In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Paul and Virtue Ethics: Building Bridges between New Testament Studies and Moral Theologyby Daniel J. Harrington, SJ, and James F. Keenan, SJKerry B. DannerPaul and Virtue Ethics: Building Bridges between New Testament Studies and Moral TheologyDaniel J. Harrington, SJ, and James F. Keenan, SJ lanham, md: rowman & littlefield, 2010. 220 pp. $44.00.James Keenan and the late Daniel Harrington deepen discourse between New Testament studies and virtue ethics (...) in Paul and Virtue Ethics, a companion to their 2002 Jesus and Virtue Ethics. Both books contribute to the Second Vatican Council’s call to perfect moral theology by deeply engaging with scripture ( Optatam totius, no. 16), and both demonstrate the richness of a virtue approach to scripture. Paul and Virtue Ethicsimproves on the previous work in two significant ways. First, the authors divide the book into four parts, allowing the reader to better follow and appreciate how it contributes to both fields. Second, while this book maintains a dialogue structure, it does so by alternating between chapters by Harrington on Pauline perspectives and chapters by Keenan on theological perspectives. Questions for discussion are omitted here; select bibliographies remain.Part 1 covers Pauline and theological perspectives on anthropology, conversion, and conscience, beginning with a solid introductory chapter: “Virtue Ethics and Fundamental Moral Theology.” The second chapter, “The Shape of Paul’s Virtue Ethics,” lays out what Harrington describes as Paul’s “modified apocalyptic dualism” (24). A chapter on conscience is an important reiteration of the fundamental role of experience and how “virtuous practices become the exercises for the formation of conscience” (71). Since Paul’s uncontested corpus focuses more on Jesus’s death and resurrection than the life of Jesus, this section could have been bolstered by explicitly stating the challenges this raises for both disciplines. [End Page 225]Part 2 focuses on the theological virtues. The placement of Paul alongside Thomas Aquinas is refreshing, as is their embrace of Aquinas as a biblical theologian (though more stated than shown). In this section the book’s emergence from the classroom is most evident, making Harrington’s recent passing particularly poignant. His chapter on Paul’s appeal to experience is ripe for dialogue with Keenan’s engagement of Stephen Brown’s work on the role of assent in Thomas’s virtue of faith; the authors also choose to treat separately the Pauline virtue of love and Thomas’s virtue of charity. While the juxtapositions were thought provoking, I wish they engaged these choices in the text. The reality that classroom dialogue between them is no longer possible is a palatable loss.Part 3 moves to a more focused exploration of other virtues and vices in the Pauline corpus, as well as ethics done in a communal setting, and the importance of Eucharist in Christian life. The brief chapter on theological perspectives of humility was particularly insightful. The last section, “The Virtues and Social and Sexual Issues,” has two very compelling chapters on social ethics. Harrington speaks to the Pauline tendency to hold in tension the subversive focus on Christ alone as master and his imminent return, and the maintenance of social roles to preserve the fledgling community. Immediately following, Keenan reiterates the current Church’s call to be hospitable. In doing so, they have—perhaps intentionally—highlighted the tensions in the way Christian virtue ethics can challenge our communal understandings of scripture. Given that the Church is no longer a fledgling community but a massive institution, often more analogous to oppressive strands of first-century Judaism than the communities to which Paul was pastor, how do we understand this tension? Without clearly addressing it, they demonstrate their thesis that these fields call for fruitful dialogue.All projects have their limits, and this was an ambitious and successful one. While I was left hungry for more connections to Jesus’s ministry as portrayed in the gospels, I was energized by the scaffolding of important bridges that is evident in the work. [End Page 226]Kerry B. DannerGeorgetown UniversityCopyright © 2016 Society of Christian Ethics. (shrink)

Economic cooperative practices increase the ability of agents and communities to resist or curb ecologically damaging practices and to adapt to inevitable cultural and material transitions due to climate change. The history of African American economic cooperatives demonstrates how such efforts can build practical and leadership skills, transform local culture, and lay groundwork for wider collective action. Such practices fit Willis Jenkins’s model of prophetic pragmatism insofar as they draw on inherited traditions and transform culture and us. Contemporary Christians and (...) church communities can encourage economic cooperation as a form of resistance to ecological destruction and, in doing so, encourage the habits of humility, hope, and courage. (shrink)

Cesario claims that all bias research tells us is that people “end up using the information they have come to learn as being probabilistically accurate in their daily lives”. We expose Cesario's flawed assumptions about the relationship between accuracy and bias. Through statistical simulations and empirical work, we show that even probabilistically accurate responses are regularly accompanied by bias.

