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In this paper, I will focus on the nature of theoretical concepts, i.e., the psychological entities related to theoretical terms in science. I will first argue that the standard picture of theoretical concepts in twentieth-century philosophy of science understood them as representation-oriented common taxonomic concepts. However, I will show how, in light of recent pragmatist approaches to scientific laws and theories, several important theoretical concepts in science do not seem to fit such picture. I will then argue that these theoretical concepts should be understood instead as goal-derived concepts, since their construction and use exhibit the typical characteristics that cognitive scientists assign to goal-derived concepts. I will furthermore argue that the existence of theoretical concepts that are goal-derived concepts represents yet another example of the central role that human goals play in science.

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This essay introduces contributions to a special section, which documents and extends a debate on the proposition "Social Science is Explanation or it is Nothing" held at the London School of Economics on October 13th, 2022. It discusses the history of the "Group for Theoretical Debates in Anthropology" led by Tim Ingold, Peter Wade and Soumhya Venkatesan, which has handed down a list of credible candidates for issues that had a chance of engaging every anthropologist, including students and those with interdisciplinary interests. It raises questions about the specific affordances of debates as forms of academic engagements. It argues that the chosen proposition concerning explanation invites a discussion about the contributions of the social sciences at a time when impulses from science and technology studies as well as fruitful exchanges across the boundary between "theory" and "method" have helped us moved beyond the older question as to whether or not sociology is "a science".

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Attention is essential to the practice of medicine. It is required for expert and timely diagnoses and treatments, is implicated in the techniques and practices oriented toward healing, and enlivens the interpersonal dimensions of care. Attention enables witnessing, presence, compassion, and discernment. The French philosopher and activist Simone Weil (1909-1943) developed one of the most original and important descriptions of attention in the last century. For Weil, attention is not an attitude of strained focus but of perceptive waiting that leads to the acquisition and integration of knowledge. Contrary to activities often foregrounded in clinical medicine, it requires renunciation of the will, gentle directedness toward the origin of actions, and diminishment of the self. This paper critically examines Weil's concept of attention as it applies to health systems, technical/intellectual work, and interpersonal care, as well as its connection to theology, and considers whether attention might find a home within the contemporary clinic.

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Acknowledging the impact of imperialist and colonialist attitudes on the development of psychiatry allows for the recovery of the work of practitioners whose contribution may have been overlooked, as well as recognising racist attitudes in predominant thinking. These combined approaches aid in the construction of a more complete critical history.

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The development of social assistive robots for supporting healthcare provision faces a lack of an ethical approach that adequately addresses the normatively relevant challenges regarding its deployment. Current ethical reflection is primarily informed by an individual-centered perspective focused on robots' implications for their end-users and thereby limited to the dyadic human-robot interaction sphere. Considering that this is tightly correlated to the restricted understanding of core ethical concepts upon which reflection stands, this paper delves into the concept of freedom from a philosophical perspective to unfold its full normative breadth for a critical assessment of technological development. By bringing to the fore the political-structural dimension of freedom and, in turn, elaborating the political dimension of technology, the undertaken philosophical approach discloses freedom as a transversal ethical concept for a normative reflection on technology. Thereby, it broadens the scope of ethical attention beyond the sphere of human-robot interaction and turns attention to the so far overlooked structural dimension of human-robot relations. Drawing on conceptions of freedom as non-domination, among others, the paper approaches social assistive robotics and reexamines the terrain of relevant issues for its development. Since freedom is one major issue upon which current concerns revolve, the undertaken analysis substantially enriches the ongoing ethical discussion on social assistive robotics' implications for human freedom. In this way, this work contributes to going beyond the current individual-centered ethical perspective by laying conceptual grounds for a comprehensive ethical approach to social assistive robotics' development.

