Ways of compromise-building in a world of institutions.

International audienc

John Rawls: a economia moral da justiça

Neste texto, descrevo como o filósofo norte-americano John Rawls reformulou o pensamento moral contemporâneo, ao propor a subordinação da ética à justiça. Resumo a defesa que apresentou para uma moral fundada em um pacto que compensasse, sem tentar anulá-las, as assimetrias econômico-sociais do mundo em que vivemos. Concluo com uma discussão sobre as dificuldades teóricas que encontrou para absorver o pluralismo cultural, filosófico, político e religioso do Ocidente.<br>In this article I describe how the North-American philosopher John Rawls has reformulated contemporary moral thinking in proposing subordination of ethics to justice. I synthesize his defense of a morality based on an agreement that compensates, without attempting to nullify, current socio-economic asymmetries. I conclude with a discussion of the theoretical difficulties he encountered in absorbing cultural, philosophical, political and religious Western pluralism in his theory

MicroRNA loss enhances learning and memory in mice

Dicer-dependent noncoding RNAs, including microRNAs (miRNAs), play an important role in a modulation of translation of mRNA transcripts necessary for differentiation in many cell types. In vivo experiments using cell type-specific Dicer1 gene inactivation in neurons showed its essential role for neuronal development and survival. However, little is known about the consequences of a loss of miRNAs in adult, fully differentiated neurons. To address this question, we used an inducible variant of the Cre recombinase (tamoxifen-inducible CreERT2) under control of Camk2a gene regulatory elements. After induction of Dicer1 gene deletion in adult mouse forebrain, we observed a progressive loss of a whole set of brain-specific miRNAs. Animals were tested in a battery of both aversively and appetitively motivated cognitive tasks, such as Morris water maze, IntelliCage system, or trace fear conditioning. Compatible with rather long half-life of miRNAs in hippocampal neurons, we observed an enhancement of memory strength of mutant mice 12 weeks after the Dicer1 gene mutation, before the onset of neurodegenerative process. In acute brain slices, immediately after high-frequency stimulation of the Schaffer collaterals, the efficacy at CA3-to-CA1 synapses was higher in mutant than in control mice, whereas long-term potentiation was comparable between genotypes. This phenotype was reflected at the subcellular and molecular level by the elongated filopodia-like shaped dendritic spines and an increased translation of synaptic plasticity-related proteins, such as BDNF and MMP-9 in mutant animals. The presented work shows miRNAs as key players in the learning and memory process of mammals

Origins, Developments and Future of the Concept of Innovation: Opening the Economic Framing of Innovation to Social, Ethical, Political Parameters to Achieve Responsibility: Strengths and Limits

Part 1: Society, Social Responsibility, Ethics and ICTInternational audienceThe concept of innovation is making a successful comeback in philosophy, particularly with the qualifier “responsible” attached. This attachment of the qualification “responsible” reflects the idea that the concept of innovation has to be opened to new considerations, namely social, political and ethical concerns. Since the 18th century, innovation has been the object of economics and science of business and growth. This paper aims at testing the legitimacy of these attempts to open the concept and redefine it in terms other than those of economics. We start with a contextualization of the use of the term innovation, to see why it has been so strongly associated with the market, growth and business then we see what is at stake in opening it up to other considerations. We consider the limits of this opening and look at possible ways to attach other meanings to the concept, without losing significance by too much inclusion. The solution proposed is that instead of imposing new parameters and trying to shift the concept, we could keep the economic bias of the term, but challenge it with concerns expressed by people coming from the field of economics who are trying to propose an alternative framework for economics that would take into account other concerns, and in which responsible innovation could find a place