Just Business provides the first comprehensive, reasoned framework for resolving questions of business ethics and corporate governance. Innovative, accessible, and global in scope, its powerful Ethical Decision Model can be used to manage the ethical problems of business as they arise in all their complexity and variety. Just Business combines business realism with philosophical rigor, and demonstrates that it is not necessary to emasculate or to adulterate business for business to be ethical. The book benefits from Elaine Sternberg's extensive experience (...) as an academic philosopher, an international investment banker, and head of successful businesses. She is now Principal of a London-headquartered consultancy firm, and Research Fellow in Philosophy at the University of Leeds. (shrink)

This is a much-needed development from the first edition that provides an update on the theory and research on love by world-renowned scientific experts. It explores love from a diverse range of standpoints: social-psychological, evolutionary, neuropsychological, clinical, cultural, and even political. It considers questions such as: how men and women differ in their love, what makes us susceptible to jealousy and envy in relationships, how love differs across various cultures? As the neuropsychological basis of love is examined, this study showcases (...) what attracts people to one another, why love has developed the way it has over time, and what evolutionary purpose it serves. It also analyses why and when love relationships both succeed and fail, which means readers will be rewarded with a better understanding of their own relationships and those of others, as well as what can be done to build a lasting, loving relationship. (shrink)

Discusses how theory knitting, as proposed by D. A. Kalmar and R. J. Sternberg , can be used to provide a basis for the construction of theory in unified psychology. This article opens first with a brief description of the goals of unified psychology, which is the multiparadigmatic, multidisciplinary, and integrated study of psychological phenomena through converging operations. Second, it briefly provides background on some of the major attempts to unify psychology. Third, the article describes the precepts of unified psychology (...) in more detail. Fourth and most importantly, the article discusses the role of theory knitting in unified psychology. Finally, the article summarizes the main points that have been made and their implications for future theory and research. 2012 APA, all rights reserved). (shrink)

Recently the terms “codes” and “information” as used in the context of molecular biology have been the subject of much discussion. Here I propose that a variety of structural realism can assist us in rethinking the concepts of DNA codes and information apart from semantic criteria. Using the genetic code as a theoretical backdrop, a necessary distinction is made between codes qua symbolic representations and information qua structure that accords with data. Structural attractors are also shown to be entailed by (...) the mapping relation that any DNA code is a part of (as the domain). In this framework, these attractors are higher-order informational structures that obviate any “DNA-centric” reductionism. In addition to the implications that are discussed, this approach validates the array of coding systems now recognized in molecular biology. (shrink)

The temporal granularity of consciousness may be far less fine than the real-time information processing mechanisms that underlie our sensitivity to small temporal differences. It is suggested that conscious time perception, like space perception, is subject to errors that belie a unitary underlying representation. E. R. Clay's concept of the “specious present,” an extended moment represented in consciousness, is suggested as an alternative to the more common notion of instantaneous experience that underlies much reasoning based on the “time of arrival” (...) in consciousness. (shrink)

In weitem Bogen behandeln die Griechischen Studien wichtige Momente der griechischen Geschichte von ihren Anfängen bis ins 4. Jahrhundert v. Chr. Besondere Aufmerksamkeit gilt zunächst - in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Basler Alttestamentler Klaus Seybold - dem Vergleich mit der parallelen Entwicklung in Israel / Juda, um das Charakteristische der griechischen Geschichte zu profilieren. Einen weiteren Schwerpunkt bildet das 4. Jahrhundert v. Chr. mit Studien zur Beurteilung der athenischen Demokratie und zur Bewertung des Tyrannen Dionysios von Syrakus als Wegbereiter der hellenistischen (...) Monarchie. Die letzten drei wissenschaftsgeschichtlichen Beiträge gelten vor allem Jacob Burckhardt und Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff. (shrink)

This essay reviews the philosophical roots and the development of the concept of creativity in the West and East. In particular, two conceptions of creativity that originated in the West--divinely inspired creativity and individual creativity--are discussed and compared to the two Eastern conceptions of creativity that are rooted in ancient Chinese philosophical thought--natural and individual creativity. Both Western and Eastern conceptions of individual creativity come from a theistic or cosmic tradition of either divinely inspired or natural creativity. However, a defining (...) feature of the Western concept of creativity--novelty--is not necessarily embraced by ancient Chinese concepts of creativity, but does exist in both modern Eastern conceptions. Reasons for cultural differences are explored and discussed. 2012 APA, all rights reserved). (shrink)

Ancient Chinese philosophical conceptions of intelligence differ markedly from those in the ancient Western tradition, and also from contemporary Western conceptions. Understanding these ancient Chinese conceptions of intelligence may help us better understand how a very important culture—Chinese culture—influences people's thinking and behavior, and may also help us broaden, deepen, as well as re-examine our own conceptions of intelligence. This article reviews two ancient Chinese conceptions of intelligence–the Confucian and Taoist– and discusses their ramifications for current thinking about intelligence and (...) its role in the world. 2012 APA, all rights reserved). (shrink)

