Considerable hope surrounds the use of disease‐specific pluripotent stem cells to generate models of human disease allowing exploration of pathological mechanisms and search for new treatments. Disease‐specific human embryonic stem cells were the first to provide a useful source for studying certain disease states. The recent demonstration that human somatic cells, derived from readily accessible tissue such as skin or blood, can be converted to embryonic‐like induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) has opened new perspectives for modelling and understanding a larger (...) number of human pathologies. In this review, we examine the opportunities and challenges for the use of disease‐specific pluripotent stem cells in disease modelling and drug screening. Progress in these areas will substantially accelerate effective application of disease‐specific human pluripotent stem cells for drug screening. (shrink)

The popularity of the stakeholder model has been achieved thanks to its powerful visual scheme and its very simplicity. Stakeholder management has become an important tool to transfer ethics to management practice and strategy. Nevertheless, legitimate criticism continues to insist on clarification and emphasises on the perfectible nature of the model. Here, rather than building on the discussion from a philosophical or theoretical point of view, a different and innovative approach has been chosen: the analysis will return to the origin (...) of stakeholder theory and will keep the graphical framework firmly in perspective. It will confront the stakeholder model’s graphical representation to the discussion on stakeholder definition, stakeholder identification and categorisation, to re-centre the debate to the strategic origin of the stakeholder model. The ambiguity and the vagueness of the stakeholder concept are discussed from managerial and legal approaches. The impacts of two major shortcomings of the popular stakeholder framework are examined: the boundaries and the level of the firm’s environment, and the ambivalent position of pressure groups and regulators. Working pragmatically, with a focus on the managerial and organisational perspective, an attempt is made to clarify the categorisations and classifications by introducing new terminology with a distinction between stakeholders, stakewatchers and stakekeepers. The analysis will finally lead to a proposed upgraded and refined version of the stakeholder model, with incremental ameliorations close to Freeman’s original model and a return of focus to its essence, the managerial implications in a strategic approach. (shrink)

Despite the recent increase in interest in corporate social responsibility and the propagation of corporate governance in both business and academic literature, from observations of actual practice, the author has seen at all company levels, in everyday operations, instances of non-ethical behaviour vis-à-vis the whole gamut of stakeholders. This state of affairs is linked with: pressure from stakeholders, short-term tactics, hegemony of financial considerations, ‘juridisation’ of business, the tyranny of communications and the media and the difficulties in translating strategy into (...) practical implementation. The paper scrutinises the motivation and the psychology of entrepreneurs and business people, and their behaviour is compared to other professional groups and confronted with the decline in ethics in society as described by some important observers. The conclusion drawn is that the recent positive evolutions do not provide sufficient ethical guidelines for the day-to-day activities of middle managers and entrepreneurs in the present competitive environment. Managers will always be confronted by difficult choices with ethical dilemmas. There will always be a tension between theory and pragmatism, but progress can be made with the effective implementation of the ethical discourse in companies. To achieve this, ethical management should not be confined to the large strategic issues but also applied to the small practical matters of everyday business life. Ethics in business and entrepreneurship requires more than corporate governance and corporate social responsibility (CSR). (shrink)

A proof is presented showing that there is no paraconsistent logics with a standard implication which have a three-valued characteristic matrix, and in which the replacement principle holds.

This research explores the relationship between work context and professional ethics. Specifically, we analyze through an online survey of professional accountants the degree to which changing work conditions have altered individual accountants ’ commitment to the core professional value of auditor independence. We argue that certain changes in the condition of work have made some categories of accountants more susceptible to the logic of commercialism rather than the logic of professionalism. We find general support for this argument. We observe that (...) accountants working outside of public accounting have a higher commitment to independence than do accountants working in the context of public accounting firms. We further observe that accountants in large international accounting firms report lower commitment to auditor independence than do others in public accounting. And we observe that older accountants report stronger commitment to auditor independence. One finding, however, contradicts our general thesis. We find that commitment to one’s client does not necessarily result in a loss of commitment to the core professional value of independence. We conclude that changes in the context of work have contributed to the demise of ethics among professional accountants and suggest that further research be done to elaborate the relationship between client commitment and independence commitment. (shrink)

Les philosophies de l'histoire se nourrissaient de miettes tombées de la table du théologien. L'effondrement de leurs projets onto-théologiques permettrait-il de penser enfin l'histoire en fidélité au logos de la philosophie? Mettre toute métaphysique de l'histoire entre parenthèses ne consacre pas l'éternel retour du même, ou plutôt du pareil, mais libère le champ d'une temporalité plénière. Et parce que la temporalité - le temps tel que je le vis et que nous le vivons - se déploie comme ce que l'on (...) peut nommer une histoire, celle que je suis et celle que nous sommes, alors la question philosophique de l'histoire peut être logée sans reste dans une quaestio de tempore formulée après Husserl et Heidegger, et certains autres : sans préjuger d'une eschatologie que seule la théologie peut organiser, mais en s'autorisant à en précomprendre les raisons. L'existence est le mode d'être de l'étant que nous sommes, et l'existence est être en/comme histoire, historialité. L'historialité est une dimension de la temporalité. Qui le sait saura éviter les ornières de la philosophie de l'histoire. Non pas pour décrire une existence sans histoire, mais pour rendre raison du phénomène de l'histoire. En première instance seulement, certes, mais en rigueur, parce que sans prétention apocalyptique indue. L'histoire dont nous parlons est une réalité avant-dernière."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

The Egli-Milner power-ordering is used to define verisimilitude orderings on theories from preference orderings on models. The effects of the definitions on constraints such as stopperedness and soundness are explored. Orderings on theories are seen to contain more information than orderings on models. Belief revision is defined in terms of both types of orderings, and conditions are given which make the two notions coincide.

