The few people familiar with the pseudo-Platonic dialogue Axiochus generally have a low opinion of it. It's easy to see why: the dialogue is a mish-mash of Platonic, Epicurean and Cynic arguments against the fear of death, seemingly tossed together with no regard whatsoever for their consistency. As Furley notes, the Axiochus appears to be horribly confused. Whereas in the Apology Socrates argues that death is either annihilation or a relocation of the soul, and is a blessing either way, "the (...) Socrates of the Axiochus wants to have it both ways": death is both annihilation and a release of the soul from the body into a better realm. This may be used to construct a valid argument for the conclusion that death is not evil, but at the expense of having a contradiction as one of its premises. But D. S. Hutchinson has recently proposed that these inconsistencies shouldn't surprise us if we view the Axiochus as "an unconventional version of a very conventional genre--the consolation letter." In this paper I expand on Hutchinson's brief suggestion and argue that the Axiochus can be rehabilitated by paying attention to its genre. Although the Axiochus does display many similarities to the consolation letter, the shift from letter to dialogue does--pace Hutchinson--significantly affect what's going on. Within the dialogue, Socrates behaves toward Axiochus in a way similar to the way the author of a consolation letter behaves towards the letter's reader: he is willing to use inconsistent arguments, borrowed from any source, in order to soothe the patient. However, in depicting this type of consolatory relationship between Socrates and Axiochus, the dialogue itself is not aiming at consoling its readers. Instead, it should be seen as displaying for the reader's consideration a certain type of consolatory argumentative practice. -/- Socrates notes that Axiochus is "very much in need of consolation" (365a), and he uses any means necessary to accomplish this task. Socrates exhibits many ways in which he is willing to sacrifice argumentative hygiene for the sake of therapeutic effectiveness. These include: -/- * Use of arguments with inconsistent premises, presented in propria persona. * Appeals to emotion * Tailoring arguments to the audience. * Presenting invalid arguments so as to induce unjustified but comforting beliefs. * Evasion. In these respects, I think that Socrates' argumentative practice is best compared to PH III 280-1, where Sextus Empiricus says that the skeptic will deliberately use logically weak arguments as long as they work. Dorothy Tarrant claims that what links the Socrates of the Axiochus to Socrates as he appears elsewhere in the Platonic corpus is his evident care for the welfare of his interlocutor's psyche. But this concern takes a quite different form in the Axiochus than it usually does. As with Sextus, psychic therapy in the Axiochus involves relief from pain. The primary difference between them is that Socrates, unlike Sextus, is not aiming at producing epochê in his patient. (shrink)

We report two experiments in which participants had to judge the time of occurrence of a stimulus relative to a clock. The experiments were based on the control condition used by Libet, Gleason, Wright, and Pearl [Libet, B., Gleason, C. A., Wright, E. W., & Pearl, D. K. . Time of conscious intention to act in relation to onset of cerebral activities : The unconscious initiation of a freely voluntary act. Brain 106, 623–642] to correct for any bias in the (...) estimation of the time at which an endogenous event, the conscious intention to perform a movement, occurred. Participants’ responses were affected systematically by the sensory modality of the stimulus and by the speed of the clock. Such findings demonstrate the variability in judging the time at which an exogenous event occurs and, by extension, suggest that such variability may also apply to the judging the time of occurrence of endogenous events. The reliability of participants’ estimations of when they formed the conscious intention to perform a movement in Libet et al.’s study is therefore questionable. (shrink)

This book, first published in 1933 but prevented from distribution in Nazi Germany, serves as an introduction to a German philosopher who, together with Martin Buber, attempted to rethink the central motifs of existentialist philosophy from the perspective of Jewish faith and tradition. The author provides an outline of the over-all content of this philosophy. In particular she stresses Rosenzweig's debt to the later Schelling and the main themes of his major work, The Star of Salvation.--D. D. O.

