The dorsal anterior cingulate cortex is a key node in the human salience network. It has been ascribed motor, pain-processing and affective functions. However, the dynamics of information flow in this complex region and how it responds to inputs remain unclear and are difficult to study using non-invasive electrophysiology. The area is targeted by neurosurgery to treat neuropathic pain. During deep brain stimulation surgery, we recorded local field potentials from this region in humans during a decision-making task requiring motor output. (...) We investigated the spatial and temporal distribution of information flow within the dACC. We demonstrate the existence of a distributed network within the anterior cingulate cortex where discrete nodes demonstrate directed communication following inputs. We show that this network anticipates and responds to the valence of feedback to actions. We further show that these network dynamics adapt following learning. Our results provide evidence for the integration of learning and the response to feedback in a key cognitive region. (shrink)

Deep Brain Stimulation is currently being investigated as an experimental treatment for patients suffering from treatment-refractory AN, with an increasing number of case reports and small-scale trials published. Although still at an exploratory and experimental stage, initial results have been promising. Despite the risks associated with an invasive neurosurgical procedure and the long-term implantation of a foreign body, DBS has a number of advantageous features for patients with SE-AN. Stimulation can be fine-tuned to the specific needs of the particular patient, (...) is relatively reversible, and the technique also allows for the crucial issue of investigating and comparing the effects of different neural targets. However, at a time when DBS is emerging as a promising investigational treatment modality for AN, lesioning procedures in psychiatry are having a renaissance. Of concern it has been argued that the two kinds of interventions should instead be understood as rivaling, yet “mutually enriching paradigms” despite the fact that lesioning the brain is irreversible and there is no evidence base for an effective target in AN. We argue that lesioning procedures in AN are unethical at this stage of knowledge and seriously problematic for this patient group, for whom self-control is particularly central to wellbeing. They pose a greater risk of major harms that cannot justify ethical equipoise, despite the apparent superiority in reduced short term surgical harms and lower cost. (shrink)

Under the current Mental Health Act of England and Wales, it is lawful to perform deep brain stimulation in the absence of consent and independent approval. We argue against the Care Quality Commission's preferred strategy of addressing this problematic issue, and offer recommendations for deep brain stimulation-specific provisions in a revised Mental Health Act.

Jesper Ryberg and Julian Roberts teach ethics and criminology at Roskilde University and the University of Oxford respectively. In Sentencing and Artificial Intelligence, they have curated a powerf...

Background -/- Innovative neurosurgical treatments present a number of known risks, the natures and probabilities of which can be adequately communicated to patients via the standard procedures governing obtaining informed consent. However, due to their novelty, these treatments also come with unknown risks, which require an augmented approach to obtaining informed consent. -/- Objective -/- This paper aims to discuss and provide concrete procedural guidance on the ethical issues raised by serious unexpected complications of novel deep brain stimulation treatments. -/- (...) Approach -/- We illustrate our analysis using a case study of the unexpected development of recurrent stereotyped events in patients following the use of deep brain stimulation (DBS) to treat severe chronic pain. Examining these unexpected complications in light of medical ethical principles, we argue that serious complications of novel DBS treatments do not necessarily make it unethical to offer the intervention to eligible patients. However, the difficulty the clinician faces in determining whether the intervention is in the patient's best interests generates reasons to take extra steps to promote the autonomous decision making of these patients. -/- Conclusion and recommendations -/- We conclude with clinical recommendations, including details of an augmented consent process for novel DBS treatment. (shrink)

Gilbert et al. have raised important questions about the empirical grounding of neuroethical analyses of the apparent phenomenon of Deep Brain Stimulation ‘causing’ personality changes. In this paper, we consider how to make neuroethical claims appropriately calibrated to existing evidence, and the role that philosophical neuroethics has to play in this enterprise of ‘evidence-based neuroethics’. In the first half of the paper, we begin by highlighting the challenges we face in investigating changes to PIAAAS following DBS, explaining how different trial (...) designs may be of different degrees of utility, depending on how changes to PIAAAS following DBS are manifested. In particular, we suggest that the trial designs Gilbert et al. call for may not be able to tell us whether or not DBS directly causes changes to personality. However, we suggest that this is not the most significant question about this phenomenon; the most significant question is whether these changes should matter morally, however they are caused. We go on to suggest that neuroethical analyses of novel neuro-interventions should be carried out in accordance with the levels of evidence hierarchy outlined by the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, and explain different ways in which neuroethical analyses of changes to PIAAAS can be evidence-based on this framework. In the second half of the paper, we explain how philosophical neuroethics can play an important role in contributing to mechanism-based reasoning about potential effects on PIAAAS following DBS, a form of evidence that is also incorporated into the CEBM levels of evidence hierarchy. (shrink)

