Bioethics education has remarkably grown across the globe in the last few decades. The data of the UNESCO Global Ethics Observatory proves that bioethics education is a global phenomenon with various bioethics institutions, teaching programs, and academicians. However, this situation does not mean that bioethics education has reached a stable and flawless level. Especially, the effectiveness of bioethics programs or their quality assessment is a major area that should be analyzed through more academic works. For filling that gap, this article (...) aims to formulate a general framework to address the quality standards and indicators in bioethics education. The article adapts Donabedian’s three approaches—structure, process, and outcome— as three levels to measure quality in bioethics education. The proposed model considers the indicators the ultimate quantifiable points by creating a sequential classification as the three levels, main categories, standards, and indicators, which means that it applies an inductive approach following a path from the indicators to the standards, from the standards to the main categories, and from the main categories to the levels in order to reach a conclusion about the effectiveness of each level. (shrink)

The words in the Quran can have different meanings depending on the verse and its context. However, giving different meanings to any word of Quran in tafsirs and translation make it difficult to understand the verses and may cause confusion. One of the words that we think causes such a problem is fuâd. In this study, it is aimed to reach the meaning of the word by examining the usage of the word fuâd in the verses. For this purpose, the (...) lexical meaning of the word was researched and the relevant verses were examined in context. It was preferred descriptive method in the study in which dictionaries and classical tafsirs were used as sources. It is concluded that the word fûad, which means mostly heart, brain and mind in the sources, basically refers to a sense, ability or function. It is reasoned that this word contains meanings such as perception, comprehension, thinking, understanding, and intuition. However, in the verses, it is possible that the organ to which the aforementioned abilities belong is meant through metaphor. This is the reason for confusion that makes it difficult to understand. Because, although the functions such as perception, thinking, reasoning that we present as the meaning of fuâd are known as the task of the brain, the Quran has shown the heart as their place. (shrink)

The principle of respect for autonomy requires informing patients adequately and appropriately about diagnoses, treatments, and prognoses. However, some clinical cases may cause ethical dilemmas regarding telling the truth. Under the existence especially of certain cultural, social, and religious circumstances, disclosing all the relevant information to all pertinent parties might create harmful effects. Even though the virtue of telling the truth is unquestionable, sometimes de facto conditions compel physicians to act paternalistically to protect the patient/patients from imminent dangers. This article, (...) which aims to study the issue of whether a physician should always tell the truth, analyzes an interesting case that represents the detection of misattributed paternity during pre-transplant tests for a kidney transplant from the son to the father in Turkey, where social, cultural, and religious factors have considerable impact on marital infidelity. After analyzing the concept of telling the truth and its relationship with paternalism and two major ethical theories, consequentialism and deontology, it is concluded that the value of the integrity of life and survival overrides the value of telling the truth. For this reason, in the case of a high possibility of severe and imminent threats, withholding some information is ethically justifiable. (shrink)

Healthcare services should be provided according to contemporary ethical norms that require patients’ active engagement in all the relevant processes. However, authoritarian attitudes and behaviors in healthcare, one of which is paternalism, put patients in a passive role. But, as Avedis Donabedian emphasizes, patients are co-producers of care, reformers of healthcare, informants, and definers and evaluators of quality. Overlooking these significant functions and merely focusing on physicians’ benevolence due to their medical knowledge and skills in the production of healthcare services (...) would leave the fate of patients in the hands of clinicians and impose physicians’ hegemony on patients and their choices. Nevertheless, the concept of co-production is a practical and effective mechanism to redefine the language used in healthcare by recognizing patients as co-producers and equal partners. The application of co-production in healthcare would improve the therapeutic relationship, decrease ethical violations, and promote the patient’s dignity. (shrink)

Compassion is an essential phenomenon in the therapeutic relationship, and some use it to justify physician-assisted dying practices. The value of compassion in the relationship between healthcare professionals and patients is undeniable. However, different approaches to its definition and scope can lead to distinct conclusions about the role of compassion in end-of-life interventions. In this context, the paper aims to compare Mahatma Gandhi’s and Aristotle’s views on compassion to explore whether it can be utilized to justify physician-assisted dying. Gandhi’s thoughts (...) on compassion and Aristotle’s standpoint on virtues and vices demonstrate that Gandhi evaluates this concept as a moral duty to relieve intractable suffering, whereas Aristotle relies on balancing all virtues through relevant deficiencies and excesses. Therefore, even though Gandhi’s opinion on compassion can for allow assisted dying interventions, Aristotle’s idea of virtues and vices restricts compassion to a scope that alleviates suffering through available means without causing death. (shrink)

