Perhaps the most difficult part of the famous inscription from Heraclea is the opening section of the extant text, where from a given form of procedure it is required to determine the subject matter. A solution of this puzzling problem, which I proposed some months ago, has recently been made the subject of an interesting article in this journal by Dr. E. G. Hardy. Mr. Hardy has long been engaged in this field, and has rendered much useful service. In this (...) article, however, he seems to be interested in my views chiefly in their relation to his own theory. This is apparent in his agreements with me. For example, one aim of my study was to identify the professiones of Cicero's letters ad Att. xiii. 33, 1, and ad Fam. xvi. 23, 1, with those provided for in the first section of the inscription. It appeared that the returns mentioned by Cicero were registrations of property, that they were to be made yearly, and that they had their prototype in the annual property census of Egypt. It also seemed clear that Caesar's recensus populi of 46 was modelled on the Egyptian kατ' oίkíαm άπoγραφήiKíαν. With these preliminary conclusions Mr. Hardy is not unwilling to agree. He even goes so far as to say that I have made a good case for ‘a new system of professiones somehow relating to property and introduced in 46.’ He thinks too that the settlement of the frumentations as a part of a more comprehensive legislative scheme would be most appropriate. So far so good, but when it comes to the vital point of admitting a connection between these matters and vv. 1–19 of the Tablet he draws back as if from some fatal step. (shrink)

In an interesting article in the Journal of Roman Studies Prof. Jefferson Elmore reopens the vexed question as to the nature and object of the ‘declarations’ provided for in lines 1 to 19 of the Heraclean Table, and claims to have discovered a fresh clue more satisfactory than any so far propounded. As I have recently committed myself in opposition to the hypotheses of Hirschfeld, Legras and Nap, to what is at least a partial reaffirmation of Mommsen's explanation, (...) and as I find Prof. Elmore's suggestions contrary to the evidence, and seriously wanting in cohesion and consistency, I shall venture to subject them to some examination and criticism. (shrink)

Thomas Jefferson is among the most important and controversial of American political thinkers: his influence (libertarian, democratic, participatory, and agrarian-republican) is still felt today. A prolific writer, Jefferson left 18,000 letters, Notes on the State of Virginia, an Autobiography, and numerous other papers. Joyce Appleby and Terence Ball have selected the most important of these for presentation in the Cambridge Texts series: Jefferson's views on topics such as revolution, self-government, the role of women and African-American and Native (...) Americans emerge to give a fascinating insight into a man who owned slaves, yet advocated the abolition of slavery. The texts are supported by a concise introduction, suggestions for further reading and short biographies of key figures, all providing invaluable assistance to the student encountering the breadth and richness of Jefferson's thought for the first time. (shrink)

Volume Eight of the project documenting Thomas Jefferson's last years presents 591 documents dated from 1 October 1814 to 31 August 1815. Jefferson is overjoyed by American victories late in the War of 1812 and highly interested in the treaty negotiations that ultimately end the conflict. Following Congress's decision to purchase his library, he oversees the counting, packing, and transportation of his books to Washington. Jefferson uses most of the funds from the sale to pay old debts (...) but spends some of the proceeds on new titles. He resigns from the presidency of the American Philosophical Society, revises draft chapters of Louis H. Girardin's history of Virginia, and advises William Wirt on revolutionary-era Stamp Act resolutions. Jefferson criticizes those who discuss politics from the pulpit, and he drafts a bill to transform the Albemarle Academy into Central College. Monticello visitors Francis W. Gilmer, Francis C. Gray, and George Ticknor describe the mountaintop and its inhabitants, and Gray's visit leads to an exchange with Jefferson about how many generations of white interbreeding it takes to clear Negro blood. Finally, although death takes his nephew Peter Carr and brother Randolph Jefferson, the marriage of his grandson Thomas Jefferson Randolph is a continuing source of great happiness. Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions. (shrink)

