Meek and Glymour use the graphical approach to causal modeling to argue that one and the same norm of rational choice can be used to deliver both causal-decision-theoretic verdicts and evidential-decision-theoretic verdicts. Specifically, they argue that if an agent maximizes conditional expected utility, then the agent will follow the causal decision theorist’s advice when she represents herself as intervening, and will follow the evidential decision theorist’s advice when she represents herself as not intervening. Since Meek and Glymour take no stand (...) on whether agents should represent themselves as intervening, they provide more general advice than standard causal decision theorists and evidential decision theorists. But I argue here that even Meek and Glymour’s advice is not sufficiently general. This is because their advice is not sensitive to the distinct ways in which agents can fail to intervene, and there are decision-making contexts in which agents can reasonably have non-extreme confidence that they are intervening. I then show that the most natural extension of Meek and Glymour’s framework fails, but offer a generalization of my “Interventionist Decision Theory” that does not suffer from the same problems. (shrink)

This is the first English edition of a major work by the Danish philosopher and theologian K. E. Løgstrup (1905-81). It is the culmination of his critical engagement with Kierkegaardianism, which had begun almost 20 years earlier. In this text, Løgstrup focuses on four main themes in Kierkegaard: his understanding of Christ and thus of Christianity; his understanding of suffering in human existence; Christian vs. secular ethics; and Platonistic influences on Kierkegaard's position, which Løgstrup characterises as nihilistic. Løgstrup presents his (...) own alternative conception in response: that Christ revealed universal ontological ethical structures that put Christians and non-Christians on a par; that suffering is a basic human experience and so there is no such thing as a particular Christian suffering; that sovereign expressions of life such as trust, sincerity, and compassion are the fundamental phenomena of ethics that enable our lives to function, and are thus given as a gift of creation, not of faith; and finally that human existence as created is meaningful and holds value and so is not a Kierkegaardian 'nothingness' of mere relativity. As well as offering a classic and yet controversial critique of Kierkegaard, this text also develops Løgstrup's conception of the sovereign expressions of life, which was to become central to his later ethics, further deepening his distinctive understanding of the human condition. Here translated in full for the first time, it will now be possible for English-speaking readers to explore the issues that drew Løgstrup into his controversion with Kierkegaard. (shrink)

This study answers Vazquez’s :691–709, 2016) call for more research focused on the intersection between family firms and business ethics. We investigate two contextual factors potentially affecting the ethical reporting of chief financial officers : a firm’s social ties to the controlling family and the CFOs’ perceived relationship quality with the CEO. We test our hypotheses by examining the financial reporting behavior of Chinese CFOs who work at family or nonfamily businesses and in private or public firms. Results of this (...) study advance our understanding of social and contextual factors that may compromise CFOs' reporting behavior in family firms. This research also suggests that failure to distinguish between public and private companies may bias the results of studies that examine family firms. (shrink)

In this investigation we explore a general strategy for constructing modal theories where the modal notion is conceived as a predicate. The idea of this strategy is to develop modal theories over axiomatic theories of truth. In this first paper of our two part investigation we develop the general strategy and then apply it to the axiomatic theory of truth Friedman-Sheard. We thereby obtain the theory Modal Friedman-Sheard. The theory Modal Friedman-Sheard is then discussed from three different perspectives. First, we (...) show that Modal Friedman-Sheard preserves theoremhood modulo translation with respect to modal operator logic. Second, we turn to semantic aspects and develop a modal semantics for the newly developed theory. Third, we investigate whether the modal predicate of Modal Friedman-Sheard can be understood along the lines of a proposal of Kripke, namely as a truth predicate modified by a modal operator. (shrink)

Norman Daniels' proposal to distribute health care on the basis of fair equality of opportunity is, in this writer's opinion, unworkable. His concepts of species-typical activity and normal opportunity range are unclear; so is the relationship between them. His view that justice accords disease a better claim on the health dollar than other causes of death, pain and disability, commits him unknowingly to the indefensible positions on particular sorts of health issues, such as the care of the aging and of (...) pregnant women. Daniels' concept of opportunity is so inclusive, his notion of balancing opportunities so vague, that his theory loses systematic power. I offer a different account from Daniels' concerning why health care needs are objective and of special importance. I also argue for a voucher system which levels out class inequalities and which finances current medical practices more or less uncritically, but allows for change through a diversity of insurance plans available to consumers. This system is just, and more practical than rating health care needs by impact on opportunity. Keywords: justice, right to health care, equality, opportunity CiteULike Connotea Del.icio.us What's this? (shrink)

