The “Good” Psychologist, “Good” Torture, and “Good” Reputation—Response to O’Donohue, Snipes, Dalto, Soto, Maragakis, and Im “The Ethics of Enhanced Interrogations and Torture”.Jean Maria Arrigo,David DeBatto,Lawrence Rockwood &Timothy G.Mawe -2015 -Ethics and Behavior 25 (5):361-372.detailsO’Donohue et al. sought to derive, from classical ethical theories, the ethical obligation of psychologists to assist “enhanced interrogations and torture” in national defense scenarios under strict EIT criteria. They asked the American Psychological Association to adopt an ethics code obligating psychologists to assist such EIT and to uphold the reputation of EIT psychologists. We contest the authors’ ethical analyses as supports for psychologists’ forays into torture interrogation when the EIT criteria obtain. We also contend that the authors’ application of (...) these ethical analyses violates the Geneva Conventions, contravenes military doctrine and operations, and undermines psychology as a profession. We conclude that “good” public reputation is not owed to, or expected by, “good” intelligence professionals, and collaborating operational psychologists must share their providence. (shrink)
Lest the World Forget: Sri Lanka’s Educational Needs after the 2004 Tsunami.Timothy G. Cashman &Joyce G. Asing-Cashman -2006 -Journal of Social Studies Research 30 (2):30-37.detailsThis qualitative study strives to provide a greater understanding of the past, current, and future state of education in Sri Lanka after the 2004 tsunami. The researchers’ key objectives are to provide additional insight to educators of the far-reaching impact of the tsunami via a website they created. Rather than concentrate on the same sort of information that media have provided, the researchers seek to inform participants from the perspective of first hand accounts of life after the tsunami, with special (...) attention paid to successes and obstacles that have yet to be faced by survivors in affected regions. (shrink)
Homeric "androteta kai hében".Timothy G. Barnes -2011 -Journal of Hellenic Studies 131:1-13.detailsThis paper points out some of the weaknesses of the traditional account of the Homeric phrase androteta kai hében and suggests instead that the entire phrase is a relatively recent creation of the tradition on the model of an *an(b)roteta kai hében. This phrase in turn has a clear Avestan cognate hauruuatata ameretata.
Essence and Realization in the Ontological Argument.Timothy G. McCarthy -2016 -Faith and Philosophy 33 (1):5-24.detailsA persistent complaint about modal forms of the ontological argument is that the characteristic modalized existence assumptions of these arguments are simply too close to the conclusion to be of much probative value in establishing it. I present an abstract form of the ontological argument in which the properties imputed to the divine nature by these assumptions are replaced by any of a wide class of properties of a sort I call “actualizing.” These include basic theistic attributes such as authorship, (...) sovereignty and omniscience. The import of these arguments is to show that the metaphysical coherence of some of the most familiar conceptions of the divine nature ensures their actual realization. (shrink)
(1 other version)Non-Western educational traditions: alternative approaches to educational thought and practice.Timothy G. Reagan -2000 - Mahwah, N.J.: L. Erlbaum Associates.detailsThis text provides a brief, yet comprehensive, overview of a number of non-Western approaches to educational thought and practice. The history of education, as it has been conceived and taught in the United States (and generally in the West), has focused almost entirely on the ways in which our own educational tradition emerged, developed, and changed over the course of the centuries. Although understandable, this means the many ways that other societies have sought to meet many of the same challenges (...) have been ignored. This book seeks to redress this omission. Its premise is that gaining an understanding of the ways that other peoples educate their children--as well as what counts for them as "education"--may help us to think more clearly about some of our own assumptions and values, as well as to become more open to alternative viewpoints about important educational matters. Because it is not traditionally included in the training of educators, very few have had any real exposure to non-Western educational traditions. Thus, the audience for this book is broad and diverse. Intended as a text for both preservice and in-service teachers, each chapter includes pedagogically helpful "Questions for Discussion and Reflection" and "Recommended Further Readings." The book is equally appropriate for advanced students in graduate programs as well as faculty members. New in the Second Edition: The text has been thoroughly revised to expand and clarify points, update chapters as needed, and improve the pedagogical usefulness of the text. A section on Mayan education has been added to the chapter on the Mesoamerican educational experience. One entirely new chapter "'Familiar Strangers': The Case of the Rom" has been included. (shrink)
