Después de varias décadas de discusiones, críticas y revisiones, muchos autores han cuestionado hoy la vigencia de los planteamientos del constructivismo científico. Este texto muestra que sus principales planteamientos y legados siguen vigentes, aunque se han transformado en varias perspectivas que afirman la contingencia de la ciencia y la tecnología, en un sentido compatible con algunos puntos de vista realistas, y en las que se valora la acción conjunta, la co-construcción o el ensamble mutuo entre varios elementos y factores heterogéneos. (...) De esta manera, sigue siendo una de las principales perspectivas epistemológicas y metafísicas en las ciencias sociales y naturales. Las transformaciones que se han producido en relación con el constructivismo tienen que ver fundamentalmente con algunos cambios en la forma de entender la construcción: se han colocado límites a las intenciones políticas críticas, deconstructivas de la construcción, y al sentido monista, y sustancialista social; y se ha producido un giro ontológico hacia un sentido plural, relacional, y positivo de construcción. En este texto se hace una detallada revisión crítica del origen, el sentido, los aportes, los malentendidos y los problemas del constructivismo científico tecnológico, con el propósito de analizar su evolución, o la manera cómo ha devenido y se ha transformado en otros puntos punto de vista, como lo sugiere el título. (shrink)

El presente estudio se realizó con el objetivo de evaluar el impacto del estrés emocional en la adecuada toma de decisiones y práctica médica oportuna y de calidad de los estudiantes que cursan el quinto año de la carrera en la Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Se utilizó una lista de valoración para las competencias de la simulación de reanimación cardiopulmonar avanzada, y un Cuestionario de Maslach Burnout Inventory para valorar los sentimientos, actitudes y de (...) desgaste profesional. Los resultados muestran que aquellos que estaban expuestos a mayor cantidad de labores recientes y estrés fueron más propensos de incidir en errores médicos durante la toma de decisiones y su aprendizaje. This study was conducted with the aim of assessing the impact of emotional stress in the appropriate decision-making and quality medical practice of fifth year medical students from the Faculty of Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. It was used an assessment list for cardiopulmonary resuscitation simulation competence and a Maslach Burnout Inventory Questionnaire was used to assess feelings, attitudes and professional wear and tear. Results show those who were exposed to a greater number of recent tasks and to greater stress were more likely to make medical mistakes while making decisions and learning. (shrink)

Business Ethics, the Environment &Responsibility, Volume 31, Issue 4, Page 981-998, October 2022.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between contextual work-related factors on the one hand, in terms of job demands (i.e., risk factors) and job resources (i.e., protective factors), and work-family conflict in teachers on the other. Building on the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, we hypothesized that job demands, namely qualitative and quantitative workload, are positively associated with work-family conflict in teachers. Moreover, in line with the buffer hypothesis of the JD-R, we expected job resources, in terms (...) of support from supervisor, job autonomy, and participation in decision making, to affect this association, which is expected to be stronger when job resources are low. The study was conducted in an Italian secondary school. Overall, 122 teachers completed a self-report questionnaire aimed at determining work-family conflict, as well as job demands and resources. The hypothesized relationships were tested using moderated multiple regression. The results of this study largely support our predictions. First, both aspects of workload were positively associated with work-family conflict. Secondly, job resources, including support from supervisor and participation in decision making, buffered this association, which was stronger when resources were low. On the contrary, job autonomy did not buffer the association between workload and work-family conflict. Overall, the results of this study are consistent with the Job Demands-Resources model and contribute to to the understanding of work–family conflict among teachers. More specifically, our study suggests that teachers with high levels of job resources, namely support from supervisor and participation in decision making, can effectively cope with job demands, in terms of both qualitative and quantitative workload, thus preventing negative consequences such as conflict between work and family domains. Interventions aimed at preventing work-family conflict among teachers should encourage organizations to optimize the balance between job demands and resources, as well as the identification and training of the workers at risk of work-family conflict. (shrink)

The purpose of this contribution is to analyse climate change litigation in an innovative way, considering it as an example of “privatisation” of international law, and unravelling the “ecological” side of conflict-of-laws climate change litigation. The paper will first explain the concept of privatisation of law as applied to international law and what it means in the context of climate change litigation, before moving to a landmark case, whose appeal is still pending in front of a domestic court in Europe: (...) Milieudefensie et al. v. Royal Dutch Shell plc. The focus of the analysis of the cases will be limited to the use of the conflict-of-laws mechanism present in the Rome II Regulation, namely Article 7. The paper critically assesses the principle of ubiquity included in this provision, by looking at the concept of “event giving rise to the damage” as applied in CO2 reduction claims in the existing legal scholarship and using an underexplored ecofeminist perspective. Inspired by the work “A relational feminist approach to conflict of laws” by Roxana Banu (2017), the paper argues for a relational understanding of the concept of “event” and goes further to consider in an ecofeminist perspective the environment as composed of human, non-human beings and natural objects, and of their relations with each other. The article is meant to be a starting point for further research, which for the first time applies ecofeminist theories to private international law. (shrink)

