Anabela Paula Brízido, Nova Law, School NOVA University of Lisbon
Humantitude, Methodology Gineste Marescotti (MGM) and the care of the elderly: The holistic approach of Human Rights and the complexity of a Human Being when it comes to personalizing the care of the elderly; do both combines?
Humanitude philosophy and the Gineste Marescotti Methodology, who implements it, has as main target the care of the elderly with severe neurodegenerative diseases. Statistical data shows not only that the population is ageing (having a group of the elderly and the very elderly) but also, the decreasing of the birth and the increasing life expectancy rates. Thus, the care of the elderly is nowadays an important topic, which raises several challenges, namely to the elderly, its family, society and the State. Therefore, providing care to an elderly and with severe neurodegenerative diseases is very demanding. Indeed the care relationship between the professional caregiver and the elderly raises many issues when it comes to applying the law. As said by Gineste and Pellissier: “the old man and women are very recent phenomena due to the considerable improvement in the medical sciences, health, economic, and social conditions which occurred in the seventieths”. Unfortunately with it, has also come the “ageism” (a term coined by James Neil Butler) and related with the “legis artis” care the risk of infantilized and inhuman treatment of the elderly. It is typical that elderly, with severe neurodegenerative diseases, have difficulties in expressing his feelings, needs threw an “understandable communication”. If the professional caregiver has not, among others, gerontology and geriatric skills to deal with it in no time, the burnout of the professional caregiver and the aggressive behaviour of the elderly may become a reality. As known a Human Rights Convention of the Rights of the Elderly has not been adopted yet. The UN Chung Report enhances its need but also states that the elderly group are an especial one. Gerontology studies have shown the importance to consider the elderly in his economic, social, cultural and economic context and which is very varying. Also, too, at least, some psychologist 90% of the Human Being is unconscious, and 10% is conscious. For some of them, the Human Being is complex which seems to be a challenge to the holistic approach of the Human Rights Law. Therefore some thoughts will be spent around this. Departing from a particular group, care philosophy and methodology, it shall be seen the challenges or compliance between the complexity and the holistic approach, which of them are, after all, sound?
Keywords: Humanitude. Methodology Gineste Marescotti (MGM); elderly rights, care of the elderly, holistic approach
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Daniel Fernandes Gomes, NOVA Law School, NOVA University of Lisbon
The protection of the right to equality of Roma people in Portugal: from the law in the books to the law in action
Arrived during the course of the 19th century to 15th on the Portuguese territory, Gypsies were formally discriminated against by positive law until the consecration of democracy in 1976. Today, although their position is formally protected by the Constitution, ordinary law and supranational law, a very significant number of Portuguese citizens identify themselves as ‘Gypsies’ does not access fundamental rights or a real and material position of equality. Thus, based on this brief framework, and on other recitals to be addressed at the time of the communication we are proposing, we will seek to reflect on the role of law in safeguarding the right to equality of Roma people in Portugal, not only from a legalistic perspective. and formal, but also by analysing the implementation of the rules.
Keywords: Roma, human rights, discrimination, equality, law
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Diana Soeiro, Faculty of Architecture, University of Lisbon
On Boundaries and Identity. From Nation to Self
In Toward Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch (1795) Kant states that politicians tend to “look disdainfully upon the political theorist as a mere academic whose impractical ideas present no danger to the state” (Kant 2006). However, we add, no politics is possible without a strong commitment to impractical ideas. This presentation revolves around the concept of boundaries, which have the ability to simultaneously include and exclude. Do boundaries facilitate or hinder human interaction? We aim at analysing the concept at three different scales. First, at a universal scale, using as main reference Kant’s distinction between constitutional right, international right and cosmopolitan right, where individuals are acknowledged to have these last set of rights as “citizens of the earth” rather than as citizens of particular states. He uses these as his foundation to establish the concept of ‘universal hospitality’. Second, by addressing United Nations (and its historical predecessor the League of Nations) and the European Union project. (Vick 2014, Grigorescu 2015) We investigate these two types of institutions dwelling on the tension stemming between the idea of nation, from a universal point of view, and from a nation grounded on close-knit communities and in the idea of landscape. (Schnapper 1995, Waldenfels 1996, Olwig 2002). Lastly, we assess Goffman’s classic reference work (1956) in order to recognise how boundaries and regions impact our everyday life, where in order to belong, we are called to constantly and consistently perform a role as if we were actors in a play. Selecting several current phenomena as examples (high absenteeism in elections, the refugee crisis, and Brexit), we aim at evaluating how these three scales are relevant to deepen our understanding of forms of invisibility, discrimination, persecution and violence.
