_Steal This University_ explores the paradox of academic labor. Universities do not exist to generate a profit from capital investment, yet contemporary universities are increasingly using corporations as their model for internal organization. While the media, politicians, business leaders and the general public all seem to share a remarkable consensus that higher education is indispensable to the future of nations and individuals alike, within academia bitter conflicts brew over the shape of tomorrow's universities. Contributors to the volume range from the (...) star academic to the disgruntled adjunct and each bring a unique perspective to the discussion on the academy's over-reliance on adjuncts and teaching assistants, the debate over tenure and to the valiant efforts to organize unions and win rights. (shrink)

The acidic (leucine‐rich) nuclear phosphoprotein 32 kDa (ANP32) family is composed of small, evolutionarily conserved proteins characterized by an N‐terminal leucine‐rich repeat domain and a C‐terminal low‐complexity acidic region. The mammalian family members (ANP32A, ANP32B, and ANP32E) are ascribed physiologically diverse functions including chromatin modification and remodelling, apoptotic caspase modulation, protein phosphatase inhibition, as well as regulation of intracellular transport. In addition to reviewing the widespread literature on the topic, we present a concept of the ANP32s as having a whip‐like (...) structure. We also present hypotheses that ANP32C and other intronless sequences should not currently be considered bona fide family members, that their disparate necessity in development may be due to compensatory mechanisms, that their contrasting roles in cancer are likely context‐dependent, along with an underlying hypothesis that ANP32s represent an important node of physiological regulation by virtue of their diverse biochemical activities. (shrink)

Artificial Intelligence technology presents a multitude of ethical concerns, many of which are being actively considered by organizations ranging from small groups in civil society to large corporations and governments. However, it also presents ethical concerns which are not being actively considered. This paper presents a broad overview of twelve topics in ethics in AI, including function, transparency, evil use, good use, bias, unemployment, socio-economic inequality, moral automation and human de-skilling, robot consciousness and rights, dependency, social-psychological effects, and spiritual effects. (...) Each of these topics will be given a brief discussion, though each deserves much deeper consideration. (shrink)

This paper presents the novel and seemingly controversial philosophical theology of Patrick Masterson, who dares to connect metaphysics to phenomenology in the continental philosophy of religion. He boldly claims that God is Esse Subsistens, the self-subsistent unlimited act of existence that exists independently of any relation to human consciousness. The paper lays out the dialogue between Masterson’s Thomistic-inspired metaphysics and some of the major trends in the phenomenology of religion. Parallels between his project and Vatican I and Fides et (...) Ratio are added for philosophical theological context. He concludes that without a metaphysical qualification, the current philosophy remains locked in an immanent frame that prevents any credible and realistic presentation of God. (shrink)

In the sonnet Epic by Patrick Kavanagh, the poet wonders if it is justifiable to write about a quarrel in rural Ireland instead of about the Second World War. H.

Geometric underdetermination (i.e., the underdetermination of the geometric properties of space and time) is a live possibility in light of some of our best theories of physics. In response to this, geometric conventionalism offers a selective anti-realism, refusing to assign truth values to variant geometric propositions. Although often regarded as being dead in the water by modern philosophers, in this article we propose to revitalise the programme of geometric conventionalism both on its own terms, and as an attractive response to (...) the above-mentioned live cases of geometric underdetermination. Specifically, we (1) articulate geometrical conventionalism as we conceive it, (2) anticipate various objections to the view, and defend it against those objections, and (3) demonstrate how geometric conventionalism plays out in the context of a wide variety of spacetime theories, both classical and relativistic. (shrink)

The environmental impacts of anthropogenic climate change, from an increase in global temperatures melting polar ice caps to the generation of extreme weather events, appear to be happening even mo...

In The Ethics of Discernment, Patrick H. Byrne presents an approach to ethics that builds upon the cognitional theory and the philosophical method of self-appropriation that Bernard Lonergan introduced in his book Insight, as well as upon Lonergan's later writing on ethics and values. Extending Lonergan's method into the realm of ethics, Byrne argues that we can use self-appropriation to come to objective judgements of value. The Ethics of Discernment is an introspective analysis of that process, in which sustained (...) ethical inquiry and attentiveness to feelings as "intentions of value" leads to a rich conception of the good. Written both for those with an interest in Lonergan's philosophy and for those interested in theories of ethics who have only a limited knowledge of Lonergan's work, Byrne's book is the first detailed exposition of an ethical theory based on Lonergan's philosophical method. (shrink)

Some interpreters claim Kant distinguishes between organisms and living things. I argue that this claim is underdetermined by the textual evidence. Once this is recognized, it becomes a real possibility that Kant’s various remarks about the essential properties of living things generalize to organisms as such. This, in turn, generates a puzzle. Kant repeatedly claims that the capacity for representation is essential to the nature of a living thing. If he does not distinguish between living things and organisms, then how (...) might the capacity for representation be essential to the latter? Drawing on the writings of Kant and his contemporaries, I reconstruct a framework within which representational capacities might conceivably be thought to play this role. On this view, what distinguishes an organism from mechanically explicable products of nature is its capacity for endogenous behavior that is instinctual and representationally mediated. (shrink)

