Despite the appeal of ‘the greatest good for the greatest number’ as an ethical ideal for businesses to pursue, applying this utilitarian principle in practice proves challenging. This is not least due to fundamental disagreements as to what constitutes the ‘greatest good.’ For example, the concept of ‘wellbeing’ now commonly proposed as a way of apprehending the greatest good is itself subject to widely varying interpretations. Drawing on an in-depth qualitative study of 64 managers in different sectors and country contexts, (...) we explore this variation through the lens of constructivist ethics, asking how and why managers systematically differ in their ethical meaning-making around wellbeing. Our theorizing advances constructivist ethics by relating these differences to developmental stages identified in constructivist psychology, finding that systematic variations in ethical meaning-making are shaped by differences in actors’ capacities to process complexity. Our analysis reveals that managers’ ethical meaning-making about wellbeing is subjective, socially constructed, dynamic, and evolutionary, progressing in stages that we differentiate with a novel concept of ‘subjective wellbeing complexity.’ We contribute to practice by discussing how managers’ ability to work with more complex conceptions of wellbeing can be purposefully enhanced through stage-by-stage capacity-building in the form of ‘vertical development.’. (shrink)

A radical reinterpretation of Adam Smith that challenges economists, moral philosophers, political theorists, and intellectual historians to rethink him—and why he matters Adam Smith has long been recognized as the father of modern economics. More recently, scholars have emphasized his standing as a moral philosopher—one who was prepared to critique markets as well as to praise them. But Smith’s contributions to political theory are still underappreciated and relatively neglected. In this bold, revisionary book, Paul Sagar argues that not only (...) have the fundamentals of Smith’s political thought been widely misunderstood, but that once we understand them correctly, our estimations of Smith as economist and as moral philosopher must radically change. Rather than seeing Smith either as the prophet of the free market, or as a moralist who thought the dangers of commerce lay primarily in the corrupting effects of trade, Sagar shows why Smith is more thoroughly a political thinker who made major contributions to the history of political thought. Smith, Sagar argues, saw war, not commerce, as the engine of political change and he was centrally concerned with the political, not moral, dimensions of—and threats to—commercial societies. In this light, the true contours and power of Smith’s foundational contributions to western political thought emerge as never before. Offering major reinterpretations of Smith’s political, moral, and economic ideas, Adam Smith Reconsidered seeks to revolutionize how he is understood. In doing so, it recovers Smith’s original way of doing political theory, one rooted in the importance of history and the necessity of maintaining a realist sensibility, and from which we still have much to learn. (shrink)

In this collection of essays, philosopher Paul Russell addresses major figures and central topics of the history of early modern philosophy. Most of these essays are studies on the philosophy of David Hume, one of the great figures in the history of philosophy. One central theme, connecting many of the essays, concerns Hume's fundamental irreligious intentions. Russell argues that a proper appreciation of the significance of Hume's irreligious concerns, which runs through his whole philosophy, serves to discredit the deeply (...) entrenched framework for understanding Hume - and much of early modern philosophy - in terms of the idea of "British Empiricism". In a substantive introduction, Russell outlines how his various insights overlap and connect to each other. -/- The volume is organized thematically into five sections: metaphysics, free will, ethics, religion, and general interpretations of Hume's philosophy. The collection also features a previously unpublished essay on Hume's atheism and an essay on Adam Smith's views on religion and ethics that has not been previously published in English. -/- Recasting Hume and Early Modern Philosophy presents the reader with Russell's substantial and significant set of interconnected observations and insights on the matters and figures of the greatest importance in early modern philosophy. These essays not only provide different and original perspectives on the subject, they also show that the various issues addressed are very relevant to each other, as well as to a number of major topics in contemporary philosophy. (shrink)

