Hermenéutica y toma de decisiones en ética clínica

Resumen Hermenéutica y toma de decisiones en ética clínica La moderna hermenéutica se interesa por las condiciones de posibilidad de la comprensión humana. Sus aportaciones son de indudable interés para el campo de la ética biomédica, donde médico y paciente tratan de comprenderse mutuamente con el fin de concretar determinado proyecto de cuidados. Sin embargo, esta aproximación está lejos de ser aprovechable para formar una pauta concreta de cara a la toma de decisiones en este campo. La hermenéutica acierta al poner el centro de gravedad en el diálogo, en lugar de en el método, pero olvida que, en Gadamer, el diálogo está dirigido a la verdad. Esto es lo que se tratará de poner de manifiesto en este trabajo, intentado establecer la conexión de dicha noción con las de bien, historia y comunidad. Abstract Modern hermeneutics deals with the conditions of the possibilities of human understanding. Its contributions are particularly pertinent to clinical ethics, where patient and doctor seek to mutually understand one another in order to establish a determined care plan. Nevertheless, this approach is far from useful for the formulation of a concrete standard for decision making in this area. Hermeneutics is effective in putting the focus on dialogue, rather than method. But it overlooks the fact that dialogue, according to Gadamer, is directed towards truth. The present article aims to highlight this point, and seeks to establish the connection between this notion of truth and ideas of good, history and community. Resumo Hermenêutica e a tomada de decisões em ética clínica A hermenêutica moderna interessa-se pelas condições de possibilidade da compreensão humana. Indubitavelmente, os seus contributos são de interesse para a ética biomédica, na qual o médico e o paciente tratam de compreender-se mutuamente a fim de concretizar um determinado projeto de cuidados. No entanto, esta perspectiva está longe de poder ser utilizada como padrão concreto para a tomada de decisões neste campo. A hermenêutica tem razão ao colocar o centro de gravidade no diálogo e não no método, entretanto, esquece-se de que, em Gadamer, o diálogo está orientado para a verdade. É precisamente isso que se pretende evidenciar neste trabalho, procurando estabelecer-se a conexão entre a referida noção de verdade com as noções de bem, história e comunidade

Legal system, repression and human rights in contemporary Spain : some remarks about spanish transition to democracy

As is well known, the 2nd Spanish Republic (1931-1936) was toppled by a military uprising which, after a cruel Civil War, set up an autocratic regime led by General Franco which lasted until his natural death in 1975. According to the contemporary theory of the legal system, a legal order exists on the sole condition that it is efficient in general terms and this was the case for both the Republic and the Dictatorship. In turn, the validity of the legal norms of all legal orders is based on its respective rules of recognition. Thus, neither the existence of the legal order nor the validity of its respective legal norms depends on moral considerations. In this paper, we call this affirmation into question on the base of the fact that the compensatory methods adopted from the Transition to Democracy show an evident concern to repair the damage of taking away a person’s basic rights (life, health, freedom, expression, association etc) although the Spanish Constitution, with its catalogue of fundamental rights was not in force at that time. But these measures would not have much sense if, as Raz says, there was no shared content which is common to all legal systems. Like Nino, we claim that one must discriminate between a democratic legal order and an autocratic one to establish the level of validity of its respective legal norms. Thus it can be assigned a presumption of justice to democratic norms. Finally, we state that the criteria to weigh up the justice or injustice of legal norms, as that of legal orders, takes root in the level of respect they show towards human rights

Bentham and Mill on the "Quality" of Pleasures

John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham are often said to have held opposed views concerning the way “the value” of different pleasures should be estimated. Mill is accused of being an inconsistent utilitarian because he thought that, when comparing the value of two pleasures, we should not forget to take their “quality” into account. Bentham, on the other hand, is said to have believed that we should take “only quantity” into consideration. By verifying what they actually wrote, and reflecting on what they meant by words like “value”, “quantity”, and “quality”, we find that these allegations are largely imaginary and that the difference between Mill and Bentham on this question has (at least) been exaggerated. Bentham, for example, did not write that "quantity of pleasure being equal, pushpin is as good as poetry", as is so often reported. In his Principles of Morals and Legislation he clearly tells us why he rejects the inaccurate word “quantity”, when speaking of “the value of (a lot of) pain or pleasure”, and he explicitly introduces “quality” – both the word and the concept – in his analysis of rewards and punishments. These clarifications allow us to sort-out a few other confusions concerning utilitarianism. We explain, for example, why authors like Amartya Sen and Michael Sandel are mistaken in believing that rights and freedoms have “no intrinsic value” (only instrumental value) in utilitarian ethics

The Reactor Room: An Immersive Chernobyl Exhibition

The Reactor Room: An Immersive Chernobyl Exhibition is a digital installation featuring the work of students in Professor José Vergara’s course Chernobyl: Nuclear Narratives and the Environment (Spring 2020) at Swarthmore College. Students designed this interactive exhibition to facilitate public engagement with the catastrophe. Students researched topics of their own choosing and produced outward-facing digital projects that investigate diverse aspects of Chernobyl’s cultural, environmental, social, and political consequences: maps that visually trace the radioactive fallout; biographies of key figures who experienced, survived, and perpetrated one of the worst nuclear disasters in history; audio-based works that engage with the sounds, silences, and songs associated with Chernobyl; a virtual tour of street art in Pripyat; annotated poetry translations; timelines and StoryMaps that trace Chernobyl\u27s effects on flora, fauna, and culture, among many others. Individually, these projects are snapshots that reflect the fragmented narratives and memories of Chernobyl. Together, they invite readers to become an active participant in the study of Chernobyl’s mythology

Taxation and Private Investment: Evidence for Chile

Along with several structural reforms, Chile embarked upon a major income tax reform in the eighties. Its basic feature was a significant reduction in the corporate income tax rate. The purpose of this paper is to investigate empirically the link between the tax reform and the investment performance of Chile since the reform. Macroeconomic and microeconomic evidence is found to be consistent with the hypothesis of the reduction in the corporate income tax as being one of the determinants of the investment boom of the late eighties and nineties in Chile. Macro data for the period 1975-2003 are used and the evidence indicates that the tax reform explains an increase in private investment of three percentage points of the GDP. On the other hand, information on 87 publicly held companies is used to construct a panel for the period 1980-2002. The microeconomic evidence confirms that investment was positively affected by the tax reform.Private investmen, corporate income tax, user’s cost of capital

Crime Prevention Programs: Evidence for a Developing Country

This paper analyzes the impact of two anti-crime programs implemented in Chile in the late 1990s. The first (Quadrant Plan) is related to enhancing the quality of police work and the second one (Secure County Plan) to the involvement of the community in designing specific projects aimed at reducing the crime rate. It is found that only the Quadrant Plan has been successful in terms of reducing crime rates and has caused its impact through the effect of arrests in deterring crime. The Secure County program does not appear to have any impact on crime rates. It is also found that crime is associated with unemployment and that there is persistence in crime rates.Crime, anti-crime programs, GMM