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Human Suffering (human + suffering)
Selected AbstractsBROADENING THE APPLICATION OF EVOLUTIONARILY BASED GENETIC PEST MANAGEMENTEVOLUTION, Issue 2 2008Fred Gould Insect- and tick-vectored diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, and Lyme disease cause human suffering, and current approaches for prevention are not adequate. Invasive plants and animals such as Scotch broom, zebra mussels, and gypsy moths continue to cause environmental damage and economic losses in agriculture and forestry. Rodents transmit diseases and cause major pre- and postharvest losses, especially in less affluent countries. Each of these problems might benefit from the developing field of Genetic Pest Management that is conceptually based on principles of evolutionary biology. This article briefly describes the history of this field, new molecular tools in this field, and potential applications of those tools. There will be a need for evolutionary biologists to interact with researchers and practitioners in a variety of other fields to determine the most appropriate targets for genetic pest management, the most appropriate methods for specific targets, and the potential of natural selection to diminish the effectiveness of genetic pest management. In addition to producing environmentally sustainable pest management solutions, research efforts in this area could lead to new insights about the evolution of selfish genetic elements in natural systems and will provide students with the opportunity to develop a more sophisticated understanding of the role of evolutionary biology in solving societal problems. [source] Intolerable human suffering and the role of the ancestor: literary criticism as a means of analysisJOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING, Issue 3 2000Elizabeth Harrison RN PhD Intolerable human suffering and the role of the ancestor: literary criticism as a means of analysis This essay explores the experience of intolerable human suffering in Toni Cade Bambara's novel, The Salt Eaters. The method of analysis is literary criticism, a technique that shares many of the same goals as other types of inquiry. It employs close reading to illuminate the novel's meaning(s), thereby revealing information about the nature of intolerable human suffering. Morrison's characteristics of black art is the literary and cultural framework that guides the analysis of Bambara's novel. The paradigm has broad application for nursing. The purpose of this analysis was to describe the role of the ancestral system as a predictor of the trajectory of suffering. The results extend Morrison's paradigm and her notion of ancestor to include traditions and other non-corporeal factors that are essential for well-being and survival. The protagonist in Bambara's novel, Velma Henry, is the patient and exemplar who does not succumb to intolerable suffering because of its cumulative weight, but because she has lost touch with the traditions of her people, an essential component of her ancestral system. The ancestral system is a rich and complex network of individuals, groups, customs and beliefs that are instructive, protective and benevolent. Ancestors are also timeless and provide wisdom, but when the ancestral system is weak or absent, the trajectory of suffering is not favourable. Nurses must learn to recognize intolerable human suffering, to identify the patient's ancestral system, and to work within that system to keep suffering patients from harm. [source] In search of the True Self: a clinical journey through the vale of Soul-makingJOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC & MENTAL HEALTH NURSING, Issue 1 2006P. WILKIN rmn ma Once a person accepts any form of mainstream mental health care, she is faced with the paradox of disabling caring. Every time an emotionally distressed individual is professionally rescued, she forfeits a golden opportunity to discover and utilize her own healing potential. Yet within a mental health service that is heavily medicalized and investing more and more in time-limited therapies, can it ever be otherwise? Drawing on the developmental theory of Donald Winnicott, together with the poet John Keats' concept of ,Soul-making', this case study provides an account of therapy delivered from outside the parameters of a health,illness model of caring. It acknowledges human suffering as a natural and inevitable part of life and, whilst acknowledging the value of therapeutic companionship, proclaims the mentally distressed person as best placed to navigate her own recovery. [source] THE AMBIGUITY OF THE EMBRYO: ETHICAL INCONSISTENCY IN THE HUMAN EMBRYONIC STEM CELL DEBATEMETAPHILOSOPHY, Issue 2-3 2007KATRIEN DEVOLDER Abstract: We argue in this essay that (1) the embryo is an irredeemably ambiguous entity and its ambiguity casts serious doubt on the arguments claiming its full protection or, at least, protection against its use as a means for stem cell research, (2) those