Reconstruiremos a crítica de Olavo de Carvalho à modernidade, à ciência e aos intelectuais públicos, a partir da sua proposta (a) de um dualismo-maniqueísmo ontológico-antropológico sob a forma de autoexclusão de espírito e matéria enquanto representando o drama humano ante o universo e a eternidade, e (b) de uma perspectiva metodológica dinamizada como intuicionismo personalista, privatista, espiritualista e interiorizado, o qual, como postura anti-estrutural e antissistêmica, capacitaria cada indivíduo humano, independentemente de mediações institucionalistas, cientificistas e tecnicistas, a acessar diretamente a (...) Verdade absoluta e a compreender de si por si mesmo a objetividade do mundo e do homem. Em continuidade, explicitaremos exatamente essa correlação, feita por Olavo de Carvalho, entre modernidade, materialismo, ceticismo, relativismo e ideologia, que descamba para uma ciência positivista-perspectivista incapaz de produzir conhecimento objetivo e de gerar princípios e justificação racionais, para o horizonte da história como espaço do ceticismo e do relativismo, para o instrumento da política enquanto dinamizado por ideologias coletivistas e, finalmente, para a ação institucional-social intersubjetiva enquanto anulando o indivíduo. A modernidade como negação da ontoteologia e centralidade de materialismo, ceticismo, relativismo e ideologia, instaura os dois grandes macrossujeitos totalitários hodiernos, conforme Olavo de Carvalho: a academia e o partido de massas. Palavras-Chave: Olavo de Carvalho; Modernidade; Intelectuais Públicos; Materialismo; Ideologia. “Wise according to the flesh”: Olavo de Carvalho’s criticism to public intellectuals Abstract: We intend to reconstruct the Olavo de Carvalho’s criticism to modernity, science and public intellectuals, from his proposal of (a) a ontological-anthropological dualism-manichaeism as mutual exclusion between spirit and matter as representing the human drama before universe and eternity, as well as (b) through a methodological perspective streamlined as personalist, privatized, spiritualist and interiorized intuitionism, which, as an anti-structural and anti-systemic posture, would able each individual, independently of institutionalist, scientist and technicist mediations, to directly access the absolute Truth, and to comprehend from himself and by himself the objectivity of world and man. From this, we will explicit exactly this correlation, constructed by Olavo de Carvalho, of modernity, materialism, skepticism, relativism and ideology, which leads to a positivist-perspectivist science unable to produce objective knowledge and to generate rational principles and justification, to the horizon of history as sphere of skepticism and relativism, to the instrument of politics as streamlined by collectivist ideologies, and finally to the institutional-social intersubjective action as annulling the individual. Now, modernity as negation of ontotheology and the centrality of materialism, skepticism, relativism and ideology institutes the two main totalitarian macro-subjects of our time, according to Olavo de Carvalho: academy and mass party. Key-Words: Olavo de Carvalho; Modernity; Public Intellectuals; Materialism; Ideology. “Sabios según la carne”: la crítica de Olavo de Carvalho a los intelectuales públicos Resumen: Proponemos reconstruir la crítica de Olavo de Carvalho a la modernidad, la ciencia y los intelectuales públicos, a partir de su propuesta (a) de un dualismo-maniqueísmo ontológico-antropológico en forma de autoexclusión entre espíritu y materia como representación del drama humano ante el universo y la eternidad, así como (b) de una perspectiva metodológica dinamizada como intuicionismo personalista, privatista, espiritualista e interiorizado, que, como postura antiestructural y antisistémica, permitiría a cada individuo humano, independientemente de las mediaciones institucionalistas, científicas y técnicas, acceder directamente a la Verdad absoluta y comprender por sí mismo la objetividad del mundo y del hombre. En continuidad, trataremos de explicar exactamente esta correlación, hecha por Olavo de Carvalho, entre modernidad, materialismo, escepticismo, relativismo e ideología, que conduce a una ciencia positivista-perspectivista incapaz de producir conocimiento objetivo y generar principios y justificación racionales, para el horizonte de la historia como espacio de escepticismo y relativismo, para el instrumento de la política dinamizado por ideologías colectivistas y, finalmente, para la acción institucional-social intersubjetiva como anuladora del individuo. Ahora bien, la modernidad como negación de la ontoteología y centralidad del materialismo, el escepticismo, el relativismo y la ideología, establece los dos grandes macro-sujetos totalitarios de nuestro tiempo, según Olavo de Carvalho: la academia y el partido de masas. Palabras-Clave: Olavo de Carvalho; Modernidad; Intelectuales Públicos; Materialismo; Ideología. Data de registro: 03/12/2020 Data de aceite: 15/06/2022. (shrink)