Public Versus Private Sector Procurement Ethics and Strategy: What Each Sector can Learn from the Other. [REVIEW]Timothy G. Hawkins,Michael J. Gravier &Edward H. Powley -2011 -Journal of Business Ethics 103 (4):567-586.detailsThe government purchasing market constitutes the largest business sector in the world. While marketers would benefit from a deep understanding of both sectors, how the two sectors differ in terms of ethics and strategy largely remains unknown. The purpose of this research, therefore, is to explore differences between the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors on two critical aspects of business-to-business procurement: ethics and strategy. Using survey data from a sample of 328 procurement professionals in the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors, key differences (...) are explored. Findings suggest that buyers in the for-profit sector are more likely to behave opportunistically. Conversely, the buyers’ leaders in the not-for-profit sector behave more opportunistically and are more willing to turn a blind eye to their subordinate buyers’ opportunistic behaviors. In addition, key differences in procurement strategy are unveiled suggesting that not-for-profit procurement practices have some room for improvement. Based on the findings, theoretical and managerial implications are drawn, and a future research agenda is proposed. (shrink)
Endosymbiotic ratchet accelerates divergence after organelle origin.Debashish Bhattacharya,Julia Van Etten,L. Felipe Benites &Timothy G. Stephens -2023 -Bioessays 45 (1):2200165.detailsWe hypothesize that as one of the most consequential events in evolution, primary endosymbiosis accelerates lineage divergence, a process we refer to as the endosymbiotic ratchet. Our proposal is supported by recent work on the photosynthetic amoeba, Paulinella, that underwent primary plastid endosymbiosis about 124 Mya. This amoeba model allows us to explore the early impacts of photosynthetic organelle (plastid) origin on the host lineage. The current data point to a central role for effective population size (Ne) in accelerating divergence (...) post‐endosymbiosis due to limits to dispersal and reproductive isolation that reduce Ne, leading to local adaptation. We posit that isolated populations exploit different strategies and behaviors and assort themselves in non‐overlapping niches to minimize competition during the early, rapid evolutionary phase of organelle integration. The endosymbiotic ratchet provides a general framework for interpreting post‐endosymbiosis lineage evolution that is driven by disruptive selection and demographic and population shifts. Also see the video abstract here: https://youtu.be/gYXrFM6Zz6Q. (shrink)
The Global Luxuries Tax.TimothyMawe &Vittorio Bufacchi -2015 - In H. Gaisbauer, G. Schweiger & C. Sedmak,Philosophical Explorations of Justice and Taxation. Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, vol 40. Springer.detailsThis chapter proposes a policy to tackle the problem of global poverty, the Global Luxuries Tax. The GLT is a levy collected whenever a person, anywhere in the world, purchases a certain luxury good or service. The money collected will go towards a Global Poverty Fund to be used to alleviate the worst cases of global poverty. The tax is a miniscule percentage of the price of the good or service being purchased, so that the GLT raises money for the (...) Global Poverty Fund by virtue of the high number of transactions taking place. The first part of the chapter will highlight two main pitfalls faced by any potential solution to the problem of global poverty, the Unintended Consequences Objection and the Implementation Objection. The second and third parts will introduce the idea of a Global Luxuries Tax, first in theory and then in practice. Examples of luxuries to be taxed by the GLT include air travel, financial transactions, texting on mobile phones, and procreation. In the final part some objections to the GLT will be considered, and appeased. (shrink)
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Gutsy Moves: The Amygdala as a Critical Node in Microbiota to Brain Signaling.Caitlin S. M. Cowan,Alan E. Hoban,Ana Paula Ventura-Silva,Timothy G. Dinan,Gerard Clarke &John F. Cryan -2018 -Bioessays 40 (1):1700172.detailsThe amygdala is a key brain area regulating responses to stress and emotional stimuli, so improving our understanding of how it is regulated could offer novel strategies for treating disturbances in emotion regulation. As we review here, a growing body of evidence indicates that the gut microbiota may contribute to a range of amygdala-dependent brain functions from pain sensitivity to social behavior, emotion regulation, and therefore, psychiatric health. In addition, it appears that the microbiota is necessary for normal development of (...) the amygdala at both the structural and functional levels. While further investigations are needed to elucidate the exact mechanisms of microbiota-to-amygdala communication, ultimately, this work raises the intriguing possibility that the gut microbiota may become a viable treatment target in disorders associated with amygdala dysregulation, including visceral pain, post-traumatic stress disorder, and beyond. Also see the video abstract here: https://youtu.be/O5gvxVJjX18 The amygdala plays a central role in regulating many aspects of behavior in rodents and humans, from pain responding to social interaction and psychiatric function. Accumulating evidence suggests microbiota-to-amygdala communication along the gut-brain axis is a key modulator of these amygdala-dependent behaviors, with critical implications for health and disease. (shrink)
