Book reviewed in this article: Clinical Ethics: A Practical Approach to Ethical Decisions in Clinical Medicine. By Albert R. Jonsen, Mark Siegler, and William J. Winslade.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Measurement, Pleasure, and Practical Science in Plato's Protagoras HENRY S. RICHARDSON 1. INTRODUCTION TOWARDS THE END OF THE PROTAGORAS Socrates suggests that the "salvation of our life" depends upon applying to pleasures and pains a science of measurement (metr$tik~techn~).Whether Plato intended to portray Socrates as putting forward sincerely the form of hedonism that makes these pleasures and pains relevant has been the subject of a detailed and probably (...) interminable debate, to which this paper will not directly contribute. By contrast, it seems to be supposed by almost all who have written on the topic that this hedonism, whoever is espousing it, puts forward pleasure as a single, homogeneous yardstick of value to serve as the basis of a supremely simple standard of choice. This standard simply directs one to seek the maximal amount of pleasure. The underlying supposition is that the hedonism put forward in the Protagorasallows one to define a maximum because all goods are commensurable. But, as I shall emphasize in the sequel, hedonism does not imply commensurability, nor does commensurability imply hedonism. The interpretive thesis of this essay is that the common presumption that the dialogue's hedonism carries commensurability with it has impeded our ability to understand the Protagor~'s relation to the other dialogues, and has distorted the fundamental purpose of Socrates's practical science. These matters are of more than textual interest. My reasons for trying to remain neutral as to the longstanding debate about attributing the dialogue's hedonism are not limited to wanting to avoid quagmires and remove confusions that have resulted from unwarranted interpretive assumptions. To many, the Protagorasis of tremendous importance as an early articulation of a calculative ideal for ethical or practical decisionmaking, whether or not Plato or Socrates was committed to that ideal. Looking [7] 8 JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY 28:1 JANUARY x99 o back at the Protagorasfrom our twentieth-century perspective encourages the expectation that we might find there some argument for the crucial features of such a calculative ideal, as we have come to understand it. One such feature, prominent especially in the classical utilitarians, is that of the commensurability of goods, which in turn allows the precise definition of a maximizing rule. If the Protagoraspresented a calculative conception involving commensurability, then we might expect to find in the dialogue some argumentfor the rational necessity of commensurability. My claim will be that since there is no compelling evidence that the idea of commensurability is found in the dialogue, there is'hardly likely to be an argument for it there. In fact, it is of philosophical interest to see how far the arguments against weakness of will and for the unity of virtue (whoever is making them) can proceed without relying upon commensurability; This way of putting the philosophical points at issue here underlines the relative modesty of what I am claiming about commensurability. I argue that there is nothing in the dialogue that requires us to see commensurability as part of its hedonism, that the arguments proceed without relying upon commensurability, and that in some respects the problem of understanding the relationship of the Protagorasto Plato's other dialogues is eased if we refrain from attributing any commensurability here. I will show that a clearer picture of what is doing the argumentative work in the last secdon of the dialogue will result if we thus separate commensurability from hedonism, and that an illuminatingly different way of understanding the role of the science of measurement is thereby suggested. None of this amounts to a compelling argument that the idea of commensurability is not to be found in the dialogue. Rather, my case simply undermines the positive reasons for finding the idea there. Apart from the greater clarity which separating hedonism and commensurability allows, this modest negative case links up with the deeper philosophical moti,~ation I have mentioned by casting cold water on any hopes that the Protagorascould be made to yield an argument specifically linking commensurability to rationality. In one respect, my interpretive strategy is akin to that of commentators who have attempted to ease the tension between the Protagorasand the Gorgias by arguing that the form of hedonism... (shrink)

This chapter discusses how formal models of argumentation can clarify philosophical problems and issues. Some of these arise in the field of epistemology, where it has been argued that the principles by which knowledge can be acquired are defeasible. Other problems and issues originate from the fields of informal logic and argumentation theory, where it has been argued that outside mathematics the standards for the validity of arguments are context-dependent and procedural, and that what matters is not the syntactic form (...) but the persuasive force of an argument.Formal models of argumentation are of two kinds. Argumentation logics formalise the idea that an argument only warrants its conclusion if it can be defended against counterarguments. Dialogue systems for argumentation regulate how dialogue participants can resolve a conflict of opinion. This chapter discusses how argumentation logics can define non-deductive consequence notions and how their embedding in dialogue systems for argumentation can account for the context-dependent and procedural nature of argument evaluation and for the dependence of an argument’s persuasive force on the audience in an argumentation dialogue. (shrink)

In this paper a new use case for legal argumentation support tools is considered: supporting discussions about analyses of complex criminal cases with the help of Bayesian probability theory. By way of a case study, two actual discussions between experts in court cases are analysed on their argumentation structure. In this study the usefulness of several recognised argument schemes is confirmed, a new argument scheme for arguments from statistics are proposed, and an analysis is given of debates between experts about (...) the validity of their arguments. From a practical point of view the case study yields insights into the design of support software for discussions about Bayesian analyses of complex criminal cases. (shrink)

Catholic University Of America, Philosophical Studies, V99.

