In the movie The Gold Rush Charlie Chaplin and his friend are stranded in a log cabin in the middle of winter while a blizzard rages. The cabin is isolated, and they have a very big problem – there is nothing to eat. They pace around wondering what to do. Charlie's friend starts to see Charlie as a chicken, and he tries to kill him. He chases Charlie around the cabin many times. Eventually they hit upon the idea of (...) boiling an old boot and eating it for dinner. With great delicacy they sit at the table and eat the boot as if it were a gourmet meal. They solved the problem of having nothing to eat. While their solution to the problem did not result in a culinary feast, this example reveals two crucial features of problem solving. First, a problem exists when a goal must be achieved and the solution is not immediately obvious. Second, problem solving often involves attempting different ways to solve the problem. Put more formally, a problem has four components. First, there is an initial state. This is the person's state of knowledge at the start of a problem. Second, there is the goal state: the goal that the person wishes to achieve. Third are the actions or operations that the problem‐solver can use to get to the goal state. Fourth is the task environment that the solver is working in. The task environment consists of the features of the physical environment that can either directly or indirectly constrain or suggest different ways of solving a problem. I will sketch out the main currents of thinking in research in this area, beginning by reviewing the history of research on problem solving and then focusing on a number of important issues in problem‐solving research. Finally, I will give an overview of some recent developments. (shrink)

It is widely believed that bringing parties with differing opinions together to discuss their differences will help both in securing consensus and also in ensuring that this consensus closely approximates the truth. This paper investigates this presumption using two mathematical and computer simulation models. Ultimately, these models show that increased contact can be useful in securing both consensus and truth, but it is not always beneficial in this way. This suggests one should not, without qualification, support policies which increase interpersonal (...) contact if one seeks to improve the epistemic performance of groups. (shrink)

Game theory is central to modern understandings of how people deal with problems of coordination and cooperation. Yet, ironically, it cannot give a straightforward explanation of some of the simplest forms of human coordination and cooperation--most famously, that people can use the apparently arbitrary features of "focal points" to solve coordination problems, and that people sometimes cooperate in "prisoner's dilemmas." Addressing a wide readership of economists, sociologists, psychologists, and philosophers, Michael Bacharach here proposes a revision of game theory that resolves (...) these long-standing problems. In the classical tradition of game theory, Bacharach models human beings as rational actors, but he revises the standard definition of rationality to incorporate two major new ideas. He enlarges the model of a game so that it includes the ways agents describe to themselves their decision problems. And he allows the possibility that people reason as members of groups, each taking herself to have reason to perform her component of the combination of actions that best achieves the group's common goal. Bacharach shows that certain tendencies for individuals to engage in team reasoning are consistent with recent findings in social psychology and evolutionary biology. As the culmination of Bacharach's long-standing program of pathbreaking work on the foundations of game theory, this book has been eagerly awaited. Following Bacharach's premature death, Natalie Gold and Robert Sugden edited the unfinished work and added two substantial chapters that allow the book to be read as a coherent whole. (shrink)

Traditionally, epistemologists have distinguished between epistemic and pragmatic goals. In so doing, they presume that much of game theory is irrelevant to epistemic enterprises. I will show that this is a mistake. Even if we restrict attention to purely epistemic motivations, members of epistemic groups will face a multitude of strategic choices. I illustrate several contexts where individuals who are concerned solely with the discovery of truth will nonetheless face difficult game theoretic problems. Examples of purely epistemic coordination problems and (...) social dilemmas will be presented. These show that there is a far deeper connection between economics and epistemology than previous appreciated. (shrink)

Journals regulate a significant portion of the communication between scientists. This paper devises an agent-based model of scientific practice and uses it to compare various strategies for selecting publications by journals. Surprisingly, it appears that the best selection method for journals is to publish relatively few papers and to select those papers it publishes at random from the available “above threshold” papers it receives. This strategy is most effective at maintaining an appropriate type of diversity that is needed to solve (...) a particular type of scientific problem. This problem and the limitation of the model is discussed in detail. (shrink)

Contributing reviewersThe editors of Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine would like to thank all our reviewers who have contributed to the journal in Volume 10.

This paper examines the attitudes toward political persuasion at work in the writings of Han Feizi (280-233 BCE). Particular attention is given to differentiating Han Feizi's thought from Western analogs under which it has suffered hermeneutically, especially comparisons with Plato's so-called "noble lie." After probing some of the psycho-social assumptions of ancient Greek versus Chinese political discourse, Han Feizi's own view is reconstructed, according to which practices of deception and secrecy are permissible under specific moral and political conditions. It is (...) argued that not only is the account which emerges a more charitable interpretation of Han Feizi, but also that it is independently attractive as a helpful and realistic lens through which to view contemporary anxieties concerning political discourse and transparency. (shrink)