The case, which occurred in a public hospital in Turkey in 2005, exhibits a striking dilemma between a mother’s and her fetus’ interests. For a number of reasons, the mother refused to cooperate with the midwives and obstetrician in the process of giving birth, and wanted to leave the hospital. The care providers evaluated the case as a matter of maternal autonomy and asked the mother to give her consent to be discharged from the hospital, which she did despite the (...) fact that her cervix was fully open. She left the hospital and gave birth shortly thereafter. Subsequently, the baby died two days later. In light of the contemporary ethical principles, the mother’s competency could be debatable due to the physical and psychological conditions the mother confronted. Furthermore, protection of the fetus’ life should have been taken into account by the caregivers when making a decision concerning discharging of the mother. (shrink)

Teknoloji olgusu, bir taraftan toplumun ihtiyaçlarını karşılamakta diğer taraftan da toplumda bir kültür deformasyonuna neden olmaktadır. Teknolojinin; televizyon, cep telefonu, bilgisayar gibi cihazlar aracılığıyla toplumda değişim ve dönüşümlere neden olduğu görülmektedir. Son zamanlarda özellikle genç nüfus arasında, sosyal medyanın etkisi söz konusu olmakta ve bu durum kültürel bir deformasyona neden olmaktadır. Toplumun temeli olan ailede dayanışma ilişkilerinin giderek zayıflamasında, yeni neslin iletişim dilinde meydana gelen bozulmalarda, toplumun tek boyutlu bir insan haline dönüşmesinde, gelenek ve göreneklerde meydana gelen değişimlerde teknolojinin izleri (...) görülmektedir. Sürekli bir değişim ve dönüşüme maruz kalan toplumsal yapı; son zamanlarda gelişen teknolojinin etkisinde kalarak teknolojik kültüre doğru evrilmektedir. Teknolojik cihazların kullanılmasıyla şekillenen teknolojik kültür, toplumun risk toplumuna dönüşmesinde aktif rol oynamaktadır. Her şeyin simülasyon haline geldiği risk toplumunda, gerçeklik ve doğruluk ortadan kalmakta ve herkes bir risk çemberinin içine girmeye başlamaktadır. Özel hayatın hiçbir gizliliğinin kalmadığı teknoloji çağında, teknolojinin risklerinden çocukları ve gençleri koruma da ayrı bir önemi gerektirmektedir. Özellikle çocukların ve gençlerin teknolojik cihazlara olan bağlılıkları, onların sosyo-kültürel yaşamını olumsuz yönde etkilemektedir. Bu çalışmamızda da hayatımızda önemli bir yere sahip olan televizyon, cep telefonu, bilgisayar gibi teknolojik cihazların, kültürel deformasyonda ve toplumsal değerlerin yitirilmesinde nasıl bir etkiye sahip olduğu anlaşılmaya çalışılmıştır. (shrink)

Sosyal bilimlerde sosyo-kültürel ve etno-sosyolojik araştırmalar geniş bir yer tutar. Bir grubun sosyo-kültürel ve etno-sosyolojik değişkenler özelinde kendisini nasıl tanımladığı araştırılan bir husustur. Türkiye’nin farklı bölgelerinde yaşayan alt kültür grupları bu değişkenler bağlamında incelenmiştir. Bu çalışma Türkiye’de yaygın bir şekilde yaşayan gruplardan biri olan Karakeçililerden, Siverek Karakeçilerini incelemiştir. Siverek Karakeçilileri; etnografik bir alan araştırmasıyla, kendi yaşam alanlarına katılım sağlanarak elde edilen verilerle incelenmiştir. Veriler MAXQDA nitel veri analiz programı aracılığıyla değerlendirmiştir. Mehmet Eröz 1982’de aynı grubu aynı alanda incelemiştir. Makalede; Eröz’ün (...) tespitleri ile araştırmacının tespitleri karşılaştırmalı bir şekilde ele alınmıştır. Böylelikle iki çalışma arasındaki uzun süre zarfı göz önüne alınarak, Siverek Karakeçililerinin yaşadığı değişim ve dönüşüm değerlendirilmiştir. Çalışma bu yönüyle özgünlük arz etmektedir. (shrink)

