Although the concept of sympathy is absent from the Wealth of Nations, this essay argues that it is the foundation that sustains the free market, gives it its moral limits, and enables its greater efficiency. Recognizing this function, which is not difficult to trace in the Wealth of Nations, allows us to understand why public policies that foster sympathetic relationships lead to greater wealth creation, while those that hinder such relationships impede exchange and reduce wealth. Similarly, when changes brought about by progress or personal ambitions and interests inhibit or distort the free play of sympathetic interaction, the awareness that sympathy is the lifeblood of a free society allows us to adjust public policies and restore the framework of security and order that provides the conditions for prosperity, recognition, and happiness for all.

Farman Saeed Sedeeq and Percem Arman’s article aims to develop a framework of AI governance that avoids shortcomings in existing models such as limited enforceability and rigid data-sharing rules. The goal of the weighty undertaking is to develop a “structured yet flexible approach” to balancing AI advancements in public health with ethical imperatives. Three core “pillars” are used for evaluation: ethical accountability, regulatory adaptability, and transparency. The concept of ethical accountability is explored briefly in this commentary.

This article explores female healthcare at the crossroads of bacteriology and obstetric research. Puerperal fever or childbed fever manifested as an epidemic since the nineteenth century, and in both Europe and America, it charted a distinct course for bacteriological research. With the identification of bacteriological causes, new sets of public health regimes were instituted in both regions. The experience of the colonies, however, differed. This paper focusses on how colonial discourse on obstetric nursing, midwifery, clinical hygiene, and maternal healthcare can be positioned in this global history of female health research. The paper explores why, in India, on one hand, bacteriological research in female health suffered in terms of priority (unlike that of cholera and plague) despite the alarming rate of maternal mortality. On the other hand, medical practitioners trained in Europe worked as the conduit through which the bacteriological research of Europe made its way into India. Contemporary documents reveal how colonial prerogatives were channeled through the race theories linked to Indian cultural practices related to midwifery and obstetric nursing, and how the female health discourse was still marred by the notion of tropicality.

The goal of this study is the presentation and evaluation of settlement patterns in the region between the Minoan palatial centres of Knossos and Malia, mainly on the north coast of Heraklion, during the second millennium BCE. The approach is based on new archaeological data from large- and small-scale rescue excavations and supervised digging activities in the context of public or private construction projects. Existing archaeological knowledge of this particular region is also taken into consideration. Following a chronological sequence, a Prepalatial (Middle Minoan [MM] IA) long wall, which is located 250 m south of the hill of Paliochora at Amnissos and belongs to a wider architectural planning of access control from the coast of Amnissos to the hinterland, is presented along with a contemporary rural installation in Stalida. An extensive settlement in the area of the Amirandes Hotel in Kato Gouves is dated mainly to the Protopalatial period and shows close affinities with Malia. Of the same date and cultural orientation is the extensive occupation near Agriana, which continues to exist in the early Neopalatial period. The Minoan settlement at Kastri in Chersonesos is dated to MM IIIB, while an earlier Protopalatial phase was also identified. A number of other sites in the district of Gouves are dated to Late Minoan (LM) III. A unique example of continuous habitation from LM IB to LM IIIB was excavated near the local primary school in Gournes. The decrease of sites in MM IIIB–LM IA and the scarcity of LM IB settlements, in contrast to the density of Protopalatial installations, confirm the centralisation of the habitation model during the late Neopalatial period, probably due to the expansionist policy of Knossos. However, the balance of power of the two palatial centres over the region under discussion shifted through time, with Malia having control of most of the area during the Protopalatial period and Knossos expanding its influence during the Prepalatial, Neopalatial and Final Palatial periods.

Datasets from around the world suggest that people completed early monumental construction projects without long-term structures of hierarchy or authority. In the Maya area, some of the first monuments produced by semisedentary societies, such as those at Yaxuna and Ceibal, were built in the absence of substantial social inequality. The focus of these monuments was a relatively inclusive plaza. This article presents evidence of an eighth-century BC monumental construction at Ucí, another site that was probably not fully sedentary. At Ucí, however, the first large architecture is not inclusive. Structure 14sub5 lacks a front stairway, separating people in the plaza from those who could ascend the building from the back. The difference between the inclusivity at Ceibal and Yaxuna and exclusivity at Ucí suggests variation in degrees of inequality. Different societies experimented creatively with social and political organization. This aligns with the inherent complexity of egalitarian societies as well as the possibility that not all complex societies began as egalitarian. Consonant with the idea that people had power to act otherwise, early exclusivity at Ucí developed into inclusive forms of governance in the Late Preclassic.