In this paper, I respond to commentaries on my book “Are Mental Disorders Brain Disorders?”. The topics I discuss are: accounts of function and dysfunction, constraints on the relationship between processes at the level of the brain and the mind, externalism in psychiatry, implications for moral responsibility and the question whether my account is a form of conceptual engineering. I defend my account and argue that the key criterion for whether mental disorders are brain disorders is whether we can map (...) dysfunctional psychological processes onto specific differences in brain function. I also acknowledge that my commentators have identified points where my account needs further development. (shrink)

In Part I of Christianity and History, the author asks whether the committed Christian should be more conscious than the uncommitted of some meaning in history. In answering this he offers a critique of Arnold Toynbee and makes some penetrating observations on the teaching of history. Part II is concerned with the author's special field-the Protestant Reformation and its origins. Calvinism, with its dynamic sense of the historical process, receives special treatment, and there is a brilliant essay on Machiavelli and (...) Thomas More. Three of the essays included in this new book appear here for the first time. Originally published in 1964. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905. (shrink)

A growing body of literature has identified potential problems that can compromise the quality, fairness, and integrity of journal peer review, including inadequate review, inconsistent reviewer reports, reviewer biases, and ethical transgressions by reviewers. We examine the evidence concerning these problems and discuss proposed reforms, including double-blind and open review. Regardless of the outcome of additional research or attempts at reforming the system, it is clear that editors are the linchpin of peer review, since they make decisions that have a (...) significant impact on the process and its outcome. We consider some of the steps editors should take to promote quality, fairness and integrity in different stages of the peer review process and make some recommendations for editorial conduct and decision-making. (shrink)

Offers an entertaining series of historical accounts taken from the nineteenth century to highlight a main theme: the nature of technological change, the fission brought about in society by such change, and society's reaction to that change.

I defend an instrumentalist account of moral responsibility and adopt Manuel Vargas’ idea that our responsibility practices are justified by their effects. However, whereas Vargas gives an independent account of morally responsible agency, on my account, responsible agency is defined as the susceptibility to developing and maintaining moral agency through being held responsible. I show that the instrumentalism I propose can avoid some problems more crude forms of instrumentalism encounter by adopting aspects of Strawsonian accounts. I then show the implications (...) for our understanding of responsibility: my account requires us to adopt a graded notion of responsibility and accept the claim that certain individuals may not be responsible because they are not susceptible to being influenced by our moral responsibility practices. Finally, I discuss whether the account is committed to allowing the instrumentalization of non-responsible individuals in cases where blaming them may benefit others’ moral agency. (shrink)

People hold wildly opposing and very strong views on the question whether mental disorders are brain disorders, and the disagreement is primarily a conceptual one, not one about whether there are,...

This paper contributes to the debate over the so-called “easy argument for numbers”, an argument that uses evidence from natural language to support the metaphysically significant claim that numbers exist. It presents novel data showing that critical examples in the literature are ambiguous between two readings, contrary to previous assumptions. It then accounts for these data using independently motivated linguistic theory. The account developed rescues the easy argument from the primary challenges leveled against it in the literature and sets the (...) agenda for future work to determine whether or not the argument is valid. (shrink)

The challenges facing us today require practical wisdom to allow us to react appropriately. In this paper, we argue that at a group level, we will make better decisions if we respect and take into account the moral judgment of agents with diverse styles of cognition and moral reasoning. We show this by focusing on the example of autism, highlighting different strengths and weaknesses of moral reasoning found in autistic and non-autistic persons respectively.

Moral Psychology spans both philosophy and psychology: it addresses questions concerning the role of emotions in moral judgment, the nature of moral motivation, whether human beings are ultimately...

