Clarke A. Chambers interviews Marcia Eaton, professor in the Department of Philosophy.

Gideon Rosen (2014) has drawn our attention to cases of duress of a particularly interesting sort: the person's ‘mind is not flooded with pain or fear’, she knows exactly what she is doing, and she makes a clear-headed choice to act in, as Rosen says, ‘awful ways’. The explanation of why we excuse such actions cannot be that the action was not voluntary. In addition, although some duress cases could also be viewed as necessity cases and thus as justified, Rosen (...) wisely sets aside that complicating factor by zeroing in on those cases where the action clearly is not justified. So why do we excuse in these cases, where the action is not justified and the agent acted voluntarily?Rosen thinks the key lies in the ‘ill will’ condition, ‘the idea that an act is blameworthy only if it manifests insufficient concern or regard for those affected’. He says this is relatively uncontroversial; much of my paper is taken up with calling the ‘ill will’ condition into question. I also take issue with Rosen on just how justifications and excuses differ. I argue in favour of understanding justifications (in a context where we are asking how justifications and excuses differ) as not requiring truth, but only reasonable belief. (shrink)

The emphasis on duly in Kant's ethics is widely held to constitute a defect. Marcia W. Baron develops and assesses the criticism, which she sees as comprising two objections: that duty plays too large a role, leaving no room for the supererogatory, and that Kant places too much value on acting from duty. Clearly written and cogently argued, Kantian Ethics Almost without Apology takes on the most philosophically intriguing objections to Kant's ethics and subjects them to a rigorous yet (...) sympathetic assessment. (shrink)

This paper provides an interpretation of Sein und Zeit §34, in the context of the existential analytic of Dasein. Dealing with the Rede – Sprache distinction, it tries to show how in Heidegger's conception, at least at the time of writing his main work, language is an existentially founded phenomenon that takes root in the prelinguistic opening of a space of meaning. In the light of this ontological structure of meaning and language it is possible to make sense of the (...) analyzed text and to do justice to the systematic place of language in the broader philosophical project of Sein und Zeit. This particular place makes the heideggerian approach to language radically different from other contemporary approaches to the phenomenon. (shrink)

Se realizó un estudio descriptivo para evaluar la influencia de la rehabilitación protésica en la calidad de vida de los pacientes desdentados totales tratados en las clínicas estomatológicas docentes "Ismael Clark Mascaró" y "La Vigía" en Camagüey, desde septiembre del 2009 a septiembre del 2013. El universo estuvo comprendido por 254 pacientes desdentados totales rehabilitados y una muestra de 43, a través de un muestreo probabilístico aleatorio. Se obtuvo un predominio del grupo de 50-69 años y el sexo femenino. Al (...) determinar los problemas mecánicos se apreció que los flancos sobreextendidos, seguido de las inserciones frénicas sin liberar y la presencia de puntos prematuros de contacto, fueron las principales dificultades encontradas en los pacientes portadores de prótesis totales. La rehabilitación influyó en la calidad de vida de estos pacientes. It was carried out a descriptive study with the objective to evaluate the influence of prosthetic rehabilitation in total toothless patients life quality treated in the teaching stomatological clinics ¨Ismael Clark Mascaró" and "La Vigía" in Camagüey, from September 2009 to September 2013, with a universe of study composed by 254 total toothless patients who were rehabilitated. The sample was of 43, through a random probabilistic sampling. There was a predominance of the female group aged from 50-69 years old, followed by the female group aged 70. While determining the mechanical problems it was appreciated that the flanks overextended, followed of phrenic insertions without being sustained and the presence of premature points of contact, and were the main difficulties found in the patient's carrier of total prostheses. Prosthetic rehabilitation influenced in the patients´ quality life. (shrink)

The beginning of the twenty first century has been characterized by the expansion of economics, politics and institutional relations. Using international case studies, this book illustrates the local answer to the challenge of increasing competition. The book introduces the idea of endogenous development, identifying the theoretical roots and defining its main features. It then goes on to indicate how this concept can be used to understand economic dynamics, and to show how the concept is relevant in economic analysis and policy (...) implementation in times of globalization. This work will be of essential interest to academics and policy-makers in planning and development economics. (shrink)

