Political violence in the form of wars, insurgencies, terrorism and violent rebellion constitutes a major human challenge. C. A. J. Coady brings a philosophical and ethical perspective as he places the problems of war and political violence in the frame of reflective ethics. In this book, Coady re-examines a range of urgent problems pertinent to political violence against the background of a contemporary approach to just war thinking. The problems examined include: the right to make war and conduct war, terrorism, (...) revolution, humanitarianism, mercenary warriors, the ideal of peace and the right way to end war. Coady attempts to vindicate the contemporary relevance of the just war tradition to current problems without applying the tradition in a merely mechanical or uncritical fashion. (shrink)

This is the first full discussion of Philoponus' account of matter.

C. A. J. Coady; VIII*—Descartes' Other Myth, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 83, Issue 1, 1 June 1983, Pages 121–142, https://doi.org/10.1093/ar.

Newborn screening involves a complex logistical process, which depends on the close cooperation of many professionals, such as midwives, laboratory technicians, general practitioners and pediatricians. These professionals may encounter moral problems in the process, which have not been systematically studied before. This study fills this gap. We conducted interviews with 36 professionals involved in NBS in the Netherlands and made an inventory of the moral problems they encounter, as well as of the ways in which they tend to respond to (...) them. The moral problems professionals encounter stem from interpersonal conflicts and intrapersonal conflicts. Given the complexity of the work of NBS professionals, the study suggests that the moral problems that occur on the work floor cannot easily be solved by means of offering better or more stringent policy guidelines. Rather, it should be appreciated that professionals contribute significantly to shaping the morality of NBS with the help of their daily choices, and they should be supported in carrying out this task—for example with the help of a moral training or regular multidisciplinary moral deliberation, facilitated by an ethicist. (shrink)

Ten new essays critique the practice of armed humanitarian intervention, whereby one state sends its armed forces into another to protect citizens against major human rights abuses. The contributors examine a range of concerns, for instance about potential adverse effects and about ulterior motives.

Localised configurations of the free electromagnetic field are constructed, possessing properties of massive, spinning, relativistic particles. In an inertial frame, each configuration travels in a straight line at constant speed, less than the speed of lightc, while slowly spreading. It eventually decays into pulses of radiation travelling at speedc. Each configuration has a definite rest mass and internal angular momentum, or spin. Each can be of “electric” or “magnetic” type, according as the radial component of the magnetic or electric field (...) vanishes in the rest frame, and each has an “antiparticle.” Any such configuration, of electric or magnetic type, is characterized in part by a set of labels (κ, ω0, σ,l, m), where ω0 is the mean of the angular frequencies of the plane waves making up the configuration, σ is the variance of those frequencies, κ is a positive constant with dimensions of action, andl, m are angular momentum “quantum numbers” withl a positive integer andm an integer such that ‖m‖≤l. The rest energy of the “particle” is κω0, its spin is κ ‖m‖, and its lifetime is of the order of 1/σ. Its antiparticle has ω0 replaced by −ω0. (shrink)

To what extent should scientists, doctors and the community be constrained in their decision-making by a duty to posterity? How should we as a community balance our desire to benefit the present generation against the need not to irretrievably harm our successors? These questions are discussed with particular reference to genetic research and treatment that may have great potential for people suffering from genetic disease but may cause inherited changes in future generations, either deliberately or inadvertently. We conclude that the (...) community should take account of the interests of its successors but this should not immobilise us in the decisions we make for the present. (shrink)

With the dawn of the day of the Battle of Salamis in ch. 83 of Book 8, Herodotus heightens the tone of his language. An unfortunate result of his more elaborately worked writing has been failure to understand his words, and hence much misplaced editorial intervention. In particular, the words at 8.83.1, προηγρενε εῢ Χοντα μν κ πντων Θεμιστοκλης, have regularly been mistranslated. Powell even wanted to rewrite the Greek here to read: γρευε μν πρó πντων Θεμιστοκλης . Few would (...) wish to follow such a drastic and arbitrary alteration of the transmitted text, but the conjectural emendation highlights the difficulty of understanding Herodotus' words at this point. (shrink)

Appeal to expert judgement has become a wide-spread and unavoidable element in public debates in modern society. The many and fundamental argumentative complications that they raise have not received proportional attention in argumentation studies so far. A prominent exception is a recent book by Douglas Walton, devoted entirely to arguments involving expert opinion (Walton, 1997). Confronting some examples from the field of Science and Society with Walton's earlier work, the need can be traced for a more elaborate and sophisticated treatment (...) of the many issues involved, particularly for the model of information seeking dialogue and the treatment of source reasoning. With these issues as points of reference, it is examined in what way this challenge has been taken up in the new book. A few further additions are suggested. (shrink)

It has often been suggested that technology carries values and biases embedded in it. This paper is an examination of the relation between computer technology and the incorporation of values and biases. The social complexity of this issue tends to be underexposed. Suggestions are presented for a more comprehensive understanding.