This Reflection starts from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as unprecedented occasio to reflect on the approach to international law, which—it is contended—is anthropocentric, and its inadequacy to respond to current challenges. In the first part, the Reflection argues that there is, more than ever, an undeferrable need for a change of approach to international law toward ecocentrism, which puts the environment at the center and conceives the environment as us, including humans, non-human beings, and natural objects. To encourage the incorporation (...) of ecocentrism in the entire discipline, the Reflection will rely on some insight of ecofeminism, whose potential has not been fully investigated in international legal scholarship. In the second part, the Reflection illustrates what an eco-centric international law would mean, imagining three possible applications: first, what the author has called environmental global health, which is connected to the current pandemic and puts into question the proposals dealing with global health that completely miss the theorization of the environment as a whole; second, how actors of international law would change according to an eco-centric perspective; and, third, how the rules prohibiting the use of force might be reconceptualized. The analysis contained in these pages cannot itself exhaust all the possible nuances of the legal reasoning, but it is aimed at being a provocative starting point for a change in the mindset and approach of international legal scholarship. (shrink)

This study focusses on discourses on menopause through a critical reading of a selection of nine self-help books on the topic in the context of Dutch-speaking Belgium and the Netherlands. The aim is to explore whether self-help books constrain or facilitate the development of emancipatory discourses on menopause. We combine feminist critiques that identify the experience of menopause as a site of potential for revolt with insights from queer and critical new-materialist theorisation to probe the books’ emancipatory capacity. Our analysis (...) identifies three prominent discursive repertoires: a medical, psycho-therapeutic and spiritual repertoire. Anger and erotic power emerge as important themes, albeit differently framed dependent on the discursive repertoires that the books employ. We conclude that none of the books succeed in disrupting prevailing oppressive discourses that devalue ageing women. There are two important constraints, notably the books’ individualistic and depoliticised stance and their reductionist view on the biological body. As a way out, we propose a gaga feminist reading of menopause that looks at anger and erotic power as sites of ‘biopossibilities’ that may open space for overthrowing oppressive models of gender, sexuality and desire. (shrink)

In feminist media studies, the growing body of research on media production has indicated that journalism remains divided along gender lines. The purpose of this study is to address the lack of relevant multi-method research on gender inequality in journalism. To assess the structural position of women in the journalistic workforce, the authors conducted a large-scale survey of journalists in Belgium. The survey results were explored in more depth by conducting qualitative interviews with 19 female journalists. The analysis confirms the (...) existence of all traditional barriers that women journalists experience. The added value of this study is that it enumerates several additional difficulties, and offers insight into the strategies that the respondents use to deal with gender-related career obstacles. These strategies were associated with the degree of flexibility in the newsroom for journalists with children, the choice to work part-time or freelance, and the use of new communication technologies. (shrink)

The aim of this essay is to provide an overview of New Realism in its opposition and reaction to Postmodernism. An analysis of the implications of both philosophical approaches in diverse fields will be offered, from epistemology, to politics, to ethics. Ethical new realism is presented as particularly promising and important to the future of philosophy.

The aim of this paper is to investigate among a group of non-profit organizations: a) the effect of ethical leadership on volunteers’ satisfaction, affective organizational commitment and intention to stay in the same organization; b) the role played by job satisfaction as a mediator in the relationship between ethical leadership and volunteers’ intentions to stay in the same organization, as well as between ethical leadership and affective commitment. An anonymous questionnaire was individually administered to 198 Italian volunteers of different non-profit (...) organizations. The questionnaire contained the Ethical Leadership Scale, the Volunteers Satisfaction Index, the Affective organization Scale, as well as questions regarding the participants’ age, sex, type of work, level of education, length of their volunteer works, intention to volunteer in the following months in the same organization. The construct as well the effects of EL on volunteers is approached in light of the Social Exchange Theory and the Social Learning Theory. Structural equation models were used to test hypothesized relationships. The results confirm the role of mediation of volunteer satisfaction in the relationships between the variables studied. In particular, ethical leadership was found to be positively associated both with volunteers’ intention of staying and with their affective commitment. In the first case this relationship is fully explained by the mediation of the volunteers’ satisfaction, while the latter is explained by both direct and indirect factors. To the authors’ knowledge, this the first attempt to understand the role played by ethical leadership on volunteers’ behavior and, more in general, in the management of non-profit organizations. Findings are relevant both for practitioners and managers of non-profit organization, since they suggest the relevance of the perception of ethical leadership by volunteers, as well as for scholars, since they further deepen the knowledge on EL and its effects on the followers. Limits of the study: the questionnaire was administered only among a group of non-statistical sample of volunteers. Furthermore, the study reached only volunteers from Italian non-profit organization. (shrink)

