Virtually all philosophers of science have construed fundamental theories as descriptions of entities, properties, and/or structures. Call this the “descriptive-ontological” view. I argue that this view is incorrect, at least insofar as physical theories are concerned. I propose a novel construal of theories that I call the “prescriptive-dynamical” view. The central tenet of this view, roughly put, is that the _essential_ content of fundamental physical theories is a _prescription for interfacing with natural systems and translating local data into compact theoretical (...) language_. The descriptive-ontological aspects of theories, if any, are taken as _inessential_ content on this view: they do not contribute to the predictive success of the theory. Rather than describing _what is there_, the essence of a physical theory is to tell us _what to do_ when interfacing with a physical system. (shrink)

The convergence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate governance (CG) has changed the corporate accountability mechanism. This has developed a socially responsible ‘corporate self-regulation’, a synthesis of governance and responsibility in the companies of strong economies. However, unlike in the strong economies, this convergence has not been visible in the companies of weak economies, where the civil society groups are unorganised, regulatory agencies are either ineffective or corrupt and the media and non-governmental organisations do not mirror the corporate conscience. (...) Using the case of Bangladesh, this article investigates the convergence between CSR and CG in the self-regulation of companies in a less vigilant environment. (shrink)

The central motivation behind the scientific realism debate is explaining the impressive success of scientific theories. The debate has been dominated by two rival types of explanations: the first relies on some sort of static, referentially transparent relationship between the theory and the unobservable world, such as truthlikeness, representation, or structural similarity; the second relies on no robust relationship between the theory and unobservable reality at all, and instead draws on predictive similarity and the stringent methodology of science to explain (...) success. I argue that this is a false dichotomy, at least insofar as dynamical theories are concerned. The best explanation of the success of dynamical theories, I argue, must appeal to a robust but referentially opaque theory–world relation. The dynamical notion of ‘tracking’ fulfills this promise. I formulate a modified no miracles argument that is liberated from the false dichotomy and show how tracking responds to the modified argument. (shrink)

Objective To compare assessments of the decision-making competencies of psychiatric inpatients as provided by physicians, nurses, relatives and an assessment tool.Methods This study was carried out at the psychiatry clinic of Kocaeli University Hospital from June 2007 to February 2008. The decision-making competence of the 83 patients who participated in the study was assessed by physicians, nurses, relatives and MacCAT-T.Results Of the 83 patients, the relatives of 73.8% of them, including the parents of 47.7%, were interviewed during the study. A (...) moderately good consistency between the competency assessments of the nurses versus those of the physicians, but a poor consistency between the assessments of the physicians and nurses versus those of the patients’ relatives, was determined. The differences in the competency assessment obtained with the MacCAT-T versus the evaluations of the physicians, nurses and patients’ relatives were statistically significant.Conclusions Our findings demonstrate those physicians, nurses and the patients’ relatives have difficulty in identifying patients lacking decision-making competence. Therefore, an objective competence assessment tool should be used along with the assessments of physicians and nurses, both of whom can provide clinical data, as well as those of relatives, who can offer insights into the patient's moral values and expectations. (shrink)

The Correspondence Principle of old quantum theory is commonly considered to be the requirement that quantum and classical theories converge in their empirical predictions in the appropriate asymptotic limit. That perception has persisted despite the fact that Bohr and other early proponents of CP clearly did not intend it as a mere requirement, and despite much recent historical work. In this paper, I build on this work by first giving an explicit formulation to the mentioned asymptotic requirement ) and then (...) discussing various possible formulations of CP for emission on the basis of the primary literature as well as general physical and metaphysical considerations. I shall then show that, in all of the most probable interpretations of CP that consider quantum theory as a universal theory, any system incorporating both CR and CP for emission would in fact be inconsistent. Old quantum theory measurably contradicts classical physics in the classical regime. (shrink)

Generalizing and unifying the known theorems for difference and differential fields, it is shown that for every finite free algebra scheme.