Riordan, Marcia This article gives the reader an overview of a DVD 'God So Loved the World: A Pastoral Series on Life Issues.' This DVD was produced by the Australian Catholic Life Council, a group established by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference under the ACBC Commission for Pastoral Life. This article discusses the life issues covered in the DVD, which are abortion, euthanasia, and the reproductive technologies. Above all, it explains why it is necessary to de-velop a more positive (...) pastoral response to these issues. (shrink)

Marcia Cavell draws on philosophy, psychoanalysis, and the sciences of the mind in a fascinating and original investigation of human subjectivity. A "subject" is a creature, we may say, who recognizes herself as an "I," taking in the world from a subjective perspective; an agent, doing things for reasons, sometimes self-reflective, and able to assume responsibility for herself and some of her actions. If this is an ideal, how does a person become a subject, and what might stand in (...) the way? One of Marcia Cavell's guiding premises is that philosophical investigation into the specifically human way of being in the world cannot separate itself from investigations of a more empirical sort. Cavell brings together for the first time reflections in philosophy, findings in neuroscience, studies in infant development, psychoanalytic theory, and clinical vignettes from her own psychoanalytic practice. (shrink)

During the past decade ethical theory has been in a lively state of development, and three basic approaches to ethics - Kantian ethics, consequentialism, and virtue ethics - have assumed positions of particular prominence.

When successful and ethical managers are alerted to possible organizational wrongdoing, they take corrective action before the problems become crises. However, recent research [e.g., Rynes et al. (2007, Academy of Management Journal50(5), 987–1008)] indicates that many organizations fail to implement evidence-based practices (i.e., practices that are consistent with research findings), in many aspects of human resource management. In this paper, we draw from years of research on whistle-blowing by social scientists and legal scholars and offer concrete suggestions to managers who (...) are interested in encouraging internal reporting of problems requiring attention, and to observers of questionable activity who are considering reporting it. We also identify ways that research suggests policy-makers can have a more positive influence. We hope that these suggestions will help foster evidence-based practice regarding whistle-blowing. (shrink)

Friends as well as foes of Kant have long been uneasy over his emphasis on duty, but lately the view that there is something morally repugnant about acting from duty seems to be gaining in popularity. More and more philosophers indicate their readiness to jettison duty and the moral 'ought' and to conceive of the perfectly moral person as someone who has all the right desires and acts accordingly without any notion that (s)he ought to act in this way. Elsewhere' (...) I have argued that such a picture of the perfectly moral person is flawed. In this paper I examine the claim that acting from duty is morally repugnant. There is some truth to this charge, but, I argue, the repugnance attaches not to acting from duty as such, but only to certain ways of acting from duty. In isolating the objectionable elements of acting from duty, I hope not only to vindicate the skeletal concept but also to offer illumination on the question of just how we should understand morally good conduct. (shrink)

En junio de 2011 se publicó una importante reforma constitucional en México. Con ella cambiaron la mayoría de las disposiciones dedicadas a los derechos humanos y se reafirmó la apertura del ordenamiento jurídico mexicano al derecho internacional. En este texto se ofrece una reconstrucción de algunas de las decisiones y procesos que están detrás de la reforma y se delinea un mapa de las acciones que los diferentes actores políticos, jurídicos y sociales deberán llevar a cabo para convertir lo que (...) las nuevas normas prometen en una realidad. (shrink)

Uno de los puntos de mayor interés del pensamiento estético de Hegel procede de sus Lecciones de estética, y es aquel que afirma y tematiza el fin del arte. Para entender el sentido y el alcance de esta idea, presentamos en este trabajo el modo como Hegel trata el problema del arte dentro de su filosofía especulativa y en especial en sus Lecciones de Estética. Por medio de este proceso de contextualización rastreamos finalmente las distintas interpretaciones que se han producido (...) en nuestros días acerca de la provocativa tesis del fin del arte y dejamos planteada también la cuestión del lugar que ocupa o puede ocupar el arte después del mencionado fin del arte. (shrink)

Cavell elaborates the view, traceable from Wittgenstein to Davidson, that there is no thought, and thus no meaning, without language, and shows how this concurs ...

...believe that his theory asks too much, demanding total devotion to morality and treating everything worth doing (and perhaps more) as a duty. But, despite their differences, the two sets of...

