally obligatory or at least not morally wrong. These appeals are untenable. They result in an indefensible moral relativism. They should be abandoned.

Pseudo-documentarism is a strategy in which an author claims—with varying degrees of irony—to have discovered an authentic document which he transmits to his readers. This article explores three texts of pseudo-documentary fiction from the Imperial period (Dictys’ Journal of the Trojan War, Antonius Diogenes’ The Wonders Beyond Thule, and Lucian’s True Histories ). By suggesting ways in which the implied readers of these texts may be relatable to “real,” exodiegetic readers, the article illustrates how pseudo-documentarism reflects aspects (...) of the contemporary literary and cultural Zeitgeist. (shrink)

We develop and test a model of pseudo-transformational leadership. Pseudo-transformational leadership is manifested by a particular combination of transformational leadership behaviors, and is differentiated from both transformational leadership and laissez-faire -leadership. Survey data from senior managers show differential outcomes of transformational, pseudo-transformational, and laissez-faire leadership. Possible extensions of the theoretical model and directions for future research are offered.

This article examines Pseudo-Aristotle’s Risālat al-Tuffāḥa or Kitāb al-Tuffāḥa (Lat. Liber de Pomo, Eng. The Book of the Apple) in terms of its history, possible authorship, and manuscripts, presents an overview of its contents and includes a critical edition of its complete Arabic version, which has never been critically edited before. The edition is based on the manuscript closest to the original Arabic version of the treatise, and a comparison with a second complete manuscript was made. The present article (...) argues that Risālat al-Tuffāḥa was first compiled in Arabic within al-Kindī’s circle, then appropriated by Bāṭinī-Ismāʿīlī and Hermetic traditions, and circulated in the literature of gnomologia and the books of ṭabaqāt. However, it was not an acceptable treatise according to Mashshāʾī philosophers due to their emphasis on scientificity and awareness of its pseudepigraphy. Moreover, the Hebrew-Latin tradition’s interest in the treatise is notable, as it was part of their broader effort to appropriate all of Aristotle’s works, thereby facilitating the acceptance of philosophy in Jewish and Christian societies. Consequently, Pseudo-Aristotle’s Risālat al-Tuffāḥa is a religious-philosophical work that facilitated the reconciliation of philosophy and religion and was circulated in the Islamic, Jewish, and Christian worlds for this very reason. (shrink)

One of the few studies to date which considers in a comprehensive way the relation between these remarkable thinkers. By concrete example and continual reference it illustrates both the pervasive influence of Pseudo-Dionysius and the profound originality of Aquinas.

A new structure, called pseudo equality algebras, will be introduced. It has a constant and three connectives: a meet operation and two equivalences. A closure operator will be introduced in the class of pseudo equality algebras; we call the closed algebras equivalential. We show that equivalential pseudo equality algebras are term equivalent with pseudo BCK-meet-semilattices. As a by-product we obtain a general result, which is analogous to a result of Kabziński and Wroński: we provide an equational (...) characterization for the equivalence operations of pseudo BCK-meet-semilattices. Our result treats a much more general algebraic structure, namely, pseudo BCK-meet-semilattice instead of Heyting algebras, on the other hand, we also need to use the meet operation. Finally, we prove that the variety of pseudo equality algebras is a subtractive, 1-regular, arithmetical variety. (shrink)

This paper explores the influence of the fifth-century Christian Neoplatonist Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (Denys) on the twentieth-century philosopher of science Paul Feyerabend. I argue that the later Feyerabend took from Denys a metaphysical claim—the ‘doctrine of ineffability’—intended to support epistemic pluralism. The paper has five parts. Part one introduces Denys and Feyerabend’s common epistemological concern to deny the possibility of human knowledge of ultimate reality. Part two examines Denys’ arguments for the ‘ineffability’ of God as presented in On the (...) Divine Names . Part three then explores how Feyerabend imported Denys’ account of divine ineffability into his own metaphysics to provide a novel argument for epistemic pluralism. Part four explains the significance of an appreciation of Dionyius’ influence for our understanding of Feyerabend. I conclude that Denys was a significant and neglected influence upon the later Feyerabend. (shrink)