Radziwiłł and Soundararajan unveiled a connection between low-lying zeros and central values of L-functions, which they instantiated in the case of quadratic twists of an elliptic curve. This article addresses the case of the family of modular forms in the level aspect, and proves that the logarithms of central values of associated L-functions approximately distribute along a normal law with mean $-\tfrac 12 \log \log c(f)$ and variance $\log \log {c(f)}$, where $c(f)$ is the analytic conductor of f, as predicted by the Keating–Snaith conjecture.

In this paper, I argue that we do not know how to implement abstract principles of liberal egalitarian justice. Starting with Scheffler’s Rawlsian diagnosis of the retreat of liberal democracy in the United States, I argue that it may be due to our lack of knowledge about how to institutionalize a Rawlsian just liberal society. To illustrate the difficulty or challenge, I examine several policy proposals to help build human capital for property-owning democracy and argue that they can fail for various reasons. The main problem is that the changing ways in which diverse individuals respond to policies and interact with one another affect policy consequences, but their complexity surpasses our limited knowledge. The ignorance gives us reason to be patient with the slow pace of building an ideal liberal society, tolerant of those who are sceptical about interventions to implement liberal egalitarian principles, and open to policy experimentation and learning. I further argue that we should publicly acknowledge our ignorance about policy outcomes, as it can reduce political polarization, by moderating policy positions and interpreting policy disagreements as empirical rather than moral, and counter democratic backsliding.

This paper addresses the comprehensive regulation of artificial intelligence (“AI”) across its entire lifecycle in the health care sector. It builds on a proposal for a True Lifecycle Approach (“TLA”) to address governance gaps across three phases of AI and expands the framework with detailed practical insights for governing health care AI, drawing on pioneering examples from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) as models for global implementation. Beginning with the research and development phase, it highlights the urgent need for robust guidelines and certification processes to ensure that AI technologies are developed in compliance with ethical and safety standards. Moving into the approval stage, the discussion explores how AI systems can be effectively regulated under existing medical device frameworks, emphasizing the need for tailored regulations that consider the unique challenges posed by AI. Finally, the paper delves into the deployment of AI in clinical practice, examining the gaps in current laws and the need for a coherent and consistent regulatory framework that can adapt to AI advancements. The paper argues that the existing legal structures are inadequate, often inconsistent, and fail to address the complexities of AI in health care. It argues for a broader regulatory approach focused on patient safety throughout the AI lifecycle.

Conversational theatre is a medium for facilitating dialog on race, privilege, and discrimination in Swedish society. Du Contrat Social, a performance based on Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s social contract, demonstrates how theatre can create an interactive space where audience members actively reflect on their social positioning and implicit biases. By guiding the audience through exercises that expose implicit stereotypes and encourage self-reflection, the performance fosters a unique setting for transformative learning.

Reflections on Claire O’Callaghan and Brendan Parent’s article “Withdrawal of Life-Sustaining Treatment and Organ Donation After Circulatory Death: Consequences of Legislative Separation.”

Historians have long disregarded Hegel as a rigidly aprioristic thinker. However, they have not arrived at this view based on familiarity with his works. Usually, early on in their education, historians are taught that teleology is anathema to their craft, and that Hegel is an exemplar of this approach. As a result, they are routinely advised that his writings can safely be ignored. Nonetheless, ironically, much in Hegel’s narrative continues to be influential. He emphasized a number of seismic shifts that shaped the world over millennia—for instance, the passage from ancient paganism to modern Christianity, and from the Reformation to the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. These events, and their pivotal role, still dominate historiography. Yet despite the staying-power of much of this account, its author is still discounted among professional historians.

The purpose of this essay is to explore Adam Smith’s work for ideas relevant to modern-day discourse on pluralism (understood as methodological pluralism). It is argued here that the emphasis on difference of perspective in his theory of human nature is potentially foundational for pluralism. I explore Smith’s philosophy of science, where his theory of human nature explains the motivation for building knowledge, the conduct of enquiry, and the appraisal of resulting theories. Finally, I explore exemplars of pluralist practice in Smith’s treatment of alternative approaches to economics to his own as well as in his account of different approaches to history and astronomy.