The aim of this study is to evaluate the level of select ethical issues in Visegrad Four (V4) countries (Czech republic, Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary) and quantify the differences in the attitudes of entrepreneurs in the field of business ethics in these countries. Empirical research was conducted in June 2022 in the V4 countries. Data collection was carried out by the renowned external company MNFORCE using "Computer Assisted Web Interviewing" (CAWI Research Method), according to the questionnaire created by the research (...) team. The total number of respondents was 1,398, of which 347 were from the Czech Republic, 322 from Slovakia, 381 from Poland, and 348 from Hungary. Statistical hypotheses were verified using descriptive statistics, chi-square, and Z-scores at a α = 5% significance level. The preliminary results of this study can be evaluated as follows: The ethical level of entrepreneurs in V4 countries is high because the dominant group showed a positive attitude towards the defined issues in the field of business ethics. The attitudes of these entrepreneurs showed that they not only perceived the importance of business ethics, but also implemented and promoted these practices in managerial decision-making. Moreover, they feel good when they behave ethically, which is a significant motivating factor. In this study, it was found that Hungarian SMEs presented the highest level of business ethics. In contrast, the Czech Republic presented the lowest level of perception and enforcement of business ethics. (shrink)

Em maio de 1643, Elisabeth da Bohemia endereçou uma questão a Descartes que inaugurou uma Correspondência de seis anos, até a morte do filósofo. Ele dedica à Princesa o seu trabalho de maturidade metafísica (Princípios de Filosofia Primeira, 1644) e redige Paixões da Alma (1649) como um dos resultados do diálogo com a filósofa. O silenciamento dos últimos cem anos de historiografia sobre o legado de Elisabeth da Bohemia nesta troca epistolar causou distorções e, em alguns casos, lastreou o viés (...) como regra e como a história. Uma das consequências dessa distorção está na leitura de que a questão da filósofa consistiria em uma crítica ao dualismo substancial. Neste estudo busco oferecer uma interpretação da natureza da primeira questão, com o intuito de esclarecer o pensamento da filósofa e o seu papel no diálogo, de uma maneira compreensiva, sem subscrever o paradigma literário do solilóquio cartesiano, e seu viés na literatura filosófica. (shrink)

We investigate how people ascribe responsibility to an agent who caused a bad outcome but did not know he would. The psychological processes for making such judgments, we argue, involve finding a counterfactual in which some minimally benevolent intention initiates a course of events that leads to a better outcome than the actual one. We hypothesize that such counterfactuals can include, when relevant, epistemic intentions. With four vignette studies, we show that people consider epistemic intentions when ascribing responsibility for a (...) bad outcome. We further investigate which epistemic intentions people are likely to consider when building counterfactuals for responsibility ascription. We find that, when an agent did not predict a bad outcome, people ascribe responsibility depending on the reasons behind the agents’ lack of knowledge. People judge agents responsible for the bad outcome they caused when they could have easily predicted the consequences of their actions but did not care to acquire the relevant information. However, when this information was hard to acquire, people are less likely to judge them responsible. -/- . (shrink)

This valuable text provides a comprehensive introduction to VAR modelling and how it can be applied. In particular, the author focuses on the properties of the Cointegrated VAR model and its implications for macroeconomic inference when data are non-stationary. The text provides a number of insights into the links between statistical econometric modelling and economic theory and gives a thorough treatment of identification of the long-run and short-run structure as well as of the common stochastic trends and the impulse response (...) functions, providing in each case illustrations of applicability.This book presents the main ingredients of the Copenhagen School of Time-Series Econometrics in a transparent and coherent framework. The distinguishing feature of this school is that econometric theory and applications have been developed in close cooperation. The guiding principle is that good econometric work should take econometrics, institutions, and economics seriously. The author uses a single data set throughout most of the book to guide the reader through the econometric theory while also revealing the full implications for the underlying economic model. To test ensure full understanding the book concludes with the introduction of two new data sets to combine readers understanding of econometric theory and economic models, with economic reality. (shrink)

History of Love What is love? We all wish to have the answer to one of the most universal, mysterious, and all-permeating phenomena on this planet. And even if we perhaps have a special feeling and intuitive insight that love “is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things,” as … Continue reading Love, History of →.