This paper focuses on one of C. S. Peirce's criticisms of G. W. F. Hegel: namely, that Hegel neglected to give sufficient weight to what Peirce calls "Secondness", in a way that put his philosophical system out of touch with reality. The nature of this criticism is explored, together with its relevant philosophical background. It is argued that while the issues Peirce raises go deep, in some respects Hegel's position is closer to his own than he may have realised, whilst (...) in others that criticism can be resisted by the Hegelian. (shrink)

In Kierkegaard's and Heidegger's Analysis of Existence and its Relation to Proclamation (1950), Logstrup offers an original critique of these key thinkers. Arguing against their idea that 'life in the crowd' threatens individuality, he proposes an ethic beyond social rules: a requirement to care for a person whose life is placed in your hands.

O artigo objetiva compreender como o termo “espiritualidade” tem sido utilizado na área da saúde, discutindo os problemas decorrentes e as possíveis adversidades de sua polissemia. Para tanto, dividimos o estudo em três partes. Na primeira, apresentamos as diferentes definições de “espiritualidade” nas ciências humanas, sua relação histórica com a teologia cristã, e recente ressignificação pela Nova Era. Na sequência, demonstramos como a maior parte das produções sobre a temática na área da saúde adota uma concepção reificada e essencializada de (...) espiritualidade. Na terceira, discutimos as principais fragilidades identificadas no estudo. O termo espiritualidade está sendo utilizado nas ciências médicas para que a religião adentre seus espaços, inclusive de políticas públicas, ainda que de modo secularizado. Um paralelo com a fenomenologia da religião foi traçado para demonstrar as consequências da má conceituação de uma categoria em longo prazo. Por fim, identificamos uma supervalorização da dimensão psicológica da espiritualidade em detrimento das dimensões morais e rituais. (shrink)

This work draws together the strands of doctine into the epistemological theory that Hume called "a mental geography, " which translates in modern terms into a ...

Book reviewed in this article:British Medical Association, The Medical Profession and Human Rights: Handbook for a Changing Agenda.

In the past few years doomsayers and critics have predicted a decline in prominence of Bertolt Brecht, both as playwright and as theoretician. This paper presents the opposite point of view: the life and works of Bertolt Brecht are as renowned now as ever before, as demonstrated by immensely popular novels about his personal adventures and recent productions of his plays. Also, Brecht, the poet, continues, alive and well, to figure in multiple anthologies. Even his personal nature is chronicled, for (...) better or for worse, in numerous creative works. As a personality, he surfaces in fiction and poetry. Even the comments of critics who are predicting his fading from prominence are forced to acknowledge his visibility through the numerous stagings of his works and the application of his dramatic theories. Brecht's undiminished influence inspires, even now, fifty years after his death, a new generation of artists. Vilified or glorified, Brecht remains at the center of global attention of playwrights, directors, and their audiences. (shrink)

It has been customary among analytic philosophers not to think highly of, and even to denigrate Kierkegaard. Their view is exemplified by the late Henry Aiken who writes that that Kierkegaard ‘usually does not argue for his position: he merely presents it’. Or that, as according to Aiken, one ‘distinguished Oxford philosopher’ is reported to have remarked, ‘Kierkegaard is not one of those philosophers on whom you can sharpen your wits’. It seems to me on the contrary, that Kierkegaard does (...) indeed present arguments for his views. What follows is an example of this. (shrink)

This article is a discussion of Bernard Bosanquet's paper 'The Reality of the General Will', in which its main arguments and motivations are explained. His position is compared to Rousseau's on the general will.

The contributors to this volume offer, in the light of specialised knowledge of leading philosophers of the ancient world, answers to the question: how are we to read and understand the surviving texts of Parmenides, Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus and Augustine?

While Wittgenstein wrote unconventionally and denied that he was advancing philosophical theses, most of his interpreters have attributed conventional philosophical theses to him. But the best recent interpretations have taken the form of his writing and his distinctive way of doing philosophy seriously. The 1980s have also seen the emergence of a body of work on Wittgenstein that makes extensive use of the unpublished Wittgenstein papers. This work on Wittgenstein's method and his way of writing are the main themes of (...) this literature review.Section 1 surveys Wittgenstein's conception of philosophical method and its reception. Section 2 is a review of recent work on rule-following and the methodological issues it raises. Section 3 concerns research on the WittgensteinNachlass and its implications for the interpretation of his philosophy. (shrink)