This two-volume collection of essays brings together major contemporary theoretical works on freedom of speech. Volume I, begins with a theoretical overview of freedom of speech and then turns to the topics of what justifies freedom of speech and what kinds of acts raise free speech concerns. Volume II, examines the distinctions among content regulations and between content and content-neutral regulations. It also analyses the concept of the public forum, inciting and hateful speech and lastly the tension between the subsidizing (...) activities of the affirmative state and the negative liberty of freedom of speech. (shrink)

This book is about forming effective critiques of neoclassical economics. Its focus is on constructive criticism of the foundations neoclassical theory, beginning with what Alfred Marshall called the `Principles of Economics'. It concludes that there is still much that can be done to make neoclassical economics more realistic.

I shall examine a theory, set out in the form of a story, which claims to explain advance in learning the meaning of words. Ignoring some important features of the theory—those notably to do with how such learning comes about—I shall ask what it is that the theory supposes us to learn when we learn the meaning of a word, or what it is that the theory supposes us to be doing when we learn it. The theory will be imputed (...) to one Augustine, since the story may be taken as a not unfair remythologization of a theory advanced by St Augustine in the De Magistro: but I shall not attempt here either to prove or reject paternity, being content to examine the theory on its intrinsic merits which, I hope to show, are not inconsiderable. (shrink)

Approaches bioethics on the basis of a conception of life and what is needed for the affirmation of its quality in the most encompassing sense. Johnson applies this conception to discussions of controversial issues in bioethics including euthanasia, abortion, cloning and genetic engineering. His emphasis is not on providing definitive solutions to all bioethical issues but on developing an approach to coping with them that can also help us deal with new issues as they emerge. The foundation of this discussion (...) is an extensive examination of the nature of the self and its good and of various approaches to ethics. His bioethic is integrally related to his well-known work on environmental philosophy. The book also applies these principles on an individual level, offering a user-friendly discussion of how to deal with ethical slippery slopes and how and where to draw the line when dealing with difficult questions of bioethics. (shrink)

Both John Henry Newman and Vincent Gasser offered influential interpretations of the First Vatican Council’s teaching on infallibility. In contrast to many of theircontemporaries, Gasser and Newman placed papal infallibility alongside episcopal infallibility and the infallibility of the Catholic faithful. After exploring the views of Gasser and Newman, this essay compares their views to the Second Vatican Council’s teaching on infallibility in Lumen Gentium and concludes that even though Lumen Gentium cited Gasser, its theology is closer to Newman’s.

Ad hominem arguments argue that some opponent should not be heard and no argument of that opponent should be heard or considered. The opponent has generally pernicious views, false and harmful. Moreover he is diabolically clever at arguing for his views. Thus, the ad hominem argument is essentially a device by which non-intellectuals try to wrest control of a dialectical situation from intellectuals. Stifling intellectuals, disrupting the dialectical situation, is an unpleasant conclusion, but no fallacy has been shown in what (...) leads up to that conclusion. (shrink)

L'article critique la position de Gerard Bradley sur la peine capitale. Bradley essaie de lire Veritatis Splendor et Evangelium Vitae comme rejetant des responsabilités morales distinctes pour des agents moraux publics ou privés. L'article montre qu'il n'en est rien. Il montre en plus que Evangelium Vitae reconnaît dans le criminel une dignité jusqu'ici apparemment ignorée par ceux qui ont maintenu la légitimité de la peine capitale. L'auteur lit Bradley comme critiquant St. Thomas d'Aquin, et en conséquence entend montrer l'appréciation de (...) la dignité du criminel qui se trouve dans les écrits de St. Thomas. Bradley, en agrément avec Germain Grisez, prétend aussi que toute mise à mort d'une personne humaine, même de la part de l'autorité publique, doit être non intentionnelle de même que l'acte de tuer d'une personne privée agissant en sa propre défense. L'article analyse les textes de St. Thomas sur le châtiment, le châtiment divin inclus, en vue de clarifier le sens dans lequel l'autorité publique légitimement exercée peut vouloir le mal en punissant. (shrink)

The primary sequence of two subunits of the rod and one subunit of the cone cGMP-gated channel have been described, but describing how structure determines function is only just beginning. The discovery that the affinity of the rod channel for its agonist can be modulated indicates that the relationship between intracellular cGMP and the channel's open probability (current) during the course of the photoresponse may be more complex than previously thought.