Obsession and Maladaptive Search for Raison D'être: A Condition That May Harm Psychological Wellbeing.

Being with raison d'être, or the meaning of living, usually has a positive effect on the psychological wellbeing of humans. The impact of an endeavor or desire to be with raison d'être on human wellbeing remains undetermined. This study investigated the potential impact of an obsession with raison d'être on human psychological wellbeing. A literature review revealed that only a limited number of studies have evaluated the relationship between attitudes toward raison d'être and psychological wellbeing. Some indicate that a pathological obsession with a self-oriented raison d'être, especially when the search is attempted via maladaptive ways, may eventually cause harm and distress to those who are the objects of obsession and the surrounding people. If obsessed people persist to preserve raison d'être in the community, they need to continuously demonstrate the advantage of their existence and differentiation from other members. As conceivable adaptive ways to search for raison d'être, people make efforts to enhance their talents, achieve certifications, be promoted, or dedicate themselves to volunteers. However, if these adaptive ways have failed, some obsessed people may change their processes to maladaptive ways, such as attacking or criticizing other members who are a threat to their satisfaction with raison d'être. Such maladaptive approaches in the community would harm both the obsessed and surrounding members. To date, the negative aspect of desiring for raison d'être has remained largely unevaluated. Research regarding the prevalence of pathologic obsession with raison d'être in the general population, its impact on human wellbeing, and treatability is warranted.

Life-Saving Cancer Care.

What, precisely, are we seeking to achieve in offering 'life-saving' treatment to patients with cancer? Research funding agencies and pharmaceutical industry media releases, and government cancer screening programs all promise that their cancer programs save lives. But everybody dies. The nature of life and death from cancer is explored philosophically in this essay, with particular reference to the quality of life, and its meaning, during the period of prolongation of survival by 'life-saving' cancer care.

[Teacher sick leave: Prevalence, duration, reasons and covariates]. / Congés-maladie des enseignants : fréquence, durées, raisons et facteurs associés.

BACKGROUND: Absences from work have considerable social and economic impact. In the education sector, the phenomenon is particularly worrying since teacher sick leave has an impact on the overall performance of the education system. Yet, available data are scarce. METHODS: In April-June 2013, 2653 teachers responded to a population-based postal survey on their quality of life (enquête Qualité de vie des enseignants, MGEN Foundation/Ministry of education, response rate 53 %). Besides questions on work environment and health, teachers were asked to describe their eventual sick leave(s) since the beginning of the school year: duration, type and medical reasons. Self-reported information was reinforced by administrative data from ministerial databases and weighted to be extrapolated to all French teachers. Tobit models adjusted for individual factors of a private nature were used to investigate different occupational risk factors of teacher sick leave, taking into account both the estimated effect on the probability of sick leave and the length of it. RESULTS: More than one in three teachers (36 %) reported having had at least one day of sick leave since the beginning of the school year. Respiratory/ENT diseases were the leading reason for sick leave (37 %). However, and because sick leave duration depended on the underlying health problem, such diseases came in third place among justifications of sick leave days (14 %), far behind musculoskeletal problems (27 %) and neurological and psychological disorders (25 %). Tobit models suggested that some occupational factors significantly associated with the risk of sick leave may represent promising preventive targets, including high psychological demand, workplace violence and unfavorable socio-environmental context. CONCLUSION: Our study provides objective evidence about the issue of sick leave among French teachers, highlighting the usefulness of implementing actions to minimize its weight. To this end, the study findings point-out the importance of considering not only the probability of sick leave, but also its duration.

Compositional analysis: a valid approach to analyze microbiome high-throughput sequencing data.

A workshop held at the 2015 annual meeting of the Canadian Society of Microbiologists highlighted compositional data analysis methods and the importance of exploratory data analysis for the analysis of microbiome data sets generated by high-throughput DNA sequencing. A summary of the content of that workshop, a review of new methods of analysis, and information on the importance of careful analyses are presented herein. The workshop focussed on explaining the rationale behind the use of compositional data analysis, and a demonstration of these methods for the examination of 2 microbiome data sets. A clear understanding of bioinformatics methodologies and the type of data being analyzed is essential, given the growing number of studies uncovering the critical role of the microbiome in health and disease and the need to understand alterations to its composition and function following intervention with fecal transplant, probiotics, diet, and pharmaceutical agents.

