ABSTRACT How should just war theory be applied to assess a community's claim to defend itself? The IRA's claim to be fighting a just war to end British rule in Northern Ireland is upheld against the objection (e.g. by Simpson in this Journal, 1986) that they have a right only to self‐defence against indigenous tyranny. Under just war theory no unclarity concerning the alien status of British rule could render the IRA claim unjustifiable: only the well‐grounded denial of its alien (...) status might serve (though this is doubtful). But if that denial is argued for by identifying a separate British community in Ireland then the IRA must be granted a right to repel alien occupation of nationalist areas. However the IRA's rejection of the ‘two communities’ view can be defended; for what constitutes a single community is subject to moral considerations. Accordingly a genuine community's claim to self‐defence is against being wronged, rather than harmed. It is concluded that just war theory cannot be applied without antecedent moral judgements identifying the community potentially wronged. (shrink)

.Evolutionary analysis focuses on how genes build organisms with different strategies for engaging and solving life’s challenges of survival and reproduction. One of those challenges is competing with conspecifics for limited resources including reproductive opportunities. This article will suggest that there is now good evidence for considering two dimensions of social competition. First, we will label antisocial strategies, to the extent that they tend to be self-focused, threat sensitive and aggressive, as well as using tactics of bulling, threatening, intimidating or (...) even injuring/killing competitors. Their strategic goal is to stimulate fear-inhibition, flight or submissive compliance in subordinates. Such strategies turn off and inhibit care and affiliative social interactions and motivation and they can be enacted by parents, teachers and leaders. The social signals emitted stimulate various aspects of threat processing in recipients, create stressful and highly stratified groups with a range of detrimental psychological and physiological effects. Second, in contrast, prosocial strategies seek to create relaxed and secure social interactions that enable sharing, cooperative and mutually supportive and beneficial relationships. The friendly and low/no threat social signals emitted in friendly cooperative and affiliative relationships stimulate physiological systems (e.g., oxytocin, the vagus parasympathetic system) that down regulates threat processing, enhances the immune system, facilitates frontal cortical processes and general wellbeing. This article reviews the literature pertaining to the evidence for these two dimensions of social engagement. (shrink)

L'oeuvre du philosophe Paul Gilbert, jésuite belge professeur de métaphysique depuis vingt-cinq ans à l'Université Grégorienne, est considérable et mérite d'être mieux connue. Après avoir étudié les écrits de saint Anselme (Dire l'ineffable, 1984), Paul Gilbert a questionné la métaphysique classique, sous l'influence de la philosophie réflexive (La Simplicité du principe, 1994). Il a ensuite souligné les chances offertes à la réflexion fondamentale par l'analogie, thème classique mais oublié (La Patience d'être, 1996, et Sapere e sperare, (...) 2003). Plus récemment, il a abordé la question de la violence, ce mal- être si commun (Violence et compassion, 2009). En 1997 déjà, son travail a été récompensé du prix Cardinal Mercier de l'U.C.Louvain-la-Neuve. Durant de nombreuses années, Paul Gilbert a été professeur invité à l'Institut catholique de Paris. A l'occasion de son éméritat dans cette institution, un colloque y a été organisé. Dans leurs communications, S. Bonanni, Ph. Capelle-Dumont, S. D'Agostino, E. Gabellieri, J. de Gramont, 1. Malaguti, R. Repole et E. Tourpe reprennent et développent l'élaboration de la pensée de Paul Gilbert. Ce dernier fait écho à chacune d'elles et, dans un exposé final, retrace son propre itinéraire intellectuel. (shrink)

