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BIOETHICS DICTIONARY - "K"s
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KABBALA:
Kabbala is Jewish mysticism, believed to have been passed on in
secrecy, from generation to generation, since Biblical times. The
major sources are Sefer Yetzira (Book of Creation), which Avraham
is believed to have written, and Zohar (Splendour), believed to
contain wisdom dating from Biblical times, which was later compiled
by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, who lived when the Romans ruled the
land of Israel. Other important sources are the teachings of the
16th century Israeli Rabbi Itzhak Luria ("The Holy Ari"), which
were compiled by his student, Rabbi Haim Vital. The complexities
of the Hebrew language make many English works and translations
unreliable, but the scholarly writings of Gershom Scholem are an
exception and can be read with profit, as can many writings of Rabbi
Arieh Kaplan. An important Kabbalistic doctrine is that this material
world is the lowest of several worlds created by God. The meaning
of life is the effects which our actions in this world have on the
worlds above, either repairing and perfecting or damaging and contorting.
Another important doctrine is reincarnation. As in Hinduism, souls
enter bodies in order to repair various defects or to learn various
lessons. If we do not learn various lessons in one life, we may
expect to be sent back, perhaps millions of times, until we correct
the requisite defects.
Of course these doctrines are not scientifically
provable, and even some great rabbis (notably, the great medieval
Rabbi Saadia Gaon) did not accept reincarnation. But we cannot disprove
these things scientifically either. And the existence of speculation
about the mystical might lead us to accepting humbly that we do
not know the meaning of life. Even with respect to a terribly suffering
terminal patient, we cannot say with scientific certainty whether
or not this suffering is to learn certain lessons which will have
to be learned sooner or later anyway. Nor can we say with any scientific
certainty whether what awaits this patient after death is better
or worse than what the patient is enduring at this moment. (FL)
KAMA SUTRA OF VATSYAYANA: (Sanskrit:
"Aphorisms on Love"). Indian classic on the art of love conduct
and lovemaking. First composed by Vatsyayana at an unknown date
between the 1st and 4th Centuries. This often controversial treatise
describes a variety of intercourse positions and has sections concerning
the wives of other people and courtesans. An English version was
secretly published by Sir Richard Burton in 1883, and a scholarly
illustrated version was translated by S.C. Upadhyaya in 1961. (See
KAMA) (MP)
KANT, IMMANUEL: (1724-1804)
Prussian philosopher. His most famous works are the Critique of
Pure Reason and the Fundamental Principals of the Metaphysics of
Morals. In the former work, he studied the conditions under which
we can achieve absolute certitude in such fields as mathematics,
logic and science. He claimed that certitude is a consequence of
a pre-determined logical and sensual framework in the mind, which
determines how the world appears to us. We cannot know things "as
they are in themselves", but only things as they appear to us. We
can achieve certitude about things as they appear because they must
appear in conformity with the pre-determined structures in our minds.
In restricting knowledge to the world of appearance, Kant also acheived
his religious goal of "restricting reason in order to leave room
for faith". Reason has to do with appearances. But faith, according
to Kant, has to do with three major issues: God, Freedom, and the
Afterlife. And these issues belong not to appearances but to the
world as it is in itself.
The Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics
of Morals is Kant's major statement of his ethics. Kant's ethics
is called "deontological" ie having to do with duty rather than
mere utility. But JS Mill in his book on Utilitarianism claimed
that if you study carfully Kant's examples of ethical acts, you
will see that he is really a utilitarian.
Kant's is famous for his "Categorial Imperative",
which he formulated in several different ways. One formulation says
that an ethical act is one which is based on a principle which can
be a law of action for all rational creatures. The idea is that
one should not make exceptions for oneself, but should act as everyone
should act in similar circumstances. Philosophers have derived from
Kant the idea that ethical principles should be "universalizable",
ie they should apply to everyone. This is hard to to reconcile with
today's ideas of cultural relativity in ethics.