Conspiracies of immanence: Paul Tillich, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and C.G. Jung.

Jung's psychology proffers a sustained reflection on the traditional religious question of the relation of divine transcendence to immanence. On this issue his psychology affirms a position of radical immanence in its contention that the experience of divinity is initially wholly from within. Though this position remains on the periphery of religious and theological orthodoxy Jung is not alone in holding it among moderns. Paul Tillich adopts a similar stance with his controlling symbols of the divine as 'Ground of Being' and 'Depth of Reason'. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin understands divinity as the experiential energy of evolution itself working within nature and humanity toward greater configurations of universal communion as the basis of community. All of Jung's master symbols of individuation assume such an understanding of immanence uniting individual and totality. His psychology strongly suggests and contributes to the current emergence of a new religious sensitivity based on the awareness of the intra-psychic origin of all religions. In his later writings he held out such a position as a significant alternative to genocide.

As desrazões do esclarecimento / Unreasons of the enlightenment / Las desraciones del esclarecimiento / Les déraisons de la raison

O presente estudo busca analisar a contribuição da Dialética do Esclarecimento de Theodor Adorno e Max Horkheimer para a crítica da razão moderna. Empreendemos uma compreensão da crítica estabelecida por esses autores ao Esclarecimento, expondo a crítica ao Esclarecimento em sentido lato, com a pretensão de estabelecer um paralelo entre a Razão moderna Instrumental e a Razão mercantil moderna. O objetivo é o de discernir no Esclarecimento traços que só se desenvolveram e se diferenciaram na modernidade capitalista. Deste modo, realizamos uma análise crítica que parte da hipótese de que o desenvolvimento da razão moderna positiva enquanto epistemologia - tal como é exposta pelos autores supracitados - tem como pano de fundo tácito o desenvolvimento da lógica da mercadoria, a lógica tautológica e autotélica da valorização incessante do dinheiro (Marx). A análise dessa relação visa explicitar elementos acerca da subjetividade contemporânea e das novas formas de dominação implícitas, próprias da Razão mercantil moderna.

This study seeks to analyse the contribution of Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer to the critique of modern reason in the Dialectic of Enlightenment. It tries to undertake a critical understanding about the concept of Enlightenment, by exposing his critique in a broad sense. It intents to draw a parallel between the modern Instrumental reason and the modern mercantile reason, i.e., it tries to discern the traces of Enlightenment that only developed and differentiated in the capitalist modernity. Thus it undertakes a critical analysis about the hypothesis that considers the development of positive modern reason as epistemology - such as is exposed by the authors mentioned above - but that has the tacit background: the development of logic of the commodity, the autotelic logic of the incessant valorization of the money (Marx). The analysis aims to clarify this relationship on elements of contemporary subjectivity and new forms of domination implied, Reason's own modern market.

Este estudio busca hacer un análisis de la contribución de la Dialéctica de la Ilustración de Theodor Adorno y Max Horkheimer a la crítica de la razón moderna. Intentaremos una comprensión de la crítica que estos autores establecieron mediante la exposición de la crítica de la Ilustración en el sentido más amplio, esperando establecer un paralelo entre la Razón Instrumental moderna y la Razón mercantil moderna. El intento es discernir en el Esclarecimiento huellas que sólo se desarrollaron y diferenciaron en la modernidad capitalista. Por lo tanto vamos a realizar un análisis crítico sobre el supuesto de que el desarrollo de la razón moderna positivista como epistemología -como es expuesta por los autores mencionados anteriormente- tiene por base el desarrollo de la lógica tácita de la mercancía, la lógica autotélica, tautológica de la valoración incesante del dinero (Marx). El análisis de esta relación busca explicar elementos sobre la subjetividad contemporánea y de nuevas formas de dominación implícitas, inerentes a la Razón mercantil moderna.

Cette étude cherche à analyser la contribution de La Dialectique de la Raison de Theodor Adorno et Max Horkheimer pour la critique de raison moderne. On entreprît une interprétation de la critique de la Raison établie par ces auteurs en exposant une critique à la Raison au sens large, pour ensuite essayer d'établir un parallèle entre la Raison moderne Instrumentale et la Raison marchande moderne. Le but est de discerner au coeur de la Raison des traits qui ne se sont épanouis et ne se sont démarqués que dans l'époque moderne, l'époque capitaliste. Ainsi, notre hypothèse critique est que le développement de la raison moderne positive en tant qu'épistémologie - telle qu'elle est exposée par les auteurs cités - s'assied implicitement sur le développement de la raison marchande, une logique tautologique e autotélique de la valorisation incessante de l'argent (Marx). L'analyse de ce rapport vise à dévoiler quelques éléments propre à la subjectivité contemporaine et de nouvelles formes de dominations plus subtiles, propres à la Raison marchande moderne.

