This book is the most comprehensive treatment available of one of the most urgent - and yet in some respects most neglected - problems in bioethics: decision-making for incompetents. Part I develops a general theory for making treatment and care decisions for patients who are not competent to decide for themselves. It provides an in-depth analysis of competence, articulates and defends a coherent set of principles to specify suitable surrogate decisionmakers and to guide their choices, examines the value of advance (...) directives, and investigates the role that considerations of cost ought to play in decisions concerning incompetents. Part II applies this theoretical framework to the distinctive problems of three important classes of individuals, many of whom are incompetent: minors, the elderly and psychiatric patients. The authors' approach combines a probing analysis of fundamental issues in ethical theory with a sensitive awareness of the concrete realities of health care institutions and the highly personal and individual character of difficult practical problems. Its broad scope will appeal to health professionals, moral philosophers and lawyers alike. (shrink)

This book, written by four internationally renowned bioethicists and first published in 2000, was the first systematic treatment of the fundamental ethical issues underlying the application of genetic technologies to human beings. Probing the implications of the remarkable advances in genetics, the authors ask how should these affect our understanding of distributive justice, equality of opportunity, the rights and obligations as parents, the meaning of disability, and the role of the concept of human nature in ethical theory and practice. The (...) book offers a historical context to contemporary debate over the use of these technologies by examining the eugenics movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The questions raised in this book will be of interest to any reflective reader concerned about science and society and the rapid development of biotechnology, as well as to professionals in such areas as philosophy, bioethics, medical ethics, health management, law, and political science. (shrink)

This book, written by four internationally renowned bioethicists and first published in 2000, was the first systematic treatment of the fundamental ethical issues underlying the application of genetic technologies to human beings. Probing the implications of the remarkable advances in genetics, the authors ask how should these affect our understanding of distributive justice, equality of opportunity, the rights and obligations as parents, the meaning of disability, and the role of the concept of human nature in ethical theory and practice. The (...) book offers a historical context to contemporary debate over the use of these technologies by examining the eugenics movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The questions raised in this book will be of interest to any reflective reader concerned about science and society and the rapid development of biotechnology, as well as to professionals in such areas as philosophy, bioethics, medical ethics, health management, law, and political science. (shrink)

"Be All You Can Be," the Army recruiting poster urges young men and women. Many parents share the sentiment. They want their children to be the best they can be. For many parents, their most important project in life is to pursue that goal, and they make sacrifices to see it happen. And why shouldn't parents aim to make their offspring the best they can be?

Legal reasoning requires identification through search of authoritative legal texts (such as statutes, constitutions, or prior judicial opinions) that apply to a given legal question. In this paper, using a network representation of US Supreme Court opinions that integrates citation connectivity and topical similarity, we model the activity of law search as an organizing principle in the evolution of the corpus of legal texts. The network model and (parametrized) probabilistic search behavior generates a Pagerank-style ranking of the texts that in (...) turn gives rise to a natural geometry of the opinion corpus. This enables us to then measure the ways in which new judicial opinions affect the topography of the network and its future evolution. While we deploy it here on the US Supreme Court opinion corpus, there are obvious extensions to large evolving bodies of legal text (or text corpora in general). The model is a proxy for the way in which new opinions influence the search behavior of litigants and judges and thus affect the law. This type of “legal search effect” is a new legal consequence of research practice that has not been previously identified in jurisprudential thought and has never before been subject to empirical analysis. We quantitatively estimate the extent of this effect and find significant relationships between search-related network structures and propensity of future citation. This finding indicates that “search influence” is a pathway through which judicial opinions can affect future legal development. (shrink)

