For more than a decade, American lawyers have bewailed the ethical crisis in their profession, wringing their hands about its bad image. But their response has been limited to spending money on public relations, mandating education, and endlessly revising ethical rules. In this book, Richard Abel will argue that these measures will do little or nothing to solve the problems illustrated by the six disciplinary case studies featured in this book unless the legal monopoly enjoyed by attorneys in the (...) U.S. is drastically contracted. -/- Richard Abel examines some of the most common ethical complaints made about lawyers in Lawyers in the Dock. Using detailed records of disciplinary proceedings, he describes the actions surrounding certain cases based on three of the most common complaints: neglecting the client by failing to pursue cases diligently; overcharging of clients by mystifying billing practices; and betraying adversaries and courts out of excessive loyalty to clients or causes. -/- In this book, Richard Abel will argue that these measures will do little or nothing to solve the problems exposed by his six disciplinary case studies unless structural changes are made to the legal monopoly in order to restore the public trust in lawyers. Lawyers in the Dock is essential reading for lawyers, law students, and potential clients who wish to restore trust and professional responsibility in the legal profession. (shrink)
This paper contains a reconstruction and discussion of some central subjects in Nelson Goodman's philosophical work. Goodman's creative symbol-constructional philosophy concerns fundamental aspects of human cognition and practice. It is argued that this provides us with the intellectual tools for constructing a genuine relationship between logic, knowledge, art, and understanding. This is shown by focusing on subjects ranging from the projectibility of predicates and nominalistic mereology to constructive relativity, ways of worldmaking and a general theory of symbols.
This paper contains a discussion of Quine's thesis of indeterminacy of translation within the more general thesis that using and understanding a language are to be conceived of as a creative and interpretative-constructional activity. Indeterminacy is considered to be ineliminable. Three scenarios are distinguished concerning, first, the reasons for indeterminacy, second, the kinds of indeterminacy and, third, different levels of a general notion of recursive interpretation. Translational hypotheses are seen as interpretational constructs. The indeterminacy thesis turns out to be a (...) consequence of the externalizing of language, meaning, and epistemology. By means of a three-leveled interpretation model one can substantiate the crucial aspects, first, that indeterminacy is not an indeterminacy of facts of the matter and, second, that there is a significant difference between indeterminacy and underdetermination. In addition, the relationship between indeterminacy, interpretation, and charity is elucidated. Indeterminacy is seen not as an obstacle to but as a condition for communication. Charity and empathy in dialogue are conditional upon indeterminacy. All three components reveal the interpretative-constructional character of the inseparable connection of meaning and experience. (shrink)
I examine Michael Oakeshott's theory of modes of experience in light of today's evolution debates and argue that in much of our current debate science and religion irrelevantly attack each other or, less commonly but still irrelevantly, seek out support from the other. An analysis of Oakeshott's idea of religion finds links between his early holistic theory of the state, his individualistic account of religious sensibility, and his theory of political, moral, and religious authority. Such analysis shows that a modern (...) individualistic theory of the state need not be barrenly secular and suggests that a religious sensibility need not be translated into an overmastering desire to use state power to pursue moral or spiritual ends in politics. Finally, Oakeshott's vision of a civil conversation, as both a metaphor for Western civilization and as a quasi-ethical ideal, shows us how we might balance the recognition of diverse modal truths, the pursuit of singular religious or philosophic truth, and a free political order. (shrink)
This volume brings together a diverse range of perspectives reflecting the international appeal and multi-disciplinary interest that Oakeshott now attracts.
