Free Speech Skepticism.

If the free speech clause of the First Amendment is interpreted to mean that speech is to be granted special protection not accorded to other forms of conduct, then a free speech principle, distinct from a principle of general liberty, must be posited and must receive a distinct justification. A defense of a free speech principle must explain why the harm principle either does not apply in the case of speech or applies with less force than in the case of all other forms of human conduct. In this article, I argue that none of the defenses of the right to free speech on offer succeeds in showing why even significantly harmful speech is deserving of special protection not afforded non-speech conduct. More work needs to be done to justify a free speech principle and, until such work is done, the belief in the existence of a free speech principle that undergirds and justifies our current free speech practices is no more than an article of faith.

The Limits of the Rights to Free Thought and Expression.

It is often held that people have a moral right to believe and say whatever they want. For instance, one might claim that they have a right to believe racist things as long as they keep those thoughts to themselves. Or, one might claim that they have a right to pursue any scholarly question they want as long as they do so with a civil tone. This paper rejects those claims and argues that no one has such unlimited moral rights. Part 1 explores the value of the freedoms of thought and expression. Part 2 argues against the unlimited moral right to free expression, focusing in particular on the special obligations and moral constraints that obtain for academics. Part 3 argues against the unlimited moral right to free thought.

Scientific societies fostering inclusivity through speaker diversity in annual meeting programming: a call to action.

Scientific societies aiming to foster inclusion of scientists from underrepresented (UR) backgrounds among their membership often delegate primary responsibility for this goal to a diversity-focused committee. The National Science Foundation has funded the creation of the Alliance to Catalyze Change for Equity in STEM Success (ACCESS), a meta-organization bringing together representatives from several such STEM society committees to serve as a hub for a growing community of practice. Our goal is to coordinate efforts to advance inclusive practices by sharing experiences and making synergistic discoveries about what works. ACCESS has analyzed the approaches by which member societies have sought to ensure inclusivity through selection of annual meeting speakers. Here we discuss how inclusive speaker selection fosters better scientific environments for all and identify challenges and promising practices for societies striving to maximize inclusivity of speakers in their scientific programming.

Characteristics and conflicts of interests of public speakers at the Psychopharmacologic Drug and Advisory Committee meetings regarding psychiatric drugs.

The Psychopharmacologic Drug Advisory Committee (PDAC) is one of 33 advisory committees of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). During committee meetings, an open public hearing takes place where speakers provide testimonies about the drug in question and are asked, not required, to disclose any conflicts of interests (COIs) before speaking. These speakers may present with COIs which include, but are not limited to, reimbursement for travel and lodging by the pharmaceutical company to attend the meeting; previous or current payments for consulting from the pharmaceutical company and compensation as a paid investigator in previously conducted clinical trials for the drug under review. Our study aimed to investigate the characteristics and COIs of public speakers at PDAC meetings of the FDA. We evaluated 145 public speakers at FDA committee meetings over a 10-year period. We found a total of 52 public speakers disclosed a COI with travel and lodging being the most prominent. Among these speakers, 82.4% provided a positive testimony regarding the psychiatric drug in question. Speakers who had the condition in question were not more likely to provide a positive statement than those who did not. Our results showed that disclosing a COI was associated with increased odds of public speakers providing a favourable testimony for the recommendation of psychiatric drugs. The implications of these findings are concerning since COIs have the potential to skew public speaker's testimonies and persuade committee members to recommend a drug through emotionally charged tactics.

Attentional capture by taboo words: A functional view of auditory distraction.

It is well established that task-irrelevant, to-be-ignored speech adversely affects serial short-term memory (STM) for visually presented items compared with a quiet control condition. However, there is an ongoing debate about whether the semantic content of the speech has the capacity to capture attention and to disrupt memory performance. In the present article, we tested whether taboo words are more difficult to ignore than neutral words. Taboo words or neutral words were presented as (a) steady state sequences in which the same distractor word was repeated, (b) changing state sequences in which different distractor words were presented, and (c) auditory deviant sequences in which a single distractor word deviated from a sequence of repeated words. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that taboo words disrupted performance more than neutral words. This taboo effect did not habituate and it did not differ between individuals with high and low working memory capacity. In Experiments 3 and 4, in which only a single deviant taboo word was presented, no taboo effect was obtained. These results do not support the idea that the processing of the auditory distractors' semantic content is the result of occasional attention switches to the auditory modality. Instead, the overall pattern of results is more in line with a functional view of auditory distraction, according to which the to-be-ignored modality is routinely monitored for potentially important stimuli (e.g., self-relevant or threatening information), the detection of which draws processing resources away from the primary task. (PsycINFO Database Record

Raça e saúde: concepções, antíteses e antinomia na atenção básica / Not available

A formação do Brasil republicano e da Saúde Pública são eventos contíguos e contingentes. Este campo de pensamentos e práticas não ficou indiferente ao impacto da raça na nossa formação social, pelo contrário: participou ativamente do processo que fez a raça e, sobretudo, o racismo, um axioma de nosso Estado e instituições. Instigada pelo movimento histórico e suas rupturas e permanências, perguntei neste trabalho de que forma a raça opera na saúde nos dias de hoje. Ciente de todos indicadores que apontam a população aquela com as condições de saúde mais precárias (entre os grupos raciais), e de que esses dados têm lastro na sociedade, me propus e pensar nos mecanismos dentro desse sistema que reiteram o lugar subalterno do negro. Com ênfase na relação profissional de saúde-usuário no espaço na Atenção Básica, certa de que essa relação particular daria pistas das relações raciais em esfera mais abrangente, analisamos o discurso dos profissionais de saúde em relação a seus pacientes negros. Nos relatos desses sujeitos, faz um percurso que vai desde a escravidão, passa pelo racialismo, pelo racismo estrutural e institucional, pelas múltiplas tentativas de negação e ocultação desse sistema e pela branquitude. Muitas vozes compõem os discursos sobre a raça, o racismo e a saúde da população negra, discursos marcados pelas contradições inerentes à raça e a todo sujeito social

Are speech-evoked auditory brainstem response (speech-ABR) outcomes influenced by ethnicity?

