Psychopathy, autism, and basic moral emotions: Evidence for sentimentalist constructivism

Philosophers and psychologists often claim that moral agency is connected with the ability to feel, understand, and deploy moral emotions. In this chapter, I investigate the nature of these emotions and their connection with moral agency. First, I examine the degree to which these emotional capacities are innate and/or ‘basic’ in a philosophically important sense. I examine three senses in which an emotion might be basic: developmental, compositional, and phylogenetic. After considering the evidence for basic emotion, I conclude that emotions are not basic in a philosophically important sense. Emotions, I argue, are best understood as socially constructed concepts. I then investigate whether these emotions are necessary for moral agency. In order to do this I examine the philosophical and psychological literature on psychopathy and autism (two conditions defined in terms of empathic and emotional deficits). Persons with psychopathy appear incapable of distinguishing moral from non-moral norms. Additionally, while persons with autism often struggle to develop their empathic capacities, they are capable of understanding and deploying moral emotions like guilt and shame. I conclude that, in line with the conceptual act theories of emotion, that only contagion-based empathy is necessary for the acquisition of moral concepts

Neurosurgery for psychopaths? The problems of empathy and neurodiversity

I argue that deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a bad approach for incarcerated psychopaths for two reasons. First, given what we know about psychopathy, empathy, and DBS, it is unlikely to function as an effective treatment for the moral problems that characterize psychopathy. Second, considerations of neurodiversity speak against seeing psychopathy as a mental illness in the first place

A Conditional Defense of Shame and Shame Punishment

This paper makes two essential claims about the nature of shame and shame punishment. I argue that, if we properly understand the nature of shame, that it is sometimes justifiable to shame others in the context of a pluralistic multicultural society. I begin by assessing the accounts of shame provided by Cheshire Calhoun (2004) and Julien Deonna, Raffaele Rodogno, & Fabrice Teroni (2012). I argue that both views have problems. I defend a theory of shame and embarrassment that connects both emotions to “whole-self” properties. Shame and embarrassment, I claim, are products of the same underlying emotion. I distinguish between moralized and nonmoralized shame in order to show when, and how, moral and non-moral shame may be justly deployed. Shame is appropriate, I argue, if and only if it targets malleable moral or non-moral normative imperfections of a person’s ‘whole-self.’ Shame is unjustifiable when it targets durable aspects of a person’s “whole-self.” I conclude by distinguishing shame punishments from guilt punishments and show that my account can explain why it is wrong to shame individuals on account of their race, sex, gender, or body while permitting us to sometimes levy shame and shame punishment against others, even those otherwise immune to moral reasons

Ethical Issues with Simulating the Bridge Problem in VR

We aim to generate a dilemma for virtual reality-based research that we motivate through an extended case study of Judith Thomson’s (1985) Bridge variant of the trolley problem. Though the problem we generate applies more broadly than the Bridge problem, we believe it makes a good exemplar of the kind of case we believe is problematic. First, we argue that simulations of these thought experiments run into a practicality horn that makes it practically impossible to produce them. These problems revolve around concepts that we call “perspectival fidelity”and “context realism.” Moral dilemmas that include features present in the Bridge variant will, as a result, be practically impossible to simulate. We also argue that, should we be wrong about the practical impossibility of creating a VR simulation of Bridge, such a simulation must face an ethical horn which renders these simulations ethically impermissible to develop or use. For these reasons, we argue that it is virtually impossible to simulate the bridge problem (and other thought experiments with similar features) both practically and ethically in VR

Non-archimedean stratifications in T-convex fields.

