Mishel Fuco not only influenced the consciousness of modern West, but changed the modus of thinking, the way of perception of many traditional notions, transformed the opinions about the reality, history, person. Philosopher’s principle research programme which attaches the entirety to his works is “archeology of knowledge” programme, the search of human knowledge’s original layers. Let us mark that all Fuco’s works in 1960s are devoted to main aim: to clear up the conditions of historical origin of different mental aims (...) and social institutions in the culture of the Modern Time. Though in the whole this common aim remained for Fuco invariable, but the level on which he realizes his research search is changing constantly and rather logically. Relations of power, and to be more exact,accumulations of power and knowledge, social and cognitive which define all the aggregate of specific possibilities of culture in each given historical period. More than that the philosopher offers the particular prospects of sight of modern society and precisely totality of power relations, its ubiquitous nature and specific productivity which produces itself in each moment in any point or rather in any attitude from one point to another. From Fuco’s point of view the power is everywhere and not because it involves everything but because it comes from everywhere. The power is productive in that degree in which it is not associated with one definite imperious instance but pierces all kinds of activity in society, putting on its indelible stamp, developing under definite angle and due to this factit causes products, produced by them. The power induces and at the same time determines the fact which appears as a result of its inducement. The thirst of supremacy, which surrounds the individual and is focused on it as on the center of its use of force, comes out as a defining sign. It should be noticed that Fuco’s conception of power is not reduced to the understanding it as anonymous impersonal net of relations, piercing all society. It is supplemented by power treatment,coming out in “designed” look of definite imperious structure or imperious institute. (shrink)

For Brun, the separation of men from existence, which expresses itself in various forms of anxiety, is the central concern of philosophy. While the separation of men from one another can be partly overcome by language and by modern technology's "conquests," the ontological separation cannot, the philosophic attitude of wonder can never be entirely replaced by nihil mirari. He takes issue with the philosophies of praxis which regard human action as the potential remedy for all separation. The thesis is defended (...) capably and passionately.--W. L. M. (shrink)

The appearance of Jesus Christ in his time was inevitable. Plato's ideas were to find a material embodiment on earth. The image of Christ as a balance, the harmony of light-spirit and darkness-matter, is the materialization of the ideal image.

The urgency of the issues discussed in the article is due to the fact that a person always stood and will be at the center of the interests of any religious structure, and especially if that structure is such an authoritative, powerful and influential Church as the Roman Catholic one. Today, centralized Catholicism presents its social position as a moral improvement of a person through cooperation with other people for the sake of a common and perfect future. The purpose of (...) the article is to examine the social concept of Catholicism, which is pervaded by the ideas of providentialism. The latter is characteristic of considering the social development of mankind in accordance with God's plan. The crown of creation of the Most High is man, so "the Church implements her plan through man, but not in the abstract, but in a concrete, living, social dimension," - says Cardinal Joseph Goffner. Through the constant evangelization of humanity, the Church seeks to influence the improvement of human life and seeks to point to Christianity as a faithful way of life. But a world where the horrors of war have been replaced by the "war of civilizations," you will not call the "war of cultures" perfect. Nor can one see the great desire of mankind for moral development, spiritual perfection, but only the desire for the accumulation of material goods. (shrink)

The best-interests standard is a widely used ethical, legal, and social basis for policy and decision-making involving children and other incompetent persons. It is under attack, however, as self-defeating, individualistic, unknowable, vague, dangerous, and open to abuse. The author defends this standard by identifying its employment, first, as a threshold for intervention and judgment (as in child abuse and neglect rulings), second, as an ideal to establish policies or prima facie duties, and, third, as a standard of reasonableness. Criticisms of (...) the best-interests standard are reconsidered after clarifying these different meanings. (shrink)

Many past and present events in the world clearly reflect the miserable failure of modern leadership across the globe. This has significantly contributed to the crisis of survival of humankind today. If humans and their environment are to survive, we need to search for the appropriate leadership model. To that effect this paper discusses the major tenets of the Gandhian and Machiavellian models of leadership in a comparative manner. The paper shows how and why the Gandhian model is admirable, attractive, (...) timely, relevant and redeeming, while the Machiavellian model is not. (shrink)