Another formulation of the Categorial Imperative
says that we should treat all rational creatures as ends in themselves
and not as means to our ends. This is considered to be the most
beautiful and sublime of Kant's principles. He dreamed of a Kingdom
of Ends, a society in which no one would exploit anybody else and
use them as means to one's own ends, but everybody would treat everybody
else with high respect, as ends in themselves. This sounds very
beautiful until one reflects that it is extremely hard to find any
text where Kant says that all other "human beings" should be treated
as ends in themselves. What one finds that all other "rational creatures"
should be treated as ends in themselves. And when one asks what
is a "rational creature" one can only turn to the idea of rationality
as developed in the Critique of Pure Reason, ie the ability to reason
logically, mathematically and scientifically. So Kant's much-celebrated
Kingdom of Ends is really a very exclusive beautiful sociaty of
beautiful people who fit Kant's idea of rationality. It has no room
for those who are not "rational". This leads us to ask how Kant
would want to treat human beings who do not fit his idea of rationality,
ie severely deformed neonates, he mentally ill, the demented, and
perhaps especially, people from other races and cultures whose standards
of rationality are not the same as Kant's. (FL)
KAROSHI: A
Japanese term referring to death through overwork, most commonly
from heart attack. Working yourself to death may either be the result
of self-induced workaholism or the relentless drive of corporate
pressure. Americans and Japanese are the two most overworked peoples,
but only for the latter has karoshi been a legally recognized cause
of premature death. (See WORKAHOLIC, WORKAHOLISM) (MP)
KARYOTYPE: A
photomicrograph of an individual's chromosomes arranged in a standard
format showing the number, size and shape of each chromosome; used
in low-resolution physical mapping to correlate gross chromosomal
abnormalities with the characteristics of specific diseases. 1.
Indicates chromosome composition of an organism 2. Phytomicrograph
showing chromosome composition. (DM, JA)
KARYOTYPE ANALYSIS:
Chromosome analysis performed on dividing cells (usually cultured
lymphocytes) of an individual. Chromosomes can be stained with different
chemicals, thus resulting in different banding patterns. The chromosomes
are classified according to the size and bands in pairs of autosomes
(22 pairs) and sexual chromosomes (1 pair), thus enabling to detect
abnormalities associated to a clinical phenotype. The most common
are trisomies (trisomy 21 is known as DOWN SYNDROME), the XO sex
chromosome monosomy or Turner syndrome, and partial translocations
or inversions. (GK)
KASHRUT:
The status of being kosher, i.e. permissible for consumption
according to Jewish tradition. Important factors involved in kashrut
status of foods include: avoidance of numerous animal species and
their products, avoidance of meat from an animal which was not slaughtered
and prepared according to Jewish tradition, avoidance of mixing
milk products with meat products, or even eating the two at the
same meal. Maintaining kashrut status of foods requires the keeping
of seperate sets of dishes/utensils for milk products and for meat
products. In addition to the regular standards of kashrut which
are applicable to the entire year, there are further restrictions
which apply during the week of Passover, when leavened bread and
related products are also avoided. (AG)
KELVIN SCALE: See
TEMPERATURE.
KETAMINE HYDROCHLORIDE:
A non-barbiturate substance originally used intravenously or intramuscularly
to produce anesthesia where the patient may appear to be awake but
is unaware of the environment and unresponsive to pain. It is still
popularly used in veterinary medicine. Ketamine - or "special-K"
- became prevalent in the club scene in the 1990s as an ecstasy
additive or alternative. Its tranquillizing effects have earned
it the media tag of "date-rape drug" (much like alcohol).
When snorted it relieves pain, produces distortion of time and perception,
hallucinations, loss of motor control, and in overdose respiratory
depression, coma or death. (See ECSTASY, PCP). (IP+MP)
KEW GARDENS: Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. UK., houses a large number of plant
varieties with extensive and smoothly manicured lawns, severs as
a picnic spot with Palm House and Chinese Pagoda. (JA)
KEYSTONE SPECIES: An important species which plays a key role in holding the ecosystem
together, the absence of which would have catastrophic consequences
for community composition and ecological structure across the food
web. Conservation of these organisms is the key to the survival
of many others irrevocably linked by natural systems and processes.
