Russell once said that “Vagueness and precision alike are characteristics which can only belong to a representation, of which language is an example. They have to do with the relation between a representation and that which it represents. Apart from representation, whether cognitive or mechanical, there can be no such thing as vagueness or precision; things are what they are, and there is an end of it” (1923). In other words, expressions like ontological vagueness (and even ontological precision) are category (...) mistakes and therefore make no sense. Half a century later, as the view began to emerge that some vagueness could be intelligibly ascribed to the world, Dummett opined that “It is not apparently absurd to suppose ... that the physical world is in itself such that the most precise description of it that even omniscience would yield might yet involve the use of expressions having some degree of vagueness” (1981). Evans had already questioned the idea of worldly vagueness, arguing that it was inconsistent (1978). A quarter of a century later, however, many papers had been written in defense of the intelligibility and possibility of this once nonsense and then contradictory claim. This chapter is one of them, albeit from a different viewpoint. The aim of this chapter is twofold: firstly, to consider the intelligibility of vague ontology, and secondly, to discuss the most famous argument against vague ontology, i.e., Evans’ argument. To this end, in Sect. 11.2 we present some commonsensical considerations on vague ontology. In Sect. 11.3, we look at some supervaluationist theories and the kind of vague ontology they accommodate before arguing that this kind of ontology is inconsistent with commonsense. Section 11.4 outlines a version of supervaluationism that can accommodate the commonsensical considerations discussed in Sect. 11.2. The outlined view is an ontological variation of Kit Fine’s characterization of vagueness as incompleteness (1975). It will be argued that the view is more effective than other versions of supervaluationism at accommodating commonsensical and metaphysical considerations. In the following section, we consider vague identity. Based on the view outlined in Sect. 11.4, there may be vague identity in some special cases. In Sect. 11.6 we focus on Evans’ argument and argue that it can be blocked in the first step. (shrink)

Once we identify the properties of perceptual presence, we have a conceptual toolbox for systematically inspecting perceptual presence in various domains of human activity. To demonstrate one such ….

Remember Who You Are is a practical handbook of spiritual teachings based on 28 core verses from the Quran. Each verse is translated into simple English and accompanied by a teaching / reflection / commentary / examples that show you how to apply that verse in your daily life. These core verses represent the essential ideas of a universal spirituality. Muslims, Christians, Jews, and all seekers of knowledge can use them to go deeper into their own practice.

Ülkemiz yayın sektöründe farklı yaş seviyelerinden çocuklara hitap eden dinî muhtevalı çeşitli çocuk kitapları bulunmaktadır. Türkiye’de din hizmetlerini resmî olarak yürüten kurum olan Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı da bu alanda çeşitli kitaplar hazırlatmakta ve Kur’an kurslarında bu kaynakların materyal olarak kullanılmasını beklemektedir. Bu çalışmada Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı’nca okul öncesi çocuklara yönelik hazırlatılan materyallerden biri olan Hikâyeler ve Etkinliklerle Değerler Eğitimi Seti I-II çocuğun din eğitimini destekleme durumu açısından incelenecektir. Nitel araştırma yönteminin benimsendiği çalışmada doküman incelemesi yolu tercih edilmiştir. Çalışmanın örneklemi ise (...) amaçlı örnekleme türlerinden ölçüt örnekleme ile belirlenmiş, elde edilen veriler içerik analizinin açık kodlama yolu ile çözümlenmiştir. Çalışmanın analiz kategorileri 4-6 Yaş Grubu Kur’an Kursları Öğretim Programında yer alan ünite isimlerinden hareketle sekiz başlık olarak belirlenmiştir: Allah sevgisi, bayram sevgisi, dua, din sevgisi, dinî mekân sevgisi, kâinat sevgisi, kitap (Kur’an-ı Kerim) sevgisi, peygamber sevgisi. Çalışmada kitaplarda en fazla Allah sevgisi, en az din sevgisine ilişkin dinî motiflerin yer aldığı tespit edilmiştir. Kitaplarda tespit edilen motiflerden en fazla bayram sevgisi, en az peygamber sevgisi temasındaki içerikler ilgili öğretim programındaki kazanımları destekler niteliktedir. Kitaplarda en yoğun işlenen Allah sevgisine ilişkin motiflerle pozitif, sevgi dolu bir Allah imajının ortaya konulduğu tespit edilmiştir. Allah sevgisi ve kâinat sevgisinin içerik olarak birbirini desteklediği görülmüştür. Bu bağlamda, Allah’ın her şeyi belli bir düzen içerisinde ve ayrı güzelliklerde yaratması kâinattan çok sayıda örnek eşliğinde merak, hayret ve hayranlık ifadeleri ile desteklenerek işlenmiştir. Netice itibarıyla Hikâyeler ve Etkinliklerle Değerler Eğitimi Seti I-II’nin, başta Allah inancı olmak üzere çocuğun din eğitimini destekleyen bir içeriğe sahip olduğu ortaya konulmuştur. Bununla birlikte gerek çocukların dini anlayarak ve kavrayarak öğrenebilmeleri gerekse kitaplarda işlenen dinî motiflerin zenginleştirilmesi açısından çalışmada birtakım öneriler ortaya konulmuştur. (shrink)

