In this interview, which took place in July 2020, Muhammad Asghari, an associate professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Tabriz, asked eleven questions (via email ) to Professor Susan Haack, a distinguished professor of philosophy at the University of Miami. This American philosopher eagerly and patiently emailed me the answers to the questions. The questions in this interview are mainly about analytic philosophy and pragmatist philosophy.This interview was conducted via personal email between me and (...) Professor Susan Haack in July 2020. This interview, which Professor Hawk eagerly accepted, includes eleven questions about her biography and roles of various philosophers in her thought and finally about the influence of the philosophy of pragmatism on her thought. Of course, it goes without saying that the Haack's book Philosophy of Logic in Iran has been translated into Persian and he has published two articles in the quarterly journal of Philosophical Investigations (University of Tabriz) and I also have translated one of her articles into Persian. What was most interesting to me was the influence of pragmatism on Haack's thought that Charles Sanders Pierce, among classical American pragmatists, had as much influence on this philosopher's thought as John Dewey had in Rorty's thought. Here I thank Professor Susan Haack for answering my questions patiently and eagerly. (shrink)

n this article, I try to defend the thesis that imagination against reason, moral progress through imagination not the reason, the emergence of literary culture after philosophical culture from Hegel onwards, contingency of language, the usefulness of literature (poetry, novels and stories, etc.) in enhancing empathy with one another and ultimately reducing philosophy to poetry in Richard Rorty's writings point to one thing: the priority of literature to philosophy. The literary or post-physical culture that Rorty defends is opposed to the (...) Enlightenment and the philosophical and religious culture. Rorty prefers literary culture among the religious culture and philosophical culture. The literary culture Rorty envisages is a radically historicist and nominalist one. Rorty’s romanticised version of pragmatism aims precisely at dealing with this literary or post-physical culture or, in generally, the literature. (shrink)