Keystone species are often the dominant habitat vegetation, but
may be harder to predict ranging from the charismatic sea otter
to otherwise inconspicuous soil or plankton organisms. (See INDICATOR
SPECIES) (MP)
KIDNEY DIALYSIS: Also
called Hemodialysis, Renal Dialysis, or Dialysis, in medicine, the
process of removing blood from a patient whose kidney functioning
is faulty, purifying that blood by dialysis, and returning it to
the patient's bloodstream. The artificial kidney is a machine that
provides a means for removing certain undesirable substances from
the blood or of adding needed components to it. By these processes
the apparatus can control the acid–base balance of the blood and
its content of water and dissolved materials. Another known function
of the natural kidney—secretion of hormones that influence the blood
pressure—cannot be duplicated. Modern dialyzers rely on two physal
questions of how to allocate persons to the limited number of dialysis
machines. (DM)
KILO-: A prefix denoting 103
thus in units of length 1 kilometer (km) = 103 meters
(m) and in units of mass 1 kilogram (kg) = 103 grams
(g). (See METRIC UNITS). (IP)
KINGDOM: 1. Politics: A territory, country or community reigned over by a
king or queen. Sovereign rule may be actual and supreme, or only
nominally behind the scenes of a democratic government. Ethical
concerns have been raised about authoritarian kingdoms whose rule
is obtained by bloodline rather than by other independent means
of approval. 2. Biology: The highest level of taxonomic classification
of organisms, commonly divided into the Animalia, Plantae, Fungi,
Protista and Monera. (See PHYLUM, SPECIES, TAXONOMY) (MP)
KITAB-E-AKDAS: (in Arabic/Persian literally "Most Holy Book") The most sacred
book of the Baha'i. This book provides the laws and regulations
for Baha'is. (AG)
KINDNESS:
See BENEFICENCE.
KING,
MARTIN LUTHER, JR.: (1929-1968, USA) A Baptist minister and
social activist who led the civil rights movement in the United
States from the mid-1950s until his death by assassination in 1968.
His leadership was fundamental to that movement's success in ending
the legal segregation of black Americans in the South and other
parts of the United States. King rose to national prominence through
promoting nonviolent tactics with lessons from Matma Gandhi, in
famous events like the March on Washington (1963) to achieve civil
rights. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1964. He was
assassinated in 1968. (DM)
KNOWLEDGE: Knowledge is true belief with justification. This opens up questions
on the nature of truth, the conditions for belief, the criteria
of justification and the organization of information. Epistemology
is the philosophical ‘theory of knowledge’ investigating its fs
are sorted into ‘domains’ of kno(e.g. Hdue to wledge investigating
the ‘knowledge gaps’ between estabON, INTELLIGENCE, EXPERT) (MP)
KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION: Knowledge is acquired through sensations, reason, introspection
or memory. Data, information, statistics, processes, causal theory,
hypotheses and heuristic rules combine to produce knowledge stored
as fuzzy sets in language, memories and conceptual models. Knowledge
and beliefs are arranged along a scale from doubt to certainty;
one’s knowledge has passed the truth condition, one’s faith passed
the belief condition. This occurhilosophy and scientific research.
(See KNOWLEDGE, BEST AVAILABLE INFORMATION, DATA MINING, IDEAS PRODUCTION,
MEMETICS, FUZZY LOGIC, COMPLEXITY THEORY, INFORMATION, EDUCATION)
(MP)
KNOWLEDGE
ENGINEERING: The branch of engineering which integrates knowledge
from a domain expert into computer systems to create information
technology, expert systems and artificial intelligence. (See EXPERT
SYSTEM) (MP)
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT: The
management of professional expertise and experience in an organization.
Top management is in charge of strategic decision-making, middle
management handles tactical decisions, and employees make workplace
decisions, but with both upwards and downwards flow of ideas and
knowledge. (See SUSTAINABLE CORPORATION) (MP)
KNOWLEDGE VALIDATION: The
testing of knowledge to determine its accuracy and precision. In
science, knowledge validation is performed using experiments to
test the veracity of hypotheses. In technology, modeling tools such
as expert systems must undergo sensitivity analysis to test the
robustness of any knowledge the system may produce. (See SENSITIVITY
ANALYSIS) (MP)
KORAN: see
QURAN.
KOSHER: See KASHRUT.
K'UNG FU-TZU: See CONFUCIUS.
KURTOSIS:
A measure of the degree of peak in a frequency distribution.
A sharp peak is leptokurtic, moderate is mesokurtic and a platykurtic
distribution is relatively flat. (See MEASURES OF DISPERSION, SKEW,
NORMAL DISTRIBUTION) (MP)
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