Generalizing and unifying the known theorems for difference and differential fields, it is shown that for every finite free algebra scheme.

This book offers an analysis of experimental psychology that is embedded in a general understanding of human behavior. It provides methodological self-awareness for researchers who study and use the experimental method in psychology. The book critically reviews key research areas, examining their scope, limits, ambiguities, and implicit theoretical commitments. Topics featured in this text include: Methods of critique in experimental research Goal hierarchies and organization of a task Rule-following and rule-breaking behavior Sense of agency Free-choice tasks Mind wandering Experimental Psychology (...) and Human Agency will be of interest to researchers and undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of experimental psychology, cognitive psychology, theoretical psychology, and critical psychology, as well as various philosophical disciplines. (shrink)

Objective To compare assessments of the decision-making competencies of psychiatric inpatients as provided by physicians, nurses, relatives and an assessment tool.Methods This study was carried out at the psychiatry clinic of Kocaeli University Hospital from June 2007 to February 2008. The decision-making competence of the 83 patients who participated in the study was assessed by physicians, nurses, relatives and MacCAT-T.Results Of the 83 patients, the relatives of 73.8% of them, including the parents of 47.7%, were interviewed during the study. A (...) moderately good consistency between the competency assessments of the nurses versus those of the physicians, but a poor consistency between the assessments of the physicians and nurses versus those of the patients’ relatives, was determined. The differences in the competency assessment obtained with the MacCAT-T versus the evaluations of the physicians, nurses and patients’ relatives were statistically significant.Conclusions Our findings demonstrate those physicians, nurses and the patients’ relatives have difficulty in identifying patients lacking decision-making competence. Therefore, an objective competence assessment tool should be used along with the assessments of physicians and nurses, both of whom can provide clinical data, as well as those of relatives, who can offer insights into the patient's moral values and expectations. (shrink)

Blum (Philosophical Investigations 46, 2023, 264) argues that Tarski's T‐schema and the thesis of the necessity of identity are mutually inconsistent. It is argued that his argument fails.

Mirdamad, a prominent philosopher of the Late Medieval Period active in the Islamic world, regards existence as nothing in reality. In this paper, I employ methods devised by contemporary analytic...