L'articolo mette in evidenza le convergenze e differenze tra religione, pensiero moderno e postmoderno. Tutti i tre appartengono alle culture e le loro storie sociali, però questa convergenza non garantisce l'indentificazione delle loro prospettive. La religione si consente di fare affermazioni di relazione non razionabile, al di là delle condizioni sociali e culturali. Il pensiero, lo stesso se postmoderno, è invece d'ordine ideologico e autoreferenziale, inseparabile di concetti organizzati in una cultura particolare. La postmodernità, che intende liberarsi della prepotenza della (...) razionalità moderna, potrebbe fornire un orizzonte di pensiero la cui appertura sembra stabilire un'alleanza con la religione. Ma alla fine si mostra insufficiente. Il postmoderno rimane ancora in una concezione sull'individuo nell'ambito dell'emozione di un esse in, un piano radicalmente distinto dell'esperienza religiosa autentica che ha la sua origine nell'interiorità personale, nell'affettività di un esse ad. Palavras-chave: Religione, ragione, pensiero postmoderno, modernità, cultura Resumo O artigo coloca em evidência as convergências e diferenças entre religião, pensamento moderno e pós-moderno. Todos eles pertencem às culturas e suas histórias sociais, porém tal convergência não garante a identificação de suas perspectivas. A religião se consente em fazer afirmações de relação não racional, para além das condições sociais e culturais. O pensamento, mesmo o pós-moderno, é, por sua vez, de ordem ideológica e autoreferencial, inseparável de conceitos organizados numa cultura particular. A pós-modernidade, que tem a intenção de se libertar da prepotência da racionalidade moderna, poderia oferecer um horizonte de pensamento cuja abertura parece estabelecer uma aliança com a religião. Mas, afinal de contas, se mostra insuficiente. O pós-moderno permanece ainda em uma concepção sobre o indivíduo no âmbito da emoção de um esse in, em um plano radicalmente distinto da experiência religiosa autêntica, que tem sua origem na interioridade pessoal, na afetividade de um esse ad. Palavras-chave: Religião, razão, pensamento pós-moderno, modernidade, culturaThe present article highlights the similarities and differences among religion, modern and postmodern thought. They all belong to cultures and their social histories, but such convergence does not guarantee the identification of their perspectives. Religion has consented in making irrational statements, beyond social and cultural conditions. The thought, even the postmodern one should be comprehended in its ideological and self-referential bias, and not separated from the concepts organized in a particular culture. Post-modernity, which has the intention to release itself from the tyranny of modern rationality, could offer an open horizon of though in order to establish an alliance with religion. But, after all, it has not worked. Postmodernism is still based in a conception of the individual under the emotion of the so called esse in, within a plan which is totally distinct of genuine religious experience, which has its origin in the inner personal emotion of the so called esse ad. Key words: Religion, reason, postmodern thought, modernity, culture. (shrink)

The paper aims to provide an updated biography of Benet Perera in the historical background of the early years of the Collegio Romano. As one of the first teachers at the Collegio Romano, Benet Perera played a significant role in the debate on the different drafts of the Constitutiones and the Rationes studiorum of the Jesuit order, often generating criticisms among his colleagues and brothers in the faith. Debating on disciplines and methods of teaching, these discussions involved some crucial topics (...) from an epistemological point of view: mainly concerning the scientific status and role of metaphysics. (shrink)

La question du mal est abondamment discutée dans la philosophie contemporaine, signe de Vinquiétude qui habite notre culture. L'histoire du XXème siècle a certainement aidé à prendre conscience des possibilités qui appartiennent à la raison humaine, mais elle a ègalement révélé que cette même raison ne constituepas un instrument qui, de soi, pro-duit le bien de l'humanité. La première section de l'article présente des textes de Thomas d'Aquin et de Salvatore Natoli, qui cherchent l'un et à l'autre comment bien faire (...) avec le mal. Dans la seconde section, qui lit des pages de Jean Nabert, d'Emmanuel Lévinas et de Paul Ricoeur, le mal se montre injustifiable et donc inutilisable; la conscience y fait l'expé-rience d'une transcendance éthique irréductible. La troisième section commente enfin l'ex-pression biblique "Mysterium" iniquitatis en assumant ce que la contemplation de la Croix du Sauveur enseigne du mal. /// A questão do mal encontra-se amplamente discutida no âmbito da filosofia contemporânea, sinal evidente da profunda inquietude que perpassa a nossa cultura. A história do século XX contribuiu enormemente para nos ajudar a tomar consciência das possibilidades inerentes à razão humana, ainda que ao mesmo tempo tenha também demonstrado não ser a razão um instrumento que, de si, conduza necessariamente ao bem da humanidade. Num primeiro momento, o autor discute sobretudo textos de S. Tomás de Aquino e de Salvatore Natoli, pensadores eminentemente possuídos pela preocupação de lidar bem com o mal Debruça-se depois sobre os contributos de pensadores como Jean Nabert, Emmanuel Levinas e Paul Ricoeur, os quais consideram o mal algo profundamente injustificável e, por isso, também inutilizáva. É neste contexto, aliás, que a consciência experimenta uma transcendência ética irredutível. Por fim, o artigo comenta a expressão bíblica "Mysterium iniquitatis" numa tentativa de assumir aquilo que a contemplação da Cruz de Cristo ensina acerca do mal. (shrink)