As desrazões do esclarecimento / Unreasons of the enlightenment / Las desraciones del esclarecimiento / Les déraisons de la raison

O presente estudo busca analisar a contribuição da Dialética do Esclarecimento de Theodor Adorno e Max Horkheimer para a crítica da razão moderna. Empreendemos uma compreensão da crítica estabelecida por esses autores ao Esclarecimento, expondo a crítica ao Esclarecimento em sentido lato, com a pretensão de estabelecer um paralelo entre a Razão moderna Instrumental e a Razão mercantil moderna. O objetivo é o de discernir no Esclarecimento traços que só se desenvolveram e se diferenciaram na modernidade capitalista. Deste modo, realizamos uma análise crítica que parte da hipótese de que o desenvolvimento da razão moderna positiva enquanto epistemologia - tal como é exposta pelos autores supracitados - tem como pano de fundo tácito o desenvolvimento da lógica da mercadoria, a lógica tautológica e autotélica da valorização incessante do dinheiro (Marx). A análise dessa relação visa explicitar elementos acerca da subjetividade contemporânea e das novas formas de dominação implícitas, próprias da Razão mercantil moderna.(AU)

This study seeks to analyse the contribution of Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer to the critique of modern reason in the Dialectic of Enlightenment. It tries to undertake a critical understanding about the concept of Enlightenment, by exposing his critique in a broad sense. It intents to draw a parallel between the modern Instrumental reason and the modern mercantile reason, i.e., it tries to discern the traces of Enlightenment that only developed and differentiated in the capitalist modernity. Thus it undertakes a critical analysis about the hypothesis that considers the development of positive modern reason as epistemology - such as is exposed by the authors mentioned above - but that has the tacit background: the development of logic of the commodity, the autotelic logic of the incessant valorization of the money (Marx). The analysis aims to clarify this relationship on elements of contemporary subjectivity and new forms of domination implied, Reason's own modern market.(AU)

Este estudio busca hacer un análisis de la contribución de la Dialéctica de la Ilustración de Theodor Adorno y Max Horkheimer a la crítica de la razón moderna. Intentaremos una comprensión de la crítica que estos autores establecieron mediante la exposición de la crítica de la Ilustración en el sentido más amplio, esperando establecer un paralelo entre la Razón Instrumental moderna y la Razón mercantil moderna. El intento es discernir en el Esclarecimiento huellas que sólo se desarrollaron y diferenciaron en la modernidad capitalista. Por lo tanto vamos a realizar un análisis crítico sobre el supuesto de que el desarrollo de la razón moderna positivista como epistemología -como es expuesta por los autores mencionados anteriormente- tiene por base el desarrollo de la lógica tácita de la mercancía, la lógica autotélica, tautológica de la valoración incesante del dinero (Marx). El análisis de esta relación busca explicar elementos sobre la subjetividad contemporánea y de nuevas formas de dominación implícitas, inerentes a la Razón mercantil moderna.(AU)

Cette étude cherche à analyser la contribution de La Dialectique de la Raison de Theodor Adorno et Max Horkheimer pour la critique de raison moderne. On entreprît une interprétation de la critique de la Raison établie par ces auteurs en exposant une critique à la Raison au sens large, pour ensuite essayer d'établir un parallèle entre la Raison moderne Instrumentale et la Raison marchande moderne. Le but est de discerner au coeur de la Raison des traits qui ne se sont épanouis et ne se sont démarqués que dans l'époque moderne, l'époque capitaliste. Ainsi, notre hypothèse critique est que le développement de la raison moderne positive en tant qu'épistémologie - telle qu'elle est exposée par les auteurs cités - s'assied implicitement sur le développement de la raison marchande, une logique tautologique e autotélique de la valorisation incessante de l'argent (Marx). L'analyse de ce rapport vise à dévoiler quelques éléments propre à la subjectivité contemporaine et de nouvelles formes de dominations plus subtiles, propres à la Raison marchande moderne.(AU)