In the twenty years since the first Earth Day, the environmental movement has become increasingly “commercialized.” In this paper, I examine why many environmental organizations now offer an array of products through catalogs and magazines, or manage stores and outlets. In part one, I explore some of the economic and political influences during the 1970s and 1980s that resulted in increased organizational sophistication and an increased production of environmental products. The part two, I explore the “commercialization” of environmentalism from two (...) angles. First, in terms of a deconstructionist critique of the system of commodities and image, I demonstrate that when environmental organizations partake in this consumer culture, they actually reproduce precisely the values and institutions that they criticize. Second, from a “constructionist” perspective, I argue that environmental products can re-enchant or reconnect people with nature, and thus can help change cultural attitudes about human-naturerelationships. I conclude that environmental products are contradictory because environmental merchandise is juxtaposed uneasily between environmental ideological rhetoric and material ambition. Environmental organizations must recognize this ambiguity before they can deal with the problem effectively. (shrink)

This study offers a re-interpretation of basic elements of Aristotle's semantics and metaphysics on the basis of a meticulous reconstruction of his semantics. By eliminating anachronistic conceptions commonly ascribed to him, many shortcomings or obscurities he is accused of will disappear.

A fine introduction to a medieval philosopher who has recently been receiving greater attention Bettoni's study is both sympathetic and balanced.--W. L. M.

White begins his inaugural lecture by explaining that philosophy is about explanations. He distinguishes between types of explanation and factors in explanation; he finds "reason," "cause," and, most controversially, "motive" to be examples of the former; and "feelings," "dispositions," "desires," and also "intentions" to be instances of the latter. Unfortunately he has no opportunity to elaborate on exactly what type of explanation a motive is.--W. L. M.

The author regards the Passions de l'Ame as substituting a definitive ethic for the provisional morality of Descartes' earlier years, and sees "generosity" as the culminating passion within the framework of "la sagesse." The treatment of Divine omnipotence, human freedom, and their resolution in Descartes is especially thorough and enlightening. --W. L. M.

Morris explicates a concept of culture which is both descriptive and normative. Throughout he is concerned with showing that there are objective criteria for evaluating cultures and distinguishing "authentic" from "spurious" aspects. Both the tone and doctrine of the "functionalism" elaborated are reminiscent of Dewey's approach. One wishes that the complex issues involved in justifying standards of criticism had been analyzed with greater care and precision.--W. L. M.

An introduction written with exceptional competence. A discussion of belief is followed by a brief historical survey. Contains sections on logic, truth-theories, epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of history, politics, religion, aesthetics, and ethics. There is no "talking down" to the readers.--W. L. M.

A collection of ten scholarly articles, including two each on Xenophanes, Prodicus, and Antiphon. Xenophanes' role in anticipating Sophist thought is seen in his subversion of the mythologizing Ionian tradition, represented by Anaximander. Prodicus' ethics is characterized as "utilitarian-eudaemonist"; Antiphon's continued interest in pre-Sophist cosmological speculation and in Pythagoreanism is shown to shed light on his polemic with Protagoras. Discussions of Parmenides, of Diogenes of Apollonia, and of Nausiphanes are also included.--W. L. M.

This is a well-conceived attempt to present a survey of thirteen "classic" political theories, beginning with Thucydides and ending with J. S. Mill, and simultaneously to suggest similarities between each and some contemporary trend in political thought. Bluhm admittedly borrows heavily from earlier commentaries in summarizing and criticizing the classics; his originality lies in his systematic efforts at "bridge building," as he styles it, in a field where an alleged conflict between ancients and moderns has been provoking much unnecessary acerbity. (...) One may criticize Bluhm's fundamental division between "noumenalists" and "naturalists" or his rather unsure handling of Rousseau, but some of his suggested comparisons—e.g., of Lipset with Aristotle or of modern game theory with Hobbes' method—are most illuminating.—W. L. M. (shrink)

The "anti-Judaist" attitudes of Kant, Hegel and Toynbee are studied. Kant was probably influenced by Jewish reformers of his time. Hegel's attitude, which developed over years, is far more interesting and complex than Toynbee's. But all three must be charged with having been somewhat unscholarly in endowing such attitudes with a systematic significance, and with having tried to force concrete historical facts to fit preconceived schemata.--W. L. M.

