Notions of probability and uncertainty have been increasingly prominant in modern economics. This book considers the philosophical and practical difficulties inherent in integrating these concepts into realistic economic situations. It outlines and evaluates the major developments, indicating where further work is needed. This book addresses: * probability, utility and rationality within current economic thought and practice * concepts of ignorance and indeterminancy * experimental economics * econometrics, with particular reference inference and estimation.

Overview The debate over the semantics of proper names has, of late, heated up, focusing on the relative merits of referentialism and predicativism. Referentialists maintain that the semantic function of proper names is to designate individuals. They hold that a proper name, as it occurs in a sentence in a context of use, refers to a specific individual that is its referent and has just that individual as its semantic content, its contribution to the proposition expressed by the sentence. Furthermore, (...) a proper name contributes its referent to the proposition expressed by virtue of mechanisms of direct reference to individuals, not by virtue of expressing properties. Predicativists embrace an opposing view according to which proper names are just a special kind of common noun. Their semantic function is to designate properties of individuals. A proper name, as it occurs in a sentence in a context of use, expresses a property, and that property is its contribution to the proposition expr .. (shrink)

Phenomenology, according to Husserl, is meant to be philosophy as rigorous science. It was Franz Brentano who inspired him to pursue the ideal of scientific philosophy. Though Husserl began his philosophical career as an orthodox disciple of Brentano, he eventually began to have doubts about this orientation. The Logische Unterschungen is the result of such doubts. Especially after the publication of that work, he became increasingly convinced that, in the interests of scientific philosophy, he had to go in a direction (...) which diverged from Brentano and other members of this school (`Brentanists') who believed in the same ideal. An attempt is made here to ascertain Husserl's philosophical relation to Brentano and certain other Brentanists (Carl Stumpf, Benno Kerry, Kasimir Twardowski, Alexius Meinong, and Anton Marty). The crucial turning point in the development of these relations is to be found in the essay which Husserl wrote in 1894 (particularly in response to Twardowski) under the title `Intentional Objects' (which is translated as an appendix in this volume). This study will be of interest to historians of philosophy and phenomenology in particular, but also to anyone concerned with the ideal of scientific philosophy. (shrink)

Let us take, as a starting assumption, the Benthamic understanding of the point of law: We should make laws that will increase the overall happiness of the people whose lives are affected by them. But how should we go about doing that? And more particularly, what role, if any, should our held desires play in the task of ascertaining the content of our happiness? And when, if ever, should we defer to the desires of the affected masses, and when should (...) we not, in determining what will or will not promote happiness? The classical, or “hedonic,” utilitarians of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries suggested a number of answers to these related questions, of which I will mention two. (shrink)

We would like to thank D. H. Mellor for taking time to comment on our paper “A New Challenge for Objective Uncertainties and The Propensity Theorist”.

In this article we critically evaluate Robin Le Poidevin's recent attempt to set out an argument for the ontological reduction of chemistry independently of intertheoretic reduction. We argue, firstly, that the argument he envisages applies only to a small part of chemistry, and that there is no obvious way to extend it. We argue, secondly, that the argument cannot establish the reduction of chemistry, properly so called.

We confirm a conjecture, about neat embeddings of cylindric algebras, made in 1969 by J. D. Monk, and a later conjecture by Maddux about relation algebras obtained from cylindric algebras. These results in algebraic logic have the following consequence for predicate logic: for every finite cardinal α ≥ 3 there is a logically valid sentence X, in a first-order language L with equality and exactly one nonlogical binary relation symbol E, such that X contains only 3 variables (each of which (...) may occur arbitrarily many times), X has a proof containing exactly α + 1 variables, but X has no proof containing only α variables. This solves a problem posed by Tarski and Givant in 1987. (shrink)

Philosophy had either ignored or attacked psychoanalysis: such responses are neither warranted nor helpful. One hundred years after its inception, isn't it time to find out what psychoanalysis has to offer us? In Passion in Theory Robyn Ferrell does just that, and returns with some surprising answers. Concentrating on the work of Freud and Lacan, Robyn Ferrell asks why their work had been so influential in European philosophy yet so marginal in the Anglo-American circles. Passion in Theory explores their conception (...) of the relationship between mind and body, and how it provides a key to many current philosophical questions. Passion in Theory is designed for students and researchers in psychoanalysis, traditional and continental philosophy. (shrink)

