First published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Ectogestation involves the gestation of a fetus in an ex utero environment. The possibility of this technology raises a significant question for the abortion debate: Does a woman’s right to end her pregnancy entail that she has a right to the death of the fetus when ectogestation is possible? Some have argued that it does not Mathison & Davis. Others claim that, while a woman alone does not possess an individual right to the death of the fetus, the genetic parents (...) have a collective right to its death Räsänen. In this paper, I argue that the possibility of ectogestation will radically transform the problem of abortion. The argument that I defend purports to show that, even if it is not a person, there is no right to the death of a fetus that could be safely removed from a human womb and gestated in an artificial womb, because there are competent people who are willing to care for and raise the fetus as it grows into a person. Thus, given the possibility of ectogestation, the moral status of the fetus plays no substantial role in determining whether there is a right to its death. (shrink)

State-directed but market-oriented forms of regulation, especially environmental examples like cap-and-trade and ecological offsetting, have proliferated in the past two decades, but sociologists have been slow to theorize these broad institutional shifts. This article offers a framework for explaining these processes of regulatory marketization. First, I argue that institutions of this sort are examples of what I call command-and-commodify regulation, a mode of regulation that distinctively hybridizes economic and authoritative dimensions of power. Second, I explain how and why one example (...) of command-and-commodify regulation, species conservation banking, emerged and remained concentrated in California, but did not so easily develop in other American states. Finally, abstracting from the case, I argue that the concept of market reconstruction is useful for developing a more general theory of the ways that social conflicts and mobilization reconfigure regulatory power and thus give rise to new modes of regulation. Together, a theory of command-and-commodify regulation and market reconstruction may be useful for explaining the development of a wide variety of environmentally focused and other regulatory institutions. (shrink)

On November 4, 2008, during his concession speech to President-Elect Barack Obama, Senator John McCain transformed Obama's victory into his theodicy by claiming that the election "proved" that the country had progressed from its days organizing social life around racial exclusion. McCain's speech exemplifies a paradox of "American" progress: black bodies ascending to social heights previously prevented through a particularly pernicious brand of white American antiblack racism, upon whose backs U.S. global financial and military dominance was built, become evidence for (...) justifying American exceptionalism. One tragic irony of American history is that since at least emancipation, "black... (shrink)

Issues of interest, identity and values intertwine in environmental conflicts, creating challenges that cannot generally be overcome using rationalities grounded in generalised argumentation and abstraction. To address the growing need to engage interests and identities along with plural values in the conservation of biodiversity and ecological systems, we introduce the concept of ‘appropriateness of actions’ and ground it in a relational understanding of environmental ethics. A determination of appropriateness for actions comes from combining outputs from value elicitation with those of (...) interest and identity negotiation in ways that are salient to specific people and their relationships to specific places. Drawing on the Blue Mountain Forest Partnership in the Pacific Northwest, we propose factors of success for supporting appropriate actions: 1) understanding context and identifying key stakeholders; 2) surfacing a diversity of interests and building system-level trust; 3) building empathy for different identities grounded in specific places; 4) eliciting diverse values and seeking to understand their links to worldviews and knowledge systems and; 5) seeking out appropriate actions. (shrink)

Combining philosophical reflections with deep self-exploration to delve into the ancient mystery of death and rebirth, this book emphasizes collective rather than individual transformation. Drawing upon twenty years of experience working with nonordinary states, the author argues that when the deep psyche is hyper-simulated using Stanislaw Grof's powerful therapeutic methods, the healing that results sometimes extends beyond the individual to the collective unconscious of humanity itself.

Physically enhancing brain–machine interfaces communicate elec­tronically with the patient’s mind in both directions. They present significant opportunities to improve a patient’s health and to restore his or her physical function, but they also present problems for the patient’s sense of agency and self. This is exacerbated by notions of extension and enhancement that are not grounded in an authentic human anthropology that describes the inherently dignified person as an integral union of body and soul.