فلسفههای معاصر غرب به مثابه جنگلی پر از درختان کوتاه و بلند است که چنان درهم تنیده شدهاند که گاهی تشخیص ریشهها، تنهها و شاخ و برگهای آن‌ها از یکدیگر دشوار میشود. این وضعیت فلسفههای معاصر مغرب زمین است که تنها یک صفت برای آن‌ها مناسب است: تنوع و کثرت. بیشک عصر ما عصر استقبال از تفاوتها و کثرتها و دوری از این‌همانی‌ها و وحدتهایی است که از افلاطون تا هایدگر اول فیلسوفان آن را یگانه قلمرویی که حقیقت در آن (...) سکنی گزیده می‌دانستند. البته این تنوع و پیچیدگی از یک سو، محصول بافت تاریخی، اجتماعی، سیاسی، اقتصادی، فلسفی، علمی، هنری و رسانههای جمعی قرن بیستم است و از سوی دیگر، همین بافت نیز بیتأثیر از فلسفهها و اندیشههای فلسفی و علمی به ارث رسیده از قرن نوزدهم نیست. بنابراین، تعامل بین این دو عامل و تأثیر و تأثر از یکدیگر قابل اغماض نیست. تحولات در عصر حاضر را به دو شکل میتوان توصیف کرد. یکی تحولات در عرصة جهان روزمره که میتوانیم آن‌ها را تحولات سختافزاری بنامیم و عبارت‌اند از دو جنگ جهانی خانمان‌سوز اول و دوم، نژادپرستی، ظهور و افول دولتهای کمونیستی، تولید سلاحهای هستهای و استفاده از بمب اتمی، تولید سایر سلاحهای کشتار جمعی، درگیریهای قومی و نژادی و ضد استعماری، جهانیشدن، ظهور جنبشهای زنان، سقوط دولتهای استبدادی و ظهور دولتهای دموکراتیک، ظهور جامعة پساصنعتی، رشد روزافرون تکنولوژیهای کامپیوتری، افزایش قدرت رسانههای جمعی، پیشرفتهای روزافرون در حوزة پزشکی و... . تحولات نرم‌افزاری ‌عبارت‌اند‌ از ظهور نظریههای جدید در حوزة علم مانند نظریة نسبیت و نظریة کوانتوم، پیدایش پدیدارشناسی و فلسفههای اگزیستانس، فلسفههای پساساختارگرایانه، ظهور جنبشهای نوظهور در هنرها، تفسیرهای جدید از مفهوم عدالت در فلسفة سیاسی و... . هم تحولات سخت‌افزاری و هم تحولات نرم‌افزاری در تعامل فزاینده با یکدیگر سمت و سوی تازهای به فلسفههای معاصر نیز داده‌اند که آن را در قالب کثرت و تنوع و تفاوت فلسفهها میبینیم. این کثرت و تنوع به فلسفة معاصر غربی محدود نمیشود بلکه تقریباً شبیه همین وضعیت را در علوم اجتماعی، علوم سیاسی، حوزة هنرها و ‌به‌طور کلی در علوم انسانی و حتی در علوم تجربی مثل فیزیک شاهد هستیم. برای مثال اگر در قرن هجدهم فقط پارادایم نیوتنی غالب بود، امروز پارادایم انشتینی، پارادایم کوانتمیِ هایزنبرگی و سایر پارادایمها غالب هستند. گویی سرنوشت و تقدیر انسان معاصر این بوده که به این کثرتگرایی و تنوع تن دردهد. تنها وحدتی که میتوان با اطمینان خاطر بیشتری در فلسفة معاصر غرب پذیرفت این است که «کثرت» نقطهای است که فلسفههای معاصر به دور آن حلقه زدهاند. انسان معاصر گریز و گزیری از «کثرتگرایی» ندارد؛ لذا سرنوشت خود را باید در این فضا رقم زند. فلسفههای معاصر چه اروپایی مثل پدیدارشناسی، اگزیستانسیالیسم، هرمنوتیک و غیره، چه انگلیسیزبان مثل فلسفههای تحلیل زبانی و چه فلسفههای امریکایی مثل پراگماتیسم قدیم و جدیم در این جادة پر فراز و نشیب کثرتگرایی پا به عرصة هستی گذاشتهاند. یقیناً مبانی این فلسفهها نیز از سایة عظیم کثرتگرایی بیرون نیستند. البته مراد ما از کثرتگرایی صرفاً معنای متافیزیکی آن نیست بلکه به معنای عام کلمه است که دامنة آن تمامی حوزههای دانش بشری در عصر حاضر را شامل میشود. نکتة دیگر این است که این کثرتگرایی از ابتدای قرن بیستم به بعد ابعاد وسیعتری به خود میگیرد، چرا که در ابتدای قرن بیستم هنوز آن تفکر وحدتگرای هگلی در فلسفه و علمیکردن همة ابعاد زندگی و تلقی علمی از ‌جامعه در قالب مارکسیسم ــ به قول لیوتار غلبة روایت‌های کلان بر روایت‌های خرد ــ اجازة تنفس به تفاوتها را نمیداد؛ ولی نقدهای کوبندة نیچه به متافیزیک افلاطونگرا ـ ‌مسیحی سنت غربی، شکستن شیشة شفاف و یکدست نفس به دست فروید، وقوع دو جنگ جهانی، ظهور جنبشهای دادائیستی در عالم هنر و افول مرز هنر والا و هنر پست، ظهور بحران معنا، مرگ مؤلف و مرگ سوژه، جایگزینی زبان به جای ذهن، تقدم عمل بر نظر، استقبال از تفاوتها، سقوط دولتهای غیردموکراتیک و ظهور جوامع دموکراتیک در اشکال مختلف، ظهور جنبشهای زنان در قالب‌های گوناگون فمینیسم، طرح مباحث زیستمحیطی، همه و همه این نوید را داد که تفکر وحدتگرای تمامیتخواه در فرهنگ انسان قرن هجدهم و نوزدهم به بن‌بست رسیده است و اکنون وقت آن فرارسیده که نگاهها به سمت تنوعها، کثرتها و تفاوتها در تمامی حیطههای جامعة بشری قرن بیستم و بیست‌ویکم معطوف گردد. فیلسوفان همة این تحولات را در فلسفههای معاصر به چشم خویش دیدند و اغلب تسلیم این کثرتگرایی به معنای عام کلمه شدند. شاهد دیگری برای این کثرت و تفاوت در فلسفة معاصر، ظهور فلسفهها و مکاتب، جنبشها و جریانهای فلسفی متعدد در این دوره است. ما در هیچ دورهای از تاریخ طولانی فلسفه به اندازة دورة معاصر با کثرت فلسفه و مکاتب مواجه نیستیم. چنانچه در قرن هفدهم دکارت پدر معنوی فیلسوفان است و فیلسوفان این دوره فلسفههای خود را در مسیر دکارتی ایجاد کردهاند، در قرن هجدهم کانت و در قرن نوزدهم هگل و برخی فیلسوفان دیگر نقش پدر معنوی را بازی کرده‌اند. کما اینکه افلاطون پدر معنوی تمامی فلسفة غرب شناخته میشود. وایتهد در جملة معروفی گفته بود: «کل تاریخ فلسفة غرب پانوشتی بر افلاطون است.». (shrink)

