Any property has two sorts of causal features: “forward-looking” ones, having to do with what its instantiation can contribute to causing, and ldquo;backward-looking” ones, having to do with how its instantiation can be caused. Such features of a property are essential to it, and properties sharing all of their causal features are identical. Causal necessity is thus a special case of metaphysical necessity. Appeals to imaginability have no more force against this view than they do against the Kripkean (...) view that statements like “Gold is an element” are metaphysically necessary. (shrink)

This article examines the most controversial of the activities of the India Meteorological Department (IMD): long-term seasonal forecasting for the South Asian subcontinent. Under the pressure of recurrent famines, in 1886 the imperial IMD commenced annual issue of monsoon predictions several months in advance, focused on one variable: rainfall. This state service was new to global late nineteenth-century meteorology, attempted first and most rigorously in India. Successive IMD leaders adapted the forecast in light of scientific and infrastructural developments, continuously revising (...) the underlying methods of its production. All methods failed to achieve accurate prevision. Nevertheless, the imperatives of economic administration, empire and public demand compelled IMD scientists to continue annual publication of this unreliable product. This article contends that the seasonal forecast is best understood as an enduring ritual of good governance in a monsoonal environment. Through analysis of newspaper controversies, it suggests that although the seasonal forecast was the most compelling justification for the IMD's imperial and global importance, its limitations undercut popular trust in modern meteorology. Finally, this case illustrates the centrality of ‘tropical meteorology’ to the historical development of modern atmospheric science. (shrink)

『논어』에는 공자와 제자들 사이에서 진행된 교육에 관한 다양한 이론들이 있다. 기존의 사회질서가 무너져가던 혼란한 춘추시대를 살면서, 그들은 그에 대한 해결책을 교육에서 찾았고, 그 중에서도 도덕교육을 강조하였다. 지금 우리도 기존의 가치체계는 해체되어가고 있고 새로운 가치체계는 아직 형성되지 않은 과도기를 살면서, 그로 인해 나타나는 각종 부조리한 사회현상들에 대한 해결책의 하나로 도덕과 그 교육을 강조하고 있다. 이에 본 논문은 지금의 사회상황이 춘추시대와 일정 부분 유사하다고 간주하여, 당시의 공자와 제자들 사이에서 진행되었던 도덕교육의 필요성을 고찰함으로써, 현재의 도덕교육을 실시하는데 참고가 될 만한 요소를 탐구하고자 하였다. 공자는 (...) 사람의 선천적 본성은 서로 비슷하지만 후천적 습관으로 인하여 각자의 도덕적 인격과 사회적 지위에 차이가 있게 된다고 보았는데, 이를 바탕으로 그와 그의 제자들은 도덕교육을 통하여 품격 있는 정치인재를 양성함으로써 질서 있는 도덕사회를 건설하고자 하였을 뿐더러, 스스로 도덕수양을 실행함으로써 이상적인 인격체를 완성하고자 하였다. 그들은 고대유가문헌에 나타난 인(仁), 의(義), 예(禮), 지(智), 효(孝), 제(悌), 충(忠), 신(信), 서(恕) 등의 간단한 도덕개념에 대하여 다양한 의미를 부여함으로써 도덕이론을 풍부하게 하였을 뿐더러, 그것을 바탕으로 도덕교육을 실시하였다. 이러한 『논어』의 도덕교육론 중에서 과거와 미래, 학습과 사고, 이론과 실천의 조화로운 교육 태도와 솔선수범하는 교육 자세는 오늘날에도 여전히 참고할 만한 가치가 있다고 인식하였는데, 이것이 다름 아닌 『논어』의 도덕교육론이 갖는 당위적이면서도 보편적인 의의라고 할 수 있다. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook Jahrgang: 2016 Heft: 1 Seiten: 39-50.

The nature of health care, a multifaceted system of reimbursements, subsidies, levels of care, and trade-offs between economics, values and social goods, makes it both a problematic area of policy and critical to the well-being of society. In the United States, provision of health care is not a right as in some countries, but occurs as a function of a complex set of cross-subsidized mechanisms that, according to some analysts, exclude from coverage those who may be in the most need (...) of it. Accordingly, this article examines some of the issues involved in making decisions on how to justly expand health insurance. (shrink)

Systems evolve in order to adjust and survive. The paper’s contribution is that this evolvement is inadequate without an evolutionary telos. It is argued that without the presence of self-destruction in multiple levels of our existence and surroundings, our survival would have been impossible. This paper recognises an appreciation of auto-catastrophe at the cell level, in human attitudes (both as an individual and in societies), and extended to Earth and out to galaxies. Auto-Catastrophic Theory combines evolution with auto-catastrophic behaviours and (...) innovative machinery by offering new themes of understanding their merging such as (a) protogenic and deuterogenic auto-catastrophic processes, (b) protogenic and deuterogenic survival processes, and (c) ‘alive’, partially ‘alive’, and non-‘alive’ systems. The value of self-destruction relies on a numerical stability within a system and correlational relationships between systems. Auto-Catastrophic Theory provides novel justifications why artificial intelligence: (a) is crucial to overcome the extinction of humanity (via H+), (b) is crucial to offer indirect survival of humanity (by saving its history), and (c) is at the same time a threat for humanity. These novel justifications and themes, developed by combining evolution with catastrophe as well as innovative machinery, expand our knowledge of how best to handle fresh challenges ahead. (shrink)

Alvin Plantinga, in the ninth chapter ofThe Nature of Necessity, sets out a defence of the Free Will Defence (FWD)2. In what follows, I shall set out, to begin with, a statement of the main line of his argument3. I shall, then, set out a number of minor criticisms of the ninth chapter. Finally, I shall set out a criticism of Plantinga’s argument.

