Repenser la subjectivité incarnée. Levinas lecteur de Husserl

This paper intends to analyze the question of the embodied subjectivity in Emmanuel Levinas’s work, starting from a specific point of view: the controversial reception of Husserl’s phenomenology. In the early period of his confrontation with Husserl, Levinas criticizes the excess of theoreticism in transcendental idealism. However, he then seems to discover right inside of it the conditions to bring the philosophical debate out of the limits of knowledge theory. This is when he recognizes the important role played by the body in the husserlian description of the act of sense-giving (Sinngebung). Though, while praising Husserl for his conception of sensibility – as the “Commentaires nouveaux” clearly show – Levinas actually proceeds to an original rethinking of the meaning of incarnation, beyond the purity of the ego, and the supposed “property” of the flesh.

Animal Rights: A Philosophical Evaluation

Animal right is one of the most controversial issues in the contemporary world. A number of scholars have been discussing on whether the animals have rights like human beings or not. Through this debate, their opinions can be put into three groups; those who deny animal moral status, those who give some moral considerations to animals but deny them a fuller moral status, and those who extend rights to animals. This paper then gives a general overview on ‘Do Animals have Rights?’ It gives the meaning of the term “right” and explains whether the term right applies to animals too. It also portrays a drama whereby animals complain against sufferings imposed on them by human beings and a response given by a human being. It is also followed by philosophical debate on animal rights: pro and cons arguments. The Christian perspective is not left out. Finally, the paper ends with critical evaluations and conclusion. In evaluation of the debate on animal rights, the study found that, animals deserve to be treated well based on the argument that they have rights as animals. The main recommendation is that human beings should change their perception concerning animals by respecting animal.

From the Death to Rebirth of Religion: Evolution of Leszek Kołakowski’s Thought in the Context of the Question: “Who Is Man?”

In his numerous books and articles, Leszek Kołakowski brought up a number of topics in the fields of the history of philosophy and contemporary philosophy. His work offers valuable insights into problems revolving around Karl Marx’s philosophy, social philosophy, and the philosophy of religion, to mention but a few. In all these areas of thought, the Polish philosopher centres his focus on the fundamental question of man. The present paper is aimed at discussing Leszek Kołakowski’s contribution to the philosophical debate on this topic. The evolution of Kołakowski’s views is traced from the Marxist concept of man which, after a certain period, is discarded by the philosopher in favour of a religious concept, to be confronted again with a liberal theory. Kołakowski is not uncritical about any of the conceptions, which testifies to the profound complexity of every attempt to gain insights into the very essence of the human being which, irrespective of the doctrine or perspective taken for interpretation, escapes clear-cut definition. However, despite the lack of unambiguous definitions Kołakowski recognises that the sole point of reference in any attempts to gain an understanding of the human condition in culture is religion.

What drives public attitudes towards moral bioenhancement and why it matters: an exploratory study

The paper represents an empirical study of public attitudes towards moral bioenhancement. Moral bioenhancement implies the improvement of moral dispositions, i.e. an increase in the moral value of the actions or character of a moral agent. The views of bioethicists and scientists on this topic are present in the ongoing debate, but not the view of the public in general. In order to bridge the gap between the philosophical debate and the view of the public, we have examined attitudes towards moral bioenhancement. The participants were people from Serbia older than 15, who voluntarily completed an online questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of a brief introduction to moral bioenhancement, seven general questions, 25 statements about participants’ attitudes towards moral bioenhancement, and five examples of moral dilemmas. The questionnaire also included questions which were used to reveal their preference of either deontology, or utilitarianism. Participants were asked to what degree they agree or disagree with the statements. The results showed that the means used to achieve moral enhancement, the level of education, and preference for deontology or utilitarianism do have an impact on public attitudes. Using exploratory factor analysis, we isolated four factors that appear to drive the respondents' attitudes toward moral bioenhancement, we named: general—closeness, fear of change, security, and voluntariness. Each factor in relationship to other variables offers new insights that can inform policies and give us a deeper understanding of the public attitudes. We argue that looking into different facets of attitudes towards moral bioenhancement improves the debate, and expands it.

Biological identity and ‘restitution’ in Argentina. Further critical arguments

In this paper we will briefly explain the context in which the appropriation of 500 children occurred during the most recent Argentinian dictatorship, in order to analyze the political demand of identity restitution of these people. We will describe the phenomenon of restitution that took place thanks to the strategy of Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, and we will analyze both the role of genetics on the restitution as well as some criticisms to a notion of biological identity considered to emerge from it. We will situate those criticisms in the philosophical debate over personal identity. The main purpose of this paper is to offer two arguments against an alleged genetic notion of personal identity. Firstly, a theoretical argument presents reasons on the basis of contemporary biological knowledge and, secondly, a practical argument refers to the productive role of biotechnologies. Finally, we will discuss some problems that arise from the criticisms themselves in order to give reasons for a defense of the restitution demand.