This article aims to draw a theoretical framework to discuss the role of religion in utopia's appeal to transcendence in Turkish literature. This aim entails interrogating the intricate relation between utopia and religion in order to demonstrate how religious discourse functions as a transcendent organizing principle in Turkish utopian vision. The employment of religious discourse in utopia often generates problematic moments in which utopia attains a transcendent position and comes closest to its sibling term, dystopia. This article seeks to identify (...) and describe this position of transcendence in Turkish utopia by resorting to Deleuzian distinction between the two types of utopia: “utopia of transcendence,” oriented toward authoritarianism, and “utopia of immanence,” oriented toward revolution. In so doing, it will engage with three early works from the Second Constitutional Period, Ruşeni Barkın's Müslümanların Gaye-i Hayâliyesi, İsmail Gaspıralı's Darürrahat Müslümanları, and Molla Davudzade's Rüyada Terakki ve Medeniyet-i İslamiyeyi Rü‘yet. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Although there are myriad sources on utopia and utopian studies, in none of them is there reference to the Iranian utopia The Virtuous City, written by Abu Nasr Farabi, Iranian philosopher, logician, and musician and founder of Islamic philosophy. His ideas are homogeneous with those of Greek philosophers, especially Plato and Aristotle, but a comparison of the dominant ideology of the book with Islamic, especially Shiite, teachings shows that Farabi presents a Shiite utopia. The Virtuous City consists of six (...) sections and nineteen chapters on subjects such as cosmology, man and his physical and spiritual nature, and the structure of human society. However, the greater part of the book is dedicated to “an ‘academic’ description of the structure of human society as it ought to be.” Like many utopias that reflect the unsatisfactory conditions of the status quo, The Virtuous City is viewed as a protest against the Abbasid caliphate. Farabi questions the legitimacy of the Abbasid caliphs who in the name of Islam had made an un-Islamic society. Considering the historical background of The Virtuous City, subversion mostly appears when Farabi presents twelve qualifications for an imam that contrast with the caliphs of the Muslim society. (shrink)

Problems with regard to the analysis of argumentative partly discourse arise from definitorial disconformity. In this article, Informal argument is taken as the primary definition to study the basic structure of argument from a fragment of an Agatha Christie novel. Bilmes' account of the notions of Formulation (F) and Decision (D+/D-) are adapted to describe the relations of opposition which are displayed in informal argument. The minimal structure of argument is represented by the formula F/D-/D-, in which F is a (...) speaker's personal composition of a ‘fact’, the first D- is the disconfirming uptake of it by another speaker and the second D- is the completing disconfirming uptake by the initial speaker. Some of the speaker's possibilities to initiate an argument by expressing a Formulation are explored, as well as the social and cultural norms which play a role in argument-initiation and the concepts of ‘win’ and ‘loss’. (shrink)

This is a compilation of papers presented at the Seventeenth Annual Meeting of the West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, held February 20-22, 1998 in Vancouver, Canada, hosted by the University of British Columbia Department of Linguistics. The conference drew a large number of participants, from around the world. The fifty papers in this volume address theoretical issues in Syntax, Phonology, the Syntax-Semantics and Syntax-Phonology interfaces, and Language Acquisition, and provide an exciting view of current theory in these areas.

This article presents the edition of a late 3rd/9th- or early 4th/10th-century search warrant for stolen goods (P.Cair.EgLib.inv. 536v). The scribe reports that two black men (aswadayn) were traveling on two donkeys, one of which was also loaded with a saddlebag of money, jewellery and clothes. Upon reaching the Upper Egyptian village of Saqāwa, the two black men were assaulted and murdered, and the goods and donkeys stolen. This document corroborates descriptions in historical works of frequent rebel attacks in various (...) regions of Egypt in the 3rd/9th and 4rd/10th centuries. (shrink)

