1. Firmly grounded in Political Discourse Theory (PDT), this article is a study of how the spatial–political imaginary of conservative Protestants in nineteenth-century Derry city, a contested spac...

This article critically interrogates how in contemporary Irish political discourse anti-populism, specifically anti-left populism, is articulated as a form of anti-republicanism. This is large part due to the histories of anti-colonial republicanism in Ireland and the popular republican grammar they have bequeathed to contemporary political discourse. This thematic of (anti)populist politics is of renewed interest and urgency given the recent surge in popularity of Sinn Féin, a broadly left-wing republican populist party. This article adopts a discourse analytical method and identifies (...) several key tropes of anti-republican anti-populism that centre largely around the framing of Sinn Féin as a non-normative or not-normal political party, given its historical connection to paramilitarism. Other key themes of anti-republican anti-populism include the politics of housing, policing and the nature of democratic representation. What emerges is a picture of Irish republicanism as a spectral remainder of past political struggles against colonial order and political exclusion. As such, republican politics bring into view the contingency of established order and reveals the fragile nature of political legitimacy in post-partition Ireland. This article concludes by commenting on what the Irish postcolony reveals about the nature of anti-populisms in Europe and its peripheries. (shrink)

This comprehensive account of the history of ancient Greek thought circa 600 to 400 B.C. offers an accessible, nontechnical introduction to Presocratic philosophy.

It is argued that philosophical realism is well suited to serve as a perspective from which to understand nursing, and that it should be considered as an alternative to positivist, interpretivist, hermeneutical and phenomenological approaches. However, existing forms of realism, including theory and entity realism are shown to be faced with serious problems. In response, an alternative form ‘constraint realism’ is outlined, and shown to be apposite for illuminating the rule or convention governed behaviour characteristic of human beings. A brief (...) sketch is offered of its application to the social practice of nursing. (shrink)

A new translation of Aristotle's classic work on the natural sciences.

Nurses, like many other professional and semiprofessional groups, have a code of con duct. This raises important philosophical questions about the point of including nursing ethics in nursing education and about the content and methods of such teaching. This paper identifies seven functions that might be fulfilled by professional codes; it discusses the philosophical issues these raise and the implications for teaching professional ethics. It is argued that, far from codes rendering the teaching of ethics unnecessary, they pro vide additional (...) reasons for its inclusion. An enhanced ability to make moral decisions helps to overcome the shortcomings of the codes, enables a profession to be autonomous in the development of its code, enables individuals to be authentic moral agents, and is essential in matters concerning the disciplinary function of the codes. The role of emo tions, feelings and attitudes in ethics also presents philosophical problems that moral edu cation can help to resolve. (shrink)

Those matters that are judged to be spiritual are seen as especially valuable and important. For this reason it is claimed that nurses need to be able to offer spiritual care when appropriate and, to aid them in this, nurse theorists have discussed the nature of spirituality. In a recent debate John Paley has argued that nurses should adopt a naturalistic stance which would enable them to employ the insights of modern science. Barbara Pesut has criticized this thesis, especially as (...) it is applied to palliative care. This paper re-examines this debate with particular attention to the meaning of 'spirituality' and the justification for accepting spiritual and religious theories. It is argued that when we take into consideration the great diversity among religious and spiritual ideas, the lack of rational means of deciding between them when they conflict, and the practicalities of nursing, we find that a spiritual viewpoint is less useful than a naturalistic one, when offering palliative care. (shrink)

In this paper it is argued that we have three dispositions, each of which is very laudable in itself: a preference for the positive, constructive and creative aspects of human endeavours; a desire to be open‐minded and tolerant concerning ideas and beliefs; and an admiration of profundity. I have suggested that these dispositions can, if exaggerated or employed uncritically, seduce us into intellectual positions that are very dubious. These arguments are applied to some of the debates within the philosophy of (...) nursing. (shrink)

1. It is evident that the contrast between ‘life’ and ‘death’ is an important one for Heraclitus. But his words remain cryptic, perhaps more so on this subject than on most others. Ideally, any elucidation would occur as an application of, and as in its turn confirming, some overall view of his theorising activity. The suggestions which follow are not intended to achieve that. I work within the well-worn assumptions that Heraclitus is putting forward a “general theory of the soul” (...) that goes substantially beyond the evidence available; and that Heraclitus is a highly systematic theorist, and in particular that there is a close analogy between his theory of the soul and his theory of the cosmos, with fire playing the central role in each, and each being an application of the master-pattern of ‘unity-in-opposites’. I hope to show that, even within this “traditional” approach, there is room for new insights, if we respect both the Homeric-Hesiodic background and Heraclitus’ own method of self-expression. (shrink)

