This paper critically appraises the arguments that have been offered for what can be called ‘the expressive function of punishment’. According to this view, what distinguishes punishment from other kinds of non-punitive hard treatment is that punishment conveys a censorial/reprobative message about what the punished has done, and that this expressive function should therefore be accepted as part of the nature and definition of punishment. Against this view, this papers argues that the standard account of punishment, according to which punishment (...) is a kind of hard treatment that is imposed on an alleged offender in response to her alleged wrongdoing, can already properly account for punishment and distinguish it from other kinds of hard treatment when it is properly clarified and understood. Thus there is no need to accept the expressive function of punishment in addition to the standard account when it comes to the nature and definition of punishment. (shrink)

This research examines how the fit between employees moral development and the ethical work climate of their organization affects employee attitudes. Person-organization fit was assessed by matching individuals' level of cognitive moral development with the ethical climate of their organization. The influence of P-O fit on employee attitudes was assessed using a sample of 304 individuals from 73 organizations. In general, the findings support our predictions that fit between personal and organizational ethics is related to higher levels of commitment and (...) job satisfaction and lower levels of turnover intent. Ethical P-O fit was related to higher levels of affective commitment across all three ethical climate types. Job satisfaction was only associated with ethical P-O fit for one of the three P-O fit variables and turnover intentions were significantly associated with two of the ethical P-O fit variables. The most consistent effect was found for the Conventional - Caring fit variable, which was significantly related to all three attitudes assessed. The weakest effect was found for the Preconventional - Instrumental fit variable, which was only predictive of affective commitment. The pattern of findings and implications for practice and future research are discussed. (shrink)

This essay describes what it means to live with existential self-doubt, explores how such doubt emerges in educational encounters, and examines some educational benefits and challenges of uncertainty and doubt. Mordechai Gordon begins his analysis by describing the type of self-doubt that Paul Cézanne embodied, that is, of an artist who painted throughout his entire life yet was still consumed by existential uncertainty. Drawing on Cézanne's example, as well as poet Rainer Maria Rilke's life and his own experience, Gordon (...) sheds light on what it means to live with existential doubt. Following the discussion of existential uncertainty, he revisits the epistemic self-doubt displayed by Socrates and René Descartes and compares it to existential self-doubt. In the third part of this essay, Gordon draws on the examples of some veteran teachers in order to illustrate how educators have approached the challenge of living with existential self-doubt. The final part of the essay considers both the promises and perils of existential self-doubt in the context of education. (shrink)

Research on justice climate demonstrates a consistent effect on workgroup outcomes such as job satisfaction, commitment, and performance. However, little research considers how justice climate affects these outcomes and when the relationship is stronger or weaker. In an effort to extend the literature on justice climate, we draw on research on other types of organizational climate to suggest justice climate influences the fair behavior of coworkers. Specifically, we propose fair coworker behavior mediates the relationship between justice climate and outcomes. Further, (...) we examine the influence of workgroup structure on this mediated relationship. We examine these relationships in two studies and find support for the mediating effect of fair coworker behavior and the proposed moderated mediation model. Implications of these results for justice and climate research are considered. (shrink)

The Calvinist view that man is predestined to be among the elect or the damned has profoundly influenced not only our views of criminals and deviants, but also the theoretical basis of correctional methods and psychotherapeutic techniques. In this provocative and original volume, Mordechai Rotenberg examines the impact of Protestant doctrine on Western theories of deviance. He explores the inherent contradiction between Protestant ethics, with its view of human nature as predestinated, and the "people-changing" sciences.Rotenberg presents empirical studies that (...) show how people's tendency to label themselves and others as deviant can be predicted on the basis of their exposure to Western socialization. He contrasts alienating individuals, the result of competitiveness and exaggerated independence fostered by socialization in Protestant societies, to the reciprocal individualism of Hassidic, Japanese, and other non-Western cultures. Examining the Protestant "bias" of Western behavioral sciences, Rotenberg examines modern theories of deviance and proposes alternative models. He compares traditional past-oriented insight therapy, grounded in Calvinist methods of introspection, self-torment, and conversion, with Hassidic notions of redemption and salvation."Rotenberg provides important historical and sociological insights into the intellectual origins of modern theories of deviance. His argument that Western behavioral science retains a Calvinist view of humanity will force most scholars to examine anew the assumptions and foundations of their own theories."--Gerald N. Grob, Rutgers University"A highly original work, which should be of great interest to anyone concerned with relevant behavior. It shows how macro-definitions in a society tend to lead people to think about themselves and their ills in certain ways--and thus to deviate in certain ways."--Richard A. Cloward, co-author, Regulating the Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare. (shrink)

Inspired by Camus’ portrayal of Sisyphus, this essay examines the act of teaching as an absurd profession, one that faces numerous obstacles and challenges and continually falls short of its intended goals. I begin my analysis by demonstrating that Camus’ understanding of the absurd was heavily influenced by Nietzsche’s conception of nihilism. I argue that for Camus the sense of absurdity comes from the conflict between humans’ longing for order and meaning and the disorder and meaninglessness that we experience in (...) our daily lives. Next, I show that Camus’ understanding of absurdity can help us make sense of the recent wave of educational reform. More fundamentally, I argue that that the existential conditions of schooling that many teachers have to negotiate daily are themselves absurd in Camus’ sense of the term. In the last part of this article, I take a close look at how a number of teachers are attempting to resist and even rebel against the new educational mandates. (shrink)