Nuclear pore complexes mediate and control transport between the cytosol and the nucleus. They form a highly selective and, thus, tight nuclear barrier between these compartments. The nuclear barrier provides the cell with the opportunity to control access to its DNA, a defining feature of eukaryotes. The tightness of the nuclear barrier is therefore physiologically pivotal and any remarkable change in its structure and permeability can prove pathophysiological, e.g. as a result of viral attack. However, there is accumulating evidence that (...) nuclear barrier structure and permeability are highly responsive to hydrophobic cargos of crucial physiological and therapeutic relevance, glucocorticoids (steroid hormones). The present review highlights the glucocorticoid‐induced effects on the nuclear barrier structure and permeability concluding that they are physiologically essential to mediate glucocorticoid action. BioEssays 28: 935–942, 2006. © 2006 Wiley periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

This study compares Avicenna's and Thomas Aquinas' conceptions of God, theological language, the nature of creative action and the beginning of the universe.

COVID‐19 caused an imbalance between medical resources and the number of patients in Türkiye like in many countries. There was not pandemic‐triage system, and this situation led to decision making based on experience, intuition, and judgment of allocation of scarce resources. The research explains the guiding criteria that healthcare professionals used to prioritize the distribution of scarce medical resources during the COVID‐19 pandemic. The criteria preferred by 928 healthcare professionals were evaluated when preventive measures for COVID‐19 were reduced and so (...) the number of cases increased rapidly. The results indicate that Turkish healthcare professionals largely support the utilitarian approach, which focuses on medical benefit in pandemic. The main problem was that some criteria not approved in COVID‐19 triage guidelines were considered important by healthcare professionals. These criteria, which cause discrimination by preventing the provision of fair and equal medical care to patients, are a prominent issue in the study. (shrink)

Singapore's long-serving People's Action Party government suffered from a major electoral setback in the 2011 general election and subsequent by-elections. The high-growth population policy, underpinned by the influx of migrants and foreign workers, has strongly fuelled the groundswell of public discontent and is commonly perceived to have contributed to widening income disparities, wage stagnation, and cost of living pressures. This article attempts to make sense of the PAP leadership's dogged commitment to the high-growth population policy despite the electoral backlashes and (...) policy criticisms by prominent public intellectuals and others closely connected to the PAP establishment. It considers Singapore's high-growth population policy and widening income disparity within the context of the authoritarian developmental state's shift away from the social compact. The article also examines the impact of widening income inequality and other policy lapses on the legitimacy of the PAP government as the clamor for a renewed social compact based on gathers momentum in the repoliticized polity. (shrink)

Zusammenfassung Demosthenes, Aristoteles und Pausanias berichten von dem Dikasterion in Phreatto, zu dem ein außer Landes gegangener Athener auf einem Boot heranfährt, dieses unmittelbar an der Küste festmacht und sich dann in einem Prozess verteidigt. Er betritt zu keinem Zeitpunkt athenischen Boden, sondern bleibt auf dem Boot und vernimmt dort das Urteil, ob er vorsätzlich getötet hat oder nicht. Diese Verhandlungsform zwischen Land und Meer kann – so aufwendig und eigentümlich sie auch anmutet – durchaus historisch sein, ist aber nur (...) zu begreifen, wenn man von Drakons Gesetz über die Tötung ausgeht. Der Gesetzgeber hat 621/620 v. Chr. den Vollzug der Blutrache unter die Kontrolle der athenischen Gemeinschaft gestellt und damit einen wichtigen Schritt zur Eindämmung von Konflikten in der Polis geleistet. Das Verfahren in Phreatto ist im Kontext dieser Verordnung zu betrachten. (shrink)

