Previous findings demonstrate that people often do not feel how they want to feel, supporting the distinction between “actual affect” and “ideal affect.” But are there certain activities that reduce the discrepancy between actual and ideal affect? Based on flow theory and socioemotional selectivity theory, we examined whether the discrepancy between people’s actual and ideal positive affect would be smaller during activities that were more conducive to flow (a state of intense absorption and concentration), pleasant, and familiar. In Study 1, (...) U.S. participants aged 17–79 (N = 393) reported their ideal affect and how they felt during activities with varying degrees of challenges and skills. For both low-arousal positive affect (LAP) and high-arousal positive affect (HAP), participants reported smaller actual-ideal affect discrepancies during flow-conducive activities (when skills matched challenges). Study 2 was a 14-day experience sampling study, in which Hong Kong participants aged 18–83 (Nindividual = 109) reported their momentary actual and ideal affect, and how pleasant and familiar their activities were (Nexperience = 3,815). Greater activity familiarity was associated with smaller discrepancies in actual-ideal LAP, while greater activity pleasantness was associated with smaller discrepancies in actual-ideal HAP. These findings provide insights on the activities that help people achieve their ideal affect more easily. (shrink)

One dark and rainy night, Yuso sexually assaults and tortures Zelan. In escaping from the scene of his crime, he falls heavily and becomes an impotent paraplegic. Instead of treating his fate as divine retribution for his wicked acts, Yuso sees it as sheer bad luck. He shows no remorse for what he has done, and vainly hopes that he will recover his powers, which he now treats as involuntarily hoarded resources to be used on less rainy days. In the (...) presence of others, he pretends that he has turned over a new leaf. He asks for religious and educational books, hoping to make up for his poor education and deprived social background. But he immediately discards them when he is alone in favor of the pornographic magazines which he has bribed a nurse to smuggle in for him. His deception and various obscene acts committed in the hospital are exposed; by the time he comes up for trial, everyone knows that he is still a lustful, sadistic, and unrepentant man. Most retributivists have a sufficient justification for punishing Yuso independently of the social consequences of his punishment. Two features of the case might cause some difficulties. First, Yuso has already experienced considerable suffering and deprivation both before and after his crime, and retributivists might disagree about the relevance of the suffering to his punishment. Secondly, Yuso is unrepentant, and it is unlikely that punishment will change him. This might, as we shall see, create a problem for those who think that the justifying aim of punishment is the moral reform of the offender. (shrink)

In Defense of Utilitarianism, C.L. Sheng provides a more intensive study of the Unified Utilitarian Theory , which he proposed in his previous work A New Approach to Utilitarianism . Sheng defends utilitarianism, particularly UUT, against the objections and attacks raised by nonutilitarians, showing it to be a viable ethical theory.

All students of the classical languages are aware that, in referring to intervals of time, the Greeks and Romans often employed a method of reckoning which was inclusive and consequently different from our own. The Greeks, for example, refer to the period between two celebrations of the Olympic games as a though we should call it a four-year interval. One instance of this kind of usage in Latin is the stereotyped formula employed in expressing a date: ante diem quintum Id. (...) Mai. is 11 May, though we should say that there was an interval of four days only between 11 and 15 May. Another instance is the use of tertiana and quartana as applied to fevers which recur on alternate days and on every third day respectively. The ramifications of this mode of expression are extensive, but I am only concerned here with one, namely the use of quisque with ordinals. (shrink)

“Career value” is the name of a kind of value I used (or perhaps I coined) in my classification of value according to good things in life based on the law of nonreplaceability. I classify value into seven classes: (1) health value, (2) sentimental value, (3) economic value1, (4) belief value, (5) environmental value, (6) social value, and (7) career value. Career value refers to the extra value of the most important work, which one wants to do and actually does (...) in one’s life time, for oneself. In Section 2, I explain the nature of career value, which is different from the natures of all other values. In Section 3, I discuss various career values themselves. Career value has several different forms, depending on the nature and size of career. Finally, I conclude that, except for economic value3, which isunsuitable and unreasonable to be a career value, the pursuit of any kind of a nonmaterial career value is a good thing and conforms to the maximization of social utility in utilitarianism. (shrink)

This volume in the Routledge History of Philosophy series discusses the philosophers belonging to both the `analytical' and `continental' traditions, as well as the now influential American pragmatists. Each chapter is written by a different author who presents the issues in the context of the period when they arose, while also keeping an eye on their relevance to current philosophical interests. A few philosophers are discussed in multiple chapters in different but mutually illuminating contexts.

Organisational change is one of the most frequently recurring organisational phenomena of our time, yet despite this, organisations are not succeeding in instituting change processes effectively; dismal "change success rates" are recorded. Van Tonder and Van Vuuren (2004) have argued that the adoption of an ethical framework from within which change practices are to be approached and "managed", would significantly reduce the negative consequences of change initiatives. As a first step in this direction, the current study set out to establish (...) the meaning that employees attribute to "ethical" and "unethical" change. Data obtained from a sample of 111 respondents from seven companies were subjected to basic content analysis and key themes extracted. The results indicate a limited understanding of ethics concepts among employees. A clear need for both intensified education and research is indicated. (shrink)

Painters are the experts in colour phenomenology. Their business is to use colour to affect our feelings. Psychophysicists are expert in making experimental inferences from behavioural responses to the functional mechanisms of perception. The varying aims of these two groups of people mean that much that is of interest to the one is of little concern to the other. However, in recent times several prominent psychophysicists, such as Floyd Ratliff , Jack Werner and Dorothea Jameson , have thrown much light (...) on painterly practice. Following their lead, I would like to sketch some of the mechanisms that are responsible for many of the features of colour appearance important to the work of visual artists. I will begin with some phenomena that can be accounted for by mechanisms that are reasonably well understood, and then move to phenomena whose underlying basis is less well established. I will conclude with a suggestive experiment and, true to my calling as a philosopher, a piece of downright speculation. (shrink)

On July 3, 1996, in Jones v. United States), the United States District Court for the Northern District of California held that plaintiffs in a wrongful birth action cannot recover costs or damages associated with the birth and upbringing of their daughter absent evidence of causation and proof to satisfy liability requirements. Plaintiffs scientific evidence regarding the alleged interaction between antibiotics and oral contraceptives did not satisfy the Daubertstandard, cert. denied,116 S. Ct. 189 )) for admissibility developed by the Supreme (...) Court. In addition, the plaintiffs failed to meet their burden of persuasion on duty of care and causation.On January 16, 1992, Karyn Jones went to a U.S. Army gynecologist, Dr. James Murphy, to obtain a prescription for birth control pills. (shrink)

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and (...) made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

If, as Saunders & van Brakel assert, hue, lightness, and saturation characterize artificial color spaces and not the colors of everyday life, one would expect those color spaces to have limited relevance to our understanding of color phenomena and to be of little practical application. This is not the case. Although people perceive these and equivalent color dimensions holistically rather than analytically, they are able to use such triples to categorize the colors of their environment.