This paper is concerned with the debate in evolutionary epistemology about the nature of the evolutionary process at work in the development of science: whether it is Darwinian or Lamarckian. It is claimed that if we are to make progress through the many arguments that have grown up around this issue, we must return to an examination of the concepts of change and evolution, and examine the basic kinds of mechanism capable of bringing evolution about. This examination results in two (...) kinds of processes being identified, dubbed direct and indirect, and these are claimed to exhaust all possibilities. These ideas are then applied to a selection of the debates within evolutionary epistemology. It is shown that while arguments about the pattern and rate of evolutionary change are necessarily inconclusive, those concerning the origin of novel variations and the mode of inheritance can be resolved by means of the distinctions made here. It is claimed that the process of selection in the evolution of science can also be clarified. The conclusion is that the main process producing the evolution of science is a direct or Lamarckian one although, if realism is correct, an indirect or Darwinian process plays a vital role. (shrink)

What is consciousness? What is its importance and how is it to be described? The paper looks at some of the principal theories and their attempts to solve the “hard problem” of how consciousness is produced by nervous tissue, and attempts to close the “explanatory gap” between such (apparently) profoundly different things as subjective awareness and a physical brain. It ends with a tentative suggestion that, despite centuries of philosophical frustration, recent appeals to quantum physics may offer a glimmer of (...) hope. (shrink)

In the field of natural science, Aristotle recognizes as his forerunners a select group of theorists such as Heraclitus of Ephesus, Empedocles of Acragas, Anaxagoras of Clazomenae, and Leucippus and Democritus of Abdera. In addition, he mentions in the same contexts some whose claims to be “natural philosophers” are doubtful, yet who deserve notice in the same context, including Parmenides of Elea, Melissus of Samos, the people called Pythagoreans, and Plato as the author of the Timaeus. Aristotle takes seriously almost (...) all of these people, treating them as exemplary pioneers and valuable partners in the enterprise of “natural philosophy.” This article examines earlier opinions on certain fundamental questions about the natural world, as treated in the first three books of the Physics and in the first book of the Metaphysics. In Physics II and III, Aristotle represents most if not all of his predecessors as disastrously misunderstanding, in more than one way, the nature underlying the natural world. (shrink)

In the middle of the twentieth century, physiologists interested in human biological rhythms undertook a series of field experiments in natural spaces that they believed could closely approximate conditions of biological timelessness. With the field of rhythms research was still largely on the fringes of the life sciences, natural spaces seemed to offer unique research opportunities beyond what was available to physiologists in laboratory spaces. In particular, subterranean caves and the High Arctic became archetypal ‘natural laboratories’ for the study of (...) human circadian (daily) rhythms. This paper is explores the field experiments which occurred in these ‘timeless spaces’. It considers how scientists understood these natural spaces as suitably ‘timeless’ for studying circadian rhythms and what their experimental practices can tell us about contemporary physiological notions of biological time, especially its relationship to ‘environmentality’ (Formosinho et al. in Stud History Philos Sci 91:148–158, 2022). In so doing, this paper adds to a growing literature on the interrelationship of field sites by demonstrating the ways that caves and the Arctic were connected by rhythms scientists. Finally, it will explore how the use of these particular spaces were not just scientific but also political – leveraging growing Cold War anxieties about nuclear fallout and the space race to bring greater prestige and funding to the study of circadian rhythms in its early years. (shrink)

This paper presents an analysis of the opinions of U.K. Finance Directors – also known as Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) in North America – on factors which may effect the roles and responsibilities of the external auditor to the organization. A number of proposals have been put forward over the years to enhance auditor independence and these were treated as dependent variables in this study. A questionnaire was mailed to 3 000 named Finance Directors and 776 useable replies were received. (...) From the responses to the questionnaire, three independent variables were identified: opinions on the value of the audit in general; opinions on the impact of the audit on the organization; and the relationship between the Finance Director and the auditor. The results reveal that those Finance Directors concerned in general about the value of auditing favoured the banning of non-audit work and the rotation of auditors. In addition, those Finance Directors with good relationships with their external auditors preferred the banning of non-audit services and the rotation of external auditors. Those respondents favouring the separate regulation of auditors were also concerned about the impact of the audit on the organization. The results of this study shed some light on the sensitivity of U.K. Finance Directors to ethical issues regarding external auditor independence. (shrink)