Spatial planning policies are fundamental blocks for the implementation of sustainable development goals. Still, despite the growing adoption of environmental proxies, as it is nature-based solutions, the study of their institutionalization in policy and spatial planning is in the early stages. Simultaneously, the use of discursive and interpretative methods to unfold the social structures related to environmental issues is growing, nonetheless, their application is more common to supranational narratives. This article proposes a conceptual and methodological approach to using critical discourse (...) analysis for studying the institutionalization and conceptualization of nature-related issues in policy and spatial planning at national and local levels. This is done by discussing the ontological relations between the discursive institutionalist theory and critical discourse analysis as a methodology. It contains four main stages: clarifying the analytical focus; mapping policy and planning documents; analyzing macro discourse, which includes critical textual analysis, text-type analysis, and intertextuality analysis, and, at last, the fourth phase, interpretation within the institutional context. It provides a tool for researchers less familiar with linguistics but interested in performing discourse analysis to understand the integration of environmental narratives within policy and spatial planning. (shrink)

= Klappentext: Die totalitäre Herrschaftsform des vergangenen Jahrhunderts war ein Alptraum für die Menschheit im Sinne des Wortes. Für sie ist der Mensch überflüssig. Auschwitz steht als Symbol und Chiffre der von ihr produzierten katastrophalen Tragödie. Wie konnte das geschehen? Wie war eine solche irrtümliche Blindheit möglich? Warum waren Menschen in der Lage, das radikal Böse in einer zivilisierten Gesellschaft zu tun? Mit ihrem Schlagwort der Banalität des Bösen entdeckte Hannah Arendt einen Schlüssel zur Erklärung dazu.

The claim that selves are narratively constituted has attained considerable currency in both analytic and continental philosophy. However, a set of increasingly standard objections to narrative identity are also emerging. In this paper, I focus on metaphysically realist versions of narrative identity theory, showing how they both build on and differ from their neo‐Lockean counterparts. But I also argue that narrative realism is implicitly committed to a four‐dimensionalist, temporal‐parts ontology of persons. That exposes narrative realism to the charge that the (...) narratively constituted self, on the one hand, and the self that is the object of much of our everyday self‐reference and self‐experience, on the other, can't be the same thing. This conclusion may well force narrativists to abandon metaphysical realism about narrative selves—which, in turn, may leave the invocation of ‘narrativity’ as identity‐constituting somewhat under‐motivated. (shrink)

The Mismeasure of Wealth: Essays on Marx and Social Formgathers Patrick Murray's essays reinterpreting Marx and Marxian theory published since his Marx's Theory of Scientific Knowledge(1988), along with a previously unpublished essay and an introduction.

The participation of patients in the training of health professionals constitutes a paradigmatic break, not only with regard to what is going on in this particular field but also with regard to what can be observed in all training courses for the helping professions. The purpose of this article is to consider this mobilization of patient trainers both as an actual change and as a potential operator of change. To do this, we will rely on an intervention research aimed at (...) promoting partnership in health and on the functioning and productions of one of the working groups dedicated to the training of health professionals. (shrink)

The selection strategies of individuals and 2-person cooperative groups were investigated in 5 concept-attainment problems. 2 types of stimulus displays were used: (a) form displays, consisting of geometric forms varying in 6 attributes with 2 levels of each, (b) sequence displays, consisting of 6 plus and/or minus signs in a row. The arrangement of cards in the stimulus displays was ordered or random. The principal results were: (a) 2-person groups used the focusing strategy more, required fewer card choices to solution, (...) and required more time than individuals; (b) form displays resulted in more use of the focusing strategy than sequence displays, with no difference in number of card choices; (c) no difference between ordered and random arrays in use of the focusing strategy or number of card choices. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved). (shrink)

