Among the objections to the implementation of what I will call "genome editing in human reproduction" is that it does not address any unmet medical need, and therefore fails to meet an important criterion for introducing an unproven procedure with potentially adverse consequences. To be clear: what I mean by GEHR is the use of any one of a number of related biological techniques, such as the CRISPR-Cas9 system, deliberately to modify a functional sequence of DNA in a cell of (...) a human embryo, so that the modified sequence is replicated in the cells of a resulting child and may, without further intervention, be passed on to that child's biological descendants. It is... (shrink)

Introduction -- Overview -- Theism, simplicity, and properly anthropocentric metaphysics -- Materialism and dualism -- The power, knowledge, and motives of the primordial God -- The existence of the primordial God -- God changes -- Understanding evil -- The Trinity -- The Incarnation -- Concluding remarks.

This dissertation provides a model-theoretic semantics for English sentences atttributing a property or action to a group of objects, either collectively or distributively. It is shown that certain adverbial expressions select for collective predicates; therefore collective and distibutive predicates must be distinguishable. This finding is problematic for recent accounts of distributive predicates which analyze such predicates as taking group-level arguments, and hence as not distinguishable from collective predicates. ;A group-level treatment of distributives is possible, however, if predicate denotations are relativized (...) to a set of events for which a part/whole relation is defined. An event in which a group performs an action distributively will have subevents in which each of the group's members perform the same action; an event in which the group performs the action collectively will not. ;This analysis also makes possible an account of the fact that adverbials expressing collective action commonly have an additional use expressing spatial proximity, both in English and cross-linguistically. . A spatial "trace" function on the set of events allows formal definitions for the spatial uses of such adverbials to exactly parallel the definitions for the collectivizing uses. ;The dissertation also provides arguments for a set-theoretic model for plurality, in which the group membership relation is distinct from the subgroup relation. ;Certain quantifiers are shown sensitive to distinction between different sorts of group-level event. To accommodate this fact, it is suggested that verbal denotations provide, for each event, both an "inclusion set" and an "exclusion set"--corresponding roughly to positive and negative denotations. If the inclusion and exclusion sets are allowed under certain circumstances not to complement each other, correct results obtain. ;The splitting of verbal denotations into inclusion and exclusion sets also allows the solution of certain problems in previous accounts of the semantics of subject-verb agreement for number. The dissertation closes with a defense of the hypothesis that agreement is conditioned primarily by the semantics. (shrink)

The work encompasses analysis of philosophers and writers from ancient times through to the present day and examines such episodes as the Oklahoma City Federal ...

Inference to the Best Explanation is an unrivalled exposition of a theory of particular interest to students both of epistemology and the philosophy of science.

Uses Buddhist philosophy to discuss diversity as a value, one that can contribute to equity in a globalizing world.

AnlaB, dieses Bueh niederzusehreiben, ist ein empiriseh-analytisehes Unbehagen. Besehaftigt mit einer Untersuehung zur Anwendung sozialwissensehaftlieher Erkenntnisse in Wirtsehaftsbetrieben und in der politisehen Administration, muBten wir feststellen, daB die Grundlagen der Befragung einer theoretisehen Klarung besonders bedurftig waren. Dieser die Untersuehung begleitende ProzeB der theoretisehen Se1bstverstandigung begann mit der Einsieht, daB der empiriseh-analytisehe Erfahrungsbegriff der Sozialwissensehaft die Wirkliehkeit dieser Wissensehaft nur unvollkommen erreieht. Es war daher naheliegend, zunaehst einige methodologisehe Grundfragen zu diskutieren, die fur die sozialwissensehaftliehe Theorie und Empirie konstitutiv sind. (...) Das Ergebnis dieser Diskussion laBt sieh dahingehend zusammenfassen, daB die Grunddisziplin der Sozialwissenschaft dann die Philosophie sein muB, wenn die Inter­ pretation empiriseher Befunde nieht beliebig sein solI. Und zwar eine Philosophie, die sieh nieht aussehlieBlieh mit einer wissensehafts­ theoretisehen Naehzeiehnung wissensehaftlieher Methoden begnugt, sondern deren inhaltsbezogene Kategorien Bestandteil der sozial­ wissensehaftliehen Theorien se1bst sein mussen. Sozialwissensehaft wird vor diesem Hintergrund eine Form mog­ lieher Erkenntnis, einer Erkenntnis, die beispielsweise im Gegensatz zur Physik, ihren Erkenntnisgegenstand im wesentliehen mit dem AlI­ tagswissen teilt. Sozialwissensehaftlieh zu ersehlieBende Erfahrungen konnen also nieht von den Erfahrungen des alltagliehen BewuBtseins vollig abstrahieren; aber sie mussen diese Form des BewuBtseins der­ art konkretisieren, daB seine Erfahrungen in ihrer Komplexitat und vie1fliltigen gesellsehaftliehen Bezogenheit verstehbar werden. (shrink)

