Now is a good time to take stock of the global progress made toward achieving the ideals enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was passed by the UN General Assembly seventy years ago. Though the UDHR has played a vital role in advancing human rights globally, threats to human rights areever present. Two issues in particular stand out as barriers to further progress. The first is state sovereignty, which presents a fundamental challenge to any effort to establish (...) universal norms. Without strong global institutional mechanisms to ensure implementation, UDHR's impact remains limited. The second major concern is the “siloing” of human rights efforts, whereby civil and political rights have been given primacy over social and economic rights. Emphasis on some principles to the exclusion of others undermines the comprehensive advancement of human rights. The current state of affairs is a product of the collective failure to address human rights holistically and to implement real monitoring and accountability measures for states, which are directly charged with upholding them within their borders. (shrink)

The complex issues of the twenty-first century cannot be addressed by disparate actors in the global arena. This has become even more apparent in 2020, as we celebrate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the UN and have witnessed the outbreak of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has put the UN system to the test, demonstrating weaknesses in regard to peace and security, sustainable socioeconomic development, and human rights, the three core mission areas of the organization. The underlying tensions between the (...) ideals of liberalism associated with the UN's human rights and socioeconomic-development agendas and the institution of sovereignty, under nationalist strongman leaders throughout the world, stood in the way of an effective response. This is especially true as powerful states are able to thwart collective action in favor of their own perceived national interests. While the UN and its affiliated agencies, such as the World Health Organization, are still able to foster cooperation, their success is limited by the organization's inability to establish some form of authority and command. (shrink)

Smith’s statements on wealth and happiness are paradoxical. On the one hand, Smith states that individuals’ pursuit of wealth is beneficial for society because it leads to economic growth and establishes rank and order in society. On the other hand, he appears to say that pursuit of wealth leaves individuals unhappy. Griswold refers to this as ‘comic irony’. In this paper, by examining what Smith says about wealth and happiness, we attempt to resolve this paradox. Towards this end, we analyze (...) the unconscious that is implicit in the Theory of Moral Sentiments. As we will describe, analyzing Smith’s statements by considering the role of the unconscious implies that the pursuit of great wealth can make individuals happy. (shrink)

Central to the debate on the moral relevance of shame is whether we take others’ assessments of our moral shortcomings seriously. Some argue that viewing shame as a social emotion undermines the moral standing of shame; for a moral agent, what is authoritative are his own moral values, not the mere disapproval of others. Adam Smith's framework sheds some light on the contemporary debates in philosophy on the moral value of shame. Shame is mostly a social emotion but has moral (...) value for Smith. This is because we desire sympathy and share an ongoing social practice of morality with others. Smith developed the underpinnings of an account for a sympathetic basis of shame. An agent is evaluated through the sympathetic process to determine whether he/she has lived up to shared norms and morality. Shame emerges from the understanding that we ought not to be favorably thought of by others, the impartial spectator, or by our own conscience. We want to avoid shame for two reasons: first, we want to receive praise which gives pleasure, blame and blameworthiness operate by giving pain. Secondly, we are pleased with the sympathy of others. According to Smith, shame is a very painful emotion. Given our dread of pain and love of pleasure, we are motivated to be not blamed or blameworthy. We want to be favorably thought of so as not to be, or feel, shamed. Our dread of blameworthiness and our desire for sympathy motivates us to be a person who acts according to the norms and morality of society. Shame has a moral value both as a social emotion and when it arises from our conscience; however, Smith was also aware that there are limits to shame as a moral value, which arises from misjudgments of spectators. (shrink)