The aim of this article is to consider Hegel's unity, which is "the Unity of Identity and Difference" Or to examine and explain the "unity of seemingly contradictory features in a single coherent whole" in the light of the main problem of Hegel's philosophy, that is, the overcoming of divisions or dualities, as the solution of her philosophy. Unity (Einheit) is an important ideal, goal and end for Hegel's philosophical system. Hence, in his entire philosophical system and in different periods (...) of his intellectual life, the traces of the search for unity are always obvious, from the beautiful artistic unity in Greece to his desired unity, which is a rational, speculative, philosophical, absolute and Mediated unity. For him, the whole of philosophy is nothing but the study of the definition of unity and its realization in society. A unity that, instead of eliminating or absorbing another, tries to preserve and eliminate pluralities and differences by accepting and recognizing another in a single coherent whole. A unity in which differences and dualities do not disappear but are preserved as necessary and inevitable moments. Unity that is not the result of direct intuition but the product and result of passing through different stages and an intersubjective matter. For Hegel, it is not atomism and excessive individualism in the modern world that lead to rupture, not mere mystical and abstract unions that wipe out all differences, but the unity of the whole in which All distinctions are preserved. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to analyse opinions of Kierkegaard in his famous book, Fear and Trembling, and Heidegger’s points of view in the great work of thought, Being and Time, in order to present a new meaning of human. And these all going to introduce the new aspect of Ethic. Kierkegaard puts the act of the faith against of the virtue ethics according to the tale of Abraham in the Bible. He claims that the act of the faith (...) transcends from general ethic with achieve its individuality. The actor of the faith can not returns to generality, as the actor of tragedy can. He leaves the generality to make decision in a free manner. on the other hand, Heidegger’s existancial analyses leads into that the human determiner is not an ideal essence, but it’s his existance, in other word it’s his ability-to-be. Human is who he can be. So it is obvious that these two great thinkers believe that human is not a predestined being, but he is facilities. And for this reason we can renew our definition of the ethic. (shrink)

In this article, we try to show that Maurice Merleau-Ponty, as the patron saint of the body, offers a phenomenological analysis of the body that is neither psychological nor rational, but existential in nature. Influenced by Heidegger's philosophy, Merleau-Ponty presents an existential analysis of man and his corporeality as the corporeal subject relates to the world. In this article, focusing on concepts such as location, body schema, flesh, absent body, and body perspective, we show that Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological analysis of these (...) existential concepts has important role in understanding of the lived-body. Merleau-Ponty, by criticizing Descartes' body and abandoning his duality of soul and body, turns to the existential union of the two in the form of a bodily subject, showing that human existence can be understood through this bodily. He contrasts this analysis with philosophical analyzes, including Cartesian philosophy, in which he believes that sensory perception and the body as the foundation of human consciousness play an important role in his pre-reflective understanding of himself and the world. (shrink)

