Online research in philosophy

This thesis falls into two parts, a characterizing part, and an explanatory part. In the first part, I outline some of the core aspects of our ordinary understanding of visual perception, and how we regard it as a means of knowing. What explains the fact that I know that the lemon before me is yellow is my visual perception: I know that the lemon is yellow because I can see it. Some explanations of how one knows specify that in virtue (...) of which one genuinely knows, as opposed to merely believes, some content. Such explanations are epistemically satisfactory explanations. We think that visual perceptual explanations of knowledge can be epistemically satisfactory. I argue that that is what it is to regard visual perception as being among our means of knowing. In the second part, I explore how we might explain the fact that visual perception is a means of knowing (assuming that it is a fact). I ask what makes it the case that visual perception is a means of knowing (in the way we ordinarily think that it is)? I suggest that part of the answer to this question is that visual perception, given the nature it has, has a reason giving role. And that is just to say that the nature of visual perception is such that visually perceiving can ensure the satisfaction of some important condition on knowledge (namely, that if one knows that something is the case one must have a good reason to believe that it is the case). In concluding I suggest that giving this sort of explanation doesn't require a specific theory of perception. (shrink)

We urgently need to bring about a revolution in the aims and methods of science – and of academic inquiry more generally. Instead of giving priority to the search for knowledge, universities need to devote themselves to seeking and promoting wisdom by rational means, wisdom being the capacity to realize what is of value in life, for oneself and others, wisdom thus including knowledge, understanding and technological know-how, but much else besides. A basic task ought to be to help humanity (...) learn how to create a better world. Acquiring scientific knowledge dissociated from a more basic concern for wisdom, as we do at present, is dangerously and damagingly irrational. (shrink)

Critical examination of the processes by which we as nurses judge and reach clinical decisions is important. It facilitates the maintenance and refinement of good standards of nursing care and the pinpointing of areas where improvement is needed. In turn this potentially could support broader validation of nurse expertise and contribute to emancipation of the nursing profession. As pure theory, clinical decision-making may appear abstract and alien to nurses struggling in 'the swampy lowlands' (Schon 1983) of the realities of practice. (...) This paper explores some of the key concepts in decision-making theory by introducing, then integrating, them in a reflective case study. The case study, which examines a 'snapshot' of the patient and practitioner's journey, interwoven with theory surrounding clinical decision-making, may aid understanding and utility of concepts and theories in practice. (shrink)

Many complex systems maintain a self-referential check and balance. In animals, such reflective monitoring and control processes have been grouped under the rubric of metacognition. In this introductory article to a Theme Issue on metacognition, we review recent and rapidly progressing developments from neuroscience, cognitive psychology, computer science and philosophy of mind. While each of these areas is represented in detail by individual contributions to the volume, we take this opportunity to draw links between disciplines, and highlight areas where further (...) integration is needed. Specifically, we cover the definition, measurement, neurobiology and possible functions of metacognition, and assess the relationship between metacognition and consciousness. We propose a framework in which level of representation, order of behaviour and access consciousness are orthogonal dimensions of the conceptual landscape. (shrink)

... on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data available ISBN 978–0– 19–969152–4 Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by MPG Books Group, ..

This monograph proposes a new intercultural theoretical approach to translated literature with the Dutch author Cees Nooteboom as case study.

It is argued that the truth status of emergent properties of complex adaptive systems models should be based on an epistemology of proof by constructive verification and therefore on the ontological axioms of a non-realist logical system such as constructivism or intuitionism. ‘Emergent’ properties of complex adaptive systems (CAS) models create particular epistemological and ontological challenges. These challenges bear directly on current debates in the philosophy of mathematics and in theoretical computer science. CAS research, with its emphasis on computer simulation, (...) is heavily reliant on models which explore the entailments of Formal Axiomatic Systems (FAS). The incompleteness results of G¨odel, the incomputability results of Turing, and the Algorithmic Information Theory results of Chaitin, undermine a realist (platonic) truth model of emergent properties. These same findings support the hegemony of epistemology over ontology and point to alternative truth models such as intuitionism, constructivism and quasi-empiricism. (shrink)

This major new book is a wide-ranging analysis of the emergence and development of liberalism, from the mid-nineteenth century to the present.

