Esse artigo discute a intensa imbricação entre mídia, cultura e consumo, tomando esta articulação como um aspecto central no contexto contemporâneo. Será analisado o papel do entretenimento e das paisagens audiovisuais como principais produtos da cultura midiática, sendo a espetacularização e a estetização do cotidiano entendidos como eixos organizadores dos padrões econômicos e socioculturais do mundo atual. Discutiremos a centralidade da visualidade na pós-modernidade, sem descurar da forte pregnância da sonoridade e da escuta nas nossas práticas culturais. Sendo assim, propomos (...) entender os processos audiovisuais ancorados nas produções midiáticas como estruturadores das subjetividades e discursos pós-modernos. (shrink)

Reconhecimento e “estranhamento”. Reconhecemos o primeiro dos termos e o segundo nos é estranho, talvez não por mero acaso, mas devido a certa resistência de nossa parte em aceitar possíveis “visões de mundo” diferentes. Devido à tendência acentuada à globalização, vigente em nosso tempo, diferenças vêm sendo esmagadas diante de uma tentativa de uniformização de padrões humanos. De tal forma, culturas estão sendo esquecidas, identidades estão sendo deformadas, através de um novo entendimento, o qual acaba por impor condutas humanas que (...) se justificam através do artifício da universalidade. Existem, salvo melhor juízo, razões admissíveis, para a tentativa de busca de um mundo globalizado, também no que tange à esfera da ética, no qual seres possam ser vistos através de uma condição de igualdade formal em dignidade, condição esta responsável por aniquilar qualquer tentativa de desrespeito a tudo aquilo que tal dignidade representa. Resta-nos, pois, averiguar os limites da universalidade ética em relação às escolhas pessoais humanas, em seus aspectos culturais, religiosos e em tantos outros, bem como parece ser necessária umainvestigação acerca de quão condicionados somos em tais escolhas. Somando-se ainda a isto, o tema da alteridade parece ser cada vez mais crucial no que tange a investigações sobre o melhor modelo ético a ser seguido. Entretanto, também não nos é facultado, na busca por uma justificação da ética, a fuga de tudo aquilo que nos opõe em diferença material, em vontade. (shrink)

A autoria da obra analisada pertence ao professor, ensaísta e filósofo francêsOllivierPourriol, cujas temáticas dos seus projetos circundam a relação entre filosofia e cinema. Antes desta obra, Pourriol já havia publicado “Cinefilô: as mais belas questões da filosofia no cinema” e “On-off comédie”.

Mons. Urbano Zilles é bacharel e licenciado em Filosofia e Teologia, sendo professor titular do departamento de filosofia da Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul e além da carreira docente, também atua como editor em revistas especializadas de filosofia. Tem uma vasta produção acadêmica e além do Racional e o Místico em Wittgenstein, também lançou Meditações de Sumaré e Teoria do conhecimento e teoria da Ciência.

Neste artigo, defendemos a tese de que a Educação é um dos temas fundamentais da reflexão de Lima Vaz. Propomos mostrar de que maneira, para ele, o ethos possui papel importante na formação da consciência e da personalidade morais. Em primeiro lugar, explicitaremos em que sentido a educação, embora não seja tema principal de nenhuma obra de Lima Vaz, pode ser compreendida como tema transversal que perpassa as obras do autor. Em seguida, explicitaremos qual o papel do ethos na constituição (...) do caráter. Ora, o ethos é coextensivo à cultura. Ao ser socializado, o sujeito aprende uma língua, pode ser introduzido nas tradições de uma religião, e interioriza normas de conduta. Por um lado, o ethos possui importante papel na formação do caráter e da personalidade. A comunidade educa o indivíduo e, neste sentido, é também responsável por ele. Por outro lado, o hábito ético garante a permanência do ethos. Logo, o sujeito também é responsável por suas ações e pela manutenção do ethos. Finalmente, mostraremos que a crise do ethos e da tradição torna necessário adotar postura reflexiva. Torna-se necessário tomar distância e avaliar o próprio ethos concreto. A relação entre o sujeito e o ethos não é completamente determinada. O sujeito pode sempre se opor às tradições e colocar em questão a validade das mesmas. Além disso, quando as tradições estão em crise se faz necessário redescobrir uma nova orientação através do exercício do logos. Esta orientação deve ser capaz de conduzir o sujeito à realização do bem. Palavras-chave: Ética. Educação. Ethos. Tradição. Bem. (shrink)