In this article, our aim is to examine the place of “reality” in Richard Rorty’s thought in view of the important and key discussion of language in the philosophy of this thinker. In other words, we know that with the occurrence of the “linguistic turn” in the middle of the twentieth century, the relationship between language and reality has become one of the central debates of philosophy, especially analytical philosophy, and has become of particular importance. Is it language that determines (...) the external reality for us? Is knowing the world outside the mind possible only through the possibilities that language gives us? And to what extent does the structure of language affect our cognitive pattern? These are only a part of the linguistic concerns that have occupied the minds of contemporary philosophers. The main concern and problem of the present article, which has been approached using a descriptive-analytical method, is to examine the relationship between language and reality in Richard Rorty’s thought and to show how he defends the linguistic structure of having reality. Rorty, following an analytical philosophy that, in addition to detailed analyses of traditional philosophical concepts, like the concepts of truth, meaning, necessity, etc. and by changing the discussion from experience to discussion from language in the direction of pragmatizing the basic principles of positivism, believes that it is trans-lingual and trans-temporal. The common denominator that Plato found in the outside world and transferred to man in the Cartesian-Kantian tradition is sought in analytic philosophy in language, and so analytic philosophers continue to pursue the traditional philosophy project of providing a trans-historical and eternal framework for the accurate representation of the world. Rorty tries to overcome this view of analytical philosophers with a Darwinist and pragmatic view of language and under the influence of philosophers such as Wittgenstein.For Darwinists, language is a tool among other tools that gives its users the ability to better and more efficiently adapt to their environment and meet their needs. For the likes of Wittgenstein and like-minded people, despite their many and sometimes profound differences, language had an important and pivotal place with its eventual and possibility feature. Influenced by thinkers such as Wittgenstein, and in the context of his Darwinist and pragmatic approach to language, Rorty attributes certain characteristics to language that can be said to influence his whole thought. Firstly, he considers language as a tool like other tools and, therefore, considers it to have no fixed nature and identity. Given that it is not possible to leave the language and on the other hand language has a poetic and metaphorical character, the function of language cannot be a representation of reality and reality can never be available to us naked and as independent of language and descriptions. Therefore, from Rorty’s point of view, reality is a linguistic and constructed matter of language that we humans have invented in cooperation with each other and in accordance with our historical-cultural situation and needs. Of course, Rorty’s point in saying that reality is made by language is by no means that we create reality arbitrarily and as we wish; rather, what is happening is that we are responding to an external stimulus, a response of various sentence types that manifests itself as linguistic reactions. (shrink)

Interpretation of the verses of Qurʿān has a history back to the early revelation. Muslims believe that Qurʿān is the word of God, which is revealed to Muhammad, and therefore, understanding the real purpose of the Qurʿān, is vital. Reading the Qurʿān, for traditional Muslims was not like reading a scientific or historical text, it was rather encountering with a metaphysical reality that is formulated in the form of the letters, words, verses, and chapters with the goal of educating (...) man to realize his/her potential faculties in becoming what he/she is created for. In this encounter with a sacred reality that connected them to both visible and invisible realm, they sought to find out the core meaning of the revealed message. Sufis described the text in a way was such as a mirror in which everyone who tried to look at it saw himself. This paper investigates the mirror in which Sufis looked upon the Islamic revelation. (shrink)

This paper makes a distinction between ahistorical causal-functional kinds and historical kinds, which include both type- and token-historical kinds, some of which are “copied kinds.” After showing how these distinctions play out in various social sciences, a number of reasons are put forward for the historical individuation of some social kinds. As in the natural sciences, historical individuation in the social sciences can enable us to infer common causes, explain synchronic causal properties, and discover exceptions to causal regularities, among other (...) epistemic aims. (shrink)

This article discusses the haul stage which is held once a year on the date of death of the fourth former President of the Republic of Indonesia, namely Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur), which demonstrates harmonious relations between adherents of different religions in Indonesia. Consequently, the haul rituals have become vehicles for affirming understandings of the interfaith dialogue. This study aims to map the use of haul rituals to promote interfaith value. Analysing YouTube videos, this study finds that interfaith dialogue forms (...) have been reflected in: (1) declarations of a cross-religious ideology, (2) the involvement of interfaith figures, and (3) the inclusivist discourses themselves. Gus Dur’s haul, thus, has provided collaborative spaces wherein interfaith dialogue value can be sustainably structured.Contribution: This research contributes to exploration of the haul stage, which takes place annually on the death anniversary of former Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur). (shrink)

This article provides a brief background of how Comparative Theology is understood today, to point out features of how it is practiced that are responsive to issues peculiar to contemporary Catholicism, and to suggest how a version of CT might be developed that is more consistent with Islamic traditions of thought on related issues. In order to accomplish this last goal, a brief introduction to the traditional “Islamic sciences” is provided. It will be suggested that an Islamic Comparative Theology (ICT) (...) can be understood as a multidisciplinary field that draws on several Islamic sciences, as well as research in religious studies. I argue in favor of a blurring of the distinction between Comparative Religion and Comparative Theology, and point out that relevant discussions are to be found across a variety of traditional Islamic sciences, but that it would be advantageous to collect these discussions together and to augment them with information gleaned from both secular and Islamic approaches to the teachings of Muslim thinkers about theological issues, broadly understood, in comparison with what is found in non-Islamic traditions in such a manner to enrich our own understandings of the issues and those with whom we engage in dialogue. (shrink)