We report two experiments in which participants had to judge the time of occurrence of a stimulus relative to a clock. The experiments were based on the control condition used by Libet, Gleason, Wright, and Pearl [Libet, B., Gleason, C. A., Wright, E. W., & Pearl, D. K. . Time of conscious intention to act in relation to onset of cerebral activities : The unconscious initiation of a freely voluntary act. Brain 106, 623–642] to correct for any bias in the (...) estimation of the time at which an endogenous event, the conscious intention to perform a movement, occurred. Participants’ responses were affected systematically by the sensory modality of the stimulus and by the speed of the clock. Such findings demonstrate the variability in judging the time at which an exogenous event occurs and, by extension, suggest that such variability may also apply to the judging the time of occurrence of endogenous events. The reliability of participants’ estimations of when they formed the conscious intention to perform a movement in Libet et al.’s study is therefore questionable. (shrink)

Dogmatic Metaphysics and Tschirnhaus's M ethodology MARTIN SCHONFELD ACCORDING TO STANDARD COMMENTARIES, Tschirnhaus's main work, Medicina mentis, ~ supposedly furnished the methodological basis for the Leibnizian-Wolffian metaphysics. ~ Christian Wolff and his disciples, at any rate, preferred to think so. Wolff taught classes on Tschirnhaus and claimed that he had developed his own tenets on the basis of Tschirnhaus's ideas; Johann Christoph Gottsched praised the Medicina mentis as the basic methodology of the Wolffian enlightenment.3 Mirroring these views, W. Wundt (...) and H. J. de Vleeschauwer saw in Tschirnhaus the inventor of the "geometric method" adopted by the School Philosophers.4 According to M. ' Medicina Mentis, sive Tentamen genuinae Logicae, in qua disseritur de Methodo detegendi incoKaitas veritates, Amsterdam, 1687. Second and revised edition, Medicina Mentis, sive Artis inveniendi Praecepta generalia, Leipzig, 1695. ~For example, cf. Wilhelm Windelband, Geschichte der Philosophie, 3~o-33 and 356; Friedrich Ueberweg, Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie, III: ~95-97, 3 x~ 34o-43; A. Robert Caponigri, A History of Western Philosophy (Notre Dame/London: University of Notre Dame.. (shrink)

0-categorical o-minimal structures were completely described by Pillay and Steinhorn 565–592), and are essentially built up from copies of the rationals as an ordered set by ‘cutting and copying’. Here we investigate the possible structures which an 0-categorical weakly o-minimal set may carry, and find that there are some rather more interesting examples. We show that even here the possibilities are limited. We subdivide our study into the following principal cases: the structure is 1-indiscernible, in which case all possibilities are (...) classified up to binary structure; the structure is 2-indiscernible, classified up to ternary structure; the structure is 3-indiscernible, in which case we show that it is k-indiscernible for every finite k. We also make some remarks about the possible structures of higher arities which an 0-categorical weakly o-minimal structure may carry. (shrink)

Our Fate. Essays on God and Free Will. By Martin Fischer John.

Maurizio Lazzarato is an Italian sociologist and philosopher who lives and works in France. He collaborated on collective works with important figures like Antonio Negri and Yann Moulier-Boutang in the 1990s and has been a frequent contributor to the journal Multitudes in which the same two intellectuals were also leading voices. During the same period, he was closely involved as a theorist and activist in the long and inventive struggle of the intermittents du spectacle, French cultural workers defending a social (...) security regime that took particular account of their unstable employment and the way in which their creativity overflowed their periods of paid activity. This involvement fed into a broader... (shrink)