The argument and discussion in this paper begins from the premise that Hume was an atheist who denied the religious or theist hypothesis. However, even if it is agreed that that Hume was an atheist this does not tell us where he stood on the question concerning the value of religion. Some atheists, such as Spinoza, have argued that society needs to maintain and preserve a form of “true religion”, which is required for the support of our ethical life. Others, (...) such as D’Holbach have argued that religion is not only false it is pernicious and it should be eradicated. This paper argues that Hume rejected both these proposals, on the ground that they rest, in different ways, on excessively optimistic assumptions. The sensible, practical form of atheism that Hume defends has a more modest and realistic aim, which is simply to restrict and limit the most pernicious forms of religion. Understood this way, Hume’s practical atheism is very different from the forms of “old” atheism associated with Spinoza and D’Holbach, as well as from the “new atheism” of thinkers such as Dawkins and Dennett. -/- Reprinted in Paul Russell, "Recasting Hume and Early Modern Philosophy: Selected Essays" (New York: Oxford University Press, 2021): 340-383. (shrink)

The Reformed Ecumenical Synod has published a Testimony on Human Rights written by a team of twenty-two Christian scholars from various areas of the world. Paul G. Schrotenboer has produced this pre'cis, selecting key passages from the full 160 page report, which is published by the RES Secretariat, 1677 Gentian Drive S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA 49508, $8.00 post paid. The numbers in brackets refer to pages in the full report.

Earthquake and Volcano Deformation is the first textbook to present the mechanical models of earthquake and volcanic processes, emphasizing earth-surface deformations that can be compared with observations from Global Positioning System receivers, Interferometric Radar, and borehole strain- and tiltmeters. Paul Segall provides the physical and mathematical fundamentals for the models used to interpret deformation measurements near active faults and volcanic centers. Segall highlights analytical methods of continuum mechanics applied to problems of active crustal deformation. Topics include elastic dislocation theory (...) in homogeneous and layered half-spaces, crack models of faults and planar intrusions, elastic fields due to pressurized spherical and ellipsoidal magma chambers, time-dependent deformation resulting from faulting in an elastic layer overlying a viscoelastic half-space and related earthquake cycle models, poroelastic effects due to faulting and magma chamber inflation in a fluid-saturated crust, and the effects of gravity on deformation. He also explains changes in the gravitational field due to faulting and magmatic intrusion, effects of irregular surface topography and earth curvature, and modern concepts in rate- and state-dependent fault friction. This textbook presents sample calculations and compares model predictions against field data from seismic and volcanic settings from around the world. Earthquake and Volcano Deformation requires working knowledge of stress and strain, and advanced calculus. It is appropriate for advanced undergraduates and graduate students in geophysics, geology, and engineering. Professors: A supplementary Instructor's Manual is available for this book. It is restricted to teachers using the text in courses. For information on how to obtain a copy, refer to: https://press.princeton.edu/class_use/solutions.html. (shrink)

Georges Seurat, one of the most popular and admired of post-Impressionist painters, has been the focus of much attention in recent years. This book by Paul Smith views the artist in a new context and explodes some of the myths that have grown up about him. Challenging the assumption that Seurat's work was scientific or that it expressed a serious commitment to anarchism, Smith instead traces the painters involvement with the various factions of the avant-garde and shows that he (...) was perhaps the earliest exponent of Idealism in modern art. Smith studies contemporary interpretations of Impressionism and analyzes how the groups surrounding Seurat constructed meaning from his art. From this investigation he creates a portrait of Seurat as one who was willing to accept, even encourage, interpretations of his art that he may not have intended. Smith shows, for example, that the "scientific" account of Seurat's color first developed by Félix Fénéon actually represents the theory and practice of Pissaro. He examines Seurat's involvement with anarchist critics and concludes that he merely posed as a painter with left-wing sympathies in order to benefit from the publicity these writers gave him. He explains that Seurat was sympathetic to Symbolism from its very inception and that he and his early Symbolist critics developed a theory of his art that was founded on Schopenhauer and Wagner's ideas on art. And he explores the ways that Seurat focused on the musicality of art and on incorporating certain "musical" features in his work. Beautifully illustrated and engagingly written, this book presents a convincing new interpretation of the work of a major artist. (shrink)