_This study examines the proposition that exports cause growth in gross domestic product GDP in the economy of Pakistan from 1973 to 2022. The study intends to analyze the export promotion strategy that was adopted by Pakistan's economy in the 1990s. Cointegration test reveals there is a long-run relationship between these two variables. However, causality is proved in both short and long-run from GDP to exports. The Trade openness and export growth both are prolonged association but in case of Pakistan (...) persistent depreciation of PKR could not achieve desired level of export earning which implies that J-Curve theory does not exist in Pakistan. This implies that growth in the domestic production base is vital to expansion in exports. The government or policymakers should give importance to and incentivize various production sectors of an economy so that they can contribute to the expansion of export markets._. (shrink)

AI for social good is a thriving research topic and a frequently declared goal of AI strategies and regulation. This article investigates the requirements necessary in order for AI to actually serve a public interest, and hence be socially good. The authors propose shifting the focus of the discourse towards democratic governance processes when developing and deploying AI systems. The article draws from the rich history of public interest theory in political philosophy and law, and develops a framework for ‘public (...) interest AI’. The framework consists of (1) public justification for the AI system, (2) an emphasis on equality, (3) deliberation/ co-design process, (4) technical safeguards, and (5) openness to validation. This framework is then applied to two case studies, namely SyRI, the Dutch welfare fraud detection project, and UNICEF’s Project Connect, that maps schools worldwide. Through the analysis of these cases, the authors conclude that public interest is a helpful and practical guide for the development and governance of AI for the people. (shrink)

Kinds that share historical properties are dubbed “historical kinds” or “etiological kinds,” and they have some distinctive features. I will try to characterize etiological kinds in general terms and briefly survey some previous philosophical discussions of these kinds. Then I will take a closer look at a few case studies involving different types of etiological kinds. Finally, I will try to understand the rationale for classifying on the basis of etiology, putting forward reasons for classifying phenomena on the basis of (...) diachronic features, thereby making a provisional case for considering at least some etiological kinds to be natural kinds. (shrink)

Includes an introd. of 49 p. by S. G. Abbas.

Asking whether the sexes are natural kinds amounts to asking whether the categories, female and male, identify real divisions in nature, like the distinctions between biological species, or whether they mark merely artificial or arbitrary distinctions. The distinction between females and males in the animal kingdom is based on the relative size of the gametes they produce, with females producing larger gametes (ova) and males producing smaller gametes (sperm). This chapter argues that the properties of producing relatively large and small (...) gametes are causally correlated with a range of other properties in a wide variety of organisms, and this is what makes females and males natural kinds in the animal kingdom. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the relationship between sex and gender: while the difference between the sexes is biologically grounded, the difference between genders is socially based. Since gender depends in part on the perception of sex, whether or not gender is real or not does not depend on whether sex is, since social reality is constituted in part by our perceptions. The claim that sexes are natural kinds in the animal kingdom does not imply that the biological differences among female and male humans do and should have social consequences. (shrink)

Nūr Muḥammad is one of the teachings in Sufism that studies the beginning of the creation of the universe. The Sufis discussed Nūr Muḥammad through God's tajallī (manifestation), and they believed that only Insan Kamil (Perfect Humans) possessed the perfection of His tajallī. This Sufi theory can be comprehended through the dhawqi approach. This research will deal with Nūr Muḥammad's theory of Sufism through the perspective of Tijaniyah Tarekat. The data for this study was obtained through library research utilizing a (...) documentary technique. The collected data will be analyzed using the descriptive analysis method. This study finds that the Tijaniyah Tarekat is a Sufism institution that bases its teachings and practices on the concept of Nūr Muḥammad in the form of ṣalawāt al-fātiḥ and ṣalawāt jawharah al-kamāl. This Tarekat's elucidation of Nūr Muḥammad is also built on and consistent with the explication of authoritative Sufis in Islam's intellectual and spiritual tradition. (shrink)

Mankind is faced with a number of serious problems that demand an effective solution. The prevalence of injustice and the frequency of financial crises are two of the most serious of these problems. Consisting of an in-depth introduction along with a selection of eight of Muhammad Umer Chapra's essays--four on Islamic economics and four on Islamic finance--this timely book raises the question of what can be done to not only minimize the frequency and severity of the financial crises, but (...) also make the financial system more equitable. The author considers the origins of Islamic economics and outlines its development and underlying principles. He compares the approach taken to ethics and economics in Islam with that taken in the West, considering whether lessons can be applied to the global financial architecture in order to mitigate against financial crises. The book also examines the case against interest and looks at both innovation in Islamic finance, as well as challenges facing the industry. Written by a leading authority in the field, this book will be a stimulating resource for students and researchers in Islamic economics and finance, as well as providing valuable insight to all of those with an interest in financial systems and their interaction with society. (shrink)

The central issue in this work is self-knowledge. The human soul is created in the Image of God with a purpose.