pKuzminski’s bookem Pyrrhonian Buddhism: A Philosophical Reconstruction/em presents a comparative study of Buddhism and Pyrrhonism. Pyrrhonian Buddhism, Kuzminski’s novelty, designates a synthesis of Greek and Indian influences on Pyrrho’s thought—namely Democritean atomism and Buddhist phenomenalism. It is a philosophical construct that reveals the similarities between the Buddhist and Pyrrhonian models of enlightenment (viz. bodhi and ataraxia). The book examines striking similarities between both Pyrrhonism and Buddhism, suggesting their virtual identity. In Kuzminski’s opinion, it is essentially the Buddhist practice and the (...) description of the Buddhist experience adopted by Pyrrho of Elis that resulted in the original synthesis he calls Pyrrhonian Buddhism. Putting Pyrrhonism in the setting of Buddhism and its practice brings a new understanding of Pyrrhonism as the ancient Greek school influencedbrby the east./p. (shrink)

In earlier studies we have shown that abuse in health care (AHC) is commonly reported among both male and female patients. In this study, we present an evaluation of an intervention against AHC based on Forum Play. The evaluation was conducted by means of pre- and postintervention interviews with the staff at a woman's clinic. The interviews were analysed using the constant comparative method. The results of this postintervention study stand out in loud contrast to the results of the preintervention (...) studies. Staff had moved from a distant and fluctuating awareness of AHC to a standpoint characterized by both moral imagination and a sense of responsibility. (shrink)

With the outbreak of the pandemic, general and music education shifted completely to remote learning as the only possible form. The research looks into didactic approaches using digital technology adopted by active teachers and students in the Slovenian music school in asynchronous distance learning. On a sample of 9 active teachers and 16 students, the research study examined 31 interactive learning materials in order to identify innovative didactic approaches using digital tools which were applied to achieve learning objectives within musical (...) activities of the Music Theory and Solfeggio. Based on qualitative-quantitative approach, the research showed a low presence of didactic approaches using digital tools. Even though the results show a higher level of use of digital technology among students, the research focused much more on the presence of e-learning materials as well as predominantly traditional teaching approaches, similar to the classical type of classroom teaching. Opće i glazbeno obrazovanje u situaciji pandemije u potpunosti je prešlo na model učenja na daljinu. Istraživanjem se željelo ustanoviti koje su didaktičke pristupe primjenjivali učitelji i učenici u slovenskim glazbenim školama tijekom asinkronog učenja na daljinu. Na uzorku od 9 aktivnih učitelja i 16 učenika analiziran je 31 interaktivni nastavni materijal kako bi se odredili inovativni didaktički pristupi u korištenju digitalne tehnologije s ciljem ostvarenja ishoda učenja na nastavi Glazbene teorije i Solfeggia. Primjenom kvalitativnih i kvantitativnih metoda došlo se do rezultata koji ukazuju na nisku zastupljenost didaktičkih pristupa koji koriste digitalne tehnologije. Iako su rezultati pokazali visoku učestalost korištenja digitalne tehnologije među učenicima, istaknuta je i prisutnost materijala za e-učenje te tradicionalnih nastavnih pristupa, poput onih korištenih u klasičnom tipu učioničke nastave. (shrink)

The aim of this study was to understand how nurses experience patients’ dignity in Swedish medical wards. A hermeneutic approach and Flanagan’s critical incident technique were used for data collection. Twelve nurses took part in the study. The data were analysed using hermeneutic text interpretation. The findings show that the nurses who wanted to preserve patients’ dignity by seeing them as fellow beings protected the patients by stopping other nurses from performing unethical acts. They regard patients as fellow human beings, (...) friends, and unique persons with their own history, and have the courage to see when patients’ dignity is violated, although this is something they do not wish to see because it makes them feel bad. Nurses do not have the right to deny patients their dignity or value as human beings. The new understanding arrived at by the hermeneutic interpretation is that care in professional nursing must be focused on taking responsibility for and protecting patients’ dignity. (shrink)

In May 1643 Elisabeth of Bohemia addressed a question to Descartes which inaugurated a six-year Correspondence, until his death. He dedicates his mature metaphysical work to the Princess (Principles of First Philosophy, 1644) and writes Passions of the Soul (1649) as one of the results of the dialogue with the philosopher of Bohemia. The silencing of the last hundred years of historiography on Elisabeth of Bohemia's legacy in this epistolary exchange caused distortions and, in some cases, underpinned the bias as (...) a rule and as the history. One of the consequences of this distortion is the interpretation according to which her first question would consist of a critique of substantial dualism. In this study I suggest an interpretation of the nature of the first question, in order to clarify the philosopher's thinking and her role in dialogue, in a comprehensive way, without subscribing to the literary paradigm of the Cartesian soliloquy, and its bias. (shrink)