Resumen: Por medio de una revisión histórica de los vínculos establecidos entre la filosofía y la medicina, el presente articulo examina estas relaciones considerando cuatro aspectos; a) el problema del entendimiento de la vida que elabora la medicina y el determinismo presente en sus acciones científicas de conocimiento; b) la variable de indeterminación que la subjetividad humana introduce ante estos esfuerzos de objetivación; c) la noción de normatividad elaborada por G.Canguilhem, su presencia en la vida humana y en las manifestaciones (...) de la enfermedad; d) el análisis filosófico del sistema de normas existente en las elaboraciones de Canguilhem y su incidencia en los enunciados biopolíticos de Michel Foucault. Abstract: Through a historical review of the links established between philosophy and medicine, this article examines these relations considering four aspects; a) the problem of the understanding of life elaborated by medicine and the determinism present in its scientific actions of knowledge; b) the variable of indeterminacy that human subjectivity introduces before these efforts of objectification; c) the notion of normativity elaborated by G. Canguilhem, its presence in human life and the manifestations of disease; d) the philosophical analysis of the system of norms existing in the elaborations of Canguilhem and its incidence in the statements of human life and the manifestations of disease. Canguilhem, its presence in human life and the manifestations of disease; d) the philosophical analysis of the system of norms existing in Canguilhem’s elaborations and its incidence in Michel Foucault's biopolitical statements. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:The Three Pillars of Catholic EducationArchbishop Salvatore CordileoneIntroductionOn February 13, 1999, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger visited St. Patrick's Seminary and University in Menlo Park, California. He gave a lecture entitled, "Faith and Culture." Pope St. John Paul II had only back in September of the previous year published his momentous encyclical Fides et Ratio. Purposely placing his own remarks under the umbrella of that encyclical, Cardinal Ratzinger used the (...) opportunity at St. Patrick's Seminary to discuss the growing relativism which was even at that time eroding our culture.He began his lecture by using an example from C. S. Lewis's great work The Screwtape Letters. The future Pope remarked:This book consists of fictional letters from a senior devil who is giving advice on how best to proceed to one beginning in the work of leading men astray. The younger devil has expressed concern to his superior that especially intelligent people, in particular, might read the books of wisdom of the ancients and might thus come upon the track of the truth. Screwtape calms him by pointing out that the "Historical point of View," with which the intellectuals of the Western world have fortunately been inculcated by the devils, means in fact that "when a learned man is presented with any statement in an ancient author, the one question he never asks is whether it [End Page 7] is true. He asks who influenced the ancient writer, and how far the statement is consistent with what he said in other books, and what phase in the writer's development, or in the general history of thought, it illustrates, and how it affected other writers," and so on.1The startling truth is that now, almost twenty-five years later, what Cardinal Ratzinger articulated back in 1999 has only crystallized. In almost every area of our culture, the notion of truth has receded due to the acidic encroachment of relativism. As a culture we have given up on any hope of finding truth and instead consigned reality to something that is determined by the individual. We see the extent to which this relativism has taken hold of our culture in the now-famous words of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy: "At the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life."2 In this breathtaking statement, Justice Kennedy seemingly makes irrelevant the entire history of Western civilization. The irony, of course, is that it is precisely the course of Western philosophy and thought which has steered the culture in such a direction that it could produce a Supreme Court justice who would articulate such a bewildering statement. For we do not, nor can we, exist in a philosophical vacuum. And such is the great irony of this moment that we occupy—it is on the ash heap of Western civilization that relativists stand attacking the very history which brought them to be there in the first place.Given this sad reality, we can see Cardinal Ratzinger's criticism from 1999 as a clarion call, and as prophetic in describing what has transpired in the decades since. The complete dominance of relativism in all its forms demands that we return to the primacy of truth. But it is not only unfettered relativism that necessitates this return to truth. The return to the splendor of truth becomes all the more important for us as Christians. As the First Letter of St. Peter makes clear, the Christian is to purify his soul by obedience to the truth (1 Pet1:22). And in the Gospel of St. John, we are told that Christ is the true Light who enlightens all, and who gives the power to become children of God to those who receive him (John 1:9–11).In this vein, I would like to present what I believe is the strength of Catholic education and the need to restore a truly Catholic vision. To this end, I believe Cardinal Ratzinger was correct in his forecast of the repercussions of bracketing out truth from our culture. While the broader repercussions of... (shrink)

Stokes, Patrick The announcement that Woolworths will phase out the selling of cage eggs seems like pretty good news.

L’IA révèle quelque chose sur le travail et la condition humaine que ne montraient pas pleinement les techniques antérieures, ce en quoi elle achève d’une certaine manière l’histoire des techniques. Ce qu’elle révèle, c’est la spécificité de l’intelligence humaine dans le travail collectif, qu’elle atteint au plus profond : à savoir la communication humaine et le fait que le travail est une expérience du temps. Il s’agit de formes d’une intelligence vivante ou vécue, dans lesquelles plonge le sens du travail. (...) En voulant les annihiler, l’IA participe de vieilles idées gnostiques. (shrink)

Descartes claims in the Discourse on Method (1637) to have devised a morale par provision in 1619-20, but, later, in the Conversation with Burman (1648), he divulged that he “does not like writing on ethics,” asserts that his morale was hastily written immediately before the publication of the Discourse, and, even more striking, adds that he was “compelled” to include this content due to “people like the Schoolmen.” These facts have led commentators to be skeptical whether Descartes created his morale (...) during his early philosophy as he claims in Part 3 of the Discourse. In response, I argue that he created a ‘lived morale’ during the early 1620s. Further, I argue that he endorsed it throughout his lifetime and conclude that he advocated it from the Rules for the Direction of the Mind (1620s) to the Passions of the Soul (1648). (shrink)