Utilizaremos o conceito de sociedade sem mediações, calcada no racismo estrutural, tal como proposto por Frantz Fanon, para explicar a tendência regressiva própria às sociedades de modernização periférica, mormente o Brasil. A partir de uma crítica a Gilberto Freyre e a Florestan Fernandes, os quais assumem uma noção de objetivismo sociológico necessitarista com caráter apolítico-despolitizado para explicar o desenvolvimento e as contradições da sociedade brasileira hodierna (o sadismo-masoquismo de Freyre; a incapacidade negra para a ética protestante do trabalho, por causa (...) do escravismo), recusando, ambos, seja o racismo estrutural, seja o branqueamento racial, apontaremos exatamente para (a) a evolução sistêmica como um projeto político intencionado e planificado do branco/colonizador sobre o negro/colonizado enquanto o efetivo mote e dinâmica práticos da formação e do desenvolvimento da sociedade colonial; (b) a inexistência ou a fragilidade das mediações jurídicas, institucionais e normativas entre essas realidades compartimentadas e estanques da raça (branco sobre o – e contra o – negro); (c) a violência direta e a regressão permanente como as tendências estruturais da constituição e do desenvolvimento de uma sociedade de modernização periférica e racializada, inclusive com o apagamento e a falsificação da história colonial; e, finalmente, (d) a correlação intrínseca, mais uma vez negada por Freyre e Fernandes e, ao contrário, afirmada por Fanon, de raça e classe, raça como classe, classe como raça. (shrink)

OBJECTIVE: To describe the issues faced, and how they were addressed, by the University of Toronto Critical Care Medicine Program/Joint Centre for Bioethics Task Force on Appropriate Use of Life-Sustaining Treatment. The clinical problem addressed by the Task Force was dealing with requests by patients or substitute decision makers for life-sustaining treatment that their healthcare providers believe is inappropriate. DESIGN: Case study. SETTING: The University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics/Critical Care Medicine Program Task Force on Appropriate Use of Life-Sustaining (...) Treatment. PARTICIPANTS: The 24-member Task Force included physician and nursing leaders from five critical care units, bioethicists, a legal scholar, a health administration expert, a social worker, and a hospital public relations professional. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Our specific lessons learned include a) a policy focus on process; b) use of a negotiation and mediation model, rather than a hospital ethics committee model, for this process; and c) the policy development process is itself a negotiation, so we recommend equal involvement of interested groups including patients, families, and the public. CONCLUSIONS: This article describes the key issues faced by the Task Force while developing its policy. It will provide a useful starting point for other groups developing policy on appropriate use of life-sustaining treatment. (shrink)

After describing the philosophical background of Kerry's work, an account is given of the way Kerry proposed to supplement Bolzano's conception of logic with a psychological account of the mental acts underlying mathematical judgements.In his writings Kerry criticized Frege's work and Kerry's views were then attacked by Frege.The following two issues were central to this controversy: (a) the relation between the content of a concept and the object of a concept; (b) the logical roles of the (...) definite article. Not only did Frege in 1892 offer an unconvincing solution to Kerry's puzzle concerning 'the concept horse' but he also overlooked the many criticisms levelled by Kerry against the notion of an (indefinite) extension on which his own definition of number was based. (shrink)

