We extend the framework of Inductive Logic to Second Order languages and introduce Wilmers' Principle, a rational principle for probability functions on Second Order languages. We derive a representation theorem for functions satisfying this principle and investigate its relationship to the first order principles of Regularity and Super Regularity.

The music ensemble has often been used as an analogy of organisation processes in general. Many versions of this analogy presuppose a specific organisation structure in the ensemble with clearly defined leader-follower relationships from which we can learn important points about successful leadership. This paper wishes to draw attention to the wide variety of organisation processes that may occur in a music ensemble, some of which are not dependent on leadership. Through the outlines of a logical analysis of a coordination (...) problem, it is argued that the music performance is in fact exemplary of a situation in which individual dedication to a goal promotes coordination in the entire group. (shrink)

AimsThis study evaluates a protocol for early, routine ethics consultation for patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation to support decision-making in the context of clinical uncertainty with the aim of mitigating ethical conflict and moral distress.MethodsWe conducted a single-site qualitative analysis of EC documentation for all patients receiving ECMO support from 15 August 2018 to 15 May 2019. Detailed analysis of 20 ethically complex cases with protracted ethics involvement identifies four key ethical domains: limits of prognostication, bridge to nowhere, burden of (...) treatment and system-level concerns. There are three subthemes: relevant contextual factors, the role of EC and observed outcomes. Content analysis of transcripts from interviews with 20 members of the multidisciplinary ECMO team yields supplemental data on providers’ perceptions of the impact of the early intervention protocol.ResultsLimited outcome data for ECMO, unclear indications for withdrawal, adverse effects of treatment and an obligation to attend to programme metrics present significant ethical challenges in the care of this patient population. Upstream EC mitigates ethical conflict by setting clear expectations about ECMO as a time limited trial, promoting consistent messaging among multiple services and supporting surrogate decision-makers. When ECMO becomes a ‘bridge to nowhere’, EC facilitates decision-making that respects patient values yet successfully sets limits on non-beneficial use of this novel therapy.ConclusionData from this study support the conclusion that ECMO poses unique ethical challenges that necessitate a standardised protocol for early, routine EC—at least while this medical technology is in its nascent stages. (shrink)

I argue on the basis of extensive empirical research that perception and emotion are more deeply entangled than we might have thought. This evidence strongly suggests that we should expand our conception of perception to include emotional elements, and our conception of emotion to include perceptual ones. This expansion poses a challenge to our current taxonomic practices. In the face of this challenge, I advocate principled pluralism about psychological kinds. This view holds that, depending on our explanatory purposes, psychological processes (...) can be legitimately classified in more than one way. (shrink)

Ketelaar and Ellis have provided a remarkably clear and succinct statement of Lakatosian philosophy of science and have also argued compellingly that the neo-Darwinian theory of evolution fills the Lakatosian criteria of progressivity. We find ourselves in agreement with much of what Ketelaar and Ellis say about Lakatosian philosophy of science, but have some questions about (1) the place of evolutionary psychology in a Lakatosian framework, and (2) the extent to which evolutionary psychology truly predicts new findings.

As synthetic biology develops into a promising science and engineering field, we need to have clear ideas and priorities regarding its safety, security, ethical and public dialogue implications. Based on an extensive literature search, interviews with scientists, social scientists, a 4 week long public e-forum, and consultation with several stakeholders from science, industry and civil society organisations, we compiled a list of priority topics regarding societal issues of synthetic biology for the years ahead. The points presented here are intended to (...) encourage all stakeholders to engage in the prioritisation of these issues and to participate in a continuous dialogue, with the ultimate goal of providing a basis for a multi-stakeholder governance in synthetic biology. Here we show possible ways to solve the challenges to synthetic biology in the field of safety, security, ethics and the science-public interface. (shrink)

Intrusive agricultural experimentspublished in New Zealand in the last five yearsare reviewed in terms of the degree of animalsuffering involved, and the necessity for thissuffering in relation to research findings.When measured against animal welfare criteriaof the Ministry of Agriculture, thirty-sixstudies inflicted ``severe'' or ``very severe''suffering. Many of these experiments hadquestionable short-term applications, had anapplication restricted to agriculturalproduction or economic growth, or could havebeen modified to prevent or reduce suffering.