The integration of ethics into the day-to-day work of research and innovation is an important but difficult challenge. However, with the Aachen method for identification, classification and risk analysis of innovation-based problems an approach from an engineering perspective is presented that enables the integration of ethical, legal and social implications into the day-to-day work of R&I practitioners. AMICAI appears in particular capable of providing a procedural guidance for R&I practitioners based on a method established in engineering science, breaking down the (...) object of consideration into partial aspects and prioritizing the innovation-based problems in dependence of potential risk. This enables the user to apply AMICAI continuously during all stages of the research and development process and to analyze and choose between certain sociotechnical alternatives. In this way, problems that affect ethical, legal, and social aspects can be understood, reflected and considered in the mostly technically focused R&D process. The paper gives a general guidance about AMICAI by describing principles and assumptions, providing the steps of analysis and application aids, giving an example application, explaining the necessary adjustments of AMICAI compared to the methodical basis of failure mode, effects, and criticality analysis and discussing the advantages and limits. AMICAI’s simple applications can stimulate interdisciplinary cooperation in the R&D process and be a starting point for the development of an “open RRI risk analysis platform” allowing society to evaluate innovation-based problems. (shrink)

ORTSBESTIMMUNG DER PHILOSOPHISCHEN GRAMMATIK I. Absicht dieser Arbeit ist es, ein wenig Licht in die teils komischen, teils lebensgefahrlichen Aspekte der Aufsplitterung unseres Lebens in h eines vor und in eines nach 17 zu bringen, und zwar anhand des Ent­ wicklungsgangs der Wittgensteinschen Philosophischen Grammatik. Das aufgezeigte Problem kursiert unter vielen Titeln und Etiketten: Theorie und Praxis, Wissen und Glauben, Beruf und Freizeit o. a. Diese Auf­ zahlungen mochten allerdings kein Unvermogen des Verfassers andeuten, sich auf einen Titel festzulegen. Vielmehr (...) ist es ein wichtiges Resultat Wittgensteinschen Philosophierens, dass verschiedene Sinne nicht selbiges vermeinen, insofern sie denselben Gegenstand meinen, sondern sofern sich der Sinn als Sinn durchhalt, d. i. als Gebrauch im umlaufist. Insofern der Verfasser mit Wittgenstein die Partikel »d. h. «, »d. i. «, »m. a. W. « und ahnliche flir das Philosophieren flir konstitutiv und eigentlimlich halt, also, mithin die Bestimmung »Sinn ist Sinn als Sinn«l zu erfiillen ver­ sucht (trotz der penetranten Haufung in einer derartigen Exposition), konnen die Untersuchungen zunachst als »subjektiv«, bzw. »transzen­ dental« bezeichnet werden. Die nahere Lokalisierung des Themas wird in drei Zligen vorgenommen: das populare Gegensatzpaar »Ideologie« und »Wissenschaft« fiihrt uns zu den in einer bestimmten philosophischen Tradition fixierten Begriffen »Lebenswelt« und »technische Welt«, deren Widerstreit wiederum von L. £ley auf das ungeklarte Verhaltnis von Phanomenologie und Logik zurlickgefUhrt worden ist. Nach dieser Orts­ bestimmung wird hoffentlich einigermassen verstandlich, dass die Kenn­ zeichnung Wittgensteins als eines Aufldarers nicht nur nicht logische Untersuchungen verbietet, sondern sie vielmehr notwendig macht. (shrink)

