What Do Gestational Mothers Deserve?

This paper analyzes the following question: What do women deserve, ethically speaking, when they agree to gestate a fetus on behalf of third parties? I argue for several claims. First, I argue that gestational motherhood’s moral significance has been misunderstood, an oversight I attribute to the focus in family ethics on the conditions of parenthood. Second, I use a less controversial version of James Rachels’s account of desert to argue that gestational mothers deserve a parent-like voice as well as significant care and support, conclusions that have implications for commercial surrogacy. Finally, I argue that we should not make requests of others when fulfilling them will lead others to deserve goods we cannot reasonably expect them to receive, and I conclude based on this thesis, what I call the “strings attached thesis,” that pro-life arguments in support of prohibitions on abortion commit their proponents to policies which they may not be willing to support.     

Reconsidering “Considering Gestational Life”: Reply to Commentaries by Levine and Williams

The two commentaries of “Considering Gestational Life” are both wonderful in their generative reflections and from such uniquely different perspectives. Each has generated an array of new questions about the nature and impact of gestation that are yet to be substantially explored. This discussion attempts to further their inquiries by focusing on how “gestational thinking” leads us into exploring Negative Capability; the improvisational nature of analytic process; objectivity versus subjectivity; reconsidering the impact of gestational trauma; the epistimophilic instinct; gender bias; clarifying “objectless intersubjectivity”; the role of silence, isolation, interiority, and privacy in analytic listening; what patients seek in treatment; and clarification of the meaning of “merger” and “unity.”     

The Maternal–Foetal Interface and Gestational Chimerism: The Emerging Importance of Chimeric Bodies

The science of gestational cell transfer—research into the transfer of cells between a pregnant woman and foetus during gestation—and subsequent mingling of transferred cells, or microchimerism, is bringing new attention to the maternal/foetal interface. These findings challenge previous biological understandings of a barrier between the body of a pregnant woman and developing foetus, a barrier maintaining the identity integrity as it were, of two beings, two separate subjects. In this sense, the maternal–foetal interface is an interesting bio-political object, predicated upon understandings of individuals as discrete and bounded organisms, an understanding that has been strongly implicated in immunology, as Donna Haraway, Emily Martin and others have argued. Findings of cellular transfer across this interface raise questions about intermingling and permeability of human organism boundaries. However, these findings are important not only for insight into gestational biology, but because they are emerging in a broader biomedical context of the development of cellular therapies and regenerative medicine. These therapeutic strategies call attention to chimerism as a naturally occurring and iatrogenic biological state, highlighting the permeability and permissiveness of bodies to the intermingling of cells, an idea that runs counter to biological, political and social understandings of selves as individuated, discrete and purely self. A theoretical framework of immuno-politics raises implications of trouble at the maternal/foetal interface, and suggests that chimeric, permeable bodies are of increasing value as cellular therapeutic strategies gain in importance for human health.     

Commentary on “Considering Gestational Life” by Thomas Cohen

Cohen’s paper (this issue) is discussed from a temporal persepective in order to query the place of psychic movement in nonsymbolic, “gestational” states and in treatment, and the relationship of these to personality development. The question of unconscious psychotic hostility to change is raised. The discussant queries the relevance of “merger” in “objectless intersubjectivity” in the context of the “systemic interchange” emphasized by the author, where it seems that the process of “interchange” is prior. Finally, the discussant raises the question of the role of primordial, “live” silence in gestation and in treatment.     

Gestational age and gender influence on executive control and its related neural structures in preterm-born children at 6 years of age

Within preterm-born children, being born male and at a lower gestational age (GA) have both been associated with a heightened risk for developmental difficulties. However, in this population little is known about the combined effect and the influence of these risk factors on cortical structures and executive control. In the present study, 58 preterm-born children (GA ranging from 24.0 to 35.1 weeks) were administered the computerized Child Attention Network Task at 6 years of age. Brain magnetic resonance imaging was performed and analyzed using Voxel-Based Morphometry (VBM) in all children. At a behavioral level, boys born <28 weeks of GA had significantly less executive control than preterm-born girls <28 weeks (p = .001) and preterm-born boys ≥28 (p = .003). The reduced executive control in preterm-born boys <28 weeks gestation was related to lower cortical densities in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). The current study links the higher incidence of reduced executive control in preterm-born boys to a higher degree of prematurity (low GA) and identifies brain structural abnormalities in the prefrontal cortex related to these deficits. The implications of these results are discussed.     