Ülkemiz yayın sektöründe farklı yaş seviyelerinden çocuklara hitap eden dinî muhtevalı çeşitli çocuk kitapları bulunmaktadır. Türkiye’de din hizmetlerini resmî olarak yürüten kurum olan Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı da bu alanda çeşitli kitaplar hazırlatmakta ve Kur’an kurslarında bu kaynakların materyal olarak kullanılmasını beklemektedir. Bu çalışmada Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı’nca okul öncesi çocuklara yönelik hazırlatılan materyallerden biri olan Hikâyeler ve Etkinliklerle Değerler Eğitimi Seti I-II çocuğun din eğitimini destekleme durumu açısından incelenecektir. Nitel araştırma yönteminin benimsendiği çalışmada doküman incelemesi yolu tercih edilmiştir. Çalışmanın örneklemi ise (...) amaçlı örnekleme türlerinden ölçüt örnekleme ile belirlenmiş, elde edilen veriler içerik analizinin açık kodlama yolu ile çözümlenmiştir. Çalışmanın analiz kategorileri 4-6 Yaş Grubu Kur’an Kursları Öğretim Programında yer alan ünite isimlerinden hareketle sekiz başlık olarak belirlenmiştir: Allah sevgisi, bayram sevgisi, dua, din sevgisi, dinî mekân sevgisi, kâinat sevgisi, kitap (Kur’an-ı Kerim) sevgisi, peygamber sevgisi. Çalışmada kitaplarda en fazla Allah sevgisi, en az din sevgisine ilişkin dinî motiflerin yer aldığı tespit edilmiştir. Kitaplarda tespit edilen motiflerden en fazla bayram sevgisi, en az peygamber sevgisi temasındaki içerikler ilgili öğretim programındaki kazanımları destekler niteliktedir. Kitaplarda en yoğun işlenen Allah sevgisine ilişkin motiflerle pozitif, sevgi dolu bir Allah imajının ortaya konulduğu tespit edilmiştir. Allah sevgisi ve kâinat sevgisinin içerik olarak birbirini desteklediği görülmüştür. Bu bağlamda, Allah’ın her şeyi belli bir düzen içerisinde ve ayrı güzelliklerde yaratması kâinattan çok sayıda örnek eşliğinde merak, hayret ve hayranlık ifadeleri ile desteklenerek işlenmiştir. Netice itibarıyla Hikâyeler ve Etkinliklerle Değerler Eğitimi Seti I-II’nin, başta Allah inancı olmak üzere çocuğun din eğitimini destekleyen bir içeriğe sahip olduğu ortaya konulmuştur. Bununla birlikte gerek çocukların dini anlayarak ve kavrayarak öğrenebilmeleri gerekse kitaplarda işlenen dinî motiflerin zenginleştirilmesi açısından çalışmada birtakım öneriler ortaya konulmuştur. (shrink)

The notion of 'freedom' has gained an emblematic character in contemporary political discourse. It is, commonly, viewed as the central value and political goal of modern societies. Similarly, human rights documents conceive of freedom as their founding principle with universal validity. In contradistinction to this prevalent approach to freedom, this paper aims to demonstrate that freedom is, primarily, a political signifier with social-historical variability. One cannot, therefore, simply and uncritically assume that freedom has (or should have) universal validity or transhistorical (...) significance. In the first section of this paper, the structure of the contemporary liberal discourse on freedom is discussed and called into question. In light of Arendt's interpretation of freedom and through her analysis of the public domain, I reflect on the social-historical variability of the meaning of freedom and its inextricable nexus with a particular form of society. In the second section and drawing on Castoriadis, the notion of 'freedom' is approached in view of human signifying practices and imaginary dimension of society. This examination reveals in what way freedom––in the sense of a central social imaginary signification––contributes to the institution of an autonomous mode of society and determines the affective disposition and intentional vector of its inhabitants. (shrink)

One of the main objections to life extension is that life extension will cause severe overpopulation. This objection presents both moral and demographic issues. To explore the demographic issue, we present an updated and improved version of the formula in chapter six of _New Methuselahs_ for projecting the demographic impact of life extension. The new version includes additional demographical factors such as non-aging related causes of death. According to projections generated with this revised formula, moderate life extension (a life expectancy (...) of 120 years) will not significantly increase population at the fertility rates current in the developed world, but radical life expectancy (halting aging completely, leading to an average life expectancy of 1000 years) can lead to severe overpopulation even at very low fertility rates. This formula also enables us to ascertain what fertility rate and birth spacing will prevent life extension from causing severe overpopulation. The moral issues arise if radical life extension causes overpopulation severe enough to outweigh the benefits it brings. _New Methuselahs_ proposed a reproductive policy for avoiding severe overpopulation by limiting reproduction for those who use life extension. We then consider a moral objection to this policy that was not discussed in _New Methuselahs_: it is not likely that society will succeed in imposing limits to reproduction, therefore, it is likely that radical life extension is morally wrong. We respond to this objection and defend our response against two further objections. (shrink)