A tricky trait: applying the fruits of the “function debate” in the philosophy of biology to the “venom debate” in the science of toxinology.Timothy N. W. J. Jackson &Bryan G. Fry -2016 -.detailsThe “function debate” in the philosophy of biology and the “venom debate” in the science of toxinology are conceptually related. Venom systems are complex multifunctional traits that have evolved independently numerous times throughout the animal kingdom. No single concept of function, amongst those popularly defended, appears adequate to describe these systems in all their evolutionary contexts and extant variations. As such, a pluralistic view of function, previously defended by some philosophers of biology, is most appropriate. Venom systems, like many other (...) functional traits, exist in nature as points on a continuum and the boundaries between “venomous” and “non-venomous” species may not always be clearly defined. This paper includes a brief overview of the concept of function, followed by in-depth discussion of its application to venom systems. A sound understanding of function may aid in moving the venom debate forward. Similarly, consideration of a complex functional trait such as venom may be of interest to philosophers of biology. (shrink)
God in early Christian thought: essays in memory of Lloyd G. Patterson.L. G. Patterson,Andrew Brian McGowan,Brian E. Daley &Timothy J. Gaden (eds.) -2009 - Boston: Brill.detailsThese essays use particular issues, thinkers and texts to engage the question of God in early Christianity.
Exploring disparities between global hiv/aids funding and recent tsunami relief efforts: An ethical analysis.Timothy Christie,Getnet A. Asrat,Bashir Jiwani,Thomas Maddix &Julio S. G. Montaner -2006 -Developing World Bioethics 7 (1):1–7.detailsABSTRACT Objective: To contrast relief efforts for the 26 December 2004 tsunami with current global HIV/aids relief efforts and analyse possible reasons for the disparity. Methods: Literature review and ethical analysis. Results: Just over 273,000 people died in the tsunami, resulting in relief efforts of more than US$10 bn, which is sufficient to achieve the United Nation’s long‐term recovery plan for South East Asia. In contrast, 14 times more people died from HIV/aids in 2004, with UNAIDS predicting a US$8 bn (...) funding gap for HIV/aids in developing nations between now and 2007. This disparity raises two important ethical questions. First, what is it that motivates a more empathic response to the victims of the tsunami than to those affected by HIV/AIDS? Second, is there a morally relevant difference between the two tragedies that justifies the difference in the international response? The principle of justice requires that two cases similarly situated be treated similarly. For the difference in the international response to the tsunami and HIV/aids to be justified, the tragedies have to be shown to be dissimilar in some relevant respect. Are the tragedies of the tsunami disaster and the HIV/aids pandemic sufficiently different, in relevant respects, to justify the difference in scope of the response by the international community? Conclusion: We detected no morally relevant distinction between the tsunami and the HIV/aids pandemic that justifies the disparity. Therefore, we must conclude that the international response to HIV/aids violates the fundamental principles of justice and fairness. (shrink)
Explaining Mythical Composite Monsters in a Global Cross-Cultural Sample.Timothy W. Knowlton &Seán G. Roberts -2023 -Journal of Cognition and Culture 24 (1-2):51-74.detailsComposite beings (“monsters”) are those mythical creatures composed of a mix of different anatomical forms. There are several scholarly claims for why these appear in the imagery and lore of many societies, including claims that they are found near-universally as well as those arguments that they co-occur with particular sociocultural arrangements. In order to evaluate these claims, we identify the presence of composite monsters cross-culturally in a global sample of societies, the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample. We find that composite beings are (...) not universal, and that their presence or absence co-varies most significantly with social stratification and transportation technology. This supports hypotheses that the cultural evolution of composite monsters is driven by human concerns with social distinctions within societies as well as increased contact with distant peoples. (shrink)