导言:ICU感染:永恒的话题

<正>ICU是危重患者的聚集地,感染是危重患者的重要致病因素。国内感染相关的大型流行病学调查数据较少,据华西医院2016年发表的文献数据推断严重脓毒症的发生率约为4.4‰。而美国的调查数据显示,每年严重脓毒症的发生率约为3‰,其中约50%的患者需要收住ICU治疗,病死率达25%以上,感染性休克患者的病死率甚至高达50%以上,每年由于感染相关的治疗费用达140亿。另外,ICU患者不但病情危重,而且常常伴有器官功能不全     

Erratum: Comment: What's in a name?

Erratum . New Blackfriars Volume 86, Number 1004
In this article by Fergus Kerr in Volume 86, Number 1004, July 2005: - p. 360, line 5 of text: 'He reaffirms his predecessor's condemnation of "Modernism" (he is said to have found a document delating himself in the papal in-tray); but, by these "new terms"' should read: 'He reaffirms his predecessor's condemnation of "Modernism" (he is said to have found a document delating himself in the papal in-tray); but, by these "new terms", he means the categorization of Catholics as "modernists" and "integrists".'     

美国:各人自扫门前雪

正几年前,我和妻子来到美国,我们租住在蒙大拿州波兹曼市一栋老式小洋楼里。波兹曼市是美国著名的大学城,这里名校林立、空气清新、风景如画。每年冬季,这里都会下雪,很多滑雪爱好者不顾天寒地冻,到户外滑雪,充分享受运动的乐趣。     

A psychodynamic hermeneutic of the fall story: Genesis 2:25–3:24: Through a psychological lens

Genesis 3 is a theological myth in the form of a dramatic narrative of extraordinary literary quality which attempts to take account of the righteousness of God and the problem of pain in the created universe. It is an ancient Mesopotamian story which, appears in the Gilgamesh Epic as well as in Enuma Elis and was edited by the Yahwist theologian for the Genesis account to make it fit the essential requirements of an early Hebrew theological woridview. To appreciate its full weight the passage must be read through the lens of theological reflection, exegetical explication, literary criticism, and psychological analysis. This article suggests a way in which viewing the text through a psychological lens illumines the literary structure, the exegetical implications, and the theological interpretation of the story of the fall of humanity into pain, perplexity, and alienation.J. Harold Ellens, is Executive Director Emeritus of the Christian Association for Psychological Studies, Founding Editor and Editor in Chief Emeritus of theJournal of Psychology and Christianity, a retired Presbyterian pastor and theologian, and a licensed psychotherapist. He holds graduate degrees of MDiv from Calvin Theological Seminary, a ThM from Princeton Theological Seminary, and a PhD from Wayne State University.     

协同学:新领域

协同学是一个新的科学研究方向。它研究无论生物形式的,还是无生物形式的物质组织在本质上共同具有的,其自组织的原理和作用过程。众所周知,这一在最近几十年内形成的科学研究方向的创始人是Γ.哈肯。正是他为了表示该研究方向而提出了“协同学”这个术语。照哈肯看来,作为自组织基础的是带来协调效果的各个子系统的相互作用过程。普里戈任用多少有些不同的方式把问题的实质揭示出来,同时选定了“关于子系统的协调行为”这种说法。而对该科学研究方向的形成作出决定性贡献的研究者们也主要     