ORTSBESTIMMUNG DER PHILOSOPHISCHEN GRAMMATIK I. Absicht dieser Arbeit ist es, ein wenig Licht in die teils komischen, teils lebensgefährlichen Aspekte der Aufsplitterung unseres Lebens in h eines vor und in eines nach I7 zu bringen, und zwar anhand des Ent­ wicklungsgangs der Wittgensteinschen Philosophischen Grammatik. Das aufgezeigte Problem kursiert unter vielen Titeln und Etiketten: Theorie und Praxis, Wissen und Glauben, Beruf und Freizeit o. ä. Diese Auf­ zählungen möchten allerdings kein Unvermögen des Verfassers andeuten, sich auf einen Titel festzulegen. Vielmehr (...) ist es ein wichtiges Resultat Wittgensteinschen Philosophierens, dass verschiedene Sinne nicht selbiges vermeinen, insofern sie denselben Gegenstand meinen, sondern sofern sich der Sinn als Sinn durchhält, d. i. als Gebrauch im Umlauf ist. Insofern der Verfasser mit Wittgenstein die Partikel »d. h. «, »d. i. «, »m. a. W. « und ähnliche für das Philosophieren für konstitutiv und eigentümlich hält, also, mithin die Bestimmung »Sinn ist Sinn als Sinn«! zu erfüllen ver­ sucht (trotz der penetranten Häufung in einer derartigen Exposition), können die Untersuchungen zunächst als »subjektiv«, bzw. »transzen­ dental« bezeichnet werden. Die nähere Lokalisierung des Themas wird in drei Zügen vorgenommen: das populäre Gegensatzpaar »Ideologie« lmd »Wissenschaft« führt uns zu den in einer bestimmten philosophischen Tradition fixierten Begriffen »Lebenswelt« und »technische Welt«, deren Widerstreit wiederum von L. Eley auf das ungeklärte Verhältnis von Phänomenologie und Logik zurückgeführt worden ist. Nach dieser Orts­ bestimmung wird hoffentlich einigermassen verständlich, dass die Kenn­ zeichnung Wittgensteins als eines Aufklärers nicht nur nicht logische Untersuchungen verbietet, sondern sie vielmehr notwendig macht. (shrink)

Explores the role of eliminating fear in Epicurean ethics and physics, focusing on techniques to eliminate the fear of death and the fear of the gods. Includes a taxonomy of types of fear and types of therapy for fear.

A is for Alice and astronomers arguing about acceleration -- B is for Bernard's body-exchange machine -- C is for the Catholic cannibal -- D is for Maxwell's demon -- E is for evolution (and an embarrassing problem with it) -- F is for the forms lost forever to the prisoners of the cave -- G is for Galileo's gravitational balls -- H is for Hume's shades -- I is for the identity of indiscernibles -- J is for Henri Poincaré (...) and alternative geometries -- K is for the Kritik and Kant's kind of thought experiments -- L is for Lucretius' spear -- M is for Mach's motionless chain -- N is for Newton's bucket -- O is for Olbers' paradox -- P is for Parfit's person -- Q is for the questions raised by thought experiments quotidiennes -- R is for the rule-ruled room -- S is for Salvatius' ship, sailing along its own space-time line -- T is for the time-travelling twins -- U is for the universe, and Einstein's attempts to understand it -- V is for the vexed case of the violinist -- W is for Wittgenstein's beetle -- X is for xenophanes and thinking by examples -- Y is for counterfactuals and a backwards approach to history -- Z is for Zeno and the mysteries of infinity. (shrink)

Lo studio esamina il tema della legge umana e dell'equità , che risulta di notevole importanza per la comprensione della filosofia pratica aristotelica, in Roberto Grossatesta, Alberto Magno e Tommaso d'Aquino a partire da Ethica Nicomachea V. 10. Dopo una breve premessa in cui si espongono le linee guida del saggio, l'A. si sofferma sul capitolo aristotelico, per poi esporre lo status questionis nei canonisti medievali e nei testi pastorali prima della ricezione dell'Etica; l'ultima parte è dedicata al significativo apporto (...) che questa ha dato alla discussione medievale. Se Grossatesta fa ampio ricorso a tale nozione nella discussione del rapporto tra diritto naturale e diritto positivo, Alberto riafferma l'importanza di tale concetto e l'opportunità di utilizzarlo quando la legge, per il suo carattere di universalità, risulti inadeguata e sia necessario ripristinare la giustizia. La trattazione più sistematica è comunque offerta da Tommaso d'Aquino, in particolare nel commento all'Ethica Nicomachea e nella Summa theologiae, che impiega la nozione di aequitas in un senso più vicino a quello aristotelico che a quello dei canonisti o alla tradizione del diritto romano. La filosofia aristotelica è così all'origine di un rinvigorimento della discussione sull'aequitas canonica che offrirà nuovi sviluppi nel campo della filosofia morale e del diritto in epoca tardomedievale. (shrink)

