When leading spectroscopists in Europe and America were engaged, during 1897, in exploring the recently-discovered Zeeman Effect, they were overtaken by a relatively obscure phsicist working in Dublin. Thomas Preston had previously been known only for his excellent textbooks. His achievement in discovering the Anomalous Zeeman Effect was immediately recognized, but his untimely death has deprived posterity until now of a full account of his life and qualities.

In September 1998 the Dutch Ministry of Health together with the Dutch Society of General Practitioners , the Royal Dutch Society of Pharmacists , and the Dutch Patient and Consumer Federation published a pamphlet entitled: The same medicine in a different coat. Drugs without a trademark, equally effective, but cheaper. Patients could obtain a copy at the local pharmacy or in the waiting room of their general practitioner. It deals with the question whether the name of the patent drug should (...) be written on the prescription or only the active component. This is important because, according to the authors, the costs of health care can be reduced without reducing the quality of the care if the doctor prescribes the generic form. It is also mentioned that another advantage of prescribing the generic form is that, contrary to the …. (shrink)

The following essay is an attempt at bringing together two conceptions, the one theological and ascetical, the other philos–ophical. This confrontation may be attempted either from the point of view of theology, using revealed premises, or from the point of view of philosophy using the methods of purely rational analysis. It is the latter task I am undertaking here. I do not argue from revealed premises, but I do take account of the mighty phenomenon of the Christian revelation. It is, (...) as I see it, absolutely essential to keep theology and philosophy distinct as methods, but this does not prevent the one from providing useful material and suggestive hypotheses for the other. (shrink)

En las obras de Kant las observaciones respecto del lenguaje y la gramática son pocas y dispersas. Ello llevó a la tesis del 'silencio de Kant' respecto del lenguaje y la gramática. Este trabajo sostiene por el contrario: 1) en las obras de Kant hay comentarios explícitos respecto de la gramática; 2) comprenderlos en su propio horizonte terminológico y conceptual es necesario para proponer una versión unificada de éstos; 3) es posible identificar un triple enfoque de la gramática: empírico, formal (...) y trascendental: esta identificación ofrece la base para analizar la posición de Kant respecto de la gramática filosófica en relación con la filosofía del lenguaje actual. Observations on language and grammar and scattered throughout the writings of Kant. This led to thesis such as the 'silence of Kant' with regards to language and grammar. This paper adopts a different view, sustaining following theses: 1. There are explicit remarks on grammar in Kant's writings; 2. Understanding these remarks within the terminological and conceptual Kantian own horizon seems to be a necessary first step to propose a unified interpretation of them; 3. from the point of view of the critical writings it is possible to identify a triple approach to grammar: empirical, formal and transcendental; 4. This identification offers a basis for discussing Kant's position on philosophical grammar in connection with contemporary philosophy of language. (shrink)

On Dharma as depicted in Mahābhārata, Hindu classical epic.

When can one say that a new theory is truer than the old one it contradicts, even though neither is absolutely true? We are primarily concerned with the case in which the conflicting theories offer answers to the same questions, and so we do not introduce considerations of "logical width". We propose that part of the new theory is truer than part of the old one when the former part gets right whatever the latter-part got right while the former does (...) not make any new mistakes. Pragmatic considerations will determine the relative importance of whatever new mistakes the new theory does make as a whole. To avoid artificial counterexamples, we restrict the parts compared to those that are "convex". A "convex" theory is one that holds in all cases intermediate between any two cases in which it holds. (shrink)

D.O. Thomas; VI*—The Duty to Trust, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 79, Issue 1, 1 June 1979, Pages 89–102, https://doi.org/10.1093/aristotelian.

Although there are exceptions, the principle of primum nil nocere remains the cornerstone of the practice of medicine. In the well known handbook, Goodman and Gilman’s The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics1 a case is presented which raises doubts about the permissibility of off-label administration of certain drugs to healthy troops as a preventive measure. The following citation from this handbook gives a clear description of the problem:"Prophylaxis in cholinesterase inhibitor poisoning. Studies in experimental animals have shown that pretreatment with pyridostigmine (...) reduces the incapacitation and mortality associated with “nerve agent” poisoning, particularly for agents, such as soman, that … ". (shrink)

A case is described of a man who discovered years after donating sperm for artificial insemination, that he had a serious genetic disease, autosomal dominant cerebellar ataxia . This manifests itself only years after puberty and occurs in 50% of the progeny. The sperm had been used for the conception of 18 children in 13 women. The parents were only told three years after the insemination. This long time interval was unavoidable since many of the parents had to be found (...) and the hospital director wished first to discuss the matter with his legal advisors and other experts.In future, in agreement with the new law only 10 inseminations will take place with sperm from one donor. This will reduce still further the availability of donor sperm. (shrink)

D. O. Thomas; XIII—Obedience to Conscience, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 64, Issue 1, 1 June 1964, Pages 243–258, https://doi.org/10.1093/ari.

