Avoidance of Complexity

2021 ◽  
pp. 195-236
Author(s):  
Sara E. Gorman ◽  
Jack M. Gorman
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
The Other ◽  
Scientific Thinking ◽  
Health Decisions ◽  
The Right ◽  
Health Experts ◽  
Do So

This chapter describes another reason people succumb to unscientific notions—the discomfort people have with complexity. It is not that people are incapable of learning the facts but rather they are reluctant to put in the time and effort to do so. This retreat from complexity is similar to the other reasons for science denial in that it is in many ways a useful and adaptive stance. But when making health decisions, the inability to tackle scientific details can leave one prone to accepting craftily packaged inaccuracies and slogans. Scientists, doctors, and public health experts are often not helpful in this regard because they frequently refuse to explain things clearly and interestingly. The chapter then argues that scientists need to work much harder on figuring out the best ways to communicate facts to non-scientists. It proposes some possible methods to make scientific thinking more intuitive. By focusing on the scientific method, one can begin to educate people about how to accept complexity and uncertainty, how to be skeptical, and how to ask the right questions.

Arguments used by proponents and opponents in Brazil’s regulatory discussions of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products

2021 ◽  
pp. tobaccocontrol-2021-056628
Author(s):  
Mônica Nunes-Rubinstein ◽  
Teresa Leão
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Cigarette Smoking ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Regulatory Agency ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
The Other ◽  
Tobacco Products ◽  
The Right ◽  
Over Time

ObjectivesTo identify proponents and opponents of the commercialisation and marketing of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products (HTPs), identify the arguments used on both sides and compare how the arguments have changed over time, we analysed three policy discussions occurring in 2009, 2018 and 2019.MethodsWe conducted a content analysis of one document and six videos from these discussions, provided on the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency website, or upon request.ResultsThe arguments most used by tobacco companies were related to claims that the use of e-cigarettes and HTPs is less harmful than conventional tobacco. Unions that support its commercialisation also argued that lifting the ban would prevent smuggling and guarantee their quality. On the other side, universities, medical and anti-tobacco institutions argued that such devices may have health risks, including the risk of inducing cigarette smoking. In 2009, most arguments belonged to the ‘health’ theme, while in 2018 and 2019 economic arguments and those related to morals and ethics were frequently used.ConclusionsThose that supported the commercialisation and marketing of e-cigarettes and HTPs first focused on arguments of harm reduction, while 10 years later the right to access and potential economic consequences also became common. Public health agents and academics must gather evidence to effectively respond to these arguments and discuss these policies, and must prepare themselves to use and respond to arguments related to moral and economic themes.

The Price of Deregulation

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gergely Baics
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Food Access ◽  
Social Geography ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
Living Standards ◽  
Central Question ◽  
Digital Mapping ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Right ◽  
Health Experts

This chapter aims to write food access in an unregulated environment back into our understanding of mid-nineteenth-century urban living standards. Fieldwork and social geography were the approaches pursued by public health experts. The method here is to exploit new resources with digital mapping. The central question is how did food access shape living standards in a metropolis experiencing rapid growth, rising inequalities, and intensifying segregation? Further, how did unequal access to provisions map onto the more familiar inequalities of housing, sanitation, and disease conditions? The subject is complex, and at each intersection, from issues of quantity to distribution and quality, the historical record is patchy. But posing a new set of questions and proposing new answers is a step in the right direction.

A Global Framework Convention on Health: Would it Help Developing Countries to Fulfil Their Duties on the Right to Health? A South African Perspective

2010 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 640-646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Heywood ◽  
John Shija
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
South African ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
Health Aid ◽  
African Perspective ◽  
Intellectual Knowledge ◽  
The Right ◽  
Health Experts

It is arguable that the delivery of global health has reached an impasse. This is evident not only in unresolved debates that are raging about where to allocate health aid or how to sustain and expand funding for AIDS treatment, but also in challenges facing national health systems that are incapable of purely domestic resolution. But there is some irony and much opportunity in this situation. Not only have the last 20 years seen an unprecedented growth in funding for health, mainly through funding for AIDS, but there has also been a range of initiatives and ideas that have generated better knowledge not only of the determinants of health, but also of how to attain it. Scientists, public health experts, and activists have created a store of intellectual knowledge, technology, and ideas, which, if properly and fairly deployed, might provide the opportunity to re-launch tangible progress towards the progressive realization of the right to health on a global scale.