Background: Dignity is a fundamental concept in healthcare. The symptoms of multiple sclerosis have a negative effect on dignity. Understanding of lived experience of dignity in people with multiple sclerosis is crucial to support dignity in practice. Research aim: The aim was to explore the sense of dignity experienced by people with multiple sclerosis. Research design and participants: An interpretative phenomenological analysis design was adopted, using data collected through face-to-face interviews with 14 participants. Ethical considerations: The study was approved by (...) the faculty Ethical Committee (No. EC 1828/2016). Findings: Four interconnected superordinate themes emerged from analysis: Loss of a fully-fledged life: Violating the dignity-of-self; To accept and fight: Promoting the dignity-of-self; Contempt and rudeness: Indignity-in-relation; and Those who know and see, help: Promoting dignity-in-relation. The loss of former fully-fledged life has a dramatic impact on integrity and impaired dignity-of-self. Accepting illness and changed identity impaired by multiple sclerosis was the step that the participants considered to be important for reacquiring the sense of dignity. The participants encountered misunderstandings, prejudices, embarrassment, insensitive remarks, labelling, unwillingness and impersonal treatment as indignities. Acceptance of their condition, needed support, the feeling of being part of a group, sensitivity and the sharing of problems had a positive effect on their dignity. Discussion: Continual changes in functional ability threaten an individual’s identity and were experienced as violations of dignity. Based on this, participant’s dignity-of-self was not a moral, but much more existential value. Acceptance of changed identity and fighting spirit were important for restoring their dignity-of-self. The misunderstandings, prejudices and unwillingness had a negative impact on their dignity-in-relation. On the other side, support from others in fighting promoted their dignity-in-relation. Conclusion: Dignity is manifested as a complex phenomenon of lived experience of people with multiple sclerosis and also an umbrella concept for providing good quality of person-centred care. (shrink)

Despite the popularity of teams in universities and modern organizations, they are often held back by dishonest actions, social loafing being one of them. Social loafers hide in the crowd and contribute less to the pooled effort of a team, which leads to an unfair division of work. While previous studies have mostly delved into the factors related to the task or the group in an attempt to explain social loafing, this study will instead focus on individual factors. Accordingly, the (...) aim is to investigate the determinants of social loafing attitudes, namely moral meaningfulness and mindfulness in a university setting. We further examine the relationship between attitudes and intentions and introduce the moderating role of motivation in the attitude–intention link. The findings from a sample of 319 business students reveal that both mindfulness and moral meaningfulness are negatively related to loafing attitudes, while attitudes positively predict social loafing intentions. In addition, we find that extrinsic motivation strengthens the relationship between social loafing attitudes and intentions. (shrink)

O uso dos nomes próprios sem nenhum outro indexador externo aos seus portadores expressa uma escolha narrativa em Úrsula (1859), romance de Maria Firmina dos Reis (1822-1917). Esse uso permite introduzir uma concepção de maternidade como condição para historicidade em contexto patriarcal e escravocrata. A autora não assina a novela, senão sob a descrição indefinida de “uma maranhense”, e, como pretendo demonstrar, essa indefinição é consistente com a vindicação da universalidade na narrativa, em que a autoria de uma história não (...) deve influenciar o sentido da denúncia da escravidão e do patriarcado. O uso dos nomes como descrições, em contraste, desempenha a função normativa de condenar a escravidão e o patriarcado e de condicionar uma historicidade. Primeiro, farei uma breve consideração histórica e biográfica, buscando contextualizar Úrsula, tanto na história do Brasil como na história da literatura do Brasil, com o intuito de situar a natureza abolicionista do texto. Em seguida, tratarei da relação de coextensão entre natureza e liberdade na determinação desse abolicionismo. Depois, chamarei a atenção para o sentido da escolha narrativa pelo uso dos nomes como descrições definidas. Por fim, apresentarei como esse uso permite à autora introduzir uma noção de historicidade, a partir do atrelamento do abolicionismo à função materna. Este último passo é o que constitui o ineditismo e a potência feminista do texto de Firmina, sob o manto da prosa romântica de folhetim. (shrink)

This study investigates the interaction between civil servants and politicians in a planning committee in a Swedish county council. As the committees are venues for preparation of future decision-making, civil servants and others are invited to inform and report to the politicians on different topics. The aim is to explore this local interaction process based on an analysis of requests and responses. It is shown that the communication between civil servants and politicians is pervaded by sociability in the form of (...) conversational routines. The article aims to recognize this sociability as an intrinsic part of knowledge coproduction processes. Civil servants and politicians negotiate different types of professional and common knowledge through routines that dislocate time, responsibility, roles, and protocol order. These lubricants – important but often circumvented in studies of policy-making – are explored as instances of conversational coproduction. (shrink)