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Challenging procedures used in systematic reviews by promoting a case‐based approach to the analysis of qualitative methods in nursing trials.Elizabeth G. Creamer,Timothy C. Guetterman,Ishtar Govia &Michael D. Fetters -2021 -Nursing Inquiry 28 (2):e12393.detailsThis methodological discussion invites critical reflection about the procedures used to analyze the contribution of qualitative and mixed methods research to nursing trials by mounting an argument that these should rest on multiple publications produced about a project, rather than a single article. We illustrate the value‐added of this approach with findings from a qualitative, cross‐case analysis of three critical case exemplars from nursing researchers that each used a qualitative approach with a mixed method phase. The holistic lens afforded by (...) a case‐based approach informs nursing inquiry by documenting that the critical case exemplars presented evidence of (a) a sustained commitment of resources and expertise for the qualitative methods that extended across more than one phase of the trial, (b) the impact of the qualitative methods on the trial or its aftermath, (c) deploying a theoretical or conceptual framework for a variety of purposes, and (d) integrating qualitative and quantitative data for purposes of extending explanatory power. Findings challenge the practice of linking purposes served by qualitative and mixed methods to a single trial phase. (shrink)
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Planning for hospital ethics committees: Meeting the needs of the professional staff. [REVIEW]Timothy D. Rawlins &John G. Bradley -1990 -HEC Forum 2 (6):361-374.detailsHospital ethics committees (HECs) have historically been instituted top-down, often ignoring the needs of the professionals and patients who might use their services. Seventy-four physicians and 123 nurses participated in a hospital-wide needs assessment designed to [1] identify their perceptions of the functions of the HEC, [2] determine which services and educational programs were most desired, and [3] explore which forums were most preferred for discussion of ethical problems. Results indicated that utilization of the HEC focused around five areas of (...) concern: withdrawing/withholding treatment, rationing and control of health care, children's rights, role of the patient and family in decisionmaking, and disagreements about treatment. Physicians and nurses differed widely in their attitudes. Perceptions about the appropriate functions of the HEC strongly influenced decisions regarding which HEC services to use. Needs assessment can play an important role in developing HEC goals and designing programs that meet the needs of professionals. (shrink)
Palliative care and ethics.Timothy E. Quill &Franklin G. Miller (eds.) -2014 - New York: Oxford University Press.detailsHospice is the premiere end of life program in the United States, but its requirement that patients forgo disease-directed therapies and that they have a prognosis of 6 months or less means that it serves less than half of dying patients and often for very short periods of time. Palliative care offers careful attention to pain and symptom management, added support for patients and families, and assistance with difficult medical decision making alongside any and all desired medical treatments, but it (...) does not include a comprehensive system of care as is provided by hospice. The practice of palliative care and hospice is filled with sometimes overt (requests for hastened death in an environment where such acts are legally prohibited) and other times covert (the delay in palliative care referral because the health care team believes it will undermine disease directed treatment) ethical issues. The contributors to this volume use a series of case presentations within each chapter to illustrate some of the palliative care and hospice challenges with significant ethical dimensions across the three overarching domains: 1) care delivery systems; 2) addressing the many dimensions of suffering; and 3) difficult decisions near the end of life. The contributors are among the most experienced palliative care, hospice and ethics scholars in North America and Western Europe. Each has been given relatively free reign to address what they feel are the most pressing ethical challenges within their domain, so a wide range of positions and vantage points are represented. As a result, the volume provides a very diverse ethical exploration of this relatively young field that can deepen, stretch, and at times confront any simple notion of the challenges facing patients, their families, professional caregivers, and policy makers. (shrink)
