В монографии осуществляется философско-этическое исследование параметров нравственной деятельности человека в бизнес-сфере. Для специалистов.

This study consists of a series of essays on the metaphysics and epistemology of Plato's Philebus. My chief aim is to determine to what extent Plato maintains the theory of Forms in that dialogue. Because it is generally thought to be a late dialogue, the Philebus is a key to setting a long-standing debate about Plato's philosophical development. Scholars disagree on whether the theory of Forms is maintained in Plato's late dialogues. Most recent interpretations of the Philebus claim that it (...) is incompatible with the theory of Forms. My study shows, however, that the Philebus reaffirms the ontological and epistemological claims of that theory. To secure my thesis I make extensive comparisons with Plato's middle dialogues, particularly the Phaedo, Symposium, Phaedrus, Republic, and Cratylus. This sort of comparison is crucial because Plato's actual descriptions of Forms differ in significant ways from standard accounts of his theory. I show that the distinctions between being and becoming and between knowledge and opinion, which were essential to the theory of Forms in the middle dialogues, are reaffirmed in the Philebus. As in the middle dialogues, Forms in the Philebus are the prime bearers of the attributes their names describe. Forms are logical causes of the attributes of sensibles, and each Form is a unit having many sensible participants. Plato's reaffirmation of the essential features of the theory of Forms in the Philebus shows that he did not substantially revise that theory in dialogues after the Parmenides. (shrink)

Although Plato's notion of spiritual pregnancy has received a great deal of critical attention in recent years, the development of the metaphor in the Symposium has not been fully analysed. Close attention to the details of the image reveals two important points which have so far been overlooked: There are two quite different types of spiritual pregnancy in the Symposium: a ‘male’ type, which is analogous to the build-up to physical ejaculation, and a ‘female’ type, which is analogous to the (...) physical experience of pregnancy as normally understood. (shrink)

Background Informed consent is a requirement for all research. It is not, however, clear how much information is sufficient to make an informed decision about participation in research. Information on an online questionnaire about childhood development was provided through an unfolding electronic participant sheet in three levels of information. Methods 552 participants, who completed the web-based survey, accessed and spent time reading the participant information sheet (PIS) between July 2008 and November 2009. The information behaviour of the participants was investigated. (...) The first level contained less information than might be found on a standard PIS, the second level corresponded to a standard PIS, and the third contained more information than on a standard PIS. The actual time spent on reading the information provided in three incremental levels and the participants' evaluation of the information were calculated. Results 77% of the participants chose to access the first level of information, whereas 12% accessed the first two levels, 6% accessed all three levels of information and 23% participated without accessing information. The most accessed levels of information were those that corresponded to the average reading times. Conclusion The brief information provided in the first level was sufficient for participants to make informed decisions, while a sizeable minority of the participants chose not to access any information at all. This study adds to the debate about how much information is required to make a decision about participation in research and the results may help inform the future development of information sheets by providing data on participants' actual needs when deciding about questionnaire surveys. (shrink)

How to introduce 'politics' as a specific concept within a deconstructive style of thinking? In order to answer this question, this contribution compares Derrida with Laclau. According to the former the starting-point of a deconstructive style of thinking is différance. It links together the economic detour of homecoming and the relation to otherness. Laclau's analysis of politics as hegemonization within a situation of undecidability presupposes this notion of différance and can therefore be useful in introducing politics within a deconstructive style (...) of thinking. But there still is a major difference between Derrida and Laclau's decisionism: if différance as the relation without relation of economy and otherness cannot avoid decisions based on power in order to stabilize the social, these decisions are always marked by passivity and therefore deconstructible in the name of 'justice' that exceeds politics even if it takes place nowhere but within politics. Key Words: decisionism • . Derrida • . hegemony • . Laclau • . law. (shrink)