As with terms such as “human rights”, “democracy”, and “equality”, the notion of “freedom” has an emblematic character with highly normative overtones. After the declaration of universal human rights, one might argue that freedom is – at least formally – a universal entitlement belonging to every human being. However, this universalist structure is built upon a conflictual foundation, as the juridico-political meaning of freedom is determined by the boundaries of national citizenship, statehood, and territorial sovereignty. This chapter examines refugeehood as (...) a normal by-product of the post-colonial world order, embodying the counter-history of nation-states whose internal borders, walls, and external fortifications are growingly being militarised and reinforced. Refugeehood represents an anomalous juridico-political condition that cannot be elucidated by colonial-racial binaries such as inclusion versus exclusion or rightlessness versus national citizenship. The central idea of this chapter is that, for refugees, the meaning of freedom and unfreedom are intertwined and should be approached as a dynamic relationship characterising the state of (non)-subjectivity. As political (non)-subjects, refugees call structural determinations of unfreedom into question. Refugees’ freedom is expressed in the act of flight and border crossing, irregular migratory movement, language games of resistance, and other emancipatory signifying practices by which they claim a place of refuge in the world. (shrink)

Remember Who You Are is a practical handbook of spiritual teachings based on 28 core verses from the Quran. Each verse is translated into simple English and accompanied by a teaching / reflection / commentary / examples that show you how to apply that verse in your daily life. These core verses represent the essential ideas of a universal spirituality. Muslims, Christians, Jews, and all seekers of knowledge can use them to go deeper into their own practice.

A gossip protocolGossip protocol is a procedure for sharing secrets in a network. The basic action in a gossip protocolGossip protocol is a telephone call wherein the caller and the callee exchange all the secrets they know. An agent who knows all secrets is an expert. The usual termination condition is that all agents are experts. Instead, we explore some protocols wherein the termination condition is that all agents know that all agents are experts. We call such agents super experts. (...) Additionally, we model that agents who already know that all agents are experts, do not make and do not answer calls. We also model that such protocols are common knowledgeCommon knowledge among the agents. We investigate conditions under which such gossip protocolsGossip protocol terminate, both in the synchronous case, where there is a global clock, and in the asynchronous case, where there is not. We show that a protocol with missed calls can terminate faster than the same protocol without missed calls. (shrink)

Even though Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become a widely accepted concept promoted by different stakeholders, business corporations' internal strategies, known as corporate self-regulation in most of the weak economies, respond poorly to this responsibility. Major laws relating to corporate regulation and responsibilities of these economies do not possess adequate ongoing influence to insist on corporate self-regulation to create a socially responsible corporate culture. This book describes how the laws relating to CSR could contribute to the inclusion of CSR principles (...) at the core of the corporate self-regulation of these economies in general, without being intrusive in normal business practice. It formulates a meta-regulation approach to law, particularly by converging patterns of private ordering and state control in contemporary corporate law from the perspective of a weak economy. It proposes that this approach is suitable for alleviating regulators' limited access to information and expertise, inherent limitations of prescriptive rules, ensuring corporate commitment, and enhance the self-regulatory capacity of companies. This book describes various meta-regulation strategies for laws to link social values to economic incentives and disincentives, and to indirectly influence companies to incorporate CSR principles at the core of their self-regulation strategies. It investigates this phenomenon using Bangladesh as a case study. (shrink)