Using methods of abstract logic and the theory of valuation, we prove that there is no paraconsistent negation obeying the law of double negation and such that $\neg(a\wedge\neg a)$ is a theorem which can be algebraized by a technique similar to the Tarski-Lindenbaum technique.

Non-governmental organizations and pressure groups have taken up the mission of counterbalancing the huge power of the multinational corporations. Curiously, while most NGOs have a sincere ethical background and a genuine ethical motivation, the way some activist groups and NGOs themselves act does not always live up to the principles they advocate. Research using a multiple case study methodology is used to provide an illustration of various questionable practices followed by pressure groups revealing a range of tactics. The concerns, the (...) objectives and the legitimacy of NGOs and activist groups will be discussed, along with their strategies and tactics. A framework will be developed as a basis for analysing the ethical aspects of the various NGO actions. The analysis of the cases will reveal some worrisome inconsistencies between the demands and the practices of NGOs and activist groups. Should not the means employed by activists and NGOs be consistent with their own espoused or implied values? As power gives responsibility, NGOs should be seen as having corporate stakeholder responsibility. (shrink)

Paul Ekman's view of the emotions is, we argue, pervasive in psychology and is explicitly shaped to be compatible with evolutionary thinking. Yet, strangely, jealousy and parental love, two emotions that figure prominently in evolutionary psychology, are absent from Ekman's list of the emotions. In this paper we examine why Ekman believes this exclusion is necessary, and what this implies about the limits of his conception of emotion. We propose an alternative way of thinking about emotion that does not exclude (...) jealousy and parental love. (shrink)

Jean-Yves Strasser The Olympia of Alexandria and the Pancratiast M. Aur. Asklepiades p.421-468 The Alexandrian Olympia are known thanks to inscriptions and especially papyri. The latter mention the olympionikoi, who may have been victors not in the great competition at Pisa, but in the Olympia of the Egyptian city. These competitions, created under Marcus Aurelius, became eiselastikoi under Gallien; they were first celebrated in 268. Like the majority of the great competitions in Egypt, they took place in the winter (...) of even years divisible by four. That was the case already in the 2nd century AD: the first Olympia were organised in 180. In 200, at the time of the sixth celebration, the periodonikes M. Aur. Asklepiades won the Olympia pancration in the presence of Septimius Severus and Caracalla. An inscription at Coptus (I. Portes 88) mentions a hellanodikes of Alexandria: he could have been serving at the time of the seventeenth Olympiad in 244; in 246-247 he had a statue of Sarapis Polieus erected under the prefect of Egypt Valerius Firmus. (shrink)

Une enquête sur le statut et les usages du document sonore dans la musique contemporaine depuis les débuts de la phonographie, par le compositeur et musicologue qui travaille au croisement de la musique électroacoustique, de la composition contemporaine et de l'art sonore.

YVES CHARLES ZARKA. — Vous affirmez, au début de votre livre L’homme ce roseau pensant : « Ma réflexion s’intégrera à une vision matérialiste, évolutionniste, darwinienne et moniste, mais non réductionniste. » Comme vous le savez, bon nombre de vos collègues se réclament d’une approche réductionniste,...

Jean-Jacques Rousseau est l'auteur de l'entrée "économie politique" dans l'Encyclopédie en 1755. A ce titre, il aurait pu être l'un des fondateurs de cette discipline. Pourtant, la définition qu'il en donne est à l'encontre de la pensée libérale des physiocrates, puis des classiques, et constitue une véritable "anti-économique". En hypertrophiant le rôle de l'Etat et en niant l'intérêt personnel, Rousseau est au contraire l'un des pères du socialsme. En niant la liberté humaine, il nie aussi l'existence de choix éthiques.

En parallèle avec le dossier d’œuvres que Warren Neidich a préparé pour la rubrique Icônes, cet article pose les bases théoriques d’analyses conceptuelles et d’expérimentations politiques faisant du « cerveau sans organes » un principe de résistance aux dangers posés par le « cerveau câblé ». La multiplication d’interfaces promettant d’assurer une communication directe entre nos systèmes nerveux et nos appareils de computation est ici envisagée à travers la mutation du cognitariat du capitalisme cognitif en un « précariat surordonné » (...) du capitalisme neuronal, c’est-à-dire d’une force de travail disponible 24/7 dont les capacités cognitives, affectives, mémorielles et imaginatives seraient techniquement modulables selon les besoins de l’appareil productif. (shrink)

a philosophy of life based on spirituality and goodness.

Les discours populistes sont habituellement décrits comme des perversions des procédures démocratiques, alors qu’ils méritent bien plutôt d’être interprétés comme des révélateurs de la nature « médiarchique » de nos régimes politiques. Neuf « hippothèses » cavalières esquissent une analyse invitant à considérer les populismes en termes d’effets mass-médiatiques qui se nourrissent des perversions qu’ils font mine de dénoncer.