Sosyal bilimlerde sosyo-kültürel ve etno-sosyolojik araştırmalar geniş bir yer tutar. Bir grubun sosyo-kültürel ve etno-sosyolojik değişkenler özelinde kendisini nasıl tanımladığı araştırılan bir husustur. Türkiye’nin farklı bölgelerinde yaşayan alt kültür grupları bu değişkenler bağlamında incelenmiştir. Bu çalışma Türkiye’de yaygın bir şekilde yaşayan gruplardan biri olan Karakeçililerden, Siverek Karakeçilerini incelemiştir. Siverek Karakeçilileri; etnografik bir alan araştırmasıyla, kendi yaşam alanlarına katılım sağlanarak elde edilen verilerle incelenmiştir. Veriler MAXQDA nitel veri analiz programı aracılığıyla değerlendirmiştir. Mehmet Eröz 1982’de aynı grubu aynı alanda incelemiştir. Makalede; Eröz’ün (...) tespitleri ile araştırmacının tespitleri karşılaştırmalı bir şekilde ele alınmıştır. Böylelikle iki çalışma arasındaki uzun süre zarfı göz önüne alınarak, Siverek Karakeçililerinin yaşadığı değişim ve dönüşüm değerlendirilmiştir. Çalışma bu yönüyle özgünlük arz etmektedir. (shrink)

Kidney transplantation is a lifesaving medical treatment. However, very high demand for kidneys with low kidney donation causes a black market that exploits patients’ desperation and donors’ vulnerability. The current kidney donation programs fail to produce promising results to avoid illegal and unethical kidney trafficking and commercialism. Even though the primary goal of kidney donation is to increase the number of deceased organ donations, in some countries, like Turkey, due to religious or cultural concerns, it is impossible to supply adequate (...) deceased kidney donations. In this view, the aim of this paper is to examine kidney trafficking in the scope of Turkey's current organ donation system and propose a new model, named the Incentivized Kidney Donation Model (IKDM), to increase kidney donation from living donors. The model encompasses the following benefits offered to kidney donors; lifetime health insurance, exemptions from copayments/contribution shares, priority when receiving an organ, priority when finding a job, income tax exemptions for salaried employees, and free or discounted public utilities. This normative model has the potential to promote donors’ altruistic acts as well as the solidarity and loyalty among members of a society without violating ethical values and internationally accepted principles. (shrink)

Kentler, ikincil ilişkilerin meydana geldiği, işbölümünün ve uzmanlaşmanın arttığı mekânlardır. Giderek daha çekici hale gelen kentler, insanlar tarafından tercih edilen mekânlar olmaya başlamış ve kentleşme olgusunu ortaya çıkarmıştır. Kent nüfusunun artması olarak ifade edilen kentleşme kentlileşmeyi, kentlileşme de toplumsal ve kültürel değişimleri beraberinde getirmiştir. Kentleşme, konut sorununu da görünür kılmakta ve konut sorununun çözümü gelir gruplarına göre değişiklik arz etmektedir. Alt gelir grubunda olan insanlar bu konut sorununu gecekondu denilen yapılarla çözmeye çalışmış ancak gecekondular devlet hazinesine yapılmış yapılar olması dolayısıyla (...) devlet tarafından kentsel dönüşümü gerçekleştirmek amacıyla engellenmek istenmiştir. Bu durumda devlet hem gecekondulaşmayı engellemek hem de dar gelirli yoksul ailelerin konut ihtiyacını gidermek amacıyla Toplu Konutlar İdaresi’ni kurmuştur. Bu kapsamda yapılan konutlardan zaman içinde çeşitli gelir grubunda yer alan insanlar faydalanmaya başlamıştır. TOKİ konutlarında yaşamanın sosyo-kültürel yapı üzerindeki etkilerinin anlaşılmaya çalışıldığı bu çalışma, Isparta’nın Akkent Mahallesi’ndeki TOKİ konutlarında yapılmıştır. Çeşitli gelir gruplarının yaşamını sürdürdüğü TOKİ konutlarında memnuniyet durumu, TOKİ konutlarında yaşanan sorunlar, dayanışma ilişkileri de anlaşılmaya çalışılmıştır. Akkent Mahallesi’ndeki TOKİ konutlarında yaşamanın sosyo-kültürel yapı üzerinde çeşitli etkilere sahip olduğu görülmektedir. Farklı kültürlere ve farklı gelirlere sahip olan insanların Akkent Mahallesi’ndeki TOKİ konutlarında bir araya gelmiş olmaları birtakım sorunları da beraberinde getirmiştir. Özellikle kırsal kesimden gelen ve apartman kültürüne alışık olmayan insanların binadaki diğer insanlarla uyum sorunu yaşadıkları görülmektedir. (shrink)