There is increasing interest in determining what impact having women in management positions may have on corporate social responsibility initiatives. Various authors suggest that gender equality practices should be factored into the broader framework of CSR. This paper examines how the presence of women on corporate boards, in top and middle management and as heads of CSR departments, influences gender equality practices in the field of CSR. Using information collected from companies that have signed up to Women's Empowerment Principles in (...) Spain, we show that the presence of women in the aforesaid posts has a positive impact on CSR activities with gender equality objectives. We thus supplement the justice, business and moral arguments with further arguments in support of the incorporation of women into not only corporate boards but all management positions. Finally, we provide a view of how gender equality can be included in the broader framework of CSR. (shrink)

In considering what it means to lead organizations effectively and ethically, the literature comprising spirituality at work and spiritual leadership theory has become highly influential, especially in the USA. It has also attracted significant criticism. While in this paper, we endorse this critique, we argue that the strand of literature which purportedly takes a Christian standpoint within the wider SAW school of thought, largely misconstrues and misapplies the teaching of its founder, Jesus. As a result, in dismissing the claims and (...) application of SAW and SLT, there is a real risk that we lose the vital contribution of Christian thought, not least some of the timeless counter-cultural wisdom of Jesus which, we contend, offers a vital foundation to the practice of ethical leadership and business ethics in organizations. In proposing a way forward, two thorny issues which face all leaders are addressed: dealing with ego and closing the gap between what we say and what we do. The more we understand about the dynamics of human nature, the more we learn about the profundity of Jesus’ teachings. We then propose a number of ways in which Jesus-centred ethical leadership can be practised. Each is radical and each implies risk: both the personal risk of inner renewal arising from repentance as a doorway to personal integrity, as well as the risk of opposing unethical practices and promoting the excellence of core practices in the workplace. (shrink)

During the past two decades or so, the emergence and ever-accelerating development of digital media have sparked scholarly interest, debates, and complex challenges across many disciplines in the social sciences and the humanities. Within this diverse scholarship, the research on digitality, gender, sexuality, and embodiment has contributed substantially to many academic fields, such as media studies, sociology, religion, philosophy, and education studies. As a part of the special issue “Gender, Sexuality, and Embodiment in Digital Spheres: Connecting Intersectionality and Digitality,” this (...) roundtable consists of a conversation between five researchers from different (inter)disciplinary locations, all addressing matters of methodology, intersectionality, positionality, and theory in relation to the topics of gender, sexuality, and embodiment in digital spheres. Said roundtable begins with a critical self-positioning of the participants’ (inter)disciplinary and embodied locations using examples from their own research. The conversation then progresses to how these researchers have employed contemporary theories, conceptual vocabularies, methods, and analyses of gender, sexuality, and embodiment in digital spheres to then conclude with some ethico-political notes about collaborations between scholars and (digital) activists. (shrink)

An increasing number of studies demonstrated the involvement of the cerebellum in sequence processing. The current preliminary study is the first to investigate the causal involvement of the cerebellum in sequence generation, using low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation. By targeting the posterior cerebellum, we hypothesized that the induced neuro-excitability modulation would lead to altered performance on a Picture and Story sequencing task, which involve the generation of the correct chronological order of various social and non-social stories depicted in cartoons or (...) sentences. Our results indicate that participants receiving LF-rTMS over the cerebellum, as compared to sham participants, showed a stronger learning effect from pre to post stimulation for both tasks and for all types of sequences. No differences between sequence types were observed. Our results suggest a positive effect of LF-rTMS on sequence generation. We conclude that the cerebellum is causally involved in the generation of sequences of social and nonsocial events. Our discussion focuses on recommendations for future studies. (shrink)