Photographs, paintings, rigid sculptures: all these provide examples of static images. It is true that they change—photographs fade, paintings darken and sculptures crumble—but what change they undergo is irrelevant to their representational content. A static image is one that represents by virtue of properties which remain largely unchanged throughout its existence. Because of this defining feature, according to a long tradition in aesthetics, a static image can only represent an instantaneous moment, or to be more exact the state of affairs (...) obtaining at that moment'. It cannot represent movement and the passage of time. This traditional view mirrors a much older one in metaphysics: that change is to be conceived of as a series of instantaneous states and hence that an interval of time is composed of extensionless moments. The metaphysical view has been involved in more controversy than its aesthetic counterpart. Aristotle identified it as one of the premises of Zeno's arrow paradox and Augustine employed it in his proof of the unreality of time. (shrink)

Robin Douglass presents the first comprehensive study of the relationship between Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, two of the most important figures in the history of modern political thought. He explores and evaluates the most important differences between them, and advances an original interpretation of Rousseau's political philosophy.

In this essay, Robin May Schott criticizes leading proponents of just war theory and introduces the notion of justifiable but illegitimate violence. Instead of legitimating some wars as just, it is better to acknowledge that both the situation of war and moral judgments about war are ambiguous. Schott raises the questions: What are alternative narratives of war? And what are alternative narratives to war? Such narratives are necessary for addressing the concepts of evil and of witnessing in the ethical (...) discourse after Auschwitz. (shrink)

This collection of papers by prominent feminist thinkers advances the positive feminist project of remapping the moral by developing theory that acknowledges the diversity of women.

Name der Zeitschrift: Klio Jahrgang: 98 Heft: 2 Seiten: 754-757.

The aim of the study is to show that one of the essential motifs of Kant’s critical philosophy is the issue of human health. Its starting point is therefore Kant’s reflections in the Metaphysics of Morals (1797) and the Conflict of the Faculties (1798), where Kant presented his concept of so-called “universal medicine,” which focuses on the problem of a healthy regimen. Since its basic assumption is that the body and mind of a person, however different they might be, are (...) mutually connected so that the diseases of the body can be cured by way of the mind, it is the author’s interpretation that this concept is a peculiar attempt to overcome the substantive dualism of mind and body seen in Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy (1641). At the same time, however, Kant follows on from what Descartes himself attempted. (shrink)

Perfectionism is a multidimensional construct with both positive and negative aspects. Recently, the concept of appearance-oriented perfectionism has been introduced, which is associated with body image dissatisfaction and weight and shape control behaviors. The Physical Appearance Perfectionism Scale is a 12-item two-factor instrument developed to assess this new dimension of perfectionism. The aim of the study is to validate the Spanish version of PAPS among a representative sample of 850 male university students in Spain. Exploratory and confirmatory factorial structure, internal (...) consistency, convergent and concurrent validity, and associated predictor variables analyses have been carried out. Results showed that the Spanish version of the PAPS maintains the original factor structure with all items and proves to be a reliable instrument. Physical appearance-oriented perfectionism is associated with general perfectionism, higher body dissatisfaction, Eating Disorders and Muscle Dysmorphia symptomatology, and compulsive exercise, particularly in the Worry about Imperfection subscale. These variables also act as predictors of physical appearance perfectionism. The use of the PAPS-S and the analysis of its subscales is recommended in the context of body image-related pathologies such as Eating Disorders and Muscle Dysmorphia. (shrink)

Avec le développement chez Platon d’une conception de l’être commme système de relations hiérarchisées, se développe aussi la méthode de classification, propre à la fois à représenter les essences et à exercer l’esprit à en définir le contenu. La classification des sciences dans le Philèbe est significative : un savoir, ou proprement scientifique ou technique, est d’autant plus élevé qu’il met en oeuvre une représentation plus rigoureuse du contenu des essences.

Information and control technologies are not only on the order of the technosciences, but also intervene in the production of subjectivity. One cannot separate these transformations from the political upheavals that are underway. The primacy of information as a new category alongside that of energy accentuates the production of new subjectivities and may transform society into a society of communication. But this concept is not enough, unless it is associated with an « existential function » that can account for the (...) overall disorientation of subjective coordinates. The problem of subjective recompositions should be posed by a reorientation of the processes of information, telematization, etc., according to other value systems on the level of mental ecology, all the way to planetary scales. We are copilots with nature in context. The amazing aspect of this symbiosis is the radical transformation of the relationships between the two. Ecology is a great turning-point, on the condition that it be joined to the social and economic dimensions, along with every form of otherness, to create a soft ideology that leaves room for new knowledge. (shrink)

Chalmers is right: we should expect our civilization to, within centuries, have vastly increasedmental capacities, surely in total and probably also for individual creatures and devices.We should also expect to see the conflicts he describes between creatures and devices with more versus less capacity. But Chalmers' main prediction follows simply by extrapolating historical trends, and the conflicts he identifies are common between differing generations. There is value in highlighting these issues, but once one knows of such simple extrapolations and standard (...) conflicts, it is hard to see much value in Chalmers' added analysis. (shrink)

This paper reports on a survey of college students which was designed to provide insights into associations of advertising with the eating disorders of anorexia nervosa and bulemia. The study involved measuring self image and ideal self image and relating these measures to the incidence of the eating disorders and to advertising and merchandising measures. Based upon the findings, various tentative recommendations were made to advertisers who desire to assist in containing eating disorders through their efforts in the marketplace.