Embryo adoption, when oriented to the rescue of a dignified human person, is a merciful and morally licit response to an evil consequence of in vitro fertilization and the freezing of embryos. Those who object to embryo adoption not only misconstrue the relevant moral reasoning but exhibit confusion among the object, intention, and circumstances and between two very different potential objects. Because the mercy and charity effected through embryo adoption are at the very heart of moral action, juridical arguments that (...) undermine people’s confidence in these priorities have far-reaching, harmful implications. (shrink)

This chapter outlines the utility for employing case study methodologies to provide sufficient external validity upon which to craft policy relevant to maintaining healthy democratic politics. The broader theoretical context is an investigation into the conditions that might structurally condition democracies to fail via democratic means. Venezuela’s democratic decline serves as the basis for the heuristic case study, wherein the objective is to identify the failures of the Venezuelan case in a larger framework that addresses the complexity of institutional design (...) in democratic political systems states broadly. Cases are selected based upon the objective of the researcher, and similarly, the case study methodology chosen rests firmly on their research goals. Lastly, the chapter outlines the research design necessary for satisfying broader inquiry within the more modest approach to how heuristic case studies can be used to inform both theory and policy. (shrink)

During the 12th century, certain questions came into focus and inspired speculation about the heavens and the earth, namely, “mobile being”. In other words, nature was “discovered” in the 12th century. It is in the wake of this discovery that, in the 1250s, Bonaventure developed his view of the created world while commenting on the interpretation of the Genesis account of creation found in the church fathers, as these had been anthologized in Peter the Lombard's Sentences.

This chapter explores why Bonaventure explicitly includes creation as a distinct subject area in his division of theology and what theology adds to the understanding of creation. Bonaventure believes that theology reinforces our awareness of the nothingness of creation. Recalling this means that Bonaventure's doctrine of creation can be understood. In considering this doctrine, however, it is also important to keep in mind that Bonaventure believes creation ex nihilo can be known by reason alone.

The question of time and history, took on tremendous urgency in Bonaventure's day. Bonaventure found himself enmeshed in debates about time and history both in the university and in the Franciscan order. Bonaventure believed that creation necessarily involves having a beginning in time, i.e., having being at some point after not having being. Time is thus necessarily lineal, not cyclical. So as Bonaventure considers the question in the light of philosophy he concludes that creation has a beginning in time, and (...) in the light of scripture he concludes that it will have an end. (shrink)

In the current digital era, reliance on technology for communication and the gathering and dissemination of information is growing. However, the information disseminated can be misleading or false. Nurses tend to be trusted by the public, but not all information brought to the public forum is well-informed. Ill-informed discussions have resulted in harm to individuals who take such information as fact and act on it. As technology continues to evolve and fact versus fiction becomes more challenging to discern, it is (...) critical that nurses recognize their ethical responsibility to the public in providing information for which sound evidence exists. This analysis will explore medical misinformation through concepts such as confirmation bias and the politicization of science. Also, the impact of nurses not recognizing the power and responsibility associated with using their credentials in public fora, even when the central motivator is that they believe they are helping other individuals. Using nursing goals and perspectives, we will discuss the ethical responsibility of nurses to be aware of the soundness of what they think they know. Utilizing ideas of professional responsibilities, as outlined by professional codes of ethics as well as the ethical principles of non-maleficence and veracity, we explore the problem of nurses propagating misinformation and suggest strategies to enhance nurse awareness of their ethical responsibilities for veracity and transparency regarding what is known and what is not. (shrink)

_ Source: _Volume 26, Issue 1, pp 118 - 147 This paper challenges the widespread emphasis on the absence of God in post- Holocaust historiography, theology, and art by suggesting that Barnett Newman’s _Stations of the Cross_ may have been conceived under the theological category of the apophatic rather than the aesthetic category of the sublime. This paper focuses on the “anti-realist” position of Newman and other artists for whom the Holocaust necessitated a renewed aniconic tendency in Jewish aesthetics. His (...) work, I suggest, holds out a tension between absolute absence and redemptive presence that at once resists and affirms a negative aesthetic of God’s solidarity with suffering. (shrink)