"New technologies implied in art creation and exhibition are modifying the traditional landmarks on which aesthetics has always focused. In particular, Virtual Reality artworks call the body into question when it comes to living a bodily experience within exhibitions accessible through technological tools that expand the human body’s capabilities and motor potential. The body's status is challenged in its traditional unity, that of a subject of experience living in a world where the spatial configuration is relatively constant. Conversely, in Virtual (...) Reality, the spatial aspect is novel to our body which needs to adapt to unpredicted and disorientating motor schemas. Therefore, the Virtual Reality aesthetic experience takes place into a novel configuration for the human body: hybrid and split into the virtual realm. Keywords: Aesthetics; Virtual Reality; Embodiment; Digital art; Bodily awareness ". (shrink)

Recent aphasiological findings, not mentioned in the target article, have been accounted for by Levelt et al.'s theory and have, in turn, provided it with empirical support and new leads. This interaction is especially promising in the domain of complex word retrieval. Examples of particular categories of compounds are discussed.

Michel Foucault desafia qualquer tentativa de ser reduzido a definições simplistas. Fazer uma saudosa memória por ocasião dos 40 anos de sua morte não pode se resumir a uma apresentação estática de sua vida e obra. É imperioso ressaltar o vigor, o dinamismo interno de seu pensamento filosófico. A filosofia de Foucault é um sincero convite dirigido a todos nós para fazermos uma verdadeira experiência de pensar, a voltar-nos para nós mesmos para refletir criticamente sobre as formas de poder pelas (...) quais fomos e somos constituídos, buscando a possibilidade de imaginar novas formas de ser e de nos relacionar com o mundo. Partindo das impressões sobre o legado de Foucault, apresentamos algumas interpretações de sua filosofia no intuito de ressaltar a beleza e a importância daquela experiência de pensar que gera novas interpretações e assegura a vital relevância da filosofia. Palavras-chave: Michel Foucault. Método Genealógico. Analítica do Poder. Experiência Filosófica. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper is to provide a constructive criticism of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) standards. After pointing out a number of benefits and limitations in the effectiveness of CSR standards, both from a theoretical point of view and in the light of empirical evidence, we formulate and discuss a Paradox of CSR standards: despite being well-intended, CSR standards can favor the emergence of a thoughtless, blind and blinkered mindset which is counterproductive of their aim of enhancing the social (...) responsibility of the organization. We analyze three problems that might underlie the Paradox—namely the problem of deceptive measurements; the problem of responsibility erosion and the problem of blinkered culture. We apply the philosophical tradition of American Pragmatism to reflect on these issues in relation to different types of existing standards, and conclude by suggesting a number of considerations that could help both CSR standards developers and users to address the Paradox. (shrink)

To carry out an ethnographic study on the work process in the sterilization unit of a hospital in Catalonia, we found the socially distributed cognition approaches of Hutchins and Kirsh useful. However, these approaches lack sufficient explanation on three important issues: the pragmatic criteria for identifying and delimiting a relevant unit of analysis and therefore the setting and contexts of the work process; the mechanisms and results of reciprocal influences between these levels of analysis; and the relation between these levels. (...) Therefore, we added several new elements to these approaches, in addition to Layder's model of contexts with some important modifications, with the aim of offering an interactive, cognitive and social proposal of analysis that clarifies these three issues, allowing a more exhaustive and broader empirical analysis that captures better the ‘social’ dimension embedded in the work processes. (shrink)

The pandemic period has placed the organizations in a state of great tension. It has generated a situation of confusion, lack of rules, and production-related criticalities that have called into question the very existence of many productive realities. This article aims to highlight the dimensions of care and ethics put in place by HR managers in COVID-19. The objective that animated the authors have focused on the HRM level of medium and large companies in Italy to highlight the protective actions (...) toward people and the organization in the period COVID 19, highlighting what were the ethical values and actions of care put in place. In this article, we wanted to give voice to managers who had management tasks in their organizations by asking them to tell us how they dealt with the challenges imposed by the emergency. In the research, we start from a way of understanding workplaces understood as a “process of ongoing social relationship” within which the HR function is dedicated to the care of the quality of relationships. HR managers have to manage a complex role of mediating between the interests of people and employers by trying to find good mediations. (shrink)