DNA databanks and consent: A suggested policy option involving an authorization model. [REVIEW]Timothy Caulfield,Ross E. G. Upshur &Abdallah Daar -2003 -BMC Medical Ethics 4 (1):1-4.detailsBackground Genetic databases are becoming increasingly common as a means of determining the relationship between lifestyle, environmental exposures and genetic diseases. These databases rely on large numbers of research subjects contributing their genetic material to successfully explore the genetic basis of disease. However, as all possible research questions that can be posed of the data are unknown, an unresolved ethical issue is the status of informed consent for future research uses of genetic material. Discussion In this paper, we discuss the (...) difficulties of an informed consent model for future ineffable uses of genetic data. We argue that variations on consent, such as presumed consent, blanket consent or constructed consent fail to meet the standards required by current informed consent doctrine and are distortions of the original concept. In this paper, we propose the concept of an authorization model whereby participants in genetic data banks are able to exercise a certain amount of control over future uses of genetic data. We argue this preserves the autonomy of individuals at the same time as allowing them to give permission and discretion to researchers for certain types of research. Summary The authorization model represents a step forward in the debate about informed consent in genetic databases. The move towards an authorization model would require changes in the regulatory and legislative environments. Additionally, empirical support of the utility and acceptability of authorization is required. (shrink)
Activity Workstations in High Schools: Decreasing Sedentary Behavior Without Negatively Impacting Schoolwork.June J. Pilcher,Timothy L. Hulett,Paige S. Harrill,Jessie M. Cashman,G. Lawson Hamilton &Eva Diaz -2022 -Frontiers in Psychology 13.detailsHigh school students are at risk for increased sedentary behavior due in part to a decrease in physical activity throughout adolescence and to required sedentary behavior during much of the school day. The purpose of the current study is to examine the impact of using activity workstations in a high school English class for struggling readers. Twenty high school students participated in the study. The participants completed a 16-week study where each participant used an activity workstation for 8 weeks and (...) a traditional desk for 8 weeks in a crossover design for a 40-min period during normal class. They responded to a series of subjective questions about reading and schoolwork at the beginning and end of each 8-week session and followed the READ 180 program designed to help struggling readers during the study. The results indicated that academic performance increased in both desk conditions during the study and from the beginning to the end of the study. In addition, there was a significant improvement in items in the subjective survey related to reading, motivation, and schoolwork in both desk conditions across the study. The current results suggest that using an activity workstation in the classroom did not negatively affect academic performance or students’ perceptions of working on academic assignments compared to the traditional desk condition. These results indicate that activity workstations could be implemented in classrooms to provide students with a non-sedentary option during the school day thus increasing physical activity in students. (shrink)
Complex ecology: foundational perspectives on dynamic approaches to ecology and conservation.Charles G. Curtin &Timothy F. H. Allen (eds.) -2018 - Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.detailsMost of us came into ecology with memories of special personal places. A cliff top that Claude Monet might have painted. Allen as a youth spent his holidays on the Dorset Coast near Swanage; he can still smell the sea breeze of his childhood. Curtin grow up on a farm in southwestern Wisconsin, the dew of the grass and the bright green on a June morning remains vivid. The catching of reptiles and insects for him awakened a curiosity about the (...) natural world that has remained to this day. But once into the field there came the scholarship. With ever tighter grant monies, the pressure to publish takes so much of the fun out of it. A climate of unbridled careerism prevails and shows itself in the incremental state of the literature: little things to list on this year's activities report. There are now even predatory journals that cynically do not seriously review submissions, and only collect page charges. As journal editors have a desperate time getting reviews done by mature scholars, instead of a hand off to their overworked graduate students. So what is to be done - how can we bring the joy and importance of discovery back into it all? After all ecology is done by human beings. Mostly it is a personal mission, for what great ecologists write is frequently personal and life changing. So an undercurrent of this book is to remind and reveal the original purpose of science. Not professional advancement, but the genuine search for novel ideas and the imperative to share hard won insights and personal passions. (shrink)
