Hugh of St. Victor’s De arrha animae, the spiritual classic by one described as the ‘second Augustine’, needs no commendation; any work which brings it to the notice of a wider public is to be welcomed. Dr. Herbert has given us a clear translation which reads easily, though certain phrases betray its American origin. The introduction is a competent compilation of the available material on the author, his doctrine, and his work. There are occasional notes to the text itself, which (...) is based on the critical edition. The work is pleasantly produced and well printed. (shrink)

Hugh of St. Victor’s De arrha animae, the spiritual classic by one described as the ‘second Augustine’, needs no commendation; any work which brings it to the notice of a wider public is to be welcomed. Dr. Herbert has given us a clear translation which reads easily, though certain phrases betray its American origin. The introduction is a competent compilation of the available material on the author, his doctrine, and his work. There are occasional notes to the text itself, which (...) is based on the critical edition. The work is pleasantly produced and well printed. (shrink)

Scholars will be grateful to the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies for its enterprise in undertaking the publication of a new series of studies and texts. A priori it was clear that much valuable work done in doctorate theses here, as in all other universities, was not generally available; Gilson’s monumental History of Christian Philosophy in the Middle Ages evidently depended on results contained in some of these theses. The present volume is the worthy beginning of a scheme to present (...) these studies in detail to the mediaevalists of the world. Much of the present picture of mediaeval thought was the work of great pioneers at the end of the last century; they took the main figures and great themes and created the outline. To-day the work is less thrilling: it is a matter of the patient study of detail, adjusting and filling in the outline; the joy of great discovery is rare, but the task is vital if a true picture is to result. The texts published here shed light on details from the 12th until the 14th century. (shrink)

Scholars will be grateful to the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies for its enterprise in undertaking the publication of a new series of studies and texts. A priori it was clear that much valuable work done in doctorate theses here, as in all other universities, was not generally available; Gilson’s monumental History of Christian Philosophy in the Middle Ages evidently depended on results contained in some of these theses. The present volume is the worthy beginning of a scheme to present (...) these studies in detail to the mediaevalists of the world. Much of the present picture of mediaeval thought was the work of great pioneers at the end of the last century; they took the main figures and great themes and created the outline. To-day the work is less thrilling: it is a matter of the patient study of detail, adjusting and filling in the outline; the joy of great discovery is rare, but the task is vital if a true picture is to result. The texts published here shed light on details from the 12th until the 14th century. (shrink)

In this volume Professor Sciacca publishes lectures which he gave at Louvain in 1954 in the series ‘Chaire Cardinal Mercier’. A brief introduction sets the scene: in 384 Augustine is a believing, if not a professing, Catholic but he is still burdened with philosophical perplexities left him by Manicheism. At this point Neoplatonic influence is felt; pp. 3-19 analyse its effect. Augustine christianises the Plotinian Intellect identifying it with the Word; but this doctrine does not present the Word made flesh. (...) Augustine had still to learn the humble mystery of the Incarnation; he was in danger of proudly thinking of Christ philosophically rather than theologically, and of becoming a convert to philosophy instead of to a religion. But St. Paul’s words convinced him of the humble reality of the Incarnation. Thus Neoplatonism had to be ignored and played no part in Augustine’s intellectual conversion to the theological truths of Christianity. The Platonists’ contribution was to remove his philosophical difficulties: he can now conceive God as a spirit ; evil, now regarded as something negative, does not need a principle to create it. Plotinus serves as a starting-point, but the Christian doctrine of creation gives his teaching an entirely different direction; Augustine’s doctrine is a Christianized Neoplatonism and not Neoplatonised Christianity. (shrink)

In this paper, we suggest some of the dimensions of the problematic concept of Alzheimer Disease as a natural disease discerned by increasingly sophisticated medical scientific progress. Taking a page from Max Weber concerning unique events, we show some of the conceptual building blocks and social processes that have coalesced into the perception of certain phenomena as abnormalities that are seen as implicated in the development of a degenerative disease distinct from the process of normal, but variable, brain aging. We (...) note some of the decisions and social forces pushing for particular conceptualizations, interpretations, and reifications of brain alterations. In so doing, we suggest that the mystery of the "there" may not be much different from, and probably is, the mystery of the "everywhere". (shrink)