Unlike mainstream Cyrenaics, the Annicereans deny that friendship is chosen only because of its usefulness. Instead, the wise person cares for her friend and endures pains for him because of her goodwill and love. Nonetheless, the Annicereans maintain that your own pleasure is the telos and that a friend’s happiness isn’t intrinsically choiceworthy. Their position appears internally inconsistent or to attribute doublethink to the wise person. But we can avoid these problems. We have good textual grounds to attribute to the (...) Annicereans a doctrine of “non-hedonic habits,” which allows them to abandon psychological hedonism while still maintaining hedonism regarding well-being. (shrink)

Theories of spatial cognition are derived from many sources. Psychologists are concerned with determining the features of the mind which, in combination with external inputs, produce our spatialized experience. A review of philosophical and other approaches has convinced us that the brain must come equipped to impose a three-dimensional Euclidean framework on experience – our analysis suggests that object re-identification may require such a framework. We identify this absolute, nonegocentric, spatial framework with a specific neural system centered in the hippocampus.A (...) consideration of the kinds of behaviours in which such a spatial mapping system would be important is followed by an analysis of the anatomy and physiology of this system, with special emphasis on the place-coded neurons recorded in the hippocampus of freely moving rats. A tentative physiological model for the hippocampal cognitive map is proposed. A review of lesion studies, in tasks as diverse as discrimination learning, avoidance, and extinction, shows that the cognitive map notion can adequately explain much of the data.The model is extended to humans by the assumption that spatial maps are built in one hemisphere, semantic maps in the other. The latter provide a semantic deep structure within which discourse comprehension and production can be achieved. Evidence from the study of amnesic patients, briefly reviewed, is consistent with this extension. (shrink)

La thèse de l'indétermination de la traduction de W. V. O. Quine est certainement une des thèses les plus controversées de la philosophie du langage. Le présent article explique en quoi consiste cette thèse et examine les liens qu'elle entretient avec la thèse de la sous-détermination des théories scientifiques. La première section montre comment la thèse de l'indétermination de la traduction découle de la conception behavioriste du langage de Quine. Les sections suivantes exposent deux façons de dériver la thèse de (...) l'indétermination: par le holisme et le vérificationnisme dans la section 2 et par la thèse de la sous-détermination dans la section 3. La section 4 précise la formulation de la thèse de la sous-détermination proposée dans «On Empirically Equivalent Systems of the World» et la section 5 expose les critiques exprimées par W. Bechtel à propos de cette formulation. Ces critiques témoignent d'une mauvaise compréhension de la position de Quine et j'essaierai de montrer en quoi elles sont fautives. La section 6 traite des deux façons de dériver la thèse de l'indétermination, à la lumière des modifications apportées à la formulation de la thèse de la sous-détermination. Enfin, la section 7 s'intéresse aux questions de fait relatives à la sous-détermination des théories et à l'indétermination de la traduction. (shrink)

This is the first book to address philosophically the moral and political underpinnings of terrorism and anti-terrorism. It brings together authors with different attitudes and original perspectives on attitudes and ethical and practical justifications for terrorism.