Recalcitrant disputes among health care providers and patients or their families may signal deep cultural differences about what interventions are needed or about clinicians’s professional duties. These issues arose in relation to a mother’s request for hymenoplasty or revirgination for her minor daughter to enable an overseas, forced marriage and protect her from an honor killing. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology committee recommends against members performing a hymenoplasty or other female genital cosmetic surgeries due to a lack of (...) data concerning their safety and efficacy. A key issue in such cases is how to determine what is in the minor’s best interest and the scope of health care moral or professional’s duties. The Best Interests Standard can serve as a powerful moral tool for resolving cross-cultural disputes and identifying needed policy. (shrink)

Bioethics is best viewed as both a second-order discipline and also part of public discourse. Since their goals differ, some bioethical activities are more usefully viewed as advancing public discourse than academic disciplines. For example, the “Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights” sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization seeks to promote ethical guidance on bioethical issues. From the vantage of philosophical ethics, it fails to rank or specify its stated principles, justify controversial principles, clarify key (...) terms, or say what is meant by calling potentially conflicting norms “foundational.” From the vantage of improving the public discourse about bioethical problems and seeking ethical solutions in the public arena, however, this document may have an important role. The goals and relations between bioethics as a second-order discipline and public discourse are explored. (shrink)

Questions concerning the moral status of embryos, the validity of new technologies for human reproduction, ownership of one's own genes, gene patenting, privacy and discrimination have all been raised and debated. Although debate is healthy, it is only useful if all participants understand the fundamental biological principles underlying human life, human genes and human parenthood. Many people believe that science can play no role in determining when human life begins. I argue that this false assumption is based on a failure (...) to separate different contradictory meanings of the term 'human life'. In actuality, science has provided great insight into when and how human life and human beings come into existence. I argue as well that, contrary to our intuitive feelings, there is no physical connection between any father and his son; shared genes represent shared information and nothing more. Nevertheless, the feeling of a physical connection between parent and child is very real and instinctive, no matter how false it may be. These new understandings have profound ramifications for the way we treat issues surrounding human reproduction, including both abortion and assisted reproductive technologies. (shrink)

Pucelle tries to show how the idea of personal liberty is central to Green's ethics. Green's criticisms of other philosophers and the historical context of his philosophy are especially well handled. --W. L. M.

May discovered Diderot's copiously annotated copy of this anti-materialist tract by Hemsterhuis, known to many contemporaries as "the Dutch Plato"; this edition contains May's interesting introduction, a facsimile of the original text, and a transcription of all of Diderot's comments. The comments bear on infelicities of style as well as of thought, though the latter preponderate: the Lettre is not, alas, the product of a first-rate philosophical intellect. Diderot's strong objections to Hemsterhuis' crude theory of a moral organ can be (...) taken as complementing his Refutation of Helvetius, which dates from the same period.—W. L. M. (shrink)

There is a popular hypothesis that performance on implicit and explicit memory tasks reflects 2 distinct memory systems. Explicit memory is said to store those experiences that can be consciously recollected, and implicit memory is said to store experiences and affect subsequent behavior but to be unavailable to conscious awareness. Although this division based on awareness is a useful taxonomy for memory tasks, the authors review the evidence that the unconscious character of implicit memory does not necessitate that it be (...) treated as a separate system of human memory. They also argue that some implicit and explicit memory tasks share the same memory representations and that the important distinction is whether the task (implicit or explicit) requires the formation of a new association. The authors review and critique dissociations from the behavioral, amnesia, and neuroimaging literatures that have been advanced in support of separate explicit and implicit memory systems by highlighting contradictory evidence and by illustrating how the data can be accounted for using a simple computational memory model that assumes the same memory representation for those disparate tasks. (shrink)