导言:关注妊娠期内分泌代谢性疾病:刻不容缓

正妊娠期内分泌疾病发病率明显升高。近年来,随着中国经济水平的提高和生活方式的改变,妊娠期相关内分泌代谢性疾病的发病率急剧增加,同时伴随中国"二胎"政策的全面放开,生育高峰将再一次到来,许多妊娠期妇女年龄超过35岁,面临高龄生育各方面的风险,其中妊娠期代谢性疾病更为突出。妊娠期糖尿病(gestational diabetes mellitus,GDM)和妊娠期甲状腺疾病成为目前临床上最常见的内分泌代谢性疾病,如控制不佳可导致不良的妊娠结局,对母儿均有较大危害,近年来,国际妊娠合并糖尿病研究学组(IADPSG)依照高血糖与妊娠不良结局关系     

刘美纯:长大成人

“直等到我们众人在信仰上同归于一,认识上帝的儿子,得以长大成人,达到基督完全长成的身量.这样,我们不再作小孩子,中了人的诡计和欺骗的法术,被一切邪说之风摇动,飘来飘去.”(弗4:13-14,和合本2010) “长大成人”是指信徒在信仰上长大成熟,可以吃饭,而不再是只能吃奶.信徒是否成长,对教会的健康发展和合一是有很大影响的.     

马化腾:不破不立

正2011年,马化腾40岁,个人财富超过300亿元。这一年,他成功地把一只憨态可掬的"企鹅"塞进了中国网民电脑桌面的右下角。同一年,微信诞生。这个日后被马化腾称作登上移动互联网船票的通讯应用上端线之初表现平平,它受到的最大质疑来自腾讯内部:我们已经有了QQ为什么还要做微信?如果现在有人问这样的问题一定会被斥之愚蠢:从聊天、阅读到购物、打车,微信俨然一种不可或缺的生活方式。过去五年,     

耶稣:爱憎分明

《圣经》是一部基督教经典,也是西方文化史上有划时代意义的伟大著作,即使不信仰基督教的中国文化人,也应该认真阅读。西方学界不但把《圣经》和耶稣作为信仰的对象,而且作为科学研究的对象,大体与人文主义发展是平行的,成绩斐然。因此,在学者阅读《圣经》的时候,最好能同时看看西方学界对于《圣经》和耶稣其人的研究成果。由此至少可以看到,《圣经》的形成与神学家的解释不同,历史上的耶稣与《圣经》里的耶稣不同,历史上的基督教也与传教布道中的基督教不同。真、善、美是基督教赞扬的美德,在信仰之前,首先搞清楚信仰对象的真实性,也符合基督精神。《圣经》有多种读法,耶稣也有多种精神。从什么角度,吸取些什么,这是关键。在中外的一些伟人中,不少是基督徒或称扬基督教者;中国的知名文学家中,也有一些是受到基督教熏陶和影响的,耶稣的人格和他的牺牲精神,也往往对革命者起激励作用。但他们对基督和《圣经》的理解,可以肯定是不一样的。这不用说非基督人士了,即使信仰同一部《圣经》和同一个耶稣的基督教内部,理解也往往大相径庭,经过痛苦———包括流血的分裂而现在并存的天主教、东正教和新教,就是大相径庭的历史见证;至于当前的新教,究竟有多少教派,恐怕谁也数不清。《读书》杂志所刊《宽容及爱》,就     

衣俊卿:文化哲学:一种新的哲学范式

在中国哲学正在经历的和将要发生的变化中 ,最深刻的变革将是哲学范式的根本性转换。1、哲学的范式和范式转换的含义。哲学范式就是指哲学理性分析、反思和批判活动的最基本的方式和路数。它至少应当包括两方面的内涵 :一是哲学的主题和对象 ,即研究什么的问题 ;二是哲学理性同     

警惕:网络综合征

●网瘾不亚于吸毒酗酒 终日沉溺于网上的人,其行为与吸毒、抽烟、酗酒而成瘾者类似。一接触网就兴奋异常,否则就“网瘾难耐”。他们不惜放弃地位、婚姻,甚至职业,终日迷恋于网