This article aims to draw a theoretical framework to discuss the role of religion in utopia's appeal to transcendence in Turkish literature. This aim entails interrogating the intricate relation between utopia and religion in order to demonstrate how religious discourse functions as a transcendent organizing principle in Turkish utopian vision. The employment of religious discourse in utopia often generates problematic moments in which utopia attains a transcendent position and comes closest to its sibling term, dystopia. This article seeks to identify (...) and describe this position of transcendence in Turkish utopia by resorting to Deleuzian distinction between the two types of utopia: “utopia of transcendence,” oriented toward authoritarianism, and “utopia of immanence,” oriented toward revolution. In so doing, it will engage with three early works from the Second Constitutional Period, Ruşeni Barkın's Müslümanların Gaye-i Hayâliyesi, İsmail Gaspıralı's Darürrahat Müslümanları, and Molla Davudzade's Rüyada Terakki ve Medeniyet-i İslamiyeyi Rü‘yet. (shrink)

Even though Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become a widely accepted concept promoted by different stakeholders, business corporations' internal strategies, known as corporate self-regulation in most of the weak economies, respond poorly to this responsibility. Major laws relating to corporate regulation and responsibilities of these economies do not possess adequate ongoing influence to insist on corporate self-regulation to create a socially responsible corporate culture. This book describes how the laws relating to CSR could contribute to the inclusion of CSR principles (...) at the core of the corporate self-regulation of these economies in general, without being intrusive in normal business practice. It formulates a meta-regulation approach to law, particularly by converging patterns of private ordering and state control in contemporary corporate law from the perspective of a weak economy. It proposes that this approach is suitable for alleviating regulators' limited access to information and expertise, inherent limitations of prescriptive rules, ensuring corporate commitment, and enhance the self-regulatory capacity of companies. This book describes various meta-regulation strategies for laws to link social values to economic incentives and disincentives, and to indirectly influence companies to incorporate CSR principles at the core of their self-regulation strategies. It investigates this phenomenon using Bangladesh as a case study. (shrink)

Mediation analysis relies on an untestable assumption of the no omitted confounders, which posits that an omitted variable that confounds the relationships between the antecedent, mediator, and outcome variables cannot exist. One common model in alcohol addiction studies is a nonrandomized latent growth curve mediation model, where the antecedent variable is not randomized, the two covarying mediators are latent intercept and slope modeling longitudinal effect of the repeated measures mediator, and an outcome variable that measures alcohol use. An important gap (...) in the literature is lack of sensitivity analysis techniques to assess the effect of the violation of the no omitted confounder assumption in a nonrandomized LGCMM. We extend a sensitivity analysis technique, termed correlated augmented mediation sensitivity analysis, to a nonrandomized LGCMM. We address several unresolved issues in conducting CAMSA for the nonrandomized LGCMM and present: analytical results showing how confounder correlations model a confounding bias, algorithms to address admissible values for confounder correlations, accessible R code within an SEM framework to conduct our proposed sensitivity analysis, and an empirical example. We conclude that conducting sensitivity analysis to ascertain robustness of the mediation analysis is critical. (shrink)

The convergence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate governance (CG) has changed the corporate accountability mechanism. This has developed a socially responsible ‘corporate self-regulation’, a synthesis of governance and responsibility in the companies of strong economies. However, unlike in the strong economies, this convergence has not been visible in the companies of weak economies, where the civil society groups are unorganised, regulatory agencies are either ineffective or corrupt and the media and non-governmental organisations do not mirror the corporate conscience. (...) Using the case of Bangladesh, this article investigates the convergence between CSR and CG in the self-regulation of companies in a less vigilant environment. (shrink)

COVID‐19 caused an imbalance between medical resources and the number of patients in Türkiye like in many countries. There was not pandemic‐triage system, and this situation led to decision making based on experience, intuition, and judgment of allocation of scarce resources. The research explains the guiding criteria that healthcare professionals used to prioritize the distribution of scarce medical resources during the COVID‐19 pandemic. The criteria preferred by 928 healthcare professionals were evaluated when preventive measures for COVID‐19 were reduced and so (...) the number of cases increased rapidly. The results indicate that Turkish healthcare professionals largely support the utilitarian approach, which focuses on medical benefit in pandemic. The main problem was that some criteria not approved in COVID‐19 triage guidelines were considered important by healthcare professionals. These criteria, which cause discrimination by preventing the provision of fair and equal medical care to patients, are a prominent issue in the study. (shrink)

This work brings together different perspectives on psychological methods and particularly methods involving experimentation. To encourage a reflective use of research methods, the authors illuminate the historical, philosophical, and scientific dimensions of methodology, providing both defenses and criticisms of experimental psychology. The primary audience of the work are students and researchers in psychological and behavioral sciences, who have an interest in methodology.