The question of whether psychopaths are criminally and morally responsible has generated significant controversy in the literature. In this paper, we discuss what relevance a psychopathy diagnosis has for criminal responsibility. It has been argued that figuring out whether psychopathy is a mental illness is of fundamental importance, because it is a precondition for psychopaths’ eligibility to be excused via the legal insanity defense. But even if psychopathy counts as a mental illness, this alone is not sufficient to show the (...) insanity defense is applicable; it must also be shown that, as a result of the illness, specific deficits in moral understanding or control are present. In this paper, we show that a diagnosis of psychopathy will generally not indicate that a defendant is eligible for an insanity defense. This is because the group of individuals subsumed under the diagnosis is so heterogeneous that while some psychopaths do show significant impairments in affect and control which may impact on their responsibility, many psychopaths are not incapacitated in a way relevant to responsibility. (shrink)

In this paper, I address the question whether mental disorders should be understood to be brain disorders and what conditions need to be met for a disorder to be rightly described as a brain disorder. I defend the view that mental disorders are autonomous and that a condition can be a mental disorder without at the same time being a brain disorder. I then show the consequences of this view. The most important of these is that brain differences underlying mental (...) disorders derive their status as disordered from the fact that they realize mental dysfunction and are therefore non-autonomous or dependent on the level of the mental. I defend this view of brain disorders against the objection that only conditions whose pathological character can be identified independently of the mental level of description count as brain disorders. The understanding of brain disorders I propose requires a certain amount of conceptual revision and is at odds with approaches which take the notion of brain disorder to be fundamental or look to neuroscience to provide us with a purely physiological understanding of mental illness. It also entails a pluralistic understanding of psychiatric illness, according to which a condition can be both a mental disorder and a brain disorder. (shrink)

Thesis summary BATISTA, Jefferson Pinto.The social doctrine of the Catholic Church and the foundations of social work: the graduation course of Social Work at PUC Minas.

Slippery slope arguments are frequently dismissed as fallacious or weak arguments but are nevertheless commonly used in political and bioethical debates. This paper gives an overview of different variants of the argument commonly found in the literature and addresses their argumentative strength and the interrelations between them. The most common variant, the empirical slippery slope argument, predicts that if we do A, at some point the highly undesirable B will follow. I discuss both the question which factors affect likelihood of (...) slippage and the relation between the strength of the prediction and the justificatory power of the argument. (shrink)

Neste trabalho apresentamos uma experiência de estágio realizada em uma escola indígena Kyikatêjê, na região norte do Brasil e analisamos aspectos dessa experiência a partir dos conceitos de autoridade e espaço comunicativo transcultural. Para tanto, descrevemos de modo breve o contexto no qual a pesquisa de estágio ocorreu, destacando os objetivos do estágio, o período de realização e os professores envolvidos. Nesse relato, situamos o ponto de interesse que motivou a escrita do presente trabalho. Indicado nosso objeto de estudos, apresentamos (...) duas seções teóricas que caracterizam a perspectiva com a qual trabalhamos. Na primeira, expomos o conceito de autoridade, entendida a partir do Modelo dos Campos Semânticos. Apresentamos como esse conceito está relacionado à justificação utilizada na produção de conhecimento. Ao fazer isso, afirmamos que nosso interesse se dirige aos aspectos epistemológicos da experiência realizada. Na sessão seguinte, apresentamos o conceito de espaço comunicativo transcultural, como sendo aquelas situações de interação onde duas ou mais culturas se encontram e que a alteridade do espaço constituído nesse encontro, possibilita o compartilhamento de legitimidades entre elas. Após apresentar os conceitos teóricos é apresentada a experiência de estágio de modo a colocar em evidência a relação entre o estagiário, os professores e os alunos e não os conteúdos trabalhos. Na última seção essa experiência de estágio é analisada à luz dos conceitos apresentados. Apontamos na conclusão que o comportamento dos alunos advém de legitimidades constituídas na cultura da qual fazem parte, mas esse comportamento não indica necessariamente uma abertura para o processo de aprendizagem. Apontamos, também, que a criação de um espaço comunicativo que mobiliza as legitimidades da cultura Kyikatêjê na aula de Matemática, privilegiando os modos de produzir conhecimento dessa cultura, oportunizou uma mudança no processo de produção de conhecimento dos alunos. (shrink)

Evaluates trade-offs and uncertainties inherent in achieving sustainable energy, analyzes the major energy technologies, and provides a framework for assessing policy options.