Purpose. Based on the study of philosophical anthropological concepts, to highlight the project of personality in different historical periods, to reveal the meaning of humanistic issues in the postmodern epoch, to identify the essential features of the image of human of the second half of the XX the beginning of the XXI century. Theoretical basis. The methodological basis of the article is the principles of historicism, integrity, objectivity regarding the mastery of the issue of person’s image in postmodernism. The research (...) applied comparative-historical, culturological, analytical, axiological approaches to reveal the problem of individuality in the second half of the XX the beginning of the XXI century. The theoretical basis of the article consists of scientific works in the field of philosophical anthropology, history, cultural studies, and aesthetics. Originality. The author revealed the peculiarities of transformation of the personality model from antiquity to postmodernism, specified the image of man of the second half of the XX the beginning of the XXI century. Conclusions. The analysis of anthropological ideas of Western philosophy of different ages shows the variety of views about understanding the nature of the person, its complexity and ambiguity. In the epoch of postmodernism humanistic issues are of particular relevance, which is connected with social and political uncertainty, domination of mass consciousness, loss of national and cultural identity. The image of a person of this period is deprived of a solid foundation, it is blurred and relative. The destruction of faith in the absolute in the context of the second half of the twentieth century contributed to the formation of confidence in the interdependence of all things, raised the problem of the personality image to a new ontological level. Orientation in the achievements of European civilization, perception of its anthropological experience, intercultural dialogue contribute to the productive use of the achievements of mankind in order to understand the modern person and to form its adequate image. In its essence, postmodernism does not set the goal to realize a retrospection of subject type. However, separating from the cultural memory the excerpts of ideas about a person, by certain styles and directions, it builds on their formations its own eclectic image of the individual. (shrink)

Admitting to some departure from the Aristotelian classification, Jolivet divides human activities into three sorts: labor, play, and contemplation. He warns against the naturalizing effect of the Marxist notion of labor, defends play as the essentially superfluous, and argues for including art in his third category. A proper conception of human wisdom involves all three activities, although the speculative remains the highest, and the love of God is wisdom's fullest perfection. Based on a lecture series, the book is a clear, (...) rather non-technical, and contemporary re-working of some venerable ideas.--W. L. M. (shrink)

The status of the advanced potential solution in electromagnetic theory is analyzed and assessed. It is shown that the advanced potential solution does not violate a causality argument and that its existence in electromagnetic theory is on an exactly equal footing with the retarded potential solution. The general potential solution is thus completely symmetric. It is further shown that there is no “one-sidedness” in nature; oscillating electrons and orbiting electrons are just as good at absorbing energy as they are at (...) radiating it. These conclusions are sufficient to invalidate a number of theoretical models. (shrink)

Phillips & Silverstein's ambitious link between receptor abnormalities and the symptoms of schizophrenia involves a certain amount of fuzziness: No detailed mechanism is suggested through which the proposed abnormality would lead to psychological traits. We propose that detailed simulation of brain regions, using model neural networks, can aid in understanding the relation between biological abnormality and psychological dysfunction in schizophrenia.

What should be the content of a package of health care services that we would want to guarantee to all Americans? This question cannot be answered adequately apart from also addressing the issue of fair health care rationing. Consequently, as I argue in this essay, appeal to the language of "basic," "essential," "adequate," "minimally decent," or "medically necessary" for purposes of answering our question is unhelpful. All these notions are too vague to be useful. Cost matters. Effectiveness matters. The clinical (...) circumstances of a patient matters. But what we must ultimately determine is what we mutually agree are the just claims to needed health care of each American in a relatively complex range of clinical circumstances. Answering this question will require a public moral conversation, a fair process of rational democratic deliberation aimed at defining both just claims to needed health care and just limits. (shrink)

This edition of Giraldus Odonis' Logica for the first time gives access to an important and original treatise, which has unduly been neglected since the author's death. It is also important in that it gives evidence of interesting achievements in the field of logic outside the anti-metaphysical circle surrounding Ockham.