Afetler doğal ve insan orijinli olay ve olguların sonucu olarak ortaya çıkan ve insan toplumları ve yerleşim yerleri üzerinde can ve mal kaybı yaratarak zararlar meydana getiren olaylardır. Afetlerden topyekun kaçış söz konusu olmasa bile afete neden olan olay ve olgulara karşı yürütülecek risk azaltma önlemleri ile afet yönetimi mümkün olabilecektir. Yüksek düzeyde risk ile mücadelede başarı şansı düşük iken azaltılmış risk ile mücadelenin başarısı daha yüksek olacaktır. Diğer yandan, toplumu oluşturan bireylerin eğitimi ve bu konuda toplumsal direncin, afet direncinin (...) artırılması, sürdürülebilir toplum yaşamı ve hayatta kalma düzeyini arttıracaktır. Afetler ile mücadele bütüncül bir süreç olduğuna göre bu mücadeleye toplumun tüm düzeyleri katılmak zorundadır. Özellikle halka en yakın birim olan belediyelerin bu konudaki rolleri son derece önemlidir. Yerel yönetimler düzeyinde ele alınacak bu çalışmada da toplum içerisinde afetlere karşı direnci en düşük kesim olarak savunmasız kesimlerden yaşlılar ve engelliler ile belediyelerin rolü irdelenecektir. Çünkü hangi tür afet senaryosuna hazırlanmak söz konusu olursa olsun hazırlık çalışmaları bu kesim göz önüne alınarak yapılmalıdır. Özellikle afet sonrası kaosun oluşturacağı olumsuzluklar bu kesimleri çok ciddi zararlarla yüz yüze bırakmaktadır. Bu nedenle gerek potansiyel gerekse reel afet tehlikesine yönelik risk azaltmada ve mücadelede yerel düzeyde belediyelerin özellikle savunmasız kesimlere yönelik gerçekleştireceği roller ulusal ve uluslararası başarının da teminatını oluşturacaktır. (shrink)

İnsan çok yönlü bir varlıktır ve onun bu çok yönlü oluşu bir açıdan özünde taşıdığı çift kutupların etkin uzantılarıyla açıklanabilir. Doğrusu, çift kutuplu insanda nedenler üzerinden işleyen faktörlerden biri benlik diğeri ise istençtir. İnsanı tanıma girişimlerinde etkin olan benlik ve istenç faktörleri, kişilik çözümlemesi yapan psikologlarca, sıklıkla gündeme getirilir. Benlik ve istenç, içinde insanlığı derinden etkileyen iki deneyim türü olarak savaş ve barışın da bulunduğu pek çok durumu yönlendiren özlere sahiptir. İnsanın çok yönlü oluşu söz konusu edildiğinde, onda, benlikleri harekete (...) geçiren güç istenci, hak istenci ve aşk istenci gibi kimi istençler akla gelebilir. Benlikleri yönlendiren bu istençler, aynı zamanda, savaş ve barış durumu konusunu tartışmada da önemli birer rol üstlenirler. (shrink)

Bu çalışmanın amacı, fenomenoloji ile fenomenolojik yöntemin ne olduğunun ve neyi hedeflediğinin varlık ve bilgi problemlerinden hareketle incelenmesidir. Husserl, fenomenoloji felsefesini Avrupa bilimler krizinin neden olduğu felsefesizliğe bir tepki olarak geliştirmiştir. Fenomenolojinin hedefi, bilince verili olan fenomenleri çözümlemektir. Fenomenoloji şeyler hakkında değil, onların kendilerini gösterme biçimleri hakkında konuşur. Fenomenolojik yöntem fenomenolojik tavırla başlar, yönelimsellikle de devam eder. Fenomenolojik yöntem araştırmasını daha sonra fenomenolojik epoke, fenomenolojik redüksiyon, fenomenolojik refleksiyon ve fenomenolojik betimleme ile sürdürür. Bu süreçte bilincin ulaştığı özler, üzerlerine bilginin (...) temellendirileceği immanent özlerdir. Fenomenolojik ontolojide bir töz metafiziği yapılmaz, varlığın nasıl doğru okunup bilinebileceği aracısız ve nedensiz olarak araştırılır. Fenomenolojik epistemolojide ise bilginin temeli araştırılarak bilginin nasıl mümkün olduğu açıklığa kavuşturulur. Böylece fenomenoloji felsefesi hem Kartezyen felsefenin hem de determinizm, empirizm ve pozitivizmin aksine özne ve nesneden birini diğerine indirgemeyerek bilince verili olan fenomenlerin anlamını kendine özgü ve özel bir yöntemle açıklığa kavuşturmaktadır. (shrink)