Hannah Arendt's (1906-1975) writings, both in public magazines and in her important books, are still widely studied today. She made original contributions in political thinking that still astound readers and critics alike. The subject of several films and numerous books, colloquia, and newspaper articles, Arendt remains a touchstone in innumerable debates about the use of violence in politics, the responsibility one has under dictatorships and totalitarianism, and how to combat the repetition of the horrors of the past. The Bloomsbury Companion (...) to Arendt offers the definitive guide to her writings and ideas, her influences and commentators, as well as the reasons for her lasting significance, with 66 original essays taking up in accessible terms the myriad ways in which one can take up her work and her continuing importance. These essays, written by an international set of her best readers and commentators, provides a comprehensive coverage of her life and the contexts in which her works were written. Special sections take up chapters on each of her key writings, the reception of her work, and key ways she interpreted those who influenced her. If one has come to Arendt from one of her essays on freedom, or from yet another bombastic account of her writings on Adolph Eichmann, or as as student or professor working in the field of Arendt studies, this book provides the ideal tool for thinking with and rediscovering one of the most important intellectuals of the past century. But just as importantly, contributors advance the study of Arendt into neglected areas, such as on science and ecology, to demonstrate her importance not just to debates in which she was well known, but those touched off only after her death. Arendt's approaches as well as her concrete claims about the political have much to offer given the current ecological and refugee crises, among others. In sum, then, the Companion provides a tool for thinking with Arendt, but also for showing just where those thinking with her can take her work today. (shrink)

Bridging from Husserl to Iamblichus, this book contributes phenomenological readings of Plotinus, Aristotle, Parmenides, and Heraclitus, in which prevalent misconceptions about the very identity of time in the phenomena of motion are corrected, and time's role in Greek philosophy recovered.

This chapter is a case for the pantheist conception considered as a species of theism, rather than a rival to it. The starting point, the premise of the argument, is properly anthropomorphic metaphysics, which I propose as a rival to scientific naturalism; I begin, then, by stating my version of pantheism, by expounding PAM, and by sketching my argument.

Spontaneous collapse theories provide a promising solution to the measurement problem. But they also introduce a number of problems of their own concerning dimensionality, vagueness, and locality. In response to these problems, advocates of collapse theories have proposed various accounts of the primitive ontology of collapse theories—postulated underlying entities governed by the collapse theory and underwriting our observations. The most prominent of these are a mass density distribution over three-dimensional space, and a set of discrete “flash” events at space-time points. (...) My argument here is that these primitive ontologies are redundant, in the sense that the structures exhibited by the primitive ontologies that allow them to solve the problems facing spontaneous collapse theories are also present in the wave function. But redundancy is not nonexistence; indeed, the fact that the relevant structures are already there in the wave function shows that the mass density ontology and the flash ontology exist whether they are explicitly postulated or not. By the same token, there is no need to decide between a wave function ontology, a mass density ontology and a flash ontology. (shrink)

At the heart of Peter Singer’s utilitarianism is the impartial weighing of the interests of those affected by our actions. Singer calls this the Principle of Equal Consideration of Interests. This paper argues that Singer’s Principle does not accord with our moral intuitions and the logic of our moral thinking. It discusses the Principle in the context of the parable of the Prodigal Son and his Brother – a parable that raises the issue of impartiality in a particularly challenging (...) way. What the parable shows is, first, that our moral thinking often turns on judgements of fairness that are prior to any impartial weighing of interests; and, second, that impartial fairness itself is sometimes transcended by compassionate love. Both of these points have important implications for bioethics. (shrink)

Over the past decade, psychotherapy and counselling have become more and more popular, with many people turning to therapists in the hope of finding a better, happier, more fulfilling life. In this cogently argued and beautifully written book, Peter Lomas, argues that as psychotherapy enters the mainstream, therapists have become dependent on the technical aspects of their profession at the expense of the many moral issues involved. Indeed, they have become so afraid of moralizing or of departing from what (...) Lomas views as a spurious scientific neutrality that the dialogue between therapist and patient tends to be distorted, potentially confusing, and too remote from the healthy reality of ordinary conversation. In this provocative analysis, drawing on his day-to-day experience of working with patients, Peter Lomas explores the consequences of this dichotomy, such as the loss of spontaneity and avoidance of closeness which may hinder rather than help the healing process. He looks at the problems associated with issues of power, and its abuse, which is central to psychotherapy, and explores the dilemmas involved when there is a clash of moral beliefs between the two people. This is a lucid and thought-provoking addition to the literature on psychotherapy, and will appeal both to trainee and practising therapists and counsellors, for people in therapy, and for those considering embarking upon it. (shrink)