What follows is a brief description of the origin and development, results, and future plans of the Gadfly Business Ethics Project at Bentley College.Viewing himself as selected by the god to be a gadfly to sting the great and noble but sluggish horse, the city of Athens, Socrates says.

In “Imposing Risks,” Judith Thomson gives a case in which, by turning on her stove, she accidentally causes her neighbor’s death. She claims that both the following are true: (1) she ought not to have caused her neighbor’s death; (2) it was permissible for her to turn her stove on. In this paper it is argued that it cannot be that both (1) and (2) are true, that (2) is true, and that therefore (1) is false. How this is so (...) is explained, and the implications of this position regarding the relation between rights and duties is explored. (shrink)

In this paper we will show that Hempel's covering law model can't deal very well with explanations that are based on incomplete knowledge. In particular the symmetry thesis, which is an important aspect of the covering law model, turns out to be problematic for these explanations. We will discuss an example of an electric circuit, which clearly indicates that the symmetry of explanation and prediction does not always hold. It will be argued that an alternative logic for causal explanation is (...) needed. And we will investigate to what extent non-monotonic epistemic logic can provide such an alternative logical framework. Finally we will show that our non-monotonic logical analysis of explanation is not only suitable for simple cases such as the electric circuit, but that it also sheds new light on more controversial causal explanations such as Milton Friedman's explanation of the business cycle. (shrink)

"Critical Approaches to International Relations: Philosophical Foundations and Current Debates explores the achievements of a wide variety of critical approaches in International Relations theory, discusses the barrage of criticism and theoretical openings they levied against the IR orthodoxy and suggests future potential of critical IR scholarship to improve not only our explanatory possibilities, but also our ethical and practical horizons. In line with this broad objective, the book examines a number of influential approaches within critical IR scholarship, including core strands (...) of critical IR theory such as Marxism, post-structuralism, Feminism, post-colonialism and green politics as well as some sub-school approaches such as Marxist theories of imperialism, dependency perspective, uneven and combine development and non-western IR theory. Contributors are: M. Kürşad Özekin, Engin Sune, Çağdaş Özeniş, Gözde Turan, Mine Nur Küçük, Neslihan Dikmen Alsancak, Zeynep Arıöz, Pınar Akgül, and Altuğ Günar"--. (shrink)

Task unrelated thought (TUT) refers to thought directed away from the current situation, for example a daydream. Three experiments were conducted on healthy participants, with two broad aims. First, to contrast distributed and encapsulated views of cognition by comparing the encoding of categorical and random lists of words (Experiments One and Two). Second, to examine the consequences of experiencing TUT during study on the subsequent retrieval of information (Experiments One, Two, and Three). Experiments One and Two demonstrated lower levels of (...) TUT and higher levels of word-fragment completion whilst encoding categorical relative to random stimuli, supporting the role of a distributed resource in the maintenance of TUT. In addition the results of all three experiments suggested that experiencing TUT during study had a measurable effect on subsequent retrieval. TUT was associated with increased frequency of false alarms at retrieval (Experiment One). In the subsequent experiments TUT was associated with no advantage to retrieval based on recollection, by manipulating instructions at encoding (Experiment Two), and/or at retrieval (Experiment Three). The implications of the results of all three experiments are discussed in terms of recent accounts of memory retrieval and conscious awareness. (shrink)