'Brainjacking’ refers to the exercise of unauthorized control of another’s electronic brain implant. Whilst the possibility of hacking a Brain–Computer Interface (BCI) has already been proven in both experimental and real-life settings, there is reason to believe that it will soon be possible to interfere with the software settings of the Implanted Pulse Generators (IPGs) that play a central role in Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) systems. Whilst brainjacking raises ethical concerns pertaining to privacy and physical or psychological harm, we claim (...) that the possibility of brainjacking DBS raises particularly profound concerns about individual autonomy, since the possibility of hacking such devices raises the prospect of third parties exerting influence over the neural circuits underpinning the subject’s cognitive, emotional and motivational states. However, although it seems natural to assume that brainjacking represents a profound threat to individual autonomy, we suggest that the implications of brainjacking for individual autonomy are complicated by the fact that technologies targeted by brainjacking often serve to enhance certain aspects of the user’s autonomy. The difficulty of ascertaining the implications of brainjacking DBS for individual autonomy is exacerbated by the varied understandings of autonomy in the neuroethical and philosophical literature. In this paper, we seek to bring some conceptual clarity to this area by mapping out some of the prominent views concerning the different dimension of autonomous agency, and the implications of brainjacking DBS for each dimension. Drawing on three hypothetical case studies, we show that there could plausibly be some circumstances in which brainjacking could potentially be carried out in ways that could serve to enhance certain dimensions of the target’s autonomy. Our analysis raises further questions about the power, scope, and necessity of obtaining prior consent in seeking to protect patient autonomy when directly interfering with their neural states, in particular in the context of self-regulating closed-loop stimulation devices. (shrink)

How does a democracy that has survived a close brush with authoritarianism start to recreate conditions of meaningful democratic political competition? What steps are to be taken, and in what order? Certain lessons can be gleaned from comparative experience with the challenges of “front-sliding”—that is, the process of rebuilding the necessary political, legal, epistemic, and sociological components of democracy. This essay maps out those challenges, examines the distinctive and difficult question of punishing individuals who have been drivers of democratic backsliding, (...) and reflects on how to sequence different elements of front-sliding. (shrink)

للنقود دور هام في حياة الناس والمجتمعات البشرية ، كما أن لها دورا أساسيا ومحوريا في النظام الاقتصادي. ويتعرض الاقتصاد إلى العديد من المشكلات والنكسات التي تترك الأثر البليغ في استقراره وأحواله ، وبالتالي ينعكس ذلك على الوضع الاقتصادي المتقلب على الأوضاع المعيشية ، والتجارية لأفراد المجتمع. وتبرز مشكلة انخفاض قيمة النقود كإحدى هذه المشكلات التي تصيب الاقتصاد ، وهو ما يُطلق عليه " التضخم " حيث تنخفض قيمة النقود مقابل ارتفاع سعر السلع والمواد. يؤثر هذا الانخفاض لقيمة النقود على (...) معاملات الناس وبيعهم بالأجل ، أو الديون التي لهم في ذمم الآخرين فيأتي موعد القرض أو البيع بالأجل وقد تبدلت قيمة النقود من حيث قوتها وقيمتها الحقيقية ، فيكون المدفوع عند حلول الأجل غير مساوٍ أو مكافئ للمدفوع في أول العقد وبداية التعامل. فيقع الغُبنُ الكبير على أحد طرفي العقد دون تقصير أو سبب منه. فهل هناك اعتبار لتبدل قيمة النقود ارتفاعا أو انخفاضا في سداد الديون أو الحقوق المترتبة في الذمة أم لا ؟ تعددت أقوال العلماء في هذه المسألة : فمنهم من قالوا: بوجوب ارجاع المثل ، والبعض الآخر قالوا : برد القيمة ، ومنهم من فرّق بين الاختلاف اليسير والكبير في قيمة النقود ، ومنهم من جعل الخسارة مناصفة بين طرفي العقد. Para, insanların ve insan toplumlarının yaşamlarında önemli bir role sahiptir. Aynı zamanda ekonomik sisteminde temel ve çok önemli bir rolü de mevcuttur. Ekonomi, istikrarı ve koşulları üzerinde finansal bir etki bırakan pek çok sorun ve aksaklıkla karşı karşıyadır ve bu durum, yaşam koşullarındaki dalgalı ekonomik duruma ve toplumdaki bireylerin ticaretine yansımaktadır. Paranın değerinin düşmesi sorunu, ekonomiyi etkileyen bu sorunlardan biri olarak karşımıza çıkıyor. Paranın değerinin düşmesi sorunu, malların ve malzemelerin fiyatındaki artış karşılığında paranın değerinin düştüğü "enflasyon" olarak adlandırılan ekonomiyi etkileyen bu sorunlardan biri olarak ortaya çıkıyor. Paranın değerindeki bu düşüş, insanların işlemlerini ve krediyle satmalarını veya başkalarının borçlarında sahip oldukları borçları etkilediğinden, kredi veya satış zamanı zamanında gelir ve paranın değeri mukavemet ve gerçek değer, böylece sözleşmenin başında ve anlaşmanın başında ödenen zamandaki ödeme eşit veya eşdeğer değildir. Sözleşmenin taraflarından birine temerrüt veya sebep olmaksızın önemli adaletsizlik düşer. Borcun ödenmesinde veya borçtan doğan haklarda paranın değerinin artması veya azalması gibi bir husus var mıdır? Âlimlerin bu konuda çeşitli açıklamaları vardır. Birçok alim aynısı zorunludur derken başka alimler küçük ve büyük farklılıklar arasında farklılık gösterilir görüşü belirtmişlerdir. Ayrıca, paranın değer kaybı akdin iki tarafın arasında bölünmeli gibi görüşler mevcuttur. (shrink)