Esse artigo teórico tem como objetivo discutir o problema do suicídio praticado por homens e suas implicações para os serviços de atenção básica à saúde. Utilizou-se o método da revisão narrativa, uma forma de pesquisa que visa contribuir para a reflexão e a discussão sobre um assunto sem pretender reproduzir dados ou responder questões quantitativas específicas. Tendo como base os descritores “suicídio”, “homem” e “saúde”, identificou-se a partir das plataformas Scielo e Pubmed 56 artigos produzidos nos últimos cinco anos em (...) português e inglês, dentre os quais seis foram selecionados. A análise dos resultados indica que no Brasil as ocorrências de suicídio são mais elevadas nas Regiões Sul e Centro Oeste, onde cerca de 70% dos casos são de homens jovens que optam pelo enforcamento. Pode-se identificar como causa aspectos sociais, econômicos, relacionais, psicológicos e aspectos culturais que implicam transformações nas formas como a sociedade vê os homens e na necessidade de que eles reconheçam suas fragilidades. As masculinidades tradicionais precisam ser revistas a fim de que lhes seja possível reconhecer suas limitações diante da vivência de problemas emocionais, buscando-se superar sua recusa a buscar ajuda nos momentos de fragilidade e intenso sofrimento. Conclui-se que os serviços básicos precisam dinamizar suas ações e promover campanhas preventivas, participação da comunidade, facilitação do acesso a profissionais da saúde mental e diversificação de abordagens, compreendendo o suicídio praticado por homens em suas especificidades. Enquanto problema de saúde pública, o suicídio precisa ser abordado de forma preventiva com ações voltadas para o público em geral, sendo importante compreender sua complexidade no que se refere às questões das masculinidades. (shrink)

Este trabalho tem como foco a filosofia de Schopenhauer em comparação com a proposta salvífica do cristianismo. Os grandes filósofos metafísicos que precederam Schopenhauer identificaram o objetivo maior do espírito com a realização de sua plenitude. Esta é indicada, paralelamente, no campo religioso, a partir da aproximação do homem com Deus. A novidade que este texto pretende apontar é que, diferentemente da tradição filosófica e religiosa do Ocidente, Schopenhauer realizou em sua metafísica um caminho para o espírito humano no qual (...) a sua “libertação” não coincide com a plenitude do espírito. Para este filósofo a libertação é atingida a partir de uma ascese radical, na medida em que propõe a mortificação/ aniquilação do ser como um todo. É um caminho que passa pela busca da nulidade da Vontade, visando sua suprema aniquilação. (shrink)

Opponents of biomedical enhancement frequently adopt what Allen Buchanan has called the “Personal Goods Assumption.” On this assumption, the benefits of biomedical enhancement will accrue primarily to those individuals who undergo enhancements, not to wider society. Buchanan has argued that biomedical enhancements might in fact have substantial social benefits by increasing productivity. We outline another way in which enhancements might benefit wider society: by augmenting civic virtue and thus improving the functioning of our political communities. We thus directly confront critics (...) of biomedical enhancement who argue that it will lead to a loss of social cohesion and a breakdown in political life. (shrink)

Philosophy Born of Struggle is an ambitious undertaking. It is explicitly conceived, the editor explains, as “a guide to the ideas of modern Afro‐American philosophers,” and “a historical resource directory for their works.”1 An anthology of texts with bibliographical apparatus, the volume has an implicit hortatory purpose as well. In representing Afro‐American philosophy as a “unidimensional text of divergent components”—concerned with the meaning of democracy and the human costs of “capitalism, colonial domination, and ontological designation by race”—the editor dignifies Afro‐American (...) philosophy conceptually, as a subject in its own right, calling in effect for its sustained historical treatment as such.2. (shrink)

Este texto pretende discutir os constantes desafios enfrentados pela educação e cultura, em tempos passados e presentes, colocando em pauta a inquietação de retomar a discussão sobre educação e cultura, dentro de uma linha de racionalidade teórica e prática, ladeando dois intelectuais situados em contextos históricos bastante distintos, Tomás de Aquino e Paulo Freire. Busca-se encontrar aspectos essenciais concebidos por ambos, enquanto intelectuais dedicados a um processo de abertura e emancipação de pessoas e instituições, que não deixam de chamar a (...) atenção para o conhecimento, a inteligência e o estudo como pilares para a construção de um mundo melhor. (shrink)