Prior to its publication, Gary Cox's MakingVotesCount was widely and eagerly anticipated. (Indeed, some years ago, I received a referee report dismissing my submission as unnecessary because superior analysis would eventually appear in Cox's then forthcoming manuscript.) Upon its release in 1998, the book was instantly lauded: it collected multiple awards, including the prestigious Woodrow Wilson prize for best book published on government, politics, or international affairs. This acclaim was scarcely surprising – Cox has been one of the foremost scholars (...) of elections and legislatures for the whole of his professional career. He is responsible for an impressive body of work spanning multiple research topics, nations, and methods of analysis. This book is testimony to his breadth, as it catalogs the key electoral features of virtually the whole set of modern democracies (more than 70), and makes frequent forays into diverse nations in search of empirical support for novel theoretical findings. In brief, Cox's project is to bring together a large formal, deductive literature on voting rules and social choice with an equally voluminous empirical, inductive literature on elections and party systems in the world's democracies. The prizes it garnered are one measure of the book's success at this merger; a large boost in Cox's swelling citation count will doubtless follow, reiterating the judgement that this is the major work on electoral law and voting to date. (shrink)

The primary aim of the text is to introduce the reader to the relationship between economics and ethics and to the application of economic ethics in the evaluation of the market. The reader will gain insight into: * The ethical and methodological strategy of economics and criticism of the core assumptions that underpin the economic defense of free market operation. * The characteristics of different ethical theories (utilitarianism, duty and rights ethics, justice and virtue ethics) that can be used to (...) evaluate the free market. * How to apply economics in conjunction with ethical theories to evaluate economic trends and policies that promote the free operation of the market and are subject to public debate. These insights will help to develop the reasoning and analytical skills needed to criticize economic analysis as well as to apply ethical concepts to moral issues in economic policy. (shrink)

There is some complementarity of models for the origin of the electroencephalogram (EEG) and neural network models for information storage in brainlike systems. From the EEG models of Freeman, of Nunez, and of the authors' group we argue that the wavelike processes revealed in the EEG exhibit linear and near-equilibrium dynamics at macroscopic scale, despite extremely nonlinear – probably chaotic – dynamics at microscopic scale. Simulations of cortical neuronal interactions at global and microscopic scales are then presented. The simulations depend (...) on anatomical and physiological estimates of synaptic densities, coupling symmetries, synaptic gain, dendritic time constants, and axonal delays. It is shown that the frequency content, wave velocities, frequency/wavenumber spectra and response to cortical activation of the electrocorticogram (ECoG) can be reproduced by a “lumped” simulation treating small cortical areas as single-function units. The corresponding cellular neural network simulation has properties that include those of attractor neural networks proposed by Amit and by Parisi. Within the simulations at both scales, sharp transitions occur between low and high cell firing rates. These transitions may form a basis for neural interactions across scale. To maintain overall cortical dynamics in the normal low firing-rate range, interactions between the cortex and the subcortical systems are required to prevent runaway global excitation. Thus, the interaction of cortex and subcortex via corticostriatal and related pathways may partly regulate global dynamics by a principle analogous to adiabatic control of artificial neural networks. (shrink)

Considerable problems face any writer who sets out to write an introduction to Philosophy. Pearl has grasped the nettle firmly and has limited his discussion to the four major topics named in the title. His choice of an order is possibly dictated by his desire to win the interest of his readers: it corresponds to a progression from problems of interest to the man in the street to the problems of perception, which are perhaps more likely to strike the amateur (...) as of little vital importance. In his treatment the author avoids an historical approach; in fact, all the time his main concern is to present arguments clearly and simply, but without falsifying them. The book manages to introduce many of the major types of technique used in modern discussions in an unpretentious but not condescending fashion, and the author succeeds in making his readers sit up and think. Since he endeavours to concentrate attention on arguments current today and does not openly commit himself to a set of conclusions, it would do no service here to attempt to state his philosophical position, beyond indicating that he seems to share the views generally associated with modern linguistic philosophy. (shrink)

The title of this work indicates its scope and general character. The texts, which consist of fairly considerable continuous extracts, are set out in seven divisions: Fundamental Ideas of Actualism, Self-Consciousness, Logos and Truth, Experience, Art and Religion, History and Historism, Individual and Society, four of which are taken from the author’s Introduzione alla filosofia. Professor Sciacca contributes a largely biographical 6-page preface, which praises Gentile’s philosophy of Actualism as metaphysically superior to Phenomenology and Existentialism. The translator adds an 8-page (...) concluding note, which dissents from this overfavourable opinion, in so far as Actualism leads Gentile to a denial of immortality and of the authentic reality of individuals. (shrink)

Open peer commentary on the article “Second-Order Science: Logic, Strategies, Methods” by Stuart A. Umpleby. Upshot: The humanities are gaining a new self-awareness of the role of observers who develop theories, and of the interplays between the theories and the system being studied. This article follows up the target paper with extended challenging questions, inviting more discussion.