scholarly journals The lesser of two evils: Explaining a bad choice by revealing the choice set

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
András Molnár ◽  
Shereen Jehan Chaudhry
Keyword(s):  
Decision Makers ◽  
The Other ◽  
Selfish Behavior ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
Research Designs ◽  
The Right ◽  
Do So ◽  
Choice Set

Making the right choice sometimes involves selecting the “lesser of two evils,” and only seeing the chosen option can lead others to misunderstand the decision maker’s intentions. Are decision-makers intrinsically driven to fix this misjudgment by revealing the choice set? If so, why, and what is the effect on the audience? Previous studies could not examine this desire to be understood because the research designs did not isolate the decision to reveal information from the original choice. In two experiments (N=448 pairs), we show that people are willing to pay ex post to reveal their choice set to the recipient, even after a one-shot anonymous interaction with no reputational consequences, and in some cases even when doing so reveals their selfish intentions. We find that this revealing behavior is effective at improving recipients’ rating of their outcome when it signals generous intentions, but not when it signals selfish intentions. The choice to reveal is driven by concern for the beliefs of strangers, but only when revealing signals generous intentions; those who reveal a choice that appears selfish report doing so out of a desire to be or appear honest. And though some people leave a misunderstanding in place when it is self-enhancing to do so, almost no one is willing to create a misunderstanding (by hiding the other option), even when it could conceal selfish behavior.

Cooperation, Conflict, and Reaction

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
John T. Cumbler
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
New England ◽  
The Other ◽  
Potential Conflict ◽  
Stream Pollution ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Officials ◽  
The One ◽  
The Right

When James Olcott spoke before Connecticut farmers for “anti-stream pollution,” he urged the public to mobilize to stop water pollution by “ignorant or reckless capitalists.” In identifying the “ignorant and reckless capitalists,” Olcott focused the attention of the farmers on industrial waste and the role of manufacturers in their search for profits in causing pollution. Although manufacturers and the courts argued that industrialization brought wealth and prosperity to New England and hence was a general good, Olcott challenged this idea. He saw the issue as a conflict between industrialization and its costs on the one hand and the public good on the other. Concern over industrial pollution and the potential conflict between it and public health had already arisen in Massachusetts. Although the Massachusetts State Board of Health realized that the interests of the “capitalists” and those of the public health officials might be in conflict, in 1872 it hoped that with improved knowledge, “a way will be eventually found to joining them into harmonious relations,” much as Lyman believed science and technology would resolve the conflict between fishers and mill owners. The board's interest in “harmonious relations” also reflected a realization that at least for the last several years, the courts had seen pollution as an inevitable consequence of civilization and had been favorable toward industrialists, especially if no obvious alternative to dumping pollution existed. In 1866, William Merrifield sued Nathan Lombard because Lombard had dumped “Vitriol and other noxious substances” into the stream above Merrifield's factory, “corrupting” the water so badly that it destroyed his boiler. Chief Justice Bigelow ruled that Lombard had invaded Merrifield's rights. “Each riparian owner,” the judge wrote, “has the right to use the water for any reasonable and proper purpose. . . . An injury to the purity or quality of the water to the detriment of the other riparian owners, constitutes in legal effect, a wrong.” In 1872, Merrifield again went to court, claiming the City of Worcester regularly dumped sewage into Mill Brook, by which the waters became greatly corrupted and unfit to use.”

Responsibility

2021 ◽  
pp. 161-183
Author(s):  
James Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Policy ◽  
Health System ◽  
System Design ◽  
Public Health Policy ◽  
Personal Responsibility ◽  
Health Related ◽  
The Right ◽  
Do So ◽  
Ethical Requirement

Public health policy requires decisions about how to distribute the burdens and benefits of reducing health-related risks. This chapter argues that responsibility should be assigned on the basis of the values that the health system is aiming to promote or respect, rather than by treating personal responsibility as an extrinsic ethical requirement on health system design. A health system’s answer to the question of whom to hold accountable, and how to do so, should be framed within the context of the right to public health. Where claims of irresponsibility are levelled, these should in the first instance be directed towards those who violate the right to public health, either through government or corporate agency, rather than at isolated individuals.