O presente texto tem como escopo refletir sobre a retomada da metafísica tomasiana não apenas como uma fixação no contexto histórico, cultural e filosófico em que foi exercido o pensamento metafísico medieval, mas, sobretudo, como possibilidade de ainda se pensar em questões de sentido dos tempos atuais. O reavivamento do ato de filosofar não descarta a relevância intelectual de pensar a tradição e a primazia do ato de existir na ordem da inteligibilidade das coisas e ser na ordem intencional lançam (...) questões aos debates metafísicos contemporâneos. Ao se ir do nível protológico ao lógico, reconhece-se uma metafísica do existir (esse) e, quando se passa do nível psicológico ao gnosiológico, tem-se mais clara uma metafísica do juízo. O pensamento tomasiano retoma as noções primordiais de ordem, inteligência e natureza na teoria do juízo, que vai da representação ao Ser, na qual a separatio constitui o gesto metafísico da inteligência capaz de desvelar a culminância da inteligibilidade do ato de existir como fundamento de toda realidade, abrindo o horizonte de possibilidade de se compreender desafios antropológicos contemporâneos e seus desdobramentos no existir, a partir de um referencial mais profundo do que aqueles oferecidos por concepções subjetivistas, relativistas e niilistas do mundo. (shrink)

Does a diagnosis of brain dysfunction matter for ascriptions of moral responsibility? This chapter argues that, while knowledge of brain pathology can inform judgments of moral responsibility, its evidential value is currently limited for a number of practical and theoretical reasons. These include the problem of establishing causation from correlational data, drawing inferences about individuals from group data, and the reliance of the interpretation of brain findings on well-established psychological findings. Brain disorders sometimes matter for moral responsibility, however, because they (...) change an individual’s moral psychology in a way that is beyond their control. While control over psychological changes is not an excusing factor, brain disorders can mitigate moral responsibility because they confront individuals with new psychological deficits or urges for which their previous moral education and existing external and internal moral resources have not prepared them. (shrink)

Background: Legislative changes are resulting in assisted death as an option for people at the end of life. Although nurses’ experiences and perspectives are underrepresented within broader ethical discourses about assisted death, there is a small but significant body of literature examining nurses’ experiences of caring for people who request this option. Aim: To synthesize what has been learned about nurses’ experiences of caring for patients who request assisted death and to highlight what is morally at stake for nurses who (...) undertake this type of care. Design: Qualitative meta-synthesis. Methods: Six databases were searched: CINAHL, Medline, EMBASE, Joanna Briggs Institute, PsycINFO, and Web of Science. The search was completed on 22 October 2014 and updated in February 2016. Of 879 articles identified from the database searches, 16 articles were deemed relevant based on inclusion criteria. Following quality appraisal, 14 studies were retained for analysis and synthesis. Results: The moral experience of the nurse is defined by a profound sense of responsibility, shaped by contextual forces that nurses navigate in everyday end-of-life care practice, and sustained by intra-team moral and emotional support. Discussion: The findings of this synthesis support the view that nurses are moral agents who are deeply invested in the moral integrity of end-of-life care involving assisted death. The findings further demonstrate that to fully appreciate the ethics of assisted death from a nursing standpoint, it is necessary to understand the broader constraints on nurses’ moral agency that operate in everyday end-of-life care. Ethical considerations: Research ethics board approval was not required for this synthesis of previously published literature. Conclusion: In order to understand how to enact ethical practice in the area of assisted death, the moral experiences of nurses should be investigated and foregrounded. (shrink)

Introduction to a special issue on unrealistic optimism.

