Random noise in the neurobiology of animals allows for the generation of alternative possibilities for action. In lower animals, this shows up as behavioral freedom. Animals are not causally predetermined by prior events going back in a causal chain to the origin of the universe. In higher animals, randomness can be consciously invoked to generate surprising new behaviors. In humans, creative new ideas can be critically evaluated and deliberated. On reflection, options can be rejected and sent back for “second thoughts” (...) before a final responsible decision and action. When the indeterminism is limited to the early stage of a mental decision, the later decision itself can be described as adequately determined. This is called the two-stage model, first the “free” generation of ideas, then an adequately determinism evaluation and selection process we call “will.”. (shrink)

Teachers help steady modern democracy by teaching children the limits of liberty and by cultivating the social virtues -- trust, cooperation, helpfulness, and the like -- upon which civil society depends. We need not only to recognize this but also to avoid education policies that undermine their willingness and ability to do so.

When Dr. van Fleteren writes of the articles I criticized as dating from some twenty years ago, the unwary reader might infer that my criticism of those articles was, for its part, relatively recent. The fact is, however, that when the two connected articles I eventually criticized appeared in the volumes of Augustinian Studies, I wrote this reply while Fr. Robert Russell, of happy memory, was still at the helm, and was promised publication in the near future. Meanwhile, however, (...) Fr. Russell had the discourtesy to move on to a more intimate acquaintance with Augustine than any of us on this confused planet can boast of, and someone sowed cockle into field he had tended: in unaccountable fashion my article seems to have disappeared. Only a recent letter of inquiry on my part, and Fr. Allan Fitzgerald’s understanding reply, resulted in this renewal of dialogue between Dr. van Fleteren and me. Let me assure both Dr. van Fleteren and Fr. Fitzgerald that I am grateful for giving it exactly that form, a courteous dialogue. (shrink)

All insects appear to have a transport lipoprotein in the hemolymph (blood) that is responsible for moving hydrophobic materials through aqueous compartments. This has been called lipophorin because it is believed to be a reversible transport shuttle. Since most insects undergo some degree of metamorphosis from larval stages to the adult, the need to transport hydrophobic materials or the nature of these materials may change in the course of the life span. This is especially marked in the case of the (...) holometabolous insects – those which undergo drastic change of form, e.g. caterpillar‐pupa‐adult moth. We have found that lipophorin undergoes a molecular metamorphosis paralleling that of the insect. (shrink)

This edited collection of original essays focuses on the political dimension of the debate about our treatment of nonhuman animals.

This chapter compares the social behaviour of human hunter-gatherers with that of the better-studied chimpanzee species, Pan troglodytes, in an attempt to pinpoint the unique features of human social evolution. Although hunter-gatherers and chimpanzees living in central Africa have similar body weights, humans live at much lower population densities due to their greater dependence on predation. Human foraging parties have longer duration than those of chimpanzees, lasting hours rather than minutes, and a higher level of mutual dependence, through the division (...) of labour between men and women ; which is in turn related to pair-bonding, and meat sharing to reduce the risk of individual hunters' failure on any particular day. The band appears to be a uniquely human social unit that resolves the tension between greater dispersion and greater interdependence. (shrink)

"A Crossroad book." Bibliographical references included in "Notes" (p. 189-192).

Now this is disastrous, not only because the richest and most profound aspect of being is lost, but also because such an approach cannot avoid falsifying our understanding of the real. For only in the concrete experience of self--not a knowledge of a certain object that might be so designated, but as the absolutely incom- municable presence of the I --can the significance of being as an absolute and unconditioned value, which at the same time founds a radical plurality whose (...) unique terms resist absorption into a common denominator, be properly grasped. The idea of being envelopes the value of what is most intimate in the subject; the I who thinks being, and the act by which I think it, and my liberty which takes its stand in its presence, and whatever is most interior and most singular in my personal attitude--all this is being, and in being. And instead of relegating the subject to the investigations of some other branch of study, the self, we must insist, occupies a privileged place in metaphysics. It is the manifestation par excellence in which being presents itself to us as an absolute value and first reveals what it means really to exist. (shrink)

