Among Plato's works, the Statesman is usually seen as transitional between the Republic and the Laws. This book argues that the dialogue deserves a special place of its own. Whereas Plato is usually thought of as defending unchanging knowledge, Dr Lane demonstrates how, by placing change at the heart of political affairs, Plato reconceives the link between knowledge and authority. The statesman is shown to master the timing of affairs of state, and to use this expertise in managing the conflict (...) of opposed civic factions. To this political argument corresponds a methodological approach which is seen to rely not only on the familiar method of 'division', but equally on the unfamiliar centrality of the use of 'example'. The demonstration that method and politics are interrelated transforms our understanding of the Statesman and its fellow dialogues. (shrink)

One group of commentators takes book 10 as determinative and thus tortures the text in book 1 to say the same thing. This position is described as intellectualist or exclusivist and produces certain puzzles in reading Aristotle’s ethical theory. These puzzles are not benign since the privileged position given wisdom in book 10 seems at odds with the discussion of virtue in book 1 and its development in the Nicomachean Ethics as a whole. Indeed, Aristotle appears inconsistent or even contradictory, (...) recommending in these two brief chapters of book 10 a life devoted to contemplation that only grudgingly allows for the necessity of the practical life discussed in such detail in the rest of his ethical works. If this is the case, under what conditions are we expected to forgo contemplation to engage in the various activities of the moral virtues? Since no conditions are spelled out in the text, the range of speculation is confused and ways around the apparent inconsistencies complex. (shrink)

The present study tested the hypothesis that centrality of religiosity as defined as the position of an individual’s religious construct system in personality moderates the relationship between the experience of forgiveness by God and forgivingness for others. Participants completed measures of forgiveness by God, forgivingness, and centrality of religiosity. The moderating hypothesis was tested by treating centrality of religiosity both as a continuous variable and as a categorical variable with reference to a typological distinction. Results indicate that centrality of religiosity (...) moderates the positive relationship between forgiveness by God and forgivingness for others, implying that this relation only occurs if the religious construct system is in a central position in personality, but not if it is in a subordinate position. These results underline the importance of considering centrality of religiosity as an individual difference variable. (shrink)

A policy of “preventive detention” has recently been debated in the British Parliament. Alarmed by the high-profile criminal activities of people suspected of having dangerous severe personality disorder , the government have made clear their intention to “indeterminately but reviewably detain” people with DSPD, after diagnosis by forensic psychiatrists, even if the individuals are yet to commit an offence. Such a policy may improve the safety of the public, but has obvious implications for civil liberties. This essay criticises the morality (...) of the government's intention and rejects the notion that the medical profession could ethically collude with such a policy. (shrink)

BackgroundAccurate reporting on sex and gender in health research is integral to ensuring that health interventions are safe and effective. In Canada and internationally, governments, research organizations, journal editors, and health agencies have called for more inclusive research, provision of sex-disaggregated data, and the integration of sex and gender analysis throughout the research process. Sex and gender analysis is generally defined as an approach for considering how and why different subpopulations (e.g., of diverse genders, ages, and social locations) may experience (...) health conditions and interventions in different or similar ways.The objective of this study was to assess the extent and nature of reporting about sex and/or gender, including whether sex and gender analysis (SGA) was carried out in a sample of Canadian randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with human participants.MethodsWe searched MEDLINE from 01 January 2013 to 23 July 2014 using a validated filter for identification of RCTs, combined with terms related to Canada. Two reviewers screened the search results to identify the first 100 RCTs that were either identified in the trial publication as funded by a Canadian organization or which had a first or last author based in Canada. Data were independently extracted by two people from 10% of the RCTs during an initial training period; once agreement was reached on this sample, the remainder of the data extraction was completed by one person and verified by a second.ResultsThe search yielded 1433 records. We screened 256 records to identify 100 RCTs which met our eligibility criteria. The median sample size of the RCTs was 107 participants (range 12–6085). While 98% of studies described the demographic composition of their participants by sex, only 6% conducted a subgroup analysis across sex and 4% reported sex-disaggregated data. No article defined “sex” and/or “gender.” No publication carried out a comprehensive sex and gender analysis.ConclusionsFindings highlight poor uptake of sex and gender considerations in the Canadian RCT context and underscore the need for better articulated guidance on sex and gender analysis to improve reporting of evidence, inform policy development, and guide future research. (shrink)