Des philosophes théistes comme Thomas D. Sullivan ont adapté les arguments cosmologiques bases sur le Principe de raison suffisante pour les ajuster à la cosmologie contemporaine du Big Bang Leur thèse centrale est que uisque le Big Bang n'a pas pu avoir une cause physique et puisque tout a une cause, le Big Bang a dû avoir une cause non physique ou surnaturelle. Des philosophes non théistes qui acceptent la cosmologie standard du Big Bang ont remis en question la vérité (...) de PRS, en soutenant que certains événements peuvent se produire sans aucune cause. Quentin Smith a défendu l'idée que PRS n'est pas du tout évident par lui-meme et qu'il y a en fait de bonnes raisons de supposer que des choses comme des singularites peuvent se produire sans cause. Thomas D. Sullivan a répliqué à l'argument de Smith voulant que PRS ne soit pas évident par lui-même, et il afourni en outre une pretendue preuve de PRS. Je soutiens dans cet article que PRS, en réalité, n'est pas évident par soi-même et que l'argument de Sullivan en faveur du contraire repose sur un malentendu quant à ce que nous entendons généralement pas «évident par lui-même». J'essaie également de montrer que la preuve de PRS fournie par Sullivan souffre de nombreuses difficultés. Si j'ai raison sur tout cela le PRS nest pas evident par lui-même et nous ne disposons d'aucun argument en safaveur. Il n'en découle pas que PRS soit faux, mais il en découle que nous sommes justifiés de ne pas être convaincus par les arguments en faveur de l'existence de Dieu qui prennent PRS pour prémisse. (shrink)

On affirme couramment que les trente-quatre homélies sur les Hébreux correspondent aux dernières années de Jean Chrysostome à Constantinople. Les AA. reprennent dans un premier temps les arguments des spécialistes depuis Henry Savile. En second lieu, ils s'arrêtent sur la thèse d'Opelt qui préfère Antioche plutôt que Constantinople comme lieu de provenance. Ces trente-quatre homélies constituent une partie importante de l'oeuvre de prédication de Jean Chrysostome et ne semblent pas appartenir à la série des dernières prédications assurées par ce dernier.

James Allen, qui fut pendant 21 ans le mari d’Abigail, mourut à la suite d’un accident du travail. C’est à cette époque que les médecins découvrirent qu’Allen était une femme. De nombreux journaux britanniques en parlèrent. Cet article situe le cas d’Allen dans le contexte plus large des female husbands (telles que Mary Hamilton et Catherine Vizzani) et analyse trois aspects récurrents dans la presse de 1829, ainsi que dans les autres récits : d’abord le travestissement et (...) la dissimulation, ensuite la sexualité féminine, y compris le lesbianisme, et enfin la terminologie utilisée, ce qui ouvre un débat sur la multiplicité générique, confrontée à l’organisation dichotomique de la société. (shrink)

Les écrits de Marx contiennent un certain nombre de passages « immoralistes », dans lesquels la morale dans son ensemble est rejetée ou caractérisée comme une illusion idéologique. Cet article est une tentative de comprendre ce que ces passages pourraient signifier, et de voir s’il convient de les prendre au sérieux en tant qu’affirmations de Marx sur la morale. Ces passages peuvent être interprétés comme des attaques contre la morale, par opposition à des valeurs non morales, et si l’on pose (...) que la conception de la moralité de Marx était hégélienne dans certains aspects essentiels, ces attaques peuvent trouver un fondement solide dans la théorie matérialiste de l’histoire de Marx 2. (shrink)

Scientific knowledge of how genes work is giving human beings unprecedented power to shape future human lives, for better or for worse. People involved in government, business and science are facing new questions related to the application of genetic technologies to human beings. Our technical knowledge is growing fast, but does our moral wisdom grow at the same rate?

Par sa recherche sur le concept philosophique de femme, Sr Prudence Allen apporte un éclairage neuf sur toute l'histoire de la philosophic Mon commentaire est basé essentiellement sur le texte ayant pour titre « Aristotelian and Cartesian Revolutions in the Philosophy of Man and Woman » sachant pertinemment que le livre The Concept of Woman traite de façon détaillée de ce qui apparaît dans l'article comme un exposé synthétique. Trois idées générales admises par Sr Prudence Allen font l'objet (...) de notre commentaire. Ce sont I'interpretation égalita-riste des idées de Platon quant aux différences sexuelles, la neutralité du concept d'homme et 1'interpretation philosophique de la complémenta-rite des sexes comme modèle des relations égalitaires. (shrink)