The state is analysed successively in terms of three fundamental aspects: "might," "power," and "authority." The first consists of interpretations of Thrasymachus, modern doctrines of Machtstaat, class struggle, and power elites. The perspective of "power" is the domain of legal theory, whereas that of "authority" is proper to ethics. d'Entrèves is concerned about the distortion of the reality of the state that would result from paying exclusive attention to only one or two of the three conceptions. Very well structured, the (...) book combines clear analysis and argument with support from the history of political thought.--W. L. M. (shrink)

In this short and deliberately inconclusive book, the author resorts to extensive use of dialogue to consider some of the familiar dilemmas of revolutionary action. The nature of the intended readership is not very clearly defined, but the elementary footnotes that are included at the beginnings of each of the middle chapters, in which brief imaginary conversations with philosophers are recorded, suggest that Kainz's professional colleagues are not the primary target group.

With the exception of Anthony Manser’s recent treatise on Bradley’s logic, nothing noteworthy has been written on the British idealist since the studies of Wollheim and Vander Veer. This dearth of scholarship on one of the most powerful critics of empiricism and naturalism is surprising especially today when we witness a strong revival of interest in metaphysics and phenomenology. Hence Dario Sacchi’s monograph on Bradley’s Unity and Relation is particularly welcome. In addition, this study promises some interesting insights into how (...) an Italian scholar presumably familiar with various forms of continental idealism treats the British metaphysician. Unfortunately, students of Bradley’s thought will be disappointed. (shrink)

Of Peter Abelard's logical writings, the fruit of thirty-five years of his activity as a teacher and dialectician, there have been to date only four editions worthy of note: that of Cousin in 1836, of Geyer in 1919 and 1936, of Dal Pra in 1954, and lastly the critical reconstruction of Abelard's literal glosses by L. M. Rijk in 1956. With this handsome second edition of minor but relevant glosses of Abelard, Dal Pra aims to fill the gap still existing (...) in the previous collections. His volume includes Abelard's writings found in the Paris BN manuscripts n. 13.368 and 7493. Chronologically the former belongs to the period when Abelard was given the chair of dialectic at the University of Paris in 1114 and the latter to Abelard's more mature period when he began original speculations on the logical status of propositions in 1121. Dal Pra argues at great length that the glosses in the first manuscript are to be read as the best and only introduction to Abelard's own work on dialectic. Hence he suggests against Rijk the title Introductiones Dialecticae rather than Introductiones Parvulorum. He assembles them according to what he believes was Abelard's intellectual development at the time. They are: the glosses to Porphyrius, to Aristotle's Categories, to the De Interpretatione, and to Boethius' De Devisione. [[sic]] The second section of the volume contains the glosses Super Topica where Abelard discusses among other subjects his first position on the problem of universals. Against Geyer who had consigned these works to the literal glosses of Abelard, Dal Pra offers strong evidence for locating them in the bulk of Abelard's De Ingredientibus precisely between the De Interpretatione and the De Syllogismo Hypothetico. The modernity of Abelard's logical theory is well known among contemporary logicians. Dal Pra's finely planned and handsomely executed edition makes an excellent contribution to the history of medieval logic as well as to contemporary logical theories on names and propositions.--L. M. P. (shrink)

This paper focuses on natural dualities for varieties of bilattice-based algebras. Such varieties have been widely studied as semantic models in situations where information is incomplete or inconsistent. The most popular tool for studying bilattices-based algebras is product representation. The authors recently set up a widely applicable algebraic framework which enabled product representations over a base variety to be derived in a uniform and categorical manner. By combining this methodology with that of natural duality theory, we demonstrate how to build (...) a natural duality for any bilattice-based variety which has a suitable product representation over a dualisable base variety. This procedure allows us systematically to present economical natural dualities for many bilattice-based varieties, for most of which no dual representation has previously been given. Among our results we highlight that for bilattices with a generalised conflation operation. Here both the associated product representation and the duality are new. Finally we outline analogous procedures for pre-bilattice-based algebras. (shrink)

