This is the latest volume to appear in the distinguished series, Monographs in Modern Logic edited by Geoffrey Keene. Like its predecessors it is explicitly designed to introduce to a broad range of readers an important aspect of modern logic. This particular study is highly creditable; it is concerned with the general problem of ‘deciding what beliefs are reasonable when certain other beliefs are assumed to be true’. To this purpose the first few chapters are devoted to the discussion and (...) use of nondeductive rules and inductive and predictive inferences, hypothesis and predictive inference, and probability and predictive inference Their topics are very competently discussed. The greater part of the exposition in these chapters and throughout the entire book is restricted to special cases of simple inductive problems and simple predictive problems. The chapter on hypothesis and predictive inference has an excellent introduction to the problem of entrenchment rules. In the chapter on probability and predictive inference Carnap’s solution of inductive and predictive problems is very ably analyzed. However, the analysis does presuppose some familiarity on the part of the reader with the nature of set theory. The problems of simple statistical inference are discussed in the chapter on statistical inference but too briefly to do full justice to the principal demands such a subject usually imposes. We thought the chapter on Bayesian statistical inference much more effective and comprehensive. Here the discussion centered on two types of theories which endeavor to apply probability measures to hypotheses, namely, those of Carnap and of the statistician Harold Jeffreys. These theories are examples of what the author describes as logical theories of probability measure in contrast to the subjective theory of probability. Briefly mentioned in connection with the latter are the philosopher F P Ramsey and the statistician L J Savage. A fairly recent book dealing with this entire problem, the Logic of Decision by R C Jeffrey might be added to the excellent bibliography provided by the author. The chapter on statistical decision and utility provides a simpler study of just what is involved in the making of logical decisions. Here the author comments on the set of acts, outcomes, and states which are involved in making formal decisions and the relation of these to a utility ordering or order of preferences. One issue of this analysis is the interesting construction of a utility scale representing a more sophisticated treatment of utility order by abstracting certain utility properties. (shrink)

This book is in part a revision of Experience, Reason and Faith: A Survey in Philosophy and Religion. Like its predecessor it is a textbook designed for survey courses in philosophy and religion. Its appeal will be primarily to Protestant colleges which combine the teaching of philosophy and religion. The revision is the work of J Calvin Keene who contributes a new final chapter as well as some changes in the original material. The chapter on primitive religion in the original (...) edition has been eliminated and the title of the book has been changed to indicate the new historical orientation of the present work. (shrink)

In this paper we attempt to sharpen and to provide an answer to the question of when human beings first become conscious. Since it is relatively uncontentious that a capacity for raw sensation precedes and underpins all more sophisticated mental capacities, our question is tantamount to asking when human beings first have experiences with sensational content. Two interconnected features of our argument are crucial. First, we argue that experiences with sensational content are supervenient on facts about electrical activity in the (...) cerebral cortex which can be ascertained through EEG readings. Second, we isolate from other notions of a‘functioning brain’that which is required to underpin the view that a cortex is functioning in a way which could give rise to rudimentary conscious experiences. We investigate the development in the human fetus of the anatomical and chemical pathways which underpin cortical activity and the growth and maturation of the electrical circuitry specifically associated with sensational content in adult experience. We conclude that a fetus becomes conscious at about 30 to 35 weeks after conception; an answer based on a careful analysis of EEG readings at various stages of cortical development. Finally, we survey the possible ethical ramifications of our answer. (shrink)

ABSTRACT In this paper we attempt to sharpen and to provide an answer to the question of when human beings first become conscious. Since it is relatively uncontentious that a capacity for raw sensation precedes and underpins all more sophisticated mental capacities, our question is tantamount to asking when human beings first have experiences with sensational content. Two interconnected features of our argument are crucial. First, we argue that experiences with sensational content are supervenient on facts about electrical activity in (...) the cerebral cortex which can be ascertained through EEG readings. Second, we isolate from other notions of a‘functioning brain’that which is required to underpin the view that a cortex is functioning in a way which could give rise to rudimentary conscious experiences. We investigate the development in the human fetus of the anatomical and chemical pathways which underpin (immature) cortical activity and the growth and maturation of the electrical circuitry specifically associated with sensational content in adult experience. We conclude (tentatively) that a fetus becomes conscious at about 30 to 35 weeks after conception; an answer based on a careful analysis of EEG readings at various stages of cortical development. Finally, we survey the possible ethical ramifications of our answer. (shrink)

Global Media Ethics is the first comprehensive cross-cultural exploration of the conceptual and practical issues facing media ethics in a global world. A team of leading journalism experts investigate the impact of major global trends on responsible journalism. The first full-length, truly global textbook on media ethics; Explores how current global changes in media promote and inhibit responsible journalism; Includes relevant and timely ethical discussions based on major trends in journalism and global media; Questions existing frameworks in media ethics in (...) light of the impact of global media; Contributors are leading experts in global journalism and communication. (shrink)

Mourant has provided a carefully edited, topically organized anthology. The introductions are clearly written. One still waits, however, for an Augustinian anthology which reveals, rather than conceals Augustine's development.—R. J. W.

v. 1. Nicomachean ethics. Politics. The Athenian Constitution. Rhetoric. On Poetics.--v. 2. Logic.--v. 3. Physics. Metaphysics. On the soul. Short physical treaties.--v. 4. On the heavens. On generation and corruption. Meteorology. Biological treatises.