Noam Chomsky and Frances Egan argue that David Marr’s computational theory of vision is not intentional, claiming that the formal scientific theory does not include description of visual content. They also argue that the theory is internalist in the sense of not describing things physically external to the perceiver. They argue that these claims hold for computational theories of vision in general. Beyond theories of vision, they argue that representational content does not figure as a topic within formal computational theories (...) in cognitive science. I demonstrate that Chomsky’s and Egan’s claims about Marr’s theory are false. Marr’s computational theory contains a mathematical theory of visual content, based on empirical psychophysical evidence. It also contains mathematical descriptions of distal physical surfaces and objects, and of their optic projection to the perceiver. Much computational research on vision contains these types of intentional and externalist components within the formal, mathematical, theories. Chomsky’s and Egan’s claims demonstrate inadequate study and understanding of Marr’s work and other research in this area. Computational theories of vision, by containing empirically based mathematical theories of visual content, to this extent present naturalizations of semantics. (shrink)

This article combines an appreciation of several themes in Josh Reeves's Against Methodology in Science and Religion: Recent Debates on Rationality and Theology while arguing in favor of critical realism. The author holds that critical realism manages to combine the objective truth reached through inference and especially cognitive acts of judgment as well as the various, contingent historical contexts that also define where science is practiced. Reeves advocates a historical perspective, but this article claims that in order for critical realism (...) to be credible, a philosophical perspective must be maintained. (shrink)

This dissertation explores the dialectic of thought and existence implicit in the human person's task of self-constitution as both a knower and a chooser. By way of comparative interpretation and critical analysis of the thought of Soren Kierkegaard and Bernard Lonergan, it argues for the complementarity of cognitional and existential praxis and adumbrates the possibility of an intellectualist existentialism. ;The Kierkegaardian polarization of thought and existence is situated within the context of a polemic against Hegelian holism and its totalizing aspirations. (...) Not only does Hegelian speculation attempt to reduce Christianity to a mere philosophical theory, it also absentmindedly yet oppressively neglects the ethical and religious exigencies of the concretely existing individual. ;In Lonergan's account of the dynamism of conscious intentionality , there is found support for Kierkegaard's critique of speculative aestheticism. There occurs not only a clear differentiation between knowledge and decisiveness, but also an affirmation of the primacy of conscience. In the full expansion of this dynamism, the cognitional is sublated by the existential; immanent exigencies of intelligence are preserved, yet knowing is to be contextualized within a wider horizon of concern for actualizing the good. Hence Lonergan's intellectualism offers the possibility of re-integrating thought and existence; it is an alternative both to anti-intellectual existentialism and to anti-existential rationalism. ;The task of self-appropriation, which is the core of Lonergan's philosophy, is complementary to the Kierkegaardian retrieval of existential subjectivity. Full self-appropriation involves both self-knowledge and self-choice. Yet self-appropriation, unlike Kierkegaardian and later existentialism, also reveals how objectivity is the fruit of authentic subjectivity. Lonergan avoids, as Kierkegaard's pseudonym Johannes Climacus does not, a denigration of objectivity and theoretical knowing. ;On grounds of performative self-contradiction, an objection is raised concerning existentialism's tendency to view objectivity in a merely pejorative manner. Theoretical knowing is more relevant to ethico-religious existence and to the actualization of personalist values than is commonly realized. A normative notion of objectivity is a necessary condition for the possibility of an ethics of historical authenticity. (shrink)

Constellations, Volume 28, Issue 3, Page 447-449, September 2021.

Reply to a commentary by Felicitas Holzer and Ignacio Mastroleoon “Models of Consent to Return of Incidental Findings in Genomic Research.”.

La tension problématique du concept de Gestalt dans la première pensée de l’art de Heidegger indique une autre provenance que celle, implicitement reconnue par Heidegger, de Nietzsche. La première interprétation du schématisme kantien programme le dépassement phénoménologique de sa dissimulation comme « art caché ». Cette phénoménologie de la temporalité originaire, formulée en termes de « schèmes horizontaux », révèle l’échec de ce dépassement, lié à celui de la Seinsfrage. La collusion entre le problème de la liberté et celui du (...) schématisme se résout, au-delà du phénoménologique, dans le motif de la figure, nous conduisant à voir dans le retrait du schématisme un « impensé » de Heidegger, auquel il aura répondu par une surdétermination « onto-typologique » de la finitude du figural.The problematical tenseness of the concept of Gestalt in Heidegger’s first philosophy of art indicates another source than Nietzsche’s influence, which was implicitly recognized by Heidegger. The first interpretation of Kant’s schematism programs a phenomenological overstepping of its dissimulation as « hidden art ». Such a phenomenology of original temporality, formulated in terms of « horizontal schemas », shows the stumble of this overstepping, related to that of « the question of being ». The connexion between the problematics of freedom and of schematism finds a resolution, beyond phenomenology, in the motif of the figure, leading us to see the withdrawal of schematism as an « unthought », to which Heidegger responded by « onto-typological » overdetermination of the finitude of figurality. (shrink)

