Summary A sufficient condition for a revolution in physics is a change in the concept of cause. To demonstrate this, we examine three developments in physical theory. After informally characterizing a theory in terms of an heuristic and a set of equations, we show how tensions between these two dimensions lead to the development of alternative theoretical accounts. In each case the crucial move results in a refinement of our account of cause. All these refinements taken together result in the (...) emergence of a new conceptual framework in which ‘causation’ is evolving in a manner unrelated to the common sense understanding of the concept. (shrink)

We have good reasons to be concerned about the underrepresentation of historically marginalized people's perspectives from philosophical and academic discourse. Normative case studies provide a potential avenue through which we can address this lack of diversity. However, there is a risk that those who engage in this kind of project are “speaking for others” in ways that reproduce the inequalities we seek to remedy. While this challenge cannot be avoided, Jennifer Morton discusses here how the problem can be mitigated (...) by conceiving of normative case studies as a way to facilitate dialogue within our classrooms and with communities outside the academy. (shrink)

This collection emphasizes a cross-disciplinary approach to the problem of scale, with essays ranging in subject matter from literature to film, architecture, the plastic arts, philosophy, and scientific and political writing. Its contributors consider a variety of issues provoked by the sudden and pressing shifts in scale brought on by globalization and the era of the Anthropocene, including: the difficulties of defining the concept of scale; the challenges that shifts in scale pose to knowledge formation; the role of scale in (...) mediating individual subjectivity and agency; the barriers to understanding objects existing in scalar realms different from our own; the role of scale in mediating the relationship between humans and the environment; and the nature of power, authority, and democracy at different social scales. (shrink)

Spirituality and spiritual well-being are connected with many areas of human life. Thus, especially in secular countries, there is a need for reliable validated instruments for measuring spirituality. The Spiritual Well-Being Scale is among the world’s most often used tools; therefore, the aim of this study was its psychometrical evaluation in the secular environment of the Czech Republic on a nationally representative sample (n = 1797, mean age: 45.9 ± 17.67; 48.6% men). A non-parametric comparison of different sociodemographic groups showed (...) a higher disposition for experiencing spirituality among women, older people, and divorced persons. Based on confirmatory factor analysis, negatively worded items were excluded using a polychoric correlation matrix. The new version of the scale consisting of 11 items had good internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.85; McDonald’s ωt = 0.91). The two-factor model of this shortened version, with factors corresponding to the Religious and the Existential subscales of the Spiritual Well-Being Scale, shows a satisfactory fit with the data, where the loadings of all items ranged from medium to high. Thus, this study offered a new version of the tool, convenient for measuring spiritual well-being in secular conditions. (shrink)

This is a reply to de Sousa's 'Emotional Truth', in which he argues that emotions can be objective, as propositional truths are. I say that it is better to distinguish between truth and accuracy, and agree with de Sousa to the extent of arguing that emotions can be more or less accurate, that is, based on the facts as they are.

Successful Ageing A Survey of the Most Important Theories The issues of good and successful ageing are the subject of scientific research. Successful ageing is the attempt to achieve a state of inner satisfaction and happiness in spite of the negative effects associated with old age: loss, external and internal destabilization, etc. Successful development in old age has many forms. It can generally be defined as an attempt to achieve the greatest profit with the smallest loss. The problem is establishing (...) the universal criteria of successful ageing. It is possible to restrict the study to the observation of individual factors which are either objective or subjective, long-term or short-term, specific or universal or static versus dynamic. The problem is creating a theory that will explain all the processes and consequences of old age—none of the theories has so far succeeded in doing this. Life satisfaction as a subjective criterion of successful ageing has been most emphasized in two contradictory theories: activity theory and disengagement theory. Other theories are: growth theories, cognitive theories, dynamic theories, SOC model, cultural anthropological theories, the interaction model of longevity, etc. (shrink)

