Topic: Advancing the Adverse Outcome Pathway Framework - An International Horizon Scanning Approa... more Topic: Advancing the Adverse Outcome Pathway Framework - An International Horizon Scanning Approach, Paper no. 602
Both a significant body of literature and the case study presented here show that digital knowled... more Both a significant body of literature and the case study presented here show that digital knowledge repositories struggle to attract the needed level of data and knowledge contribution that they need to be successful. This happens also to high profile and prestigious initiatives. The paper argues that the reluctance of researchers to contribute can only be understood in light of the highly competitive context in which research careers need to be built nowadays and how this affects researchers’ quality of life. Competition and managerialism limit the discretion of researchers in sharing their results and in donating their working time. A growing corpus of research shows that academic researchers are increasingly overworked and highly stressed. This corroborates the point that the room for undertaking additional tasks with future and uncertain benefits is very limited. The paper thus recommends that promoters of digital knowledge repositories focus on the needs of the researchers who ...
The Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) concept is a knowledge assembly and communication tool to facil... more The Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) concept is a knowledge assembly and communication tool to facilitate the transparent translation of mechanistic information into outcomes meaningful to the regulatory assessment of chemicals. The AOP framework and associated knowledgebases (KBs) have received significant attention and use in the regulatory toxicology community. However, it is increasingly apparent that the potential stakeholder community for the AOP concept and AOP KBs is broader than scientists and regulators directly involved in chemical safety assessment. In this paper we identify and describe those stakeholders who currently-or in the future-could benefit from the application of the AOP framework and knowledge to specific problems. We also summarize the challenges faced in implementing pathway-based approaches such as the AOP framework in biological sciences, and provide a series of recommendations to meet critical needs to ensure further progression of the framework as a useful...
ABSTRACT This book inquires into the question: How to think about ethics in a technological world... more ABSTRACT This book inquires into the question: How to think about ethics in a technological world? This question has three facets: technological advance poses new challenges for ethics, traditional ethics may become poorly applicable in a technological world, and the progress in science and technology has undermined ethical thinking itself. A thematic treatment of these three dimensions of the problematic is followed by an analysis of three central approaches to the questions framed. These are Hans Jonas’ ethics of responsibility, Albert Borgmann’s phenomenological analysis of everyday life in a technological civilization, and Larry Hickman’s pragmatist philosophy of technology. The inquiry concludes with a sketch of future directions for ethics of technology. This includes assessing the roles of applied ethics, science and technology studies (STS), and philosophy of technology in ethics of technology. While the author agrees on the need for an interdisciplinary dialogue between these three traditions, he argues for the primacy of philosophy of technology in thinking about ethics in technology. Furthermore, the centrality of “mid-level ethics” is elaborated on in the conclusion. Here mid-level refers to ethically pregnant phenomena in the realm between instantaneous choices by an individual (micro level) and questions about fundamental principles of justice and societal goods (macro level). Mid-level thus concerns, for instance, habits, practices, and communal institutions.
Studies in history and philosophy of biological and biomedical sciences, Jan 17, 2015
The paper uses two historical examples, public health (1840-1880) and town planning (1945-1975) i... more The paper uses two historical examples, public health (1840-1880) and town planning (1945-1975) in Britain, to analyse the challenges faced by goal-driven research, an increasingly important trend in science policy, as exemplified by the prominence of calls for addressing Grand Challenges. Two key points are argued. (1) Given that the aim of research addressing social or global problems is to contribute to improving things, this research should include all the steps necessary to bring science and technology to fruition. This need is captured by the idea of practical integration, which brings this type of research under the umbrella of collective practical reason rather than under the aegis of science. Achieving practical integration is difficult for many reasons: the complexity of social needs, the plurality of values at stake, the limitation of our knowledge, the elusive nature of the skills needed to deal with uncertainty, incomplete information and asymmetries of power. Neverthel...