During the first months of 1887, while completing the drafts of his Mitteilungen zur Lehre vom Transfiniten, Georg Cantor maintained a continuous correspondence with Benno Kerry. Their exchange essentially concerned two main topics in the philosophy of mathematics, namely, (a) the concept of natural number and (b) the infinitesimals. Cantor's and Kerry's positions turned out to be irreconcilable, mostly because of Kerry's irremediably psychologistic outlook, according to Cantor at least. In this study, I will examine and reconstruct (...) the main points in the discussion around (a) and (b) and stress some interesting aspects of the philosophical and mathematical thought of Benno Kerry. (shrink)

This research compares and analyzes the verbal commentary of televised coverage of two women's and men's athletic events: the “final four” of the women's and men's 1989 National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball tournaments and the women's and men's singles, women's and men's doubles, and the mixed-doubles matches of the 1989 U.S. Open tennis tournament. Although we found less overtly sexist commentary than has been observed in past research, we did find two categories of difference: gender marking and a “hierarchy of (...) naming” by gender and, to a certain extent, by race. These differences are described and analyzed in light of feminist analyses of gendered language. It is concluded that televised sports commentary contributes to the construction of gender and racial hierarchies by marking women's sports and women athletes as “other,” by infantilizing women athletes, and by framing the accomplishments of women athletes ambivalently. (shrink)

While provisions of youth sports concussion laws are very similar, little is known as to how they are being implemented, factors that promote or impede implementation, or the level of compliance in each jurisdiction. We aimed to describe state experiences with implementation in order to inform ongoing efforts to reduce the harm of sports-related traumatic brain injury and to guide future evaluations of the laws’ impacts and the development of future public health laws. We conducted key-informant interviews in 35 states (...) with recently enacted concussion legislation. States varied considerably in their readiness and capacity for implementation. Factors facilitating implementation included existing partnerships, procedures, and resources; centralized implementation authority; prior related efforts; and involvement in the policymaking process by those now charged with implementation. Inhibitors included ambiguous statutory language, unclear delegation of authority, and compliance difficulties. Ongoing challenges persist, including primary prevention; determining which providers are qualified to make return-to-play assessments and contents of those assessments; compliance difficulties in rural and under-served areas; and unclear responsibility for enforcement. Despite the similarity of youth sports concussion laws, early evidence suggests there is considerable variation in their implementation. These findings are critical for ongoing empirical investigations to accurately evaluate the laws’ provisions and to identify successful legal approaches to protecting young athletes. (shrink)

Over the past decade, a flurry of media stories devoted to sports-related concussions have drawn attention to the previously “silent epidemic” of traumatic brain injury in athletes. From 2001 to 2009, the annual number of sports-related TBI emergency department visits in individuals age 19 and under climbed from 153,375 to 248,414, an increase of increase of 62 percent. Multiple head injuries place youth athletes at risk for serious health conditions, including cerebral swelling, brain herniation, and even death — postconcussive conditions (...) that have collectively been referred to as “second impact syndrome.” Studies have shown that children and teens — and girls, in particular — are more likely to sustain a concussion and have a longer recovery time than adults. Recent research also suggests that even subconcussive hits in children and adolescents may result in longer-term health effects such as decreased cognitive functioning, increased rates of depression, memory problems, and mild cognitive impairment. (shrink)

Certainly I am in no way opposed to philosophy, or metaphysics in the sense that Wm. James defined it as a particularly intense effort to think clearly. Indeed, Klein would like to say that what I am talking about is nothing but metaphysics. But the kind of philosophy/metaphysics that is needed here is of a particular kind: a kind that does not separate philosophy/metaphysics and physics into two disjoint realms. It is of the kind that seeks to construct useful testable (...) physical theories that are adequately connected to what we can know. (shrink)

Written by specialist practitioners with vast teaching experience, this is a unique, timely and accessible text that reinforces a contemporary focus on professionalism in medical practice.

This book is hoped to be only the beginning of explorations of the ancient Egyptian notion of upholding Order (Ma'at) through violence. Because of the scope of the topic, this study is limited to the most extreme measure of violence perpetrated in the service of Order: sanctioned killing. This study explores texts that affirm the proper occasions for such killings, and the religious framework behind these actions."--Publisher's website.

