Making decisions for the severely handicapped newborn

Standard ethical approaches to decision-making which are based on rights, duties, obligations, beneficence, or best interests often seem inadequate or insufficient when applied to the individual infant, as in the case of Baby Jane Doe. A process approach which takes account of moral theory, but which allows tolerance, within limits, for a possible range of decisions, would appear to offer more reasonable decisions. However, any decision must be based on good facts and accurate prognosis. Pending the availability of medical records on Baby Jane Doe, judgment of the decisions made at Stony Brook must be suspended.     

国家治理逻辑与农民生存选择——基于农民矿工的行为分析

农民矿工的职业选择是由其生存境况决定的。在推行赶超战略过程中,国家为能从农村提取经济资源并保持政治稳定,在给予农民生存保障的同时,也对其行动自由进行限制;由于无法掌控命运,只要还能维持生存,农民一般会对国家表示忠诚和顺从。由于近乎于零的机会成本和濒临生存线的高边际效用,部分贫困农民不得不从事诸如煤矿采掘这样一些充满危险的工作。法律保障的缺失、行动能力的弱小,使得农民矿工无力有效维护其基本权利。     

Le Parlement et le pouvoir religieux dans le Portugal du Moyen Âge

SUMMARY

The medieval Portuguese clergy and nobility, particularly those of higher status, were the political and ideological support of the sovereign. As vassals of the king they had been members of the curia regia from its beginnings. They naturally became part of the parliament when it was created in the thirteenth century. In these early assemblies the monarch consulted them about political issues of general interest, but the clergy and nobility were free to bring forward their own concerns. Maria Helena da Cruz Coelho examines how the clergy complained to the kings D. Afonso IV (1325–57), D. Pedro (1357–67) and D. Fernando (1367–83). They insisted on defending their privileges, ecclesiastical rights and temporal power, presenting long lists of accusations mostly against the nobles and royal officials. But to give a wider perspective the author also studies the dissatisfaction that the people expressed in these assemblies about the clergy, charging them with oppression while both collecting taxes and rents and applying justice. The parliamentary discussions demonstrated clearly the social tensions of the times and allowed the king to judge and to rule in a more balanced way between the estates in order to exert his sovereign power in a pacified kingdom.