O objectivo principal deste artigo consiste em chamar a atenção para os problemas levantados pela ausência de quaestiones anexas a Metafísica XII. Partindo de uma série de remissões explícitas para temas a desenvolver no contexto daquele escrito aristotélico, feitas por Fonseca em vários passos que ocorrem nos tomos I, II e III dos seus Comentários à Metafísica de Aristóteles, constata-se que era intenção sua desenvolver, naquele lugar, temas ligados ao discurso filosófico sobre Deus, seus atributos, omnipotência e librerdade divinas, contingência (...) bem como tudo o que se refere às "substâncias separadas". Insto indica claramente que a metafísica de Fonseca se encontra inacabada no sentido em que não chegou a ser publicado o texto sobreum núcleo doutrinal importante, projectado desde o início da redacçã dos CMA para ser publicado no quarto tomo. Este facto deve ser tido em consideração em qualquer tentativa de interpretação global do pensamento de Fonseca e, sobretudo, na comparação com outras ontologias efectivamente acabadas, no sentido indicado. Suárez é o caso mais óbvio mas não o único. /// L'objectif principal de cet article consiste à attirer l'attention sur les problèmes posés par l'absence de quaestiones annexes à la Métaphysique XII. En partant d'une série de renvois explicites vers des thèmes à développer dans le contexte de cet écrit aristotélicien, renvois faits par Fonseca à plusieurs endroits des tomes 1, 2 et 3 de ses Commentaires à la Métaphysique d'Aristote, on constate que son intention était de développer, à cet endroit, des thèmes liés au discours philosophique sur Dieu, sur ses attributs, toute-puissance et liberté divines, à la contingence ainsi qu'à tout ce qui se rapporte aux "substances séparées". Cela signifie clairement que la Métaphysique de Fonseca se trouve inachevée au sens où n'a pas réussi à être publié le texte sur un point doctrinal important projeté dès le début de la rédaction des C.M.A. pour être publié dans le quatrième tome. Ce fait doit été tenu en ligne de compte dans toute tentative d'interprétation globale de la pensée de Fonseca et, surtout, dans comparaison avec d'autres ontologies effectivement achevées, au sens indiqué. Suarez est le cas le plus net, mais non le seul. /// This paper starts from the fact that the 4th volume of Fonseca's Commentariorum in Meiaphysicorum Aristotelis Stagiritae libros (CMA) contains no quaestiones to Met. XII. An analysis of several explicit remissions to topics and questions to be developed in the context of that Aristotelian script (Met. XII), made by Fonseca in several places in volumes I, II and HI of his CMA, reveals that his project was, from the beginning, to develop in the IV volume the subjects related to the philosophical discourse about God, divine attributes, omnipotence and freedom, contingency as well as to the 'separate substances'. This indicates clearly that the metaphysics of Fonseca remained unfinished given the fact that the text on an important thematic cluster was not published not withstanding the inclusion of such text in the original project of Fonseca. It is sustained that this fact should be taken in due consideration in any global interpretation of Fonseca's thought as well as in any comparison with other (finished) ontologies. Suárez is the most obvious case but not the only one. (shrink)

El pensamiento estético ha sido una constante en la tradición filosófica española contemporánea, y seguramente no ha sido por casualidad. Podemos preguntarnos por qué. Como es sabido, nuestro pensamiento durante el siglo XX ha tenido como uno de sus principales focos de atención «lo vital» o, mejor dicho, la integración de razón y vida: desde el gran paso que supuso el raciovitalismo orteguiano, la preocupación por este tema ha sido una constante entre nuestros autores. Con su pensamiento Ortega se une (...) a una tradición de autores como Schopenhauer, Nietzsche o Bergson, en la que se pone de manifiesto cómo es preciso pensar en diversos modos de ejercer la razón al meramente conceptual o teorético. Esta nueva dimensión se encuentra vinculada al ámbito de lo estético. Así, lo estético deja de ser únicamente una reflexión sobre el arte y la belleza, para erigirse en un modo diverso de acceso a lo real, tal y como se puede apreciar en el mismo Ortega, en d’Ors, Zambrano... y Zubiri, quien con su inteligencia sentiente lleva a su máxima expresión —a mi modo de ver— el acceso estético a la realidad, tal y como explica en sus breves «Reflexiones filosóficas sobre lo estético». (shrink)

Select annotated bibliography of works on Epicurus and Epicureanism, organized by subject. First published in 2015 but periodically updated since then.