This paper investigates the impact of activism on a large, powerful corporation in Tasmania. Gunns Ltd was a large woodchip processor in Tasmania that fought a long-running battle with environmental activists regarding Gunns’ logging and processing activities. The study focuses on events in 2004–2005, when Gunns applied to build a pulp mill in rural northern Tasmania and began a legal case against activists. The research question is whether there is clear statistical evidence that these events were important, as is widely (...) believed, in the ultimate failure of Gunns in, just 6 years after being the largest and one of the most financially successful Tasmanian companies. We use a mixed methods approach that combines a detailed narrative informed by theory, to examine issues of corporate social responsibility and ethical behaviour, with an econometric time series analysis of the impact of activism on the market value of Gunns. Our analysis supports the contention that the events in 2004–2005 played a significant part in the decline of the long-run market value of Gunns over the subsequent period, through to its failure in 2011. We discuss the underlying causes for Gunns’ failure in terms of agency, stakeholder, legitimacy and leadership theories. Research frequently assesses effects such as those in the Gunns’ case through solely qualitative means. This paper integrates a quantitative analysis into a detailed qualitative narrative and theoretical interpretation of events, to provide additional precision to its findings. It contributes to research in CSR and the impact of activism. (shrink)

Founded or unfounded, these objections have not as yet received an adequate answer, i.e., an explanation of the possibility of a philosophy of subjectivity as constituting a reasonable addition to the philosophia perennis, a certain broadening of its perspective, without amounting instead to a simple jettisoning of the thought and gains of centuries. The writings of a Marcel, for example, do not provide such an explanation. Composed wholly within the perspective that is in question, and a little too cavalier in (...) their dismissal of scholastic thought, they cannot really come to grips with that thought, or thereby allay its reasonable suspicions. Even the work of P. de Finance is not wholly satisfactory on this point. As a reviewer of his latest book points out, P. de Finance makes constant and brilliant use of insights gained from the perspective of subjectivity, but he skirts around, without ever really meeting head on, the problems it raises. (shrink)

The author argues that all governments are morally obliged to support international institutions that advocate crosscultural and global public goods to advance the fairness principle.

The central institutions of the United Nations have substantially lost moral authority since the Millennium Summit of 2000.

In their article “Just War and Unjust Soldiers: American Public Opinion on the Moral Equality of Combatants,” Scott Sagan and Benjamin Valentino argue that the American public evaluates soldiers’ wartime actions more according to whether the war they are fighting was initiated justly, than on their actions during warfare. In this respect, their views are more similar to those of revisionist philosophers than to those of traditional just war theorists. Before leaping to broad conclusions from their survey, it should be (...) replicated. If the findings hold in the replication, intriguing questions could be asked about comparative cross-national attitudes and about the relationship between democracy and war. (shrink)

Irish Travellers constitute a pre-demographic-shift population living among a post-demographic-shift one. Their socio-medico profile identifies them as largely on fast life-history trajectories. In addition, they are strongly religious, highly sexually behaviorally dimorphic, with strong traditions of male-male competition and quasi-symbolic bride capture. Their male-male competitions thus allow for the comparative testing of a number of interesting theories pertaining to the nature and function of types of violence in society. As a pilot study, we used expert raters to analyze a number (...) of real-life bare-knuckle competitions in terms of the support said spectacles offered to theories of this sort of violence as reinforcing ideas of antisociality, hierarchical promotion, intersexual signaling, or maintenance of within-group equality. We found good evidence to support theories of within-group, prosocial hierarchical functions for these contests. Limitations and implications for future research, such as direct measurement of fitness, are discussed. (shrink)