In management research, theory testing confronts a paradox described by Meehl in which designing studies with greater methodological rigor puts theories at less risk of falsification. This paradox exists because most management theories make predictions that are merely directional, such as stating that two variables will be positively or negatively related. As methodological rigor increases, the probability that an estimated effect will differ from zero likewise increases, and the likelihood of finding support for a directional prediction boils down to a (...) coin toss. This paradox can be resolved by developing theories with greater precision, such that their propositions predict something more meaningful than deviations from zero. This article evaluates the precision of theories in management research, offers guidelines for making theories more precise, and discusses ways to overcome barriers to the pursuit of theoretical precision. (shrink)

This volume comprises nine lively and insightful essays by leading scholars on the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein, focusing mainly on his early work.

José L. Zalabardo defends a reliabilist theory of knowledge that belongs firmly in the truth-tracking tradition.

The Anti-Christ. Martin. Liebscher.LAST SUNDAY OF AUGUST 1888 saw Nietzsche drafting the very last plan for his main philosophical work that was to have been entitled The Will to Power (Der Wille zur Macht).1 This was to be endowed ..

Abstract Objectives To conduct an independent evaluation of the first phase of the Health Foundation’s Safer Patients Initiative (SPI), and to identify the net additional effect of SPI and any differences in changes in participating and non-participating NHS hospitals. Design Mixed method evaluation involving five substudies, before and after design. Setting NHS hospitals in the United Kingdom. Participants Four hospitals (one in each country in the UK) participating in the first phase of the SPI (SPI1); 18 control hospitals. Intervention The (...) SPI1 was a compound (multi-component) organisational intervention delivered over 18 months that focused on improving the reliability of specific frontline care processes in designated clinical specialties and promoting organisational and cultural change. Results Senior staff members were knowledgeable and enthusiastic about SPI1. There was a small (0.08 points on a 5 point scale) but significant (P<0.01) effect in favour of the SPI1 hospitals in one of 11 dimensions of the staff questionnaire (organisational climate). Qualitative evidence showed only modest penetration of SPI1 at medical ward level. Although SPI1 was designed to engage staff from the bottom up, it did not usually feel like this to those working on the wards, and questions about legitimacy of some aspects of SPI1 were raised. Of the five components to identify patients at risk of deterioration—monitoring of vital signs (14 items); routine tests (three items); evidence based standards specific to certain diseases (three items); prescribing errors (multiple items from the British National Formulary); and medical history taking (11 items)—there was little net difference between control and SPI1 hospitals, except in relation to quality of monitoring of acute medical patients, which improved on average over time across all hospitals. Recording of respiratory rate increased to a greater degree in SPI1 than in control hospitals; in the second six hours after admission recording increased from 40% (93) to 69% (165) in control hospitals and from 37% (141) to 78% (296) in SPI1 hospitals (odds ratio for “difference in difference” 2.1, 99% confidence interval 1.0 to 4.3; P=0.008). Use of a formal scoring system for patients with pneumonia also increased over time (from 2% (102) to 23% (111) in control hospitals and from 2% (170) to 9% (189) in SPI1 hospitals), which favoured controls and was not significant (0.3, 0.02 to 3.4; P=0.173). There were no improvements in the proportion of prescription errors and no effects that could be attributed to SPI1 in non-targeted generic areas (such as enhanced safety culture). On some measures, the lack of effect could be because compliance was already high at baseline (such as use of steroids in over 85% of cases where indicated), but even when there was more room for improvement (such as in quality of medical history taking), there was no significant additional net effect of SPI1. There were no changes over time or between control and SPI1 hospitals in errors or rates of adverse events in patients in medical wards. Mortality increased from 11% (27) to 16% (39) among controls and decreased from 17% (63) to 13% (49) among SPI1 hospitals, but the risk adjusted difference was not significant (0.5, 0.2 to 1.4; P=0.085). Poor care was a contributing factor in four of the 178 deaths identified by review of case notes. The survey of patients showed no significant differences apart from an increase in perception of cleanliness in favour of SPI1 hospitals. Conclusions The introduction of SPI1 was associated with improvements in one of the types of clinical process studied (monitoring of vital signs) and one measure of staff perceptions of organisational climate. There was no additional effect of SPI1 on other targeted issues nor on other measures of generic organisational strengthening. (shrink)