Este artigo aborda de maneira preliminar a efetivação das políticas públicas educacionais no Assentamento Roça do Povo, no município de Itabuna-BA, analisando a legislação vigente, pontuando direitos conquistados pelas populações rurais e principalmente pelos campesinos por meio das suas lutas e reivindicações. Também foram analisadas as dificuldades, desafios, progressos, formação de professores e a importância da educação no campo para os campesinos. Desta forma, abordamos a importância de conhecer e estudar as leis que regulamentam a Educação do Campo, pois, a (...) prática educacional deve ser condizente com a realidade cotidiana, buscando valorizar a identidade e a cultura do campesinato. Além disso, este estudo visa ainda valorizar e defender a importância da educação no campo. Por fim, a presente pesquisa busca difundir as informações coletadas no Assentamento Roça do Povo, objetivando provocar inquietação na sociedade e aos órgãos públicos, para que possam olhar com maior atenção para a Educação do Campo e compreender a importância dela para os campesinos no Brasil, em especial na Bahia. (shrink)

ACESSO À JUSTIÇA: DELINEAMENTOS GERAIS E ANÁLISE NO PROJETO DE NOVO CÓDIGO PROCESSUAL CIVIL.

En 1964, Glauber Rocha dirigió la película Dios y el Diablo en la Tierra del Sol. Año en el que Brasil sufrió el golpe de estado militar. En este momento, hablar de política o problemas sociales era un asunto turbio debido a la fuerte amenaza de represión. Glauber escribió y dirigió esta película que versa acerca de la dicotomía entre el bien y el mal, lo culto y lo inculto, el orden y el desorden, las diferencias sociales, las construcciones (...) simbólicas del espacio como semiosfera, las fronteras y la ruptura de éstas, que provocan el caos. Para el director, la religión guarda una relación muy estrecha con la política. Se plasma el deseo por el poder en los vínculos sociales-políticos (interés de los terratenientes sobre los trabajadores) y religiosos (interés de los predicadores sobre los creyentes). Este análisis discurre sobre dichas dualidades simbólicas, fijándonos en la discusión semiótica realizada por teóricos como Yuri Lotman, Michael Foucault, Mijaíl Bajtín, Umberto Eco, entre otros. La intención es analizar de qué manera Glauber Rocha construye los espacios simbólicos a lo largo de su discurso fílmico, y conocer el mensaje crítico que transmite. (shrink)

The lack of public support for climate change policies and refusals to vaccinate children are just two alarming illustrations of the impacts of dissent about scientific claims. Dissent can lead to confusion, false beliefs, and widespread public doubt about highly justified scientific evidence. Even more dangerously, it has begun to corrode the very authority of scientific consensus and knowledge. Deployed aggressively and to political ends, some dissent can intimidate scientists, stymie research, and lead both the public and policymakers to oppose (...) important public policies firmly rooted in science. -/- To criticize dissent is, however, a fraught exercise. Skepticism and fearless debate are key to the scientific process, making it both vital and incredibly difficult to characterize and identify dissent that is problematic in its approach and consequences. Indeed, as de Melo-Martín and Intemann show, the criteria commonly proposed as means of identifying inappropriate dissent are flawed and the strategies generally recommended to tackle such dissent are not only ineffective but could even make the situation worse. -/- The Fight Against Doubt proposes that progress on this front can best be achieved by enhancing the trustworthiness of the scientific community and by being more realistic about the limits of science when it comes to policymaking. It shows that a richer understanding of the context in which science operates is needed to disarm problematic dissent and those who deploy it. This, the authors argue, is the best way forward, rather than diagnosing the many instances of wrong-headed dissent. (shrink)

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to examine critically Julian Savulescu's claim that people should select, of the possible children they could have, the one who is expected to have the best life, or at least as good a life as the others, based on the relevant, available genetic information, including information about non‐disease genes. I argue here that in defending this moral obligation, Savulescu has neglected several important issues such as access to selection technologies, disproportionate burdens on women, (...) difficulties in determining what is best, problems with aggregate effects of individual choices, and questions about social justice. Taking these matters into account would call such a moral requirement into serious question. (shrink)