Background In August 2017, Chile lifted its complete ban on abortion by permitting abortion in three limited circumstances: 1) to save a woman’s life, 2) lethal fetal anomaly, and 3) rape. The new law allows regulated use of conscientious objection in abortion care, including allowing institutions to register as objectors. This study assesses medical and midwifery students’ support for CO, following legal reform. Methods From October 2017 to May 2018, we surveyed medical and midwifery students from seven universities located in (...) Santiago, Chile. Universities included 4 secular and 3 private religiously-affiliated universities; all offering medical degrees with a specialization in obstetrics and gynecology and five offering midwifery degrees. We used generalized estimating equations to identify characteristics associated with student support for CO, intentions to use CO to refuse to care for someone seeking abortion, and support for CO at the institutional level. Results 333 of the 413 eligible students who opened the survey, completed the questions on conscientious objection; 26% were seeking medical degrees with an ob-gyn specialty, 25% were seeking midwifery degrees, and 49% were seeking medical degrees and had not yet decided their specialty. While nearly all endorse requirements for conscientious objecting clinicians to inform and refer abortion-seeking patients, a minority would personally use conscientious objection to avoid caring for a patient seeking abortion. About half of religious-university students and one-fifth of secular-university students support objections at the institutional level. Conclusions Most students support the regulated use of CO which preserves patients’ access to abortion care. Religious-university student views on the use of conscientious objection in abortion care are discordant with those of their institutions which currently support institutional-level objections. (shrink)

Resumo: No texto A necessidade metafísica do homem, Schopenhauer elabora considerações fundamentais sobre sua metafísica imanente e, na ânsia de explicar por que o homem filosofa, alia-se a uma longa tradição de pensadores que viram na admiração o impulso metafísico do homem. Ele reinterpreta as duas mais famosas sentenças sobre o tema consoante o tom de sua filosofia. A origem da filosofia torna-se o resultado de fatores como a separação entre vontade e intelecto e a constatação de que o mundo, (...) tal como agora é, possui caráter contingente e poderia deixar de ser. A isso se unem a contemplação dos males do mundo e a consciência da finitude humana. No fim, desse conjunto emergem os sistemas metafísicos e religiosos. Este artigo comenta detidamente essas ideias, mostra sua relação com os filósofos antigos através de cinco tópoi e, ao fim, tenta localizar a originalidade da concepção schopenhaueriana, a qual se baseia na reinterpretação do primeiro tópos.: In the text entitled On man’s need of metaphysics, Schopenhauer makes important remarks on his immanent metaphysics and, trying to explain why men philosophize, joins a long tradition of thinkers who see in admiration man’s real metaphysical impulse. He reinterprets then the two most famous statements on this subject in accordance with the tone of his philosophy. The origin of philosophy becomes the result of phenomena such as the separation between will and intellect and the perception that this world, which currently is, could just as well not be. The contemplation of the world’s misfortunes and the consciousness of human finitude is also dealt with. Metaphysical and religious systems emerge from these factors. This paper discusses in detail these ideas and analyzes their relationship with the ancient philosophers and the five tópoi. It also seeks to discover the originality of Schopenhauer’s conception, which is based on the reinterpretation of the first topos. (shrink)

Protestantism came to Ukraine on a foreign, Polish-German basis and, to some extent, because of this, the Reformation currents failed to kidnap the Orthodox Church in Ukraine. Moreover, they even brought to it the mediating benefit of arousing interest in dogmatic disputes, acquainted with new forms and methods of religious struggle in upholding their religious doctrine.

The most dynamic segment of the Protestant enclave of the twentieth century. consider the Pentecostal movement. His limits and variability have greatly corrected the global religious atlas. By some estimates, the number of followers of various Pentecostal communities reached the limit of millenia from 400 to 600 million followers75. Despite the doubts that may arise in the predictions of D. Barrett and others, it is difficult to deny that the success of Pentecostal / charismatic missionary activity in the second half (...) of the twentieth century was spectacular. (shrink)

It sometimes seems to me that I have a certain gift of foresight as to whether the promise promised by our President will come true or not. For example, if the President says that he will move to a new apartment, I believe his words. If he says that he will take the skyscraper to the base in the Mariinsky Park to the base, I already know ahead of time: no, it will not. On the contrary, after some hype, this (...) house will still be completed and settled, and among the new residents there will be many employees of the Presidential Secretariat. If the guarantor says that no more corrupt officials will be able to hide from law enforcement agencies, I question these words. But the fact that in schools, at the request of the President from the new school year, will introduce an item called "Ethics of Faith", I believe unconditionally. (shrink)