In our lives, we aim to achieve welfare for ourselves, that is, to live good lives. But we also have another, more impartial perspective, where we aim to balance our concern for our own welfare against a concern for the welfare of others. This is a perspective of justice. Nils Holtug examines these two perspectives and the relations between them.

Spor alanında çağının sorunlarını ve konularını güncelliği içinde, bilim ve felsefenin temel ilkeleri doğrultusunda takip edebilmek ve yorumlayabilmek önemli bir beceridir. Çünkü sportif olay ve olgular, sadece bilim ve felsefenin yol göstericiliğinde daha net şekilde yorumlanabilinir ve değerlendirilebilinir. Dolayısıyla bu çalışmanın amacı, spor ve felsefe ilişkisini konu ile ilgili olan literatürü imkân dâhilinde tarayıp elde edilen verileri birbiri ile ilişkilendirerek değerlendirmektir. Bu bağlamda çalışma, analitik metot kullanılarak yürütülmüştür. Filozoflar ve felsefeciler, özellikle Aydınlanma Felsefesinin başladığı Aydınlanma Çağı denilen 18.yüzyıldan itibaren toplum, (...) hukuk, tarih, fizik, metafizik, bilgi, bilim, din, ahlak, sanat, siyaset ve spor gibi alanlara yönelip bu alanların kavramlarını sorgulayarak yeni anlamlar yüklemeye başlamışlardır. Böylece felsefenin bilim felsefesi, bilgi felsefesi, ontoloji, din felsefesi, ahlak felsefesi, sanat felsefesi, tarih felsefesi, siyaset felsefesi ve spor felsefesi gibi alt dalları ortaya çıkmaya başlamıştır. Haliyle, spor felsefesi de felsefenin spora uyarlanmasıyla ortaya çıkan bir felsefe dalı olmuştur. Sonuç olarak; spor felsefesi çoğu kişinin zannettiği gibi bir spor dalı değil, bir felsefe dalıdır. Bir felsefe dalı olarak spor felsefesinin çeşitli boyutları bulunmaktadır. Spora felsefi bir bakış açısı ile bakmak olan bu boyutlar hakkında genel bir bilgi sahibi olmak, her spor insanı için gerekli ve faydalı bir durumdur. Çünkü bu şekilde spor felsefesinin temel işlevleri ortaya konulabilinir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Spor, Felsefe, Spor Felsefesi, Spor İnsanı. (shrink)

The contributors to the volume are: Richard Arneson, Linda Barclay, Thomas Christiano, Nils Holtug, Susan Hurley, Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen, Dennis McKerlie, ...

In bilateral logic formulas are signed by + and –, indicating the speech acts assertion and denial. I argue that making an assumption is also speech act. Speech acts cannot be embedded within other speech acts. Hence we cannot make sense of the notion of making an assumption in bilateral logic. Attempts to solve this problem are considered and rejected.