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BACKGROUND: Clinical ethics consultants support mental health professionals in identifying and analyzing moral problems in clinical practice. OBJECTIVE: Presentation of key ethical concepts and normative theories that are relevant for clinical ethics consultation in mental healthcare. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Conceptual and ethical analyses. RESULTS: After distinguishing between morality, ethics and law, moral problems are differentiated from other types of problems encountered in clinical practice. Subsequently, key ethical concepts and the concept of moral distress are clarified. In relation to the normative framework a distinction is made between philosophical ethical theories and medical ethical theories, such as principlism and the ethics of care. Finally, justification tests for ethical decision-making in situations of danger to self or others based on the harm principle and soft paternalism are proposed. CONCLUSION: Knowledge of key ethical concepts and normative theories is important for the identification and analysis of moral problems in mental healthcare and should be given greater weight in the training of clinical ethics consultants.

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In Property Rights: A Re-Examination, James Penner returns to and develops a project that he has been engaged in for nearly three decades: to replace the influential 'bundle of rights' picture of property, which he regards as irredeemably flawed, with an alternative account-one that regards property as a unified entitlement. In this review article, I expound and analyse the central features of Penner's theory. I defend the view that, in its original iteration, Penner's account was trebly monistic: it regarded property as a single entitlement justified by a single human interest and protected by a single duty of non-interference. I go on to critically examine one of Penner's central ideas-that to understand property it is necessary to understand its justification. Along the way, I trace how Penner's account has evolved and explain how certain alterations have put some problems to bed while generating others.

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Artificial placenta technologies (also termed 'artificial wombs') for use in place of conventional neonatal intensive care are increasingly closer to first-in-human use. There is growing ethical interest in partial ectogestation (the use of an artificial placenta to continue gestation of an underdeveloped human entity extra uterum), however, there has been little reflection on the ethical issues in the design of the technology. While some have noted the importance of such reflection, and others have noted that a 'value sensitive design' approach should be preferred, they have not elaborated on what this means. In this article, we consider what a value sensitive design approach to artificial placenta design might encompass. We believe that applying this framework to the topic at hand raises theoretical and substantive ethical questions that merit further elucidation. Highlighting that there is a careful need to separate preferences from values and that our intervention should be considered only a starting point, we explore some of the values that could be used to make ethical design choices about the artificial placenta: efficacy, compassion and accessibility.

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English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and Needs Analysis (NA) have been of significant interest to researchers for decades. Reviewing related studies strongly emphasizes NA as the foundational step in ESP course development. However, the task-based language needs (TBLNs) of philosophy students have yet to be thoroughly examined from the perspectives of both teachers and undergraduate students. Employing a mixed-method research design, 30 informants were selected via theoretical sampling for the qualitative phase and interviewed to elucidate TBLNs at the university level. In the quantitative phase, a researcher-developed scale was administered to 450 philosophy teachers and students, but 405 returned the completely filled-in questionnaires. Data analysis involved exploratory factor analysis and independent samples t-tests. Results indicated that philosophy students' TBLNs encompassed seven main themes comprising 27 distinct needs. Furthermore, the developed scale demonstrated acceptable reliability, divergent validity, and convergent validity. Statistical analysis also revealed significant differences in mean scores between students and teachers across most identified tasks. These findings suggest that philosophy students require proficiency in all language skills and sub-skills to succeed in their studies. The implications of these findings are significant for ESP educators, university administrators, policymakers, and administrators within philosophy departments, both theoretically and pedagogically.

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Some have challenged the validity of labelling suicidal thoughts and behaviours (STB) as pathological. In this paper, we argue that STB is indeed pathological, thereby, situating suicide prevention within the realm of medicine, complicating calls for the legalisation of medical assistance in dying for individuals whose sole condition is psychiatric (psychiatric medical assistance in dying (MAID)). Evidence shows STB predicts the risk of suicide; moreover, several mental illnesses are associated with STB, and 70%-90% of suicide deaths are linked to psychiatric illness. Treating psychiatric illnesses can prevent suicide. We contend that this clinical evidence not only warrants the classification of STB as pathological but also necessitates its treatment and prevention. This perspective poses a challenge to legislation that would legalise psychiatric MAID.