This essay posits that psychology’s general lack of respect as a science stems from two related problems: the continued focus on conceptually vague mentalistic constructs and the adherence to a methodology that emphasizes statistical inference over experimental analysis. The lack of a thoroughgoing experimental analysis has so far prevented psychologists from discovering a set of foundational principles thus inhibiting them from being able to predict and control individual behavior. Psychologists can remake their conceptual and methodological foundations by focusing on the (...) relationship between observed behavior and its context and by adopting methods of experimentation that would aid in the discovery of orderly functional relationships. This knowledge could be used to more parsimoniously explain complex behavior, including cognitive phenomena, and to more effectively solve practical problems. (shrink)

A commentary on “SUPPORT: Risks, Harms, and Equipoise,” by Robert M. Nelson; “The Controversy over SUPPORT Continues and the Hyperbole Increases,” by Alan R. Fleischman; and “SUPPORT and the Ethics of Study Implementation,” by John D. Lantos and Chris Feudtner, all in the January‐February 2015 issue.

Medical research is still in its infancy. Within the memory of many of us, medical knowledge has made more progress than had been achieved in all the preceding time since the beginning of history. We have witnessed the reduction of our death rate, the extension of our life span and the achievement of a general state of health hitherto unknown.

The ethical conduct of research is central to the integrity of universities, where research and graduate education are inseparable.In the medical sciences, those who first describe a new feature, whether it's an anatomical structure, clinical sign or symptom, disease, physiological entity, or surgical procedure, often have their discoveries named after them. The insider knows what is meant by such eponymous, abstract designations as Padget's disease, the circle of Willis, Pavlov's dog, Asperger's syndrome, or the Papanicoulaou test. This kind of acknowledgment (...) is not just restricted to medicine, it also applies to other fields of science and technology, where terms like the Heisenberg uncertainty principle .. (shrink)

This article addresses the relative silence of American intellectuals in the face of what can be termed the greatest act of terrorism ever committed by a nation-state, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I analyze this indifference by American intellectuals as partly due to their taming by a cultural apparatus that functions largely as a disimagination machine in conjunction with the neoliberal forces of commodification, privatization, and militarism. I argue that terror and violence are now addressed within a public pedagogy (...) driven by a spectacle of violence that defines itself as entertainment but is actually a form of public pedagogy that thrives on an excess of representation and an attempt to produce a collective surrender to political cynicism and apocalyptic despair. In this instance, despair and cynicism, if not a retreat from any sense of moral responsibility, are deeply embedded in a mode of politics in which education is central to a flight from social responsibility and an embrace of modes of depoliticization. The article concludes by calling upon educators, intellectuals, artists and others to create the institutions, public spheres, and other sites necessary to develop a critical formative culture capable of reclaiming public memory while simultaneously producing critically engaged intellectuals and a vibrant democratic polity. (shrink)

The analogy between humans and computers as language processors has previously been exploited primarily with respect to the parsing or analysis phase of processing, as opposed to a synthesis phrase. Here we pursue the analogy on the synthesis side by positing cognitive algorithms that correspond to target language code generated by a compiler. We consider the computational resource demands of these cognitive algorithms and compare them to what is required to carry out syntactic and semantic processing. It is argued that (...) cognitive demands are responsible for certain empirical results in developmental psycholinguistics that have previously been attributed to syntactic complexity. The analysis suggests new empirical studies whose results, in turn, provide support for the analysis. (shrink)