Living nursing values: A collective case study

<p>Distinctive humanistic values are foundational in professional nursing practice, commonly shared by members of the profession and the mainstay of how nurses act. The foundational values of the nursing discipline are balanced with clinical knowledge and technical skill. Nursing values presuppose nurses’ responsibility to nurture and protect, to heal, to cultivate healthy behaviours and attitudes, and to be present (physically and intellectually) during times of vulnerability, illness or injury. The rationale for this study came from the recognition that nursing has changed, so too have the characteristics of patients and the way healthcare is operationalised. Nurses are challenged on a daily basis to negotiate between meeting the complex needs of patients whilst addressing healthcare priorities and attending to their own personal and professional requirements. There is a growing philosophical debate about whether the healthcare climate is dehumanising health care professionals’ encounters with patients, including those of nurses, and creating a culture where enacted values are inconsistent with professionalism. The purpose of the research was to explore the values of professional nurses practicing in medical ward environments and how these values are lived in day-to-day practice. Case Study methodology was used to capture the contextual conditions of nursing values in nurses’ daily practice. Data collection was carried out in three medical wards in New Zealand; data were triangulated using observations, focus groups, interviews, burnout survey and theoretical application. The major theoretical and philosophical influences on the research, which were used to explore the data, were those of Isabel Menzies’ defences against anxiety and Edith Stein’s phenomenological theory of motivation and value. Key findings indicate that healthcare environments obstruct the enactment of humanistic nursing values stimulating value dissonance for nurses between how they want to practice and how they actually practice. Conflict arises from nurses experiencing systems that foster managerialism and cultures of anxiety. In order to cope with value dissonance, nurses enact unconscious defence mechanisms; resulting in constrained nursing practice, exhaustion, cynicism and burnout. This thesis challenges the nursing profession to acknowledge and address the visibility of nursing values in contemporary practice, as well as acknowledge the dissonance that exists between the values of nursing and the values that drive healthcare delivery. Humanistic nursing values remain important to practicing nurses. This study identifies in detail the every-day difficulties nurses face in seeking to enact their values and the managerial challenges that confront them. This information offers a trustworthy analysis of the challenges the nursing profession faces in addressing this problem. It also offers a basis for developing approaches that could strengthen nurses’ ability to enact the humanistic values they are professionally committed to provide. It is critical that any attempt to embed nursing values into clinical nursing practice is founded on a strategy that recognises and mitigates against dysfunctional organisations and organisational constraints. Drawing on findings from this thesis, it is recommended that the articulation and development of nursing values in acute clinical environments is responsive to organisational factors. Through this, the nursing community can develop, articulate and operationalise nursing values.</p>

The Epistemic Commitments of Nondiscrimination

A commitment to nondiscrimination at times appears to require both that one not act in particular ways and that one not believe certain things. This is potentially troubling if one ought to believe what one has warrant to believe, and to the extent that one can take actions that affect what one comes to believe, one ought to do so with the aim of acquiring true beliefs. This article argues that current social controversies—like the debate over the memo by the Google employee which claimed that women are less suited for careers in technology fields—demonstrate that some defenders of norms of nondiscrimination understand these norms as including epistemic commitments. The article articulates what these epistemic commitments are, explores whether they can themselves be epistemically justified and, if not, situates the popular controversy in a philosophical debate about whether moral considerations properly encroach on epistemic norms.

User education, bibliographic instruction or information literacy : semantic argument or philosophical debate

<p>Information literacy, bibliographic instruction or user education? These terms are widely used to describe the programmes designed to assist library clients in their use of library resources. There are as many variations in these programmes as there libraries. This study is designed to satisfy a professional curiosity regarding the appropriate uses of the above terms. Whilst the terms are often used interchangeably in the literature, their definitions suggest that this should not be occurring. Models of information seeking behaviours are compared with the definitions for user education, information literacy and bibliographic instruction. The matching of programme aims and objectives with the definitions of the three terms is an important aspect in the correct usage of the terms.</p>

User education, bibliographic instruction or information literacy : semantic argument or philosophical debate

<p>Information literacy, bibliographic instruction or user education? These terms are widely used to describe the programmes designed to assist library clients in their use of library resources. There are as many variations in these programmes as there libraries. This study is designed to satisfy a professional curiosity regarding the appropriate uses of the above terms. Whilst the terms are often used interchangeably in the literature, their definitions suggest that this should not be occurring. Models of information seeking behaviours are compared with the definitions for user education, information literacy and bibliographic instruction. The matching of programme aims and objectives with the definitions of the three terms is an important aspect in the correct usage of the terms.</p>

Implicit Metaethical Intuitions: Validating and Employing a New IAT Procedure

Philosophical arguments often assume that the folk tends towards moral objectivism. Although recent psychological studies have indicated that lay persons’ attitudes to morality are best characterized in terms of non-objectivism-leaning pluralism, it has been maintained that the folk may be committed to moral objectivism implicitly. Since the studies conducted so far almost exclusively assessed subjects’ metaethical attitudes via explicit cognitions, the strength of this rebuttal remains unclear. The current study attempts to test the folk’s implicit metaethical commitments. We present results of a newly developed Implicit Association Test (IAT) for metaethical attitudes which indicate that the folk generally tend towards moral non-objectivism on the implicit level as well. We discuss implications of this finding for the philosophical debate.