Keywords: nation, self, boundaries, Kant, UN , EU
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Domingos Faria, Centre of Philosophy, University of Lisbon
A virtue-evidentialist proposal to overcome group polarization
Group polarization is a tendency of social groups to move into progressively more extreme or fanatical positions (than initially held by their individual members), each of which regards other groups to be wrong. This phenomenon (which is present in political disputes, online interactions, jury decisions, among others) has been confirmed by several studies of social psychology (cf. Isenberg 1986; Sunstein 2009). But in philosophical context there is little investigation of this phenomenon. So we want to give an explanation of this phenomenon in the context of philosophy, namely to deal with an epistemic issue: Is group polarization an intellectual vice or instead an intellectual virtue? We hold that group polarization is an intellectual vice. In order to argue for this thesis we have developed a non-summativist account of group justification (inspired by epistemic evidentialism and by virtue epistemology) according to which: A group G justifiedly believes that p on the basis of evidence E if only if: (1) E is a sufficient reason to believe p, and the total evidence possessed by enough of the operative members of G does not include further evidence E∗, such that E and E∗ together are not a sufficient reason to believe p; (2) G is epistemically virtuous in believing p on the basis of E. We argue that group polarization is an intellectual vice because a polarized group toward a belief p has no justification for that belief p. This is because in group polarization the contrary evidence or defeaters are not properly considered. Thus, in order to overcome group polarization, and then promoting healthy cosmopolitanism, it is necessary to foster groups to satisfy the conditions (1) and (2) described above.
Keywords: Group polarization; collective epistemology; virtue epistemology; group epistemic justification; cosmopolitanism
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Elizabeth Inácio Calombe, Autonomous University of Lisbon
Affective-Linking Influence on Social Adaptation
In this study will be presented a view of the affective bond in the social context, specifically the adaptation and social integration, taking into account the individuality brought by the individual, such as personality, culture, history and emotions. The beginning of socialization is marked by childhood experiences with the family or caregiver. John Bowlby states that affective attachment is a biological necessity of great importance for the establishment of lasting, irreplaceable and secure emotional contact with the mother or caregiver, from which the knowledge, a vision of oneself, of the caregiver and his relationship with the world.
Keywords: affect, influence, adaptation, socialization, personality.
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Emanuel Alcides Romão Pinto, Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon.
Culturally motivated crimes. The problem of criminal (in) responsibility for the practice of clitoral excision
This study aims to analyse the problem of criminal (in) responsibility for the practice of clitoral excision in the context of culturally motivated crimes. The growing immigration movement of people to Europe, and not only, in search of better living conditions in recent years, also assume the specificity of carrying with them certain practices, rites or cultural manifestations that in light of the state of origin of the agent is regarded as lawful or justified, but which in the legal system of the state in which they practice is regarded as disallowed. This is a crime raising the difficult problem of criminal liability of the agent, since it is the violation of a property criminal law in which the state must protect, and not only has it been committed in the territory in which the state has the power to enforce its law. As can be seen, this is a current and widely discussed topic in criminal doctrine, giving rise to strongly contradictory positions on the treatment of this problem. On the other hand, the courts responsible for judging such cases often encounter difficulties of various kinds in punishing such practices. That is why we consider it pertinent to bring this problem to the scientific debate so that it can be better discussed by experts from various fields of knowledge, and also to present our legal point of view
Keywords: human rights, culture, cultural rights, criminal liability
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Jeovet Baca Virginia, Centre of Philosophy, University of Lisbon
Identities and the Policy of Resentment
The problem of recognition is a situation that affects human beings and that each one must look for a way to be realized, but always with uses of intellectual capacities, for their fulfilment and happiness. Identity must be built on the recognition of others. Non-recognition or inappropriate recognition may be an offence or injustice. Identity is a construction of the human being that must be achieved by being true and authentic. What gives rise to the problem of recognition is the issue of multiculturalism, which is a reflection of some aspects of current politics that stimulate the needs of some groups to be recognized, such as minority groups and some manifestations of feminism.