Ethics has traditionally been taught in the 'ivory towers' of academia. Recent develop ments and reforms in nurse education have given ethics a prominent position in most curricula. However, the vast majority of ethics teaching continues to take place in academic departments. This approach fuels the practitioner's views that nursing is a pragmatic activity whilst ethics is a cognitive endeavour; such perspectives entrench ethics firmly in the traditional gap between theory and practice. The focus of this paper presents an argument (...) that the teaching of ethics must be versed in clinical reality if bridges are ever to be built and the theory-practice gap crossed. Suivant la tradition, l'éthique est enseigné dans les tours d'ivoire des universités. Des développements et réformes récents dans l'éducation infirmier donnent à l'éthique une position prominante dans la plupart des programmes d'études. Mais la majorité de l'enseignement éthique continue dans les départements académiques. Cette façon d'enseigner alimente la vue des infirmiers/ères que soigner est une activité pragmatique pendant que l'éthique est un effort intellectuel. Ces attitudes retranchent l'éthique dans le vide traditionel entre la théorie et le pratique. Le thème de cet article présent l'argument que l'enseignement de l'éthique doit être posé dans la réalité clinique, si des ponts peuvent jamais être bâtis et le vide entre théorie et pratique peut être traversve. Ethik wurde traditionsmässig im Elfenbeinturm einer Universität gelehrt. Neuliche Entwicklungen und Reformen in der Ausbildung des Pflegepersonals haben der Ethik eine prominente Position gegeben in ihren Lehrplänen. Die meiste Lehre von Ethik findet jedoch weiterhin in akademischen Abteilungen statt. Dieses Vorgehen treibt die Ansicht des praktizierenden Pflegepersonals, dass Krankenpflege eine pragmatische Aktivitat ist und Ethik eine wissenschaftliche Bemühung. Solche Ansichten verwurzeln die Ethik in der traditionellen Kluft zwischen Theorie und Praxis. Das Zentrum dieses Artikels ist die These, dass die Lehre von Ethik auf klinischer Realität basiert sein muss so dass Brücken gebaut werden können und die Kluft zwischen Theorie und Praxis überschritten werden kann. (shrink)

Internalist theories of epistemic justification supposedly have trouble explaining what justifies beliefs that are both stored in memory and currently out of mind. This is the problem of stored beliefs. This chapter provides a preliminary defence of stored/dispositional appearances and suggests that they provide a straightforward solution to the problem of stored beliefs.

Dungeons Dragons is full of great heroes and villains. The many worlds of the DD multiverse are overflowing with them – from heroes such as the twin‐scimitar‐wielding drow Drizzt Do'Urden and the self‐sacrificing knight Sturm Brightblade to villains such as the lord of Barovia, the vampire Count Strahd Von Zorovich, Vecna, the lich who rose to demi‐godhood, and countless others. However, there is one that stands above all others. It is the Master of Past and Present, Raistlin Majere. This chapter (...) is concerned with a seemingly simple question: who is Raistlin Majere? Of course, he is the brother of Caramon Majere. He is the wizard with golden skin and hourglass pupils. He is the Master of Past and Present. The chapter answers the question of what makes it true that it was a single person that accomplished all of the extraordinary feats that Raistlin did. (shrink)

We propose the camellia model for the integration of science and religion, in which each accepts the knowledge of the other, and they together build a flourishing bush of energetic, inquiring, life-directing, and truthful knowledge. The nature of happiness provides an example of how this model integrates scientific and religious knowledge.

Starting from Summa Theologiae 1.2.3.obj.2, I consider some aspects of the term propositum as it occurs in his works. The objection divides “everything thatappears in the world” into what is natural and what is a proposito, and argues that each of these can be accounted for by causes other than God. I suggest that what is a proposito be called “the purposed,” and I try to clarify Aquinas’s understanding of purpose in relation to other notions in his writings, in particular (...) nature, fortune, and above all deliberation or “counsel,” which is the prelude to choice. After some reflection on the theme of “deliberated will” and on the contrast between deliberating and being deliberate, I return to Aquinas’s reply to the objection I began with, then conclude with reference to a recent discussion of the difference between ends and purposes. (shrink)

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 have generated a number of responses by philosophers, perhaps the most controversial of which has been Ted Honderich’s book After the Terror. There Honderich inquires into the question of American responsibility for the events of September 11, 2001. Honderich argues that due to our acts of both commission and omission, we Americans bear partialresponsibility for the terrorist atrocities committed on that day. In this paper, I shall take issue with Honderich’s argument and propose (...) an alternative to it based on the concept of blowback. (shrink)

Fan (2010) did a good job in applying his interpretation of Confucian ethics of giftedness to genetic enhancement. To him, it is God-like Heaven that gives lives to us and our ancestors as gifts th...

This article critically examines the recent papal allocution on patients in a persistent vegetative state with regard to the appropriate conditions for considering “reformable statements.” In the first part of the article, the purpose and meaning of the allocution are assessed. O'Rourke concludes that given consideration of the individual patient's best interest, prolonging artificial nutrition and hydration is not, in every case, the best option. Although he stresses favorability for preservation of the life of the patient through artificial nutrition and (...) hydration, costs and benefits to the patient should be weighed. Ultimately, he argues in favor of leaving the decision to the patient, his caregivers, and others immediately involved in the case. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction The Shipwreck of the Richmond and the Duty to Rescue The Ethics of Global Access to Essential Medicines Conclusion References.

This article examines Śāntarakṣita’s and Kamalaśīla’s understandings of svatantra and prasaṅga proofs in the attempt to clarify how and why Tibetan Prāsaṅgikas came to portray svatantra inference as an instance of the very thing Madhyamaka rejects. The article proceeds in four parts. A brief comparison of Patsap Nyimadrak’s portrayal of svatantra inference with Bhāviveka’s and Candrakīrti’s employment of this expression shows that Patsap expanded the meaning of it, charging its users with embracing a realism at odds with Madhyamaka emptiness. Patsap’s (...) arguments against Śāntarakṣita’s “neither one nor many” proof lead us consider the latter’s and Kamalaśīla’s understanding of svatantra and prasaṅga proofs, which turns out to be consistent with, if more sophisticated than, Bhāviveka’s and Candrakīrti’s usage. An exploration of Kamalaśīla’s development of the proof of the naturelessness of all things, real and imagined, calls into question the svatantra-prasaṅga distinction but still leaves us without a source for Patsap’s characterization. A consideration of Śāntarakṣita’s and Kamalaśīla’s use of svatantra to characterize Mīmāṃsā conceptions of an authorless Veda and “intrinsic validity,” as well as their own view of “self-awareness,” offers potential sources for characterizing valid cognition and, by extension, inference as “autonomous.”. (shrink)