Die griechische Weltauffassung unterscheidet sich van der modernen durch den Gedanken der Begrenztheit des Weltalls, das sich dem spekulativen Blick seinem Wesen nach erschliesst. Die inPlaton's Timaios gipfelnde Kosmologie bestimmt das Weltall nach den Wesensgesichtspunkten der Endlichkeit, der Einzigkeit, der Lebendigkeit und der Vollkommenheit.Platon's Holismus bezieht die leblose und die lebende Natur unter die Idee des Lebens des Kosmos, dessen „Teile” die in der Erfahrung gegebenen Lebenserscheinungen sind. Sein von innen her und intuitiv aufgebautes Weltbild, das die Erscheinungen von oben (...) herab hierarchisch ordnet, tritt dem AtomismusDemokrits gegenüber, der in umgekehrtem Verfahren die höheren Strukturen auf den einen Baustoff aller Dinge reduziert. Der Gegensatz zum Holismus offenbart sich in allen Bestimmungen: fürDemokrit sind der Kosmoi unbegrenzt viele, es gibt nur Ansammlungen von Atomen, es fehlen Einzigkeit und Vollkommenheit, sowie ein Begriff des Lebens als des zentralen Geschehens.Die neuzeitliche Forschung verzichtet auf die spekulativen Bestimmungen des Ganzen, aber der bei den Griechen dogmatische Gegensatz holistischer und atomistischer Betrachtungsweise lebt fort als Gegensatz geistiger Einstellung. Der neuzeitliche Holismus ist ein empirischer, beschränkter, aber bei ihm liegt dieselbe Intuition des sich organisch gestaltenden Gesamtlebens zu Grunde wei beiPlaton. Nur wäre es, unrichtig, diesen Holismus als synthetisch zu bezeichnen. Synthetisches Denken erhebt sich immer auf analytischem Boden. Jede Synthese hat eine offene Grenze. Die Art aber, wie der Holismus die vereinzelten Lebenserscheinungen auf umfassendere Ganzheiten bezieht, ist eine intuitive. Das Band der Erscheinungen wird nicht durch äusseres Beziehen gestiftet, sondern geschaut nach Analogie einer inneren Erfahrung.Im Gegensatz zum Atomismus, der als real nur die Atome und deren Verhältnisse gelten lässt, erkennt der Holismus stufenartig aufgebaute Einheitsarten an, in denen die höheren die niedrigeren beherrschen, ohne sie zu Elementen herabzudrücken. Die Metaphysik, auf der Suche nach dem Zusammenhang zwischen dem Menschenleben und der Natur ist an der empirischen Aufweisung das Einzelne übersteigender Lebensverbände wie sie der Holismus zu Tage fordert aufs Höchste interessiert.The conception of the world with Greek thinkers generally differs from contemporary thought in the idea of the limitation of the world whose essence manifests itself to speculative thinking. The cosmology which culminates inPlato's Timaios attributes to the whole of being the properties of finiteness, uniqueness, life and perfection.Plato's holism subsumes inanimate and living nature under the idea of cosmic life, the “parts” of which are constituted by life-phenomena given in experience. His world-conception, constructed from within and intuitively, which ranges phenomena in descending order, is opposed to the atomism ofDemocritos which reduces the higher structures to the one equal material of all things. This opposition manifests itself in all essential points: toDemocritos there are worlds in infinite number, only accumulations of atoms are real, uniqueness and perfection are lacking as well as the idea of Life as a central reality.Modern research foregoes the attempt to determine the whole speculatively, but holistic and atomistic ways of thinking, after having been dogmatically applied by the Greeks, continue to exist as opposed types of mental attitude. Contemporary holism may be empirical and limited in application, but it is directed by the same intuition of life articulating itself organically as wasPlato's. It would be incorrect, however, to characterize holism as synthetical, since all synthetics is based upon analysis. The bounds of synthesis are never fixed ones, nor does it ever determine essence. Holism's way of subsuming single life-phenomena under more comprehensive wholes is an intuitional one, the connections which it creates between phenomena are not external ones, but apprehended intuitively in analogy to inner experience.—In distinction to atomism, which only admits as real atoms and their mutual relations, holism poses groups of unities, classified in grades, the higher of which dominate the lower, without debasing them to elements. As metaphysics is concerned to discover a connection between Nature and human life, it must be highly interested in the empirical demonstration, such as holism offers, of connections of life, surpassing individual being. (shrink)