The Book in Mamluk Egypt and Syria : Scribes, Libraries and Market. By Doris Behrens-Abouseif. Islamic History and Civilization: Studies and Texts, vol. 162. Leiden: Brill, 2019. Pp. xii + 178. $120, €100.

This article presents the ethical situation that evolves the discussion of limitation of treatment offered to patients in a persistent vegetative state. Health professionals find themselves in difficult situations when dealing with these recurrent problems in their daily professional activities. This is presented, then, as an ethical issue of difficult solution, the decision of suspension of life support tasks. The debate is sustained, however, on how to distinguish the concepts of terminality of life, orthothanasia, euthanasia, dysthanasia, palliative care and, in (...) an specific case, a persistent neurovegetative state, with its implications in the use of disproportional treatment that prolongs life, in a painful and a futile way, of the process of agony to the death. There are questions or dilemmas involved in this debate, such as in which moment the suspension of treatment can be considered adequate or the use of all possible measures to maintain life, even in advanced, irreversible and terminal illness are ethically acceptable. And finally, who is responsible for the suspension of therapeutic procedures in the irreversible and terminal clinical situations. (shrink)

Cognitive Gadgetsoffers a new, convincing perspective on the origins of our distinctive cognitive faculties, coupled with a clear, innovative research program. Although we broadly endorse Heyes’ ideas, we raise some concerns about her characterisation of evolutionary psychology and the relationship between biology and culture, before discussing the potential fruits of examining cognitive gadgets through the lens of active inference.

Ο συγγραφέας σχολιάζει τις πληροφορίες που αφορούν την ιστορία της ελληνιστικής Ανατολής από τη βασιλεία του Μεγάλου Αλεξάνδρου μέχρι και αυτή του Αντίοχου Α'. Περιλαμβάνονται στον πρώτο τόμο του corpus των βαβυλωνιακών αστρονομικών εφημερίδων που δημοσίευσαν πρόσφατα οι Α. J. Sachs et Η. Hunger (1988) : 1. Η μάχη των Γαυγαμήλων. Ο Paul Bernard αποδεικνύει ότι η εκλογή του πεδίου της μάχης, όπου ήρθαν αντιμέτωπες οι στρατιές των Μακεδόνων και των Περσών, δεν ήταν αποτέλεσμα αυτοσχεδιασμού εκ μέρους του επιτελείου (...) του Δαρείου Γ', αλλά η σύλληψη ενός στρατηγικού σχεδίου μετά από ώριμη σκέψη, του οποίου τις αρετές είχαν αποκρύψει οι κλασικοί ιστορικοί. 2. Η χρονολογία του θανάτου του Μ. Αλεξάνδρου. 3. Η επανάσταση των Ελλήνων αποίκων στις άνω σατραπείες το 323-322 π.Χ. 4. Ο αγώνας μεταξύ Αντιγόνου και Σέλευκου στην Μεσοποταμία-Βαβυλωνία. 5. Ο πρώτος συριακός πόλεμος (274-271 π.Χ.). 6. Η μεταφορά αποίκων από τη Βαβυλωνία στη Σελεύκεια του Τίγρη το 274 π.Χ. 7. Η κρίση της Βαβυλωνίας στα τέλη της βασιλείας του Αντίοχου Α'. (shrink)