ABSTRACTEvaluative aesthetic discourse communicates that the speaker has had first-hand experience of what is talked about. If you call a book bewitching, it will be assumed that you have read the book. If you say that a building is beautiful, it will be assumed that you have had some visual experience with it. According to an influential view, this is because knowledge is a norm for assertion, and aesthetic knowledge requires first-hand experience. This paper criticizes this view and argues for (...) an alternative view, according to which aesthetic discourse expresses affective states of mind, analogously to how assertions express beliefs. It is because these affective states require first-hand experience that aesthetic discourse communicates that such acquaintance is at hand. The paper furthermore argues that the lack of an experience requirement for aesthetic belief ascriptions constitutes a problem for the kind of expressivist who claims that evaluative belief states are covert non-cognitive states. (shrink)

Ian Rumfitt has proposed systems of bilateral logic for primitive speech acts of assertion and denial, with the purpose of ‘exploring the possibility of specifying the classically intended senses for the connectives in terms of their deductive use’ : 810f). Rumfitt formalises two systems of bilateral logic and gives two arguments for their classical nature. I assess both arguments and conclude that only one system satisfies the meaning-theoretical requirements Rumfitt imposes in his arguments. I then formalise an intuitionist system of (...) bilateral logic which also meets those requirements. Thus Rumfitt cannot claim that only classical bilateral rules of inference succeed in imparting a coherent sense onto the connectives. My system can be extended to classical logic by adding the intuitionistically unacceptable half of a structural rule Rumfitt uses to codify the relation between assertion and denial. Thus there is a clear sense in which, in the bilateral framework, the difference between classicism and intuitionism is not one of the rules of inference governing negation, but rather one of the relation between assertion and denial. (shrink)

According to the Harm Principle, roughly, the state may coerce a person only if it can thereby prevent harm to others. Clearly, this principle depends crucially on what we understand by harm. Thus, if any sort of negative effect on a person may count as a harm, the Harm Principle will fail to sufficiently protect individual liberty. Therefore, a more subtle concept of harm is needed. I consider various possible conceptions and argue that none gives rise to a plausible version (...) of the Harm Principle. Whether we focus on welfare, quantities of welfare or qualities of welfare, we do not arrive at a plausible version of this principle. Instead, the concept of harm may be moralized. I consider various ways this may be done as well as possible rationales for the resulting versions of the Harm Principle. Again, no plausible version of the principle turns up. I also consider the prospect of including the Harm Principle in a decision-procedure rather than in a criterion of rightness. Finally, in light of my negative appraisal, I briefly discuss why this principle has seemed so appealing to liberals. (shrink)

It is widely held within contemporary metaethics that there is a lack of linguistic support for evaluative expressivism. On the contrary, it seems that the predictions that expressivists make about evaluative discourse are not borne out. An instance of this is the so-called problem of missing Moorean infelicity. Expressivists maintain that evaluative statements express non-cognitive states of mind in a similar manner to how ordinary descriptive language expresses beliefs. Conjoining an ordinary assertion that p with the denial of being in (...) the corresponding belief state famously gives rise to Moorean infelicity:?? It’s raining but I don’t believe that it’s raining. If expressivists are right, then conjoining evaluative statements with the denial of being in the relevant non-cognitive state of mind should give rise to similar infelicity. However, as several theorists have pointed out, this does not seem to be the case. Statements like the following are not infelicitous: Murder is wrong but I don’t disapprove of it. In this paper, I argue that evaluative statements express the kind of states that are attributed by ‘find’-constructions in English and that these states are non-cognitive in nature. This addresses the problem of missing Moorean infelicity and, more generally, goes to show that there are linguistic facts which support expressivism about evaluative discourse. (shrink)

In this paper I argue that coming into existence can benefit (or harm) aperson. My argument incorporates the comparative claim that existence canbe better (or worse) for a person than never existing. Since these claimsare highly controversial, I consider and reject a number of objectionswhich threaten them. These objections raise various semantic, logical,metaphysical and value-theoretical issues. I then suggest that there is animportant sense in which it can harm (or benefit) a person not to comeinto existence. Again, I consider and (...) reject some objections. Finally, Ibriefly consider what the conclusions reached in this paper imply for ourmoral obligations to possible future people. (shrink)

