Some people have supposed that utility is good in itself, non-in-strumentally good, as distinct from good because conducive to other good things. And in modern versions of this view, utility often means want-satisfaction, as distinct from pleasure or happiness. For your want that p to be satisfied, is it necessary that you know or believe that p, or sufficient merely that p is true? However that question is answered, there are problems with the view that want-satisfaction is a non-instrumental good. (...) What if you want something only because you have a false belief? What if the time at which you want that p is fifty or five hundred years before the time to which p itself refers? To meet these difficulties, qualifications have to be introduced, and much has been written about how exactly these qualifications are to be framed.1 There is however what may be a rather more serious objection to the view that want-satisfaction is a non-instrumental good, or rather to the combination of that view with the principle that it is sufficient for your want that p to be satisfied simply that p is true. The objection is that this combination forces you to give undue weight to the mere acquisition of desires when you come to make judgements about changes in the value of things. It forces you to say that for any true proposition p, which initially you do not want to be true, your mere acquisition of a desire that p will, other things being equal, make the world better. Non-instrumental value can be increased merely by multiplying desires, even though everything else remains the same. Surely, however, improving the world is not as easy as that. (shrink)

N. M. L. Nathan; VI*—Scepticism and the Regress of Justification, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 75, Issue 1, 1 June 1975, Pages 77–88, https:/.

Summary Tycho Brahe's lunar theory, mostly the work of his assistant Christian Longomontanus, published in the Progymnasmata (1602), was the most advanced and accurate lunar theory yet developed. Its principal innovations are: the introduction of equant motion for the first inequality in order to separate the determination of direction and distance; a more accurate limit for the second inequality although requiring a more complex calculation; additional inequalities of the variation and, in place of the annual inequality in Tycho's earlier theory, (...) a reduction in the equation of time; in the latitude theory a variation of the inclination of the orbital plane and an inequality of the motion of the nodes; a reduction in the range of variation of distance, parallax, and apparent diameter. Some of these were already present in Tycho's earlier lunar theory (1599), but all were changed in notable ways. Twenty years later Longomontanus published a modified version of the lunar theory in Astronomia Danica (1622), for the purpose of facilitating the calculation through new correction tables, and also explained his reasons for parts of the theory in the Progymnasmata. This paper is a technical study of both lunar theories. (shrink)

1. The ideal of spatio-temporally unrestricted generalisation, which marks all post-mythological thinking about nature, marks no more than the continuity of totemism in political casuistry. No unrestricted principle of Socialism or Conservatism or Liberal Democracy is defensible unless it is accorded a moral ultimacy which almost no one fully conscious of what he was about would actually want to accord it. If this bare platitude is to be fully assimilated, it needs both concrete exemplification and support of the systematic kind. (...) Liberal principles are well provided for in these respects: J. F. Stephen showed in brilliant detail that, from a utilitarian point of view, the question whether liberty even in advanced societies is irrespective of time and place a good or a bad thing is an irrational question—”as irrational as the question whether fire is a good or a bad thing.” But demonstrations and illustrations of the restricted nature of our other popular political principles are not so easily come by, and the critical survey of standard prodemocratic arguments, which makes up Part III of this paper, is meant to supply a part of the deficiency. (shrink)

Мета. Автор цієї статті має на меті привернути увагу дослідників до створення етичної системи, яка здатна гармонійно поєднувати універсальні принципи та культурне різноманіття, враховуючи права і гідність кожної людини як ключового учасника етичних дискусій. Стверджується, що ефективна етична система дає можливість кожній людині брати участь у моральних обговореннях та прийнятті етичних рішень. Теоретичний базис. Ґрунтуючись на підходах Канта, Ролза, Сінгера та інших, автор наполягає на необхідності визначення та узгодження універсальних принципів. Вони мають стати основою всіх подальших етичних обговорень. Захист особистої (...) ідентичності підкреслено через міжкультурну чутливість (Герсковіц, Бенедикт). Люди з різних культурних контекстів повинні бути включені в етичні дебати. Також наголошено на важливості дослідження гнучкості етичних концепцій відповідно до космополітизму Аппіа та підходу до можливостей Нуссбаум. Етичні теорії мають балансувати між культурним плюралізмом та універсальністю. Культурна чутливість в етичних теоріях повинна визнавати, поважати та надавати простір для інших моральних систем, показуючи шлях для формулювання відкритих етичних теорій. Антропологічні та філософські погляди вкладають у досягнення необхідного балансу між основними принципами та гнучкістю, щоб створити можливості для діалогу й консенсусу. Нарешті, намагаючись досягти універсальності, культурної чутливості та адаптивності, етичні системи у взаємопов’язаному світі повинні застосовувати принципи в різних суспільствах, поважати різноманітність цінностей і враховувати зміни в цих суспільствах. Наукова новизна. Окреслено контури можливого збалансованого підходу, відзначено універсальність як центральний елемент етичної теорії, а також міжкультурну чутливість, гнучкість і адаптивність. Це дозволяє кожній людині зберегти ідентичність та відчувати свою участь в етиці. Висновки. Автор демонструє, що необхідно просувати такі якості, як розуміння культурної специфіки, емпатія до інших культур та співпраця у вирішенні моральних дилем на шляху до етичної досконалості. Лише збалансований підхід, який поєднує універсальні принципи та враховує культурне різноманіття, визнає права та гідність кожної людини і перевершує культурні відмінності. (shrink)

