We discuss some recent work by Tim Maudlin concerning Black Hole Information Loss. We argue, contra Maudlin, that there is a paradox, in the straightforward sense that there are propositions that appear true, but which are incompatible with one another. We discuss the significance of the paradox and Maudlin's response to it.

We show a sense in which the spacetime property of effective completeness—a type of “local hole-freeness” or “local inextendibility”—is not stable.

J B O O’Malley; Style and Education, Journal of Philosophy of Education, Volume 1, Issue 1, 30 May 2006, Pages 19–28, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9752.1967.t.

In its dominantly ahistorical character, the Journal of Religious Ethics has much in common with its counterparts among philosophical journals, show- ing as clearly as they do the widespread antihistorical bias of twentieth- century analytical philosophy. Moreover, such historical work as the journal has published has been tied unnecessarily closely to the voluntarist (divine command) paradigm. While drawing attention to the antivoluntarist strand in the history of ethics, the articles by John Bowlin, Mark Cladis, and Mark Larrimore, together with the (...) introduction by Jennifer Herdt, demonstrate that the purposes of inquiry in religious ethics are better served by attending to the past than by ignoring it. (shrink)

J B O O’Malley; Style and Education, Journal of Philosophy of Education, Volume 1, Issue 1, 30 May 2006, Pages 19–28, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9752.1967.t.

Willey emphasizes the social-political context as the source of problems which neo-Kantian thought had to—and largely failed to—cope with. "I believe the neo-Kantians expressed the tentative and unsuccessful efforts of a segment of the upper bourgeoisie to make peace with the proletariat and to retain an attitude of cultural community with the West". The first of these two themes refers to the rapprochement of academic philosophy and socialism which is mainly associated with "the Marburg School," above all, F. A. Lange (...) and Hermann Cohen, which led to diverse practical extensions in Karl Vorländer, Kurt Eisner, and Eduard Bernstein. (shrink)

This, the fifth volume to appear in the "authoritative" edition of The Works of William James, is the first that is not strictly based on a previously published work, although 11 of the 21 essays were included in Collected Essays and Reviews, edited in 1920 by Ralph Barton Perry, and 2 in Memories and Studies, edited in 1911 by Henry James, the philosopher’s son. The selection is based on subject matter, "philosophy in a narrower sense" than was customary for James, (...) and subsequent volumes will include parallel collections of "essays in psychology, in religion and morality, and in psychic research". (shrink)

At once a distinguished mathematician and an important figure in the Vienna Circle, Hans Hahn conducted a seminar in 1924-25 on the Principia Mathematica to "a very large audience" of mathematicians and philosophers. Translated from the German and edited by Brian McGuinness, with a biographical introduction by Karl Menger, the present volume consists largely of papers in the philosophy of mathematics covering the years 1929-34. "Our adoption of Russell’s position," writes Hahn, "may cause some surprise in Germany where all ears (...) are tuned, to the controversy between... Hilbert and Brouwer." It turns out, however, that Wittgenstein has made the decisive move: mathematics consists of tautologies, Russell having "shown" how to get by without sets. (shrink)

In the paper I offer a brief sketch of one of the sources of utilitarianism. Our biological ancestry is a matter of fact that is not altered by the way we describe ourselves. With philosophical theories it is otherwise. Utilitarianism can be described in ways that make it look as if it is as old as moral philosophy – as J. S. Mill thought it was. For my historical purposes, it is more useful to have an account that brings out (...) what is specific about Benthamism and its descendants. Let us try to make do with the following. First, utilitarianism asserts that the fundamental requirement of morality is that we are to maximize good, for everyone and not just for the agent. This basic principle presupposes that it makes sense to think of aggregating goods to make a total, and of comparing amounts of good thus aggregated. Second, the good to be brought about is located in feelings of pleasure, and the evil to be avoided in feelings of pain. These feelings have inherent value or disvalue regardless of how they are caused to exist and regardless of their own consequences. Third, all moral principles can be derived from the requirement that good be maximized. The principles involved in evaluating agents as well as in giving moral direction to action are nothing but applications of the basic principle. (shrink)