Reprogenetic technologies, which combine the power of reproductive techniques with the tools of genetic science and technology, promise prospective parents a remarkable degree of control to pick and choose the likely characteristics of their offspring. Not only can they select embryos with or without particular genetically-related diseases and disabilities but also choose embryos with non-disease related traits such as sex. -/- Prominent authors such as Agar, Buchanan, DeGrazia, Green, Harris, Robertson, Savulescu, and Silver have flocked to the banner of reprogenetics. (...) For them, increased reproductive choice and reduced suffering through the elimination of genetic disease and disability are just the first step. They advocate use of these technologies to create beings who enjoy longer and healthier lives, possess greater intellectual capacities, and are capable of more refined emotional experiences. Indeed, Harris and Savulescu in particular take reprogenetic technologies to be so valuable to human beings that they have insisted that their use is not only morally permissible but morally required. -/- Rethinking Reprogenetics challenges this mainstream view with a contextualised, gender-attentive philosophical perspective. De Melo-Martín demonstrates that you do not have to be a Luddite, social conservative, or religious zealot to resist the siren song of reprogenetics. Pointing out the flawed nature of the arguments put forward by the technologies' proponents, Rethinking Reprogenetics reveals the problematic nature of the assumptions underpinning current evaluations of these technologies and offers a framework for a more critical and skeptical assessment. (shrink)

Discussions about whether new biomedical technologies threaten or violate human dignity are now common. Indeed, appeals to human dignity have played a central role in national and international debates about whether to allow particular kinds of biomedical investigations. The focus of this paper is on chimera research. I argue here that both those who claim that particular types of human-nonhuman chimera research threaten human dignity and those who argue that such threat does not exist fail to make their case. I (...) first introduce some of the arguments that have been offered supporting the claim that the creation of certain sorts of chimeras threatens or violates human dignity. I next present opponents' assessments of such arguments. Finally I critically analyze both the critics' and the supporters' claims about whether chimera research threatens human dignity. (shrink)

Embryo screening technologies offer important benefits to individuals who use them and society. These techniques can expand the reproductive options of many prospective parents and can contribute to reducing the burdens of disease and disability. Nonetheless, embryo screening techniques present individuals and societies with important ethical challenges. Here, I explore some of them. In particular, I discuss the costs for prospective parents of increased reproductive choices, as well as concerns about sanctioning problematic social norms, increasing social injustice, limiting the ways (...) societies can tackle diseases and disabilities, and promoting the commodification of children. (shrink)

The therapeutic misconception has been seen as presenting an ethical problem because failure to distinguish the aims of research participation from those receiving ordinary treatment may seriously undermine the informed consent of research subjects. Hence, most theoretical and empirical work on the problems of the therapeutic misconception has been directed to evaluate whether, and to what degree, this confusion invalidates the consent of subjects. We argue here that this focus on the understanding component of informed consent, while important, might be (...) too narrow to capture the ethical complexity of the therapeutic misconception. We show that concerns about misplaced trust and exploitation of such trust are also relevant, and ought to be taken into account, when considering why the therapeutic misconception matters ethically. (shrink)

O amor é um tema presente nas mais diversas obras platônicas, das quais constitui grande referência: Fedro, Lísis, República e, o mais importante e especialmente dedicado ao tema, Banquete. Para Platão, o amor é a base da educação. O mesmo dirá Rubem Alves na contemporaneidade. Interessa-nos, então, entender esse amor platônico que leva o nome de Eros - a partir, sobretudo, das obras Banquete e Fedro - e apontar, seguindo o caminho da pedagogia rubemsiana, sua importância como instrumento e base (...) para a educação contemporânea. (shrink)

It is argued here that bioethicists might inadvertently be promoting genetic determinism: the idea that genes alone determine human traits and behaviours. Discussions about genetic testing are used to exemplify how they might be doing so. Quite often bioethicists use clinical cases to support particular moral obligations or rights as if these cases were representative of the kind of information we can acquire about human diseases through genetic testing, when they are not. On other occasions, the clinical cases are presented (...) in simplistic ways that portray genetic testing as yielding information more accurate than it actually is. It is concluded that, because of the problematic implications that the ideology of genetic determinism might have for individuals’ wellbeing and for our public policies, bioethicists should be careful to present these issues in ways that do not promote questionable ideas about the causal role of genes in human diseases and behaviours. (shrink)

The disclosure policies of scientific journals now require that investigators provide information about financial interests relevant to their research. The main goals of these policies are to prevent bias from occurring, to help identify bias when it occurs, and to avoid the appearance of bias. We argue here that such policies do little to help achieve these goals, and we suggest more effective alternatives.