Debate between Dan Demetriou (Philosophy, Minnesota Morris) and Michael Huemer (Philosophy, Colorado), forthcoming in Problems in Applied Ethics: An Introduction to Contemporary Debates, Steven Cowan, ed. (Bloomsbury). The main essays are 5000 words or fewer; replies are 1500 words or fewer. This penultimate version is published here with permission from the editor.

Dan Zahavi engages with classical phenomenology, philosophy of mind, and a range of empirical disciplines to explore the nature of selfhood. He argues that the most fundamental level of selfhood is not socially constructed or dependent upon others, but accepts that certain dimensions of the self and types of self-experience are other-mediated.

Reason, we are told, is what makes us human, the source of our knowledge and wisdom. If reason is so useful, why didn't it also evolve in other animals? If reason is that reliable, why do we produce so much thoroughly reasoned nonsense? In their groundbreaking account of the evolution and workings of reason, Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber set out to solve this double enigma. Reason, they argue with a compelling mix of real-life and experimental evidence, is not geared (...) to solitary use, to arriving at better beliefs and decisions on our own. What reason does, rather, is help us justify our beliefs and actions to others, convince them through argumentation, and evaluate the justifications and arguments that others address to us. In other words, reason helps humans better exploit their uniquely rich social environment. This interactionist interpretation explains why reason may have evolved and how it fits with other cognitive mechanisms. It makes sense of strengths and weaknesses that have long puzzled philosophers and psychologists--why reason is biased in favor of what we already believe, why it may lead to terrible ideas and yet is indispensable to spreading good ones.--. (shrink)

This revised edition includes a new Preface outlining developments in Relevance Theory since 1986, discussing the more serious criticisms of the theory, and ...

Esta entrevista tiene como objetivo mostrar los aportes de la fenomenología de Dan Zahavi a algunas temáticas fundamentales de filosofía de la mente. El filósofo danés expresa su interés en vincular la fenomenología con otras disciplinas y comenta su último proyecto, dedicado al vínculo intersubjetivo. Además, explica su posición con respecto a la naturalización de la fenomenología, la importancia de desarrollar una filosofía de la mente desde la perspectiva de primera persona, y la cuestión del idealismo husserliano y su vínculo (...) con Putnam. Por otro lado, se refiere a cómo el estudio de los trastornos psiquiátricos aporta a la filosofía, presenta la propuesta de la tradición fenomenológica para evitar los problemas del debate internalismo-externalismo y explica la manera en que su concepto del yo ilumina la clásica discusión sobre la mente y el cerebro. Finalmente, Zahavi comenta sobre la posibilidad de vincular filosofía, ciencia y religión. (shrink)

Dan Zahavi presents a rich new study of the philosophy of Edmund Husserl, the founder of phenomenology. What kind of philosophical project was Husserl engaged in? What is ultimately at stake in so-called phenomenological analyses? In this volume Zahavi makes it clear why Husserl had such a decisive influence on 20th-century philosophy.

The relationship of self, and self-awareness, and experience: exploring classical phenomenological analyses and their relevance to contemporary discussions in ...

