What is ethics? Where does it come from? Can we really hope to find any rational way of deciding how we ought to live? If we can, what would it be like, and how are we going to know when we have found it? To capture the essentials of what we know about the origins and nature of ethics, Peter Singer has drawn on anthropology, evolution, game theory, and works of fiction, in addition to the classic moral philosophy of (...) such thinkers as Nietzsche, Kant, and Confucius. By choosing some of the finest pieces of writing, old and new, in and about ethics, he conveys the intellectual excitement of the search for answers to basic questions about how we ought to live. From the debates of Socrates and the profound writing of Rousseau to Jane Goodall's reflections on the ethics of chimpanzee kinship and Luther's commentary on the Sixth Commandment (thou shalt not kill), this engaging reader offers a complete and thorough introduction to the fascinating world of ethical debate. (shrink)

Theories of explanation are characterized as being either pragmatic or non-pragmatic, without a clear sense of what this is supposed to mean. The present paper offers a definition of a "pragmatic explanation-sentence", and in terms of this, of a "pragmatic theory of explanation". It is argued that van Fraassen's theory of explanation, despite claims to the contrary, is not genuinely pragmatic. By contrast, the author's own "illocutionary" theory is pragmatic. Attention is devoted particularly to sentences of the form "E is (...) a good explanation of q", which, it is urged, are pragmatic in a strong sense. In defense of this claim, and of the advantages of a pragmatic account generally, appeal is made to Rutherford's 1911 subatomic explanation of the results of his scattering experiments. Implications of a pragmatic theory are drawn for the debate between realists and anti-realists and absolutists and relativists. (shrink)

Animal Century records some of the most important events and influences behind this often overlooked element of our social history, paying tribute to the courage and endurance that has helped to create a groundswell of public sympathy for our fellow creatures in many countries of the world. Mark Gold's moving and thought-provoking account includes in-depth previously unpublished interviews with many key players - including Maneka Gandhi, Jane Goodall, Celia Hammond, Virginia McKenna and Peter Singer - and celebrates the (...) compassion of countless others who have worked bravely and tirelessly to protect animals. (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.

The Animal Ethics Reader is an acclaimed anthology containing both classic and contemporary readings, making it ideal for anyone coming to the subject for the first time. It provides a thorough introduction to the central topics, controversies and ethical dilemmas surrounding the treatment of animals, covering a wide range of contemporary issues, such as animal activism, genetic engineering, and environmental ethics. The extracts are arranged thematically under the following clear headings: Theories of Animal Ethics Nonhuman Animal Experiences Primates and Cetaceans (...) Animals for Food Animal Experimentation Animals and Biotechnology Ethics and Wildlife Zoos and Aquariums Animal Companions Animal Law and Animal Activism Readings from leading experts in the field including Peter Singer, Bernard E. Rollin and Jane Goodall are featured, as well as selections from Tom Regan, Jane Goodall, Donald Griffin, Temple Grandin, Ben A. Minteer, Christine Korsgaard and Mark Rowlands. Classic extracts are well balanced with contemporary selections, helping to present the latest developments in the field. This revised and updated _Third Edition_ includes 31 new readings on a range of subjects, including animal rights, captive chimpanzees, industrial farm animal production, genetic engineering, keeping cetaceans in captivity, animal cruelty, and animal activism. The _Third Edition _also is printed with a slightly larger page format and in an easier-to-read typeface. Featuring contextualizing introductions by the editors, study questions and further reading suggestions as the end of each chapter, this will be essential reading for any student taking a course in the subject. With a new foreword by Bernard E. Rollin. (shrink)