In June 2021, Missouri passed the “Second Amendment Preservation Act” (SAPA). Though SAPA passed easily and had gubernatorial support, many Missouri law enforcement agencies, including the Missouri Sheriff’s Association, oppose it. Missing from this policy conversation, and deserving of analysis, is the voice of Missouri citizens. Using qualitative interview data and survey data, we explored what if anything Missouri gun owners knew about SAPA and what they perceived its effects would be on gun-related murders, suicides, gun thefts, and mass shootings. (...) Most Missouri gun owners had not heard about SAPA and were ambivalent about its potential effect on gun safety outcomes. Our findings also indicate that respondents’ attitudes toward SAPA and the impact of such policy on safety is driven by gun ownership (i.e., primary versus living in a household with firearms), partisan identification, and attitudes toward government firearm regulation. (shrink)

The pull to coordinate with other individuals is fundamental, serving as the basis for our social connectedness to others. Discussed is a dynamical and ecological perspective to joint action, an approach that embeds the individual’s mind in a body and the body in a niche, a physical and social environment. Research on uninstructed coordination of simple incidental rhythmic movement, along with research on goal‐directed, embodied cooperation, is reviewed. Finally, recent research is discussed that extends the coordination and cooperation studies, examining (...) how synchronizing with another, and how emergent social units of perceiving and acting are reflected in people’s feelings of connection to others. (shrink)

In this article, I address concerns that the ontological priority claims definitive of ontic structural realism are as they stand unclear, and I do so by placing these claims on a more rigorous formal footing than they typically have been hitherto. I first of all argue that Kit Fine’s analysis of ontological dependence furnishes us with an ontological priority relation that is particularly apt for structuralism. With that in place, and with reference to two case studies prominent within the structuralist (...) literature, I consider whether any of structuralism’s distinctive priority claims may be regarded as warranted. The discussion as a whole has largely negative implications for the radical structuralism of French and Ladyman (including their ‘eliminativist’ interpretation of it), largely positive implications for the moderate structuralism primarily advocated by Esfeld and Lam, and some broad lessons for contemporary fundamentalist metaphysics as a whole. 1 Introduction2 The Right Priority Relation for Structuralism: Supervenience or Dependence?3 Introducing Ontological Dependence4 Fine’s System5 The Priority of Structure 1: Entangled Quantum Particles6 The Priority of Structure 2: The Group-Theoretic Conception of Elementary Particles7 Concluding Remarks. (shrink)

Ontic structural realism is a thesis of fundamentality metaphysics: the thesis that structure, not objects, has fundamental status. Claimed as the metaphysic most befitting of modern physics, OSR first emerged as an entreaty to eliminate objects from the metaphysics of fundamental physics. Such elimination was urged by Steven French and James Ladyman on the grounds that only it could resolve the ‘underdetermination of metaphysics by physics’ that they claimed reduced any putative objectual commitment to a merely ‘ersatz’ form of realism. (...) Few, however, have joined French and Ladyman either in acknowledging that such underdetermination exists or in attributing to it such drastic consequences. However, an alternative view that physics does sanction objects, albeit merely as ontologically secondary entities, represents a different and seemingly less extreme route to the same conclusion regarding the fundamentality of structure. But since what it means to be ‘ontologically prior’ is itself a vexed philosophical question, a stance must be taken as to how we are to understand priority before its prospects may be evaluated. In an earlier paper, I outlined how Fine’s notion of ontological dependence might be utilized to defend the priority-based approach to structuralism. Since then, however, I have become convinced that that ontological dependence is not a relation of priority after all. As a result, the arguments outlined in that paper stand in need of reassessment. In this work, I consider the prospects for priority-based structuralism when expressed in the idiom of determination. My conclusion will be that it has yet to be vindicated by our best physical theories, owing to the failure of symmetry structures to determine the world’s inventory of fundamental kinds. Nevertheless, the same symmetry considerations point towards there being renewed prospects for eliminativism—an eliminativism, moreover, of more naturalistic appeal than that hitherto associated with OSR. 1Introduction 2Structuralist Strategies 3Defining Ontological Priority: Dependence or Determination? 4Structuralism in the Idiom of Determination 4.1Determining plurality 4.2Determining kind properties 5A Reinvigorated Eliminativism. (shrink)