Quantifier variance entails that ‘there exists’ has a variety of meanings. Determining what makes all these meanings quantifier meanings is a problem associated with this view. A reasonable candidate suggested by Hirsch is the set of formal rules governing quantification. However, the collapse argument presents a notorious objection to the viability of the candidate: there cannot be more than one quantifier obeying the same rules up to logical equivalence. It is proposed that a quantifier variantist who intends to retain Hirsch’s (...) proposed solution can admit a many-sorted language in order to block the collapse argument. Within the many-sorted language, a Kaplanian thesis about the rules governing sorted quantifiers saves quantifier variance from meaning variance. (shrink)

In contrast to the experimental methods of studying visual memory, Oblak has used a less constrained method of investigation. The comparison between the conventional experimental methods and the ….

Singapore's long-serving People's Action Party government suffered from a major electoral setback in the 2011 general election and subsequent by-elections. The high-growth population policy, underpinned by the influx of migrants and foreign workers, has strongly fuelled the groundswell of public discontent and is commonly perceived to have contributed to widening income disparities, wage stagnation, and cost of living pressures. This article attempts to make sense of the PAP leadership's dogged commitment to the high-growth population policy despite the electoral backlashes and (...) policy criticisms by prominent public intellectuals and others closely connected to the PAP establishment. It considers Singapore's high-growth population policy and widening income disparity within the context of the authoritarian developmental state's shift away from the social compact. The article also examines the impact of widening income inequality and other policy lapses on the legitimacy of the PAP government as the clamor for a renewed social compact based on gathers momentum in the repoliticized polity. (shrink)

Some analogous higher-order versions of Skolem’s paradox will be introduced. The generalizability of two solutions for Skolem’s paradox will be assessed: the course-book approach and Bays’ one. Bays’ solution to Skolem’s paradox, unlike the course-book solution, can be generalized to solve the higher-order paradoxes without any implication about the possibility or order of a language in which mathematical practice is to be formalized.

This study compares Avicenna's and Thomas Aquinas' conceptions of God, theological language, the nature of creative action and the beginning of the universe.

Sport is viewed as a multidimensional phenomenon. Most countries,including Muslim nations, invest heavily in sports to ensure the participationof their citizens both for recreational and competitive purposes. Indeed, theinvolvement of Muslim countries in significant multi-sport events such as theCommonwealth, the Asian, and the Olympic Games are inevitable. Therefore,a proper projection should be given to Muslim athletes as their participationreflects the identity and culture of Muslim civilizations. To date, the issue ofMuslim athlete’s involvement in sports from the notion of Islamization hasyet (...) to be elucidated by any scholar. This paper aims to scrutinize the sportssociology as an academic discipline in the Muslim majority society context.It also views the philosophy of sports participation and the dilemma facedby Muslims in sports under the light of al- Qur’ān, and Hadith. In obtainingrelevant information for this paper, we employed qualitative content analysisfrom various literature. In conclusion, this discourse of sport, Islam, and society has potentially triggered the new social movement that accommodated the needs of the Muslim community towards sports participation and physical activity. (shrink)

