A Just Society represents a complete account of Boylan's original worldview theory of ethics and social philosophy. In the book Boylan sets out the foundation and application of the personal worldview imperative and the shared community worldview imperative . These form the structure for a rights-based deontological theory. Throughout, the book employs narrative devices and contemporary examples that make a contribution to ethical and political theory as well as grounding an original approach to public philosophy.

Written by well-known professor and author Michael Boylan, Morality and Global Justice is an accessible examination of the moral and normative underpinnings of ...

This timely book by internationally regarded scholar of ethics and social/political philosophy, Michael Boylan, focuses on the history, application and significance of human rights in the West and China. Boylan engages the key current philosophical debates prevalent in human rights discourse today and draws them together to argue for the existence of natural, universal human rights. Arguing against the grain of mainstream philosophical beliefs, Boylan asserts that there is continuity between human rights and natural law and that human beings require (...) basic, essential goods for minimum action. These include food, clean water and sanitation, clothing, shelter and protection from bodily harm, including basic healthcare. The achievement of this goal, Boylan demonstrates, will require significant resource allocation and creative methods of implementation involving public and private institutions. Combining technical argument with four fictional narratives about human rights, the book invites readers to engage with the most important aspects of the discipline. (shrink)

As a result of this case study, additional questions arise. These can be cast into at least three groups. The first concerns the development of critical empiricism in the ancient world: a topic of much interest in our own century, expecially with regard to the work of the logical empiricists. Many of the same arguments are present in the ancient world and were hotly debated from the Hippocratic writers through and beyond Galen. Some of the ways in which Galen reacts (...) to Hippocratic and Aristotelian influences may, in part, be explained by Galen's own posture as a so-called Dogmatist. Both the Empirics and the Methodists offered alternative viewpoints on the place, role, and limits of observation in biomedical research. Though I have written on this relationship in the Hippocratic writers and Aristotle,44 it remains to be discussed in detailed fashion just how critical empiricism acted in Galen's evaluation of biomedical problems (aporiai). Contrasts between Galen and his predecessors might further clarify this issue both as a historical question and as it affects the construction of biological theory.The second area explores the question of how one develops comprehensive theories. In this respect Galen follows Aristotle's methodology rather closely. Both look at what theories are available to them and then systematically review the problems raised, at the same time refuting what they find inadequate. This is an effective strategy, for it permits utilizing the best features of earlier work to fashion a new whole. Indeed, Galen himself seems to attribute his use of such a methodology to his “ecletic” medical and philosophical training. Both Aristotle and Galen endeavor to employ techniques of theory integration. That is, they use aspects of theories they have already espoused to deal with new problems. This suggests the emergence of formal, logical coherence as an element in theory evaluation. The obvious drawback is that it can cause mistakes in one area to be repeated and ingrained in other areas. Such errors, because they are at the very core of an explanatory framework, may take centuries to correct. Future studies may shed light on how theory integration acts both in a positive and in a negative way.Finally, this case study offers a glimpse of how science progresses. Even though the advances in medical technology were comparatively minor, there is a great deal more sophistication in the conception theoreis of Aristotle and Galen than was present in the Hippocratic writers. Some of this (in Galen's case) had to do with increased anatomic and physiological knowledge, but most, I believe, is due to the evolution of scientific knowledge. If further work were done specifically on this question, it might document more completely how scientific knowledge on a specific topic evolves. The mode of advancement is primarily through gradual refinement of the types of questions being asked by these ancient authors, and the ramifications of their answers.Ancient theories of conception offer a fine case study in the history and philosophy of how a theory begins the develops. I have tried to suggest some interrelationships among the more important theories, as they focused upon Aristotle's own conception theory. There has been renewed interest in such cases in recent years. It is my hope that future specialized studies will increase our knowledge of method and practice in these important case studies and thereby augment our understanding of the genesis and application of biological theories. (shrink)

There are deep structural conflicts between the mission of healthcare as cooperative care to the sick and injured and that of healthcare as a business whose mission is maximizing profits. These conflicts come to the fore in the medical pharmaceutical industry. I first set these out in a context that addresses the mission of healthcare, then examine the relative roles of competitive and cooperative systems of distributive justice, and then argue for the creation of nonprofit pharmaceutical companies and the transformation (...) of many for-profit companies into companies subject to public oversight and profit curbs. The recommendations are aspirational for the United States but it is meant to be action guiding for those industrialized countries wealthy enough to provide universal health coverage. (shrink)

This essay begins with a current case involving racial profiling and DNA testing. The two combine to raise some troubling issues involving the use of each in police investigation. It is argued that racial profiling is unethical and ought to be avoided and that DNA testing on general populations of innocent people is fraught with dangers.