Ethicism is the most comprehensively defended answer to the question regarding whether ethical properties determine aesthetic properties in artworks. According to ethicism, aesthetically relevant ethical flaws in artworks count as aesthetic flaws and aesthetically relevant ethical merits count as aesthetic merits. In this paper, I argue that ethicism’s most significant argument, the Merited Response Argument suffers from an ambiguity that makes it either unsound or uninteresting. Specifically, the notion of an artwork’s ‘prescribing’ a response, central to MRA, is ambiguous between (...) merely attempting to elicit a response from appreciators as appropriate to a work, and endorsing a response as appropriate to relevant parts of the actual world. While the first sense of ‘prescribe’ does the aesthetic work, the second does the ethical. (shrink)

This paper discusses proof-theoretic semantics, the project of specifying the meanings of the logical constants in terms of rules of inference governing them. I concentrate on Michael Dummett’s and Dag Prawitz’ philosophical motivations and give precise characterisations of the crucial notions of harmony and stability, placed in the context of proving normalisation results in systems of natural deduction. I point out a problem for defining the meaning of negation in this framework and prospects for an account of the meanings of (...) modal operators in terms of rules of inference. (shrink)

F. P. Ramsey was a remarkably creative and subtle philosopher who in the briefest of academic careers made significant contributions to logic, philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of language and decision theory. His few published papers reveal him to be a figure or comparable importance to Russell, Carnap and Wittgenstein in the history of analytical philosophy. This book was the first critical study of Ramsey's work, offering a thorough exposition and interpretation of his ideas, setting the ideas in their historical context, (...) and assessing their significance for contemporary research. The study is intended to complement the reissue of Ramsey's papers edited by Professor Hugh Mellor. (shrink)

This is a commentary on MM McCabe's "First Chop your logos... Socrates and the sophists on language, logic, and development". In her paper MM analyses Plato's Euthydemos, in which Plato tackles the problem of falsity in a way that takes into account the speaker and complements the Sophist's discussion of what is said. The dialogue looks as if it is merely a demonstration of the silly consequences of eristic combat. And so it is. But a main point of MM's paper (...) is that there is serious philosophy in the Euthydemos, too. MM argues that to counter the sophist brothers Euthydemos and Dionysodoros, Socrates points out that that there are different aspects to the verb 'to say' that run in parallel to the different aspects of the very 'to learn'. So just as there is continuity rather than ambiguity between 'to learn' and 'to understand', so there is continuity between the different aspects of saying. Thus Socrates puts forward a teleological account of both learning and meaning. Following up on some of MM's thoughts, I argue that the sophists subscribe, despite appearance, to a theory of meaning that respects serious and widely accepted philosophical theses on meaning. -/- Forthcoming in the Australasian Philosophical Review. The curator of the volume is Fiona Leigh, and the committee also has Hugh Benson and Tim Clarke. You can find MM's paper as well as the commentaries by Nicholas Denyer and Russell E. Jones and Ravi Sharma (and myself) by registering. (shrink)

This chapter examines autonomism. Autonomism is roughly the view that an artwork’s ethical properties do not bear on its aesthetic or artistic value. The author sketches some of the view’s history before describing various versions of it defended over the last quarter-century. These are divided into ‘radical’, ‘robust’, and ‘moderate’ forms of autonomism. The author considers the strengths and weaknesses of each. The author also devotes some space to the ‘interactionist’ views against which contemporary autonomism is typically opposed. In doing (...) so, he considers the so-called ‘qua problem’ at some length, as well its bearing on these various autonomist positions. (shrink)

Bilateralists hold that the meanings of the connectives are determined by rules of inference for their use in deductive reasoning with asserted and denied formulas. This paper presents two bilateral connectives comparable to Prior's tonk, for which, unlike for tonk, there are reduction steps for the removal of maximal formulas arising from introducing and eliminating formulas with those connectives as main operators. Adding either of them to bilateral classical logic results in an incoherent system. One way around this problem is (...) to count formulas as maximal that are the conclusion of reductio and major premise of an elimination rule and to require their removability from deductions. The main part of the paper consists in a proof of a normalisation theorem for bilateral logic. The closing sections address philosophical concerns whether the proof provides a satisfactory solution to the problem at hand and confronts bilateralists with the dilemma that a bilateral notion of stability sits uneasily with the core bilateral thesis. (shrink)

