The hole argument concludes that substantivalism about spacetime entails the radical indeterminism of the general theory of relativity (GR). In this paper, I amend and defend a response to the hole argument first proposed by Butterfield (1989) that relies on the idea of counterpart substantivalism. My amendment clarifies and develops the metaphysical presuppositions of counterpart substantivalism and its relation to various definitions of determinism. My defence consists of two claims. First, contra Weatherall (2018) and others: the hole argument is not (...) a blunder resulting from a mistaken view on how mathematical physics works, and requires a developed (meta)metaphysical response. Second, contra Melia (1999) and others: one can be content with a notion of determinism for GR which is not sensitive to merely haecceitistic differences. (shrink)

Contemporary concepts of development (the process of globalization, sustainable development) can be diversified according to their relation to axioms, natural law, values and paradigms. The subcategories obtained constitute the ground for business ethics. Ethics in business is always needed, however, it can be implemented at-source (as a component of management) or as an end-of-pipe measure. In Poland, constitutional regulations guarantee, indirectly at least, business ethics as a component of management.

(1990). “Mitteleuropa”—Does it still exist, or Is it a mere geopolitical abstraction? World Futures: Vol. 29, The Future of European Integration, pp. 218-226.

II secolo XX, chiamato secolo delle Ideologie, e - per quanto riguarda il nostro punto di vista - un secolo di particolari tensioni fra la religione e l a cultura. II modelio della cultura dominante da alcune decine di anni cerca ispirazione concentrandosi sul mondo materiale, riducendo il campo di conoscenza alle dimensioni strettamente meccanicistiche, imponendo gli orizzonti puramente positivistici. Le conseguenze di qoesta tendenza - scrive Z. Zdybicka - si sono fatte sentire in tutti i campi dell'attività dell'uomo. E (...) stata infatti escogitata un'utopia tecnica che mirava a trasformare il volto del mondo, a crearlo in qualche senso da capo. Secondo questa visione ideale la nuova realta sarebbe esclusivamente temporale, misurabile, totalmente percettibile attraverso l'esperienza sensibile dell'uomo. La scienza formata sul modelio proposto dalle scienze matematico-naturali dovrebbe garantire agli uomini una sapienza profonda e universale e, grazie alla loro capacita di dominare le forze della natura e alla loro conoscenza delle leggi che regolano la vita sociale e alla sapiente applicazione delle stnitture tecnico-legali - farii diventare persino onnipotenti. (shrink)

II secolo XX, chiamato secolo delle Ideologie, e - per quanto riguarda il nostro punto di vista - un secolo di particolari tensioni fra la religione e l a cultura. II modelio della cultura dominante da alcune decine di anni cerca ispirazione concentrandosi sul mondo materiale, riducendo il campo di conoscenza alle dimensioni strettamente meccanicistiche, imponendo gli orizzonti puramente positivistici. Le conseguenze di qoesta tendenza - scrive Z. Zdybicka - si sono fatte sentire in tutti i campi dell'attività dell'uomo. E (...) stata infatti escogitata un'utopia tecnica che mirava a trasformare il volto del mondo, a crearlo in qualche senso da capo. Secondo questa visione ideale la nuova realta sarebbe esclusivamente temporale, misurabile, totalmente percettibile attraverso l'esperienza sensibile dell'uomo. La scienza formata sul modelio proposto dalle scienze matematico-naturali dovrebbe garantire agli uomini una sapienza profonda e universale e, grazie alla loro capacita di dominare le forze della natura e alla loro conoscenza delle leggi che regolano la vita sociale e alla sapiente applicazione delle stnitture tecnico-legali - farii diventare persino onnipotenti. (shrink)

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced its intent to strengthen enforcement of legal protections for health care providers' conscience rights. It proposed regulations that would give the DHHS Office of Civil Rights greater authority to ensure that recipients of federal funding comply with federal conscience laws. This recent development creates an opportunity for scholars and policy‐makers to revisit the perennial debate about whether and how law should protect health care providers' rights of conscience. Arguments (...) about who should be protected, what actions should be protected, and whether there should be any limitations on the exercise of conscience rights have brought us no closer to a resolution. However, there is one remaining avenue for analysis that has, surprisingly, received very little attention—the question of how providers are protected, and from what consequences. Existing U.S. conscience laws immunize health care providers from a wide range of adverse consequences—including civil liability, criminal prosecution, administrative penalties, adverse action by employers, and discrimination by private actors, among others. However, academic and public policy debates rarely acknowledge the breadth of these protections. It is essential to disentangle this network of possible protections. (shrink)

The practice of health-care professional involvement in capital punishment has come under scrutiny since the implementation of lethal injection as a method of execution, raising questions of the goals of medicine and the ethics of medicalized procedures. The American Medical Association and other professional associations have issued statements prohibiting physician involvement in capital punishment because medicine is dedicated to preserving life. I address the three primary arguments against health-care professionals being involved in lethal injection and argue that they are not (...) strong enough to prohibit physician involvement in the lethal injection process. (shrink)