In this paper we focus on the modularity of visual functions in the human visual cortex, that is, the specific problems that the visual system must solve in order to achieve recognition of objects and visual space. The computational theory of early visual functions is briefly reviewed and is then used as a basis for suggesting computational constraints on the higher-level visual computations. The remainder of the paper presents neurological evidence for the existence of two visual systems in man, one (...) specialized for spatial vision and the other for object vision. We show further clinical evidence for the computational hypothesis that these two systems consist of several visual modules, some of which can be isolated on the basis of specific visual deficts which occur after lesions to selected areas in the visually responsive brain. We will provide examples of visual modules which solve information processing tasks that are mediated by specific anatomic areas. We will show that the clinical data from behavioral studies of monkeys (Ungerleider and Mishkin 1984) supports the distinction between two visual systems in monkeys, the 'what' system, involved in object vision, and the 'where' system, involved in spatial vision. (shrink)

In this aricle, I argue that Descartes can be seen as a occupying a distinct middle ground between ancient music theory, which was being revived in the Renaissance, and eighteenth-century aestheticians. Descartes’ approach to music had its roots in humanist thought but, even from the start, it wasn’t simply another humanist theory of music. The views Descartes begins to develop in his early years, in the Compendium musicae (1618), is continuous with the views he articulates near the end of his (...) life in the Passions of the Soul (1649). And the position on the effects of music is an interesting and important one, bridging humanist thought with the new philosophy. Unlike the humanists, Descartes will be unwilling to identify particular musical proportions as intrinsically connected with pleasure or other affects, but he will nevertheless develop an objective account of aesthetic value. (shrink)

A critical study of the "shudder before God", the "shudder before death", and the "shudder before the other person", favoring Sartre. The author's position is largely derived from the nature-mysticism of D. H. Lawrence. His own unscrutinized assumptions are so thoroughly "aesthetic" that the religious passion of Kierkegaard, the ontological passion of Heidegger, and the ethical passion of Sartre appear in his book somewhat distorted. --L. M.

The professed aim is to make a Thomistic theory of knowledge relevant to contemporary analytic movements. Stress is laid on the dynamism of intellection, and on supraphysical esse as the only constituent of divine knowledge and as the essential feature of human knowledge. Miller also argues that knowledge through affective connaturality must be combined with intellection. Little concession is made to those not steeped in scholastic terminology. --W. L. M.

On 31 December 1957 the deputy director of the Institute of Philosophy of the USSR Academy of Science, A. F. Okulov, informed me that I had been hired as a junior research fellow. In the following year, Voprosy filosofii published my first article, which was followed by other articles. Since then I have left the Institute several times and have published a lot in other journals and publishing houses, but for me the Institute and Voprosy remain forever my philosophical Home, (...) an axis around which my intricate fate took shape. Hence, for me the journal's fiftieth anniversary is not simply one more anniversary, however solemn and honored it may be, but an emotional and joyful event in my own life, an existential frontier. (shrink)

A concise set of speculations regarding principal divine attributes. Part I outlines these themes as treated by fourteen historical philosophers. Part II is a systematic reconsideration and reordering of such notions as infinity, form, and self-sufficiency, which Sontag considers central. Freedom of will, hence some degree of contingency, he concludes, must be allowed in a modern concept of God, thereby altering notions of God's unity, power, motion, etc. --W. L. M.

A detailed study of Heidegger's views on the dialogue between poet and thinker. Allemann's discussion of Heidegger's neologistic experiments in philology point up the immense problem of translating the German's writing. Fédier's translation is an example of precision and self-effacement, though the resulting text suffers from an understandable heaviness.--W. L. M.

Background: The search for genetic variants between racial/ethnic groups to explain differential disease susceptibility and drug response has provoked sharp criticisms, challenging the appropriateness of using race/ethnicity as a variable in genetics research, because such categories are social constructs and not biological classifications.Objectives: To gain insight into how a group of genetic scientists conceptualise and use racial/ethnic variables in their work and their strategies for managing the ethical issues and consequences of this practice.Methods: In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with a (...) purposive sample of 30 genetic researchers who use racial/ethnic variables in their research. Standard qualitative methods of content analysis were used.Results: Most of the genetic researchers viewed racial/ethnic variables as arbitrary and very poorly defined, and in turn as scientifically inadequate. However, most defended their use, describing them as useful proxy variables on a road to “imminent medical progress”. None had developed overt strategies for addressing these inadequacies, with many instead asserting that science will inevitably correct itself and saying that meanwhile researchers should “be careful” in the language chosen for reporting findings.Conclusions: While the legitimacy and consequences of using racial/ethnic variables in genetics research has been widely criticised, ethical oversight is left to genetic researchers themselves. Given the general vagueness and imprecision we found amongst these researchers regarding their use of these variables, they do not seem well equipped for such an undertaking. It would seem imperative that research ethicist move forward to develop specific policies and practices to assure the scientific integrity of genetic research on biological differences between population groups. (shrink)