In general it is found that the corporate managers and stockholders possess totally different view about good governance of a company. Managers strongly believe that governance of their companies is quite well but stockholders view that it is very poor. The study found that the groups differ in perception especially in terms of turnover, production, capital, leverage, debt service, credit policy, solvency, human resource, recruitment, technology, customer satisfaction, internal control, strength, opportunity, competition, industry position, collective bargaining agent (CBA) issues, and (...) economic remedies; whereas, they have similar view in terms of adequacy of research fund, company weaknesses and threats, contingency plans, presence of political influence. The managers think that the companies do not have enough retained earnings and these should not be distributed among stockholders, but the stockholders thinkotherwise. Managers always perceive that they are underpaid whereas stockholders express the opposite view. Each group believes that it is the other group that dominates the decision-making. Both the group wants to have mutual interaction but stockholders want to interact more than the mangers. The study noted that corporate managers’ tenure is more with the company than a stockholder’s holding of stock. The study also found that the managers are better educated than the stockholders. The study observed serious gender biasness both in management position and stockholding of the corporations. Though both the groups belong to same age level but their distribution shows stockholders enter into the share market at an early age. (shrink)

Los estudios modernos sobre derecho islámico han puesto de relieve la necesidad de estudiar los procedimientos jurídicos en el Islam y el papel desempeñado por la práctica judicial en su formación. Se considera en general que, en el período temprano, los cadíes disponían de mayor libertad en lo relativo a testigos y métodos para establecer pruebas. Posteriormente y de forma gradual el sistema se volvió más rígido y restrictivo. En relación a este desarrollo, los investigadores han propuesto distintas fechas, que (...) van desde la segunda mitad del siglo VII hasta el siglo VIII e incluso hasta el siglo XI. Estos investigadores han tratado la doctrina de al-yamīn ma‛ al-šàhid como una excepción dentro del procedimiento establecido por la šarī‛a que, según ellos, se basaba estricta y mecánicamente en la doctrina de los dos testigos. Para dichos investigadores, la doctrina de al-yamīn ma‛ al-šàhid surgió bajo la influencia de determinadas locadidades o bien por influencia judía. Este artículo propone que esa doctrina debió de surgir en el contexto del período de la guerra civil, cuando las cuestiones sobre qiṣāṣ, qawad, qasāma y ḥakam fueron discutidas con frecuencia en relación con el Corán y la sunna común y cuando se sintió la necesidad de reformar la institución del ḥakam. Sobre la base de afirmaciones dispersas de ulemas que vivieron en fechas cercanas a ese período, afirmaciones que se ven confirmadas por los comentarios de Wakī‛, se concluye que Mu‛āwiya fue quien introdujo ese método para reformar la institución del ḥakam. La práctica judicial de esta doctrina también confirma que estaba demasiado difundida como para poder considerarla una práctica medinense o una práctica local, tal y como pretenden algunos juristas clásicos, los tradicionistas y algunos investigadores modernos. (shrink)

With the growing call for private sector actors to address global challenges, it is necessary to first assess whether regions with the greatest needs are accessing corporate philanthropy. In this paper, we ask whether corporate philanthropy is reaching those with the greatest health-care needs. Drawing on economic geography and corporate homophily, we argue that corporate philanthropy tends to exacerbate health inequality as grants are destined for counties with fewer health problems. We test and find support for this hypothesis using data (...) on health grants made by US corporate foundations and county-level health data. Our results that corporate health grants are less likely to go to counties which have a lower proportion of medical service providers and insured citizens suggest that corporate foundations are unwittingly complicit in worsening the resource gap between small, poor, rural counties and large, wealthy, urban counties. From an ethical perspective, we provide some guidance as to how this may be corrected. (shrink)