The role of the Sustainability Manager (SM) is expanding. Whether SMs are turning into a new profession is under debate. Pointing to the need for a distinct professional logic to qualify as a profession, we identify what is contained within a professional logic of SMs. Through analyzing ambiguities present in the role of the SMs, we show that there is no specific distinct professional logic of SMs, but rather a meta-construct building on market, bureaucratic, and sustainability logics. In addition, we (...) point to the complex configurations of and relationships between these underlying logics. The complexities also explain why the SMs differ from traditional professions and why it is problematic to talk about a ‘SM profession’. Rather, SMs are ‘organizational professionals’. The article builds on 21 interviews with SMs working for Swedish companies. (shrink)

This article examines student peer reporting by extending the findings from the business ethics and higher education literature. In the conceptual model we propose that reflective moral attentiveness, subjective knowledge of the code of ethics, and academic dishonesty beliefs antecede ethical judgment of peer reporting, which impacts intentions to report peers’ unethical behavior. The relationships are tested using structural equation modeling. The findings indicate that moral attentiveness significantly influences ethical judgment, which in turn affects intention. The relationship between beliefs about (...) academic dishonesty and ethical judgment is partially supported. Based on these results, suggestions for higher education institutions are provided. (shrink)

Knjiga živeti Katarine Majerhold nas v eruditskih, a obenem izjemno berljivih in pogosto provokativnih razmišljanjih popelje med ključna vprašanja naše sodobne individualnosti. V esejih, ki krožijo okrog velikih vprašanj o resnici, svobodi, lepoti, homoseksualnosti in čustvih, na vsem razumljiv način kričari med filozofskimi koncepti in našimi vsakdanjimi izkušnjami. Avtorica hkrati ves čas ostaja v duhu časa in na vprašanje srečnega in dobrega življenja odgovarja z aktualnimi, konkretnimi in modroslovnimi odgovori, ki stavijo na interdisciplinarni holistični pristop. Knjiga vsem dostopne filozofije življenja, (...) ki je obenem tudi primer, kako živeti filozofijo. (shrink)

Cieľom štúdie je analýza Rortyho hodnotenia Heideggera ako ironického teoretika. Rorty tvrdí, že úlohou filozofie je kritika filozofickej tradície, pričom Heidegger je mu v tomto zmysle inšpiráciou. Problémom však je, že Heideggerovi nejde o historicko-filozofickú interpretáciu dejín filozofie, ale len o filozofickú, a tú podriaďuje jedine vlastným filozofickým záujmom. Pre zodpovedné skúmanie hlavného problému je nevyhnutná Rortyho definícia a vymedzenie teoretického ironika, ktorý má pochybnosti o funkčnosti, zameranosti či privilegovanosti slovníkov, ale aj o existencii akéhosi konečného slovníka. Je nevyhnutné poukázať (...) na antropologický a morálno-axiologický rozmer novopragmatistického myslenia, ktorý je vzdialený Heideggerovi po obrate a taktiež na problém sokratovskej spravodlivosti, ktorý mu je taktiež vzdialený, na rozdiel od rortyovského ironika. Dôležitou črtou teoretického ironika je odmietanie tradičnej metafyziky a sústredenie sa na metafyziku v úplne odlišnom slova zmysle, teda ide o snahu pochopiť metafyzické (teoretické) nutkanie natoľko, že sa ho človek zbaví. Avšak ani to pre Heideggera neplatí. Rortyho výzva k filozofii ako napĺňaniu ľudskosti je v absolútnom nesúlade s Heideggerovým Listom o humanizme, v ktorom humanizmus podriaďuje dejinám Bytia a vôbec mu nejde o človeka alebo ľudskú dôstojnosť, ale len o myslenie Bytia. (shrink)

The identification of contemporary forms of slavery is often problematically demarcated by reference to transatlantic enslavement as the definitive archetype. Such an approach overlooks other historic slaveries and neglects the totality of the maangamizi—the African holocaust. This article addresses the problematics of positioning the transatlantic system as the paradigm and unpacks the constituent elements of de jure slavery to construct an understanding of slavery as a condition as well as a status. By identifying the core features of de jure chattel (...) slavery through time, this paper displaces the assumption that legal status is determinative, giving meaning to the concept of slavery in the contemporary world. (shrink)