The outcomes of sports and competitive games excite intense emotions in many people, even when those same people acknowledge that those outcomes are of trifling importance. I call this incongruity between the judged importance of the outcome and the intense reactions it provokes the Puzzle of Sport. The puzzle can be usefully compared to another puzzle in aesthetics: the Paradox of Fiction, which asks how it is we become emotionally caught up with events and characters we know to be unreal. (...) In this article, I examine the prospects of understanding our engagement with competitive games on the model of our engagement with works of fiction, thus enabling analogous explanations for both puzzles. I show that there are significant problems with such an approach and offer an alternative, mobilizing ideas from David Velleman and Thomas Nagel, that appeals to the volatility of our motivational attitudes. (shrink)

The Ethical Question asks whether ethical values in artworks determine their aesthetic value and, if so, how. I argue that the question is ambiguous between a direct and an indirect reading. I show how the indirect reading is philosophically uninteresting because it has an obvious answer: a view called ‘immoralism’. I also show how most of the significant figures in the relevant literature address the indirect form of the question anyway—needlessly, if I am right. Finally, I consider whether some version (...) of the indirect question is more philosophically interesting, connecting it to the so-called ‘qua problem’. I attempt to give clarity to the discussion by applying work on the virtues and vices of explanations. (shrink)

Bilateralists, who accept that there are two primitive speech acts, assertion and denial, can offer an attractive definition of consequence: Y follows from X if and only if it is incoherent to assert all formulas X and to deny all formulas Y. The present paper argues that this definition has consequences many will find problematic, amongst them that truth coincides with assertibility. Philosophers who reject these consequences should therefore reject this definition of consequence.

This paper presents a way of formalising definite descriptions with a binary quantifier ι, where ιx[F, G] is read as ‘The F is G’. Introduction and elimination rules for ι in a system of intuitionist negative free logic are formulated. Procedures for removing maximal formulas of the form ιx[F, G] are given, and it is shown that deductions in the system can be brought into normal form.

Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte, EarlyView.

If a work of literary fiction prescribes us to imagine that the Devil made a bet with God and transformed into a poodle, then that claim is true in the fiction and we imagine accordingly. Generally, we cooperate imaginatively with literary fictions, however bizarre, and the things authors write into their stories become true in the fiction. But for some claims, such as moral falsehoods, this seems not to be straightforwardly the case, which raises the question: Why not? The puzzles (...) such cases raise are sometimes grouped under the heading “imaginative resistance”. In this paper, I argue against what I take to be the best attempts to dismiss the puzzles and solve them. I also tease out subtleties not sufficiently addressed in the existing literature and end by defending a unified solution of my own. According to this solution, the puzzling phenomena occur when literary works offer inadequate and exhaustive grounds for claims. The solution’s novelty lies in its giving a normative rather than psychological or alethic explanation for the puzzling phenomena, the relevant norms being those of proper artistic appreciation. (shrink)

In a recent, thought-provoking paper Adam Elga argues against unsharp – e.g., indeterminate, fuzzy and unreliable – probabilities. Rationality demands sharpness, he contends, and this means that decision theories like Levi's, Gärdenfors and Sahlin's, and Kyburg's, though they employ different decision rules, face a common, and serious, problem. This article defends the rule to maximize minimum expected utility against Elga's objection.

Mobile health devices pose novel questions at the intersection of philosophy and technology. Many such applications not only collect sensitive data, but also aim at persuading users to change their lifestyle for the better. A major concern is that persuasion is paternalistic as it intentionally aims at changing the agent’s actions, chipping away at their autonomy. This worry roots in the philosophical conviction that perhaps the most salient feature of living autonomous lives is displayed via agency as opposed to patiency—our (...) lives go well in virtue of what we do, rather than what happens to us. Being persuaded by a device telling us how to conduct our lives seemingly renders the agent passive, an inert recipient of technological commands. This agential bias, however, has led to a marginalization of patiential characteristics that are just as much part of our lives as are agential characteristics. To appreciate the inherent interlocking of acting and being acted upon, it is vital to acknowledge that agency and patiency are correlates, not mutually exclusive opposites. Furthermore, it is unclear whether an action can only count as agential so long as its causes are internal. Drawing on the extended mind and extended will framework, I argue that mHealth applications merely serve as volitional aids to the agent’s internal cognition. Autonomously set goals can be achieved more effectively via technology. To be persuaded by an mHealth device does not mainly—let alone exclusively—emphasize patiency; on the contrary, it can be an effective tool for technologically enhancing agency. (shrink)