De milieuproblematiek staat pas sinds kort op de agenda als een fenomeen dat de mensheid bedreigt. Toch blijkt het negentiende-eeuwse gedachtegoed van Karl Marx verrassende inzichten te bieden om deze actuele problemen te duiden. Marx laat zien dat het menselijk ingrijpen in de natuur leidt tot zelfvervreemding: de mens ondermijnt zijn bestaan als een wezen dat zelf deel uitmaakt van de natuur. Deze zelfvervreemding cumuleert in de kapitalistische samenleving. Marx lezend zien we dat de milieuproblematiek geen historische vergissing is, maar (...) fundamenteel samenhangt met de mens als redelijk wezen. Onze beheersingsrede heeft geleid tot de vervreemding van de natuur. Toch geeft dezelfde rede die de mens de vrijheid biedt zich boven het ecologische evenwicht te verheffen, hem de mogelijkheid zich te verzoenen met de natuur. Marx verwijst naar dit dubbele gezicht van de rede als hij stelt dat het 'rijk van de vrijheid' in de schoot van het kapitalisme wordt geboren. In dit boek onderzoekt Paul Cobben welke aanzetten de huidige samenleving biedt om vorm te geven aan de verzoening met de natuur. Paul Cobben is emeritus hoogleraar geschiedenis van de moderne filosofie aan Tilburg University. Momenteel is hij gastonderzoeker aan de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam en redacteur van de serie 'Critical Studies in German Idealism'. Van zijn hand verscheen o.a. 'Value in Capitalist Society. Rethinking Marx's Criticism of Capitalism' (2015)."-- Publisher information. (shrink)

L'affirmation de l'existence du meilleur des mondes possibles est l'une des thèses leibniziennes les plus connues et sans doute l'une des plus mal comprises. Cet ouvrage en explique le sens, montre sur quels fondements théoriques elle repose et envisage ses implications sur les plans métaphysique et moral.

When political theorists teach the history of political philosophy, they typically skip from the ancient Greeks and Cicero to Augustine in the fifth century and Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth, and then on to the origins of modernity with Machiavelli and beyond. Paul Stern aims to change this settled narrative and makes a powerful case for treating Dante Alighieri, arguably the greatest poet of medieval Christendom, as a political philosopher of the first rank. In Dante's Philosophical Life, Stern argues (...) that Purgatorio's depiction of the ascent to Earthly Paradise, that is, the summit of Mount Purgatory, was intended to give instruction on how to live the philosophic life, understood in its classical form as "love of wisdom." As an object of love, however, wisdom must be sought by the human soul, rather than possessed. But before the search can be undertaken, the soul needs to consider from where it begins: its nature and its good. In Stern's interpretation of Purgatorio, Dante's intense concern for political life follows from this need, for it is law that supplies the notions of good that shape the soul's understanding and it is law, especially its limits, that provides the most evident display of the soul's enduring hopes. According to Stern, Dante places inquiry regarding human nature and its good at the heart of philosophic investigation, thereby rehabilitating the highest form of reasoned judgment or prudence. Philosophy thus understood is neither a body of doctrines easily situated in a Christian framework nor a set of intellectual tools best used for predetermined theological ends, but a way of life. Stern's claim that Dante was arguing for prudence against dogmatisms of every kind addresses a question of contemporary concern: whether reason can guide a life. (shrink)

In Moral Leadership>, Paul J. Olscamp shows how college presidents and trustees can use basic ethical principles to help make moral decisions. Olscamp describes the nature of the college presidency and provides a summary view of western ethical theory, outlining a series of principles relating to morality and obligation.

Schelling's Philosophy of History Paul Collins HAYNER. CHAPTER TWO THE ROLE OF HISTORY IN SCHELLING'S PHILOSOPHY TO 1809 I. SCHELLING AS DlSCIPLE OF FlCHTE The earliest philosophical expressions of Friedrich Wilhelm ...