Topological Ramsey spaces from Fraïssé classes, Ramsey-classification theorems, and initial structures in the Tukey types of p-points.Natasha Dobrinen,José G. Mijares &Timothy Trujillo -2017 -Archive for Mathematical Logic 56 (7-8):733-782.detailsA general method for constructing a new class of topological Ramsey spaces is presented. Members of such spaces are infinite sequences of products of Fraïssé classes of finite relational structures satisfying the Ramsey property. The Product Ramsey Theorem of Sokič is extended to equivalence relations for finite products of structures from Fraïssé classes of finite relational structures satisfying the Ramsey property and the Order-Prescribed Free Amalgamation Property. This is essential to proving Ramsey-classification theorems for equivalence relations on fronts, generalizing the (...) Pudlák–Rödl Theorem to this class of topological Ramsey spaces. To each topological Ramsey space in this framework corresponds an associated ultrafilter satisfying some weak partition property. By using the correct Fraïssé classes, we construct topological Ramsey spaces which are dense in the partial orders of Baumgartner and Taylor generating p-points which are k-arrow but not \-arrow, and in a partial order of Blass producing a diamond shape in the Rudin-Keisler structure of p-points. Any space in our framework in which blocks are products of n many structures produces ultrafilters with initial Tukey structure exactly the Boolean algebra \\). If the number of Fraïssé classes on each block grows without bound, then the Tukey types of the p-points below the space’s associated ultrafilter have the structure exactly \. In contrast, the set of isomorphism types of any product of finitely many Fraïssé classes of finite relational structures satisfying the Ramsey property and the OPFAP, partially ordered by embedding, is realized as the initial Rudin-Keisler structure of some p-point generated by a space constructed from our template. (shrink)
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Cornell Realism, Explanation, and Natural Properties.Luis R. G. Oliveira &Timothy Perrine -2017 -European Journal of Philosophy 25 (2):1021-1038.detailsThe claim that ordinary ethical discourse is typically true and that ethical facts are typically knowable seems in tension with the claim that ordinary ethical discourse is about features of reality friendly to a scientific worldview. Cornell Realism attempts to dispel this tension by claiming that ordinary ethical discourse is, in fact, discourse about the same kinds of things that scientific discourse is about: natural properties. We offer two novel arguments in reply. First, we identify a key assumption that we (...) find unlikely to be true. Second, we identify two features of typical natural properties that ethical properties lack. We conclude that Cornell Realism falls short of dispelling the tension between ethical conservativism and ethical naturalism. (shrink)
Complete chemical synthesis, assembly, and cloning of a mycoplasma genitalium genome.Daniel Gibson,Benders G.,A. Gwynedd,Cynthia Andrews-Pfannkoch,Evgeniya Denisova,Baden-Tillson A.,Zaveri Holly,Stockwell Jayshree,B.Timothy,Anushka Brownley,David Thomas,Algire W.,A. Mikkel,Chuck Merryman,Lei Young,Vladimir Noskov,Glass N.,I. John,J. Craig Venter,Clyde Hutchison,Smith A. &O. Hamilton -2008 -Science 319 (5867):1215--1220.detailsWe have synthesized a 582,970-base pair Mycoplasma genitalium genome. This synthetic genome, named M. genitalium JCVI-1.0, contains all the genes of wild-type M. genitalium G37 except MG408, which was disrupted by an antibiotic marker to block pathogenicity and to allow for selection. To identify the genome as synthetic, we inserted "watermarks" at intergenic sites known to tolerate transposon insertions. Overlapping "cassettes" of 5 to 7 kilobases (kb), assembled from chemically synthesized oligonucleotides, were joined by in vitro recombination to produce intermediate (...) assemblies of approximately 24 kb, 72 kb ("1/8 genome"), and 144 kb ("1/4 genome"), which were all cloned as bacterial artificial chromosomes in Escherichia coli. Most of these intermediate clones were sequenced, and clones of all four 1/4 genomes with the correct sequence were identified. The complete synthetic genome was assembled by transformation-associated recombination cloning in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, then isolated and sequenced. A clone with the correct sequence was identified. The methods described here will be generally useful for constructing large DNA molecules from chemically synthesized pieces and also from combinations of natural and synthetic DNA segments. 10.1126/science.1151721. (shrink)
On the complexity of classifying lebesgue spaces.Tyler A. Brown,Timothy H. Mcnicholl &Alexander G. Melnikov -2020 -Journal of Symbolic Logic 85 (3):1254-1288.detailsComputability theory is used to evaluate the complexity of classifying various kinds of Lebesgue spaces and associated isometric isomorphism problems.