AS formas históricas e institucionais do cristianismo em Itália fazem com que a filosofia se deva necessariamente confrontar com ele. Além disso, é também evidente que autores como Nietzsche ou Heidegger têm igualmente uma grande influência na península itálica. O artigo examina os escritos de quatro autores contemporêneos os quais, uns mais do que outros, se inspiram nos autores alemães antes mencionados para dar um sentido, frequentemente redutor, mas por vezes também respeitoso da fé dos crentes, ao cristianismo de que (...) a cultura italiana não pode fazer abstracção. Estes filósofos, unidos numa comum sensibilidade ao ser humano, estão também particularmente atentos, ainda que de maneiras muito variadas, à provocação do mal. A categoria da 'Kenose', derivada da meditação sobre a diferença ontológica e da contestação de um saber absoluto disponível para a razão religiosa, acompanha a reconstrução filosófica daquilo que, no cristianismo, mais profundamente toca os autores estudados neste artigo; o seu entendimento do cristianismo, contudo, depende muito da percepção nietzscheana do instante. /// The article starts with the assumption that the historical and institutional forms of Christianity in Italy make it unavoidable for philosophy to confront itself with it. It also mentions the great influence that authors like Nietzsche and Heidegger have in the Italian peninsula. The article proceeds to analyze the writings of four contemporary Italian thinkers. All these authors are inspired by the above mentioned German thinkers and aim at making sense, frequently in a reductive manner but also in a mode respectful of the believers' faith, of Christianity, something of which the Italian culture cannot make abstraction. These four Italian philosophers are particularly united in a common sensibility to the human being and attentive, even though in very different manners, to the provocation of evil. For them, the category of 'Kenosis', derived from the meditation on the ontological difference and the protest against an absolute knowledge available to the religious reason, goes together with the philosophical reconstruction of what in Christianity most touches them. The article also shows, finally, that for these authors the understanding of Christianity depends to a great extent of the impact of nietzschean thought. (shrink)

Pensar na graça de Deus e na liberdade do homem, ao mesmo tempo, tem sido sempre essencial, embora difícil para a reflexão cristã. Anselmo considerou com frequência essa dificuldade, que é semelhante à que nasce do uso da sola ragione numa postura de oração. Na sua obra De Concordia, terceira parte, cap. 11, o Doutor Magnígico constrói uma representação da vontade que assume as exigências máximas da reflexão cristã. Este capítulo distingue três aspectos na vontade: instumentum, aptitudo e usus; a (...) aptitudo é chamada de affectio. No seu De libero arbitrio, Anselmo distinguia, em vez, o instrumento e o uso, sem considerar a affectio. Com um atenção especial à fenomenologia contemporânea, o presente artigo destaca tanto por que o tema da afeição deve ser introduzido quanto o signifcado desta introdução tardia na obra de Anselmo. (shrink)