Phenomenology: The Basics is a concise and engaging introduction to one of the dominant philosophical movements of the 20th century. This lively and lucid book provides an introduction to the essential phenomenological concepts that are crucial for understanding great thinkers such as Husserl, Heidegger, and Merleau-Ponty. Written by a leading expert in the field, Dan Zahavi examines and explains key questions such as: - What is a phenomenological analysis? - What are the methodological foundations of phenomenology? - What does phenomenology (...) have to say about embodiment and intersubjectivity? - How is phenomenology distinguished from, and related to, other fields in philosophy? - How do ideas from classic phenomenology relate to ongoing debates in psychology and qualitative research? With a glossary of key terms and suggestions for further reading, the book considers key philosophical arguments around phenomenology, making this an ideal starting point for anyone seeking a concise and accessible introduction to the rich and complex study of phenomenology. (shrink)

This study investigates the dynamic relationship between knowledge management systems, particularly emphasizing knowledge acquisition and dissemination, and their impact on academic staff's teaching motivation. By employing the Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF), data from 676 academic staff at higher education institutions in Vietnam was analyzed, revealing a complex interplay of factors. Notably, positive associations were found between knowledge acquisition, knowledge dissemination, and teaching motivation. However, the interaction effect of knowledge acquisition and knowledge dissemination appeared to be negatively associated with teaching motivation. (...) This suggests the possible existence of a resource curse of knowledge in improving staff’s teaching motivation. It is recommended that the knowledge systems are refined to reduce complexity and that staff are trained with better knowledge processing methods for reducing resource curse risks. (shrink)

Short abstract (98 words). Reasoning is generally seen as a means to improve knowledge and make better decisions. However, much evidence shows that reasoning often leads to epistemic distortions and poor decisions. This suggests that the function of reasoning should be rethought. Our hypothesis is that the function of reasoning is argumentative. It is to devise and evaluate arguments intended to persuade. Reasoning so conceived is adaptive given humans’ exceptional dependence on communication and vulnerability to misinformation. A wide range of (...) evidence in the psychology of reasoning and decision making can be reinterpreted and better explained in the light of this hypothesis. (shrink)

__Husserl and Transcendental Intersubjectivity __analyzes the transcendental relevance of intersubjectivity and argues that an intersubjective transformation of transcendental philosophy can already be found in phenomenology, especially in Husserl. Husserl eventually came to believe that an analysis of transcendental intersubjectivity was a _conditio sine qua non_ for a phenomenological philosophy. Drawing on both published and unpublished manuscripts, Dan Zahavi examines Husserl's reasons for this conviction and delivers a detailed analysis of his radical and complex concept of intersubjectivity, showing that precisely his (...) reflections on transcendental intersubjectivity are capable of clarifying the core-concepts of phenomenology, thus making possible a new understanding of Husserl’s philosophy. Against this background the book compares his view with the approaches to intersubjectivity found in Heidegger, Sartre, and Merleau-Ponty, and it then attempts to establish to what extent the phenomenological approach can contribute to the current discussion of intersubjectivity. This is achieved through a systematic confrontation with the language-pragmatical positions of Apel and Habermas. (shrink)

This paper presents a simple argument against life being the product of design. The argument rests on three points. We can conceive of the debate in terms of likelihoods, in the technical sense – how probable the design hypothesis renders our evidence, versus how probable the competing Darwinian hypothesis renders that evidence. God, as traditionally conceived, had many more options by which to bring about life as we observe it than were available to natural selection. That is, the relevant parameters (...) were, in many cases, far more constrained under natural selection. Utterly mundane features of the world, like that the earth is very old, are actually powerful evidence that the world was not designed, since that outcome was optional on the design hypothesis but nearly inevitable on natural selection. (shrink)

Given the close relatedness of local issues, water scarcity, and sustainability, this research sought to investigate the factors affecting residents’ willingness to reuse direct and indirect potable water in the arid region. Utilizing the Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF), an analysis was undertaken with a sample of 1,831 water consumers in the City of Albuquerque, the most populous city in New Mexico, United States. The primary analysis revealed positive associations between local concerns about drought or water scarcity and population growth with (...) residents' willingness to reuse direct and indirect potable water. Conversely, concerns about water quality and water bills were found to be negatively associated with the willingness to utilize directly and indirectly recycled water for drinking. In light of these findings, the study explores the potential of fostering an eco-surplus culture by cultivating a sense of environmental responsibility and acknowledging the relationship between local issues and environmental conditions. Simultaneously, the study proposes collaboration between the government and residents to promote water reuse programs to conserve water resources effectively. (shrink)

Dan Sperber, Deirdre Wilson; IX*—Loose Talk, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 86, Issue 1, 1 June 1986, Pages 153–172, https://doi.org/10.1093/ar.