Mīr Dāmād, in Qabasāt argues that existence cannot be a real property for essences. If existence, he argues, were a real property of an essence, there would remain no distinction between simple-if and compound-if questions. It is well-known that Mullā Sadrā has given three different accounts in order to explain essence’s being existent: first that existence is an analytical property for essence; second that none of existence or essence is a property of the other one; and third that essence is (...) a property of existence. In this paper, I will argue that the first account would be defeated by Mīr Dāmād’s argument. The second account concedes the conclusion of the argument and then it would be in contrary with Mullasadra’s own view on the reality of existence, unless this account is augmented with the third one. The third account, however, can evade the argument. But it should be noted that the third account is based on Mullasadra’s own view on the reality of existence and the primacy of existence to essence. Keywords: existence, to be existent, simple-if question, compound-if question, property. 1. Introductıon In al-’Ufuq al-Mubīn Mīr Dāmād claims that not all predicates of a subject manifest a real property for that subject. A real property of a subject is something which is superadded to the subject. Examples include a body’s being red or a body’s being above another body. In such cases, the predicates correspond with some feature of the subjects which are not the same as those subjects, in reality. This is opposed to the body’s being itself, for example. In this case, the body itself is not something which is superadded to the body. 2. Mīr dāmād agaınst the realıty of exıstence The controversial example is essence’s being existent. Is the existence of an essence something superadded to the essence? In Mīr Dāmād’s words, is existence a real property for essence? Mīr Dāmād, in Qabasāt argues that existence cannot be a real property for essences. For this end, he notifies that there is a distinction between propositions that is parallel to the distinction between real and non-real properties. If P is a real property for a, then the proposition that a is P is a compound-if proposition. On the other hand, it is a commonplace that the only example of simple-if propositions is one that contains existence as its predicate. Now, he continues, suppose that existence is a real property. Then, the proposition that a exists would become a compound-if proposition. But this contradicts the well-established premise that the proposition that a exists is a simple-if proposition. Consequently, he argues, if existence were a real property of an essence, there would remain no distinction between simple-if and compound-if questions. The major problem that Mīr Dāmād is dealing with is how to explain essence’s being existent. His view is that, in reality, essence’s being existent is nothing but the essence itself. He, then, goes a step forward and claims that existence is nothing in reality. We only have the concept of existence in our minds. With these moves Mīr Dāmād, in some sense, resolves the problem of the relationship between essence and existence, in reality. 3. Mullā sadrā on the relatıonshıp between exıstence and essence It is well-known that Mullā Sadrā, Mīr Dāmād’s pupil, was in disagreement with the teacher with respect to the reality of existence. He believes that existence is a real entity in the world as opposed to essence. So, he should explain how essence is existent. Actually, he has given three different accounts in order to explain essence’s being existent. Mullā Sadrā’s first account is that existence is an analytical property for essence. He defines analytical property as the following: P is an analytic property for a iff a cannot be but not has P. Mullā Sadrā’s second explanation is that none of existence or essence is a property of the other one. His third thesis is that essence is a property of existence. 4. Mullā sadrā v.s. mīr dāmād My major concern in this paper is this problem: which of these three accounts for essence’s being existent offered by Mullā Sadrā can overcome Mīr Dāmād’s seminal argument? The first account would be defeated by Mīr Dāmād’s argument, since, any kind of real property, whether it is analytical or not, are associated with a compound-if proposition. This causes essence’s being existent to be manifested by a compound-if proposition. The second account concedes the conclusion of the argument. As we saw, Mīr Dāmād claims that the conclusion of his argument guarantees that existence is nothing in the world. This cannot be swallowed by Mullā Sadrā whose own view is that existence is real. The third account, however, can evade the argument, insofar as existence is not a property of essence. But it should be noted that the third account is based on Mullasadra’s own view on the reality of existence and the primacy of existence to essence. 5. Concluding remarks If the arguments rendered above are sound, we reach to a criterion in order to interpret Mullā Sadrā’s view on the relationship between existence and essence: his thesis that existence is real is more fundamental than his explanation for the problem of essence’s being existence. (shrink)