A Filosofia francesa foi fortemente influenciada por Heidegger, o que não haveria de acontecer sem algumas polémicas. Uma obra recente de D. Janicaud, Heidegger en France, traça algumas das suas peripécias. O presente artigo debruça-se sobre um ponto particular desta influência. O pensamento está desde há bastante tempo associado em França com o sentido do existir das singularidades, sobretudo pessoais; disso o existencialismo é um sinal evidente. É sem dúvida esta mesma preocupação pela existência que deu lugar a investigações fenomenológicas (...) sobre a essência do evento, palavra que traduz mais ou menos fielmente a expressão heideggeriana Ereignis. O artigo expõe, pois, o modo como o tema do Ereignis evolui na obra de Emmanuel Levinas (o evento cria uma temporalidade irredutível às sistematizações da história; a palavra trocada, dita e escutada, traz consigo uma nova temporalidade), Jean-Luc Marion (o evento não se repete, excede todo o presente e abre possibilidades ao ser humano), e Claude Romano (o evento rompe o tempo linear e instaura um mundo em que o princípio é um começo sempre novo). O artigo apresenta-se, deste modo, como uma reflexão sobre a própria essência da fenomenologia, tal qual ela actualmente se desenvolve em França. O artigo propõe ainda uma crítica de uma visão demasiado estética sobre o evento e convida o pensamento a prosseguir a sua reflexão na direcção da história concreta das liberdades. /// French philosophy has been greatly influenced by Heidegger, but not without polemics. A recent book by Janicaud, Heidegger in France, has traced its itinerary. The present article focuses on a single aspect of its influence: the attention given especially to the sense of existence in terms of personal singularities. Existentialism is a case in point. Such a concern produced phenomenological researches on the essence of the event, a word that more or less translates Ereignis. The article demonstrates how the theme of Ereignis has developed in the work of Levinas as that which creates a temporality that is irreducible to systematized history: the exchanged word carries with it a new temporality. In J.-L. Marion's work, the event does not repeat itself and exceeds the present, opening up new possibilities for humankind. For Cl. Romano, the event disrupts linear time and inaugurates a new world. Thus, the article constitutes a reflection on the very essence of phenomenology as manifested currently in France. It also proposes a critique of the overly aesthetic perspective concerning the theme of event and invites thought to pursue its reflection in the direction of the concrete history of freedoms. (shrink)

L'Action de Blondel, malgré son centenaire, n'est pas encore un texte très connu. Sa rigueur philosophique a souftert de nombreuses incompréhensions, dûes à des lectures partiales. L'intelligence philosophique tente cependant. aujoud'hui comme hier, de méditer sur le sens de l'existence et sur ce qui uniile nos vies sans les étouffer sous des formes uniformisantes. Cet article montre comment Blondel entreprend une telle méditation, en assumant la structure essentielle du "symbole". /// L'Action de Blondel, apesar do seu centenário, ainda não é (...) urn texto muito conhecido. O seu rigor filosófico sofreu numerosas incompreensões, devidas a leituras parciais. A inteligência filosófica tenta, contudo, hoje como ontem, meditar sobre o sentido da existência e sobre o que unifica as nossas vidas sem as sufocar sob formas uniformizantes. Este artigo mostra como Blondel empreende uma tal meditação, tirando dela a estrutura essencial do "símbolo". Despite the fact that it is a centenary work, Blondel's L'Action is not yet very well known. Its philosophical accuracy was misundestood through partial readings. However, now as before, philosophical intelligence attempts to meditate on the meaning of human existence, on what unifies our lives without suffocating them through uniforming forms. This paper shows how Blondel undertakes such a meditation, assuming the essential structure of "symbol". (shrink)

Bernard Lonergan não menciona Joseph Maréchal nos seus escritos, apesar de ter sido por ele influenciado no que respeita à estrutura dinâmica do conhecimento. Apesar disso, há que reconhecer que a intenção de Maréchal não era a de Lonergan. Maréchal, formado em biologia e em psicologia, desejava participar no movimento de renovação do tomismo, o qual na sua época era fortemente intelectualista. O seu esforço juntou-se ao do Maurice Blondel afirmando os direitos do acto comprometido nos processos cognitivos. O desejo (...) natural de conhecer Deus não se dá sem um desejo vital que dinamiza também a vontade em que ele se exprime de forma mais pura e genuína. Lonergan, cujo objectivo era a construção de uma epistemologia da teologia, ocupou-se primordialmente dos procedimentos próprios das ciências. Para ele, o desejo de conhecer leva o sujeito cognoscente a ultrapassar todas as ciências particulares, proporcionadas às nossas funções cognitivas, em direcção ao ser, concebido este de forma adequada como a totalidade presente e futura dos conteúdos do saber. Segundo o autor do artigo, Lonergan estaria, assim, mais próximo de Maréchal do que este de Suárez. /// Bernard Lonergan does not mention Joseph Maréchal in his writings, even though he received his influence regarding the dynamic structure of knowledge. However, the intention of Maréchal was not the intention of Lonergan. Maréchal, who had studied biology and psychology, wanted to participate in the movement of renewal of Thomism, which at the time was strongly intellectualist. His effort conjoined with the effort of Maurice Blondel in the recognition of the rights of the act inherent to the cognitive processes. The natural desire to know God does not come to be without a vital desire that also animates the will in which it comes to a better expression of itself. Lonergan, whose aim was the elaboration of an epistemology of theology, occupied himself primordially with the scientific processes. The desire to know leads the knowing subject beyond all the particular sciences, proportioned to our cognitive functions, toward being, which is adequately conceived as the present and future totality of the contents of knowledge. Hence, according to the author or the article, we might think that Lonergan was closer to Marechal than Marechal was to Suárez. (shrink)