Bonaventure frequently identifies theology with sacred scripture, using the term “scripture” as a synonym for theology to the extent that he refers to the whole of what God has revealed for the salvation of the human race. The best place to begin to understand Bonaventure's view of sacred scripture is with the conviction that he held with other medieval believers, that God has written three books: one within, one without, and one for sinners to return home. In Bonaventure's eyes, scripture (...) is not merely the literal meaning of the text. When he speaks of scripture, he means scripture as revealed in the fullness of its meanings, above all, in its allegorical interpretation. (shrink)

This chapter explores Bonaventure's account of moral philosophy. Bonaventure unambiguously presents moral philosophy as a distinct branch of study in On the Reduction of the Arts to Theology. He divides moral philosophy into three branches: personal, domestic, and political. According to Bonaventure, moral philosophy investigates the truth of morals and the right order of living, specifically, the right order in man's actions as an individual, as a member of a household, and as a member of the city. Human beings are (...) able to know the right order of living through the natural law, which consists of both the dictates of right reason and God's eternal law impressed on the human soul. (shrink)

Bonaventure rejects any sort of fundamental dualism between good and evil. He argues that, “a first and absolute evil does not and could not exist because the very notion of First Principle implies supreme plenitude”. Bonaventure follows Augustine in distinguishing between natural and moral evil, or, to use the terminology from Augustine's On Free Choice, the evil of penalty and the evil of guilt. The former is an evil we suffer, while the latter is a privation of righteousness that we (...) cause. The evil of penalty is just and comes from divine providence. (shrink)

Bonaventure uses “sacrament” to refer to all signs of faith in the Redeemer, even those that are not explicitly focused on Jesus of Nazareth. He refers to this as the “diversity” of the sacraments. “Sacraments” in this sense were instituted from the very beginning, but they have enjoyed diversity through three different ages and their concomitant laws: the law of nature, the law of scripture, and the law of grace.

_ Source: _Volume 26, Issue 1, pp 118 - 147 This paper challenges the widespread emphasis on the absence of God in post- Holocaust historiography, theology, and art by suggesting that Barnett Newman’s _Stations of the Cross_ may have been conceived under the theological category of the apophatic rather than the aesthetic category of the sublime. This paper focuses on the “anti-realist” position of Newman and other artists for whom the Holocaust necessitated a renewed aniconic tendency in Jewish aesthetics. His (...) work, I suggest, holds out a tension between absolute absence and redemptive presence that at once resists and affirms a negative aesthetic of God’s solidarity with suffering. (shrink)

Coming out of mission efforts focused on evangelism, the rising Business as Mission movement stakes a claim to effective holistic mission by focusing on profit, evangelism, and development. Research indicates, however, that the development aspect of this `triple bottom line' is significantly weak. If, in fact, Business as Mission efforts were to incorporate the social and political dimensions of development, there would be great potential for a partnership with grassroots organizations to bring about deep-reaching social transformation.

It may be true that we are epistemically in the dark about various things. Does this fact ground the truth of fallibilism? No. Still, even the most zealous skeptic will probably grant that it is not clear that one can be incognizant of their own occurrent phenomenal conscious mental goings-on. Even so, this does not entail infallibilism. Philosophers who argue that occurrent conscious experiences play an important epistemic role in the justification of introspective knowledge assume that there are occurrent beliefs. (...) But this assumption is false. This paper argues that there are no occurrent beliefs. And it considers the epistemic consequences this result has for views that attempt to show that at least some phenomenal beliefs are infallible. (shrink)

What, if anything, directly detracts from well-being? Objective list theorists affirm basic goods such as knowledge, friendship, and achievement, but it is less clear what they should say about opposing bads. In this paper, I argue that false beliefs, unhealthy relationships, and failed projects are not basic bads and do not directly detract from well-being. They can have bad effects or elements, or block the realization of basic goods, but do not themselves carry negative weight with respect to well-being. This (...) is shown by comparing cases where these bads are present and absent, examining their relation to negative overall well-being, and considering the role of these bads in the pursuit of positive goods. (shrink)