The purpose of the study is to identify a common theoretical basis for the study of human life as capital and unconditional higher value. Theoretical basis is based on the value-laden and revised structural constructivism, provided by the French philosopher and sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, critical analysis of the concepts of capital as the embodiment of social expectations, the biological concept of the value of human life, as well as the concepts of its sanctity. Originality. It is proved that one should (...) not consider the value of human life as capital only but instead takes into account its different value interpretations, especially when forming the social identity of a person. Moreover, in each of the value systems, the value of human life can be recognized as unconditional, which does not prevent the coexistence of such different value interpretations within the framework of one social identity, which then inevitably becomes a multiple social identity. Conclusions. Human life cannot be considered as a result of integrating economic expectations into the concept of "advertising" capital: first, expectations may well be inadequate; second, expectations by themselves are not directly related to capital; third, expectations do not necessarily lead to development; fourth, one should clearly distinguish between the spontaneous "expectations" and the values that express people’s strong motivation as members of social communities. The multiplicity of possible cultural conditions that affirm the unconditional value of life indicates that this unconditionality is always relevant rather than absolute. The multiple social identities could be used to add value to the protection of human life, the affirmation of multiple social identities is a means of affirming the unconditional value of human life – it is unconditional in several alternative ways. (shrink)

В сборник представлены статьи и тезисы докладов по актуальным проблемам философии, ее преподавания в высшей школе, философско-культурологическому анализу различных аспектов культуры.

Beneath metaphysical problems there often lies a conflict between what we want to be true and what we believe to be true. Nathan provides a general account of the resolution of this conflict as a philosophical objective, showing that there are ways of thinking it through systematically with a view to resolving or alleviating it. The author also studies in detail a set of interrelated conflicts about the freedom and the reality of the will. He shows how difficult it is (...) to find a freedom either of decision or of action which is both an object of reflective desire and an object of rational belief. He also examines conflicts about volition as such, contending that the veridicality of volitional experience is no less easy to doubt than the veridicality of our experience of colors. In this context, arguments emerge for a voluntarist theory of the self. Nathan's important book will be essential reading for all philosophers interested in free will, volition, the self, and the methodology of metaphysics. (shrink)

Robert Grosseteste was a prolific theological and scientific writer, a translator, bishop of Lincoln , and a candidate for sainthood. There have been several studies of his life and his works, the most recent being that of Richard Southern. Nevertheless, James McEvoy's comment in 1983 that “the course of Grosseteste's life up until 1225 is almost completely unknown” remains largely true. The problem is common in medieval history—there is a dearth of reliable sources for the subject's early life. I do (...) not intend to discuss here Grosseteste's youth, or even his life until 1198 . I will accept, with a few reservations, the model Southern presented for Grosseteste's life until 1198 — that Grosseteste came from an undistinguished family, acquired an education, and may have taught in local schools; after serving the bishop of Lincoln in a minor capacity, he managed to obtain an administrative position under Bishop de Vere in the diocese of Hereford. Unfortunately, Bishop de Vere died on Christmas Day 1198, and his household was disbanded. It is the period following 1198 until 1225 that needs scrutiny. The recent discovery of a reference to Robert Grosseteste in a thirteenth-century cartulary demands that we reconsider the way in which historians have structured Grosseteste's career, both because of what this manuscript records and because of the light it sheds upon the methodology that has underpinned Grosseteste scholarship. (shrink)

After briefly vindicating casuistries which successively apply a number of different moral principles, I describe some of the principles of justice liable to figure in such casuistries, assess the relative popularity of these principles and show that some of the most popular cannot be consistently applied in all circumstances.

Los 18 trabajos recogidos en este volumen tienen como telón de fondo una preocupación por la racionalidad occidental. Mucho se ha hablado de su crisis o de su fracaso. De ello se ha ocupado durante décadas la Escuela de Francfort, en sus distintas reencarnaciones, y, más recientemente, el pensamiento posmoderno. Lo que este libro pretende es enfrentarnos a la crisis de la razón pero desde un ángulo insólito, desde el pensamiento judío. El judaísmo hizo su experiencia de la modernidad. Sintió (...) que no tenía sitio. Algunos de los autores aquí estudiados tuvieron que plantearse, en el momento de su madurez, que había que elegir entre ser moderno o marginarse. Durante siglos, la mayoría optó por lo primero, es decir, por la asimilación. Hasta que algunos plantearon y decidieron seguir siendo judíos sin renunciar a filosofar. Con ello el judaísmo se convierte en un lugar privilegiado para valorar el pulso de la razón occidental. El judaísmo era el límite de la Ilustración. Así lo planteaban los ilustrados y así lo vivieron durante mucho tiempo los propios pensadores judíos. Hasta que les dio por pensar por sí mismos. En este libro se reconstruyen algunos de esos memorables episodios. (shrink)

When do two mental items belong to the same life? We could be content with the answer -just when they have certain volitional qualities in common. An affinity is noted between that theory and Berkeley's early doctrine of the self. Some rivals of the volitional theory invoke a spiritual or physical owner of mental items. They run a risk either of empty formality or of causal superstition. Other rivals postulate a non-transitive and symmetrical relation in the set of mental items. (...) They must allow in consequence either for joint ownership of one and the same mental item, or for incompatible simultaneous decisions by one and the same person, or for new forms of death. This makes them disquieting. Another rival invokes a transitive and symmetrical relation defined in terms of co-consciousness. Even that allows for incongruous simultaneities. The volitional theory is free from such disadvantages. (shrink)