Purpose – This paper aims to explore whether philosophical insights from Plato's dialogue “Parmenides” on the complex and often paradoxical nature of change can illuminate the nature of information retrieval (IR). IR is modelled as a dialectic process involving mutually dependent yet conflicting forces between the subjective and the objective. These forces operate to produce change in the subjective experience of users (becoming informed) through facilitating a relationship with objective documents. Accurately modelling, predicting and enabling this process remains a persistent (...) problem for IR and this paper seeks to examine the extent to which this is because of the nature of change. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is a conceptual analysis and literature review. Findings – The problem of change (what it is, how it happens and how we can know it has happened) is essential to our understanding of information as information normally implies some kind of change in knowledge state. Any process of change, however, on examination of its qualities, appears to necessitate the combination of irreconcilable and conflicting forces. The apparent contradictions within the existence of change as discussed in “Parmenides” also exist in IR on both a theoretical and a technical level. Research limitations/implications – Change is a central concept for information in general and IR in particular. A deeper understanding of the paradoxical nature of change can provide new insights into IR theory and practice. Originality/value – The paper presents a new historical philosophical perspective on the nature of change and applies it to current IR problems. (shrink)

This chapter explores the relationship between the process and product of participatory design. It argues that there is an unhelpful dichotomy that pushes the thinking and practice of participatory design through two separate schools of thought: planning versus design. This chapter suggests that advancements in overcoming such challenge can be reached by perceiving design through the lends of the capability approach. The concept of ‘capability space’ is proposed to explore the process and product components of freedom associated to participatory design. (...) The chapter then elaborates on a series of normative values based on concepts from radical democracy and social production of space literature that aims at supporting the application of the concept of capability space. Design is embedded in the processes of deepening democratic practices by revealing power relations and navigating through dissensus. (shrink)

Modern science began as natural philosophy. In the time of Newton, what we call science and philosophy today – the disparate endeavours – formed one mutually interacting, integrated endeavour of natural philosophy: to improve our knowledge and understanding of the universe, and to improve our understanding of ourselves as a part of it. Profound, indeed unprecedented discoveries were made. But then natural philosophy died. It split into science on the one hand, and philosophy on the other. This happened during the (...) 18th and 19th centuries, and the split is now built into our intellectual landscape. But the two fragments, science and philosophy, are defective shadows of the glorious unified endeavour of natural philosophy. Rigour, sheer intellectual good sense and decisive argument demand that we put the two together again, and rediscover the immense merits of the integrated enterprise of natural philosophy. This requires an intellectual revolution, with dramatic implications for how we understand our world, how we understand and do science, and how we understand and do philosophy. There are dramatic implications, too, for education, and for the entire academic endeavour, and its capacity to help us discover how to tackle more successfully our immense global problems. (shrink)