Defunct satellites and other technological waste are increasingly occupying Earth’s orbital space, a region designated as one of the global commons. These dilapidated technologies that were commissioned to sustain the production and exchange of data, information, and images are an extraterrestrial equivalent of the media devices which are discarded on Earth. While indicating the extension of technological momentum in the shared commons of space, orbital debris conveys the dark side of media materialities beyond the globe. Its presence and movements interfere (...) with a gamut of governmental, commercial, and scientific operations, contesting the strategies of its management and control and introducing orbital uncertainty and disorder in the global affairs of law, politics, economics, and techno-science. I suggest that this debris formation itself functions as media apparatus —it not only embodies but also exerts its own effects upon the material and social relations that structure our ways of life, perplexing dichotomies between the common and owned, governed and ungovernable, wealth and waste. I explore these effects of debris, framing its situation in the orbital commons as a vital matter of concern for studies of the human relationship with media technologies and their waste. (shrink)

A função e o sentido do casamento são apresentados por Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797), em “Reivindicação dos direitos da mulher” (1792). Escrito em formato de reunião de panfletos e publicado antes de partir para a França revolucionária, com o propósito de acompanhar o levante republicano contra o Antigo Regime, “Reivindicação dos direitos da mulher” contém uma denúncia generalizada da desigualdade de gênero e de seus efeitos deletérios, e um projeto de reforma das instituições e da sociedade. É nesse texto que a (...) filósofa teoriza de maneira consistente e fecunda, sobre o casamento como instituição central a ser transformada, e é também ao tratar do casamento que a filósofa de fato opera com os conceitos de direitos e obrigações. “Reivindicação dos direitos da mulher” tem “direitos” no título, mas é de fato um livro sobre educação e sua argumentação se ergue sobre um pressuposto metafísico, a partir e contra a teoria da liberdade de Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Neste estudo, apresento como a categoria do casamento como instituição pedagógica e política desempenhar papel estruturante na transformação da sociedade. A função do casamento, para a filósofa, é articular as esferas privada e pública, de maneira engajada nos requisitos revolucionários, como uma categoria da transformação social. Este é o sentido da noção de “cimento da sociedade” que pretendo apresentar. (shrink)

We investigate an aspect of defeasibility that has somewhat been overlooked by the non-monotonic reasoning community, namely that of defeasible modes of reasoning. These aim to formalise defeasibility of the traditional notion of necessity in modal logic, in particular of its different readings as action, knowledge and others in specific contexts, rather than defeasibility of conditional forms. Building on an extension of the preferential approach to modal logics, we introduce new modal osperators with which to formalise the notion of defeasible (...) necessity and distinct possibility, and that can be used to represent expected effects, refutable knowledge, and so on. We show how KLM-style conditionals can smoothly be integrated with our richer language. We also propose a tableau calculus which is sound and complete with respect to our modal preferential semantics, and of which the computational complexity remains in the same class as that of the underlying classical modal logic. (shrink)

In The Problems of Philosophy, Russell presented his famous regress argument against the nominalist denial of universals. In this paper I explore the origin of the argument in Russell and explore its relevance in contemporary metaphysical debate. I argue that a hundred years on, the argument still presents a powerful tool for realists in their debate with nominalists and trope theorists.

Modal accounts of normality in non-monotonic reasoning traditionally have an underlying semantics based on a notion of preference amongst worlds. In this paper, we motivate and investigate an alternative semantics, based on ordered accessibility relations in Kripke frames. The underlying intuition is that some world tuples may be seen as more normal, while others may be seen as more exceptional. We show that this delivers an elegant and intuitive semantic construction, which gives a new perspective on defeasible necessity. Technically, the (...) revisited logic does not change the expressive power of our previously defined preferential modalities. This conclusion follows from an analysis of both semantic constructions via a generalisation of bisimulations to the preferential case. Reasoners based on the previous semantics therefore also suffice for reasoning over the new semantics. We complete the picture by investigating different notions of defeasible conditionals in modal logic that can also be captured within our framework. (shrink)