Pseudo-patient studies are studies in which a medical sociologist or anthropologist masquerades as a patient. Medical treatment is sought without revealing that the 'patient' is really a covert research worker. When access has thus been gained to a medical setting--typically a hospital ward--social interaction between medical staff and patients is then observed over a period of days or weeks. Important studies have been carried out in this way of psychiatric treatment and of the care of the terminally-ill. Is the (...) use of the method justified? What ethical problems does its use raise? How do the undoubted advantages of the approach compare with the clear drawbacks and objections which can be made to its use? (shrink)

A Critical Edition of the Pseudo-Avicenna Liber Celi et Mundi , the twelfth century Latin translation of an Arabic paraphrase of Aristotle's De Caelo.

Pseudo-Concrete Ideals of a Good Life What has happened in the late and concluding stages of postmodern culture is that concrete ideas of a good life have been reduced to pseudo-concrete ideals. With the aid of simulacra, the experience of everyday life is turning into a show, into narcissistic emptiness and single bodily pleasures.

This paper focuses on Pseudo Justin's objections to Aristotle's cosmological doctrines, and aims to show that, as a result of his criticisms to Aristotle's viewpoints, an entirely new view of the natural world bursts in. A few arguments by Pseudo Justin against the Aristotelian cosmology are analysed, and the author shows that Pseudo Justin makes use of conceptual tools and of some assumptions Aristotelian in character without resorting to the creationist argument. If what is suggested in this (...) paper is sound, Pseudo-Justin would have put forward and advanced for the first time some aspects of the physical model which turned out to be dominant from Modernity onwards several centuries before the new approach to nature starting in the XVII century. (shrink)

Le féminisme a réussi à transformer partiellement le monde dans lequel nous vivons. Mais la résistance de la société traditionnelle à ces changements, ainsi que la remontée de la droite et la valorisation forcenée de l'individualisme, risquent de compromettre ses acquis. Dans ce contexte, l'avènement d'un discours pseudo-féministe qui véhicule les valeurs traditionnellement considérées comme « féminines » par les hommes risque d'embrouiller le message féministe pour tous ceux qui y accordaient créance et espéraient le voir aller plus loin (...) dans sa quête d'une société nouvelle. Nous voulons analyser ce discours en montrant comment il tend à remettre en question l'effort de transformation sociale amorcé par le féminisme.Feminism has partly transformed our world. Traditionnal society's resistance to these changes together with the rise of the Right and individualism endanger these gains. In that context, the advent of pseudo-feminist discourse carrying the values traditionnally seen by men as "féminine" might blur the feminist message for those who give it credit and hope to see it progress in its quest for a new society. We wish to analyse that discourse and show how it tends to challenge the social transformation effort launched through feminism. (shrink)

We define a new class of pseudo effect algebras, called kite pseudo effect algebras, which is connected with partially ordered groups not necessarily with strong unit. In such a case, starting even with an Abelian po-group, we can obtain a noncommutative pseudo effect algebra. We show how such kite pseudo effect algebras are tied with different types of the Riesz Decomposition Properties. Kites are so-called perfect pseudo effect algebras, and we define conditions when kite (...) class='Hi'>pseudo effect algebras have the least non-trivial normal ideal. (shrink)

We attempt to formulate issues around modularity and Zilber’s trichotomy in a setting that intersects additive combinatorics. In particular, we update the open problems on quasi-finite structures from [9].