For forty years I have argued that we urgently need to bring about a revolution in academia so that the basic task becomes to seek and promote wisdom. How did I come to argue for such a preposterously gigantic intellectual revolution? It goes back to my childhood. From an early age, I desired passionately to understand the physical universe. Then, around adolescence, my passion became to understand the heart and soul of people via the novel. But I never discovered how (...) to tell stories in order to tell the truth. So, having failed to become a physicist, and failed to become a novelist, I studied philosophy at Manchester University and then, in six weeks of inspiration, discovered that the riddle of the universe is the riddle of our desires. Philosophy should be about how to live, and should not just do conceptual analysis. I struggled to reconcile the two worlds of my childhood ambitions, the physical universe and the human world. I decided they could be reconciled with one another if one regarded the two accounts of them, physics and common sense, as myths, and not as literal truths. But then I discovered Karl Popper: truth is too important to be discarded. I revised my ideas: physics seeks to depict truly only an aspect of all that there is; in addition, there is the aspect of the experiential features of the world as we experience it. I was immensely impressed with Popper’s view that science makes progress, not by verification, but by ferocious attempted falsification of theories. I was impressed, too, with his generalization of this view to form critical rationalism. Then it dawned on me: Popper’s view of science is untenable because it misrepresents the basic aim of science. This is not truth as such; rather it is explanatory truth – truth presupposed to be unified or physically comprehensible. We need, I realized, a new conception of science, called by me aim-oriented empiricism, which acknowledges the real, problematic aims of science, and seeks to improve them. Then, treading along a path parallel to Popper’s, I realized that aim-oriented empiricism can be generalized to form a new conception of rationality, aim-oriented rationality, with implications for all that we do. This led on to a new conception of academic inquiry. From the Enlightenment we have inherited the view that academia, in order to help promote human welfare, must first acquire knowledge. But this is profoundly and damagingly irrational. If academia really does seek to help promote human welfare, then its primary tasks must be to articulate problems of living, and propose and critically assess possible solutions – possible actions, policies, political programmes, philosophies of life. The pursuit of knowledge is secondary. Academia needs to promote cooperatively rational problem solving in the social world, and needs to help humanity improve individual and institutional aims by exploiting aim-oriented rationality, arrived at by generalizing the real progress-achieving methods of science. We might, as a result, get into life some of the progressive success that is such a marked feature of science. Thus began my campaign to promote awareness of the urgent need for a new kind of academic inquiry rationally devoted to helping humanity create a wiser world. (shrink)

Whilst it is often maintained that a person comes under a 'secondary' legal duty to compensate a victim of his wrong, this is mistaken. The wrongdoer has a moral obligation to compensate, but only a legal liability to do so.

It is controversial what needs to be proved in order to benefit from the presumption of resulting trusts, whether all resulting trusts arise by operation of law, and whether resulting trusts are restitutionary or not. The author shows that a claimant need not prove an absence of consideration before benefitting from the presumption, and argues that, whilst presumed resulting trusts respond to intention, they arise by operation of law. Finally, the author argues that one argument for a restitutionary analysis of (...) resulting trusts, i.e. that a transferor cannot retain a beneficial interest in property title to which he has transferred, is misconceived. (shrink)

In this lecture Professor Penner examines the structure of trust doctrine to consider the question, “What sort of knowledge and understanding does a trusts lawyer have?”, and proposes that the most telling analogy is with the kind of knowledge and understanding that a practitioner of a ‘special science’ like civil engineering has. A trust is a facilitative device that subjects of the law can use to create structures of beneficial property interests, and the law is shaped around the creative structures (...) that have been found popular, and the problems which can arise from its use. This characterisation makes sense of the way trust doctrine is structure in treatises and textbooks, but also raises demanding questions about the legitimacy of trust law. In particular, it suggests that the authority of the law in this area must draw at the same time upon two sources of authority that Joseph Raz’s theory of authority identifies, the ability to solve co-ordination problems and the authority of the expert, sources of authority which are normally regarded as mutually exclusive. (shrink)

If one examines the structure of trust doctrine to consider the question, “What sort of knowledge and understanding does a trusts lawyer have?”, it is proposed that the most telling analogy is with the kind of knowledge and understanding that a practitioner of a ‘special science’ like civil engineering has. A trust is a facilitative device that subjects of the law can use to create structures of beneficial property interests, and the law is shaped around the creative structures that have (...) been found popular, and the problems which can arise from its use. (shrink)

Criticism of Dagan's pragmatic concept of property forms.