Communication by scientists with policy makers and attentive publics raises ethical issues. Scientists need to decide how to communicate knowledge effectively in a way that nonscientists can understand and use, while remaining honest scientists and presenting estimates of the uncertainty of their inferences. They need to understand their own ethical choices in using scientific information to communicate to audiences. These issues were salient in the Fourth Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change with respect to possible sea level rise (...) from disintegration of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets. Due to uncertainty, the reported values of projected sea level rise were incomplete, potentially leading some relevant audiences to underestimate future risk. Such judgments should be made in a principled rather than an ad hoc manner. Five principles for scientific communication under such conditions are important: honesty, precision, audience relevance, process transparency, and specification of uncertainty about conclusions. Some of these principles are of intrinsic importance while others are merely instrumental and subject to trade-offs among them. Scientists engaged in assessments under uncertainty should understand these principles and which trade-offs are acceptable. (shrink)

We make three points. First, even if Finlay et al.'s proposed developmental mechanisms hold, there remains great scope for selection on specific brain structures. Second, the positive covariance among the size of brain structures provides far less support for the proposed developmental mechanisms than Finlay et al. acknowledge. Third, even if the proposed mechanisms are the primary size determinants for most brain structures, these structures should not be considered.

Much research has explored the physiological, energetic, environmental, and psychological factors that influence pacing in endurance events. Although this research has generally neglected the role of psychological variation across individuals, recent studies have hinted at its importance. Here we conducted an online survey of over 1,300 marathon runners, testing whether any of five psychological constructs—competitiveness, goal achievement, risk taking in pace (RTP), domain-specific risk taking, and willingness to suffer in the marathon—predicted slowing in runners’ most recent marathons. Analyses revealed that (...) RTP—the extent to which runners agreed that they began the marathon at a pace that was so fast that it would jeopardize their capacity to maintain this pace throughout the event—was a robust predictor of marathon slowing. RTP proved a substantial predictor even in regression models controlling for the other psychological constructs, training, experience, and other known pacing correlates. This result suggests that marathoners consider trade-offs when making pacing decisions, and that individuals vary in their pacing decision making. (shrink)

The elaboration of a complete and original system of philosophy in any age demands an intellect of great scope and power. In an age like our own, which has become increasingly hostile to systematic thought, it demands a good deal of courage as well. The Modes of Being of Mr. Weiss proves that he possesses both to a high degree.

The difficulty with this point of view and the reason why I characterize it as false do not spring from the mere fact that thought is abstract while experience is concrete. For, on the one hand, the abstract character of thought need not be interpreted negatively, as leaving out the rich variety and profusion of the concrete world in favor of some bare common denominator. Concreteness itself can be seen as a limitation which thought overcomes.ion then becomes an enriching process, (...) a process by which the mind, out of its own superior abundance, illumines and completes the data presented to it, so that from the welter and confusion of particular instances it is able to grasp the universal and valid-for-all, and from the fugitive contingency of the concrete to redeem the abidingly true. In this light, abstractiveness is not a vice but a virtue of thought and, far from weakening the intellectualist position, serves rather to reinforce it. (shrink)

This article explores the husserlian and heideggerian positions on intentional analysis in an attempt to understand the implications of each. Husserl, For whom intentionality is one and the same with consciousness, Brackets all worldly phenomena. However, Transcendental ego ("cogito-Sum" intention) is somewhat inadequate as proof that a thinking being must exist. Heidegger, Like husserl, Accentuates intentionality, But extends it beyond cognition. Intention is pre-Cognitive. Heidegger, Whose ontological analysis enables being to manifest itself in actual existence, Thus considers beings as they (...) actually do exist to be of primary importance. (shrink)

We extend Benenson et al.'s hypothesis from the individual level to the societal level. Because women have highly limited reproductive rates, societies have generally prioritized female survival and regarded males as expendable. We describe various lines of evidence that are consistent with this hypothesis, and we offer additional predictions about differential attitudes toward male versus female endangerment.