Developmental systems theory (DST) is a general theoretical perspective on development, heredity and evolution. It is intended to facilitate the study of interactions between the many factors that influence development without reviving `dichotomous' debates over nature or nurture, gene or environment, biology or culture. Several recent papers have addressed the relationship between DST and the thriving new discipline of evolutionary developmental biology (EDB). The contributions to this literature by evolutionary developmental biologists contain three important misunderstandings of DST.

Ce travail, conduit avec rigueur et méthode par un jeune savant de Vienne, se place sous le parrainage du Prof. Otto Kresten et enrichit la collection fondée par le Prof. Paul Speck. Il comble une lacune et sera un outil irremplaçable aussi bien pour les byzantinistes que pour les arabisants, comme le sont — et le restent malgré l'inévitable usure du temps — les publications de E. W. Brooks, de L. Caetani, de A. A. Vasiliev, de M. Canard, de (...) E. Honigmann et de quelques autres, qui ont réussi à rétablir les liens entre deux mondes jadis si proches, mais que les spécialités universitaires ont aujourd'hui éloignés l'un de l'autre. (shrink)

Can fictional narration yield knowledge in a way that depends crucially on its being fictional? This is the hard question of literary cognitivism. It is unexceptional that knowledge can be gained from fictional literature in ways that are not dependent on its fictionality (e.g., the science in science fiction). Sometimes fictional narratives are taken to exhibit the structure of suppositional argument, sometimes analogical argument. Of course, neither structure is unique to narratives. The thesis of literary cognitivism would be supported if (...) some novels exhibit a cogent and special argument structure restricted to fictional narratives. I contend that this is the case for a kind of transcendental argument. The reason is the inclusion and pattern of occurrence of the predicate ‘believable’ in the schema. Believability with respect to fictional stories is quite a different thing than it is with respect to nonfictional stories or anything else. (shrink)

After Confucius is a collection of eight studies of Chinese philosophy from the time of Confucius to the formation of the empire in the second and third centuries B.C.E. As detailed in a masterful introduction, each essay serves as a concrete example of thick description - an approach invented by philosopher Gilbert Ryle - which aims to reveal the logic that informs an observable exchange among members of a community or society. To grasp the significance of such exchanges, it (...) is necessary to investigate the networks of meaning on which they rely. Paul R. Goldin argues that the character of ancient Chinese philosophy can be appreciated only if we recognize the cultural codes underlying the circulation of ideas in that world. Thick description is the best preliminary method to determine how Chinese thinkers conceived of their own enterprise. Who were the ancient Chinese philosophers? What was their intended audience? What were they arguing about? How did they respond to earlier thinkers, and to each other? Why did those in power wish to hear from them, and what did they claim to offer in return for patronage? Goldin addresses these questions as he looks at several topics, including. (shrink)