A critical survey of the evolution of property rights debate, focusing in particular on recent work by Krier.

James E. Penner ponders with much insight both the notion of property and its place in the legal system, and his musings prove fascinating.

This is an ideal text for students studying jurisprudence for the first time.

Restitution lawyers commonly speak of the 'transfer' of value; this is misconceived. Values are realised, not transferred, only property rights are transferred. This realisation distinctly illuminates the relationship between the law of restitution and the law of tracing, strongly suggesting that trusts of traceable proceeds are not examples of restitutionary entitlements which reverse unjust enrichments.

It is argued that the truth status of emergent properties of complex adaptive systems models should be based on an epistemology of proof by constructive verification and therefore on the ontological axioms of a non-realist logical system such as constructivism or intuitionism. ‘Emergent’ properties of complex adaptive systems (CAS) models create particular epistemological and ontological challenges. These challenges bear directly on current debates in the philosophy of mathematics and in theoretical computer science. CAS research, with its emphasis on computer simulation, (...) is heavily reliant on models which explore the entailments of Formal Axiomatic Systems (FAS). The incompleteness results of G¨odel, the incomputability results of Turing, and the Algorithmic Information Theory results of Chaitin, undermine a realist (platonic) truth model of emergent properties. These same findings support the hegemony of epistemology over ontology and point to alternative truth models such as intuitionism, constructivism and quasi-empiricism. (shrink)

These are just some of the questions brought up by this unique and unusual collection of essays, which presents subjects and categories often overlooked by the ..

This chapter gives an overview of contemporary republican theory, with particular emphasis on the neo-Roman version associated with the work of Pettit and Skinner. Three sections discuss in turn the notion of the free person and the theory of freedom as non-domination, the conception of the free state required to institutionalise non-domination, and the implications of non-domination for distributive justice.

The notions of causal and non-causal concepts are elucidated and it is argued that central preceptual concepts need not be regarded as causal.

The Handbook maps out the field of human rights for the humanities and social sciences.

In this wide-ranging guide to twentieth-century French thought, leading scholars offer an authoritative multi-disciplinary analysis of one of the most ..

Taking passages from Heraclitus, Parmenides, Lucretius, and Cicero as well as Plato andAristotle, this guide provides an insight into the influence of its ..

Recent studies of the relationship between parenting and child development have included a focus on the parent's capacity to treat the child as a psychological agent. Several constructs have been developed to refer to this capacity, for example maternal mind-mindedness, reflective functioning, and parental mentalizing. In this review article, we compare and contrast different constructs from diverse theoretical backgrounds that have been developed to operationalize parental mentalizing. We examine the empirical evidence to date in support of each of the constructs (...) and review the relevant measures associated with each construct. Next, we discuss the possibility that these apparently diverse constructs may tap into the same underlying neurobiological socio-cognitive system. We conclude by proposing a testable model for describing the links between parental mentalization, the development of mentalizing in children, and child psychopathology. (shrink)

This book integrates invited chapters by experts from a range of disciplines, exploring the interplay beytween social, community and individual well-being.

I reply to critical discussion of my work by Copthorne Macdonald, Steve Fuller, John Stewart, Joseph Agassi, Margaret Boden, Donald Gillies, Mathew Iredale, David Hodgson, Karl Rogers, and Leemon McHenry.

This book propounds an immensely important idea. Science makes metaphysical presuppositions. I must, however, at once declare an interest. For well over thirty years I have myself been expounding and arguing for just this idea.