Some recent trends of modern biology, which seem to have a most consequential influence to the further treatment of the problem of the origin and evolution of flowering plants, are shortly reviewed in this article.Several new discoveries and observations about pollinating insects revealed to some extent the mystery of the evolution of flower types. The deciphering of the definite signs and codes of communication among social insects and the interpretation of a well developed sign language of bees belong to the (...) most remarkable achievements of modern biology indeed. Besides its revolutionary impulse in the field of animal behavior these discoveries helped to solve several problems in the evolution of flowering plants.An attempt is made in this article to classify the existing main flower types according to their evolutionary tendency from primitive → simple → radiate → protected → zygomorphic flowers In this assortment of flower types is reflected the historical development of flowering plants since their early beginning in Cretaceous period till their domination in the recent world vegetation .In this evolution of flower types is mirrored further the progressive evolvement of numerous senses of the pollinating insects. The pollinators of the Middle Mesozoicum were surrounded by primitive flower types and could distinguish but some primitive colors like white, yellow and green.Two different methods of classification of flowering plants are used in this study. A typological assortment of flowers according to their ecological characteristics is co-ordinated with the taxonomic classification of phylogenetic groups . The evolution of angiosperms can be studied more successfully, if both the typological and taxonomic trends of this groups are analyzed.Quelques nouvelles découvertes et essais sur la dissémination du pollen par les insectes sont discutés du point de vue de l'évolution des types de fleur. L'activité sélective et la stabilité de ces insectes se trouvent être des facteurs les plus conséquents dans l'évolution des types de fleurs.Deux méthodes différentes de classification des plantes angiospermes sont employées dans cette étude. Un assortiment typologique de fleurs suivant leurs caractéristiques écologiques est coordiné avec la classification systématique des groupes phylogénétiques . L'évolution des angiospermes peut être étudiée avec plus de succès si les méthodes typologiques et systématiqes sont appliquées.Es werden in diesem Aufsatz einige neue Versuchsergebnisse über die wechselseitigen Beziehungen zwischen den pollenübertragenden Insekten und der Entwicklungsgeschichte der Blütentypen näher erörtert.Es sind unter diesen Umständen zwei verschiedene Arbeitsverfahren für die Klassifikation der Blütenpflanzen angewandt worden. Eine typologische Einteilung nach den ökologischen Merkmalen und eine systematische Schilderung nach den phylogenetischen Gruppen . Die Anwendung von diesen beiden Methoden gestattet uns eine bessere Übersicht über die Entwicklungsgeschichte der Blütenpflanzen. (shrink)

A survey of 106 medical students assessing their interest in and attitudes to medical ethics in the curriculum is reported by the authors. Results indicate that 64 per cent of the students rated the importance of medical ethics to good medical care as high or critical and 66 per cent desired to learn more about the topic. However, in reports of patient encounters identifying ethical issues, less than six per cent of the students reported a frequency of more than one (...) such patient encounter per week. The students also demonstrated a greater awareness of more obvious ethical issues than of more subtle, less publicised issues. When asked how medical ethics should be taught, the students clearly affirmed a desire for an integrated exposure to the subject throughout the medical curriculum. Possible implications of these findings for medical education are discussed. (shrink)