Responsable des crises économiques et environnementales catastrophiques qui l'affligent et menacent aujourd'hui de l'emporter, le genre humain est paradoxalement aussi un génie technologique dont les fruits de l'inventivité sont entrés dans une phase explosive faisant miroiter à la fois la promesse de l'immortalité individuelle et la déresponsabilisation par le transfert de la gestion des affaires à des machines. À quoi bon penser à l'heure où se profile à l'horizon la menace du remplacement de l'homme apprenti-sorcier par le robot, son héritier? (...) Paul Jorion a acquis sa réputation internationale en prévoyant la crise financière de 2008 et en étant conforté par les faits. Sa formation d'anthropologue et de sociologue, combinée à son goût pour les mathématiques et l'informatique, l'a conduit à jouer un rôle pionnier en anthropologie économique, en intelligence artificielle et en finance. Ses mises en garde sur le danger d'un effondrement ne relèvent en rien de la prophétie, elles s'appuient sur une expérience des processus culturels, économiques et technologiques, acquise sur le terrain. Elles mettent en accusation les choix politiques inconséquents débouchant sur un risque de collapse généralisé. Esprit libre et érudit, ignorant les approches disciplinaires "en silo-, Paul Jorion enrichit les outils de la pensée. Avec Franck Cormerais et Jacques Athanase Gilbert, il revient sur son parcours et sa démarche pour démontrer que seule une anthropologie radicale mobilisant la totalité du savoir que le genre humain a acquis sur son identité profonde est à même de prévenir son extinction."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

The doctrine of the Holy Trinity requires the joint truth of the statements that there is a unique and simple God, and that there are three distinct Persons each of which is God. Saint Augustine posed the question what entities would have to exist, and how would they have to be related, in order for this doctrine to be internally consistent. The present book examines the attempts by ten leading philosophers (Augustine himself, Boethius, Abelard, Gilbert, Lombard, Bonaventure, Albert, Aquinas, (...) Scotus and Ockham) to answer Augustine's question. Subsidiary questions include the nature of divine simplicity, the divine perfections, the personal relations and their associated properties, and the interrelation between the abstract and the concrete within the Godhead. Each one of the historical theories of the Trinity is presented as a semantic model postulating a domain that, as needed, comprises a number of substances and non-substances. In each case, the theory's terms (e.g. the names of the Persons, and of the divine perfections, etc.) are assigned to elements in the domain. The elements to which the names apply essentially are designated as such. As needed, the abstracts of the names are also assigned elements in the domain. Various pairs of elements in the domain are connected as correlatives, or as abstract and concrete, or by way of substantial predication. These models allow for comparisons between different theories, and provide a means of checking a theory's consistency. (shrink)

Paul E. Griffiths argues that most research on the emotions has been as misguided as Aristotelian efforts to study "superlunary objects" - objects...

The relationship between individuals’ creativity and their ethical ideologies appears to be complex. Applying Forsyth’s (1980, 1992) personal moral philosophy model which consists of two independent ethical ideology dimensions, idealism and relativism, we hypothesized and found support for a positive relationship between creativity and relativism. It appears that creative people are less likely than non-creative people to follow universal rules in their moral decision making. However, contrary to our hypothesis and the general stereotype that creative people are less caring about (...) others, we found a positive relationship between creativity and idealism. These findings indicate that highly creative people are likely to be what Forsyth called “situationists,” individuals with both an ethic of caring and a pragmatic moral decision-making style. The finding that creative individuals tend to be situationists, and particularly that they tend to be high in idealism, appears to refute the line of reasoning that argues for a “creative personality” characterized in part by social insensitivity. Understanding the relationship between creativity and ethical ideologies has important implications for researchers, managers and teachers. (shrink)

The etiological approach to ‘proper functions’ in biology can be strengthened by relating it to Robert Cummins' general treatment of function ascription. The proper functions of a biological trait are the functions it is assigned in a Cummins-style functional explanation of the fitness of ancestors. These functions figure in selective explanations of the trait. It is also argued that some recent etiological theories include inaccurate accounts of selective explanation in biology. Finally, a generalization of the notion of selective explanation allows (...) an analysis of the proper functions of human artifacts. (shrink)

Many of the most important properties of human groups – including properties that may give one group an evolutionary advantage over another – are properly defined only at the level of group organization. Yet at present, most work on the evolution of culture has focused solely on the transmission of individual-level traits. I propose a conceptual extension of the theory of cultural evolution, particularly related to the evolutionary competition between cultural groups. The key concept in this extension is the emergent (...) group-level trait. This type of trait is characterized by the structured organization of differentiated individuals and constitutes a unit of selection that is qualitatively different from selection on groups as defined by traditional multilevel selection theory. As a corollary, I argue that the traditional focus on cooperation as the defining feature of human societies has missed an essential feature of cooperative groups. Traditional models of cooperation assume that interacting with one cooperator is equivalent to interacting with any other. However, human groups involve differential roles, meaning that receiving aid from one individual is often preferred to receiving aid from another. In this target article, I discuss the emergence and evolution of group-level traits and the implications for the theory of cultural evolution, including ramifications for the evolution of human cooperation, technology, and cultural institutions, and for the equivalency of multilevel selection and inclusive fitness approaches. (shrink)