A recurrent issue in the vast amount of literature on reasoning models in ethics is the role and nature of moral intuitions. In this paper, we start from the view that people who work and live in a certain moral practice usually possess specific moral wisdom. If we manage to incorporate their moral intuitions in ethical reasoning, we can arrive at judgements and (modest) theories that grasp a moral experience that generally cannot be found outside the practice. Reflective equilibrium (RE) (...) provides a framework for balancing moral intuitions, ethical principles and general theories. Nevertheless, persisting problems associated with the use of intuitions need to be addressed. One is the objection that moral intuitions lack the credibility necessary to guide moral reasoning. Ethicists have tried to solve this problem by formulating criteria to separate the “bad” intuitions from the “good” ones at the beginning of the reasoning process. We call this the credible input-justified outcome strategy. An example is the appeal to the common morality by Beauchamp and Childress. We think this approach is unsuccessful. As an alternative, we outline the good reasoning-justified outcome strategy. It connects to a variant of RE in which intuitions from different sources are incorporated. We argue that the elements of RE have different levels of justificatory power at the start of reasoning. In our strategy, each element can gain or lose justificatory power when it is tested in a reasoning process that meets several criteria. (shrink)

Almost every aspect of Aristotle's philosophy is touched upon in this book. Part One deals with the intellectual development of Aristotle and repeats Jaeger's claim that Aristotle's thought was a continual process of development and not a static system of concepts. The "First Athenian Period" finds Aristotle as Plato's pupil. The "Period of Travel" embraces the formulation of his theory of causes and substance. The "Second Athenian Period" includes the work at the Lyceum and its contribution to systematic investigation. In (...) this First Part, Lloyd suggests that the greatest enigma surrounding the development of Aristotle's thought is the latter's relation with Plato's philosophy. Lloyd sees Aristotle as more than "Plato's pupil." He sees Aristotle in reaction to Plato; inasmuch as the former rejects the notion of Forms as central to philosophy, introduces the principle of potentiality as an explanation of change, and distinguishes "substance" in a primary sense which gives concrete ground to reality. Yet, while Aristotle is critical of Platonism, certain Platonic notions are retained, e.g., that intelligibility is gained only through universals; that the basic world-view is teleological. The Second Part of the book is concerned with the fundamentals of Aristotle's thought, in which all of the highlights of his thought are outlined and commented upon. Logic, metaphysics, physics, psychology, ethics, poetics, politics--all are given a brief but accurate analysis. The author does not claim to write this book for the Aristotelian scholar; rather, it is directed toward the undergraduate or other interested reader who may want more knowledge of the philosopher from Stagira.--J. J. R. (shrink)

A response to Bonhoeffer's demand that Christianity be reinterpreted for a world come of age, this study of the language of the Gospel and of traditional Christology not only draws on Flew, Hare, Ramsey, and Braithwaite, but bases the linguistic analysis on the results of recent existentialist theological investigations. Thus, besides providing an excellent review of much contemporary religious thought, the author will interest philosophers with his demonstration of the way in which English and Continental methods can be used in (...) conjunction. His main conclusions are that the Gospel must be understood as giving a particular historical perspective to the believer, rather than as making quasi-cognitive statements about a "three-storied-universe," and that Christ should be seen as the one free person whose freedom was so powerfully "contagious" that it can set free the hearer of the Gospel. Whether his attempt will satisfy everyone is very doubtful, but this is surely a pioneering work in the effort, now visibly gaining momentum, to explain traditional belief to modern man.--J. J. (shrink)

This contribution consists of two parts. The first part identifies Augustine’s qualities as a mystagogue on the basis of the only poem he wrote that has been handed down: the Psalm against the Donatists. It shows that little is to be gained by studying Augustine as both poeta and mystagogue. Not his poetry itself, but his commentary on poetry as such reveals the transformative power that he ascribes to this genre. For this reason the second part examines Augustine’s Enarrationes in (...) psalmos. In this work, he makes explicit the transformative power that is contained in the 150 Psalms, which are both poetry and prayer. This part asks the question how Augustine articulates or heightens fear when the Psalmist in his dialogue with God ‘compels’ him to do this, as it were, by expressing fear of enemies or of the Last Judgement. He shows that he acknowledges that fear alone can lead to an unbalanced, and even a bad relationship with God. Fear should result in introspection and should be a guarantee against pride. That Augustine furthermore is not content to heighten the fear of God alone, but wants it to coincide with desire, joy, and hope, shows that he wishes to prevent any imbalance in the human who seeks a relationship with God. For Augustine, fear is necessary, but it is ‘only’ an ancilla of hope, joy, love, and desire. But as such, timor is indispensible. Fear causes attentiveness and carefulness: virtues that love presuppose and that also correlate with it. Nevertheless, love does not stand at the service of fear; for Augustine, it is the reverse. (shrink)