Der Begriff “Wille zum Sinn” ist bei Frankl ein Schlüsselbegriff. Frankl überschritt die Grenzen der Psychologie, um die menschliche Existenz besser zu verstehen, die Einzigartigkeit der Person des Menschen, seine Freiheit und, wie er es selber benennt, sein “noogenes Wesensniveau”. Er stellt sich die existenzielle Frage, die der Mensch sich selber stellt. Um den Begriff “Wille zum Sinn” besser zu verstehen, brauchen wir eine breitere Erklärung. Da ist der Wille, das Streben, die Bemühung des Menschen um eine sinnvolle Existenz. Der (...) Sinn betrifft die Objektivität, die entdeckt werden soll. Weder gibt der Mensch sich den Sinn noch bildet er ihn sich selber. Der Mensch ist auf der Suche nach dem Sinn. Den Sinn entdeckt der Mensch mit Hilfe des Gewissens. Deshalb ist es nötig, ein Bemühen um die Kultivierung des Gewissens anzustreben. Die Frage nach dem Sinn stellt nicht der Mensch, sondern das Leben selbst. Das Leben fragt den Menschen in der Form der Wirklichkeiten. Eine Antwort des Menschen ist ein Übernehmen von Verantwortlichkeit. Der Sinn ist einzigartig und unwiederholbar. Das rührt her von der Einzig_artigkeit der Person und der Einmaligkeit der Situation. Der Sinn des Lebens ist in Bezug auf das Ziel. Der Mensch glaubt an den Sinn, ob er sich dessen bewu t ist oder nicht. Alles im Leben des Menschen hat einen grö eren Sinn. Das Leben kann sinnvoll durch die Arbeit werden, wenn diese Arbeit nicht egozentrisch ausgeführt wird. Einen Sinn des Lebens kann dem menschlichen Leben auch ein Erlebnis vermitteln oder gar ein Erlebnis der Liebe, welches das wertvollste Erlebnis dar_stellt. Dem menschlichen Leben kann man einen Sinn nicht nur durch Arbeiten und Erleben geben, sondern auch durch eine Fähigkeit zum Leiden, wenn der Mensch eine gute und menschenwürdige Position in der Situation des Leidens und des Schmerzes einnimmt. Mi erfolg des Lebens, Mangel an Lust oder an positiven Erlebnissen sind kein Zeichen für Sinnlosigkeit. (shrink)

I assess Churchland's views on folk psychology and conceptual thinking, with particular emphasis on the connection between these topics.

This book focuses on the political thought of American statesmen. These statesmen have had consistent and comprehensive views of the good of the country and their actions have been informed by those views. The editors argue that political life in America has been punctuated by three great crises in its history-the crisis of the Founding, the crisis of the House Divided, and the crisis of the Great Depression. The Second World War was a crisis not just for America but for (...) the whole of Western Civiliation and, in the wake of that war, a new crisis arose which came to be called the "Cold War." Just when that gave the appearance of being resolved, the world reached a new juncture, a new crisis, which Samuel P. Huntington dubbed the "clash of civiliations." The statesmen having political responsibility in confronting the first three crises in America's history came as close to philosophic grasp of the problems of liberal democracy as one could demand from those embroiled in the active resolution of events. Their reflection of political philosophy in the full sense informed their actions. Since we cannot confidently explain the future, Aristotle warned us to call no man happy while he still lives. Thus the book, in its third edition, keeps to its settled pattern of dealing with settled matters. The preface to the third edition confronts the three later crises and, to the extent consistent with truth, attempts to relate them to the first three. Morton J. Frisch was professor emeritus of political science at Northern Illinois University. He was the author or editor of several books, including Selected Writings and Speeches of Alexander Hamilton; Alexander Hamilton and the Political Order; and Franklin D. Roosevelt: The Contribution of the New Deal to American Political Thought and Practice. Richard G. Stevens retired from National Defense University as professor of political science in 1994. Since then he has taught as an adjunct professor of government at American University. He is co-editor with Matthew J. Franck of Sober as a Judge: The Supreme Court and Republican Liberty, and the author of The American Constitution and Its Provenance; Reason and History in Judicial Judgment: Felix Frankfurter and Due Process; and Political Philosophy: An Introduction. (shrink)

The author examines three fundamental concepts: existence, a priori knowledge, and value. These concepts have been recurrent concerns of western philosophy and also reveal important similarities and differences between the movements from which the author takes his departure.

The claim of this paper is that the everyday functions of knowledge make most sense if we see knowledge as contrastive. That is, we can best understand how the concept does what it does by thinking in terms of a relation “a knows that p rather than q.” There is always a contrast with an alternative. Contrastive interpretations of knowledge, and objections to them, have become fairly common in recent philosophy. The version defended here is fairly mild in that there (...) is no suggestion that we cannot think in terms of a simpler not explicitly contrastive relation “a knows that p.” Some, for instance Schaffer (2005) and Karjalainen and Morton (2003), have hinted that this stronger possibility may be right. But all that I am arguing now is that facts that are easily expressed in contrastive terms are vital to understanding why we need the concept of knowledge. In a piece that is in some ways a companion to this one ("Contrastivism" in Duncan Pritchard and Sven Bernecker, eds. The Routledge Companion to Epistemology. Routledge 2010, 513-522), I give a general survey of theories of contrastive knowledge and the differences between them. (shrink)

Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Volume 104, Issue 3, Page 728-746, May 2022.