Recent advances in biotechnologies have led to speculations about enhancing human beings. Many of the moral arguments presented to defend human enhancement technologies have been limited to discussions of their risks and benefits. The author argues that in so far as ethical arguments focus primarily on risks and benefits of human enhancement technologies, these arguments will be insufficient to provide a robust defence of these technologies. This is so because the belief that an assessment of risks and benefits is a (...) sufficient ethical evaluation of these technologies incorrectly presupposes that risk assessments do not involve value judgements. Second, it presupposes a reductionist conception of ethics as merely a risk management instrument. Each of these assumptions separates ethical evaluation from discussion and appraisal of ends and means and thus leaves important—indeed, essential—ethical considerations out of view. Once these problematic assumptions are rejected, it becomes clear that an adequate defence of human enhancement technologies requires more than a simple balance of their risks and benefits. (shrink)

Although surprising to some proponents of sex selection for non-medical reasons (Dahl 2005), a considerable amount of critical debate has been raised by this practice (Blyth, Frith, and Crawshaw 2008; Dawson and Trounson 1996; Dickens 2002; Harris 2005; Heyd 2003; Holm 2004; Macklin 2010; Malpani 2002; McDougall 2005; Purdy 2007; Seavilleklein and Sherwin 2007; Steinbock 2002; Strange and Chadwick 2010; Wilkinson 2008). While abortion or infanticide has long been used as means of sex selection, a new technology—preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD)—has (...) become a highly efficient, and arguably less controversial, way of ensuring the birth of a child of a particular sex. PGD, used in combination with in vitro .. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to show that critics of biological explanations of human nature may be granting too much to those who propose such explanations when they argue that the truth of genetic determinism implies an end to critical evaluation and reform of our social institutions. This is the case because when we argue that biological determinism exempts us from social critique we are erroneously presupposing that our social values, practices, and institutions have nothing to do with what (...) makes biological explanations troublesome. My argument is that what constitutes a problem for those who are concerned with social justice is not the fact that particular behaviours may be genetically determined, but the fact that our value system and social institutions create the conditions that make such behaviours problematic. Thus, I will argue that even if genetic determinism were correct, the requirement of assessing and transforming our social practices and institutions would be far from superfluous. Biology is rarely destiny for human beings and the institutions they create. (shrink)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced recently that food products derived from some animal clones and their offspring are safe for human consumption. In response to criticism that it had failed to engage with ethical, social, and economic concerns raised by livestock cloning, the FDA argued that addressing normative issues prior to issuing a final ruling on animal cloning is not part of its mission. In this article, the authors reject the FDA's claim that its mission to protect (...) and advance public health can be accomplished without considering ethical issues or without making value judgments. The authors offer two arguments in support of their position. First, the agency's mission statement presupposes significant normative commitments and judgments. Second, the FDA's risk assessment of food products from cloned animals and their offspring is itself clearly shaped by a variety of normative commitments. (shrink)

Despite increasing recognition of the ways in which ethical and social values play a role in science (Kitcher 2001; Longino 1990, 2002), scientists are often still reluctant to acknowledge or discuss ethical and social values at stake in their research. Even when research is closely connected to developing public policy, it is generally held that it should be empirical data, and not the values of scientists, that inform policy. According to this view, scientists need not, and should not, endorse non-epistemic (...) values related to their research, as doing so may bias their assessment of what the evidence is. As a result, debates over science-based policy tend to be construed solely as empirical discussions to be .. (shrink)

The use of genome embryo editing tools in reproduction is often touted as a way to ensure the birth of healthy and genetically related children. Many would agree that this is a worthy goal. The purpose of this paper is to argue that, if we are concerned with justice, accepting such goal as morally appropriate commits one to rejecting the development of embryo editing for reproductive purposes. This is so because safer and more effective means exist that can allow many (...) more prospective parents to achieve the same valued goal and that offer additional benefits. (shrink)

The argument from inductive risk has been embraced by many as a successful account of the role of values in science that challenges the value-free ideal. We argue that it is not obvious that the argument from inductive risk actually undermines the value-free ideal. This is because the inductive risk argument endorses an assumption held by proponents of the value-free ideal: that contextual values never play an appropriate role in determining evidence. We show that challenging the value-free ideal ultimately requires (...) rejecting this assumption. (shrink)