What does it mean to be a peacemaker in a polarized world? It can feel as if the world-and the church-has never been more polarized. But when we feel worn down by the chasms dividing us, we can take hope from the early Christian vision of God uniting all things in Christ, a hope that can lead us to act. Stuck Together explores Bible stories and narratives ancient and modern that inspire us to open hearts and minds to persons with (...) whom we disagree as we gain confidence in our own convictions. Drawing from Scripture, from his own life journey, and from the witness of others, author J. Nelson Kraybill demonstrates how even small steps of reconciliation by confessionally grounded Christians can have big effect and give loving Christian witness in a polarized church and society. (shrink)

Background Inadequate knowledge among health care providers (HCPs) and parents of affected children limits the understanding and utility of secondary genetic findings (SFs) in under-represented populations in genomics research. SFs arise from deep DNA sequencing done for research or diagnostic purposes and may burden patients and their families despite their potential health importance. This study aims to evaluate the perspective of both groups regarding SFs and their choices in the return of results from genetic testing in the context of orofacial (...) clefts.Methods Using an online survey, we evaluated the experiences of 252 HCPs and 197 parents across participating cleft clinics in Ghana and Nigeria toward the return of SFs across several domains.Results Only 1.6% of the HCPs felt they had an expert understanding of when and how to incorporate genomic medicine into practice, while 50.0% agreed that all SFs should be returned to patients. About 95.4% of parents were willing to receive all the information from genetic testing (including SFs), while the majority cited physicians as their primary information source (64%).Conclusions Overall, parents and providers were aware that genetic testing could help in the clinical management of diseases. However, they cited a lack of knowledge about genomic medicine, uncertain clinical utility, and lack of available learning resources as barriers. The knowledge gained from this study will assist with developing guidelines and policies to guide providers on the return of SFs in sub-Saharan Africa and across the continent. (shrink)

The book examines the emerging approach of using qualitative methods, such as interviews and field observations, in the philosophy of science. Qualitative methods are gaining popularity among philosophers of science as more and more scholars are resorting to empirical work in their study of scientific practices. At the same time, the results produced through empirical work are quite different from those gained through the kind of introspective conceptual analysis more typical of philosophy. This volume explores the benefits and challenges of (...) an empirical philosophy of science and addresses questions such as: What do philosophers gain from empirical work? How can empirical research help to develop philosophical concepts? How do we integrate philosophical frameworks and empirical research? What constraints do we accept when choosing an empirical approach? What constraints does a pronounced theoretical focus impose on empirical work? Nine experts discuss their thoughts and empirical results in the chapters of this book with the aim of providing readers with an answer to these questions. (shrink)

Philosophy for Children (P4C) provides educators with the process and structures to engage children in inquiring as a group into 'big' moral, ethical, and spiritual questions, while also considering curricular necessities and the demands of national and local standards. Based on the actual experiences of educators in diverse and global classroom contexts, this comprehensive guide gives you the tools you need to introduce philosophical thinking into your classroom, curriculum and beyond. Drawing on research-based educational and psychological models, this book highlights (...) the advantages gained by students who regularly participate in philosophical discussion: from building cognitive and social/emotional development, to becoming more informed citizens. Helpful tools and supplementary online resources offer additional frameworks for supporting and sustaining a higher level of thinking and problem-solving among your students. This practical guide is essential reading for teachers, coaches, and anyone wondering how you can effectively teach philosophy in your classroom. (shrink)

Although current educational priorities tend to avoid strong moral positions, one of the world's most venerable yet persistently influential moral traditions not only lays out a number of major moral principles but also incorporates them into its pedagogy. Confucius teaches us about the importance of seeking knowledge, learning how to learn, applying ancient wisdom to contemporary situations, valuing virtue over material gain, following the Golden Rule, and living by our principles. He also has ways of assessing his own students' progress (...) in these matters. Confucius' pedagogy is an interesting model to consider and contrast with contemporary models. This chapter introduces these principles and assessments from the Analects and draws out some comparisons to and contrasts with two alternative theories in western moral thought, Augustine and John Dewey. -/- The accepted version of the paper is included here. Pagination does not match the published version. (shrink)