The concept of the Islamic state, which is one of the main debates of Islamism, was an important source of motivation for Islamist movements, especially during the cold war. The debates in this context mostly focus on how to establish a relationship between the secular character of the modern state and Islam. In this study, Wael B. Hallaq's book titled The Impossible State: Islam, Politics, and Modernity's Moral Predicament will be reviewed. The book keeps this discussion current and offers a (...) different perspective. Hallaq's main thesis reveals why an Islamic state is not possible within the modern paradigm. Hallaq bases his thesis on the paradigm difference between modern law and Islamic law. İslamcılığın temel tartışma konularından biri olan İslam devleti kavramı, özellikle soğuk savaş döneminde İslamcı hareketlerin önemli bir motivasyon kaynağıydı. Bu bağlamdaki tartışmalar daha çok modern devletin seküler karakteri ile İslam arasında nasıl bir ilişkinin kurulacağı üzerine odaklanılmaktadır. Bu çalışmada değerlendirilecek olan Wael B. Hallaq’ın İmkânsız Devlet çalışması bu tartışmayı hem canlı kılmakta hem de farklı bir perspektif sunmaktadır. Hallaq’ın temel tezi modern dönemde bir İslam devletinin niçin mümkün olmadığını ortaya koymaktadır. Hallaq, tezini İslam hukuku ile modern devletin dayandığı hukukun paradigmatik düzeyde birbirinden nasıl farklı olduklarını inceleyerek temellendirmektedir. (shrink)

Ẓuhūr al-amān (The advent of security) is a book on civics published during the reign of Ammanullah Khan (1919-29) as amir of Afghanistan. The book's title pays homage to the name of Ammanullah Khan himself. In its treatment of the duties of the members of Afghan society to the ruler and to each other, Ẓuhūr al-amān appears to highlight the challenges faced by Ammanullah Khan in his efforts to modernize Afghanistan. The book is divided into more than 30 short chapters (...) describing the rights and responsibilities of the ruler, of persons living within a family unit, and of members of Afghan society as a whole. Some sections, such as one on the rights that are to be afforded to the king (ḥuquq-i lazima bar padishah), are further divided into subsections. The book begins with several chapters on religious matters, including those on tauhid (the unity of God), on ʻibada (worship), and on fahm-i sharīʻat-i rasūl ʻalayhi al-salām (the sharia). Ẓuhūr al-amān was published on October 11, 1923, by the then newly established Ministry of Education. The author of the work, a religious scholar by the name of ʻAbd al-Haqq, lists his father as ʻAbd al-ʻAziz from the village of Lower Arghanda in the township of Paghman, near Kabul. He highlights, as well, his tribal affiliation with the well-known Pushtun tribe of Suleimankhel. (shrink)

Sanayi devrimi sonrası Avrupa Devletleri’nde üretimin artması, yeni pazar ve hammadde ihtiyacını da beraberinde getirmiştir. Bu ihtiyacın giderilebilmesi için sanayi ürünlerinin ve üretim araçlarının tanıtılması amacı ile uluslararası sergiler düzenlenmeye başlanmıştır. Ayrıca bu sergilerle ülkelerin bilim, sanayi, teknoloji ve tarım alanındaki gelişme ve yeniliklerinin herkese duyurulması amaçlanmıştır. Öncülüğünü Fransa ve İngiltere’nin yaptığı sanayi sergileri, ilgili ülkelerin sömürgelerinden gelen hammadde ve bu hammaddelerden üretilen sanayi ürünlerinin pazarlanmasına yönelik olarak yapılmıştır. Başlangıçta sanayi ve ticari amaçla başlatılan sergiler, Avrupa ile Avrupa dışında bulunan (...) devletlerin kültür ve yerel sanatları arasında, etkileşime de sebep olmuştur. 18. yüzyılın sonlarından itibaren Fransa'da ulusal düzeyde ve 19. yüzyılın ilk yarısında çeşitli Avrupa ülkelerinde düzenlenen benzer olayların doruk noktası olan Londra sergisi ilk uluslararası sergi olarak kayda geçmiştir. 1851 yılında Londra’da açılan sergi bundan sonra düzenlenen diğer uluslararası sergilere de ilham kaynağı olmuştur. (shrink)