The history of the thesis of the guise of the good between Kant and Anscombe is not well understood. This article examines a notable disagreement over the thesis during this period, between Green and Sidgwick. It shows that Green accepts versions of the thesis concerning action and desire in one sense of 'desire', and that Sidgwick rejects the thesis concerning both action and desire. It then considers why Green accepts the thesis, and assesses Sidgwick's criticism of Green. Despite the appearance (...) of a mere clash of intuitions, an interesting rationale for the thesis can be found in Green’s theory of free will and moral responsibility, of which I defend a broadly compatibilist interpretation. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:BOOK REVIEWS 377 Parmenides: Being, Bounds, and Logic. By S. AUSTIN. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986. Pp. xi + 203. $20.00. Within carefully drawn limits Austin conducts a rigorous analysis of Parmenides's poem that is both creative and forceful. His analysis reveals a logical structure to the poem that is more intricate and subtle than has previously been acknowledged. The result is a deeper insight into Parmenides 's (...) accomplishments in logic and methodology. Austin's view is that Parmenides first establishes criteria for the formation of judgments, and then uses a consciously systematic and comprehensive method to determine the sort of judgments that can describe being. Thus, Austin argues, all the arguments and distinctions of the " Truth " section-and to some extent those of " Opinion "-are necessary for a complete description of being. The argumentation is rigorous and Austin's thesis is certainly plausible, though some modifications are in order. The charge of anachronism presents the most fundamental challenge to Austin's thesis. For him, Parmenides is not only the "first logician" and " ontologist ", but the " founder of Western rational theology as well as of scientific explanation." These accolades are commonplace, but nonethe less misleading. More serious is Austin's claim that Parmenides employs the principles of noncontradiction and excluded middle, and displays an understanding-albeit a partial one-of the functions of negation, double negation, copula and predicate. Austin sees countless anticipations of Parmenides's successors from Plato to the present, and has no qualms about rendering parts of the poem in contemporary philosophical jargon. For example, the phrase "not the same" in fr. 8.22 should, on Austin's reading, be taken to mean, " having its numerical nonidentity secured by means of qualitative difference" (p. 88). Austin recognizes the charge of anachronism, but believes his interpretation best accounts for the poem's logical structure. More specific anticipations of Plato and Aristotle are tackled in chapter 5. Chapter 1 ("Why Not 'Is Not'~") contains an ingenious solution to a problem that has puzzled scholars and students alike for centuries. The goddess of Parmenides's poem proclaims (fr. 2) : "that it is not and that it is right for it not to be, this I point out to you as a completely uninformative track." Why, then, do nearly all the signposts of being in fr. 8 use negative language and indirect prooH This problem, Austin suggests, has not been sufficiently appreciated. Austin shows forcefully that no interpretation of fr. 8 can stand which explains away the goddess 's use of negative language. Austin's own explanation results from careful scrutiny of the grammar of predications and assertions in fr. 8. Curiously, of all the negative expressions in fr. 8, the expression ovK e. (shrink)

L'art, loin des habitudes qui figent tout réel élan créateur, est la jeunesse du monde. Il a tout à créer. Tout à construire, tout à proposer. Les temps de l'art mimétique comme ceux de l'art visionnaire sont révolus, pour laisser place à ceux de l'intuition. Cet ouvrage revendique ainsi la liberté de s'imposer des règles, de nouvelles règles et préconise un art de l'intuition, un art de la sensibilité, qui puisse s'exprimer avec spontanéité, une spontanéité qu'il n'est possible d'obtenir qu'après (...) un long travail. L'art ne doit plus être pensé comme une intention. Suivant ce principe, le scénario dans le récit doit être abandonné. Du point de vue de la forme, la poésie doit pouvoir mélanger dans le même poème vers libres. vers en prose, versets et alexandrins, selon le souhait du poète. De même, il faut oser une autre forme de peinture, qui ne soit ni figurative, ni abstraite, mais intuitive, née du flou ou de l'éblouissement, de la fulgurance intuitive! Franchir les frontières, à commencer par celles de l'intolérance, en faisant dialoguer et se croiser différentes disciplines artistiques, pour aller vers un espace pluriartistique, ouvre ainsi de nouvelles perspectives de création."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

A practical experiment using coincidence techniques is suggested to test the validity of the following concepts:(1) wave packet reduction and(2) the measurement-uncertainty principle for position and momentum. The suggested experiment uses the time-of-flight method to determine an electron's momentum and a coincident photon, emitted from a system excited by the electron, to determine its initial position. It is shown that this method does constitute a simultaneous measurement of position and momentum for a single system. Also, it is pointed out that (...) the traditional statement of the measurementuncertainty principle must be slightly modified even within the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. (shrink)