RésuméAprès avoir déflni la Psychologie comme la science des personnaliés, de leurs activité au sein des situations qui les confrontent, et de leur développement dans un milieu physique, social et culturel donné, le Dr Murray formule un certain nombre de propositions et conceptions théo‐riques destinées à rendre compte des faits psychiques. Les unes sont ?ordre général, les autres concernent la motivation. Propositions générales. 1. La personnalitéà son siège dans le cerveau.2. Elle dure et se développe dans le temps par suite (...) des opérations qu'elle est amenée à produire.3. Ces opérations sont internes ou externes, et correspondent à des attitudes ?introversion ou ?extroversion. Toutes comportent une dimension temporelle, un début, un déroulement de longueur variable, une fin.4. Les opérations externes sont constituteées ?une série de champs momentanés , le champ lui‐même résultant de la combinaison ?une situation externe et ?un état interne. II importe de distinguer de la situation réelle, la situation telle que la voit le sujet. Cette distinction revêt une importance particulière dans le cas des relations sociales.5. Ľobjet ?étude du Psychologue consiste alors, non pas dans le comportement du seul sujet, mais dans ľinteraction du sujet et de ľobjet. Celle‐ci, avec ses deux aspects complémentaires de besoin et de pression est ce que le Dr Murray à appeié ailleurs un théme.6. Les actions Psychologiques s'ordonnént fréquemment en séquences tendant àľobtention ?un but éioigné. Les démarches intermédiates s'expliquent alors, non pas par ľinfluence des facteurs externes contemporains, mais par celle des facteurs internes antérieurs. Ce sont, non des réactions, mais des proactions. Elles ne sont pas homéostatiques et subor‐données à la restitution ?un équilibre antérieur, mais _HYPERLINK “superstatiqu.es” et visant à la production de quelque chose de neuf. Séquences et proactions composent pour une grande part ľego‐system.7. Ľévolution de la personnalité s'ordonné en périodes relativement longues dont il est possible de prendre au cours de brefs laps de temps une sorte ?échantillonnage.8. La personnalité fait montre ?une intégration variable, perceptible aux niveaux des opérations, des séquences ou des périodes.9. Elle se transforme sans cesse par ľeffet des opérations ou elle est engageée, ces transformations graduelles et insensibles pouvant s'accumuler jusquà déclencher à un moment donné des revirements spectaculaires tels que les conversions.10. Le donné du Psychologue est de deux sortes: faits subjectifs communiqués par le sujet, faits objectifs recueillis par ľobservateur extérieur. II importe ensuite ?expliquer ce donné, autrement dit de construire une représentation hypothétique du psychisme du sujet, qui permette de comprendre ses conduites passées et de prédire ses conduites futures. Ces constructions n'ont pas encore atteint le stade ?une tľpologie satisfaisante. Concepts relatifs à la motivation. Dans la représentation théorique dont il vient ?être parlé, une place éminente revient aux concepts relatifs à la motivation: tendance, instinct, besoin, vecteur psychique concu à la façon de Lewin. La Psychologie américaine à pendant longtemps tendu à restreindre le nombre de ces besoins, et à n'admettre comme tout à fait fondamentaux et originels que ceux qui concernent la nourriture et le sexe. II est impossible de comprendre les actions humaines si ľon ne réserve une place à des tendances, activités et satisfactions ?un ordre plus élevé. Notamment:1. Ľêtre vivant peut dépenser le surplus ?énergie dont il dispose dans des actions spontanées, non déclenchées par un stimulus externe. Ľaction trouve alors sa gratification en elle‐même et non dans le résultat qu'elle procure .2. Un plaisir supplémentaire peut résulter de la manière plus ou moins harmonieuse dont se déroule ľaction, indépendamment de ľeffet où elle arrive.3‐4. Il existe des besoins ?ordre mental oùľesprit cherche sa satisfaction propre et non celle de ľorganisme. On voit alors ľimagination ľemporter sur la perception et le donné s'analyser et se recomposer en créations originales. Ces besoins et les actes qu'ils provoquent procurent les trois sortes de plaisirs distingués plus haut. Leur but n'est pas préala‐blement donné, mais doit être construit pièce par pièce.5‐6. à côté des besoins positifs existent des besoins négatifs qui poussent àéviter, exclure, ou détruire. De même, aux besoins réactifs s'opposent les besoins proactifs, spontanés et créateurs. Les premiers peuvent devenir proréactifs par ľintervention de ľanticipation, les seconds réproactifs sous ľeffet de circonstances inattendues. Ces diverses sortes de conduites peuvent servir à classer les individus ?après la place considérable ou réduite qu'elles occupent dans son comportement.7. Les besoins se spécifient par canalisation ou cathection . Ils peuvent aussi par généralisation sétendre à de nouveaux objets. Ľexcès ou le manque absolu de fixation sont des symptômes ?immaturityé. – Une importance particulière revient, dans le cadre de cette théorie, à la notion freudienne de cathexis. Certains objets et buts sont adoptés à la faveur de circonstances où joue le trial and error. Dautres, purement idéaux àľorigine, sont recherchds par ľindividu sans jamais avoir été rencontrés par lui. Si le trial and error intervient ici, c'est sur le plan de ľimagination. – La Psychologie américaine à restreint en général la notion et le terme ?apprentissage àľacquisition des moyens de satisfaction àľexclusion des fins. De même, la civilisation contemporaine, si elle à prodigieusement développé’ les techniques, à perdu la notion ?un commun idéal humaniste. II importerait de revenir, ?un point de vue théorique non moins que pratique, àľapprentissage des fins, autrement dit au processus par lequel ľindividu, sous la poussée de besoins largement indifférenciés adopte tel nouveau but, s'attache à telle valeur, jugée par lui source de satisfaction.8. Les besoins peuvent être conscients ou inconscients. Dans le dernier cas, ľindividu les refoule sous la pression des impératifs sociaux. Ils se mafestent alors de diverses façons détournées, éventuellement névrotiques, et peuvent se retourner contre le sujet.9‐10. II existe un ordre ?urgence dans la satisfaction des besoins, les plus biologiques réclamant le plus impérieusement satisfaction, les plus Aleves et altruistes ne se faisant sentir qu'ensuite.11. La Psychologic sociale récente à artificiellement dissoci^ les notions ?inUret, attitude et valeur de celle de besoin. Mais la notion de besoin à son tour demande une analľse plus poussee. Le besoin comprend deux composantes : Ľaction à quoi il pousse ou vedeur proprement dit, la valeur ou entite valorisee au benefice de laquelle s'effectue cette action. Toute conduite concrete apparait alors comme un systéme valeur‐uecteur et peut être analľsee de ce double point de vue. (shrink)