Keywords: identity; recognition; feminism; multiculturalism; minority groups.
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Joao Motta Guedes, NOVA Law School, NOVA University of Lisbon
A não Auto-evidência dos Direitos Humanos e a construção cultural da cidadania Universal enquanto chave para a efetivação dos Direitos Humanos
O tema da palestra incide sobre como a plena efetivação dos Direitos Humanos depende da sua construção política e cultural, espelhada nos valores e identidades colectivas que vão sendo estabelecidos ao longo da história. Assim, no nosso entendimento, acreditamos que a essência normativa dos Direitos Humanos (Arendt) é igualmente acompanhada pela sua natureza social e cultural, que em virtude das concepções adoptadas pelo legislador e pela sociedade, determinam qual o objecto do direito, e qual a extensão dos direitos consagrados. Assim, na nossa perspectiva, os Direitos Humanos são o resultado de uma valoração cultural e social sobre aquilo que deve ser, e em que medida, protegido pelo Direito, espelhada nos mecanismos democráticos e constitucionais que encontrámos para legitimar essa mesma produção de direito, reflectindo assim, os ideais de justiça que são consagrados por uma determinada sociedade. Perante esta visão, como a História demonstra, tomar os Direitos Humanos como auto-evidentes representa um risco imenso contra a sua manutenção e desenvolvimento, pelo que os Direitos Humanos devem ser vistos como uma construção cultural e identitária permanentemente sujeita à nossa vigilância, acompanhada pelos devidos mecanismos internacionais necessários para a sua proteção, de modo a garantir o seu pleno desenvolvimento e efectivação a uma escala universal. Nesta medida a construção de uma Cidadania Universal fundada nas teses Cosmopolitas, enquanto mecanismo que permite a efectivação dos direitos Humanos, depende fundamentalmente da relação bilateral entre a consagração de Direitos Universais e a sua reivindicação política pelas pessoas que integram uma determinada sociedade, assente nos respectivos valores culturais, identidades e crenças sociais sobre o conteúdo dos ideais de justiça e do direito que consagramos.
Keywords: Human Rights, Cosmopolitanism, Universal Citizenship, Culture and identity, Law
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Júlia Araújo Mota, NOVA Law School, NOVA University of Lisbon
Social Entrepreneurship: A Tool for the Emancipation of the Excluded
Social entrepreneurship has been a theme increasingly addressed in academia. In this sense, we aim to understand the importance of social entrepreneurial action as an instrument to stop the cycle of social exclusion of citizens from the extreme poverty by guaranteeing basic rights to this group in countries that, despite living democratic regimes, can not guarantee fundamental rights to all of it's citizens, depriving them of full access to democracy.
Keywords: social entrepreneurship, poverty, social exclusion, fundamental rights, democracy
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Hans De Mey, KU Leuven Institute of Philosophy, Belgium
US vs. THEM, when group identity becomes a source of antagonism and conflict: the case of oppressed minority groups.
It is characteristic of human cognition to divide the social world into different membership groups. This can be fairly innocuous, for instance when we cheer for the sports team of our hometown. It can also be a root of various forms of conflict and discrimination. Racism and sexism are but two examples that fundamentally derive from dividing humanity into supposedly essential groups and ascribing differing values to them. In my talk, I will draw upon Henri Tajfel’s social identity theory to isolate the conditions under which identity as derived from group membership exacerbates intergroup antagonism in the special case of oppressed minority groups. To achieve this, I will firstly explain Tajfel’s mechanisms of comparison and differentiation as means to achieve positive social identity. Secondly, I will discuss the different reactional strategies groups can display as a response to negative identity evaluations. Thirdly, I will go beyond established theory by explaining how these notions translate to the special case of oppressed minority groups, identifying the specific conditions under which intergroup division and competition give way to antagonism and conflict. I will conclude that two conditions have the most profound impact. On the one hand does the supposedly essential nature of minority groups feed the idea of insurmountable intergroup differences, thereby blocking strategies of social mobility. On the other hand does the perceived (il)legitimacy of the system invoke different reactions in specific groups: the oppressed group evolving towards ethnocentrism and antagonism when the system is perceived as illegitimate, and the privileged group developing more ethnocentrism when the system is perceived is legitimate and the oppressed group’s struggle as illegitimate. Both these conditions illustrate the importance of existing discourse regarding minority groups and point to the inherent danger of populistic framing and right-wing narrative.