who claim the embryo should be protected as "one of us" are committed to a position even they do not uphold in their practices, (3) views that defend the protection of the embryo in virtue of its potentiality to become a person fail, and (4) the embryo does not have any rights or interests to be protected. Given that many are willing to treat the embryo as a means in other practices, and that human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research holds great potential to benefit many people, one cannot but conclude that hESC research is permissible and, because of its immense promise for alleviating human suffering, even obligatory. [source] Rethinking the management of transboundary freshwater resources: a critical examination of modern international law and practiceNATURAL RESOURCES FORUM, Issue 1 2000Jeffrey AlbertArticle first published online: 9 OCT 200 Abstract Available freshwater stocks are being depleted and impaired on a widespread basis, with acute shortages an increasingly frequent condition in arid climates. In transboundary basins, water scarcity and pollution compound interstate tension and contribute to human suffering and ecological damage. This article provides theoretical perspectives on shared freshwater disputes and on the evolution of the international law of shared water resources. It argues that the UN Convention on the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses (ratified by some countries, but not yet in force) is inadequate as a framework convention in terms of providing general obligations on the future parties or an institutional framework for future action. The paper suggests that three critical concepts be considered in future management of shared water resources: (1) the unitary character of watersheds (where the absence of extra-basin diversions allows); (2) joint or "communitarian" watershed management; and (3) the relevance of international trade to alleviating regional food stress, resulting from local water scarcity. Finally, it proposes the establishment of an international advisory body on shared water disputes, modelled after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), whose role is codified in the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. [source] Continuity planning for nonprofitsNONPROFIT MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP, Issue 1 2003Nancy Meyer-Emerick Many nonprofits assist in emergency response and disaster relief to alleviate human suffering. In order to enhance those efforts and the maintenance of routine nonprofit operations, this article introduces the concept of continuity planning. Continuity planning does not focus on specific risks, such as floods or hurricanes, but on the maintenance of critical operational processes despite natural, anthropogenic, or technological interruptions. Continuity planning has yet to be widely applied within the nonprofit sector, primarily due to a lack of fiscal or personnel resources. This article explores several continuity-planning options for nonprofits and provides a brief explanation of the process. [source] 5.,The Project of Reconciliation and the Road to Redemption: Hegel's Social Philosophy and Nietzsche's CritiqueAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY, Issue 1 2009Steven V. Hicks Arthur Schopenhauer once observed: "A Philosophy in between the pages of which one does not hear the tears, the weeping and gnashing of teeth and the terrible din of mutual universal murder is no [genuine] philosophy."1 Certainly, the unforgettable events of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, which bear the names Auschwitz, Hiroshima, Rwanda, and Darfur, pose a challenge for philosophical thinking to prove itself equal to what emerges from these horrific events. To that end, my paper looks back to the philosophies of G. W. F. Hegel and Friedrich Nietzsche,in particular to their vision of a social reconciliation and cultural redemption,as a source of inspiration in our efforts to meet the challenges posed for a philosophy of the future by the global scale of violence, human suffering, and alienation. In what follows, I first offer a comparative analysis of Hegel's "project of reconciliation" with Nietzsche's "project of redemption." I then consider whether or not either philosopher can provide us with a coherent and attractive ethical/sociopolitical alternative for our postmodern world,a world still characterized by global violence, injustice, genocide, ecological degradation, and the prospect of nuclear annihilation. [source] The problem that is researchPSYCHOTHERAPY AND POLITICS INTERNATIONAL, Issue 1 2010Stephen Paul Abstract In this paper the author considers the newly published book Practitioner-based Research: Power, Discourse and Transformation in the context of the current research agenda in the psychological therapies. He questions the dominant research paradigm with its emphasis on quantitative and/or reductionist methodologies. He postulates that a different approach is needed to understand human suffering and mental health. He contextualizes psychological therapy in a social context and proposes that it is a political act where its focus is on empowerment and liberation. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Saving the world one patient at a time: Psychoanalysis and social critiquePSYCHOTHERAPY AND POLITICS INTERNATIONAL, Issue 3 2009Jennifer Tolleson Ph.D Abstract In contrast to its revolutionary beginnings, the psychoanalytic discourse has abandoned its potential as a critical, dissident force in contemporary life. It is imperative, in our efforts to engage in socially responsible clinical practice, that we restore the sociocritical function to our professional mandate, and that we apply such critique to our symbiosis with the dominant organizing social and economic order. In our close encounter with the tragedies and profundities of the human subject, we are uniquely poised to inhabit a critical, dissident and ardent sensibility in relation to the larger political world. Our immersion in human subjectivity makes possible a vivid and poignant perspective on human experience in contemporary life, and yet our valorization of the subjective and the individual, and our difficulty looking beyond the dyad as the site of human suffering and human transformation occludes a broader social and historical inquiry. So, too, does our preoccupation with holding onto our professional legitimacy, staying viable in the marketplace, which tempts us in morally dubious directions and dampens our freedom to elaborate a more oppositional, or dissident, sensibility. Arguably the profession has a responsibility to make a contribution, practical and discursive, clinical and theoretical, to human rights and social justice. A contribution along these lines requires tremendous courage as we push back against the gains afforded by our conformity to the status quo. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The Influence of Social Critical Theory on Edward Schillebeeckx's Theology of Suffering for OthersTHE HEYTHROP JOURNAL, Issue 2 2001Elizabeth K. TillarArticle first published online: 16 DEC 200 Edward Schillebeeckx has consolidated the theoretical and practical dimensions of the Christian approach to human suffering in his theological method, specifically his theology of suffering for others. The various elements and sources of his method can be gleaned from his later writings, especially those published during the 1970s and 1980s. Schillebeeckx's theology is anchored in (1) the Thomist-phenomenological approach of Flemish philosopher Dominic De Petter; (2) the historical-experiential theology of Marie-Dominique Chenu; and (3) the social theory of the Frankfurt School. De Petter's perspective on Aquinas integrated a Thomist epistemology with the phenomenological notion that concepts cannot ultimately capture the reality of human experience. From Chenu, Schillebeeckx acquired his commitment to both solid historical research and engagement with socio-political problems facing church and world. The problem of suffering, which constitutes an essential dimension of Schillebeeckx's theological ethics with its dual emphasis on theory and praxis, raises the question of human responsibility in the face of unjust and needless suffering. His theoretical-practical approach to the alleviation of human suffering evolved within the framework of social critical theory, specifically: (a) Schillebeeckx's theological integration of Theodor Adorno's negative dialectics into his own method of correlation, which promotes various forms of critical resistance to socio-political injustice rather than a single program; and (b) the unification of theory and praxis, a priority of Jürgen Habermas's ,new' critical theory that Schillebeeckx endorses. Both principles of critical theory , negative dialectics and the union of theory and praxis , inform Schillebeeckx's eschatological orientation and his conception of liturgy as a form of social ethics. [source] International Actors Leading in Relief Efforts: 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami Aid AssessmentASIAN POLITICS AND POLICY, Issue 3 2009Courtney M. Page The Indian Ocean tsunami was one of the most devastating natural disasters the world has seen in the last 50 years. Following the calamities, the world responded and international actors went to work to relieve human suffering and rebuild the infrastructure that lay in ruins. This study examines the collective experiences of 21 organizations according to six disaster management dimensions: disaster preparedness, early recovery/livelihood support, public awareness, capacity-building, accountability and measuring mechanisms, and coordination post-disaster. The findings of this study provide policy recommendations according to the accomplishments, limitations, and progress made since 2004 shared by organizations responding to the largest and most publicized humanitarian crisis in recent times. [source] | |||||||||||||