Because of the important benefits that biomedical research offers to humans, some have argued that people have a general moral obligation to participate in research. Although the defense of such a putative moral duty has raised controversy, few scholars, on either side of the debate, have attended to the social context in which research takes place and where such an obligation will be discharged. By reflecting on the social context in which a presumed duty to participate in research will obtain, (...) this article shows that decontextualized discussions of this putative moral obligation are problematic. (shrink)

O artigo procura investigar as correlações entre os temas da liberdade e da alteridade, no conjunto do pensamento de J. Paul-Sartre.

It might come as a surprise to many that Spain, a country with a strong Catholic tradition that officially banned contraceptive technologies until 1978, has some of the most liberal regulations in assisted reproduction in the world. Law No. 35/1988 was one of the first and most detailed acts of legislation undertaken on the subject of assisted-conception procedures. Indeed, not only did the law permit research on nonviable embryos, it made assisted reproductive technologies available to any woman, whether married or (...) not, through the national healthcare system. (shrink)

Ethically sound analyses of embryo genetic editing require more than simple assessments of safety considerations. After all, we as humans care deeply not only about our health, but also care profoundly about the kinds of societies we construct, the injustices that our actions produce, the responsibilities that we have toward others and ourselves, our self-understanding, the characters that we develop, our family relationships, and the world that we leave to our children and grandchildren.

According to sparse modalism, the notion of essence can be analysed in terms of necessity and naturalness. In this paper, I develop and defend a version of sparse modalism that is equipped with a non-standard, relativized conception of naturalness. According to this conception, properties and relations can be natural to different degrees relative to different kinds of things, and relations can be natural to different degrees relative to different slots. I argue that this relativized version of sparse modalism can accommodate (...) various cases that the standard, non-relativized version can’t. The alternative version can accommodate cases where a relation is essential to a relatum but merely necessary to another, cases where a property is essential to an object but merely necessary to another, and cases where a less-than-perfectly natural property is essential to an object. (shrink)

Aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) deficiency constitutes one of the most common hereditary enzyme deficiencies, affecting 35% to 40% of East Asians and 8% of the world population. It causes the well-known Asian Alcohol Flush Syndrome, characterized by facial flushing, palpitation, tachycardia, nausea, and other unpleasant feelings when alcohol is consumed. It is also associated with a marked increase in the risk of a variety of serious disorders, including esophageal cancer and osteoporosis. Our recent studies with murine models have demonstrated that (...) a one-time administration of an adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene transfer vector expressing the human ALDH2 coding sequence (AAVrh.10hALDH2) will correct the deficiency state and prevent alcohol-induced abnormalities of the esophagus and bone. If successful in humans, such strategy would reduce the increased risk-associated disorders such as esophageal cancer and osteoporosis, but also prevent the Asian Alcohol Flush Syndrome. This treatment thus raises ethical concerns: although it would potentially prevent fatal disease, it could also allow affected individuals to drink alcohol without suffering the Asian Alcohol Flush Syndrome and, hence, potentially enable personal destructive behavior. Here we explore the ethical arguments against the development of a gene therapy for ALDH2 deficiency and we find them wanting. We contend that development of such treatments is ethically appropriate and should be part and parcel of the solutions offered against the condition. (shrink)

In this contribution I wish to tackle two corruptions in Book 7 of Varro's De lingua Latina that have hitherto gone unnoticed or been corrected inadequately.