Saba Mahmood’s anthropological work studies the gain in skills, agency and capacity building by the women’s dawa movement in Egypt. These women increase their virtue toward the goal of piety by following dominant, often patriarchal norms. Mahmood argues that “teleological feminism” ignores this gain in agency because this kind of feminism only focuses on opposition or resistance to these norms. In this paper I defend Mahmood’s “anti-teleological” feminist work from criticisms that her project valorizes oppression and has no vision for (...) a nonoppressive feminist future. I argue the future envisioned by teleological feminists gets caught in “the Hegelian” trap of replicating past oppression in their feminist future. I find in Mahmood’s work the tools to escape this trap. I argue, rather than a movement of overcoming oppression, Mahmood’s work suggests an immanent and creative movement that emphasizes difference for a truly new future. I turn to a Bergsonian metaphor and argue that this movement can be seen as akin to the movement of biological evolution. I conclude using the work of Eve Sedgwick that the Egyptian women that Mahmood studies are being read in a “paranoid” fashion and demonstrate using Leila Ahmed a better “reparative” reading of these women. (shrink)

I begin the first part by showing how situationism should make us question traditional understandings of virtues as intrinsic dispositions. I concentrate specifically on situationist experiments related to mood. I then introduce Islamic virtue ethics and the dawa movement. In parts two and three I examine ethnography of the dawa movement to explore how they deal with worries about the influence of mood on their virtue. In part two I show how they train their habits in very traditional virtue ethics (...) ways in order to be more resilient when faced with virtue-diminishing affective situations. In part three I show how the situation, rather than hindering practitioners, is recruited into helping these women achieve piety. I conclude, in part four, by showing the dawa movement's creative use of the Islamic veil as a way to help these women deal with the objection that one cannot avoid all bad situations. Going beyond social psychological experiments, I examine two methodological sources not found in situationist debates. First, I argue for ethnography as an empirical method through which to study virtue. I draw on ethnography of the Islamic women's dawa movement. Secondly, the work in the philosophy of mind on ‘affective scaffolding’. (shrink)

IntroductionOne of the most important duties of hospital ethics committees is to provide medical ethics consultation to the staff and patients. This study was conducted with the aim of the needs assessment of the staff for optimal provision of medical ethics consultation services.Materials and methodsThe data collection tool was a self-administered questionnaire. Hospital managers, chief nursing officers, ward managers, and head nurses of all hospitals affiliated with Tehran and Iran University of Medical Sciences entered the study. The questionnaire together with (...) an invitation letter was sent to the samples. In the next stage, telephone follow-up of the incomplete forms was performed by the research team.ResultsA total of 448 persons participated in this study (response rate: 54.2%). The mean frequency of the need for ethics consultation in each ward was 5.2 times in the last 3 months with a median of 3. The highest needs for consultation, which were common in all wards, were observed in treatment rejection by the patient, providing necessary information to obtain informed consent and obtaining consent to high risk procedures, conflict between the decisions made by the patient and the family members, decision making for the high risk patient, request for futile or inappropriate treatments, giving bad news, and decision making for the incompetent patient.ConclusionThe prevalence of ethical issues in clinical wards is variably high. The ethical issues in the clinical setting are mainly related to respect for the patient’s autonomy and competency for decision making. (shrink)

Introduction: This study, the first of its kind in Iran, was to assess Iranian patients’ preferences for receiving information and participating in decision-making and to evaluate their satisfaction with how medical information is given to them and with their participation in decision-making at present. Method and materials: 299 of 312 eligible patients admitted to general internal medicine or surgery wards from May to December 2006 were interviewed according to a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire contained questions about patients’ preferences regarding four (...) domains of information and their participation in decision-making. Patients’ responses were measured on a visual analogue scale graded from 1 to 10. Results: The mean (SD) score for desire to receive information was 8.88 out of 10 (1.5) and for participation in medical decision-making was 7.75 out of 10 (3). The desire to receive information was greater in women than men (9.0 (1.5) vs 7.8 (1.4), p = 0.025). It was also correlated with their education (r = 0.2, p = 0.001) and their estimation of the severity of their own disease (r = 0.13, p = 0.027). The score for preference to participate in decision-making was higher in women than in men (7.95 (2.8) and 7.0 (3.2), respectively; β = 0.8, p = 0.022) and was negatively correlated with education (r = −0.14, p = 0.015). Discussion: This study shows that Iranian patients are highly interested in receiving information about their condition and participating in clinical decision-making. No predictive variable for such attitudes was found; therefore, the only way for the physician to recognise patients’ desire is to ask them explicitly. (shrink)