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:A Response to Valerie Trollinger, “A Reconception of Performance Study in the Philosophy of Music Education”Paul LouthAs an educator who is a former professional trombonist I can certainly appreciate the issues raised in this discussion. Because I am inclined to agree with the spirit (if not always the substance) of Trollinger's remarks, I would like to respond with some thoughts on the manner in which she tends to (...) frame this debate, because I believe that this has crucial implications and may explain the cause of some of the very problems she mentions.Charlene Morton writes that a "bias for procedural knowledge... unwittingly immerses school music in the polemic arising from the false hierarchical dichotomy between 'hard' and 'soft' forms of knowledge."1 By this she means that the Cartesian mind/body split, which has led to our conception of thinking and doing as exclusive matters, is not remedied by our discovery of the importance of purely procedural knowledge, because we merely reinforce this dichotomy through acknowledging the latter term as a separate category from theoretical knowledge. Trollinger is correct in asserting that the act of performance is often overlooked and is not treated as a serious concern in music education and I believe that this may be largely due to this dichotomy, which manifests itself in the way that we divorce performance from its original holistic context.In general, if we accept this argument, then debates about performance versus listening, theorizing, and so on are inherently problematic because the discourse itself reinforces an artificial dichotomy. If we fail to address the remnants of this "Cartesian anxiety," then in our attempts to address a lack of concern over performance, we may be left with a performance model that is purely utilitarian, in the sense that the body can only justifiably occupy a central place in the curriculum if there are direct, utilitarian outcomes that we can associate with it and so long as those outcomes are supported by the free market. In North America, progressive educators have been struggling for some time against the concept of school as a locus of training for the market place. This model becomes more difficult to resist, I would argue, as long as we continue to compartmentalize performance and other aspects of musicianship. Such practices reinforce an artificial distinction between procedural and theoretical forms of knowing (and, by extension, between mental and manual forms of labor) that Apple, Giroux, and other critical pedagogues would argue atomizes student knowledge in preparation for the marketplace; yet musicianship can serve many other valuable purposes.2 [End Page 231]Trollinger, in using the word "holistic," reminds us of the connection between body and mind that exists in performance. Further, she correctly states that until relatively recently, those who taught music were musicians. I would add that in Canada (where I teach), the idea that music should be taught by musicians has often been used to justify its exclusion from schools, which is indicative of our tendency to exclude those things that we deem corporeal from the life of the mind. In my home province of Ontario, recent emphasis on "the basics" has meant that music programs have vanished in great numbers, while music study is relegated to the conservatories which, with their widespread tendency to essentialize musical experience as performance in the most limited sense of the word, have contributed further to this dichotomy.My point is that all of us, including Trollinger, may wish to reconsider the nomenclature that we carry into this debate from the outset. Because the word "performance" has become strongly associated with this particular pole (it is no accident that we use this word to describe car engines and stock returns) I suggest we can best elevate our estimation of the term by replacing it with the word "musicianship." In this way we can repair some of the damage done by the Cartesian split and the consequent de-valuing of performance that has occurred through separation from its original context. Within such an integrated model, it would become problematic to debate the relative importance of performing, listening, theorizing, or any number of activities with regard to the overall goals of musicianship... (shrink)

In this article, we entangle with Aaron Kuntz’s book The Responsible Methodologist, extending the conversation beyond research into the realms of teaching, learning, and daily lived practices as twenty-first century academics. Kuntz advocates for parrhesiastic living and inquiry, defined as truth-telling and intervention toward ends of disrupting normative practices of knowing and being and enacting socially just ends. We grapple with three philosophical ∼ theroetical propositions made by Kuntz: entangled knowing ∼ being; citizenship; and logics of extraction. Utilizing examples from (...) our own lived experiences, pedagogy, and inquiry, we open a series of philosophical and theoretical dialogues around these three topics to better understand their possibilities and limitations, grappling, and debating how they are jumping off points for living more parrhesiastically. (shrink)

Neural kinks and the greatest seeker of this century -- Heidegger's quest for being -- Heidegger and death -- Death, anxiety, and the nothing -- Double-talk about life after death.

This paper argues that mathematics is imbued with values reflecting its production from human imagination and dialogue. Epistemological, ontological, aesthetic and ethical values are specified, both overt and covert. Within the culture of mathematics, the overt values of truth, beauty, purity, universalism, objectivism, rationalism and utility are identified. In contrast, hidden within mathematics and its culture are the covert values of objectism and ethics, including the specific ethical values of separatism, openness, fairness and democracy. Some of these values emerge from (...) a dialogical view of the nature of mathematics, and certainly from the dialogical nature of culture. It is acknowledged that the choice of certain perspectives, such as absolutism, lead to the appearance of mathematics as largely value-free through hiding value-assumptions behind the initial choice of philosophy. By uncovering the values of mathematics I show that it more closely resembles other components of human culture than is usually recognised. (shrink)