As with many other countries, Malaysia is also developing and promoting biomedical research to increase the understanding of human diseases and possible interventions. To facilitate this development, there is a significant growth of biobanks in the country to ensure continuous collection of biological samples for future research, which contain extremely important personal information and health data of the participants involved. Given the vast amount of samples and data accumulated by biobanks, they can be considered as reservoirs of precious biomedical big (...) data. It is therefore imperative for biobanks to have in place regulatory measures to ensure ethical use of the biomedical big data. Malaysia has yet to introduce specific legislation for the field of biobanking. However, it can be argued that its existing Personal Data Protection Act 2010 has laid down legal principles that can be enforced to protect biomedical big data generated by the biobanks. Consent is a mechanism to enable data subjects to exercise their autonomy by determining how their data can be used and ensure compliance with legal principles. However, there are two main concerns surrounding the current practice of consent in biomedical big data in Malaysia. First, it is uncertain that the current practice would be able to respect the underlying notion of autonomy, and second, it is not in accordance with the legal principles of the PDPA. Scholars have deliberated on different strategies of informed consent, and a more interactive approach has recently been introduced: dynamic consent. It is argued that a dynamic consent approach would be able to address these concerns. (shrink)

While the concept of work ethic has been discussed in the Arab context :35–49, 2009), the significant conceptual and methodological limitations of the existing work ethic and work value research elucidate the need for a more robust investigation of the multidimensional work ethic construct in the Arab context. Multidimensionality of the work ethic concept has gained considerable attention in recent years as researchers attempt to move away from the religiously labeled Islamic and Protestant work ethic conceptualizations. The current study examines (...) the Arab work ethic through the use of the multidimensional work ethic profile on a sample of future business leaders in the United Arab Emirates. A total of 484 business students completed an Arabic version of the MWEP short form. The results show that centrality of work and hard work are the highest scoring work ethics followed by self-reliance, wasted time, and leisure. There are significant differences in work ethic dimensions across gender and categories of family breadwinner. No significant differences in work ethic dimensions are observed across categories of nationality and work preference groups. The findings are discussed in relation to the unique insight they offer on the nature of work ethic in an Arab context. (shrink)

The Farm to Fork (F2F) Strategy at the heart of the European Union’s Green Deal set out to create a “just transition” towards a sustainable food system, with benefits for all actors. We conducted a critical discourse analysis (CDA) to explore discourses around power in the food system and farmers’ position in the communication and implementation of the Farm to Fork Strategy. Discourse analysis encapsulates various scientific methodologies for deciphering the meaning behind the creation and communication of different forms of (...) language and identify power dynamics, amongst other aspects. We identified two prior discourses in one of the objectives of the European Union’s new Common Agricultural Policy (2023-27). Our analysis found that the discourses, namely “rebalance power in food system” and “strengthening farmers’ position in value chains,” are marginalized in favour of an innovation-investment discourse, indicative of greater financialization and technologization based on techno-finances fixes in transforming the European Union agri-food system. We argue that entities representing agri-business interests have been influential in the policymaking process and voices representing smallholder and medium-sized farmers’ transformational discourses have been excluded. (shrink)

The past decade has seen major movements and mobilizations against the new crop of bilateral free trade and investment agreements being pursued by governments in the wake of the failure of global (World Trade Organization) and regional (e.g. Free Trade Area of the Americas) negotiations, and the defeat of an attempted Multilateral Agreement on Investment in the 1990s. However, in spite of much scholarly, non-governmental organization (NGO) and activist focus on transnational global justice activism, many of these movements, such as (...) the major multi-sectoral popular struggle over the recently-concluded US-Korea Free Trade Agreement, are hardly acknowledged in North America and Europe. With a shift in emphasis pushing liberalization and deregulation of trade and investment increasingly favouring lower-profile bilateral agreements, this article maps the resistance movements to these latest shifts in global free market capitalist relations and discusses the disconnect between these (mainly Southern) struggles and dominant scholarly and NGO conceptions of global justice and the global justice movement as well as questions of knowledge production arising from these movements. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: Defining the Subject The Scope of Philosophy in the Islamic Context Sources and Legacy The Political Orientation of Islamic Philosophy Some Salient Themes The Great Debate Alternative Traditions Concluding Comment Works cited.

This book compiles and reviews the most prominent linguistic theories into a single source that serves as an essential reference for future solutions to one of the most important challenges of our age.