Synthesizing theories of ethical leadership, psychological climate, pro-environmental behavior, and gender, first, we proposed and tested a model linking supervisors’ ethical leadership and organizational environmental citizenship behavior via green psychological climate. Then we tested the moderating effect of gender on the indirect (via green psychological environment) relationship between supervisors’ ethical leadership and organizational environmental citizenship behavior. Time-lagged (three waves, two months apart) survey data were collected from 447 employees in various manufacturing and service sector firms operating in China. Data were (...) analyzed using structural equation modeling, bootstrapping, and multi-group technique to test the hypothesized relationships. The results showed a positive relationship between employee ratings of supervisors’ ethical leadership and organizational environmental citizenship behavior. Moreover, green psychological climate mediates the relationship between supervisors’ ethical leadership and organizational environmental citizenship behavior. Importantly, the multi-group analysis revealed that gender moderates the indirect relationship (via green psychological climate) between supervisors’ ethical leadership and organizational environmental citizenship behavior. The study carries useful practical implications for policymakers and managers concerned about environmental sustainability. (shrink)

The notion of 'natural kinds' has been central to contemporary discussions of metaphysics and philosophy of science. Although explicitly articulated by nineteenth-century philosophers like Mill, Whewell and Venn, it has a much older history dating back to Plato and Aristotle. In recent years, essentialism has been the dominant account of natural kinds among philosophers, but the essentialist view has encountered resistance, especially among naturalist metaphysicians and philosophers of science. Informed by detailed examination of classification in the natural and social sciences, (...) this book argues against essentialism and for a naturalist account of natural kinds. By looking at case studies drawn from diverse scientific disciplines, from fluid mechanics to virology and polymer science to psychiatry, the author argues that natural kinds are nodes in causal networks. On the basis of this account, he maintains that there can be natural kinds in the social sciences as well as the natural sciences. (shrink)

The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has badly affected the social, physical, and emotional health of workers, especially those working in the healthcare sectors. Drawing on social exchange theory, we investigated the effects of participative leadership on employees’ workplace thriving and helping behaviors among frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, we examined the moderating role of a leader’s behavioral integrity in strengthening the relationship between participative leadership, and employees’ workplace thriving and helping behaviors. By using a two-wave time-lagged design and (...) data collected from 244 healthcare workers, a moderated hierarchal regression was implemented to test the proposed hypotheses. As hypothesized, participative leadership predicted employees’ workplace thriving and helping behaviors. The leader’s behavioral integrity strengthened the relationship between participative leadership and employees’ thriving and moderated the relationship between participative leadership helping behaviors. Implications for research, theory, and practice are discussed. (shrink)

Abstract Ab? Yazid al?Bist?mi (d. 874 AD) was a renowned early s?fi who exerted a tremendous influence upon the doctrinal formulation of the sufism of medieval times. A highly controversial figure, he is venerated by some as a top?ranking saint and s?fi, condemned by others as a notorious heretic, and there are still others who suspend judgement on him. More than 200 years after him al?Ghaz?li (1058?1111 AD) flourished as the greatest s?fi of all times; he examined and evaluated the (...) teachings of his s?fi predecessors including Ab? Yazid. To determine his evaluation of Ab? Yazid and his opinion on the related, well?known concept of man's union with God at the highest peak of spirituality is the main aim of this paper. To achieve this aim al?Ghaz?li's citations from Ab? Yazid's teachings on many basic doctrines of sufism, together with his explicit comments on them, are analysed in the second section of the paper, and he is found to have evaluated these teachings as of a very high grade and to have extolled Ab? Yazid as a s?fi of the highest rank. The third section studies al?Ghaz?li's opinion on the most important aspect of Ab? Yazid's teachings, i.e. his shatah?t or ecstatic utterances apparently expressive of union, fusion and divine indwelling. This began with a consideration of al?Ghaz?li's definition of two kinds of shath and his condemnation of them on the grounds of their harmful consequences. In connection with a study of his condemnation of the shatah?t of Ab? Yazid and al?Hall?j an investigation is made into his opinion on union and fusion. It is found that throughout his s?fi life he condemned them as false concepts. However Ab? Yazid's shatah?t, which apparently mean union, fusion, etc. are interpreted in an orthodox manner, and he is adjudged an elect of the elect, a gnostic who reached the level of reality of realities, a perfect s?fi who attained to God. All the above findings are based on al?Ghaz?li's explicit comments on Ab? Yazid. The fourth section of the paper deals with his implicit, indirect comments which also prove his appreciation of, and indebtedness to, Ab? Yazid in respect of several central concepts of sufism. (shrink)