h e Darwinian hypothesis has the merit of being eminently simple and comprehensible in principle, and its essential positions may be stated in a very few words: all species have been produced by the development of varieties from common stocks; by the conversion of these, first into permanent races and then into new species, by the process of natural selection , which process is essentially identical with that artificial selection by which man has originated the races of domestic animals—the struggle (...) for existence taking the place of man, and exerting, in the case of natural selection, that selective action which he performs in artificial selection. (shrink)

Which Trinity? : the doctrine of the Trinity -- In contemporary philosophical theology -- Whose monotheism? : Jesus and his Abba -- Doctrine and analysis -- "Whoever raised Jesus from the dead" : Robert Jenson on the identity of the Triune God -- Moltmann's perichoresis : either too much or not enough -- "Eternal functional subordination" : considering a recent evangelical proposal -- Holy love and divine aseity in the theology of John Zizioulas -- Moving forward : theses on the (...) future of Trinitarian theology. (shrink)

This essay analyzes two types of patient‐experience data to broaden and deepen understanding of trust in health care. Analysis of patients’ open‐ended comments shows a close connection between patients’ feelings of trust and their intent to recommend providers and provider organizations—a global measure to evaluate patients’ perceptions of care experiences. Patients’ comments also reveal the bidirectional building of trust between the patient and the caregiver. Trust gets built when patients perceive their caregivers to trust their knowledge of their bodies as (...) well as when caregivers demonstrate caring behaviors that earn the patients’ trust. Patients’ ratings of a closed‐ended survey item on “confidence in provider” create the greatest differentiation for the global measure of patient experience—whether patients did or did not recommend a practice or provider. The essay also discusses related findings on pre‐visit friction and the use of humor by the caregiver to expand understanding of trust. (shrink)

Deciding whether genetic differences among individuals are morally relevant to health insurance requires us to ask, What kind of good is health care? and, What principles should govern its distribution? There are good reasons to doubt that “actuarial fairness” is an adequate description of genuine fairness in health insurance.

Sport faces many challenges in creating fair, interesting, and meaningful competitions that highlight and reward the qualities widely valued in sport, such as natural talents, dedication, and competitive savvy. The Paralympic Games illuminate both the challenge and a thoughtful way of responding by organizing events that group athletes with comparable levels of impairment so that raw physical discrepancies don't overwhelm differences in talent or dedication. It may be helpful to reflect on how gender is used in decisions about who competes (...) against whom. Gender has long served as a rough proxy for differences in size and strength. For sports where size and strength matter, those are the dimensions along which competitors should be matched, not their gender identity. In that sense, gender is incidental to fair competition in sport. Because playing sports is good for people in so many ways, we should provide abundant opportunities that are widely available and enjoyable for all people. (shrink)

While the disability community has long argued convincingly that disability is not a negative condition, academic and popular discourses on environmental justice routinely refer to disability as a prima facie harm to be avoided. This perpetuates the harms of ableism, and it is, furthermore, unnecessary in order to advance environmental justice. It is possible to demand an investigation into the state of an environment, to object to toxic environmental conditions and to hold polluting parties accountable without assuming any overall difference (...) in value or desirability between disabled and non-disabled lives. (shrink)

I adapt an old example of Frank Jackson's, in order to show that it is not only possible that actions with different individual agents are sub-optimal when each is not, but that they are impermissible when each is not, and blameworthy when each is not.

As the public relations (PR) field becomes more and more concerned about ethics, attention turns to ethics instruction in university public relations programs. Analysis of six leading public relations texts shows a wide disparity in coverage of the topic, ranging from sparse philosophical to primarily anecdotal. According to the author, no basic conceptual framework has emerged to suggest common ground for studying public relations ethics and the default position seems to be to teach social responsibility / professionalism.

DHHS's rule on the care of imperiled newborns has a symbolic significance for the groups that struggled for compromise, but it will have a minimal impact on medical and moral decision making.

There seems to be a prevailing belief among public relations professionals that ethical problems can easily be solved by either reference to a simplified code or citation of a few well-worn platitudes. However, the route to a more complete understanding of questions of ethics is circuitous and often painstaking. By applying a number of ethical theories to a public relations problem, both the skilled public relations technician and the public relations professional may arrive at similar conclusions concerning moral obligations; however, (...) the professional is in the most favorable position to effect change. (shrink)

Trenton Merricks argues that the Incarnation gives us strong reasons to embrace physicalism. I argue that these reasons are not so strong, and that there are important questions remaining about both the coherence and the orthodoxy of physicalist Christology.

Nietzsche is generally regarded as a severe critic of historical method and scholarship; this view has influenced much of contemporary discussions about the role and nature of historical scholarship. In this article I argue that this view is seriously mistaken . I do so by examining what he actually says about understanding history and historical method, as well as his relation to the founders of modern German historiography . I show, contrary to most expectations, that Nietzsche knew these historians well (...) and that he fundamentally affirmed their view of historical method. What he primarily objected to among his contemporaries was that historical scholarship was often regarded as a goal in itself, rather than as a means, and consequently that history was placed above philosophy. In fact, a historical approach was essential for Nietzsche’s whole understanding of philosophy, and his own philosophical project. (shrink)

This volume assesses the ethical, quantitative, and qualitative questions posed by the current financing of biomedical research.

Nietzsche read far more widely, and more actively, than he led us to believe. Reading was his most important intellectual stimulus: he lived a very isolated life for most of his career, and particularly in the 1880s. Much of what Nietzche thought and wrote therefore came in response to his reading. This book is an in-depth study of Nietzsche's reading, and his knowledge of philosophy and philosophers. It examines his relation to the major European thinkers and Eastern traditions, as well (...) as his knowledge and reading of intellectual women and journals of philosophy. Author Thomas Brobjer has gathered much previously unpublished information about Nietzsche's reading and library, including a great deal about the annotations he made in his books. Nietzsche's Knowledge and Reading and Philosophy will be useful as a handbook for anyone interested in the philosophical context of Nietzsche's thought. It will become an important reference work for all those interested in Nietzsche's philosophy. (shrink)