The paper argues that there could be good prima facie reasons, from a liberal perspective, to restrict freedom of expression by prohibiting and punishing certain forms of hateful and offensive expressions towards oppressed social groups. In order to reach such a conclusion, it provides an interpretation of the harm principle and argues that hateful and offensive expressions could produce harms that are relevant for the application of that principle.
Dopo una rapida analisi delle nozioni di merito e di meritocrazia, il saggio esamina la teoria della giustizia come equità al fine di verificare la tesi di Rawls secondo cui quella teoria non condurrebbe a un assetto sociale meritocratico. Nel far ciò il saggio si sofferma in particolare a esaminare le implicazioni della teoria di Rawls per quanto riguarda la selezione delle persone cui assegnare impieghi e incarichi. Il saggio, inoltre, ricostruisce l'argomento con cui Rawls esclude che vi sia alcun dovere etico fondamentale di attribuire certi beni in un modo che tenga conto dei meriti delle persone e sostiene che un tale argomento non sia in grado di escludere l'esistenza di un dovere etico fondamentale di distribuire il prodotto del lavoro sociale in un modo che tenga conto, almeno in parte, dell'impegno delle persone e del loro contributo al benessere della collettività. ; After a brief analysis of the notions of merit and meritocracy, the paper examines the theory of justice as fairness in order to assess Rawls's claim that his theory would not lead to a meritocratic society. In doing so, the paper focuses in particular on the implications of Rawls's theory regarding the allocation of jobs. The essay also reconstructs the argument Rawls uses to justify his claim that there is no fundamental ethical duty to assign certain goods in a way that takes into account the merits of people and argues that such an argument cannot exclude the existence of a fundamental ethical duty to distribute the product of social cooperation in a way that takes into account, at least in part, people's efforts and their contribution to the welfare of the community.
This work provides a sketch of a legal-philosophical understanding of the normative content of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. In particular, after brefly reconstructing the genesis of the Charter and its historical and philosophical background, it focuses on how the values of dignity, freedom, equality and solidarity are conceived in the Charter and implemented in both Union law and the case law of the Court of Justice. Special attention is also devoted to the relationship between the European Union's and the Council of Europe's systems of protection of fundamental rights, with particular reference to the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. This work stems from the research project "NoVaMigra – Norms and Values in the European Migration and Refugee Crisis", funded by the European Unionis. Accordingly, it mainly focuses on those rights which are, or could be, particularly significant in relation to migrants, asylum seekers and refugees. Furthermore, special attention is devoted to women's rights and gender equality.
The contributions to this working paper explore the foundations of the Welfare State, in particular of redistributive policies, from the perspectives of both practical philosophy and empirical political science. Nicola Riva attempts to provide a "philosophical reconstruction" of the democratic conception of political morality, that is, the conception of political morality underlying redistributive policies in contemporary Western democracies. Ilaria Madama integrates such a reconstruction by providing an insight on those policies and on the political logic that informs them from the different perspective of political science. The contribution by Giulia Bistagnino challenges Riva's conception of practical philosophy as a reconstructive practice, by arguing for the importance of practical objectivity. Finally, in his reply to Bistagnino, Riva tries to defend his conception of practical philosophy by arguing that objectivity in practical philosophy is neither possible nor necessary.
Importance Juvenile amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rare form of ALS characterized by age of symptom onset less than 25 years and a variable presentation. Objective To identify the genetic variants associated with juvenile ALS. Design, Setting, and Participants In this multicenter family-based genetic study, trio whole-exome sequencing was performed to identify the disease-associated gene in a case series of unrelated patients diagnosed with juvenile ALS and severe growth retardation. The patients and their family members were enrolled at academic hospitals and a government research facility between March 1, 2016, and March 13, 2020, and were observed until October 1, 2020. Whole-exome sequencing was also performed in a series of patients with juvenile ALS. A total of 66 patients with juvenile ALS and 6258 adult patients with ALS participated in the study. Patients were selected for the study based on their diagnosis, and all eligible participants were enrolled in the study. None of the participants had a family history of neurological disorders, suggesting de novo variants as the underlying genetic mechanism. Main Outcomes and Measures De novo variants present only in the index case and not in unaffected family members. Results Trio whole-exome sequencing was performed in 3 patients diagnosed with juvenile ALS and their parents. An additional 63 patients with juvenile ALS and 6258 adult patients with ALS were subsequently screened for variants in the SPTLC1 gene. De novo variants in SPTLC1 (p.Ala20Ser in 2 patients and p.Ser331Tyr in 1 patient) were identified in 3 unrelated patients diagnosed with juvenile ALS and failure to thrive. A fourth variant (p.Leu39del) was identified in a patient with juvenile ALS where parental DNA was unavailable. Variants in this gene have been previously shown to be associated with autosomal-dominant hereditary sensory autonomic neuropathy, type 1A, by disrupting an essential enzyme complex in the sphingolipid synthesis pathway. Conclusions and Relevance These data broaden the phenotype associated with SPTLC1 and suggest that patients presenting with juvenile ALS should be screened for variants in this gene.