The present work includes a discussion about the Kantian ideal of progress and its repercussions in the construction of a cosmopolitan education, by virtue of weighing its validity and the challenges it faces in contemporary times. The manuscript analyzes the Kantian postulates about progress to clarify the guidelines of a cosmopolitan education. The document is structured thanks to the bibliographic study and the consequent systematic review of an exploratory type and the help of the hermeneutical method. The approach to the (...) subject begins with the analysis of the enlightened ideals of a cosmopolitan, universal, humanizing education project aimed at fulfilling the ultimate purposes of reason, as the preferred path for human improvement and social progress. At the end of this work, the incompatibility between that ideal of Kantian cosmopolitan education, which promised freedom and self-control, and the current system that promotes an idea of ​​progress far from these principles is made evident. (shrink)

For decades, healthcare has relied on data-driven algorithms to guide clinical practice. Recent advances in machine learning have opened up new possibilities in the field, enabling detailed analyse...

Ecological accounts of responsible agency claim that moral feedback is essential to the reasons-responsiveness of agents. In this paper, we discuss McGeer’s scaffolded reasons-responsiveness account in the light of two concerns. The first is that some agents may be less attuned to feedback from their social environment but are nevertheless morally responsible agents – for example, autistic people. The second is that moral audiences can actually work to undermine reasons-responsiveness if they espouse the wrong values. We argue that McGeer’s account (...) can be modified to handle both problems. Once we understand the specific roles that moral feedback plays for recognizing and acting on moral reasons, we can see that autistics frequently do rely on such feedback, although it often needs to be more explicit. Furthermore, although McGeer is correct to highlight the importance of moral feedback, audience sensitivity is not all that matters to reasons-responsiveness; it needs to be tempered by a consistent application of moral rules. Agents also need to make sure that they choose their moral audiences carefully, paying special attention to receiving feedback from audiences which may be adversely affected by their actions. (shrink)

The question of whether mental disorders are disorders of the brain has led to a long- running and controversial dispute within psychiatry, psychology and philosophy of mind and psychology. While recent work in neuroscience frequently tries to identify underlying brain dysfunction in mental disorders, detractors argue that labelling mental disorders as brain disorders is reductive and can result in harmful social effects. This book brings a much- needed philosophical perspective to bear on this important question.

Con el nombre de política de la justa memoria el pensador francés Paul Ricoeur elabora un ambicioso proyecto filosófico sobre la representación del pasado. Es un proyecto estructurado alrededor de tres elementos: deber de memoria, trabajo de la historia y deber de justicia. Este artículo de reflexión recoge algunas propuestas de Ricoeur alrededor de esta política de la justa memoria, la cual implica recuperar y usar el pasado, pero también pensar críticamente sobre sus abusos en el presente, además de encontrar (...) el sentido de justicia y de promesa en la memoria justa. (shrink)

El artículo reflexiona teóricamente sobre cómo a través del prisma de una experiencia históricamente desgarradora como fue la Gran Guerra (1914–1918) el sociólogo y filósofo Maurice Halbwachs (1877-1945) y el literato y biógrafo Stefan Zweig (1881-1942), recrean algunos de los dispositivos centrales al estudio social y filosófico de la memoria: el olvido, el silencio y el recuerdo. El texto revisa, en esa dirección, algunos de los aportes filosóficos, sociológicos y literarios de dos de los textos principales de estos autores: Los (...) marcos sociales de la memoria y El mundo de ayer. Memorias de un europeo. A lo largo del artículo se muestra que el objetivo de dicha revisión no es inventariar con exactitud lo propuesto por ambos autores alrededor de la memoria. Más bien, buscamos recrear como sus visiones sobre la memoria de la Gran Guerra resultan seductoras en su momento y de mucha actualidad hoy en día no solo por lo que dicen sino también por lo que omiten sobre este gran acontecimiento disruptivo.AbstractThis article of theoretical reflection aims at showing how through the prism of a historically harrowing like the Great War (1914-1918), the sociologist and philosopher Maurice Halbwachs (1877-1945) and the writer and biographer Stefan Zweig (1881-1942), recreate some of the central devices to the social and philosophical study of memory: oblivion, silence and remembrance. The paper reviews some of the philosophical, sociological and literary contributions of two major works by these authors: Social Frames of Memory, and the World of Yesterday. Memoirs of a European. Throughout the article I show that the views of these two authors about the memory of the Great War are seductive in their time and very current today not only for what they say but for what they omit about this great disruptive event. (shrink)