Buildings are constructed for accommodating living and industrial needs. Floor cleaning robots have been developed to cater to the demand of these buildings. Area coverage and coverage time are crucial performance factors of a floor cleaning robot. Reconfigurable tiling robots have been introduced over fixed shape robots to improve area coverage in floor cleaning applications compared to robots with fixed morphologies. However, area coverage and coverage time of a tiling robot compromised one another. This study proposes a novel concept that (...) considers the ability of a tiling robot to configure both its morphology and size according to the environment. This concept is inspired by the pleomorphism that could be seen in bacteria. In this regard, P-hTetro, a pleomorphic tiling robot that can reconfigure its morphology and size, is considered. A novel coverage strategy for realizing the size reconfiguration is also proposed. According to this strategy, the robot covers obstacle-free areas with its maximum size, while an obstacle cluster is covered after shrinking to an optimum size. The optimum size for reconfiguration is determined by the genetic algorithm based on the arrangement of the environment. The performance and behavior of the proposed P-hTetro have been compared against that of an existing tiling robot which has a fixed size. According to the statistical outcomes, a tiling robot with the ability to reconfigure its size can significantly improve the performance in the aspects of area coverage and coverage time compared to a tiling robot with no ability to reconfigure its size. (shrink)

t. 1. A-D -- t. 2. E-M -- t. 3. N-S -- t.4. T-I︠A︡.

Le present volume analyse, non plus en amont la definition kantienne de la science, du savoir, de la scientificite en general, mais cette fois en aval la place des divers savoirs dont Kant a pu traiter. Par une serie d'etudes consacrees a diverses sciences en contexte kantien, le present volume etudie comment Kant assigne a chaque science une unite ideale, une region ontique (un domaine d'objets), une methode, voire une epistemologie, ainsi qu'un mode historique de constitution et de progression propres, (...) avec le constant souci (issu du criticisme) de distinguer les sciences, de ne jamais confondre leurs limites. Ce volume revele ainsi un Kant, non pas seulement theoricien de la science, mais theoricien, voire praticien des sciences en leur pluralite. Kant y apparait comme etant lui-meme un Naturforscher, physicien, scientifique, savant dans les sciences de la nature au sens le plus large. Ce volume souligne l'apport de Kant a un grand nombre de sciences de son temps (mathematique, physique, chimie, biologienaissante, geographie physique, cosmologie, astronomie, mais aussi sciences qualifiees aujourd'hui de sciences de l'esprit ou de l'homme, comme anthropologie ou psychologie), comme en attestent les nombreux opuscules scientifiques que Kant consacre, de 1754 a 1794, a divers sujets de science physique ou d'histoire naturelle (seismes, volcans, marees, climats, vents, influence de la Lune sur la Terre, modification de la vitesse de rotation axiale de la Terre, meteores, cometes, etc.). (shrink)

ch.1. Dialekh'ka esteticheskikh i︠a︡vleniĭ.--ch.2. Dialektika iskusstva.--ch.3. Dialektika Khudozhestvennogo razvitii︠a︡.

Zhizneopisanie -- Kniga znanii︠a︡ -- Ukazanii︠a︡ i nastavlenii︠a︡ -- Kniga o dushe.

The present stage in the development of the Marxist-Leninist theory of esthetics cannot but be recognized as productive in the sense that there has been a noticeable expansion of the sphere of studies in esthetics, which has come to embrace ever newer problems that heretofore were virtually or entirely ignored by scholarship in our country. Unfortunately, the problem identified in the title of the present article has not been among those treated. The subject of art and personality differences has had (...) no single monograph or even a chapter in those inclusive works of recent years in which attempts have been made at a systematic presentation of the entire content of the esthetic teachings of Marxism . It is only certain aspects of this subject that have attracted the attention of theoreticians, and then they have been examined only in passing, within the context of other problems. (shrink)