A version of nonstandard analysis, Internal Set Theory, has been used to provide a resolution of Zeno's paradoxes of motion. This resolution is inadequate because the application of Internal Set Theory to the paradoxes requires a model of the world that is not in accordance with either experience or intuition. A model of standard mathematics in which the ordinary real numbers are defined in terms of rational intervals does provide a formalism for understanding the paradoxes. This model suggests that in (...) discussing motion, only intervals, rather than instants, of time are meaningful. The approach presented here reconciles resolutions of the paradoxes based on considering a finite number of acts with those based on analysis of the full infinite set Zeno seems to require. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the classical and quantum mechanics of performing an infinite number of acts in a finite time. (shrink)

R. S. Woolhouse; IV*—Leibniz's Reaction to Cartesian Interaction, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 86, Issue 1, 1 June 1986, Pages 69–82, https:/.

Confidence ratings have often been integrated into reasoning and intelligence tasks as a means for assessing meta-reasoning processes. Although it is often assumed that eliciting these judgements throughout reasoning tasks has no effect on the underlying performance outcomes, this is yet to be established empirically. The current study examines whether eliciting CR from participants during a fluid-reasoning task influences their performance and how this effect is moderated by their initial self-confidence in their own reasoning abilities. In a first experiment, we (...) found that participants performing CR during Raven's Progressive Matrices significantly outperformed a control group who did not provide ratings. Additionally, a second experiment demonstrated that CR only facilitated performance in participants who have a high level of initial self-confidence in their reasoning ability, whereas they were detrimental to participants low in self-confidence. (shrink)

Aim To study the views on the acceptability of physician-assisted-suicide of lay people and health professionals in an African country, Togo.Method In February–June 2012, 312 lay people and 198 health professionals in Togo judged the acceptability of PAS in 36 concrete scenarios composed of all combinations of four factors: the patient's age, the level of incurability of the illness, the type of suffering and the patient's request for PAS. In all scenarios, the patients were women receiving the best possible care. (...) The ratings were subjected to cluster analysis and analyses of variance.Results Most lay people were not systematically opposed to PAS, whereas most health professionals were systematically opposed to it. The most important factors in increasing acceptability among people not systematically opposed were advanced age of the patient and incurability of the illness. Additional acceptability was provided by the patient's request to have her life ended, although much less so than in studies in Western countries, and by suffering characterised by complete dependence rather than by extreme physical pain.Conclusions These empirical findings—the first ones gathered in the African continent—suggest that most Togolese lay people are not categorically for or against PAS, but judge its degree of acceptability as a function of concrete circumstances. (shrink)

In classes that examine entrenched injustices like sexism or racism, students sometimes use “distancing strategies” to dissociate themselves from the injustice being studied. Education researchers argue that distancing is a mechanism through which students, especially students of apparent privilege, deny their complicity in systemic injustice. While I am sympathetic to this analysis, I argue that there is much at stake in student distancing that the current literature fails to recognize. On my view, distancing perpetuates socially sanctioned forms of ignorance and (...) unknowing, through which students misrecognize not only their complicity in injustice, but also the ways that injustice shapes the world, their lives, and their knowledge. Thus, distancing is pedagogically problematic because it prevents students from understanding important social facts, and because it prevents them from engaging with perspectives, analyses, and testimonies that might beneficially challenge their settled views and epistemic habits. To substantiate this new analysis, I draw on recent work on epistemologies of ignorance, especially José Medina’s account of “active ignorance.” In order to respond to student distancing, I argue, it is not sufficient for teachers to make students aware of injustice, or of their potential complicity in it. Beyond this, teachers should cultivate epistemic virtue in the classroom and encourage students to take responsibility for better ways of knowing. The article ends by outlining several classroom practices for beginning this work. (shrink)