Modern bioethics, which is based on Western moral philosophy and Western biomedical perspectives, has evolved within a complex, highly individualistic culture that draws a sharp distinction between church and state and tolerates a multitude of values. This discipline defines its principles in secular and objective terms that often are bewildering to people of non-Western origin. Despite much discourse, principlism remains the fundamental framework of bioethics. Principlism is held in such high regard that many bioethicists equate autonomy with personhood, as if (...) autonomy exists independently of specific beliefs and commitments.In addition, we continue to minimize the substantial differences in the way people of different cultures perceive, experience, and explain illness, although our views of the potential cultural limitations of Western medicine have grown and expanded in recent years. At the heart of it we continue to be tied to a biomedical focus that largely neglects the context of the situation. (shrink)

This paper explores the value of the eros motif for critical pedagogy and citizenship education. The conceptual affinities between eros and democracy are identified and integrated into a theory of democratic political education. Long recognized as vital to the process of self knowledge, the ancient Greek concept of eros has nevertheless been largely erased from contemporary educational debate. By retrieving eros from the fringe of academic discourse and integrating it with critical pedagogy, the aims of radical democracy can be more (...) fully achieved. The essay emphasizes the civil society or cultural dimensions of democracy as against its legal or procedural aspects. Renewed emphasis on the associational qualities of democracy underscore the importance of eros as an educational principle. The ancient pedagogical motif of educating the desires is posited as an alternative to the liberal/modernist paradigm of education which de-values affective domains of knowledge. (shrink)

A priori metaphysics has come under repeated attack by naturalistic metaphysicians, who take their closer connection to the sciences to confer greater epistemic credentials on their theories. But it is hard to see how this can be so unless the problem of theory change that has for so long vexed philosophers of science can be addressed in the context of scientific metaphysics. This paper argues that canonical metaphysical claims, unlike their scientific counterparts, cannot meaningfully be regarded as ‘approximately true,’ and (...) that this means that the epistemic progress that science arguably enjoys through episodes of theory change cannot be expected to transfer to its metaphysics. What the value of engaging in metaphysics of science before the emergence of a final theory becomes correspondingly unclear. (shrink)

The hypothesis that play behavior is more prevalent in larger-brained animals has recently been challenged. It may be, for example, that only certain brain structures are related to play. Here, we analyze social play behavior with regards to the cerebellum: a structure strongly implicated in motor-development, and possibly also in cognitive skills. We present an evolutionary analysis of social play and the cerebellum, using a phylogenetic comparative method. Social play frequency and relative cerebellum size are positively correlated. Hence, there appears (...) to be a link between the evolutionary elaboration of social play and the cerebellum. (shrink)

Modern bioethics, which is based on Western moral philosophy and Western biomedical perspectives, has evolved within a complex, highly individualistic culture that draws a sharp distinction between church and state and tolerates a multitude of values. This discipline defines its principles in secular and objective terms that often are bewildering to people of non-Western origin. Despite much discourse, principlism remains the fundamental framework of bioethics. Principlism is held in such high regard that many bioethicists equate autonomy with personhood, as if (...) autonomy exists independently of specific beliefs and commitments.In addition, we continue to minimize the substantial differences in the way people of different cultures perceive, experience, and explain illness, although our views of the potential cultural limitations of Western medicine have grown and expanded in recent years. At the heart of it we continue to be tied to a biomedical focus that largely neglects the context of the situation. (shrink)

This study presents a critical discourse analysis of YouTube comments below five videos of the Johnny Depp v Amber Heard trial, which was live streamed by the platform in April and May 2022. The analysis examines the discursive resources used by commenters to construct domestic abuse. Commenters draw on three interpretive repertoires: ‘Perfect Victim’, ‘Mutual Abuse’ and ‘Dangerous Women’. The analysis explores the way these repertoires are used to rebut Heard’s allegations of abuse by mobilising the perfect victim repertoire to (...) refute any claim she has to this experience, and the mutual abuse repertoire to implicate Heard in the abuse and minimise blame for Depp. Through establishing gender-symmetry in domestic abuse and drawing on traditional gender norms for each party, commenters construct the dangerous women repertoire to depict Heard as crazy, pathological and violent. The key implication of this study is that public constructions of domestic abuse can directly impact the attitudes and treatment of both victims and perpetrators. In this instance, they serve to maintain the oppression and control of women within anti-feminist narratives of female dominance, currently led by men’s rights activists and conservative outlets. (shrink)