Can Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Regulated Effectively?Franklin G. Miller,Howard Brody &Timothy E. Quill -1996 -Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics 24 (3):225-232.detailsWith breathtalung speed, traditional criminal prohibitions against assisted suicide have been declared unconstitutional in twelve states, including California and New York. This poses great promise and great peril. The promise is that competent terminally ill patients, as a compassionate measure of last resort, will have the option of putting an end to their suffering by physician-assisted suicide. More sigmficant, legally permitting this controversial option may be a catalyst for doctors, health care institutions, and society to improve the care of the (...) dying. PAS should be limited only to those relatively few competent patients who continue to suffer intolerably despite unrestrained efforts to palliate and who face a continued existence that they regard as worse than death. When dying patients know they will not be abandoned to miserable and pointless suffering if palliative care fails, they will be fortified to cope better with the process of dying.The immediate peril is that PAS will become a quick fix, available on demand to any patient diagnosed as terminally ill, thus bypassing palliative care and producing premature deaths. (shrink)
From a Pragmatist’s Point of View.Ernest G. Rigney &Timothy C. Lundy -2015 -European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy 7 (1).detailsIn 1914, on the eve of the Great War, the eminent scholar and polymath, Theodore Merz, published what would be the final volume of his magisterial history of nineteenth-century European thought. A belated review of this volume appeared in the April 1918 issue of the American Historical Review. This particular review, though favorable, was inexplicably unsigned. Our paper offers compelling evidence that the author of this unsigned review was George H. Mead, the pragmatist philosopher from the University of Chicago. The (...) paper is organized in the following fashion. First, several types of documentary evidence are cited in support of the claim that Mead authored the unsigned review. Second, content analysis is used to identify themes in the review that reflect the distinctive intellectual concerns of Mead. One such concern was the ability of research-based science to address and rectify problematic aspects of social life. The concluding section of the paper reprints in its entirety Mead’s 1918 review. (shrink)
(2 other versions)G.H. Mead's Understanding of the Nature of Speech in the Light of Contemporary Research.Timothy J. Gallagher -2012 -Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 42 (1):40-62.detailsThe following analysis demonstrates that G.H. Mead's understanding of human speech is remarkably consistent with today's interdisciplinary field that studies speech as a natural behavior with an evolutionary history. Mead seems to have captured major empirical and theoretical insights more than half a century before the contemporary field began to take shape. In that field the framework known as “Tinbergen's Four Questions,” developed in ecology to study naturally occurring behavior in nonhuman animals, has been an effective organizing framework for research (...) on human speech. It is used in this paper to organize the comparison of Mead with contemporary scholars. The analysis concludes that Mead was, in a sense, “beyond” the Four Questions by recognizing the limitations of reductionist methods in understanding the nature of conscious phenomena, especially language. Mead's socially situated model of the nature of human speech makes him relevant to today's field where some see an undervaluation of the treatment of language as a social process. (shrink)
The effect of expertise on collaborative problem solving.Timothy J. Nokes-Malach,Michelle L. Meade &Daniel G. Morrow -2012 -Thinking and Reasoning 18 (1):32 - 58.detailsWhy do some groups succeed where others fail? We hypothesise that collaborative success is achieved when the relationship between the dyad's prior expertise and the complexity of the task creates a situation that affords constructive and interactive processes between group members. We call this state the zone of proximal facilitation in which the dyad's prior knowledge and experience enables them to benefit from both knowledge-based problem-solving processes (e.g., elaboration, explanation, and error correction) andcollaborative skills (e.g., creating common ground, maintaining joint (...) attention to the task). To test this hypothesis we conducted an experiment in which participants with different levels of aviation expertise, experts (flight instructors), novices (student pilots), and non-pilots, read flight problem scenarios of varying complexity and had to identify the problem and generate a solution with either another participant of the same level of expertise or alone. The non-pilots showed collaborative inhibition on problem identification in which dyads performed worse than their predicted potential for both simple and complex scenarios, whereas the novices and experts did not. On solution generation the non-pilot and novice dyads performed at their predicted potential with no collaborative inhibition on either simple or complex scenarios. In contrast, expert dyads showed collaborative gains, withdyads performing above their predicted potential, but only for the complex scenarios. On simple scenarios the expert dyads showed collaborative inhibition and performed worse than their predicted potential. We discuss the implications of these results for theories of collaborative problem solving. (shrink)