Some ‘naturalist’ accounts of disease employ a biostatistical account of dysfunction, whilst others use a ‘selected effect’ account. Several recent authors have argued that the biostatistical account offers the best hope for a naturalist account of disease. We show that the selected effect account survives the criticisms levelled by these authors relatively unscathed, and has significant advantages over the BST. Moreover, unlike the BST, it has a strong theoretical rationale and can provide substantive reasons to decide difficult cases. This is (...) illustrated by showing how life-history theory clarifies the status of so-called diseases of old age. The selected effect account of function deserves a more prominent place in the philosophy of medicine than it currently occupies. _1_ Introduction _2_ Biostatistical and Selected Effect Accounts of Function _3_ Objections to the Selected Effect Account _3.1_ Boorse _3.2_ Kingma _3.3_ Hausman _3.4_ Murphy and Woolfolk _4_ Problems for the Biostatistical Account _4.1_ Schwartz _5_ Analysis versus Explication _6_ Explicating Dysfunction: Life History Theory and Senescence _7_ Conclusion. (shrink)

In behavioral ecology some authors regard the innateness concept as irretrievably confused whilst others take it to refer to adaptations. In cognitive psychology, however, whether traits are 'innate' is regarded as a significant question and is often the subject of heated debate. Several philosophers have tried to define innateness with the intention of making sense of its use in cognitive psychology. In contrast, I argue that the concept is irretrievably confused. The vernacular innateness concept represents a key aspect of 'folkbiology', (...) namely, the explanatory strategy that psychologists and cognitive anthropologists have labeled 'folk essentialism'. Folk essentialism is inimical to Darwinism, and both Darwin and the founders of the modern synthesis struggled to overcome this way of thinking about living systems. Because the vernacular concept of innateness is part of folkbiology, attempts to define it more adequately are unlikely to succeed, making it preferable to introduce new, neutral terms for the various, related notions that are needed to understand cognitive development. (shrink)

Because physical theories typically predict numerical values, an improvement in experimental precision reduces the tolerance range and hence increases corroborability. In most psychological research, improved power of a statistical design leads to a prior probability approaching 1/2 of finding a significant difference in the theoretically predicted direction. Hence the corroboration yielded by "success" is very weak, and becomes weaker with increased precision. "Statistical significance" plays a logical role in psychology precisely the reverse of its role in physics. This problem is (...) worsened by certain unhealthy tendencies prevalent among psychologists, such as a premium placed on experimental "cuteness" and a free reliance upon ad hoc explanations to avoid refutation. (shrink)

Several authors have argued that causes differ in the degree to which they are ‘specific’ to their effects. Woodward has used this idea to enrich his influential interventionist theory of causal explanation. Here we propose a way to measure causal specificity using tools from information theory. We show that the specificity of a causal variable is not well-defined without a probability distribution over the states of that variable. We demonstrate the tractability and interest of our proposed measure by measuring the (...) specificity of coding DNA and other factors in a simple model of the production of mRNA. (shrink)

Human experts are the source of knowledge required to develop computer systems that perform at an expert level. Human beings are not, however, able to reliably express what they know. As a result, experts often develop non-authentic accounts of their own expertise. These accounts, here termed reconstructed methods of reasoning, lead to computer systems that perform at a high level of proficiency but have the disadvantage that they often do not reflect the heuristics and processing constraints of a system user. (...) Reconstructed methods of reasoning are compared with authentic methods derived from the study of expert human behavior. Tests are proposed to establish the authenticity of reasoning methods and examples from medical diagnosis are used to illustrate how authentic methods of reasoning can be incorporated into an expert computer system. CiteULike Connotea Del.icio.us What's this? (shrink)