Due to its objective nature, auditory brainstem response (ABR) evoked by complex stimuli has been gaining attention lately. The present study aimed to compare the speech-evoked auditory brainstem response (speech-ABR) results between two ethnic groups: Malay and Chinese. In addition, it was also of interest to compare the speech-ABR outcomes obtained from the present study with the published Caucasian data. Thirty healthy male adults (15 Malay and 15 Chinese) were enrolled in this comparative study. Speech syllable/da/presented at 80 dBnHL was used to record speech-ABR waveforms from the right ear of each subject. Amplitudes and latencies of speech-ABR peaks (V, A, C, D, E, F and O), as well as composite onset measures (V/A duration, V/A amplitude and V/A slope) were computed and analyzed. When the two ethnic groups were compared, all speech-ABR results were not statistically different from each other (p > 0.05). When the data from the present study were compared with the published Caucasian data, most of the statistical analyses were significant (p < 0.05). That is, Asian subjects revealed significantly higher peak amplitudes, earlier peak latencies, higher V/A amplitudes and steeper V/A slopes than that of Caucasians. The speech-ABR results between Malay and Chinese were found to be essentially similar due to anatomical similarities. Nevertheless, specific normative data for Asian adults are required as their speech-ABR results are different from that of Caucasian males. This issue should be addressed before it can be applied holistically in multiracial countries.

O estilo em psicanálise: o discurso do analista como arte do bem dizer / The stylistic dimension of psychoanalytic discourse: the art of saying well / Le style en psychanalyse: le discours de l'annaliste dans l'art du bien dire / El estilo en psicoanalisis: el discurso del analista como arte del bien decir

O presente artigo circunscreve sua problemática na relação entre campo estético e os processos de subjetivação; de forma mais específica, objetiva analisar os possíveis efeitos estilísticos do discurso psicanalítico na subjetividade, tanto daquele que o pronuncia, como de quem o escuta. Para tanto, toma a análise, discurso do analista sistematizado por Lacan, como estratégia para compreender a questão do estilo em psicanálise. Desvelando a estrutura do discurso analítico, entendido como discurso do analista, é possível identificar que, pela via do estilo, emerge a possibilidade de inscrição do objeto a, como marca do real na ordem simbólica regida pela falta...

This article circumscribes its problem as concerning the relationship between the aesthetical field and the subjectivation processes; more specifically it aims to analyze the possible stylistic effects of the psychoanalytical discourse on the subjectivity of both speaker and listener. To do so, it takes the analysis of the analyst's discourse, systemized by Lacan as a strategy to understand the matter of style in psychoanalysis. Unveiling the structure of the analytical discourse, understood as the analyst's discourse, it is possible to identify that, through style, emerges the possibility of inscription of the object a, as a mark of the real on the symbolical order reigned by loss...

Cet article délimite sa problématique dans la relation entre le champ esthétique et les processus de subjectivation; de manière plus spécifique, cet article a pour objectif d'analyser les possibles effets stylistiques du discours psychanalytique dans la subjectivité, aussi bien par ceux qui le prononce , que de ceux qui l'écoute. De ce fait, l'analyse du discours analytique systématisé par Lacan est considéré comme une stratégie afin de comprendre la question de style en psychanalise. Dévoilant la structure du discours analytique , compris comme le discours de l'annaliste, il est possible d'identifier que par la voie du style, emmerge la possibilité de description de l'objet a, comme une marque de la réalité dans l'ordre symbolique régit par la faute...

Este artículo circunscribe su problemática a la relación entre la estética y los procesos de subjetivación, más específicamente, objetiva analizar los posibles efectos del estilo del discurso en la subjetividad, tanto del que habla como de quien escucha. Para eso, toma el análisis del discurso analítico sistematizado por Lacan como uma estrategia para la comprensión de la cuestión del estilo en el psicoanálisis. Revelando la estructura, del discurso analítico entendida como discurso del analista, es posible identificar que a través del estilo, surge la posibilidad de inscripción del objeto a, como una señal de lo real en el orden simbólico regido por la falta...

Academic freedom and the obligation to ensure morally responsible scholarship in nursing.

Academic freedom is generally regarded as being of critical importance to the development, improved understanding, and dissemination of new knowledge in a field. Although of obvious importance to the discipline of nursing, the nature, extent and value of academic freedom and the controversies surrounding it have rarely been considered in the nursing literature. It is a key aim of this paper to redress this oversight by providing a brief examination of: (i) the principle of academic freedom; (ii) the distinction between academic freedom, freedom of speech, and the academic freedom to publish; (iii) the problem of ideological judgments being dressed up as scientific or discipline judgments to supports 'bad' conclusions; and (iv) the standards that might otherwise be appealed to for determining whether maverick manuscripts supporting morally abhorrent conclusions should be accepted for publication. It is suggested that the tenets of academic freedom require robust international debate, with due attention being given to such issues as the development of an international declaration on academic freedom to publish in nursing, how to ensure a robust rebuttal system in nursing journals to counter specious scholarship, and how to better promote the letters pages of nursing journals as a venue for facilitating debate on controversial issues.