How is a philosophical tradition created? What role does literary biography play in the formation of intellectual reception history? Through a detailed analysis of the lives and works of post-Avicennan philosophers, this monograph traces the intellectual history and development of the Avicennan tradition from the fifth/eleventh to the eighth/fourteenth century. Section 1 investigates the genres of Arabo-Islamic biobibliographical and prosopographical writings as a source for the history of Arabic philosophy, delineating their literary topoi, the construction of philosophical authority, and the (...) relationship of Sunnī and Twelver-Šīī Islam to Aristotelian logic and philosophy. Section 2 presents fourteen discrete biobibliographical studies with a critical inventory of the works, including those written in the neglected exegetical genres of commentary, supercommentary, gloss, and supergloss, of Avicenna's immediate disciples and the following generations of philosophers who created the Avicennan philosophical heritage in the Islamicate world.--Provided by Publisher. (shrink)

Background: The opinions of students regarding the attributes of a good nurse can make a major contribution to the planning and the conducting of professional education. There are few studies which aim at identifying the qualifications of a good nurse from the perspectives of nursing students. Objectives: To determine the opinions of first- and fourth-year nursing students concerning the ‘attributes of a good nurse’, and whether and how their views change depending on their year of study. Research design: Descriptive research. (...) Participants and research context: This study was conducted in the nursing department of a vocational school of health in the 2010/2011 academic year. The study participants consisted of first-year and intern students. A survey form was used to identify characteristics of participants, and students were asked the following open-ended question about their opinions related to the attributes of a good nurse. Ethical considerations: The permission was taken from the school administration. Informed consent was obtained, and anonymity was ensured for participating students. Findings: A total of 120 students participated in this study. Most frequently expressed attributes were ‘professional competence’ in first-year and ‘responsibility’ in fourth-year students. While first-year students placed a greater emphasis on the attributes of ‘geniality’, ‘patience’, ‘calmness’, ‘love of nursing’, ‘loyalty to nursing’ and ‘not attaching importance to material values’, fourth-year students emphasized the attributes of ‘empathy’, ‘honesty’, ‘responsibility’ and ‘scientific curiosity’ significantly more. Discussion and conclusion: Fourth-year students placed a greater emphasis on the attributes which the students are expected to acquire through a nursing program and clinical experience. However, they mentioned the attributes related to a good nurse–patient relationship and communication significantly less. Appropriate ethical training methods and good role models can help students acquire attributes that are important for the nursing profession and combine them with the attributes they already have. (shrink)

Although managers spend over twenty percent of their time in conflict management, organization theorists have provided very few guidelines to help them do their job ethically. This paper attempts to provide some guidelines so that organizational members can use the styles of handling interpersonal conflict, such as integrating, obliging, dominating, avoiding, and compromising, with their superiors, subordinates, and peers ethically and effectively. It has been argued in this paper that, in general, each style of handling interpersonal conflict is appropriate if (...) it is used to attain organization''s proper end. (shrink)

Sport is viewed as a multidimensional phenomenon. Most countries,including Muslim nations, invest heavily in sports to ensure the participationof their citizens both for recreational and competitive purposes. Indeed, theinvolvement of Muslim countries in significant multi-sport events such as theCommonwealth, the Asian, and the Olympic Games are inevitable. Therefore,a proper projection should be given to Muslim athletes as their participationreflects the identity and culture of Muslim civilizations. To date, the issue ofMuslim athlete’s involvement in sports from the notion of Islamization hasyet (...) to be elucidated by any scholar. This paper aims to scrutinize the sportssociology as an academic discipline in the Muslim majority society context.It also views the philosophy of sports participation and the dilemma facedby Muslims in sports under the light of al- Qur’ān, and Hadith. In obtainingrelevant information for this paper, we employed qualitative content analysisfrom various literature. In conclusion, this discourse of sport, Islam, and society has potentially triggered the new social movement that accommodated the needs of the Muslim community towards sports participation and physical activity. (shrink)

