Morality and the Inner Life is not a commentary on the Gorgias but a book which independently examines some of the themes from Plato’s dialogue. It does not attempt to understand the Gorgias as a whole or even to clarify some particular part of it. Indeed, one could read Morality and the Inner Life without ever learning that the theme of Plato’s dialogue is rhetoric. Rather, parts of the Gorgias are used as vehicles for the presentation of Dilman’s own reflections (...) about morality. His procedure is to extract various statements made in the course of Plato’s dialogue and then to offer his thoughts about the meaning they might be given and their truth or falsity. He examines such contentions as that virtue is knowledge, that the just man is the happy man, that punishment is a blessing for the wrongdoer, that justice is only a convention, and that no man does evil willingly. The procedure is justified by the argument that a "great philosopher" provides us with questions which we, too, must ask if we would be philosophers. (shrink)

The greatest defender of democracy in the twentieth century could only say of it that it was a bad form of government, but better than any of the alternatives. It is thus a tribute to academic insularity that there can continue to be an academic discipline, subdiscipline, or interdiscipline devoted to "democratic theory." The major premise of "democratic theory" is that, contrary to the experience of Churchill and all other perceptive democratic statesmen, democracy can be viewed and justified without reference (...) to the circumstances in which it is found or to the available alternatives. On Justifying Democracy is a contribution to this dubious enterprise. (shrink)

This book has both a philosophic and a practical aim. Its philosophic aim is to understand civil religion. Its practical aim is to help restore confidence in the West by showing the superiority of the American civil religion to that of the Soviet Union. In the first part of the book, Rome is examined to show how the problem of civil religion first arose. In the second, the United States is used both to show how civil religion may develop gradually (...) and to set forward a model of a good—or, at least, potentially good-civil religion. In the final section, several modern political thinkers are discussed in order to trace the steps leading to the civil religion of Marxism. Henry’s thesis is that both the American and Communist civil religions are secularizations of Christianity, but, while the American civil religion lives in tension between a "public philosophy" that judges the United States by universal standards and a "civil theology" that deifies her existence, Communist ideology has no "public philosophy" but only a "civil theology" deifying the power of the state. (shrink)

A collection of essays, speeches, and conversations from a conference sponsored by Southwestern University Law Review and held in Los Angeles in 1977 in commemoration of the 190th anniversary of the Constitution, this book has some 36 contributors. The majority of these are law professors, including Laurence Tribe of Harvard, Bernard Schwartz of NYU, Ruth Bader Ginsburg of Columbia, Lino A. Graglia of the University of Texas, and Martin Shapiro of the University of California at Berkeley. Several contributions are by (...) Federal judges, including ones by Charles E. Wyzanski, Jr., and Constance Baker Motley. There is also a sprinkling of historians, political scientists, journalists, and lawyers. The contributors include a number of little known, as well as many well-known commentators on the Constitution. (shrink)

Ethical decision-making frameworks assist in identifying the issues at stake in a particular setting and thinking through, in a methodical manner, the ethical issues that require consideration as well as the values that need to be considered and promoted. Decisions made about the use, sharing, and re-use of big data are complex and laden with values. This paper sets out an Ethics Framework for Big Data in Health and Research developed by a working group convened by the Science, Health and (...) Policy-relevant Ethics in Singapore Initiative. It presents the aim and rationale for this framework supported by the underlying ethical concerns that relate to all health and research contexts. It also describes a set of substantive and procedural values that can be weighed up in addressing these concerns, and a step-by-step process for identifying, considering, and resolving the ethical issues arising from big data uses in health and research. This Framework is subsequently applied in the papers published in this Special Issue. These papers each address one of six domains where big data is currently employed: openness in big data and data repositories, precision medicine and big data, real-world data to generate evidence about healthcare interventions, AI-assisted decision-making in healthcare, public-private partnerships in healthcare and research, and cross-sectoral big data. (shrink)