Studies in history and philosophy of biological and biomedical sciences, Jan 16, 2015
This collection addresses two different audiences: 1) historians and philosophers of the life sci... more This collection addresses two different audiences: 1) historians and philosophers of the life sciences reflecting on collaborations across disciplines, especially as regards defining and addressing Grand Challenges; 2) researchers and other stakeholders involved in cross-disciplinary collaborations aimed at tackling Grand Challenges in the life and medical sciences. The essays collected here offer ideas and resources both for the study and for the practice of goal-driven cross-disciplinary research in the life and medical sciences. We organise this introduction in three sections. The first section provides some background and context. The second motivates our take on this topic and then outlines the central ideas of each paper. The third section highlights the specificity and significance of this approach by considering: a) how this collection departs from existing literature on inter- and trans-disciplinarity, b) what is characteristic about this approach, and c) what role this sug...
The primary aim of this interpretive essay is to reconstruct some of the most important features ... more The primary aim of this interpretive essay is to reconstruct some of the most important features of Rawls's theory of justice, and to offer a hypothesis about how its assumptions and arguments are tied together in a highly structured construction. An almost philological approach is adopted to highlight Rawlsian ideas. First, I consider in what sense Rawls is an individualist and in what sense he is not. From this I conclude that he ought not be charged of psychological egoism or atomism. Then I consider the role of rational choice, the contract and the relation of the latter to the criterion of reflective equilibrium. Here, pride of place is given to the reflexive method, while the role of contract and rational choice, though not denied, is downgraded. Finally, I enquire whether Rawls can be considered a universalist, and suggest that this category, owing to the theory's practical aim and pragmatic method, is of little use. If successful, my reconstruction should offer a better insight into the theory and dispel some possible misunderstandings. But my presentation should not be read as either an assessment or a defense.
... have been quarantined: for instance citizens of Japanese ancestry in the USA during World War... more ... have been quarantined: for instance citizens of Japanese ancestry in the USA during World War II. ... resistant microbes, it is interesting to look at a real case of a public health important initiative ... tackle the spread of an infectious disease in which concern for the emergence of drug ...
Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 2007
This collection of essays has a very promising, but slightly misleading, title. The Internet is b... more This collection of essays has a very promising, but slightly misleading, title. The Internet is becoming the medium for a large variety of activities and relations, is transforming our perception of time and distance, and is spreading new ways of communicating and cooperating while undermining old ones. No doubt it is transforming our lives, but how much and how deeply is it transforming our values and demanding new principles and virtues? Such are the issues broached by this book. With the exception of the first essay – which in my view remains rather alien to the project – the contributions in Part I tackle some familiar moral problems and the way in which they present themselves in cyberspace. The essays are recognizable instances of applied ethics: they illustrate concrete problems and try to suggest possible solutions. In so doing they show how moral and legal questions such as copyright, plagiarism, pornography and trust present themselves in the online world. The first two issues have admittedly gained new prominence by the advent of the Internet, and they are very good examples of how a new, powerful and widespread medium can bring back to the fore ethical issues that might have looked more or less morally settled and hence ‘cold’. Both Spinello’s chapter on copyright and Hinman’s on plagiarism among students offer a good deal of factual information about the impact of the Internet on these issues, and do so with clarity. I am less convinced by their normative solutions. Spinello takes too much of a conservative approach and fails to appreciate how practices and possibilities that emerge with the digital media do in fact challenge our intuitions and sensibility and remind us that our normative horizon might be neither timeless nor unquestionable. In this respect, the more historically and socially aware approach taken by Nissembaum in her chapter on hackers (in Part II) shows how important it is to have a bigger picture in order to appreciate and reveal the ethical implications of new technologies. Hinman adopts a strongly Aristotelian position in putting forward a list of virtues that would support an effective fight against students’ plagiarism. I don’t have any objection in using an ethical theory for analytical purposes, to highlight the moral issues and stakes raised by digital technologies, but when ancient ethical theories are used as sources of normative prescriptions many serious questions arise. Our world and Book Reviews
Topic: Advancing the Adverse Outcome Pathway Framework - An International Horizon Scanning Approa... more Topic: Advancing the Adverse Outcome Pathway Framework - An International Horizon Scanning Approach, Paper no. 602
Both a significant body of literature and the case study presented here show that digital knowled... more Both a significant body of literature and the case study presented here show that digital knowledge repositories struggle to attract the needed level of data and knowledge contribution that they need to be successful. This happens also to high profile and prestigious initiatives. The paper argues that the reluctance of researchers to contribute can only be understood in light of the highly competitive context in which research careers need to be built nowadays and how this affects researchers’ quality of life. Competition and managerialism limit the discretion of researchers in sharing their results and in donating their working time. A growing corpus of research shows that academic researchers are increasingly overworked and highly stressed. This corroborates the point that the room for undertaking additional tasks with future and uncertain benefits is very limited. The paper thus recommends that promoters of digital knowledge repositories focus on the needs of the researchers who ...
The Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) concept is a knowledge assembly and communication tool to facil... more The Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) concept is a knowledge assembly and communication tool to facilitate the transparent translation of mechanistic information into outcomes meaningful to the regulatory assessment of chemicals. The AOP framework and associated knowledgebases (KBs) have received significant attention and use in the regulatory toxicology community. However, it is increasingly apparent that the potential stakeholder community for the AOP concept and AOP KBs is broader than scientists and regulators directly involved in chemical safety assessment. In this paper we identify and describe those stakeholders who currently-or in the future-could benefit from the application of the AOP framework and knowledge to specific problems. We also summarize the challenges faced in implementing pathway-based approaches such as the AOP framework in biological sciences, and provide a series of recommendations to meet critical needs to ensure further progression of the framework as a useful...
ABSTRACT This book inquires into the question: How to think about ethics in a technological world... more ABSTRACT This book inquires into the question: How to think about ethics in a technological world? This question has three facets: technological advance poses new challenges for ethics, traditional ethics may become poorly applicable in a technological world, and the progress in science and technology has undermined ethical thinking itself. A thematic treatment of these three dimensions of the problematic is followed by an analysis of three central approaches to the questions framed. These are Hans Jonas’ ethics of responsibility, Albert Borgmann’s phenomenological analysis of everyday life in a technological civilization, and Larry Hickman’s pragmatist philosophy of technology. The inquiry concludes with a sketch of future directions for ethics of technology. This includes assessing the roles of applied ethics, science and technology studies (STS), and philosophy of technology in ethics of technology. While the author agrees on the need for an interdisciplinary dialogue between these three traditions, he argues for the primacy of philosophy of technology in thinking about ethics in technology. Furthermore, the centrality of “mid-level ethics” is elaborated on in the conclusion. Here mid-level refers to ethically pregnant phenomena in the realm between instantaneous choices by an individual (micro level) and questions about fundamental principles of justice and societal goods (macro level). Mid-level thus concerns, for instance, habits, practices, and communal institutions.
Studies in history and philosophy of biological and biomedical sciences, Jan 17, 2015
The paper uses two historical examples, public health (1840-1880) and town planning (1945-1975) i... more The paper uses two historical examples, public health (1840-1880) and town planning (1945-1975) in Britain, to analyse the challenges faced by goal-driven research, an increasingly important trend in science policy, as exemplified by the prominence of calls for addressing Grand Challenges. Two key points are argued. (1) Given that the aim of research addressing social or global problems is to contribute to improving things, this research should include all the steps necessary to bring science and technology to fruition. This need is captured by the idea of practical integration, which brings this type of research under the umbrella of collective practical reason rather than under the aegis of science. Achieving practical integration is difficult for many reasons: the complexity of social needs, the plurality of values at stake, the limitation of our knowledge, the elusive nature of the skills needed to deal with uncertainty, incomplete information and asymmetries of power. Neverthel...
Studies in history and philosophy of biological and biomedical sciences, Jan 16, 2015
This collection addresses two different audiences: 1) historians and philosophers of the life sci... more This collection addresses two different audiences: 1) historians and philosophers of the life sciences reflecting on collaborations across disciplines, especially as regards defining and addressing Grand Challenges; 2) researchers and other stakeholders involved in cross-disciplinary collaborations aimed at tackling Grand Challenges in the life and medical sciences. The essays collected here offer ideas and resources both for the study and for the practice of goal-driven cross-disciplinary research in the life and medical sciences. We organise this introduction in three sections. The first section provides some background and context. The second motivates our take on this topic and then outlines the central ideas of each paper. The third section highlights the specificity and significance of this approach by considering: a) how this collection departs from existing literature on inter- and trans-disciplinarity, b) what is characteristic about this approach, and c) what role this sug...