Sobre a continuidade metodológica em Michel Foucault: da fundamentação de uma teoria do enunciado para o cuidado de si Resumo: Uma das dificuldades em se compreender a categoria de enunciado no pensamento de Michel Foucault está relacionada com múltiplas definições tautológicas dessa categoria no livro A arqueologia do saber. O primeiro objetivo deste artigo é oferecer uma descrição do enunciado e sua íntima dependência do nível referencial no pensamento arqueológico de Michel Foucault. O segundo objetivo, interrelacionado ao primeiro objetivo, será (...) mostrar o quanto as reflexões que desembocaram na concepção “cuidado de si”, vieram à tona porque o fim da análise arqueológica é a reconstituição das práticas concretas de uma época que definiram as condições do dizer e evidenciavam os modos de saber, pois o nível referencial é o nível de maior relevância para a reconstituição histórica das práticas discursivas por fontes discursivas. Esse método trouxe à luz, a ideia de que o trabalho fundamental da arte, de que temos de cuidar, a área principal à qual se deve aplicar valores estéticos, é a si próprio, à própria existência. Consequentemente, para esse pesquisador, não temos que escolher entre o nosso mundo e o mundo grego, desde que se possa ver que alguns dos princípios mais importantes de nossa ética têm sido relacionados num certo momento a uma estética da existência. Palavras-chave: Enunciado; Referencial; Formação dos objetos; Cuidado de si; Foucault. On the methodological continuity in Michel Foucault: from the foundation of a theory of the statement to the care of the self Abstract: One of the difficulties in understanding the category of enunciation in Michel Foucault's thought is related to multiple tautological definitions of this category in the book The archeology of knowledge. The first objective of this article is to offer a description of the statement and its intimate dependence on the referential level in Michel Foucault's archaeological thought. The second objective, interrelated to the first objective, will show how the reflections that led to the concept of “self-care”, came to light because the end of the archaeological analysis is the reconstitution of the concrete practices of an era that defined the conditions of saying and evidenced the ways of knowing, because the referential level is the most relevant level for the historical reconstruction of discursive practices by discursive sources. This method brought to light, the idea that the fundamental work of art, that we have to take care of, the main area to which aesthetic values ​​must be applied, is itself, to existence itself. Consequently, for this researcher, we do not have to choose between our world and the Greek world, as long as it can be seen that some of the most important principles of our ethics have been related at a certain moment to an aesthetics of existence. Key-words: Statement; Referential; Formation of objects; Self-care; Foucault. Sobre la continuidad metodológica en Michel Foucault: de la fundación de una teoría del enunciado al cuidado del yo Resumen: Una de las dificultades para comprender la categoría de enunciaciado en el pensamiento de Michel Foucault está relacionada con las múltiples definiciones tautológicas de esta categoría en el libro La arqueología del saber. El primer objetivo de este artículo es ofrecer una descripción del enunciado y su íntima dependencia del nivel referencial en el pensamiento arqueológico de Michel Foucault. El segundo objetivo, interrelacionado con el primero, será mostrar cómo las reflexiones que llevaron al concepto de “cuidado de sií”, salieron a la luz porque el fin del análisis arqueológico es la reconstitución de las prácticas concretas de una época que definió las condiciones del decir y evidenció las formas de conocer, porque el nivel referencial es el nivel más relevante para la reconstrucción histórica de prácticas discursivas por fuentes discursivas. Este método sacó a la luz la idea de que la obra de arte fundamental, que tenemos que cuidar, el ámbito principal al que se deben aplicar los valores estéticos, es ella misma, la existencia misma. En consecuencia, para este investigador, no tenemos que elegir entre nuestro mundo y el mundo griego, siempre y cuando se pueda constatar que algunos de los principios más importantes de nuestra ética se han relacionado en un momento determinado con una estética de la existencia. Palabra clave: Enunciado; Referencial; Formación de objetos; Cuidado de sí; Foucault. Data de registro: 24/02/2021 Data de aceite: 01/12/2021. (shrink)

Current developments in biomedicine are presenting us with difficult ethical decisions and raising complex policy questions about how to regulate these new developments. Particularly vexing for governments have been issues related to human embryo experimentation. Because some of the most promising biomedical developments, such as stem cell research and nuclear somatic transfer, involve such experimentation, several international bodies have drafted documents aimed to provide guidance to governments when developing biomedical science policy. Here I focus on two such documents: the Council (...) of Europe's Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being and the Additional Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being.I argue that by using human dignity as a criterion to determine the permissibility of particular human embryo research practices, these documents cannot aid in identifying research that would be contrary to human dignity. Thus, they fail to guide public policy on embryo experimentation. Their use of human dignity as a criterion makes their task of offering guidance unfeasible because the concept as used in these documents is too vague and is applied in contradictory ways. I discuss the main goals of these documents and their claims in relation to human embryo research. I then discuss how they have influenced public policy in several countries. Finally, I show that although these Council of Europe treaties attempt to serve as public policy guides in the area of embryo research, they fail to do so. (shrink)

