_Purpose._ In the article, the author questions rethinking the phenomena of empathy and self-empathy as modes of self-understanding of humanity and the inner intention to self-exploration of human spirituality. _Theoretical basis._ The research is based on the phenomenological dimension of modern anthropology and axiology. _Originality._ The change of the traditional intersubjective approach in the understanding of empathy to an introsubjective one and the affirmation of self-empathy as one of the defining existences in human beings, which is adjusted by the altruism-egoism (...) value scale and forms the skills of unconditional empathic action towards the Other as a mode of self-exploration in the spiritual essence of a person are argued. _Conclusions._ The commonplace in a wide palette of research views on empathy is the construct for the Self – Other disposition and the intersubjective approach emphasizing the object of empathy. Transformation of the intention vector of empathic consciousness from the object to the subject of empathic action opens up deep possibilities of spiritual improvement as a way of self-awareness in the human essence. The transformation of the intention vector of empathic consciousness from intersubjective (I in the Other) to introsubjective (I through the Other) has the potential for spiritual development according to the altruism-egoism value scale. Empathy as an introsubjective position of self-exploration is inseparably connected with self-empathy, which in the mutual integration of its three main components – benevolence towards oneself, reflexivity towards one’s own experience and a tendency to understand one’s fate as common to all mankind – forms an important regulator of self-understanding of a person’s spiritual potential and the possibility of the practical extrapolation for these skills to an empathic way of communication at all levels of anthropo-being. Anthropological accentuation on the inner essence and meanings of human existence is carried out through intuition and self-altruism as the fading of pragmatic interest in the socially conditioned Self (Ego) and immersion in the essential Self – the bearer of the universal spiritual in a person. Self-empathy is considered in the context of the ideas of Stoicism as a deep self-immersion in the human essence and sensitivity to immediate emotional internal states, as a construct of emotional intelligence and a way of realizing individual uniqueness in the context of the metamodern concept of atopy. Self-empathy is defined as one of the key existences in human beings, which forms the skill of altruistic (unconditional) implementation of empathy. (shrink)

This article examines the impact of traditional Chinese culture on organ donation from the perspective of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. In each of these cultural systems, it appears that there are some particular sayings or remarks that are often taken in modern Chinese society to be contrary to organ donation, especially cadaveric organ donation. However, this article argues that the central concerns of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism are “great love,” “ren,” and “dao,” which can be reasonably interpreted to support organ (...) donation. The author understands that each cultural system, in order to play its cultural function, must have its central concerns as well as relevant ritual practices (li) that incarnate its religious and ethical commitments. That is, each plays a general cultural role, which influences organ donation in particular not merely through abstract or general ethical principles and teachings, but through a combination of ethical teachings and the forming of particular ritual practices. This article contends that the primary reason Chinese individuals fail to donate sufficient cadaveric organs for transplantation is not because particular remarks or sayings from each of these systems appear to conflict with donation. Neither is it that the central concerns of these systems cannot support cadaveric donation. Rather, it is that modern Chinese individuals have failed to develop and secure relevant ritual practices that support the central concerns of organ transplantation. The article concludes that in order to promote more donations, there is a need to form relevant ritual practices supporting organ donation in conformity with the central concerns of these cultural systems. (shrink)

Venneman and colleagues argue that “do not resuscitate” (DNR) is problematic and should be replaced by “allow natural death” (AND). Their argument is flawed. First, while end-of-life discussions should be as positive as possible, they cannot and should not sidestep painful but necessary confrontations with morality. Second, while DNR can indeed be nonspecific and confusing, AND merely replaces one problematic term with another. Finally, the study’s results are not generalisable to the populations of physicians and working nurses and certainly do (...) not support the authors’ claim that there is a movement to replace DNR with AND. (shrink)

La vida noble.--Los valores humanos.--Janua pacis.--El derecho natural.--Leyes de biología nacional.--Los ministros de la ley.