We prove that whenever T is a power-bounded o-minimal theory, t-stratifications exist for definable maps and sets in T-convex fields. To this effect, a thorough analysis of definability in T-convex fields is carried out. One of the conditions required for the result above is the Jacobian property, whose proof in this work is a long and technical argument based on an earlier proof of this property for valued fields with analytic structure. An example is given to illustrate that t-stratifications do not exist in general when T is not power-bounded. We also show that if T is power-bounded, the theory of all T-convex fields is b-minimal with centres. We also address several applications of tstratifications. For this we exclusively work with a power-bounded T. The first application establishes that a t-stratification of a definable set X in a T-convex field induces t stratifications on the tangent cones of X. This is a contribution to local geometry and singularity theory. Regarding R as a model of T, the remaining applications are derived by considering the stratifications induced on R by t-stratifications in non-standard models. We prove that each such induced stratification is a C1-Whitney stratification; this in turn leads to a new proof of the existence of Whitney stratifications for definable sets in R. We also deal with interactions between tangent cones of definable sets in R and stratifications

Shame, Embarrassment, and the Subjectivity Requirement

Reactive theories of responsibility see moral accountability as grounded on the capacity for feeling reactive-attitudes. I respond to a recent argument gaining ground in this tradition that excludes psychopaths from accountability. The argument relies on what Paul Russell has called the \u27subjectivity requirement\u27. On this view, the capacity to feel and direct reactive-attitudes at oneself is a necessary condition for responsibility. I argue that even if moral attitudes like guilt are impossible for psychopaths to deploy, that psychopaths, especially the "successful" and "secondary" subtypes of psychopathy, can satisfy the subjectivity requirement with regard to shame. I appeal to evidence that embarrassment and shame are grounded on the same affective process and data that psychopathic judgments about embarrassment are neurotypical. If I am right, then psychopaths ought to be open to shame-based forms of accountability including shame punishments. I conclude by considering why psychopaths rarely self-report shame. I argue that lacking a capacity to see oneself as flawed is a different sort of failure than lacking the capacity to feel

Contrato de mutuo o préstamo de dinero simulado en contrato de depósito, con la finalidad de utilizar al derecho penal mediante la apariencia de apropiación ilícita

de quitar o perder dominio, pues esta presupone diferentes panoramas y requisitos, generados a raíz de la obligación del agente activo (quien se apropia) de devolver la propiedad a solicitud delsujeto pasivo (titular del bien) o en tiempo convenido por ambos, no debemos omitir que este acuerdo previo, surge a raíz de la confianza. Este ánimo de apoderamiento y de la disposición del bien ajeno como propio, ocasionan un perjuicio al sujeto pasivo y obviamente una ventaja en provecho del sujeto activo, entonces, remontándonos al punto inicial esta “situación irregular” y reprochable desde los comienzos de las civilizaciones ha merecido especial atención, acción y sanción, en tanto era confundidainicialmente o tratada de encajar en diferentestipos penales-específicamente con el hurto-, lográndose con el paso del tiempo y en las diferentes legislaciones autonomía propia