Experiencing aesthetics and aesthetic experience has, for a long time, been perceived as the purpose and goal of art. The aesthetic features of a work of art have been the only criteria used in its evaluation. However, these modernist aspects cannot be applied to the conceptual and neo-avant-garde art of the 2nd half of the 20th century that has not only brought a radical change in the artistic form, but, especially, the ontological nature of the work itself. Modernist theories of (...) art and normative rules which apply to perceptual art are no longer able to reflect the changes brought by the art of mind. The traditional history of aesthetics oriented towards the definition of art should, therefore, overlap with, for example, the history of ideas. In the text, I will thus focus on the crucial moments which stood on the border between the old, modernist traditions, and the new, which has brought radical changes into the study of aesthetics as well as the theory of art. The text is focused on three issues: ontological issues of art, the criticism of aestheticism and tautology as a possible problem in interpretation, which will be dealt with from the comparative viewpoint of the art of sense and art of mind. (shrink)

Ako pojam identiteta shvatimo u hegelijanskom smislu kao iskustvo što ga svijest stječe o sebi, onda se taj pojam nameće kao ključan u razmatranju umjetnosti XX. stoljeća. Prema Hegelu, moderna umjetnost transcendira mogućnost adekvatnog izražavanja svoga duhovnog sadržaja pukom osjetilnom reprezentacijom te stoga zahtijeva pojmovnu refleksiju. Budući da je umjetnost uvijek i dio stvarnosti i o stvarnosti, propitivanje njezina vlastita pojma ide ruku pod ruku s ontološkom problematikom. Epistemološke promjene koje konstituiraju i modernu i postmodernu odražavaju se tako u dijalektici (...) pojma moderne i postmoderne umjetnosti. Prema nekim autorima ta je dijalektika određena značajnim promjenama u teoriji subjekta, kulturalnim razlikama i tehnologiji.If the notion of identity is considered in the Hegelian sense as the experience of the consciousness about itself, then this notion becomes of key importance in reflecting upon the 20th-century art. Modern art, in Hegel’s view, transcends the possibility of an adequate expression of its spiritual content by its merely sensuous representation and hence calls for a reflection on its notion. Since art has always been both part of and about reality, the questioning of its own notion goes hand in hand with the ontological problematics. The epistemological changes that constitute both Modernism and Postmodernism thus reflect themselves in the dialectics of the notion of modern and postmodern art. According to some authors, such dialectics is determined by important changes which took place in the theory of the subject, in cultural differences as well as in technology. (shrink)

In this work I intend to explore the textual and conceptual roots of the moral view in the Early Modern Rationalism of Cartesian spectrum as detected by Elisabeth of Bohemia. To this intent, I will drive my analysis, first, to the remark Descartes adds to his own provisional morality of the Discourse in the Letter of August 4th, 1645 to Elisabeth. Second, I will approach the two aspects of her reply to Descartes, both in her Letter of September 13th 1645, (...) which I call a) the contextual aspect – with which she excludes the hypotheses of an infinite science at the service of assessing the good and b) the self-related aspect, with which the philosopher of Bohemia address the moral objectiveness as an intrinsic practical value, obtained by the passions that may lead to reasonable actions. The upshot is a practical and affective moral view, in which the normative trait of some passions of the soul can be taken as the explanation of an intentional infrastructure of the mind, without, however, a theory of ideas as such playing an explicit role. Instead of a representational endeavor, Elisabeth of Bohemia claims a kind of self-awareness from the discovery of a passionate function as an expression of the adequate measure between happiness and morality of actions. That kind of awareness, I shall demonstrate, is what objectiveness consists in. (shrink)

The purpose of this article is threefold. First, it aims to delineate the flow of resources and the claims on those resources within the humanitarian aid system by locating task structures and functional units across the aid chain. Second, it draws on this account to highlight tensions in the system. Different stations in the organisational process are conditioned by the tasks assigned to them, how those tasks are anchored in a moral economy, and their historical interrelations. Third, it explores how (...) aid organisations are perceived by experts in different parts of the aid chain. Four key agents were invited to recount their work experiences. We then consider how the outlook of the interviewees was shaped by their place in the aid chain. The interviews are an inventory of experiences, a preliminary corroboration of the organisational analysis that preceded them, and a source of future hypotheses. (shrink)

Ontology – the study of the most fundamental categories of being – lies at the very heart of metaphysics. The reason why it appears to be so central is because it takes on the following questions: What sorts of entities are there? What features do those entities have? How do they relate to one another? And so on. Section 1 of this Element presents a fast-paced historical overview of some of the notable approaches to these questions. Section 2 tells the (...) story of how one of the oldest, most disputed, but also most developed ontological categories – universals – got introduced. Section 3 builds on the discussion of universals as it considers the desiderata for a promising system of ontological categories. And Section 4 looks at ways in which philosophers might break with tradition and explore some new ontological categories. (shrink)