This paper studies a formalisation of intuitionistic logic by Negri and von Plato which has general introduction and elimination rules. The philosophical importance of the system is expounded. Definitions of ‘maximal formula’, ‘segment’ and ‘maximal segment’ suitable to the system are formulated and corresponding reduction procedures for maximal formulas and permutative reduction procedures for maximal segments given. Alternatives to the main method used are also considered. It is shown that deductions in the system convert into normal form and that deductions (...) in normal form have the subformula property. (shrink)

This paper considers a formalisation of classical logic using general introduction rules and general elimination rules. It proposes a definition of ‘maximal formula’, ‘segment’ and ‘maximal segment’ suitable to the system, and gives reduction procedures for them. It is then shown that deductions in the system convert into normal form, i.e. deductions that contain neither maximal formulas nor maximal segments, and that deductions in normal form satisfy the subformula property. Tarski’s Rule is treated as a general introduction rule for implication. (...) The general introduction rule for negation has a similar form. Maximal formulas with implication or negation as main operator require reduction procedures of a more intricate kind not present in normalisation for intuitionist logic. (shrink)

According to what I call the Merit Principle, roughly, works of art that attempt to elicit unmerited responses fail on their own terms and are thereby aesthetically flawed. A horror film, for instance, that attempts to elicit fear towards something that is not scary is to that extent aesthetically flawed. The Merit Principle is not only intuitive, it is also endorsed in some form by Aristotle, David Hume, and numerous contemporary figures. In this paper, I show how the principle leads (...) to a novel paradox when applied to an undertheorized class of artworks I call ‘seductive works’. These artworks necessarily invite an unmerited response in order to invite a (merited) repudiation of that response. Thus, according to the Merit Principle, they are necessarily aesthetically flawed, which is counter-intuitive. I consider a number of unsuccessful solutions to the paradox that aim to preserve the Merit Principle, before rejecting that principle as it stands. I discuss what is challenging about seductive artworks, before briefly defending a new principle that appeals to a general way that a work’s aesthetic value is conditioned by the constraints under which it operates. This principle not only resolves the paradox, but explains the competing intuitions that give rise to it. (shrink)

Sentences containing definite descriptions, expressions of the form ‘The F’, can be formalised using a binary quantifier ι that forms a formula out of two predicates, where ιx[F, G] is read as ‘The F is G’. This is an innovation over the usual formalisation of definite descriptions with a term forming operator. The present paper compares the two approaches. After a brief overview of the system INFι of intuitionist negative free logic extended by such a quantifier, which was presented in (...) (Kürbis 2019), INFι is first compared to a system of Tennant’s and an axiomatic treatment of a term forming ι operator within intuitionist negative free logic. Both systems are shown to be equivalent to the subsystem of INFι in which the G of ιx[F, G] is restricted to identity. INFι is then compared to an intuitionist version of a system of Lambert’s which in addition to the term forming operator has an operator for predicate abstraction for indicating scope distinctions. The two systems will be shown to be equivalent through a translation between their respective languages. Advantages of the present approach over the alternatives are indicated in the discussion. (shrink)

This paper proves normalisation theorems for intuitionist and classical negative free logic, without and with the $\invertediota$ operator for definite descriptions. Rules specific to free logic give rise to new kinds of maximal formulas additional to those familiar from standard intuitionist and classical logic. When $\invertediota$ is added it must be ensured that reduction procedures involving replacements of parameters by terms do not introduce new maximal formulas of higher degree than the ones removed. The problem is solved by a rule (...) that permits restricting these terms in the rules for $\forall$, $\exists$ and $\invertediota$ to parameters or constants. A restricted subformula property for deductions in systems without $\invertediota$ is considered. It is improved upon by an alternative formalisation of free logic building on an idea of Ja\'skowski's. In the classical system the rules for $\invertediota$ require treatment known from normalisation for classical logic with $\lor$ or $\exists$. The philosophical significance of the results is also indicated. (shrink)