This essay analyzes the educational significance of the metaphysical novel, that is, how it can be used to educate ourselves and our students. Mordechai Gordon begins by describing the nature of the metaphysical novel while contrasting it to “pure” philosophy and theory building. Gordon also situates Beauvoir’s insights in the broader context of the ongoing conversation on philosophy and literature. In the next part, he examines Beauvoir’s philosophy of lived experience and compare her philosophical approach to more traditional phenomenological (...) theories. From the analysis of Beauvoir’s philosophy of lived experience, Gordon turns to explore the role that ambiguity, contingency, and complexity play in helping us make sense of people’s lives while drawing on examples from several metaphysical novels to illustrate these notions. He concludes this essay by reflecting on the question: what can the study of metaphysical novels bring to philosophy of education? (shrink)

Abstract:This essay explores with the help of the discipline of philosophy of education the educational implications of the practice of canceling individuals or ideas. In particular, it investigates what gets lost or undermined when we cancel various opinions, words, and practices. To advance my argument, I first introduce some basic definitions while analyzing the problem with the notion of cancel culture. Then, I briefly review various historical examples of canceling going back to Socrates. The next part of this paper presents (...) some of the philosophical arguments against canceling and restricting speech made by John Stuart Mill. After presenting Mill’s contentions in favor of liberty of expression, I revisit John Dewey’s conception of democratic association in order to show that the practice of canceling people and ideas is antithetical to Dewey’s dynamic view of democracy. Based on the insights of Mill and Dewey, in the final part I attempt to make an educational case against the practice of canceling. (shrink)

SummaryEdmund Chilmead (1610–54), a little-known scholar and musician, was the author of a possibly unique testimony to the interest among English natural philosophers in the nature of sound and philosophical music theory during the years following the publication of Francis Bacon's Sylva Sylvarum (1626). Chilmead's ‘An Examination … of the Naturall History’ is a manuscript treatise which takes the form of twenty ‘Quaeres’ on the second and third centuries of experiments of the Sylva which are concerned with the nature of (...) sound. In the treatise, Chilmead reveals his familiarity with the developments in the field of musical acoustics made by the French natural philosopher Marin Mersenne (1588–1648) and his circle.The paper falls into two complementary sections. In the first, Feingold gives an account of Chilmead's life and career (which has hitherto never been fully documented) in order to place him in the context of the intellectual and social milieu of Oxford and London during this period. In the second, Gouk discusses the contents of the ‘Examination’ and Chilmead's debt to both Bacon and Mersenne. (shrink)

Legal coercion seems morally problematic because it is susceptible to the Hegelian objection that it fails to respect individuals in a way that is ‘due to them as men’. But in what sense does legal coercion fail to do so? And what are the grounds for this requirement to respect? This paper is an attempt to answer these questions. It argues that legal coercion fails to respect individuals as reason-responsive agents; and individuals ought to be respected as such in virtue (...) of the fact that they are human beings. Thus it is in this sense that legal coercion fails to treat individuals with the kind of respect ‘due to them as men’. (shrink)

This work analyzes the treatment of biblical metaphor in a Jewish exegetical tradition originating in Muslim Spain that was transplanted to Christian Provence, yielding a variety of approaches that integrate Arabic poetics, hermeneutics and logic with indigenous Hebrew modes of reading.

Volume XXIX/2 of History of Universities contains the customary mix of learned articles and book reviews which makes this publication such an indispensable tool for the historian of higher education. This special issue, guest edited by Alexander Broadie, particularly focuses on Seventeenth-Century Scottish Philosophers and their Philosophy.

Long ago, George Sarton set down criteria for reviewers. In addition to insisting on the need to compose ‘faithful’ reviews, he cautioned against four types of unfit reviewers: the ‘egoist’, the ‘obscure’ reviewer, the one who is noncommittal, and the pedantic critic. Unfortunately, Cohen's review comes short on several counts. Cohen writes that he intends to examine what is ‘new’ in the three books he reviews, and whether the results therein contained are ‘worth learning’ (p. 687). Cohen denies being given (...) to ‘misplaced hero worship’, insisting that his sole aim is to assess whether ‘scholarly novelty’ (p. 693) has been attained. Nevertheless, given his repeated rebuke of the authors under review for ‘failing to refer back to [Richard] Westfall's work’ on Newton – now nearly half a century old – it seems that he grounded his critique principally on Westfall's interpretation. (shrink)

The present article explores the productive afterlife of the Vitruvian anecdote concerning Aristippus’s shipwreck on the shore of Rhodes. Known to several medieval scholars, the anecdote came into vogue during the Renaissance, when it was transformed into a potent metaphor mobilised by moralists, educators and religious authors. Not until the sixteenth century, however, did mathematicians come to recognise the value in appropriating the metaphor as a means to elevate the dignity of their discipline. Two centuries later, having accomplished their mission, (...) mathematicians elided much of the anecdote, preserving only the geometrical part. (shrink)

In the past couple of years, much has been said and written in the media about the notion of 'cancel culture' and the way in which various celebrities, journalists, politicians, ideas, and monuments have been cancelled. Yet, the conversations taking place on this issue have been largely uninformed, lacking intellectual rigor, and devoid of the historical and cultural context that could help make the contested debates more enlightening. The author investigates the phenomenon of cancelling historically as well as how it (...) became an issue recently. The book presents some compelling philosophical arguments against the practice of cancelling and highlights various educational dangers and risks that emerge from this practice and deserve our attention. (shrink)