The primary aim of this interpretive essay is to reconstruct some of the most important features ... more The primary aim of this interpretive essay is to reconstruct some of the most important features of Rawls's theory of justice, and to offer a hypothesis about how its assumptions and arguments are tied together in a highly structured construction. An almost philological approach is adopted to highlight Rawlsian ideas. First, I consider in what sense Rawls is an individualist and in what sense he is not. From this I conclude that he ought not be charged of psychological egoism or atomism. Then I consider the role of rational choice, the contract and the relation of the latter to the criterion of reflective equilibrium. Here, pride of place is given to the reflexive method, while the role of contract and rational choice, though not denied, is downgraded. Finally, I enquire whether Rawls can be considered a universalist, and suggest that this category, owing to the theory's practical aim and pragmatic method, is of little use. If successful, my reconstruction should offer a better insight into the theory and dispel some possible misunderstandings. But my presentation should not be read as either an assessment or a defense.
... have been quarantined: for instance citizens of Japanese ancestry in the USA during World War... more ... have been quarantined: for instance citizens of Japanese ancestry in the USA during World War II. ... resistant microbes, it is interesting to look at a real case of a public health important initiative ... tackle the spread of an infectious disease in which concern for the emergence of drug ...
Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 2007
This collection of essays has a very promising, but slightly misleading, title. The Internet is b... more This collection of essays has a very promising, but slightly misleading, title. The Internet is becoming the medium for a large variety of activities and relations, is transforming our perception of time and distance, and is spreading new ways of communicating and cooperating while undermining old ones. No doubt it is transforming our lives, but how much and how deeply is it transforming our values and demanding new principles and virtues? Such are the issues broached by this book. With the exception of the first essay – which in my view remains rather alien to the project – the contributions in Part I tackle some familiar moral problems and the way in which they present themselves in cyberspace. The essays are recognizable instances of applied ethics: they illustrate concrete problems and try to suggest possible solutions. In so doing they show how moral and legal questions such as copyright, plagiarism, pornography and trust present themselves in the online world. The first two issues have admittedly gained new prominence by the advent of the Internet, and they are very good examples of how a new, powerful and widespread medium can bring back to the fore ethical issues that might have looked more or less morally settled and hence ‘cold’. Both Spinello’s chapter on copyright and Hinman’s on plagiarism among students offer a good deal of factual information about the impact of the Internet on these issues, and do so with clarity. I am less convinced by their normative solutions. Spinello takes too much of a conservative approach and fails to appreciate how practices and possibilities that emerge with the digital media do in fact challenge our intuitions and sensibility and remind us that our normative horizon might be neither timeless nor unquestionable. In this respect, the more historically and socially aware approach taken by Nissembaum in her chapter on hackers (in Part II) shows how important it is to have a bigger picture in order to appreciate and reveal the ethical implications of new technologies. Hinman adopts a strongly Aristotelian position in putting forward a list of virtues that would support an effective fight against students’ plagiarism. I don’t have any objection in using an ethical theory for analytical purposes, to highlight the moral issues and stakes raised by digital technologies, but when ancient ethical theories are used as sources of normative prescriptions many serious questions arise. Our world and Book Reviews
The paper is a critical discussion of Susan Fainstein's "The Just City". The review points out so... more The paper is a critical discussion of Susan Fainstein's "The Just City". The review points out some weaknesses of Fainstein's three-dimensional account of justice, because the dimension of equity dominates over those of democracy and diversity. Moreover, the reasons for focusing on the just city instead of the good city are questioned. The review discusses two further important issues emerging from Fainstein's book: 1) the ethos of planners and, more generally, the role of experts in policy making; 2) the use of case studies in applied ethics.
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