En 1985, Brasil salía de un periodo de 21 años de dictadura y abría un proceso constituyente para lograr una redemocratización. La Constitución de 1988 fue nombrada como «ciudadana» porque reforzó los derechos civiles e introdujo derechos colectivos de pueblos indígenas y otros pueblos tradicionales, derechos colectivos sobre el medio ambiente y la cultura, además de derechos a la vivienda, a la salud, a la educación y de los consumidores. No fue fácil la implementación de esos derechos y el presente (...) trabajo analiza la aplicación de los derechos de los pueblos y de la naturaleza, dividiéndolos en tres periodos particulares. El primero, desde la promulgación de la Constitución, en 1988, hasta la elección de Lula da Silva y su posesión en 2003; periodo marcado por la aplicación de políticas neoliberales en contraposición con las normas constitucionales colectivas. El segundo periodo, representado por los gobiernos de Lula y de Dilma Rousseff, del 2003 hasta el 2016, cuando la presidenta es alejada para que asuma su vicepresidente; periodo marcado por un desarrollismo contradictorio con los derechos colectivos. El tercer periodo, a partir del 2016, caracterizado por la intención de destruir la Constitución. (shrink)

Cardiology is characterized by its state-of-the-art biomedical technology and the predominance of Evidence-Based Medicine. This predominance makes it difficult for healthcare professionals to deal with the ethical dilemmas that emerge in this subspecialty. This paper is a first endeavor to empirically investigate the axiological foundations of the healthcare professionals in a cardiology hospital. Our pilot study selected, as the target population, cardiology personnel not only because of their difficult ethical deliberations but also because of the stringent conditions in which they (...) have to make them. Therefore, there is an urgent need to reconsider clinical ethics and Value-Based Medicine. This study proposes a qualitative analysis of the values and the virtues of healthcare professionals in a cardiology hospital in order to establish how the former impact upon the medical and ethical decisions made by the latter. (shrink)

This article develops a conceptual framework for regulating Artificial Intelligence (AI) that encompasses all stages of modern public policy-making, from the basics to a sustainable governance. Based on a vast systematic review of the literature on Artificial Intelligence Regulation (AIR) published between 2010 and 2020, a dispersed body of knowledge loosely centred around the “framework” concept was organised, described, and pictured for better understanding. The resulting integrative framework encapsulates 21 prior depictions of the policy-making process, aiming to achieve gold-standard societal (...) values, such as fairness, freedom and long-term sustainability. This challenge of integrating the AIR literature was matched by the identification of a structural common ground among different approaches. The AIR framework results from an effort to identify and later analytically deduce synthetic, and generic tool for a country-specific, stakeholder-aware analysis of AIR matters. Theories and principles as diverse as Agile and Ethics were combined in the “AIR framework”, which provides a conceptual lens for societies to think collectively and make informed policy decisions related to what, when, and how the uses and applications of AI should be regulated. Moreover, the AIR framework serves as a theoretically sound starting point for endeavours related to AI regulation, from legislation to research and development. As we know, the (potential) impacts of AI on society are immense, and therefore the discourses, social negotiations, and applications of this technology should be guided by common grounds based on contemporary governance techniques, and social values legitimated via dialogue and scientific research. (shrink)

A recepção de Hannah Arendt ocorre principalmente no domínio da filosofia política, de modo a interpretá-la como uma teórica das crises do século XX. Contudo, essa perspectiva perde de vista os pressupostos e compromissos teóricos que a obra arendtiana assume com a tradição filosófica alemã, os quais permitem identificar problemas ainda não tratados em sua recepção. Assim, por meio de uma revisão bibliográfica, aliada à análise de ensaios teóricos da autora, esse artigo objetiva apontar uma lacuna na literatura arendtiana ao (...) verificar, de um lado, a presença de uma estrutura fenomenológica nos textos de Hannah Arendt e, por outro, conexões entre os seus temas e métodos e o problema da crise de identidade da filosofia. Dessa forma, ao evidenciar o tratamento deste problema na obra de Hannah Arendt, amplia-se sua recepção além do domínio da filosofia política. (shrink)

O artigo trata da análise ockhamiana do tema da determinação da verdade nas proposições sobre o futuro contingente, segundo a formulação proposta por Aristóteles em De interpretatione, cap. 9, e de sua relação com o que é proposto sobre este assunto, segundo o próprio Ockham, “de acordo com a verdade e a fé”. A esse respeito, três pontos geralmente são levantados como possíveis decorrências desta leitura de Aristóteles: a assunção de que Ockham discordaria efetivamente da solução aristotélica, porque errônea; a (...) proposta de que Ockham tenha claramente vislumbrado na resposta aristotélica a indicação de uma lógica de três valores e, por fim, a recusa ockhamiana da tese da “necessidade do conseqüente”. Pretendemos mostrar aqui, porém, que apenas o último desses três pontos parece correto. (shrink)