Philosophy & Ethics

I have taken issue before (here and here) with the writings of Stanley Fish in the New York Times, and I’m about to do it again. Fish is a professor of law at Florida State University, and often writes reasonably on a variety of topics in the NYT, but there is a streak of deconstruction running through some of his columns, that brings him to espouse pretty questionable positions when it comes to science, religion or philosophy. In his April 6 column, Fish delights in announcing the publication of a book by Francois Cusset entitled “French Theory: How Foucault, Derrida, Delouze…

Everything interacts with its environment - from the smallest sub-atomic particle to the largest galaxy. We are no different. Interaction insinuates dynamic inter-relationship. Knowledge can be defined as "post-active" comprehension. The dynamic inter-relationship involved in the comprehension necessary to achieve knowledge is the tension between opposites, or what may be called reciprocal reciprocation (RR). A RR consists of two diametrically opposing concepts which cannot exist without each other. They are mutually exclusive in concept and definition, yet mutually inclusive in the…

Aimed primarily at the increasing problem of terrorist acts by individuals affiliated with groups such as the Animal Liberation Front against investigators conducting research in non-human primates in the United States, an editorial in Biological Psychiatry goes after people who slam the integrity ("who does their funding?" and physical safety of medical researchers. Collectively, the 87 authors of “It Is Time to Take a Stand for Medical Research and Against Terrorism Targeting Medical Scientists” say they wish to not only declare their stance against these acts, but also to emphasize the…

Scientists presented their evidence today that desert heat, a little water, and meteorite impacts may have been enough to cook up one of the first prerequisites for life three or four billion years ago: The dominance of “left-handed” amino acids, the building blocks of life on this planet. In a report at the 235th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, Ronald Breslow, Ph.D., University Professor, Columbia University, and former ACS President, described his take on how our amino acid signature came from outer space. Numerous theories have been put forth to explain the dominance…

In Northern Vietnam, neonatal mortality is almost four times higher than the official figure according to a report published today in the open access journal BMC International Health and Human Rights. This under-reporting could mean neonatal healthcare in the country is massively under-funded. Lars-Ake Persson, Mats Målqvist and colleagues at Uppsala University, along with researchers at Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden, are working with the Uong Bi General Hospital, in Quang Ninh, and the Vietnamese Ministry of Health, in Hanoi, on the question of unreported births and…

Dr. Mani Bhaumik, co-inventor of the technology that lead to Lasik surgery, experienced a spiritual rebirth born of 'an absence of want, a compulsive consumption - a queasy feeling of being overfed and undernourished at the same time.' -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Mani Bhaumik, PhD, has written a memoir called "Code Name God: The Spiritual Odyssey of a Man of Science." In 218 pages, he has also presented social commentary set in recent history and present day; a juxtaposition of world religions; a lay-person's science textbook; and a case for healing the cosmic wound by re-uniting science…

With powerful instruments scouring the heavens, astronomers have found more than 240 planets in the past two decades, none likely to support Earth-like life, but as astronomers become more adept at finding planets orbiting other stars it’s natural to wonder if anybody is looking back. A team of astronomers has speculated at just what those alien eyes might see using technologies similar to those available to Earth’s astronomers. “They would only be able to see Earth as a single pixel, rather than resolving it to take a picture,” said Eric Ford, a UF assistant professor of astronomy and one of…

In biological sciences, the word nature is arbitrarily and profusely used to explain anything that do not have a clear explanation by known scientific methods. For example, when we explain characteristics of any organism, we mention that nature has provided it for their survival etc. It has become a routine to mention this word in our regular lectures and writings. There are many authors who believe in the existence of a Creator and they would find it uncomfortable to use the word nature. If there is an option, they would prefer to use the word Creator or God in their publications. I am sure…

Medical researchers who want to use previously collected samples from biobanks in their research have to contend with guidelines and regulations from among various countries, making it extremely complicated to carry out major international studies. In the latest issue of Nature Biotechnology, Swedish ethics researchers at the Center for Bioethics (CBE), together with leading biobank researchers, put forward a pioneering solution: a set of practical ethical guidelines for biobank research. Biobanks consist of systematically gathered biological samples and are valuable for both research and…

Nothing starts a debate in the medical community like death. Abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, all controversial subjects; three anesthesiologists and a medical ethicist tackle the last one in a commentary and two editorials published in September's Mayo Clinic Proceedings. In a commentary column, David Waisel, M.D., an anesthesiologist practicing at Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, asserts that it is time to reassess the AMA's position on this issue and allow doctors to participate in state-mandated executions to help provide the condemned a more humane path to…