Efficiency has become of central importance in health care and is seen as wholly laudable. It appears to offer a precise and objective means of evaluating and comparing institutions, practices and individuals, and is a principle that underlies techniques of cost-benefit analysis and other methods of option appraisal. However, there is a need to examine the concept of efficiency and explore the problems of its application within health care. Efficiency is a value laden notion and it cannot be used as (...) a means of making value judgements from purely factual premises. We have to choose the inputs and outputs in our calculations, and what limits to set on their scope. Efficiency calculations may require us to measure what cannot be quantified, and to treat as commensurable what is incommensurable. There are circumstances in which considerations of efficiency are inappropriate or even immoral. (shrink)

Evolutionary theory has been a very popular topic in recent years and it has been claimed that it can make a major contribution to the advance of several sciences such as medicine, psychology, psychopathology and sociology: even providing them with new paradigms. This paper explores the possibility that nursing could benefit similarly by adopting an evolutionary perspective. After sketching the scientific and philosophical background to the recent developments concerning evolution, and briefly mentioning the chief features of evolutionary theory, the paper (...) discusses whether it makes sense to talk of ‘evolutionary nursing’, and whether there are any benefits in doing so. It uses a comparison with Darwinian medicine and evolutionary psychology. Several problems and objections are considered. The modest conclusion is reached that nurses need to adopt an evolutionary perspective to serve as a guide for some of their research and a source for research hypotheses. They also need to be informed about evolutionary ideas so as to be aware of the developments in the disciplines with which they work, and this understanding will assist them in maintaining vigilance against the misuse of science, religion and politics on behalf of their patients. (shrink)

Social justice is concerned with fair distribution of the benefits and burdens of living together in society. Regarding nursing care, social justice is concerned with who should receive its benefits, how much they should receive, and who should take up the burden of providing and paying for it. A specific thesis is offered: ‘Health care, including nursing care, should be distributed on the basis of need, free at the point of use, the cost being born by the community involved.’ This (...) thesis is shown to be incompatible with consequentialist (utilitarian) and libertarian approaches to social justice, but reasons are given for rejecting these theories. It is shown that it may be compatible with Rawl's liberal theory of justice and definitely compatible with a version of the teleological (Aristotelian) theory. The thesis is then defended against criticisms concerned with desert and responsibility: that the provident ought not to pay for the improvident, and that those who are responsible for their health do not deserve free care. There are answered by an epistemological argument concerning what we need to know before we can decide what people deserve, and an argument about social cohesion. The conclusion is that the thesis can be offered as a moral principle for a fair society. (shrink)

Beginning by offering a conceptual analysis of change – a statement of what change of any kind is – the paper sets out to examine possible ways of understanding a very common and important variety of change that may be called ‘evolutionary’. These changes include anything from the production of a clay pot on a potter's wheel to the emergence of a system of management, or from the effects of an analgesic drug to the development of a new programme of (...) care. As few philosophers have discussed such topics, theories are borrowed from the philosophy of science that attempt to explain the development and rationality of science. The ideas of Karl Popper and Thomas Kuhn are discussed and criticized, before turning to evolutionary theories: Darwinian and Lamarckian. The paper ends by offering a model that, it is hoped, may help in thinking about a wide range of changes. (shrink)

The essays in this collection were originally given at the international colloquium Cent Ans de Bataille: La Bataille de Cent Ans held at the Fondació Tàpies in Barcelona in September 1998. They are written from a variety of perspectives but are drawn together by the singular aim of addressing and interrogating Georges Bataille as our contemporary whose fascination with the rupture between mythical and experimental forms of discourse defines our own age as much as it did in Bataille's own time. (...) More precisely, the essays in this collection range over Bataille's status as a novelist, a poet, an art critic, a philosopher and a prophet of post-modernity with this aim in mind. They not only seek to advance and clarify debate about Bataille's present status in the post-modern canon but also shed new light on the complex relation between Bataille and the present generation of readers who have come to him through the prism of post-modernist thought. It is of significance for each writer in this collection, most crucially, that the premonition of catastrophe which defined Bataille's fluid political positions is also located between tragedy and irony. (shrink)