This volume gathers together for the first time are all the key texts in a crucial debate in modern philosophy, centered on Leibniz's famous 1695 essay, the "New System of the Nature of Substances and their Communication," in which he introduced his strikingly original theory of metaphysics. His "system" became increasingly famous and drew him into discussion and development of these ideas, both in public and in private, with a variety of thinkers, most notably the great French philosopher Pierre Bayle. (...) Woolhouse's and Francks's new English edition gives the only full representation of this debate, and will therefore be essential reading for anyone who wishes to gain a proper understanding of Leibniz's philosophy and its intelletual context. All the texts are newly translated and extensively annotated; many appear in English for the first time. (shrink)

This essay concerns Scott Shapiro's criticism that H.L.A. Hart's theory of law suffers from a Although other philosophers of law have summarily dismissed Shapiro's criticism, I argue that it identifies an important requirement for an adequate theory of law. Such a theory must explain why legal officials justify their actions by reference to abstract propositional entities, instead of pointing to the existence of social practices. A virtue of Shapiro's planning theory of law is that it can explain this phenomenon. Despite (...) these sympathies, however, I end with the suggestion that Shapiro's criticism of Hart, as it stands, is incomplete. Careful attention to Hart's notion of the internal point of view indicates that he was aware that legal justification ends with abstract objects, not practices, and that he offered his own explanation of this phenomenon. (shrink)

Ayn Rand's first novel, We the Living, offers an early form of the author's nascent philosophy—the philosophy Rand later called Objectivism. Robert Mayhew's collection of entirely new essays brings together pre-eminent scholars of Rand's writing. In part a history of We the Living, from its earliest drafts to the Italian film later based upon it, Mayhew's collection goes on to explore the enduring significance of Rand's first novel as a work both of philosophy and of literature.

_Purpose._ The paper seeks to prove the thesis of the significance and importance of the theories and methodological approaches of historical anthropology, which are aimed at understanding the meanings, essence and value systems of human existence in the past for philosophical anthropology. The study of this problem is relevant for understanding the evolution of human identity with philosophical and anthropological concepts, understanding the essence of one’s own existence and attitude to the world. _Theoretical basis._ The author conducts research in the (...) analysis of the reflexive field of philosophical anthropology and related disciplines, in particular historical anthropology, implemented in the philosophical literature of recent centuries, that is, in the space of non-classical and modern philosophical thought. _Originality._ I raise and substantiate the theoretical question of the scientific significance of the analysis of human existence in the past thanks to the involvement of theoretical approaches and concepts formed in the reflexive field of modern historical and anthropological research. This forms the prerequisites for understanding complex and interdisciplinary explorations of the essence and cultural and spiritual values of human existence. I analyse the problems of the work in the context of the concept of the incompleteness of the project of philosophical anthropology without its involvement in the theoretical achievements of historical-anthropological investigations. _Conclusions._ In my opinion, modern historical and anthropological studies of the essence and meanings of being a person of the past form an extensive theoretical system. It is realized through such theoretical aspects of comprehension of human existence by historical and anthropological studies as "history of mentalities", "microhistory", "history of women", "new cultural history", "history of identity", "history of memory", history of mental aspects of political processes. Methodological approaches and concepts of modern historical anthropology form the basis of mental reconstruction and understanding of the mental and cultural causes and factors of human existence, thanks to the analysis of the evolution of the worldview, behaviour, outlook, various forms of individual and social activity of the individual. (shrink)

Study of Nyayabindu of Dharmakirti, 7th cent. and its commentary Nyayabindutika of Dharmottara.

Excerpt from Guest Editor's Note, from Special Issue: Nietzsche and Religion. The papers in this themed edition of the Journal are a selection drawn from those given at the Eighth Annual Conference of the Friedrich Nietzsche Society held at the University of Greenwich in 11-13 September 1998.