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to examine critically Julian Savulescu's claim that people should select, of the possible children they could have, the one who is expected to have the best life, or at least as good a life as the others, based on the relevant, available genetic information, including information about non‐disease genes. I argue here that in defending this moral obligation, Savulescu has neglected several important issues such as access to selection technologies, disproportionate burdens on women, (...) difficulties in determining what is best, problems with aggregate effects of individual choices, and questions about social justice. Taking these matters into account would call such a moral requirement into serious question. (shrink)

Several feminist philosophers of science have argued that social and political values are compatible with, and may even enhance, scientific objectivity. A variety of normative recommendations have emerged regarding how to identify, manage, and critically evaluate social values in science. In particular, several feminist theorists have argued that scientific communities ought to: 1) include researchers with diverse experiences, interests, and values, with equal opportunity and authority to scrutinize research; 2) investigate or "study up" scientific phenomena from the perspectives, interests, and (...) conditions of marginalized stakeholders potentially affected by the research; and 3) make gender, ethnicity, class, and geographical location "visible," or use them as categories of analysis when appropriate. Yet, more work is needed to determine what exactly these recommendations would require, and the benefits they would yield, in specific research contexts. Using the recent development of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines, we examine how these three feminist recommendations would have applied. We argue that these principles would have yielded several epistemic and social benefits in the HPV case, as well as in biomedical research more generally. That is, biomedical research guided by these principles would not only be epistemically superior, but also more socially responsible. (shrink)

Nosso objetivo com este artigo é apresentar a interculturalidade crítica como ferramenta pedagógica que deve ser central na constituição dos cenários e contextos em Educação Infantil. Utilizamos referenciais teóricos de outros estudiosos da interculturalidade e da Educação Infantil, como Candau, Sarmento, Walsh, Tomazzeti, Santiago, Akkeri e Marques, entre outros. Situamos a Educação Infantil enquanto etapa fundamental na formação ética e intercultural das crianças, pensando a função social da educação como formação para a democracia. O trabalho pedagógico com as diferenças culturais (...) na Educação Infantil é amparado legalmente pelas Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais para a Educação Infantil e por outras políticas de identidade, como a Lei 11.645 de 2008, que institui a obrigatoriedade do ensino de cultura e história indígena e afro-brasileira desde a Educação Infantil. No entanto, essas legislações também são confrontadas por interesses neoliberais que invadem as políticas educacionais. Diante disso, apresentamos algumas possibilidades e desafios para a construção de práticas interculturais nessa etapa da escolarização, incluindo algumas discussões sobre práticas cristalizadas, preconceitos e discriminações, formação de professores, o professor da infância enquanto pesquisador reflexivo, a monocultura do saber, os currículos e a diferença como vantagem pedagógica. Como conclusão, apontamos que um dos principais desafios da educação na atualidade é construir práticas e contextos que tratem as diferenças desde um viés político, visando a construção de uma sociedade mais democrática, considerando o direito à diferença. Construir práticas interculturais na Educação Infantil significa abrir mão da monocultura do saber, da homogeneização em favor da heterogeneidade, do epistemicídio pela construção de outras alternativas de pensamento. Palavras-chave : Interculturalidade crítica. Educação da infância. Diferenças culturais. (shrink)

A growing number of jurisdictions hold that gamete donors must be identifiable to the children born with their eggs or sperm, on grounds that being able to know about one's genetic origins is a fundamental moral right. But the argument for that belief has not yet been adequately made.

Scientists, the medical profession, philosophers, social scientists, policy makers, and the public at large have been quick to embrace the accomplishments of genetic science. The enthusiasm for the new biotechnologies is not unrelated to their worthy goal. The belief that the new genetic technologies will help to decrease human suffering by improving the public’s health has been a significant influence in the acceptance of technologies such as genetic testing and screening. But accepting this end should not blind us to the (...) need for an evaluation of whether a particular means is adequate to achieve it. Lack of such evaluation notwithstanding, discussions of the ethical, legal, and social implications have tended to presuppose that the development and implementation of genetic testing will be an appropriate means to reduce human suffering in significant ways. I argue here that such an assumption is mistaken. In part this is the case because human biology is more complex than sometimes it is made to appear in these debates. But, the idea that human suffering resulting from disease can be reduced in significant ways with the use of genetic testing also ignores the social contexts in which these technologies are being developed and implemented. (shrink)