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BACKGROUND: The Ubuntu philosophy which emanates from the African saying, muthu ndi muthu nga vhathu, a person is a person because of other persons, resonates with nursing ethics. PURPOSE: To describe the views of nurses and healthcare users on the development of the Ubuntu community model in nursing. METHODS: A Participatory Action Research approach was used. The participants were professional nurses and healthcare users in three selected provinces in South Africa. Data were gathered through focus group discussions. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. FINDINGS: The following themes were identified: the value of a person/human being; human beings are part of nature; values in nursing; principles of Ubuntu in health; and Ubuntu caring actions. DISCUSSION: By upholding foundational values and principles of Ubuntu, healthcare professionals, particularly nurses, should aim to foster dialogue, empower patients, promote their emancipation, engage with them, and enable the people under their care. CONCLUSION: Ubuntu serves as a lens through which nursing can engage with South African populations to design and implement best care for population-specific care outcomes. Understanding the principles and values of Ubuntu can assist nursing students and practicing nurses in developing a moral consciousness that embodies the spirit of Ubuntu, thereby enhancing their ability to address health disparities and improve health outcomes.

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There are many different kinds of models, and they play many different roles in the scientific endeavour. Neuroscience, and biology more generally, has understandably tended to emphasise empirical models that are grounded in data and make specific, experimentally testable predictions. Meanwhile, strongly idealised or 'toy' models have played a central role in the theoretical development of other sciences such as physics. In this paper, we examine the nature of toy models and their prospects in neuroscience.

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This Ambix special issue explores premodern alchemical ideas and practices in their entanglements with medicine. It employs diverse methods, from traditional close reading to the new distant-reading framework of computational humanities, to investigate alchemical thought over a timespan of several centuries. In medieval times, everyday practices could offer heuristic models of material transformation - such as the fermentation of bread as a model for metallic transmutation (Schmechel). Paracelsus relied on "fire" to link his natural philosophy with his medical alchemy; new computational methods show how his ideas evolved over time (Hedesan). Early modern medical pluralism favoured the thriving of chemical medicine in Italy; diplomatic efforts introduced chemical remedies into acknowledged pharmacopoeias (Clericuzio). An English physician offers William Cavendish both practical distillation recipes and the hope of learning more about the principles of chemistry (Begley). In eighteenth-century France, Diderot draws on chemical ideas to blur the conceptual boundary between living and non-living matter (Wolfe). The papers largely adhere to integrated history and philosophy of science (iHPS) and to a pragmatist "operational ideal of knowledge" (Chang). They showcase the interdisciplinarity of premodern scientific thought and examine how medicine and alchemy, but also theory and (everyday) practice informed each other fruitfully across the ages.

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We address the unconsciously biased perception of psychiatric disorders, highlighting a hierarchical perspective that favours certain diagnoses over others. We aim to uncover reasons for these inequities, emphasising the need for a shift toward pathophysiology-based nomenclature that can promote equal support for each disorder, enhance treatment adherence and encourage open discussions.

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The recent "Conscious Turing Machine" (CTM) proposal offered by Manuel and Lenore Blum aims to define and explore consciousness, contribute to the solution of the hard problem, and demonstrate the value of theoretical computer science with respect to the study of consciousness. Surprisingly, given the ambitiousness and novelty of the proposal (and the prominence of its creators), CTM has received relatively little attention. We here seek to remedy this by offering an exhaustive evaluation of CTM. Our evaluation considers the explanatory power of CTM in three different domains of interdisciplinary consciousness studies: the philosophy of mind, cognitive neuroscience, and computation. Based on our evaluation in each of the target domains, at present, any claim that CTM constitutes progress is premature. Nevertheless, the model has potential, and we highlight several possible avenues of future research which proponents of the model may pursue in its development.

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Careless speech is a new type of harm created by large language models (LLM) that poses cumulative, long-term risks to science, education and shared social truth in democratic societies. LLMs produce responses that are plausible, helpful and confident, but that contain factual inaccuracies, misleading references and biased information. These subtle mistruths are poised to cumulatively degrade and homogenize knowledge over time. This article examines the existence and feasibility of a legal duty for LLM providers to create models that 'tell the truth'. We argue that LLM providers should be required to mitigate careless speech and better align their models with truth through open, democratic processes. We define careless speech against 'ground truth' in LLMs and related risks including hallucinations, misinformation and disinformation. We assess the existence of truth-related obligations in EU human rights law and the Artificial Intelligence Act, Digital Services Act, Product Liability Directive and Artificial Intelligence Liability Directive. Current frameworks contain limited, sector-specific truth duties. Drawing on duties in science and academia, education, archives and libraries, and a German case in which Google was held liable for defamation caused by autocomplete, we propose a pathway to create a legal truth duty for providers of narrow- and general-purpose LLMs.