A close scrutiny of the psychological literature reveals that many psychologists favor a 'segregative' approach to theory development. One theory is pitted against another, and the one that accounts for the data most successfully is deemed the theory of choice. However, an examination of the theoretical debates in which the segregative approach has been pursued reveals a variety of weaknesses to the approach, namely, masking an underlying theoretical indistinguishability of theoretical predictions, causing psychologists to focus unknowingly on different aspects of (...) the same phenomemon, and locking the theorist into a particular way of looking at a phenomemon. Although recent work in the philosophy of science has sought to develop a more satisfactory approach to theory development, this work also suffers from a variety of shortcomings. Work on intentionality and constructionism by philosophers of mind suggests an alternative to the segregative approach to theory development. We call this alternative the 'integrative' approach. In this approach one integrates the best aspects of a set of given theories with one's own ideas regarding the domain under investigation. Instead of emphasising those features that discriminate among theories, this approach seeks to identify those facets of competing theories that can provide a unified explanation of a given problem area. (shrink)

The first comprehensive coursebook on the psychology of wisdom, providing an engaging, balanced, and expert introduction to the field.

Die Herausforderung durch "das Neue" hat sich zu Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts noch einmal entscheidend verschärft. Bio-, Nano- und Medienwissenschaftler verkünden zum wiederholten Male Veränderungen, die das Gesicht und die Ordnung der "Welt" tiefgreifend umgestalten werden. Futurologen sprechen sogar von einer "zweiten Evolution", die sich bereits jetzt ankündige. Die Wahrnehmung des Neuen ist aber selbst eine historische Variable. Deshalb werden in diesem Bande zwei paradigmatische Typen von Gesellschaften auf ihren Umfang mit dem Neuen hin untersucht: eine traditionale, die Antike, und (...) eine modernisierende, die Renaissance. Inhaltlich geht es in beiden Bereichen um Fragen der Kunst- und Literaturtheorie, der ästhetischen und politischen Praxis, der gesellschaftlichen Herausforderungen, die das Neue begleiten, bis hin zu dem direkten Vergleich zweier herausragender Gestalten der beiden Epochen: Augustus und Cosimo di Medici. Dabei werden in den Aufsätzen von Altertumswissenschaftlern und Spezialisten für die Renaissance Konzepte unterschiedlicher historischer Gesellschaften nach ihren mentalen Dispositionen und Methoden befragt, um Traditionsbrüche, Innovationen sowie Imaginationen "des Neuen" zu reflektieren. (shrink)

This book presents startling evidence that state monopolies can produce better outcomes than the free market. It provides an empirical comparison of the property insurance market in five European countries: Britain, Spain, France, Switzerland, and Germany. The market and cost structures of insurers in each country are described, and particular features of each market and the outcomes for customers examined. The regulatory frameworks vary widely from country to country and so do the market outcomes, both in terms of premium level (...) and in terms of available insurance cover.In view of the increase in major floods and other forms of natural damage over the last decades, the non-availability of insurance cover in many competitive insurance systems is likely to become a major political issue. This book shows that state monopoly is an adequate policy response. Competitive insurance systems are shown to provide incomplete cover at a substantially higher cost. In mixed systems, where the private sector can obtain reinsurance from the state the state tends to end up paying most of the costs while the private insurance companies keep most of the premium income.The book will be of interest to academic economists interested in privatization, regulation, the theory of the firm, and insurance; Policy-makers concerned with regulation and privatization; Insurance companies, regulators, and analysts. (shrink)

This article is a synopsis of a triarchic theory of human intelligence. The theory comprises three subtheories: a contextual subtheory, which relates intelligence to the external world of the individual; a componential subtheory, which relates intelligence to the individual's internal world; and a two-facet subtheory, which relates intelligence to both the external and internal worlds. The contextual subtheory defines intelligent behavior in terms of purposive adaptation to, shaping of, and selection of real-world environments relevant to one's life. The normal course (...) of intelligent functioning in the everyday world entails adaptation to the environment; when the environment does not fit one's values, aptitudes, or interests, one may attempt to shape the environment so as to achieve a better person-environment fit; when shaping fails, an attempt may be made to select a new environment that provides a better fit. The two-facet subtheory further constrains this definition by regarding as most relevant to the demonstration of intelligence contextually intelligent behavior that involves either adaptation to novelty, automatization of information processing, or both. Efficacious automatization of processing allows allocation of additional resources to the processing of novelty in the environment; conversely, efficacious adaptation to novelty allows automatization to occur earlier in one's experience with new tasks and situations. The componential subtheory specifies the mental mechanisms responsible for the learning, planning, execution, and evaluation of intelligent behavior. Metacomponents of intelligence control one's information processing and enable one to monitor and later evaluate it; performance components execute the plans constructed by the metacomponents; knowledge-acquisition components selectively encode and combine new information and selectively compare new information to old so as to allow new information to be learned. (shrink)