A suite of questions concerning fundamentality lies at the heart of contemporary metaphysics. The relation of grounding, thought to connect the more to the less fundamental, sits at the heart of those debates in turn. Since most contemporary metaphysicians embrace the doctrine of physicalism and thus hold that reality is fundamentally physical, a natural question is how physics can inform the current debates over fundamentality and grounding. This Element introduces the reader to the concept of grounding and some of the (...) key issues that animate contemporary debates around it, such as the question of whether grounding is 'unified' or 'plural' and whether there exists a fundamental level of reality. It moves on to show how resources from physics can help point the way towards their answers - thus furthering the case for a naturalistic approach to even the most fundamental of questions in metaphysics. (shrink)

The number of colleges and universities with campus agriculture projects in the US has grown from an estimated 23 in 1992 to nearly 300 today with possible increased numbers predicted. The profile emerging from campus agriculture projects looks a lot different from the traditional land grant colleges of agriculture. In spite of this emergent trend and staunch advocacy for campus agriculture projects, limited empirical research on agriculture-based learning in higher education exists outside agriculture degrees and theoretical work of scholars such (...) as Liberty Hyde Bailey and David Orr. This study explored the diversity of characteristics and pedagogical objectives of emerging campus agriculture projects through a nationwide compilation, surveying campus agriculture project directors and educators, and multiple case studies. Data collected gives empirical evidence supporting claims agriculture is taking on a different identity in higher education. Issues of sustainability, food, and agriculture are not only influencing the physical workings of colleges and universities, but pedagogy on a departmental and institutional scale. Findings illustrate a re-visioning of how higher education is interfacing with agriculture and agriculture-based education beyond traditional agriculture degrees at land grant colleges of agriculture to focus teaching sustainability, critical thinking and inquiry skills, and fostering a sense of belonging to community. (shrink)

Ontic structural realism is at its core the view that “structure is ontologically fundamental.” Informed from its inception by the scientific revolutions that punctuated the 20th century, its advocates often present the position as the perspective on ontology best befitting of modern physics. But the idea that structure is fundamental has proved difficult to articulate adequately, and what OSR's claimed naturalistic credentials consist in is hard to precisify as well. Nor is it clear that the position is actually supported by (...) our most fundamental physical theories. What is clear, however, is that structuralists have revealed a seam of material at the core of modern physics that is replete with implications for metaphysics. This article will survey some positions subsumed under the rubric of OSR, considering both their warrant and the interconnections that exist between them. It will be argued that the fundamental kind properties pose a challenge to ontic structuralism, because it seems that these properties do not supervene upon the relevant structures. But it will also be argued that the development of structuralist metaphysics will require both an engagement with the details of modern physical theories and the deployment of tools more typically developed in a priori metaphysics. As such, it seems armchair metaphysicians have not just a stake in whether OSR's claims may ultimately be shown to stand up, but a crucial role to play in getting them to the point where they can be subjected to scrutiny in the first place. (shrink)

This paper proposes a reformulation of the treatment of boundaries, at parts and aggregates of entities in Basic Formal Ontology. These are currently treated as mutually exclusive, which is inadequate for biological representation since some entities may simultaneously be at parts, boundaries and/or aggregates. We introduce functions which map entities to their boundaries, at parts or aggregations. We make use of time, space and spacetime projection functions which, along the way, allow us to develop a simple temporal theory.

