The Promise of Phenomenology: Posthumous Papers of John Wild includes articles that remained unpublished during Wild's lifetime, some of which he was preparing for publication, a journal that he kept, as well as a masterful exposition and commentary on Emmanuel Levinas' book, Totality and Infinity. This book gives a lively picture of a master philosopher at work conveying the vitality and importance of philosophy to everyday life.

First published in 1979. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Despite criticism in the wake of the GFC, history shows that theory and curricula adapt to rectify any disconnects between theory, curricula, and practice. Finance theory unquestionably has antecedents in economics, accounting, legal theory, and psychology. Some theoretical developments—including the moral hazard consequences of limited liability—have yet to filter through to many texts and curricula, which also omit explanations of uncertainty; incomplete and optimal contracting; contagion; and behavioural finance. Student learning outcomes could be enhanced if universities, perhaps in a final (...) year, cross-disciplinary “capstone” course, empowered students to understand the financial documentation evidencing sophisticated transactions; map relevant cash flows and wealth transfers; and recognise Ponzi schemes, the ethics of stakeholder wealth transfers, the conditions for contagion, and incentives for adverse selection and moral hazard in practice. (shrink)

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse the extent to which information communication technologies have worked as instruments of perpetuating social exclusion in developing countries.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses theoretical and conceptual analysis method based on an extensive survey of literature. It greatly draws from the theoretical and empirical insights of social policy sub disciplines of social inclusion/exclusion and social aspects of ICTs.FindingsThe paper finds that ICTs in developing countries work to further social marginalization and exclusion. The argument is that developing (...) countries already experience high levels of social exclusion and as a result, ICTs deepen this exclusion.Originality/valueTheoretically, the paper contributes to the development of literature on the impacts of ICTs in developing countries which are in most cases only assumed. The paper is also pivotal for policy analysis purposes as it informs policy makers on appropriate interventions that can ensure sustainable integration of the socially excluded groups in developing countries. In addition, this paper creates a research sub area for further empirical analysis. (shrink)

Hastings Center Report, Volume 52, Issue 1, Page 51-58, January/February 2022.

This dissertation focuses on the massive modularity hypothesis defended by evolutionary psychologists---the hypothesis that the human mind is composed largely or perhaps even entirely of special purpose information processing organs or "modulees" that have been shaped by natural selection to handle the sorts of recurrent information processing problems that confronted our hunter-gatherer forebears. ;In discussing MMH, I have three central goals. First, I aim to clarify the hypothesis and develop theoretically useful notions of "module" and "domain-specificity" that can play the (...) roles required of them by evolutionary psychology. Second, I aim to evaluate the plausibility MMH in the light of the broad range of arguments that have been developed and defended in the literature. I argue that all the main, general arguments both for and against MMH are unsatisfactory. Moreover, I suggest that if the case for MMH is to be made, it will only result from the successive accumulation of specific, empirical evidence for the existence of particular modules. ;Finally, I address a range of issues that arise from evolutionary psychological approaches to reasoning and rationality. Much of what evolutionary psychologists have said about human reasoning is in response to a widely discussed "pessimistic" interpretation that has been developed and defended by Kahneman, Tversky and their followers. According to this view, human beings are prone to systematic deviations from appropriate norms of rationality because they lack the underlying competence to handle a wide array of reasoning tasks. Evolutionary psychologists appear to reject this pessimistic interpretation in favor of the view that we possess a wide range of reasoning modules that employ rational rules of inference. I argue, however, that there is no genuine disagreement between evolutionary psychologists and their opponents over the extent to which human beings are rational. I also discuss the distinction between competence efforts and performance efforts. Although this distinction has played a central role in recent discussions of human rationality, I argue that if MMH is true, then we face insurmountable problems in trying to draw the performance error/competence error distinction. (shrink)

This reprint of a collection of essays on problems concerning future generations examines questions such as whether intrinsic value should be placed on the preservation of mankind, what are our obligations to posterity, and whether potential people have moral rights.

On the origin of the cinematic odyssey Kubrick remarks: 'I do not remember when I got the idea to do the film. I became interested in extraterrestrial intelligence in the universe, and was convinced that the universe was *full* of intelligent life, and so it seemed time to make a film'. But as to the confusion surrounding the film upon its release, and in particular many thinking Floyd had gone to the 'planet' Clavius he said: 'Why they think there's a (...) planet Clavius I'll never know. But they hear him [Floyd] asked, 'Where are you going?', and he says, 'I'm going to Clavius'. With many people -- *boom* -- that one word registers in their heads and they don't look at fifteen shots of the moon; they don't see he's going to the Moon'. At the same time he rhetorically asked: 'How could we possibly appreciate the Mona Lisa if Leonardo had written at the bottom of the canvas: 'The lady is smiling because she is hiding a secret from her lover'. This would shackle the viewer to reality, and I don't want this to happen to _2001_'. (shrink)

University finance curricula have been criticized in the financial press in the wake of the GFC for ignoring the ethical dimensions of financial decision-making in practice. Many practitioners experience moral dilemmas about whether the broader “public interest” objectives of legal or accounting regulation, for example, should at times be sacrificed in favour of fulfilling an inconsistent upper management objective. Moreover, many propositions in finance are both positive and normative. For example, financial maxima and optima can be discussed only for a (...) given distribution of wealth between relevant parties: shareholder wealth can be maximized, but only subject to a “given” constraint determined by the ethical norms of the society in which the firm operates. Assuming students’ sensitivity to ethical issues can be enhanced, ethics should be embedded within finance curricula, together with a final year, capstone course on “Ethical Investing” in the degree. (shrink)

Neural crest cells are multipotent progenitors, capable of producing diverse cell types upon differentiation. Recent studies have identified significant heterogeneity in both the fates produced and genes expressed by different premigratory crest cells. While these cells may be specified toward particular fates prior to migration, transplant studies show that some may still be capable of respecification at this time. Here we summarize evidence that extracellular signals in the local environment may act to specify premigratory crest and thus generate diversity in (...) the population. Three main classes of signals–Wnts, BMP2/BMP4 and TGFβ1,2,3–have been shown to directly influence the production of particular neural crest cell fates, and all are expressed near the premigratory crest. This system may therefore provide a good model for integration of multiple signaling pathways during embryonic cell fate specification. BioEssays 22:708–716, 2000. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (shrink)