Este ensayo discutirá algunos de los modos en que la narrativa trabaja para promover la filosofía, llamada filosofía narrativa de ficción. La estrategia es discutir las maneras en que trabaja el discurso directo e indirecto y mostrar por qué el discurso indirecto llena un vacío importante que el discurso directo no puede satisfacer. En el curso de este examen, serán analizados diferentes filósofos de la narrativa ficcional como Platon, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre, Murdoch, Johnson, y Camus. Ellos utilizan el discurso indirecto (...) para hacer plausible a los lectores la visión que están presentando. El artículo muestra algunas restricciones a este proceso. (shrink)

This essay begins with a current case involving racial profiling and DNA testing. The two combine to raise some troubling issues involving the use of each in police investigation. It is argued that racial profiling is unethical and ought to be avoided and that DNA testing on general populations of innocent people is fraught with dangers.

As one looks into the crystal ball concerning the future of medicine, what might be seen? One vision is of genetic testing being carried out by medical technicians and then, as a result of this analysis, patients will be given a diagnosis of what is wrong with them. Next, they will be given a list of courses of action based on the tests. Once the list is presented to the patient, then she will choose her treatment. Then a clinician will (...) inoculate her or otherwise administer the genetic therapy. The entire process might go forward without the intervention of a physician! (shrink)

As one of the most important ethicists to emerge since the Second World War, Alan Gewirth continues to influence philosophical debates concerning morality. In this ground-breaking book, Gewirth's neo-Kantianism, and the communitarian problems discussed, form a dialogue on the foundation of moral theory. Themes of agent-centered constraints, the formal structure of theories, and the relationship between freedom and duty are examined along with such new perspectives as feminism, the Stoics, and Sartre. Gewirth offers a picture of the philosopher's theory and (...) its applications, providing a richer, more complete critical assessement than any which has occurred to date. (shrink)

The essays in this book engage the original and controversial claims from Michael Boylan's A Just Society. Each essay discusses Boylan's claims from a particular chapter and offers a critical analysis of these claims. Boylan responds to the essays in his lengthy and philosophically rich reply.

A thoughtful study which integrates Aristotle's philosophy of science in the Organon and in the Parts of Animals with his actual biological investigations.

This essay will argue for ethical procedures governing criminal profiling. A model based upon psychological/behavioral data, witness data, and forensic profiling data is sketched out. This model fits the legitimate uses of criminal profiling as an investigation procedure. Racial profiling as a primary sorting factor does not fit the preferred model and has significant downsides and so is rejected as a primary sorting mechanism in criminal investigation procedure.

Philosopher Michael Boylan and theologian James A. Donahue provide a framework_compatible with humanist and theist beliefs_that will enable college and university professors to address a full range of ethical issues as they arise in classroom discussion, both in the academic disciplines and in professional education.

There are challenges in teaching college ethics. Among the various challenges is getting students to become aware of the ethical theories that are widely recognized—such as utilitarianism, virtue ethics, deontology, and the antirealist theories.1 What is crucial in my forty years of teaching is that students need to discover a path toward being able to integrate ethics into their daily lives so that they might properly be able to take ownership of and responsibility for what they do.The first stop on (...) this journey is understanding that there may be a possible problem. I found this particularly true in my work with the Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons.2 One cannot be said to be responsible for one's action in a... (shrink)

This essay examines several important issues regarding Galen's depiction of the physiology of the arteries. In the process some of Galen's supporting doctrines on the blood and pulse will also be discussed in the context of a coherent scientific explanation. It will be the contention of this essay that though Galen may often have a polemical goal in mind, he correctly identifies the important and complex role of the arteries in human biological systems.

This essay seeks to outline a way of understanding literature as philosophy as a justification for using fictive narrative to teach ethics. Some brief theoretical points are set out as well as two classroom examples.

this essay is a celebration of charles johnson. We have known each other for thirty-six years—ever since he sent me correspondence on my novel Georgia that I had submitted to the Fiction Collective. We have corresponded off and on over this time. The more I got to know Charles, the more I found similarities in our interests and worldviews. With that disclaimer out of the way, let’s move forward and first examine some of the theoretical claims and then show how (...) one reads fictive narrative philosophy via two short stories written by Dr. Johnson.1In our co-authored book,2 we set out that literature can be philosophy. This is a rather radical claim. Most writers on the subject view the relationship between philosophy... (shrink)

Este ensayo discutirá algunos de los modos en que la narrativa trabaja para promover la filosofía, llamada filosofía narrativa de ficción. La estrategia es discutir las maneras en que trabaja el discurso directo e indirecto y mostrar por qué el discurso indirecto llena un vacío importante que el discurso directo no puede satisfacer. En el curso de este examen, serán analizados diferentes filósofos de la narrativa ficcional como Platon, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre, Murdoch, Johnson, y Camus. Ellos utilizan el discurso indirecto (...) para hacer plausible a los lectores la visión que están presentando. El artículo muestra algunas restricciones a este proceso. (shrink)

The following essays were originally presented at the Eastern Meeting of the American Society of Aesthetics, April 28, 2017, in Philadelphia. I convened the session, which was well-received. There were two other members of the panel: Felicia Nimue Ackerman and Kelly Jolley. Each of us is a published poet.The focus of the session was the way we have used poetry in our teaching of philosophy. It has been my experience that most in the mainstream of philosophy do not use poetry (...) to help engage students with the subject matter of their courses. This is a... (shrink)