Enquadradas no género das "nouvelles à la main" francesas, as gazetas manuscritas da Biblio­teca Pública de Evora são um enorme repositório de informação para a história do tempo de D. João V. Nele se encontram notícias de toda a Europa, dos vários governos ultramarinos, do quotidiano das ruas da corte e, sobretudo, da "primeira nobreza" do Reino. Estas são, assim, as últimas minas de ouro para o conhecimento do "alvorecer do Iluminismo" em Portugal.

Esta investigação histórica e documental enquadra-se no âmbito da História d Educação em Portugal. Trata-se de uma temática pouco usual, mas serve para uma melhor compreensão da criança nas sua problemáticas educativas, sociais, assistenciais e de reeducação no período entre 1871 - altura da primeira fundação da primeira Casa de Correção e Detenção de Lisboa ocupando-se a partir desse momento o Estado destas. Problemáticas infantis e juvenis da marginalidade, abandono, desamparo e delinquência até 1962. Neste estudo admitimos a existência especial (...) de uma pedagogia social portuguesa que integra contributos das várias ciências da época: jurídico-penais, ciências médicopedagógicas, sociológicas, psicopedagógicas, filosofia do direito, etc. Todas estas influências permitiram a reflexão sobre aquelas situações da criança o que originou a criação de vários estabelecimentos especiais de correção e de reeducação, ao nivel estatal e ao nível particular. Houve a aplicação de métodos inovadores no diagnóstico e na orientação dessas crianças. Demos, assim, um contributo valioso para a elaboração de uma História da Assistência à Infância Inadaptada em Portugal. (shrink)

Among the various testimonia assembled by Iwakuma and Ebbesen to the twelfth-century school of philosophers known as the Nominales,Iwakuma Yukio and Sten Ebbesen, “Logico -Theological Schools from the Secon d Half of the 12th Century: A List of Sources,” Vivarium XXX (1992):173–210. four record their commitment to the apparently outrageous thesis that nothing grows. My aim in this essay is to explore the reasons the Nominale s had for maintaining this thesis and to investigate the role that the theory which (...) supported it played in the development of late twelfth- and early thirteenth-century debates over the character of the hypostatic union. My investigation concerns onl y one aspect of twelfth-century NominalismSince this group were apparently the first ever to be called ‘nominalists’ I think that we may justifiably capitalize the name of the theory to indicate that we are referring to their version of it. but once this part of their system is understood, we will be better able to characterise the whole and the way in which the views of the Nominales conflicted with those of their opponents. S o long as the testimonia remain few and rather slight such a reconstruction offers our only hope for finding the Nominales and their influence where their name has not been recorded. (shrink)

Brief overview of the ethics of the Cyrenaics.

This introduction to Epicureanism offers students and general readers a clear exposition of the central tenets of Epicurean philosophy, one of the dominant schools of the Hellenistic period. Founded by Epicurus of Samos (c. 341–270 BCE), it held that for a human being the greatest good was to attain tranquility, free from fear and bodily pain, by seeking to understand the workings of the world and the limits of our desires. Tim O’Keefe provides an extended exegesis of the arguments that (...) support Epicurean philosophical positions, analyzing both their strengths and their weaknesses while showing how the different areas of Epicurean inquiry come together to make a whole. (shrink)

Theoretical arguments regarding the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on firm liability risk are abundant; however, empirical evidence about this relationship is scarce. We investigate the relationship between CSR and the personal liability risk of a firm’s directors and officers. We argue that companies with better CSR performance represent a better underwriting risk for directors’ and officers’ (D&O) insurance providers and, therefore, have a lower cost of insurance. Our results show that firms with better CSR performance are more likely (...) to purchase D&O insurance and have a lower premium-to-coverage ratio, known as the insurance rate-on-line. We also show that this risk-reduction effect is stronger for firms that operate in a high-risk environment and have higher sales growth. These results provide evidence that CSR can be used as a risk management tool to mitigate liability risk and suggest which firms benefit most from this effect. (shrink)