One of the new topics that has attracted the attention of researchers in recent years is neuro-marketing. The purpose of the present study is to achieve an insight into the progress of studies on neuro-marketing through review of scientific articles in this field with methodology text-mining. A total of 394 articles were selected between 2005 and 2017 using the search for “neuro-marketing” in valid databases. By reviewing the title, abstract, and keywords at various stages of screening, the researchers selected 311 (...) articles related to the neuro-marketing topic in order to carry out the text mining process. Then, pre-processing of data was performed and using cluster analysis, 6 optimal clusters were obtained according to Davis Bouldin index. Using the multi-attribute decision-making technique, the most important roots were ranked in each cluster. The results showed that interest in research on neuro-marketing has increased in recent years and clusters created around topics such as marketing strategies, advertising and video ads, ethical issues, advertising message components, neuroscience in marketing, economics and consumer behavior, and decision making and brand selection. The study shows that the researchers’ attention is moving from the concepts and principles of the use of neuroscience in marketing, economics and consumer behavior to design and develop marketing strategies using neuroscience. (shrink)

How is a philosophical tradition created? What role does literary biography play in the formation of intellectual reception history? Through a detailed analysis of the lives and works of post-Avicennan philosophers, this monograph traces the intellectual history and development of the Avicennan tradition from the fifth/eleventh to the eighth/fourteenth century. Section 1 investigates the genres of Arabo-Islamic biobibliographical and prosopographical writings as a source for the history of Arabic philosophy, delineating their literary topoi, the construction of philosophical authority, and the (...) relationship of Sunnī and Twelver-Šīī Islam to Aristotelian logic and philosophy. Section 2 presents fourteen discrete biobibliographical studies with a critical inventory of the works, including those written in the neglected exegetical genres of commentary, supercommentary, gloss, and supergloss, of Avicenna's immediate disciples and the following generations of philosophers who created the Avicennan philosophical heritage in the Islamicate world.--Provided by Publisher. (shrink)