scholarly journals A Millennium After al-Farabī; Notes onʿAllāma Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s Political Philosophy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
SeyedAmirHossein Asghari
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
The Other ◽  
Recent Period ◽  
Intellectual Tradition ◽  
General Belief ◽  
Ideal Society ◽  
The Right ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Do So

<p>It is essential to ask why there is so little attention paid to political philosophy among these scholars? Or, if there is, why does it remain a minor or marginal conversation? Did they consider the discussion on governance under the other areas of their expertise, such as jurisprudence (<i>Fiqh</i>)? And, if yes, what motivated them to do so? Or, at least in Shia Islam, did this arise from their general belief that if there is an Imam, he is the right person to govern the community, and if we are in the occultation era, then our only choice is to wait for the Imam to return? Consequently, there is no need to philosophize an ideal society, an occurrence of which only happens with the presence of an Imam. Clarifying the questions mentioned above requires another investigation. We leave these questions aside here and focus instead on contemporary Shia philosophers to examine their thoughts on political philosophy, Utopia, or any discussion of governance. Our goal is to identify the al-Fārābīan heritage of the Islamic intellectual tradition in a more recent period.</p>

scholarly journals DEFINING THE RIGHT TO STRIKE: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION STANDARDS AND SOUTH AFRICAN LAW

Obiter ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Alli Chicktay
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
International Law ◽  
South African ◽  
The Other ◽  
International Labour Organization ◽  
International Labour Organisation ◽  
Human Right ◽  
South African Constitution ◽  
The Right ◽  
Do So

The right to strike is a fundamental human right recognized in international law and the South African Constitution. If “strike” is defined too narrowly it would deny protection that would normally be given to employees who would otherwise be participating in a strike. On the other hand if “strike” were defined too broadly it would categorize as strike action that would not normally be regarded as a strike: thus subjecting these employees to serious consequences that result from participating in an unprotected strike. These may include dismissals, interdicts and claims for compensation. South Africa has a constitutional obligation to comply with international law when interpreting human rights. The purpose of this article is to determine whether South African law defines “strike” in compliance with International Labour Organisation standards and to make suggestions for amendments to the lawwhere it fails to do so.

scholarly journals A Millennium After al-Farabī; Notes onʿAllāma Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s Political Philosophy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
SeyedAmirHossein Asghari
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
The Other ◽  
Recent Period ◽  
Intellectual Tradition ◽  
General Belief ◽  
Ideal Society ◽  
The Right ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Do So

<p>It is essential to ask why there is so little attention paid to political philosophy among these scholars? Or, if there is, why does it remain a minor or marginal conversation? Did they consider the discussion on governance under the other areas of their expertise, such as jurisprudence (<i>Fiqh</i>)? And, if yes, what motivated them to do so? Or, at least in Shia Islam, did this arise from their general belief that if there is an Imam, he is the right person to govern the community, and if we are in the occultation era, then our only choice is to wait for the Imam to return? Consequently, there is no need to philosophize an ideal society, an occurrence of which only happens with the presence of an Imam. Clarifying the questions mentioned above requires another investigation. We leave these questions aside here and focus instead on contemporary Shia philosophers to examine their thoughts on political philosophy, Utopia, or any discussion of governance. Our goal is to identify the al-Fārābīan heritage of the Islamic intellectual tradition in a more recent period.</p>

Ch.3 Validity, s.2: Grounds for avoidance, Art.3.2.9

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huber Peter
Keyword(s):  
Good Faith ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One ◽  
The Right ◽  
Do So

This commentary focuses on Article 3.2.9 of the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts (PICC) concerning confirmation. Under Art 3.2.9, if the party entitled to avoid the contract expressly or impliedly confirms the contract after the period of time for giving notice of avoidance has begun to run, avoidance of the contract is excluded. Art 3.2.9 serves two purposes. On the one hand, it restricts the right to avoid the contract in a certain type of situation where the avoidance would be contrary to good faith. On the other hand, it emphasizes the fact that the party entitled to avoid the contract under the preceding provisions is not obliged to do so, but may also elect to treat the contract as valid. This commentary discusses the requirements for confirmation, whether express or implied, and the ground for avoidance, time for confirmation, and the effect of confirmation on the right to avoid the contract.

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