Graeme Laurie stepped down from the Chair in Medical Jurisprudence at the University of Edinburgh in 2019. This edited collection pays tribute to his extraordinary contributions to the field. Graeme has often spoken about the importance of 'legacy' in academic work and has forged a remarkable intellectual legacy of his own, notably through his work on genetic privacy, human tissue and information governance, and on the regulatory salience of the concept of liminality. The essays in this volume animate the concept (...) of legacy as lens of analysis for the study and practice of medical jurisprudence. In this light, legacy reveals characteristics of both benefit and burden, as both an encumbrance to and facilitator of the development of law, policy and regulation. Overall, the contributions reconcile the ideas of legacy and responsiveness and show that both dimensions are critical to achieve and sustain the health of medical jurisprudence itself as a dynamic, interdisciplinary and policy-engaged field of thinking. (shrink)

In line with the British Psychological Society's recent recommendations for teaching the history of psychology, this comprehensive undergraduate textbook emphasizes the philosophical, cultural and social elements that influenced psychology's development. The authors demonstrate that psychology is both a human (e.g. psychoanalytic or phenomenological) and natural (e.g. cognitive) science, exploring broad social-historical and philosophical themes such as the role of diverse cultures and women in psychology and the complex relationship between objectivity and subjectivity in the development of psychological knowledge. The result (...) is a fresh and balanced perspective on what has traditionally been viewed as the collected achievements of a few 'great men'. With a variety of learning features, including case studies, study questions, thought experiments and a glossary, this new textbook encourages students to critically engage with chapter material and analyze themes and topics within a social, historical and philosophical framework. (shrink)

This book covers a remarkable amount of ground and has become something of a classic. Besides the Discourse and the Meditations, it contains Private Thoughts, the third set of Objections and Replies, most of the Regulae, parts of the Principia and the Dioptrics, together with crrespondence with Elizabeth, Princess Palatine, Mersenne and others.

Hirschfeld and Wheeler proved in 1975 that ∑1 ultrapowers (= “simple models”) are rigid; i.e., they admit no non-trivial automorphisms. We later noted, essentially mimicking their technique, that the same is true of Δ1 ultrapowers (= “Nerode semirings”), a class of models of Π2 Arithmetic that overlaps, but is mutually non-inclusive with, the class of Σ1 ultrapowers. Hirschfeld and Wheeler left as open the question whether some Σ1 ultrapowers might admit proper isomorphic self-injections. We do not answer that question; but (...) we do answer the corresponding question, in the negative, for the Δ1 case. (shrink)

Researchers are required to seek consent from Indigenous communities prior to conducting research but there is inadequate information about how Indigenous people understand and become fully engaged with this consent process. Few studies evaluate the preference or understanding of the consent process for research with Indigenous populations. Lack of informed consent can impact on research findings. The Picture Talk Project was initiated with senior Aboriginal leaders of the Fitzroy Valley community situated in the far north of Western Australia. Aboriginal people (...) were interviewed about their understanding and experiences of research and consent processes. Transcripts were analysed using NVivo10 software with an integrated method of inductive and deductive coding and based in grounded theory. Local Aboriginal interpreters validated coding. Major themes were defined and supporting quotes sourced. Interviews with Aboriginal leaders were facilitated by a local Aboriginal Community Navigator who could interpret if necessary and provide cultural guidance. Participants were from all four major local language groups of the Fitzroy Valley; aged 31 years and above; and half were male. Themes emerging from these discussions included Research—finding knowledge; Being respectful of Aboriginal people, Working on country, and Being flexible with time; Working together with good communication; Reciprocity—two-way learning; and Reaching consent. The project revealed how much more there is to be learned about how research with remote Aboriginal communities should be conducted such that it is both culturally respectful and, importantly, meaningful for participants. We identify important elements in community consultation about research and seeking consent. (shrink)

Research papers presented at the same title scientific conference, dedicated to the World Philosophy Day.

Socrates (in the Meno) denied that virtues like courage could be taught, whereas Protagoras defended this claim. Compassion is discussed below in this context; it is distinguished from related, but different, moral qualities, and the role of imagination is emphasised. 'Sympathy's and role-modelling views of compassion's acquisition are criticised. Compassion can indeed be taught, but neither by the example of a few, isolated physicians nor by creation of Departments of Compassion. In replying to one standard objection to teaching compassion, it (...) is emphasised that scientific competence and compassion aren't mutually exclusive. (shrink)

Co-authored letter to the APA to take a lead role in the recognition of teaching in the classroom, based on the participation in an interdisciplinary Conference on the Role of Advocacy in the Classroom back in 1995. At the time of this writing, the late Myles Brand was the President of Indiana University and a member of the IU Department of Philosophy.