Much of the neuroimaging research has focused on how mathematical operations are performed. Although this body of research has provided insight for the refinement of pedagogy, there are very few neuroimaging studies on how mathematical operations should be taught. In this article, we describe the teaching of algebra in Singapore schools and the imperatives that led us to develop two neuroimaging studies that examined questions of curricular concerns. One of the challenges was to condense issues from classrooms into tasks suitable (...) for neuroimaging studies. Another challenge, not particular to the neuroimaging method, was to draw suitable inferences from the findings and translate them into pedagogical practices. We describe our efforts and outline some continuing challenges. (shrink)

This paper aims to open up discussion on the relationship between fundamentality and naturalism, and in particular on the question of whether fundamentality may be denied on naturalistic grounds. A historico-inductive argument for an anti-fundamentalist conclusion, prominent within contemporary metaphysical literature, is examined; finding it wanting, an alternative ‘internal’ strategy is proposed. By means of an example from the history of modern physics - namely S-matrix theory - it is demonstrated that this strategy can generate similar anti-fundamentalist conclusions on more (...) defensible naturalistic grounds, and that fundamentality questions can be empirical questions. Some implications and limitations of the proposed approach are discussed. (shrink)

An ongoing crisis in Australian agriculture resulting from climate crises including drought, decreasing irrigation water, more recent catastrophic flooding, and an uncertain policy environment is reshaping gender relations in the intimate sphere of the farm family. Drawing on research conducted in the Murray-Darling Basin area of Australia we ask the question: Does extreme hardship/climate crises change highly inequitable gender relations in agriculture? As farm income declines, Australian farm women are more likely to be working off farm for critical family income (...) while men continue to work on farm often in circumstances of damaged landscapes, rising debt, and limited production. This paper examines the way gender relations are being renegotiated in a time of significant climate crisis. Our research suggests that climate crises have indeed led to changes in gender relations and that some changes are unexpected. Whereas one would logically assume that women’s enhanced economic contribution would increase their power in gender negotiations, we argue that this does not necessarily occur because their contribution is viewed as a farm survival strategy. Men are committed to prioritizing the farm and view women’s income generating work as critical to this purpose and yet, paradoxically, long for a return to traditional farm roles. We find that women are actively resisting traditional gender relations by reshaping a role for themselves beyond the farm—in the process moving physically and mentally away from a farm family ideology, questioning gender inequalities, and by extension their relationships. (shrink)

Psychiatric patients may try (or express a desire) to injure themselves in hospital in order to cope with overwhelming emotional pain. Some health care practitioners and patients propose allowing a controlled amount of self-injury to occur in inpatient facilities, so as to prevent escalation of distress. Is this approach an example of professional assistance with harm? Or, is the approach more likely to minimise harm, by ensuring safer self-injury? In this article, I argue that health care practitioners who use harm-minimisation (...) can be considered to be helping physical injury to occur, although they do not encourage the act. I consider why there are compelling reasons to believe that a patient who self-injures is not maximally autonomous in relation to that choice. However, I then move onto argue that allowing a degree of self-injury may enable engagement with psychotherapy (enhancing autonomy) and behavioural change. In these circumstances, allowing injury (with precautions) may not be harm, all things considered. (shrink)

In metaphysics, the fundamental is standardly equated with that which has no explana- tion – with that which is, in other words, ‘brute’. But this doctrine of brutalism is in tension with physicists’ ambitions to not only describe but also explain why the fundamental is as it is. The tension would ease were science taken to be incapable of furnishing the sort of explanations that brutalism is concerned with, given that these are understood to be dis- tinctively ‘metaphysical’ in character. (...) But to assume this is to assume a sharp demarcation between physics and metaphysics that surely cannot be taken for granted. This paper sets out to examine the standing of brutalism from the perspective of contem- porary fundamental physics, together with theories of explanation drawn from philosophy of science and metaphysics. Focusing on what fundamental kinds the world instantiates and how physicists go about determining them, I argue that a partial explanation, in Hempel’s sense, may be given of this fundamental feature. Moreover, since this partial explanation issues, at least in part, from stipulations as to the essential nature of the kinds involved, I claim that it has as much right to be regarded as a metaphysical explanation as do grounding explanations. As such, my conclusion will be that the doctrine of brutalism can no longer be regarded as tenable: at least modulo certain plausible essentialist assumptions, it is no longer the case that no explanation can be given of the fundamental. (shrink)

The view that it is symmetries, not particles, that are fundamental to nature is frequently expressed by physicists. But comparatively little has been written either on what this claim means or whether it should be regarded as true. After placing the claim into a general fundamentality framework, I consider whether the priority of symmetries over particles can be defended. The conclusions drawn are largely negative.