The ever-growing volume of scientific research challenges for traditional publishing models. This necessitates innovative approaches to journal editing and adopting by Artificial Intelligence (AI) in publication. This scoping review aims to explore the emerging trends shaping the field of journal editing by AI. Literature employed to search relevant databases published between 2008 and 2024. A total of 25 studies met the inclusion criteria. The review synthesizes key trends of inclusion of the technological tools integration for manuscript processing, the rise of (...) open-access publishing models, and evolving considerations around research ethics. The study underscores the pivotal role of emerging trends in shaping the future of scientific publishing. It offers valuable perspectives for editors to adeptly maneuver through the evolving terrain of scholarly communication. By suggesting possible best practices, it serves as a beacon for maintaining editorial excellence. Furthermore, it identifies critical domains warranting deeper exploration, thereby setting the stage for continuous advancement in the field. This forward-looking approach not only facilitates informed decision-making but also fosters a proactive stance towards embracing change in scientific discourse. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Books ReceivedAquinas on Being. By Anthony Kenny. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2002. Pp. x + 212. Price not given.Before and after Avicenna: Proceedings of the First Conference of the Avicenna Study Group. Edited by David C. Reisman, with the assistance of Ahmed H. al Rahim. Leiden: Brill, 2003. Pp. xix + 302. Price not given.Beside Still Waters: Jews, Christians, and the Way of the Buddha. Edited by Harold Kasimow, (...) John P. Keenan, and Linda Klepinger Keenan. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2003. Pp. 284. Paper $14.95.The Buddhist Unconscious: The ālaya-vijñāna in the Context of Indian Buddhist Thought. By William S. Waldron. London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003. Pp. xvi + 269. Price not given.Comparative Political Philosophy: Studies under the Upas Tree. Edited by Anthony J. Parel and Ronald C. Keith. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2003. Pp. xxxviii + 260. Paper $26.95.The Confucian Quest for Order: The Origin and Formation of the Political Thought of Xun Zi. By Masayuki Sato. Leiden: Brill, 2003. Pp. xviii + 500. Price not given.Gathering the Meanings: The Compendium of Categories: The Arthaviniścaya Sūtra and Its Commentary Nibandhana. Translated from the Sanskrit by N. H. Samtani. Berkeley: Dharma Publishing, 2002. Pp. xxxiv + 390. Price not given.I Have Arrived, I Am Home: Celebrating Twenty Years of Plum Village Life. By Thich Nhat Hanh. Berkeley: Parallax Press, 2003. Pp. 253. Paper $25.00.Identity and the Moral Life. By Mrinal Miri. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2003. Pp. xvii + 132. Hardcover Rs 645.00.Indian Philosophers and Postmodern Thinkers: Dialogues on the Margins of Culture. By Carl Olson. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2002. Pp. xv + 331. Hardcover Rs 950.00.Islamic Humanism. By Lenn E. Goodman. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Pp. xiii + 273. Price not given.Letting Go: The Story of Zen Master Tōsui. Translated by Peter Haskel. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2001. Pp. xv + 167. Hardcover $45.00. Paper $16.95.A Life Journey to the East: Sinological Studies in Memory of Giuliano Bertuccioli (1923-2001). Edited by Antonino Forte and Federico Masini. Kyoto: Scuola Italiana di Studi sull'Asia Orientale, 2002. Pp. xxxv + 280. Price not given.The Measure of Things: Humanism, Humility and Mystery. By David E. Cooper. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2002. Pp. ix + 372. Price not given. [End Page 277]Mencius, Hume and the Foundations of Ethics. By Xiusheng Liu. Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2003. Pp. vii + 204. Price not given.Monks and Monarchs, Kinship and Kingship: Tanqian in Sui Buddhism and Politics. By Chen Jinhua. Kyoto: Scuola Italiana di Studi sull'Asia Orientale, 2002. Pp. xiii + 310. Price not given.Music in the Sky: The Life, Art, and Teachings of the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje. By Michele Martin. Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 2003. Pp. 351. Paper $18.95, U.K. £12.95.New Confucianism: A Critical Examination. Edited by John Makeham. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. Pp. 262. Hardcover $55.00.On the Boundaries of Theological Tolerance in Islam: Abū Hāmid Al-Ghāzalī's Faysal al-Tafriqa Bayna al-Islām wa al-Zandaqa. By Sherman A. Jackson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. Pp. xiv + 156. Hardcover Rs 295.00.Pandita Ramabai's American Encounter: The Peoples of the United States (1889). By Pandita Ramabai and translated and edited by Meera Kosambi. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003. Pp. xi + 284. Hardcover $59.95. Paper $29.95.Parmenides of Elea: A Verse Translation with Interpretative Essays and Commentary to the Text. By Martin J. Henn. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 2003. Pp. 147. Hardcover $59.95.Philosophes taoïstes, tome II: Huainan Zi, texte traduit, présenté et annoté sous la direction de Charles le Blanc et de Rémi Mathieu. Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 2003. Pp. lxxxiii + 1182. Hardcover €56,90.The Philosophy and Ethics of the Vīraśaiva Community. By Dan A. Chekki. Lewiston, New York: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2003. Pp. xxv + 287. Hardcover $119.95.Poems of Hanshan. Translated by Peter Hobson with introduction by T. H. Barrett. Walnut Creek, California: AltaMira Press, 2003. Pp. viii + 151. Hardcover $65.00. Paper $19.95.Psychoanalysis and Buddhism: An Unfolding Dialogue. Edited by Jeremy D. Safran. Boston... (shrink)

A gossip protocolGossip protocol is a procedure for sharing secrets in a network. The basic action in a gossip protocolGossip protocol is a telephone call wherein the caller and the callee exchange all the secrets they know. An agent who knows all secrets is an expert. The usual termination condition is that all agents are experts. Instead, we explore some protocols wherein the termination condition is that all agents know that all agents are experts. We call such agents super experts. (...) Additionally, we model that agents who already know that all agents are experts, do not make and do not answer calls. We also model that such protocols are common knowledgeCommon knowledge among the agents. We investigate conditions under which such gossip protocolsGossip protocol terminate, both in the synchronous case, where there is a global clock, and in the asynchronous case, where there is not. We show that a protocol with missed calls can terminate faster than the same protocol without missed calls. (shrink)

According to a bedrock assumption in the current methodology of armchair philosophy, we may refute a theory aiming at analyzing a concept by providing a counterexample in which it intuitively seems that a hypothetical or real situation does not fit with what the theory implies. In this paper, we shall argue that this assumption is at most either untenable or otherwise useless in bringing about what is commonly expected from it.