The philosophy of rehabilitation which aims to reduce the impact of disease on all those affected by it is as applicable to chronic neurological conditions including multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis as it is to single acute events such as head injury and stroke. The principles enshrined within the philosophy of rehabilitation are beguilingly simplistic often obscuring the challenge inherent in their attainment. Placing the patient in the centre of a process which inevitably involves a number of (...) different disciplines and creating a well functioning multi-disciplinary team of which they are a part is indeed a challenge. This team then needs to embark on a journey which has a clear-cut, agreed aim and which is facilitated and supported by smaller steps or short-term goals. The entire process needs to be monitored in a way that allows the demonstration of benefit through the use of clinically appropriate, scientifically sound outcome measures which incorporate the patient's perspective. (shrink)

Sebastian Gardner competently tackles one of Sartre's more complex and challenging works in this new addition to the Reader's Guides series.

Although the neoavanguardia movement has been primarily defined and examined in a literary context, it is broadly discussed in this collection as also affecting ..

Giorgio Manganelli (1922-1990), one of Italy's most radical and original writers, went further than most in exploring the creative possibilities of hybrid genres and open forms. Ostentation, theatricality, and a love of drapery and verbal excess are defining features of his body of work, which ranges from prose fiction, literary criticism, and drama to travel writing, treatises, commentaries, and imaginary interviews. This study examines the wealth of Manganelli's imagination - his grotesque animals, speaking corpses,and melancholy spectres - and argues that (...) his spectacular eloquence was shaped by an exceptional awareness of literary and philosophical models. Following Manganelli's lead, the author addresses issues such as the boundaries of meaningful language, the relationship between literary and visual texts, fantasy and realism, and the power of literature to express the apprehensions and intimations of human consciousness. (shrink)

A 30,0000 word synthesis of Giordano Bruno's philosophy, based on my own research and that of other scholars, and on a rereading of Bruno's Latin and Italian works.I may republish this in a modified form as an e-book in time for the REF.

This paper discusses the complex and not always obvious epistemological choices necessitated by the use of narrative. It argues that the central contribution of narrative to IR is to enrich our understanding of the relationship between structures of meaning and logics of action. Narratives are vehicles of sedimented but immanently transformative logics of action, which constitute coherent and intelligible contexts of interaction. Narrative contextualism shares its hermeneutical concerns with other analytical perspectives in IR, and offers an ethnomethodologically inclined epistemological compass (...) and a normatively receptive understanding of international practice. Narrative signals an intense need for contextualisation in IR, with epistemological, methodological and normative consequences. Epistemologically, narrative engages directly the tension between conceptual logic and contextual praxis that is the nub of any hermeneutics, and calls for attention to context as well as contextualisation of concepts. Normatively, narrative contextualism recognizes the inherent ethical content of any discussion of the merits of particular logics of action in international politics. (shrink)

Diagnosis in psychiatry is portrayed as the same type of activity as diagnosis in other areas of medicine. However, the notion that psychiatric conditions are equivalent to physical diseases has been contested for several decades. In this paper, I use the work of Jeff Coulter and David Ingelby to explore the role of diagnosis in routine psychiatric practice. Coulter examined the process of identification of mental disturbance and suggested that it was quite different from the process of identifying a physical (...) disease, as it was dependent on social norms and circumstances. Ingelby pointed out that it was the apparent medical nature of the process that enabled it to act as a justification for the actions that followed. I describe the stories of two patients, which illustrate the themes Ingelby and Coulter identified. In particular they demonstrate that, in contrast to the idea that diagnosis should determine treatment, diagnoses in psychiatry are applied to justify predetermined social responses, designed to control and contain disturbed behaviour and provide care for dependents. Hence psychiatric diagnosis functions as a political device employed to legitimate activities that might otherwise be contested. Social Theory & Health (2010) 8, 370-382. doi: 10.1057/sth.2009.11. (shrink)

A review of 'Beckett before Beckett: Samuel Beckett’s Lectures on French Literature' by Brigitte Le Juez, translated by Ros Schwartz, and 'Beckett/Beckett. The classic study of a modern genius' by Vivian Mercier.