_A Communion of Subjects_ is the first comparative and interdisciplinary study of the conceptualization of animals in world religions. Scholars from a wide range of disciplines, including Thomas Berry (cultural history), Wendy Doniger (study of myth), Elizabeth Lawrence (veterinary medicine, ritual studies), Marc Bekoff (cognitive ethology), Marc Hauser (behavioral science), Steven Wise (animals and law), Peter Singer (animals and ethics), and Jane Goodall (primatology) consider how major religious traditions have incorporated animals into their belief systems, myths, rituals, and (...) art. Their findings offer profound insights into humans' relationships with animals and a deeper understanding of the social and ecological web in which we all live. Contributors examine Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Daoism, Confucianism, African religions, traditions from ancient Egypt and early China, and Native American, indigenous Tibetan, and Australian Aboriginal traditions, among others. They explore issues such as animal consciousness, suffering, sacrifice, and stewardship in innovative methodological ways. They also address contemporary challenges relating to law, biotechnology, social justice, and the environment. By grappling with the nature and ideological features of various religious views, the contributors cast religious teachings and practices in a new light. They reveal how we either intentionally or inadvertently marginalize "others," whether they are human or otherwise, reflecting on the ways in which we assign value to living beings. Though it is an ancient concern, the topic of "Religion and Animals" has yet to be systematically studied by modern scholars. This groundbreaking collection takes the first steps toward a meaningful analysis. (shrink)

SUMMARYThe sixteenth-century Huguenot émigré Jacques Bellot played a seminal role in the history of English and French language tuition, and is remembered for composing some of the first descriptive grammars for learners of both languages. His methods remained in use throughout the seventeenth century after being incorporated into the often-reprinted Grammaire angloise. This essay considers a previously undiscussed manuscript copy of Bellot's Rules containing the Perfect Understanding of the French Tongue for evidence of his early attempts to teach French to (...) members of Sir Thomas Wroth's family. The Rules provides new insights into how Bellot and his printers adapted the content and parallel-text layout in his subsequent printed manuals to create more efficient aids to language learning. (shrink)

The place of moral innocence in politics is the central theme of Peter Johnson's subtle and original book.

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)

Spinoza assigns to the imagination a wide-ranging and often disparate looking set of operations. Commentators have long recognized that these operations share a certain proximity to the body and a common tendency to lead people into error. Yet others remark on the apparent thinness of an overarching theme. This article examines the prominent and often underappreciated role of memory in unifying Spinoza’s account of imaginative cognition. The discussion revisits various aspects of imagination in light of their integrated characterization as forms (...) of remembering. The article also assesses reasons other than memory that Spinoza has for grouping them in common. The examination focuses on the intrinsic character of the imagination and its related operations in the Ethics, while occasionally bringing other works into play. (shrink)

This paper endeavours to unravel the dialectical structure embedded within St. John of the Cross’ delineation of the phase of purgation in the economy of mysticism. Two correlative opposites that figure prominently in some systems of theistic mysticism are infinite-finite and grace-effort. The premise of this paper is that those pairings are not dichotomous contraries but are opposites that are amenable to some form of reconciliation. With the aid of a triadic dialectical scheme it is possible to map out the (...) dialectical relations between relevant concepts within mystical purgation, characterized as ‘night’ by St. John, and perhaps achieve some advance in the elucidation of the pairings’ constitutive elements. (shrink)

This is the second of the annual series on medical law and ethics, based on lectures given at the Centre for Medical Law and Ethics at King's College, London. The contributors, who come from a wide range of disciplines and represent diverse interests, review important issues in the forefront of recent controversy.

Generalization of the standard behavior longitudinal genetic factor model for the analysis of interindividual phenotypic variation to a genetic state space model for the analysis of intraindividual variation enables the possibility to estimate subject-specific heritabilities.

"Textual Reasoning" is the name a family of contemporary Jewish thinkers has given to its overlapping practices of Jewish philosophy and theology. This collection represents the most public expression to date of the shared work, over a period of 12 years, of this society of "textual reasoners." Although the movement of textual reasoning is diverse and pluriform, it is characterized at bottom by the pursuit of the claim that there are significant affinities between Jewish forms of reading and reasoning and (...) postmodern thought. These affinities are presently being pursued by scholars throughout Jewish studies, in fields such as Bible, Talmud, Midrash, medieval philosophy, Kabbalah and the Jewish penomenology of Rosenzweig and Levinas among others. As the essays here convey, the work of these scholars has stimulated a lively and creative re-engagement with the philosophical dimensions of Jewish texts and, even more, the textual dimensions of Jewish reasoning. In large part this new energy has come from a conception of the postmodern as a place where some of the most distinctive features of Jewish reasoning can be elucidated as well as challenged. Nancy Levene is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Williams College. Peter Ochs is Edgar M Bronfman Professor of Modern Judaic Studies at the University of Virginia. (shrink)