이 논문은 『티마이오스』편의 우주론에서 제시된 필연에 대한 지성의 설득 방식이 인간의 삶에서 지니는 의미를 밝히는 것을 목표로 한다. 지성의 화신인 데미우르고스가 필연을 설득하여 이 우주를 창조하는 과정은 만듦의 본보기를 보여주는 것이다. 데미우르고스에게 주어진 무질서한 상태에 있는 원초적 물질들은 ‘필연의 산물’로 언급되는데, 그는 형태와 수를 이용하여 이것들에 질서를 부여한다. 그러나 그가 질서를 부여하는 원초적 물질들은 완전한 혼돈 상태에 있는 것은 아니다. 그것들은 이미 4원소의 흔적을 지니고 있기 때문에, 질서화 될 수 있는 가능성을 지니고 있다. 따라서 데미우르고스의 창조 방식은 ‘설득’이라 불릴 수 (...) 있다. 이런 설득의 과정에서 무엇보다도 강조되는 개념은 ‘적도’ 또는 ‘균형’이다. 또한 인체 구성과 관련된 설명에서 잘 드러나듯이, 필연에 대한 설득에서는 필연성의 부정적인 영향을 최소화해서, 그것들을 좋음을 위해 도움이 되는 것들로 만드는 것이 중요하다. 이러한 우주론적 설명 방식은 인간 존재에게도 그대로 적용될 수 있다. 인간의 육체적 조건이나 욕구와 감정 등은 인간에 있어서 필연적인 요소들이다. 이러한 것들은 그 자체로는 과도하거나 왜곡될 수 있기 때문에, 인간이 행복한 삶을 살기 위해서는 이러한 것들을 올바로 다스리는 것이 중요하다. 플라톤은 이와 관련해서 ‘설득’이란 표현을 쓰고 있지 않지만, 인간에 있어서 필연적인 것들에 대한 다스림에도 우주론적 차원에서 이루어진 설득의 방식이 잘 적용될 수 있다. (shrink)

Genetic intervention is on the near horizon for the treatment of substance abu se. Genetic intervention involves a reprogramming of a person’s own genetic instructions so that that person will no longer have the physical craving for the drug of choice. Unlike pharmacologic intervention, genetic intervention will change the genetic identity of the person, albeit slightly. The legal issue is whether one has a fundamental right to this medical procedure. A fundamental right is one that the government cannot deny without (...) a compelling interest. The case law indicates that the right o f medical necessity applies when the person’s affliction is serious, there are no reasonable or effective alternatives, the person did not intentionally cause the condition, and the treatment is effective for the long term. Unlike the medical marijuana ph enomenon, genetic intervention is per se anti - drug, unrelated to illegal, recreational drug use, and on its face has a medical use. Legal doctrines to date though not directly on point are conceptually compatible with the existence of a fundamental right of medical necessity for genetic intervention. (shrink)

In this article, I want to focus on time and development in Kripke’s “Naming and Necessity” by considering two topics: (1) the evolution of scientific knowledge; (2) the evolution of biographies. In connection with (1) I suggest the introduction of a sentence operator for epistemic possibility and argue that some of Kripke’s strong metaphysical statements are finely counterbalanced by rather “Popperian” epistemological considerations. In connection with (2) I consider the idea of exploiting necessity of origin for a crossworld (...) identity criterion. (shrink)

J. Ladyman, Ladyman and Ross refine J. Worral's structural realism, by developing an ontic structural realism which they argue is a consistently naturalistic means of characterizing the ontology of fundamental physics. I argue that elements of analytic metaphysics strengthen and refine their project of characterizing fundamental physics via OSR and by extension, their presentation of information-theoretic structural realism. I refine this point by situating M. Lange’s discussion of nomological modality qua natural necessity within Ladyman and Ross’s discussion of ITSR. (...) The logical hierarchy evinced in Lange’s ‘nomic stability’ further extends and refines Ladyman and Ross’s claims through the addition of nuanced modal distinctions in a systematic framework. (shrink)

_Youth in Education_ explores the multiple, interrelated social contexts that young people inhabit and navigate, and how educational institutions cope with increasing ethnic, cultural and ideological diversity. Schools, families and communities represent important settings in which young people must make successful transitions to adulthood, and the classroom often becomes a battleground in which these contexts and values interact. With contributions from the UK, Belgium, Germany and Canada, the chapters in this book explore rich examples from Europe and North America to (...) suggest strategies that can help to counter negative perceptions, processes of stigmatization and disengagement, instead prioritising peer support and cooperative learning to give pupils a renewed sense of worth. This book takes the growing ethno-cultural diversity in education systems to heart and studies the various related educational processes from a multidisciplinary and multi-method approach. It aims to offer more insight into underlying mechanisms that are often implicit, but can be important factors that positively or negatively influence educational trajectories and outcomes. It is essential reading for researchers, academics and postgraduate students in the fields of education, sociology, higher education, policy and politics, and social and cultural geography. (shrink)