Using intelligent software agents in the world of e-commerce may give rise to many difficulties especially with regard to the validity of agent-based contracts and the attribution of liability for the actions of such agents. This paper thus critically examines the main approaches that have been advanced to deal with software agents, and proposes the gradual approach as a way of overcoming the difficulties of such agents by adopting different standards of responsibility depending whether the action is done autonomously by (...) an unattended software, or whether it is done automatically by an attended software. Throughout this paper, it is argued that the introduction of “one size” regulation without sufficient consideration of the nature of software agents or the environments in which they communicate might lead to a divorce between the legal theory and technological practice. It is also concluded that it is incorrect to deal with software agents as if they were either legal persons or nothing without in any way accounting for the fact that there are various kinds of such agents endowed with different levels of autonomy, mobility, intelligence, and sophistication. However, this paper is not intended to provide the final answer to all problematic questions posed by the emergence of intelligent software agents, but is designed to provide some kind of temporary relief until such agents reach a more reliable and autonomous level whereby law begins to regard them, rather than their users, as the source of the relevant action. (shrink)

ObjectiveDignified care protects the patient’s rights and provides appropriate ethical care while improving the quality of nursing care. In this context, the opinions of nurses and patients who receive nursing care about dignified care are important. The aim of this study was to explore the opinions and experiences of Turkish patients and nurses about respectful care of human dignity.MethodsThis descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Turkey. Participants were inpatients at cardiology, neurology and neurosurgery clinics and nurses working in these clinics. (...) The data for the study were collected from face-to-face interviews using questionnaires. The percentages of characteristics and preferences of the participants were calculated, and the results were analysed using statistical tests.ResultsA total of 150 patients and 78 nurses participated in the study. The patients stated that the protection of their rights was the most important factor for dignified nursing care. The nurses stated that being careful to not expose the patients’ body and being respectful of the patients’ privacy were important in dignified nursing care. The age of the patient, duration of the disease, number of hospitalisations and length of time the nurses had been working at the clinic caused significant changes in the factors considered important in dignified care.ConclusionsOur findings provide a perspective on dignified care in the Turkish healthcare setting. There were some differences between patients and nurses in the factors considered important for dignified care. The discussion with patients and nurses related to care and practices that protect or detract from human dignity can provide insights to ethics. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Books ReceivedAquinas on Being. By Anthony Kenny. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2002. Pp. x + 212. Price not given.Before and after Avicenna: Proceedings of the First Conference of the Avicenna Study Group. Edited by David C. Reisman, with the assistance of Ahmed H. al Rahim. Leiden: Brill, 2003. Pp. xix + 302. Price not given.Beside Still Waters: Jews, Christians, and the Way of the Buddha. Edited by Harold Kasimow, (...) John P. Keenan, and Linda Klepinger Keenan. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2003. Pp. 284. Paper $14.95.The Buddhist Unconscious: The ālaya-vijñāna in the Context of Indian Buddhist Thought. By William S. Waldron. London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003. Pp. xvi + 269. Price not given.Comparative Political Philosophy: Studies under the Upas Tree. Edited by Anthony J. Parel and Ronald C. Keith. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2003. Pp. xxxviii + 260. Paper $26.95.The Confucian Quest for Order: The Origin and Formation of the Political Thought of Xun Zi. By Masayuki Sato. Leiden: Brill, 2003. Pp. xviii + 500. Price not given.Gathering the Meanings: The Compendium of Categories: The Arthaviniścaya Sūtra and Its Commentary Nibandhana. Translated from the Sanskrit by N. H. Samtani. Berkeley: Dharma Publishing, 2002. Pp. xxxiv + 390. Price not given.I Have Arrived, I Am Home: Celebrating Twenty Years of Plum Village Life. By Thich Nhat Hanh. Berkeley: Parallax Press, 2003. Pp. 253. Paper $25.00.Identity and the Moral Life. By Mrinal Miri. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2003. Pp. xvii + 132. Hardcover Rs 645.00.Indian Philosophers and Postmodern Thinkers: Dialogues on the Margins of Culture. By Carl Olson. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2002. Pp. xv + 331. Hardcover Rs 950.00.Islamic Humanism. By Lenn E. Goodman. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Pp. xiii + 273. Price not given.Letting Go: The Story of Zen Master Tōsui. Translated by Peter Haskel. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2001. Pp. xv + 167. Hardcover $45.00. Paper $16.95.A Life Journey to the East: Sinological Studies in Memory of Giuliano Bertuccioli (1923-2001). Edited by Antonino Forte and Federico Masini. Kyoto: Scuola Italiana di Studi sull'Asia Orientale, 2002. Pp. xxxv + 280. Price not given.The Measure of Things: Humanism, Humility and Mystery. By David E. Cooper. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2002. Pp. ix + 372. Price not given. [End Page 277]Mencius, Hume and the Foundations of Ethics. By Xiusheng Liu. Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2003. Pp. vii + 204. Price not given.Monks and Monarchs, Kinship and Kingship: Tanqian in Sui Buddhism and Politics. By Chen Jinhua. Kyoto: Scuola Italiana di Studi sull'Asia Orientale, 2002. Pp. xiii + 310. Price not given.Music in the Sky: The Life, Art, and Teachings of the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje. By Michele Martin. Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 2003. Pp. 351. Paper $18.95, U.K. £12.95.New Confucianism: A Critical Examination. Edited by John Makeham. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. Pp. 262. Hardcover $55.00.On the Boundaries of Theological Tolerance in Islam: Abū Hāmid Al-Ghāzalī's Faysal al-Tafriqa Bayna al-Islām wa al-Zandaqa. By Sherman A. Jackson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. Pp. xiv + 156. Hardcover Rs 295.00.Pandita Ramabai's American Encounter: The Peoples of the United States (1889). By Pandita Ramabai and translated and edited by Meera Kosambi. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003. Pp. xi + 284. Hardcover $59.95. Paper $29.95.Parmenides of Elea: A Verse Translation with Interpretative Essays and Commentary to the Text. By Martin J. Henn. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 2003. Pp. 147. Hardcover $59.95.Philosophes taoïstes, tome II: Huainan Zi, texte traduit, présenté et annoté sous la direction de Charles le Blanc et de Rémi Mathieu. Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 2003. Pp. lxxxiii + 1182. Hardcover €56,90.The Philosophy and Ethics of the Vīraśaiva Community. By Dan A. Chekki. Lewiston, New York: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2003. Pp. xxv + 287. Hardcover $119.95.Poems of Hanshan. Translated by Peter Hobson with introduction by T. H. Barrett. Walnut Creek, California: AltaMira Press, 2003. Pp. viii + 151. Hardcover $65.00. Paper $19.95.Psychoanalysis and Buddhism: An Unfolding Dialogue. Edited by Jeremy D. Safran. Boston... (shrink)