Le pseudo-sacrifice d’Hermès sur les bords de l’Alphée est très énigmatique. S’agit-il d’une procédure qui lui permet de passer parmi les dieux ? De s’intégrer dans la hiérarchie divine instaurée par Zeus ? L’Hymne est consacré à l’invention de l’échange. Après avoir fabriqué l’objet à échanger – la lyre – Hermès est dans la nécessité de fabriquer la monnaie de compte de cette époque qui servira à l’acquérir. Le pseudo-sacrifice métamorphose les vaches immortelles d’Apollon en monnaie de compte.The (...) pseudo sacrifice of Hermes on the banks of the Alphée river is very enigmatic. Is it a procedure to enable him to be received among the gods? To be integrated into the divine hierarchy instituted by Zeus ? The Hymn is dedicated to the invention of the exchange. After making the object of the exchange – the lyre – Hermes is compelled to make the ‘count money’ of this time which will be used to acquire it. By this pseudo sacrifice, the eternal cows of Apollo are metamorphosed into ‘count money’. (shrink)

According to the comparative Bayesian concept of confirmation, rationalized versions of creationism come out as empirically confirmed. From a scientific viewpoint, however, they are pseudo-explanations because with their help all kinds of experiences are explainable in an ex-post fashion, by way of ad-hoc fitting of an empirically empty theoretical framework to the given evidence. An alternative concept of confirmation that attempts to capture this intuition is the use novelty criterion of confirmation. Serious objections have been raised against this criterion. (...) In this paper I suggest solutions to these objections. Based on them, I develop an account of genuine confirmation that unifies the UN-criterion with a refined probabilistic confirmation concept that is explicated in terms of the confirmation of evidence-transcending content parts of the hypothesis. (shrink)

The article is a result of the thorough historical, philosophical and philological study on the treatise “On the Sublime”. The treatise, whose date of origin is supposed to be the first century a.d. and created by an unknown author, together with the writings by Aristotle and Horace has laid the foundations for modern aesthetics and criticism. The known parts of the treatise concern the feeling of sublimity in literature, in art, and in political life.

"Every professor knows his own area, but who is able to see the whole picture?" Based on the author's background and the wide-ranging areas she has studied in the university, Gila Gat-Tilman presents articles on science, psuedo-science and moral values from an all-encompassing perspective. The first article in this book represents an overview of science and academic knowledge. Articles that follow discuss moral values, the Sabbath, experiments on animals, and the philosophical questions of certainty. Additionally, she includes the biography of (...) two people whose influence has helped hone her viewpoint. Science has improved our lives, and pseudo-science has followed suit. But pseudo-science, built upon baseless, faulty and tendentious theories and assumptions, has won unjustified credibility, as if it was real science, and has only caused harm. In ancient times there were philosophers like Socrates who investigated the question of what is justice and what is the good. They said that one should know what is the good in order to be good. They clarified what are the values that one should hold dear. In the generations that followed, those values were sanctified by religions, were kept in a sanctified way, and improved the life of the society. In our days, the values in the Ten Commandments are not enough, because technology has markedly changed our life, increased our performance abilities, and created new layers of relationships between strangers. Inventions such as the engine, telephone, television, and the computer enable mass communication, with all the implications. For example, today, from birth to death, every person is registered and the authorities have records about them that areused to influence their educational and employment chances. The Ten Commandments are a start for establishing the basis of moral values in our day, but they are not enough. We therefore need additional basic values, which when observed in a sacrosanct way, will provide people with the ability to properly integrate their social life into our society for the good of everyone. The author has a broad, varied academic knowledge in many fields. Her keen ability to focus on what is happening to others and put herself in their position has enabled her to see the bigger picture in society and to understand which values are lacking and must be widely adopted. This book offers these moral values. (shrink)

Recently, a new algebraic structure called pseudo-equality algebra has been defined by Jenei and Kóródi as a generalization of the equality algebra previously introduced by Jenei. As a main result, it was proved that the pseudo-equality algebras are term equivalent with pseudo-BCK meet-semilattices. We found a gap in the proof of this result and we present a counterexample and a correct version of the theorem. The correct version of the corresponding result for equality algebras is also given.