Cette contribution resitue tout d'abord le prìncipe d'indulgence ou de charité dans la philosophie analytique et l'herméneutique contemporaines. La version maximaliste de ce principe, qui invite à présupposer comme vrai ce que l'autre tient pour vrai, est critiquée et rectifiée dans le cadre du caractère interprétatif de la compréhension. La critique du principe d'indulgence est défendue par rapport à la fiction davidsonienne d'un interprète omniscient ou d'un herméneute omnipotent. L'article conclut sur la nécessité de saisir la compréhension comme une interprétation (...) et de clarifier les situations d'interprétation. This contribution restore at first the principle of charity in analytical philosophy and contemporary hermeneutics. The maximalist version of this principle, inviting to presuppose true what the other is considering true, is critisized and rectified in the frame of the interpretative character of understanding. The criticism of the principle of charity is opposed to the fiction, imagined by D. Davidson, of an « omniscient interpreter » or an omnipotent hermeneutist. The article is concluding on the necessity to perceive understanding as interpretation and to clarify the conditions of interpretation. (shrink)
Comparative case studies of lawyer deviance and discipline offer a unique perspective on how and why lawyers misbehave, how regulatory bodies respond, and the efficacy of those responses. Such studies also provide valuable pedagogic tools, opening the eyes of law students to the ways in which they, too, could transgress ethical rules. This special issue builds on my two books on misbehaving lawyers in New York and California by presenting vivid accounts of such lawyers in the UK, Canada, Australia, New (...) Zealand, and the Netherlands. (shrink)
Fifty Readings is a flexible and affordable collection of classic and contemporary primary sources in philosophy. The readings cover all the main topics of Western Philosophy, and each one is carefully edited to be long enough to present a self-contained argument but not so lengthy that students lose track of the main point. A wide selection of readings at an attractive price makes this text the most versatile introduction to philosophy reader on the market.
Fifty Readings is a flexible and affordable collection of classic and contemporary primary sources in philosophy. The readings cover all the main topics of Western Philosophy, and each one is carefully edited to be long enough to present a self-contained argument but not so lengthy that students lose track of the main point. A wide selection of readings at an attractive price makes this text the most versatile introduction to philosophy reader on the market.
Gould and Lewontin use San Marco, Venice, to criticise the adaptationist program in biology. Following their lead, the architectural term “spandrel” is now widely used in biology to denote a feature that is a necessary byproduct of other aspects of the organism. I review the debate over San Marco and argue that the spandrels are not necessary in the sense originally used by Gould and Lewontin. I conclude that almost all the claims that Gould makes about San (...) class='Hi'>Marco are wrong and that it is reasonable to view the architectural spandrel as an adaptation. The spandrels example has not provided a good illustration of why adaptive explanations should be avoided. In fact, it can be used as an example of how adaptive explanations can be dismissed even when there is evidence in their favour. I also discuss the use of the concept of a spandrel in biology. (shrink)
We construct a modular semantic frameworks for LFIs (logics of formal (in)consistency) which extends the framework developed in [1; 3], but includes Marco’s schema too (and so practically all the axioms considered in [11] plus a few more). In addition, the paper provides another demonstration of the power of the idea of nondeterministic semantics, especially when it is combined with the idea of using truth-values to encode relevant data concerning propositions.
These specialised and annotated papers closely examine a number of Platonic texts including the Republic, Symposium and Gorgias. Extracts are in English translation.
Em 2011, celebra-se o centenário de morte de Wilhelm Dilthey (1833-1911). Para esta data, no Brasil e no exterior, editoras e universidades vêm se mobilizando, desde o ano passado, para organizar novas edições e eventos acadêmicos sobre o filósofo alemão. Associados à Fundação Fritz Thyssen em Colônia, Alemanha, tradutores de diversos idiomas vêm vertendo a obra para o inglês, o russo e o japonês. Também traduções para o português estão sendo preparadas no Brasil.
O texto é uma resenha de uma obra do filósofo e psicólogo alemão Wilhelm Dilthey. A resenha aborda uma publicação para o português da obra Introdução às ciências humanas (1883), na data em que se celebra o centenário de morte de Dilthey. A iniciativa dessa análise se justifica por ressaltar esta edição que: apresenta ao público brasileiro este autor relativamente pouco conhecido em nosso país; introduz os termos de sua filosofia. Dilthey é pensador crucial para o século XX por ter (...) contestado a influência que doutrina positivista possuiria sobre as ciências humanas (especialmente as sociais, as históricas e as do psiquismo) com seu método hermenêutico. A influência deste pensador se fez sensivelmente presente na obra de autores como Weber, Spengler, Ortega y Gasset e Gadamer. (shrink)
The article investigates the possibility of justifying animal rights within a contractarian framework of argumentation. According to the thesis developed in this paper, this justification is possible if the underlying contractarian theory is distinguished from the traditional theories and modified in relevant ways. KEY WORDS – animal rights, contractarian theories, impartiality, interest.