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As a multilevel and multidisciplinary field, neuroscience is designed to interact with various branches of natural and applied sciences as well as with humanities and philosophy. The continental tradition in philosophy, particularly over the past 20 years, tended to establish strong connections with biology and neuroscience findings. This cross fertilization can however be impeded by conceptual intricacies, such as those surrounding the concept of plasticity. The use of this concept has broadened as scientists applied it to explore an ever-growing range of biological phenomena. Here, we examine the consequences of this ambiguity in an interdisciplinary context through the analysis of the concept of "destructive plasticity" in the philosophical writings of Catherine Malabou. The term "destructive plasticity" was coined by Malabou in 2009 to refer to all processes leading to psycho-cognitive and emotional alterations following traumatic or nontraumatic brain injuries or resulting from neurodevelopmental disorders. By comparing it with the neuroscientific definitions of plasticity, we discuss the epistemological obstacles and possibilities related to the integration of this concept into neuroscience. Improving interdisciplinary exchanges requires an advanced and sophisticated manipulation of neurobiological concepts. These concepts are not only intended to guide research programmes within neuroscience but also to organize and frame the dialogue between different theoretical backgrounds.

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An important question about moral progress is what causes it. One of the most popular proposed mechanisms is moral reasoning: moral progress often happens because lots of people reason their way to improved moral beliefs. Authors who defend moral reasoning as a cause of moral progress have relied on two broad lines of argument: the general and the specific line. The general line presents evidence that moral reasoning is in general a powerful mechanism of moral belief change, while the specific line tries to establish that moral reasoning can explain specific historical examples of moral progress. In this paper, we examine these lines in detail, using Kumar and Campbell's (2022, A Better Ape: The Evolution of the Moral Mind and How It Made Us Human. Oxford University Press) model of rational moral progress to sharpen our focus. For each line, we explain the empirical assumptions it makes; we then argue that the available evidence supports none of these assumptions. We conclude that at this point, we have no idea if moral reasoning causes moral progress.

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Occupational Health Nursing (OHN) has followed a complex path to build and strengthen its theoretical basis. Starting with Public Health core principles, theories were shaped by the dualism of person worker and working environment, where sometimes the centre of the thought was given to the latter and other times to the former. The problem was not much on such conflict but on the definition of the correct OHN focus and whether genuine nursing knowledge was being applied. We are worried that other disciplines radically influenced the theoretical path taken by OHN theorists. To approach this problem, a unitary-transformative perspective can help us describe and analyse this phenomenon and engage scholars to reflect upon the accurate epistemological focus of OHN. We aimed to deepen this reflection and uncover a new OHN theoretical focus.

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The discussion paper synthesises the insights shared during a keynote panel at the 26th International Philosophy of Nursing Conference, themed "Reimagining a nursing ecosystem in an uncertain world." It delves into the substantial impact uncertainty has on nursing, offering innovative strategies for reconceptualization. Through a critical examination of evidence-based practice, the tendency to homogenise nursing is discussed, prompting advocacy for a Nietzschean political framework as a form of resistance and emancipation. Drawing inspiration from Donna Haraway, a transition from individualistic to relational approaches is needed, especially amidst social and economic instability. Furthermore, the integration of caritas and Indigenous epistemologies underscore the significance of cultural sensitivity in nursing. Meanwhile, Ubuntu philosophy champions empathy and collective values, while a convergence of Eastern and Western philosophical traditions promises to enrich nursing practice. Ultimately, the panellists advocate for overcoming rigid ideologies in favour of a pluralistic approaches, ontologies, epistemologies and ethics to address contemporary challenges, and signal for a philosophical reorientation to engage uncertainty and reshape nursing roles in an ever-evolving and world.

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