R F Dearden; Theory and Practice in Education, Journal of Philosophy of Education, Volume 14, Issue 1, 30 May 2006, Pages 17–29, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-.

The "problem of counterfactuals," as proposed by Goodman and Chisholm, cannot be solved. However, a similar program, pioneered by Hiż and Mrs. Milmed, but largely neglected, can be completed and promises a satisfactory analysis of subjunctive conditionals.

The main difficulty utilitarians have faced is the problem of reconciling the dictates of utility with what seem clearly to be moral duties, but based on considerations of Justice. John Stuart Mill addressed this problem in his essay,Utilitarianism,and the result has not served to silence the critics of utilitarianism on this score. In part, this is due to the fact that Mill's position in the chapter on Justice is not entirely clear, nor is it entirely convincing where it is clear. (...) Still, I do not think Mill's views on Justice have been given their due. In this essay, I shall try to show that Mill anticipated recently defended principles that rely on appeal to a notion of fairness or fair play, and that these can be given a utilitarian foundation. (shrink)

Historical materialism I take to be the view expressed in the well-known Preface to the Critique of Political Economy (1859) and exemplified in Capital and in many other writings by Marx and by Marxists. I shall begin with a few introductory remarks, next sketch in the theory, and finally contend that, despite real attractions, it too far limits the scope of legitimate historical enquiry to be ultimately acceptable.

I am concerned with the subject as an ethico-religious problem. Is suicide all right or isn't it; and if it isn't, why not?The question should not be assumed to be susceptible of an answer in the way the question whether arsenic is poisonous is susceptible of an answer. Moreover in the case of arsenic the question what it is, and the question whether it is poisonous, are separable questions: you can know that arsenic is poisonous without having analysed its nature. (...) But to know or believe that suicide is objectionable is to have analysed its nature or construed its significance in one way rather than another. (shrink)

Journal of the Pali Text Society, Volume XXV. Ed. by O. von Hinuber & R. F. Gombrich. Oxford 1999. £17.25. ISBN 0 86013 372 9.

Arvind Thomas has written a remarkable book. That said, however, it must be quickly added that it is not a book for everyone, not even for all students of medieval literature. It is a very thoughtf...

Why are we interested in history at all? Why do we feel the need to distinguish between past and present? In this book, the author argues that the past originates from an experience of rupture separating past and present. Think of the radical rupture with Europe's past that was effected by the French and the Industrial Revolutions. Sublime Historical Experience investigates how the notion of sublime historical experience complicates and challenges existing conceptions of language, truth, and knowledge. These experiences of (...) rupture are paradoxical since they involve both the separation of past and present and, at the same time, the effort to overcome this separation in terms of historical knowledge. The experience unites feelings of loss/pain with those of love/satisfaction, and thus is in agreement with how sublime experience is ordinarily defined. The experience is also precognitive since it precedes historical knowledge. As such it is a challenge to traditional conceptions of the relationship between experience and truth or language. It compels us to disconnect the notions of experience and truth. (shrink)

R F Dearden; Education and Politics, Journal of Philosophy of Education, Volume 14, Issue 2, 30 May 2006, Pages 149–156, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9752.198.

Seizure before trial is forbidden in an impending dispute about a free man or slave. But if a claimant anticipates judgement he is to be fined ten staters for seizing a free man, five for a slave, and he is ordered to release the seized person within three days . If this order for release is not obeyed, the offending party incurs another fine of a stater for a free man, a drachma for a slave, for each day until the (...) order is obeyed, the judge deciding on oath about the time involved. If this offence is denied, the judge is to decide on oath, where there is no witness. (shrink)

Ob was Mythos im ursprünglichen oder anfänglichen Sinn heissen soll aus den zahlreichen späteren und sich oft widersprechenden Deutungen überhaupt noch ans Licht zu ziehen ist lässt sich fragen. Desgleichen, ob es das Sein selbst ist, das sich im Mythos (als auslegende Seinserzählung) dem archaischen Menschen kund tut oder ob es vom Menschen als dem „interpretations- und orientierungsbedürftigen Wesen” angesprochen wird. Im ersten Falle lässt Mythos sich am besten als Manifestation, im zweiten als Interpretation auffassen. Aber auch wenn es das (...) Sein selbst sein sollte, das den Menschen im Mythos anspricht so ist es auf ihn als das Wesen, das ausspricht dass es angesprochen wird oder sich angesprochen weiss immer noch angewiesen. Die immer von aktuellen Fragen inspirierte wissenschaftliche und philosophische Forschung wird mit der Schwierigkeit konfrontiert, dass die Suche des Mythos „an sich” immer davon auszugehen hat was der Mythos „für uns” bedeutet und dem unmöglich los wird. Wenn Myhos mit einem gewissen Recht als „vorgängiges Seinsverständnis” qualifiziert wird kann mit gleichem Recht gelten, dass jede theoretische Interpretation des Mythos als Artikulierung von etwas das „vorgängiges Mythosverständnis” genannt werden kann aufzufassen ist. Der Grund, der im Mythos gelegt wird, lässt sich nicht mehr „interpretationsfrei” zurückholen. Zugleich zieht er uns immer wieder zu sich zurück. Auch das ist ein Grund – der Grund, der uns zwingt immer wieder vom Mythos zu reden und über ihn nachzudenken, sei es im Modus des Verfalls. (shrink)

R F Dearden; Happiness and Education, Journal of Philosophy of Education, Volume 2, Issue 1, 30 May 2006, Pages 17–29, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9752.1968.

It has come to be expected that collections issued by the Royal Institute of Philosophy will contain work that has quality or is otherwise interesting. This volume runs true to form and presents plenty of both. It gives the proceedings of the conference arranged by the Institute at Exeter in 1973, consisting of five symposia together with Chairman's remarks of about eight pages or so for each symposium, and in three cases postscripts by the first speaker. The contributors and topics (...) are: R. F. Dearden and Elizabeth Telfer on ‘Autonomy as an Educational Ideal’ with R. M. Hare as Chairman; R. K. Elliott and Glenn Langford on ‘Education and the Development of the Understanding’ with Paul Hirst as Chairman; David Cooper and Timothy O'Hagan on ‘Quality and Equality in Education’ with R. F. Atkinson as Chairman; Mary Warnock and Richard Norman on ‘The Neutral Teacher’ with Alan Montefiore as Chairman; Stuart Brown and A. Phillips Griffiths on ‘Academic Freedom’ with R. S. Peters as Chairman. (shrink)