İyi bir yaşamın nasıl mümkün olabileceğinin erdemle açıklanması, erdemin insan yaşamındaki önemini göstermektedir. Dolayısıyla insan fenomenlerini konu alan felsefede geniş bir yer tutan erdem kavramı özellikle etik alanında önemli bir araştırma konusudur. Etiğin tarihi geçmişinde, etik sorunlara kararmayan bir ışık tutmuş olan Kant’ın etik görüşüne genel olarak bakıldığında, erdem kavramının pek ön planda olmadığı görülmektedir. Bununla birlikte, Kant’ın erdem ile ilgili söyledikleri, erdemin ahlak yasasından daha az önemli olmadığını göstermektedir. Bu çalışmanın amacı, Kant’ın erdem temelli bir etik kurmadığı için klasik (...) bir erdem etikçisi olmadığı veya etiğinde erdemin yerini ve önemini göstererek bir erdem etikçisi olduğu tartışmasının pek de anlamlı olmadığını göstermektir. Çünkü bu tartışma, Kant etiğini bir yere taşımaz. Bu amaç doğrultusunda, Kant’ı, bir erdem etikçisi olduğu ya da olmadığı tartışmasına sokarak kategorize etmeden, Kant etiğinde erdemin yeri ve önemini ortaya koymak amacıyla, Ahlak Metafiziği adlı eserinin _Erdem Öğretisi_ bölümünde yapılan erdem tanımlamaları ve açıklamaları ile “en yüksek iyi” (_summum bonum_) kavramı ve erdem ödevleri ele alınacaktır. (shrink)