In attempting to explain or deal with negative workplace behaviours such as workplace bullying, the notion of ‘workplace psychopaths’ has recently received much attention. Focusing on individual aspects of negative workplace behaviour is at odds with more systemic approaches that recognise the contribution of individual, organisational and societal influences, without seeking to blame a person(s) for their behaviour or personality disorder. Regarding a coworker as a psychopath is highly stigmatising, and given the relatively low prevalence of psychopathy in the community, (...) is likely to be incorrect. Sources promoting the notion of workplace psychopathy provide lists of diagnostic criteria and appear to encourage the perception that it is common. This research examines how lay persons use behavioural criteria consistent with psychopathy and the label ‘psychopath’ in relation to a coworker. 307 Australian workers completed an online survey concerning their experience of workplace bullying, which also asked them to rate a coworker’s behaviour on a range of scales to assess perceptions of psychopathy. Rates of psychopathy, when using labels and behavioural criteria, were found to be much higher than scientific estimates of prevalence, for both participants who had been bullied and those who had not. A higher proportion of non-bullied participants classified a coworker as a psychopath when using the label ‘psychopath’, compared to when using behavioural criteria. The notion that there are psychopaths in every workplace should be treated with caution to ensure that the potential for ‘misdiagnosis’ and stigmatisation do not cause further harm in situations of unacceptable workplace behaviours. (shrink)

Open peer commentary on the article “Consciousness as Self-Description in Differences” by Diana Gasparyan. Upshot: Gasparyan’s article ignores the inherent tension of being a human who is both a subject and an object at the same time. Any theory of consciousness must include both of these dimensions.

It is time for the noon conference. Your job is to impart a career-changing experience in ethics to a group of students and interns gathered from four different schools with varying curriculums in ethics. They have just finished 1½ h of didactic sessions and lunch. One third of them were on call last night. Your first job is to keep them awake. The authors argue that this “tragic case” approach to ethics education is of limited value because it limits understanding (...) of moral problems to dilemmas; negates the moral agency of the student; encourages solutions that are merely intellectual; and suggests that ethical encounters are a matter for experts. The authors propose an alternative that focuses on three issues: the provider-patient relationship, the relationships between providers in the everyday world of health work and, the social position of healthcare providers in society. In this approach, teachers are not experts but more like guides on a journey who help students to learn that much of ethical practice comprises living through difficult situations of caring for vulnerable others and who help students to navigate some of these difficulties. (shrink)

On the life and teachings of Śaṅkarācārya, exponent of Hindu Advaita Vedanta philosophy.

ḥ. 1-2. ʻAl ha-s. ha-ḳ. Liḳu. M. meyusadim -- ḥ. 3. Meyusad ʻal Liḳu. M. tinyana.

Contemporary bioethics is usually notable for its focus on the uses and abuses of biomedical technology, on personal liberty and the on the formulation of ethical problems as dilemmas to be solved by utilitarian calculus within the frameworks of committees and institutional guidelines. It is argued that these developments actually reflect a technologization of medical ethics itself, which more often relies non-personal algorithms of utility.This is explained, from a historical point of view, by the impact of technology on the concepts (...) of nature and naturalism and by the triumphs of modern science, which obscures non-scientific modes of discourse. The article acknowledges some benefits of the technologization of ethics such as the democratization of decision-making but the discussion concentrates on five arguments against the dominance of utilitarianism in medical ethics. The common denominator of these arguments is that utilitarianism fails its own standards by undermining trust in the public domain. The loss of trust is brought about by the displacement of the phenomenological self and from fostering adversarialism in ethical discourse. (shrink)

In this article, we explore how a posthumanist stance has enabled us to work a different consideration of the way in which voice is constituted and constituting in educational inquiry; that is, we position voice in a posthuman ontology that is understood as attributable to a complex network of human and nonhuman agents that exceed the traditional understanding of an individual. Drawing on the work of Deleuze and Guattari, Barad, and Bennett, we present a research artifact that illustrates how this (...) posthuman voice is productively bound to an agentic assemblage. The reconfiguration of a posthuman voice with/in an educational research artifact further enables us to explore various analytic questions: What happens when voice exceeds language and is more than vocalized words emanating from a speaking subject? If the materiality of voice is not limited to sound, how do we account for it? That is, how might the materiality of voice be located in the space of intra-action among human and non-human objects? We conclude with implications for thinking qualitative methodology in education differently. (shrink)

A dynamic systemS P described by the Pauli equation for nonrelativistic electron is investigated merely as a distributed dynamic system. No quantum principles are used. This system is shown to be a statistical ensemble of nonrelativistic stochastic pointlike particles. The electron spin is shown to have a classical analog which is a collective (statistical) property of the ensemble (not a property of a single electron). The magnetic moment of the electron is a quantum property which has no classical analog. The (...) magnetic moment is parallel to the spin only in the stationary state. In the arbitrary state the magnetic moment is not connected with the spin direction. (shrink)