A directional trend of floral evolution, due to the selective activity of pollinating insects, birds and bats, is here described and discussed. Six clearly distinguishable levels in the evolution of flower types are correlated with six corresponding stages of sensory development of pollinating insects . This sequence of floral evolution was used for classification of present-day flower types , and for identification of flower imprints in fossilized clays, muds, and fine sands. It was also used as a practical yardstick to (...) determine the relative sensory ability of various groups of pollinating insects to distinguish flower types .This zoophilous trend of floral evolution is directed towards improvement of fine biochemical qualities of higher plants, and in this respect it is comparable to the evolution of cultivated plants of man. In both cases better looking individuals of the most useful species are preserved for further crossings and selections, whereas individuals of poor quality are neglected or rejected. During a roughly estimated 200 million years, the selective activity of pollinating insects has produced a variety of plants with high biochemical qualities. These have served man as progenitors of presentday cultivated plants. By similar reasoning, it took prehistoric man about 4,000 years to develop existing cultivated plants from wild progenitors.Un cours directionnel de l'évolution des fleurs, résultant de l'activité sélective des insectes polliniseurs, oiseaux et chauve-souris est ici décrit et discuté.Six niveaux clairement distincts dans l'évolution des types de fleurs sont associés à six étappes correspondantes dans le développement sensoriel des insectes polliniseurs . Cette séquence dans l'évolution des fleurs a été utilisée pour la classification des types de fleurs actuels , et pour l'identification des empreintes de fleurs sur les argiles, boues et sables fins, fossiles. Elle a été également utilisée comme étalon de référence pour déterminer les capacités sensorielles à distinguer les types de fleurs de divers groupes d'insectes polliniseurs .Ce cours zoophile de l'évolution des fleurs tend à une amélioration des propriétés biochimiques fines des plantes supérieures et, en ce sens, est comparable à l'évolution des plantes cultivées par l'homme. Dans les deux cas, les individus les plus beaux des espèces les plus utiles sont mis à l'abri de nouveaux croisements ou sélections, tandis que les individus de mauvaise qualité sont négligés ou rejetés. Durant une période grossièrement estimée à 200 millions d'années, l'activité sélective des insectes polliniseurs a produit une variété de plantes aux grandes qualités biochimiques et nutritives. Celles-ci ont servi l'homme en tant qu'ancêtres des plantes actuellement cultivées. Par des raisonnements analogues, il a fallu 4000 ans pour que l'homme préhistorique développe les plantes actuellement cultivées à partir de leurs ancêtres sauvages. Avec les méthodes d'élevage modernes, l'homme est à même d'accélérer considérablement l'évolution des plantes cultivées.Die Entwicklung der meisten Angiospermengruppen ist seit der Kreidezeit und wahrscheinlich noch früher vollkommen von der Insektenbestäubung abhängig geworden, während viele Insektengruppen ihre Entwicklung und ihre ganze Existenz den Blütenpflanzen als ihren Nährquellen Verdanken. Diese wechselseitige Zusammenwirkung der Insekten und Pflanzen hat eine gemeinsame Entwicklungsrichtung verursacht, die man neuerdings alsgerichtete Evolution bezeichnet hat. Eine durch die selektive Tätigkeit der pollenübertragenden Insekten, Vögel und Fledermäuse gerichtete Entwicklungsrichtung der Blütentypen ist hier kurz zusammengefasst.Sechs klargelegte Altersstufen in der Blütenevolution entsprechen den sechs Etappen in der Sinnesentwicklung der betreffenden pollenübertragenden Insekten . Diese Stufenfolge wurde für die Klassifikation der gegenwärtigen Blütentypen und auch für die Bestimmung der versteinerten Blütenabdrücke auf Tonerde, Schlammarten, feine Sandsteine und auf andere geologische Ablagerungen angewendet. Mit dieser Stufenfolge wurden ferner noch die Fähigkeitsgrade der anthophilen Insekten näher festgestellt.Die zoophile Richtung der Blütenevolution ist demnach mit der Verbesserung der biochemischen Eigenschaften der höheren Pflanzen derart eng verbunden, dass man diese mit der Züchtungstätigkeit der Menschen vergleichen kann. In beiden Fällen werden die Individuen mit höheren Qualitäten bevorzugt, während weniger auffallende Exemplare vernachlässigt oder abgewiesen werden. Ungefähr nach 200 Millionen Jahren haben die Insekten eine grosse Menge von biochemisch wertvollen höheren Pflanzen geschaffen. Von diesem Material hat der prähistorischer Mensch während ungefähr 4000 Jahre seine Kulturpflanzen ausgewählt und weiter entwickelt. Mit den modernen Züchtungsmethoden wird es aber wohl möglich sein die jetzigen Kulturpflanzen noch bedeutend zu verbessern und das auch innerhalb einer kürzeren Zeitspanne als diese Insekten und der prähistorische. Mensch es vermochten. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:522 BOOK REVIEWS Essays in Ancient Philosophy. By MICHAEL FREDE. Minneapolis: Uni· versiy of Minnesota Press, 1987. Pp. xxvii + 382. $32.50. For this impressive volume, Michael Frede has woven together a series of seventeen essays on themes from Plato's analysis of percep· tion to the principles of Stoic grammar. There are six sections of the hook, dealing with Plato, Aristotle, Stoics, Skeptics, Ancient Medicine, and Ancient Grammar, respectively. (...) Though most of the essays have appeared in print before, not all of them were readily accessible. Three essays are new to this volume (Chapters 1, 6, and 13) and three appear in English translation for the first time (Chapters 2, 4, and 10). In addition, Frede has prefaced the book with a splendid introduction, ex· plaining with great care his conception of the study of ancient philosophy. Throughout the book the argumentation is thorough and persuasive, the style clear, the conclusions subtle and profound. The experience that Frede brings to bear on various problems discussed in the hook is remarkable. The book may he read as a series of independent essays. There is no need to begin with the section on Plato, or to read the essays in any of the sections in sequence: no special knowledge of previous essays is presupposed by subsequent ones. Nevertheless, to suppose that the sug· gestions made and conclusions drawn in the course of the book are in· sulated from one another would be a serious mistake. To discern any precise connection between the essay on perception in Plato's Theae· tetus and the essay on the principles of Stoic Grammar is admittedly quite difficult. But the essays in the sections on Hellenistic Philosophy work together to flesh out the interrelations of the often complex and diverse views of that period, as well as to demonstrate the influence of earlier philosophers on these views. In this respect the essays in earlier sections provide a context for later essays. Within each section the essays generally exhibit a high degree of unity. This is especially true of the section on Aristotle. According to Frede, logic provides a unify· ing theme for all the essays in the hook. This is generally, but not al· ways, the case. Instead, it is Frede's consistent approach to the study of ancient philosophy that focuses and unifies the essays. His position is that we can understand a philosophical view only if we see how it fits into a [philosophical] history as a whole (p. xx, Introduction). There are, moreover, other histories that are relevant, or even crucial, to understanding certain views in ancient philosophy. Frede presents a clear formulation of his own approach to the study of ancient philos· ophy in the introduction, on which I comment below. The remainder of the comments in this review are intended to reflect, primarily, the interests of readers of this journal. Thus, most of the detailed remarks BOOK REVIEWS 5~3 to follow concern Frede's introduction and the sections on Plato and Aristotle. The other sections, however, are no less significant, and the arguments contained therein are as persuasive as any in the book. Anyone doing research in ancient philosophy must consider how much emphasis to place on its historical and philosophical elements: the methods, arguments, evidences, and contexts that one employs are a logical outcome of the relation one establishes between philosophy and history. Frede attempts to work out this relation in some detail, a task which is rarely undertaken in print; his introduction contains more than a few insights as a result. Many important distinctions are clarified or introduced, among them are distinctions between ancient philosophy and the history of ancient philosophy, between philosophical and historical explanation, between the history of philosophy and histories important to philosophy, and between a historically important philosophical fact and facts important to the history of philosophy. The conclusion yielded by these distinctions is that it is an extraordinarily complex fact that a philosopher held a certain view-a fact which can be legitimately studied in many ways, but not in just any way one chooses. In Frede's view, the study of ancient philosophy requires historical as well as philosophical approaches. For when... (shrink)

Located at the junction of trade routes between Prichernomorje and the Mediterranean, Crimea has always been in the sphere of ethnomigratory processes. Therefore, it is natural that the elements of the Scythian, Greek, Gothic, Hun, Khazar, Kypchak and Turkomyslian cultures influenced the formation of the spiritual and material culture of the Crimean Tatar people. The variety of ethnoses that have changed continuously over the centuries has been reflected in the dialectal structure of the Crimean Tatar language that exists up to (...) the present time. (shrink)