Radiopharmaceutical dosimetry in targeted radionuclide therapy

La médecine nucléaire est une spécialité médicale dont l'une des applications est l'étude de la physiologie des organes et du métabolisme de divers types de tumeurs. Les produits pharmaceutiques liés à un isotope radioactif (médicament radio-pharmaceutique, MRP) sont étudiés en préclinique avant d'être utilisés chez l'homme. Les rongeurs sont généralement utilisés pour étudier la bio-cinétique du traceur dans un groupe d'organes prédéfinis. L'extrapolation des résultats de ces études de l'animal à l'homme permet d'avoir une estimation du comportement des MRP et de l'irradiation délivrée en clinique. Trois nouveaux MRP ont été mis au point, l'un en France (CHU-Hôpital Purpan) et deux en Uruguay (CUDIM). Deux visent à étudier le cerveau et un vise à diagnostiquer le cancer de la prostate. Dans ce travail, l'extrapolation des résultats précliniques est présentée, les doses absorbées et efficaces sont estimées en utilisant les logiciels OLINDA/EXM V1.0, V2.0 et IDAC2.1. Les différences entre les résultats de chaque programme sont discutées. Au niveau clinique, les protocoles dosimétriques incluent la détermination du facteur d'étalonnage, la segmentation, le recalage, l'ajustement des courbes et le calcul de la dose absorbée. Dans ce travail, l'étalonnage développé pour un SPECT/CT est présenté en utilisant différentes sources d'étalonnage et différentes géométries. L'influence de la méthode de reconstruction sur la détermination du facteur d'étalonnage et les courbes du facteur de récupération sont présentées. Par ailleurs, quatre logiciels commerciaux sont comparés sur la base des informations cliniques de deux patients atteints de tumeurs gastro-entéro- pancréatiques d'origine neuroendocrine et traitées au 177Lu-DOTATATE. Deux cycles de traitement pour chaque patient ont été utilisés afin d'estimer les temps de résidence des reins, du foie, de la rate, de la moelle osseuse et du corps entier. Le calcul des doses absorbées a été initialement réalisé à l'aide de OLINDA/EXM V1.0 & V2.0, en ajustant la masse de chaque organe/tissu. Dans le cas de la moelle osseuse, une nouvelle méthodologie est présentée pour estimer la dose absorbée sans qu'il soit nécessaire de procéder à des mesures de corps entier. Il est possible de constater que le recalage des images a un impact sur la détermination de la dose absorbée. Les résultats sont donc calculés en employant d'un outil permettant de recaler indépendamment chaque organe et non pas toute l'image du champ de vue. Différents algorithmes de calcul ont été utilisés pour déterminer la dose absorbée délivrée aux patients, par exemple le modèle de sphère d'OLINDA/EXM V2.0, les méthodes de convolution et le dépôt d'énergie local de PLANET®Onco Dose de Dosisoft. Les résultats trouvés avec les différents outils sont comparés et discutés.Nuclear medicine is a medical specialty in which one of whose applications is the study of the physiology of organs and the metabolism of various types of tumours. Pharmaceuticals labelled with radionuclides (radiopharmaceuticals) are studied at pre-clinical level before being used in humans. Rodents are generally used to study the biokinetics of tracer in a group of predefined organs. The extrapolation of the results of these studies from animals to humans provides an estimate of the behaviour of the radiopharmaceuticals and the irradiation delivered clinically. Three new radiopharmaceuticals were developed, one in France (CHU-Hôpital Purpan) and two in Uruguay (CUDIM). Two aim to study the brain and one aims to diagnose prostate cancer. In this work, extrapolation of pharmacokinetics preclinical results to the human is presented; absorbed and effective doses are estimated using OLINDA/EXM V1.0, V2.0 and IDAC2.1 software. The differences between the results of each program are discussed. At a clinical level, dosimetric protocols include calibration factor determination, segmentation, registration, curve fitting, and calculation of absorbed dose. In this work, the calibration developed for a SPECT/CT is presented using different calibration sources and different geometries. The influence of the reconstruction method in the determination of the calibration factor and the recovery coefficient curves are shown. In addition, four commercial software are compared based-on clinical information of two patients with gastro-entero-pancreatic tumours of neuroendocrine origin treated with 177Lu-DOTATATE. Two cycles of treatment for each patient were used to estimate residence times for the kidneys, liver, spleen, bone marrow and whole body. Calculation of absorbed dose was initially developed using OLINDA/EXM V1.0 & V2.0, adjusting the mass of each organ/tissue. In the case of the bone marrow, a novel methodology is presented to estimate the absorbed dose without the need for whole-body measurements. It can be seen that the registration of the images has an impact on the determination of the absorbed dose. The results are thus calculated by employing a tool allowing to register independently each organ and not all the image of the field of view. Different calculation algorithms were used to determine the absorbed dose delivered to patients, for example the OLINDA/EXM V2.0 sphere model, convolution and local energy deposition methods of PLANET®Onco Dose from Dosisoft. The results found with the different tools are compared and discussed