Augustine tells us in the Confessions that his reading of Cicero's Hortensius at the age of nineteen aroused in him a burning ‘passion for the wisdom of eternal truth’. He was inspired ‘to love wisdom itself, whatever it might be, and to search for it, pursue it, hold it, and embrace it firmly’. And thus he embarked on his arduous journey to the truth, which was at the same time a conversion to Catholic Christianity, and which culminated twelve years later (...) in his experience in the garden in Milan. (shrink)

How should modern medicine's dramatic new powers to sustain life be employed? How should limited resources be used to extend and improve the quality of life? In this collection, Dan Brock, a distinguished philosopher and bioethicist and co-author of Deciding for Others (Cambridge, 1989), explores the moral issues raised by new ideals of shared decision making between physicians and patients. The book develops an ethical framework for decisions about life-sustaining treatment and euthanasia, and examines how these life and death decisions (...) are transformed in health policy when the focus shifts from what is best for a patient to what is just for all patients. Professor Brock combines acute philosophical analysis with a deep understanding of the realities of clinical health policy. This is a volume for philosophers concerned with medical ethics, health policy professionals, physicians interested in bioethics, and undergraduate courses in biomedical ethics. (shrink)

What can be understood of other cultures? And what can we learn about people in general from the study of other cultures? In the three closely related essays that constitute this book and which have already created considerable controversy in their original French versions, and been rewritten and expanded for this edition, Dan Sperber discusses these fundamental issues of anthropology. In the first essay he analyses the way in which anthropology is written and read. In the second, he offers a (...) novel rationalist alternative to cultural relativism, based on both anthropological and psychological arguments, and illustrated by his own fieldwork in Ethiopia. The third essay provides an assessment of the work of Lévi-Strauss, in which the arguments of the previous two essays are linked with an incisive critique of Lévi-Strauss' contribution to the study of cultural variation. (shrink)

Drawing on the work of Scheler, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Husserl and Sartre, this article presents an overview of some of the diverse approaches to intersubjectivity that can be found in the phenomenological tradition. Starting with a brief description of Scheler's criticism of the argument from analogy, the article continues by showing that the phenomenological analyses of intersubjectivity involve much more than a 'solution' to the 'traditional' problem of other minds. Intersubjectivity doesn't merely concern concrete face-to-face encounters between individuals. It is also (...) something that is at play in simple perception, in tool-use, in emotions, drives and different types of self-awareness. Ultimately, the phenomenologists would argue that a treatment of intersubjectivity requires a simultaneous analysis of the relationship between subjectivity and world. It is not possible simply to insert intersubjectivity somewhere within an already established ontology; rather, the three regions 'self', 'others', and 'world' belong together; they reciprocally illuminate one another, and can only be understood in their interconnection. (shrink)

Phenomenology: The Basics is a concise and engaging introduction to one of the important philosophical movements of the twentieth century and to a subject that continues to grow and diversify. Yet it is also a challenging subject, the elements of which can be hard to grasp. This lucid book provides an introduction to the core ideas of phenomenology and to the arguments of its principal thinkers, including Husserl, Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty. Written by a leading expert in the field, Dan Zahavi (...) examines and explains key questions such as: What is a phenomenological analysis? What are the methodological foundations of phenomenology? What does phenomenology have to say about intentionality, embodiment, intersubjectivity and the lifeworld? How do ideas from classic phenomenology relate to ongoing debates in the cognitive sciences and qualitative research? This second edition has been thoroughly revised and expanded. It contains a new chapter on critical phenomenology and updated discussions of the application of phenomenology in psychiatry, psychology, and qualitative research. Including a glossary of key terms and suggestions for further reading, Phenomenology: The Basics is a superb starting point for anyone seeking a concise and accessible introduction to this rich and fascinating subject. (shrink)