This is a nonsense book. It summarizes essential tenets of Pölätüöism, which is the definitive reconciliation of modern science and Roman Catholicism, and chronicles the long and eventful life of its founder. Although neither the cleverness nor the taste maintains a uniform excellence, there is much delightful satire on recent philosophy and religion. Pölätüö's interview with Russell, and his paper "On the Reality of the Soul and on the Reality of Onion," are two of the highlights.--W. L. M.

This is a collection of seventeen articles, beginning with the 1945 essay, "De la Justice." Repeatedly emphasized are Perelman's opposition to "the absolutist ideal" and his insistence on the importance of linguistic considerations in reasoning. The theme of the final article, "what a reflection on law can contribute to the philosopher" epitomizes the spirit of the volume as a whole. The better part of this collection, it should be noted, has been published in English under the title, The Idea of (...) Justice and the Problem of Argument.—W. L. M. (shrink)

C. I. Lewis and Hans Reichenbach are the contemporaries selected for special study to support the thesis that a carefully redrawn Kantianism is still viable in logic and philosophy of science. The synthetic a priori is reinterpreted as the assumption that conceptual systems can be used to organize the data of sensuous awareness. The doctrine of the Ding-an-sich is defended.--W. L. M.

This is an introductory reader containing a generous, carefully edited selection from most of the philosophically important works of Marx, Engels, and, to a lesser extent, Lenin. There are seven somewhat arbitrarily divided sections, each preceded by a brief introduction, and two appendices. Selections from the 1844 Manuscripts and other early writings have been relegated to the first appendix, while the second contains excerpts from Lenin's Philosophical Notebooks. The philosophy is emphasized at the expense of the economic theory.--W. L. M.

The so-called "early Marx" comes in for sympathetic treatment from an Australian philosopher. Kamenka argues that Marx never lost his ethical vision of human dignity in future society, though "alienation" and related concepts are no longer relied upon in Das Kapital. Midway through the study an ethical position, based on the view that goods produce harmonious systems whereas evils cannot, is outlined and defended. Kamenka maintains that his "positive," non-normative ethic can be made compatible with a Marx purged of his (...) eschatology and of some Hegelian trappings. The concluding stigmatization of Soviet Marxist ethics as being "normative" is perhaps the weakest part of an uneven work. --W. L. M. (shrink)

The starting point of my analysis is the complexity of contemporary society. Complexity here refers more in particular to social complexity: the type of complexity that emerges from the relationships between human beings and the myriad of options and possibilities that exist in our society. A systems theoretical account of complexity elicits that this 'social abundance' necessitates selections. One way of enabling selections, and hence the reduction of complexity, is the formulation of norms. The central thesis of this account follows (...) from this observation: social complexity is a source of normativity, in the sense that social complexity generates – among others – normativity. Dealing with social complexity requires selections and a considerable range of selections, at their turn, require norms. From a somewhat different angle, we could say that social complexity entails both freedom of choice and force of choice. It is this combination of freedom and force that confronts our society with a profound problem. It translates, so to speak, social complexity into uncertainty: how to deal with all these options and possibilities, how to shape our interactions? An important aspect of the problem is the abundance of colliding heteronymous norms and a simultaneous lack of ethical norms that do not compromise our individual autonomy. The analysis of this ethical state of affairs draws upon the work of Zygmunt Bauman. The paper tentatively seeks to outline the social theoretical requirements of an ethic that takes issue with the uncertainty of choice. (shrink)