The text of this new edition of Scheler's pioneer work in the sociology of knowledge has been corrected in a few places. There are also about 50 additional pages drawn from Scheler's relicta which throw new light on the themes of the original study. The most interesting of these additions are the pages which spell out the differences between Scheler's phenomenological approach to problems about values and the positivistic approach of Max Weber.--D. D. O.

A brief but informative introduction to the work of Alfred Weber. The author seeks to show why scholars like Timascheff and Sigmund Neumann rank Alfred Weber in the company of his more famous brother Max, and with Simmel, Rickert, Dilthey, and Scheler in the field of historical sociology. The work includes a systematic presentation of Weber's conception of 'historicocultural sociology'.--D. D. O.

The first in a new series of Catholic textbooks, this offers a masterly presentation of the essentials of Thomistic metaphysics. The book is written with Gilson's characteristic clarity and style and may probably be regarded as a definitive statement of his two familiar theses about Thomism: the centrality of the act of existence, and the necessity of following the structure of the Summa Theologica in a systematic presentation of St. Thomas' metaphysics. --D. D. O.

Five essays in French, one in German and three in English, honoring the Polish scholar, Roman Ingarden. The essays offer criticisms or develop Husserl, or apply his methods to problems in philosophy, literary criticism, and psychology. --D. D. O.

A brave and ambitious attempt to provide a synthesis of two recurrent motifs in modern philosophy: the critical and the speculative. The author draws upon a wide knowledge of the classical tradition and contemporary literature, although only the German sources. He attempts to ground the systematic unity of philosophy and all its special disciplines on the principle of reflection, which he treats somewhat in the manner of Husserl. An index would have been useful.--D. D. O.

In spite of the current revival of interest in Husserl, this is only the second major English translation--after an interval of 25 years. The text is well-chosen since it exhibits Husserl at the height of his career and offers the only concise treatment of the major themes of Transcendental Phenomenology. Prof. Cairns, Husserl's own choice for translator, has produced a very careful, though perhaps over-literal version.--D. D. O.

Building on certain ideas of Husserl and Merleau-Ponty, the author advances the hypothesis that the knowledge of personal qualities is epistemologically prior to the knowledge of "thing" qualities. We attain the clearness of things through intersubjective communication. Kwant supports his thesis by showing that knowledge of persons is not reducible to anything else and that all other knowledge is dependent on it. The argument is plausible but would have been more persuasive had the author appealed to some empirical tests.--D. D. (...) O. (shrink)

One of three tribute volumes marking the 75th birthday of an outstanding teacher, historian, and philosopher. Twenty former students present their teacher with a collection of essays which reflect both his own broad interests and the influence of his voluminous writing. There are essays interpreting various philosophical and historical problems of the Middle Ages, an important interpretation of Heraclitus, investigations of Heidegger and certain American Empiricists. The bulk of the book, however, deals with the area in which Gilson is an (...) acknowledged master: the systematic study of Thomas Aquinas and his relevance for contemporary philosophy.--D. D. O. (shrink)

A representative selection from Dewey's writings together with a lengthy and useful introduction, well-tailored to the needs of university students. All but one of the selections were written after 1925; together they present a clear picture of Dewey's philosophy in its maturest form. The editor has designed his collection to refute decisively all aspects of the 'Dewey Legend' of anti-intellectualism. But the chief aim of the selections is to document Dewey's comprehensive theory of experience and nature, which has been neglected (...) in favor of his educational and social philosophy.--D. D. O. (shrink)

In what is probably the most unwieldy volume of essays ever published, 50 contemporary authors address themselves to aspects of a theme whose generality invites an indefinite number of specifications: Being and Meaning. The closest thing to a perceptible trend in these various essays is the marked influence of Husserl and Heidegger. Authors from many countries have contributed, but with six exceptions their work is presented in German translation.--D. D. O.

A very felicitous translation of a work of major importance for science and philosophy. The book attempts to provide a coherent vision of the process of evolution starting from the formation of our planet through the emergence of life, and later, thought, to an imagined end state or Omega Point. The book is rich in imaginative theories about the various transitions of evolution but its greatest merit is in providing an overall pattern of high plausibility rendering the past more intelligible (...) and the future, in some measure, predictable. The central concept of the book seems to be that the energy present in each element of the universe is divided into two distinct components: a 'tangential' energy which links the element with all others of the same order of complexity and a 'radial' energy which draws the element towards ever greater complexity and centricity. The elaboration of the concept of 'radial' energy gives this book its great originality.--D. D. O. (shrink)