Using intelligent software agents in the world of e-commerce may give rise to many difficulties especially with regard to the validity of agent-based contracts and the attribution of liability for the actions of such agents. This paper thus critically examines the main approaches that have been advanced to deal with software agents, and proposes the gradual approach as a way of overcoming the difficulties of such agents by adopting different standards of responsibility depending whether the action is done autonomously by (...) an unattended software, or whether it is done automatically by an attended software. Throughout this paper, it is argued that the introduction of “one size” regulation without sufficient consideration of the nature of software agents or the environments in which they communicate might lead to a divorce between the legal theory and technological practice. It is also concluded that it is incorrect to deal with software agents as if they were either legal persons or nothing without in any way accounting for the fact that there are various kinds of such agents endowed with different levels of autonomy, mobility, intelligence, and sophistication. However, this paper is not intended to provide the final answer to all problematic questions posed by the emergence of intelligent software agents, but is designed to provide some kind of temporary relief until such agents reach a more reliable and autonomous level whereby law begins to regard them, rather than their users, as the source of the relevant action. (shrink)

Although managers spend over twenty percent of their time in conflict management, organization theorists have provided very few guidelines to help them do their job ethically. This paper attempts to provide some guidelines so that organizational members can use the styles of handling interpersonal conflict, such as integrating, obliging, dominating, avoiding, and compromising, with their superiors, subordinates, and peers ethically and effectively. It has been argued in this paper that, in general, each style of handling interpersonal conflict is appropriate if (...) it is used to attain organization''s proper end. (shrink)

We will formulate some analogous higher-order versions of Skolem’s paradox and assess the generalizability of two solutions for Skolem’s paradox to these paradoxes: the textbook approach and that of Bays (2000). We argue that the textbook approach to handle Skolem’s paradox cannot be generalized to solve the parallel higher-order paradoxes, unless it is augmented by the claim that there is no unique language within which the practice of mathematics can be formalized. Then, we argue that Bays’ solution to the original (...) Skolem’s paradox, unlike the textbook solution, can be generalized to solve the higher-order paradoxes without any implication about the possibility or order of a language in which mathematical practice is to be formalized. (shrink)

Background: It is stated that the communication and disease experiences of paediatric patients, especially paediatric oncology patients, with healthcare professionals are completely different from those of adults. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the definitions of a good physician and good nurse provided by elementary school-age oncology patients. Research design: In this qualitative research, data were collected through semi-structured individual interviews. The data were evaluated thorough thematic analysis. Participants and research context: Eighteen children hospitalised due to cancer (...) in paediatric oncology and haematology clinics of a university hospital in Turkey. Ethical considerations: Permission to conduct the study was obtained from the Institution’s Ethics Committee. The objectives of this study were explained to the participants and families, and written consent was obtained from them. Also, participants were assured that necessary measures would be taken to protect their anonymity and confidentiality. Findings: The definitions of children were based on five main themes: interpersonal relationships, virtues, professional responsibility, security and individual characteristics. Conclusion: Children conveyed important messages to health professionals. They emphasised that a good physician and good nurse should communicate well, not only with themselves but also with their family. In addition, children were sensitive about health professionals who played with them and actively participated in the treatment by informing them about the disease. Meeting the expectations of children can be possible by improving the communication skills of physicians and nurses and by adding games and activities to the treatment and care plan. (shrink)