in a nachlass fragment of 1888, Nietzsche refers to psychology as "Affektenlehre"—the doctrine or theory of the affects.1 Given his contention elsewhere that psychology represents the "path to the fundamental problems", it should come as no surprise that Nietzsche makes reference to affects in numerous prominent passages, and throughout some of his most important works.2 Yet, as Peter Poellner has claimed, one might "feel that not much is gained by [Nietzsche's] assertions in the absence of a detailed account of what (...) 'affects' are supposed to be". Literature on the topic has focused predominantly on the roles ascribed to affects in his moral... (shrink)

This book presents a theory that unifies these theories by using a philosophical approach to disclose an oversight in the theory of relativity.

The transformation of societies' age structures has intensified the need for nursing care, especially in economically developed regions of the world. This will necessitate societal decisions that determine how care needs are met in the long term. This article offers a sociological perspective on nursing care using Luhmann's systems theory. To make the designation of a functional nursing system with independent observation plausible, social changes were traced based on historical events, semantics, and other social structures to develop the primary view (...) of the nursing system. On this basis, a functional definition of the nursing system and its relationship to problems and problem‐solving is possible. This proposal is intended to clarify the fundamental questions of nursing science: What is nursing and what is behind it? Through abstraction, this article develops a unified representation of nursing's distinct way of observation to support the determination of a unique research object for nursing science as an academic discipline. In line with Brandenburg's statement that nursing science must follow the interests of others as long as it is not possible to conquer a terrain occupied by the discipline independently, the need to develop a genuine discipline remains. Only then, it is assumed, can nursing science significantly contribute to other functional systems and to societal decisions that will determine how care needs are addressed in the future. (shrink)

Deconstructing Azawad -- The plundering of Mali, past and present -- The African trace -- The Sahelian specter -- The duty of violence -- Nyama, fratricide, and reconciliation -- What is to be done? -- Zongo, Sankara, and the Burkinabe revolution.

Robert Reilly’s America on Trial presents a lengthy defense of the principles of the American Founding against recent critiques, especially focusing on those written from a Catholic perspective. His book finds a place in a larger discussion of American Catholic political thought that has been going on for more than a century. I first situate Reilly’s book within that debate, and then argue that Reilly’s account is correct on most counts. Some loose ends remain, but they can be dealt with (...) by expanding some of the points that Reilly has already made. I think, though, that other points not even raised by Reilly’s critics will require further reflection by future American Catholic political thinkers. In 2020, the sensus communis in America has ceased to be “cool and deliberate,” a desideratum for the regime mentioned in Federalist 63; we need to figure out ways to make it cool again. (shrink)

Chester Barnard's classic, The Functions of the Executive, is premised on an Aristotelean conception of human nature. This reliance ramifies throughout his analysis of the cooperative basis of human organizations. Perhaps its most important manifestation appears in his definition of willing cooperation as self-abnegation. For by so removing cooperation from its utilitarian and contractarian assumptions, he avoids the well known criticisms of those assumptions while retaining his fundamental liberalism. Put positively, self-abnegation informs Barnard's liberalism with an heroic dimension. This, in (...) turn, enables him to provide an account of organizational effectiveness which is at once realistic and optimistic and which values its unique human participants. (shrink)

Seumas Miller, The Moral Foundations of Social Institutions, 371 pp. ISBN: 978-0-521-76794-1 hardback; 978-0-521-74439-3 paperback. If one were loo...

Combining the fields of international trade theory, economic development, and economic growth, this text provides an advanced exposition suitable for graduate students as well as researchers at all levels. It combines mathematical rigour with an exceptional breadth of approaches, including institutions, history, and comparative economics. Existing research is exposited and evaluated, and numerous new results are included. The central themes of economic inequality, within and between nations, are discussed, as is convergence, or the reduction of inequality. Distinctive features of the (...) volume include a radical re-evaluation of the theoretical basis of the economic convergence model proposed by Barro and Sala-i-Martin, a new generalization of the standard HOS model, and a new concept, the economic environment, designed to model the effects of institutions in a more analytical and micro-founded manner is discussed. Uniquely, the real world examples included focus not only on countries participating fully in globalized trade, like China, but also those countries and regions failing to fully participate, specifically the Arab world and sub-Saharan Africa. The text concludes with a discussion of current issues in world economic governance, particularly the IMF and limitations of the Washington consensus, showing that some criticism fails to confront fundamental difficulties. (shrink)

The Database, Logic, and Suffering _Memento_ and Random-Access Information Aesthetic.

argues that moral questions raised by the need to ration health care will have to be faced by health professionals and other groups.

The connection between ethics and theological vision has become increasingly important for ethics as we better appreciate how the moral agent is embedded in a framework that affectively and intellectually shapes her moral reasoning. Moral reasoning is always reasoning within (that is, within a moral framework, a religious worldview, and/or a set of ideological commitments). A similar framing occurs in literature, which I refer to as its “horizon.” A literary text's horizon comprises the theological and metaphysical commitments that are implied (...) by the text and that the reader relies on to make sense of it. I suggest that there is a parallel between how moral frameworks and literary horizons operate in that both shape moral judgment. I argue that in using literature as a resource for ethics, the same contemporary currents that have led us to appreciate the embeddedness of moral reasoning should also encourage us to give more careful attention to the theological or metaphysical vision implied by a text. Such a “theo-ethical” reading of literature provides a richer understanding of particular moral goods and the interplay between those goods and ethical themes like agency, hope, and redemption. I substantiate this claim with a reading of William Blake's Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion. (shrink)

The question of concentration, or to use a word more in tune with the true nature of this essay, the heart, of this work is to explore the constructs surrounding the very nature and essence of the human heart. By heart I mean not the organ of flesh and blood, or the muscle that pumps life through out our corporal beings. But rather I mean to speak of an emotion that exists in parallel to the spirit or soul of the (...) human cognitive existence. I have chosen the title of this essay for a very specific reason, being that love and the human heart are two different concepts that I find to be closely related and essential for the other to exist. However, I findthat they are different and should be treated as such, for this reason I have given this essay a two-fold thesis. In that its main function will be to incorporate the idea of love with the ideologies of the human heart but also that they should be discussed separately. To most accurately address these points there will be three sections to this essay; the first will be an address on love and its meaning and purpose, the second will be in regards to the mystics of the heart, while the third will be a link between the two and act as a bridge from the psychological emotions of love to the physical and real emotions of man. (shrink)

Eric Katz says the arguments for deextinction are depressingly familiar … and he’s right! The creation – or recreation – of ‘necrofauna,’ he says, ‘recycles old issues and debates in the field’ (p....