Characteristic of metaphysics are general questions of existence, such as ‘Are there numbers?’ This kind of question is the target of Carnap's argument for deflationism, to the effect that general existential questions, if taken at face value, are meaningless. This paper considers deflationism in a theological context, and argues that the question ‘Does God exist?’ can appropriately be grouped with the ‘metaphysical’ questions attacked by Carnap. Deflationism thus has the surprising consequence that the correct approach to theism is that of (...) radical theology. The paper attempts to show why Carnap's argument fails, and why, nevertheless, enough remains of it for us to conclude that God cannot be outside time and space. (shrink)

1. En este ensayo voy a explorar un aspecto del consecuencialismo que no debería ser ignorado completamente por las teorías rivales de la ética normativa, a saber, la extensión del ámbito de los individuos afectados por nuestras acciones presentes, y la importancia de tener en cuenta a los mismos. Incluso aquellas teorías rivales que descuentan algunos intereses necesitan una clara comprensión de la naturaleza de los intereses que están dispuestos a desechar. 2. Los intereses afectados incluyen los intereses futuros de (...) personas actuales y de fetos humanos, además de aquellos relativos a criaturas actuales no humanas, y también los de personas futuras y otras criaturas que no pueden ser reconocidos todavía. Las acciones humanas jugarán un importante rol a la hora de determinar no sólo qué humanos existirán, sino incluso qué no-humanos; podemos incluso influir considerablemente en la calidad de vida de todos ellos, y asumir así responsabilidades en relación a los impactos previsibles resultantes de nuestras acciones. 3. En la medida que establezcamos diferencias comparativas y constatables respecto a la calidad de vida de la gente, conviene advertir que no somos menos responsables de los individuos del futuro que del presente. Es más, si aceptamos que los costes previsibles para dentro de un millón de años importan tanto como los costes del mismo tipo en el presente, entonces la escala de nuestras responsabilidades actuales se hace más vasta. 4. Donald Brown ha mostrado cómo hay un fuerte debate entre los diversos intereses humanos a la hora de establecer cuáles han de ser las concentraciones de gas invernadero en la atmósfera; dicho debate ha sido reanima" do aún más por consideraciones biocéntricas y/o ecocéntricas. Pace Brown, una aproximación biocéntrica puede contra" pesar intereses humanos con intereses no humanos, y no tendría por qué prohibir todas las extinciones de especies; pero de hecho esta aproximación no podría justificar de ningún modo el incremento de las concentraciones de gases invernadero. Las emisiones requeridas para el desarrollo del Tercer Mundo necesitan ser contrapesadas con la reducción de emisiones en los países desarrollados. El consecuencialismo biocéntrico genera así políticas defendibles. También, como Brown subraya, los países desarrollados tienen obligación de apoyar un estricto acuerdo internacional sobre el cambio climático, con cuotas nacionales basadas en habilitaciones a una igual cantidad de emisiones per capita para todo planeta. (shrink)

Necesitamos urgentemente un acuerdo global y amplio sobre cambio climático que disponga sobre adecuación medioambiental, equidad y justicia tanto en lo relativo a la adaptación como a la mitigación. Sin embargo, los obstáculos para conseguirlo siguen siendo muy considerables y la satisfacción de dichos criterios éticos superó el ámbito de lo posible en la Conferencia de Cancún de 2010, incluso para quienes lucharon por ello. En estas circunstancias, no deja de ser impresionante tanto lo que se ha conseguido como la (...) restauración de la deriva hacia un eventual acuerdo tras el fracaso de la Conferencia de Copenhague en 2009. Si lo evaluamos de acuerdo a criterios éticos relevantes, la Cumbre de Cancún fue muy deficiente y algunos de los participantes en la misma merecen desaprobación moral. No obstante, aquellos participantes que fueron con el propósito de conseguir un acuerdo satisfactorio ecológicamente y también en términos de justicia distributiva, no tendrían por qué recriminarse nada a si mismos. Particularmente en cuanto han restaurado la esperanza de lograr más progresos en la Conferencia de Durban en 2011, o donde fuere, en el futuro inmediato. (shrink)