Keywords: identity, intergroup conflict, social identity, minorities, Tajfel
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Nguyá»…n Bình An, Law Faculty, Binhduong University, Vietnam,
The Current Vietnamese Women Right to Political Participation Approaching in Terms of Human Rights
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, and entitled to all the rights and freedoms without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, gender, religion, origin… In recent years, the women right to political participation has received significant attention across the world; and has been recognized internationally as an important measure of the status of women in any particular country. In Vietnam, the women right to political participation has been ensured by the Constitution. Though the 2013 Constitution, legal documents and various mechanisms established for the women right to political participation from time to time have made several efforts to achieve the objective of gender equality, but in actual practice, the planned efforts to liberate women politically did not yield the desired results. This article examines the women right to political participation approaching in terms of human rights; analyzing the current achievements and limitations; some recommendations on improving the goal of promoting women's political participation, ensuring women's equal representation in politics, creating prosperity and sustainable development of the nation. To achieve this goal, the researching work is based on United Nations reports, international rules and conventions, the Constitutional provisions and other legal documents enactments regulating on the women right to political participation, NGO reports and the research works of legal scientists.
Keywords: The women right to political participation, human rights, gender-equal, liberating women, gender equal
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Sara Fernandes, Centre of Philosophy. University of Lisbon
Virginia Woolf: Literature and Personal Identity
From the analysis of the literary works Mrs Dalloway and The Waves, we will defend the thesis that, in Virginia Woolf, we find the most striking intuitions regarding the concept of personal identity that will inspire philosophers such as Hanna Arendt, Alasdair Macintyre and Paul Ricoeur. A temporal, intersubjective and historical identity; It is a complex psychological phenomenon, private but radically dependent on exteriority for its constitution and only partially accessible via narrative or aesthetics. When literature and philosophy intersect in this way, the anticipatory originality of the artistic domain in relation to philosophical reflection must be admitted, its contribution to the progress in the debate of the problems of philosophy, the latter having the role of clarifying the concepts, the symbols of the literary discourse and argumentative chain of ideas implicit in the narrative.
Keywords: literature, personal identity, Woolf, aesthetics, narrative.
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Túlio V. Dias Santos, NOVA Law School, NOVA University of Lisbon
Immigration by the sea: the principle of non-refoulement and access to the port: a look at the hospitality of Jacques Derrida
Immigration, a phenomenon that has been with human beings for a long time, has received more notoriety in recent years. Within the European Union, illegal immigration across maritime borders in the Mediterranean Sea stands out. In this context, the risks of the crossing are accentuated and lead to extreme situations, so a panoply of international legal instruments demand the rescue of those who are at risk of being lost at sea. However, due to a legal gap, once the rescue has been made, there is no consensus on where these persons should be safely landed. States use their sovereignty and the international principle of non-refoulement is mitigated in its full application. One answer to be glimpsed is Jacques Derrida's interpretation of the concept of Hospitality - universal and unrestricted.
Keywords: migrants, non-refoulement, international law, hospitality, Derrida
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Vasco Malta, ACM - Alto Comissariado para as Migrações, I.P., (Diretor do Departamento de Política Migratória, Relações Internacionais e Captação de Migrantes)
Migrantes & refugiados – Mecanismos em Portugal para a sua integração e instrumentos no combate à Discriminação racial
No âmbito das políticas públicas em Portugal, quais os mecanismos de integração para aqueles que procuram Portugal para o seu projecto vida e quais os instrumentos legais disponíveis no combate à discriminação racial.
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