A comprehensive account of denial viewed not only psychoanalytically but also philosophically.

The concept of merit good is a problematic concept in economic theory. The concept was introduced in 1956 by Richard Musgrave. In 1990, on the occasion of an international conference on the concept of merit good, John Head wrote that the concept of merit good raises methodologically difficult and controversial issues. The concept raises doubt about the ultimate normative authority of the consumer sovereignty principle. I will demonstrate that the concept deserves the attention of the philosophical profession for multiple reasons.

The first part of this study is a reflection on the writings of Lowi and Briefs, and deals with the transition from the ideal of liberty to interest-group liberalism in the United States. In the second part I offer an analysis of Hegel’s attempt to combine the ideals of justice and liberty within a political economy. The third part deals with further issues of economic justice raised by the Bishops’ recent Pastoral Letter.

Le Dasavatthuppakarana: Edited and translated by Jacqueline Ver Eecke. Publications de l'Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient, Paris, 1976. Distributed by Adrien-Maisonneuve, 11 rue Saint Sulpice, F-75006 Paris. xvi + 155 pp. Fcs. 65.00.

Adriaan Peperzak’s knowledge of the history of philosophy and his Continental philosophical nexus gives his Before Ethics a unique and welcome flavor. In eight essays on contemporary ethics written between 1969 and 1997, Peperzak analyzes our utilitarian, Kantian-deontological, and virtue-oriented ethical convictions in a thorough and enlightening manner.

In this paper, I will first draw attention to the central fact that Freud describes in his article on “Negation”; i.e., “recognition of the unconscious on the part of the ego is expressed in a negative formula.” Technically, such a negative formula is called denial. Second, I will ask whether such denials are accidental or necessary in the life of consciousness. To answer this question I will use the philosophical system of Hegel. I will make use of his ideas at (...) two levels of generality. At the first level of generality, I will analyze one of Hegel’s most famous and influential passages: “Lordship and Bondage.” Hegel presents this passage as a necessary moment in the development of consciousness. If we find in that passage a necessary denial, then we can argue that denial is not just a fact but is, at least in any philosophical anthropology akin to Hegel’s, a necessity. At the second level of generality, we will then quote two statements by Hegel, one about the nature of the will and one about the path to truth for consciousness. Both statements will be clarified by Hegel’s analysis of “Lordship and Bondage.” Both statements will be used to demonstrate that Hegel affirmed explicitly the necessity of negativity in the life of consciousness. (shrink)

The first part of this study is a reflection on the writings of Lowi and Briefs, and deals with the transition from the ideal of liberty to interest-group liberalism in the United States. In the second part I offer an analysis of Hegel’s attempt to combine the ideals of justice and liberty within a political economy. The third part deals with further issues of economic justice raised by the Bishops’ recent Pastoral Letter.

This essay offers a philosophical analysis of the role of the father-figure in the family. I argue that a Cartesian approach to this question is useless, and that Hegel, while he offers the beginning of an adequate analysis, falls short of the multiple-function model which an adequate analysis requires.

The concept of merit good is a problematic concept in economic theory. The concept was introduced in 1956 by Richard Musgrave. In 1990, on the occasion of an international conference on the concept of merit good, John Head wrote that the concept of merit good raises methodologically difficult and controversial issues. The concept raises doubt about the ultimate normative authority of the consumer sovereignty principle. I will demonstrate that the concept deserves the attention of the philosophical profession for multiple reasons.

The concept of merit good is a problematic concept in economic theory. The concept was introduced in 1956 by Richard Musgrave. In 1990, on the occasion of an international conference on the concept of merit good, John Head wrote that the concept of merit good raises methodologically difficult and controversial issues. The concept raises doubt about the ultimate normative authority of the consumer sovereignty principle. I will demonstrate that the concept deserves the attention of the philosophical profession for multiple reasons.

This paper examines the claim of G.W.F. Hegel that chemical thinking-the method of thinking employed in chemistry-marks a significant advance upon meCHANistic thinking-the method of thinking characteristic of physics. This is done in the context of Mancur Olson's theory of collective action and public goods. The analogy between the efficiency of a catalyst in bringing about chemical transformation and the function of leaders in free human society in developing latent groups to provide public goods is explored.

What follows is an argument that can be used to justify the introduction of philosophical, and specifically ethical, discourse into a wide range of university courses. The argument advanced is, we hope, both sufficiently formal to convince administrators, and sufficiently broad to convince students, of the practical importance that at least one area of philosophy has for the successful pursuit of even the most praxis-oriented career.

This book by a Harvard comparative law professor is philosophically important because it takes the position that law is not just an instrument to solve conflicts between human beings. Law is constitutive of meaning because legal language and legal concepts influence the manner in which we perceive the reality.

Adriaan Peperzak’s knowledge of the history of philosophy and his Continental philosophical nexus gives his Before Ethics a unique and welcome flavor. In eight essays on contemporary ethics written between 1969 and 1997, Peperzak analyzes our utilitarian, Kantian-deontological, and virtue-oriented ethical convictions in a thorough and enlightening manner.