We outline three very different concepts of the gene—instrumental, nominal, and postgenomic. The instrumental gene has a critical role in the construction and interpretation of experiments in which the relationship between genotype and phenotype is explored via hybridization between organisms or directly between nucleic acid molecules. It also plays an important theoretical role in the foundations of disciplines such as quantitative genetics and population genetics. The nominal gene is a critical practical tool, allowing stable communication between bioscientists in a wide (...) range of fields grounded in well-defined sequences of nucleotides, but this concept does not embody major theoretical insights into genome structure or function. The post-genomic gene embodies the continuing project of understanding how genome structure supports genome function, but with a deflationary picture of the gene as a structural unit. This final concept of the gene poses a significant challenge to conventional assumptions about the relationship between genome structure and function, and between genotype and phenotype. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:The Tragic Vision of African American ReligionPaul E. CapetzThe Tragic Vision of African American Religion Matthew V. Johnson New York, N.Y.: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. 189 pp. $75.00Matthew Johnson’s profound book The Tragic Vision of African American Religion sheds new light upon the distinctive nature of African American religion. Adequate interpretation of this topic requires understanding the traumas inflicted upon Africans sold into slavery, their existential predicaments before and (...) after emancipation, and the ongoing plight of their descendants whose psyches have been indelibly scarred by this traumatic history. Johnson avails himself of the resources of philosophical theology, psychoanalytic theory, and literary criticism to argue his thesis that African American religion expresses a tragic vision of reality. Besides providing an illuminating analysis of the traumatic experience underlying this religious vision, Johnson presents a compelling constructive proposal as to the broader implications of his thesis for Christian theology at large.As a student of David Tracy and Langdon Gilkey, Johnson sees the necessity for rigorous philosophical reflection in theology. Because the spirituality of the black church stands in some real tension with the traditional theological categories inherited from Europe, Johnson proceeds with “a phenomenological orientation grounded in a philosophical hermeneutical approach” that allows him to excavate the traumatic experiences informing this spirituality (4). He skillfully uses the concepts of mourning, loss, longing, and desire developed in psychoanalytical theory to probe the significance of trauma for grasping the dynamics of African American spirituality. He engages literary criticism and argues convincingly for a distinction between “tragedy” as a literary genre and the tragic vision it articulates. Indeed, the tragic vision is prior to tragedy. The tragic is not the encounter with meaninglessness per se but “the always already aesthetic representation of the encounter, which preserves its terrible truth in a transfigured vision of reality” (6). This vision affirms life while facilitating “the recognition and embrace of the darker, more fundamental truths of life” (7).Cognizant that other theologians have declared the incompatibility of Christian faith with a tragic vision of reality, Johnson believes otherwise. He insists that the tragic is fundamental to human experience as such, although it is frequently evaded by strategies of foreclosure—including those of Christian theology—that falsify the experience. Yet the distinctive thing about the black religious experience is the way African Americans made the Christian faith [End Page 215] their own by transforming it at a deep spiritual level through their tragic vision. Mildly critical of previous formulations of black theology, Johnson contends that this involved much more than the affirmation that God cares about the sociopolitical liberation of oppressed people. The Christian tragic vision of the black experience offers the possibility of a new basis for “theology in an African American key” (6). Since he understands himself primarily as a Christian theologian, however, Johnson addresses an audience consisting of more than fellow black theologians. He rightly highlights a profound truth that white theologians have largely failed to grasp: the contribution of the black church “transcends the confines of African American culture to speak meaningfully to a Christian faith struggling to remain viable in a meaningful way” (10).James Cone once issued this challenge: “Why don’t white theologians make racism their issue?” White theologians who ponder Johnson’s book will begin to understand the full import of this challenge: by opening ourselves unreservedly to the pain of our black sisters and brothers, we may discover anew the meaning of that genuine humanity to which the gospel summons all people. A theological reformulation of Christian faith as tragic in the light of the traumas of the black experience could occasion a much needed reformation of the white churches in America.Paul E. CapetzUnited Theological Seminary of the Twin CitiesCopyright © 2012 The Society of Christian Ethics... (shrink)

Originally published in 1971 by Winthrop Publishers, Inc., this volume provides a discussion and analysis of the theory of natural law as it appears in contemporary political and social thought. This theory of natural law was used from the fifth century B.C. until the end of the eighteenth century to provide a universal, rational standard to determine the nature and limits of political obligation, the evaluation of competing forms of government, and the relation of law and politics to morals.