Pretende-se discutir a produção da história especializada, da história midiatizada e da história ensinada na interlocução com a matriz disciplinar de Jörn Rüsen. Defende-se que deve haver a fundamentação científica também na construção do conhecimento histórico escolar, para que o senso comum se torne senso crítico. Contrapõe-se aos revisionismos que negam, silenciam, deturpam a história considerada “sobrecarregada” em relação aos indígenas, ao escravismo e à Ditadura Civil-Militar brasileira. Toma como exemplo de história midiática/pública os Guias Politicamente Incorretos, principalmente da História (...) do Brasil, escrito por Leandro Narloch. Conclui que apenas a história construída com base científica pode refletir sobre o presente vivido para interpretar o passado com vistas ao futuro transformado no sentido de afirmar uma sociedade democrática. (shrink)

What is the relation between shame and shamelessness? It may seem obvious: shamelessness is simply the absence of shame. But on reflection, it becomes clear that the story is considerably more complicated. Michelle Mason's intriguing "On Shamelessness" prompts such reflection. Mason argues that we should be mindful of the "moral importance of shame" and "unapologetic in its defense", and she does so via an examination of shamelessness and an argument to the effect that shamelessness is a moral fault. The tacit (...) assumption is that insofar as shamelessness is a moral fault, the value of shame is vindicated. I challenge that assumption. (shrink)

This valuable and interesting book attempts to discern the essential Freudian theses about the mind and to give them a cogent philosophical defense. Like many philosophers Gardner sees psychoanalytic explanation as continuous with folk psychology, though he holds that the latter needs considerable expansion in order to accommodate irrationality of the “Freudian” sorts.

Justifications and excuses are defenses that exculpate. They are therefore much more like each other than like such defenses as diplomatic immunity, which does not exculpate. But they exculpate in different ways, and it has proven difficult to agree on just what that difference consists in. In this paper I take a step back from justification and excuse as concepts in criminal law, and look at the concepts as they arise in everyday life. To keep the task manageable, I focus (...) primarily on excuses and excusing activities, distinguishing them from justifications as well as from other close relatives, in particular, forgiving and pardoning. I draw upon J.L. Austin’s classic A Plea for Excuses, but expand on his account, suggesting that we offer excuses for reasons besides those he mentions. My hope is that my examination of excuses and excusing activities will help us rethink our views on just how justifications and excuses differ, views which often are worked out without much attention to how these concepts function in everyday life and to the connection between offers of excuses and justifications and the rules of civility. (shrink)

Anniversaries and funding crises prompt periodic calls to reevaluate the mission and public perceptions of the U.S. Land-Grant University system. One such call was issued by the Kellogg Commission on the Future of State Colleges and Land Grant Universities in their 1999 report, “Returning to Our Roots: the Engaged Institution.” Written by leaders of state universities and land-grant colleges, this report urges these institutions to engage more authentically and equitably in two-way relationships with their local constituents. Twenty years later, Land-Grant (...) Universities continue to struggle with building widespread public support for their missions and equitable involvement in research, teaching, and extension functions across diverse constituencies. While largely discounted by the Kellogg Commission, a fresh look at the role originally envisioned for the extension arm of the trifold land-grant mandate suggests that we may be conceiving of this system too narrowly. The establishment of statewide extension systems was once seen as a way to ensure that Land-Grant Universities would be accessible and responsive to all of a state’s residents. Extension systems continue to offer a front-door to a major public university in almost every county of the United States, but they tend to be viewed primarily as a way to translate science or distribute information from the university to the public. This discussion uses a historical and modern lens to reimagine the role that Extension could potentially play in catalyzing reciprocal, co-learning relationships between Land-Grant Universities and their diverse local constituencies. (shrink)

The distinction between justifications and excuses is a familiar one to most of us who work either in moral philosophy or legal philosophy. But exactly how it should be understood is a matter of considerable disagreement. My aim in this paper is, first, to sort out the differences and try to figure out what underlying disagreements account for them. I give particular attention to the following question: Does a person who acts on a reasonable but mistaken belief have a justification, (...) or only an excuse? One disagreement I highlight concerns the extent to which justification is primarily about agents rather than about actions. Those who think, as I do, of “His action, X, was justified” as “He was justified in doing X” are far more likely to allow that justification requires reasonable belief and does not require truth, than are those who think of “His action, X, was justified” as “Although actions of this type usually are prohibited, X is in these circumstances in fact permissible.” In addition to sorting out the differences and tracing them to some underlying disagreements, I defend the reasonable belief view of justification against some objections, and argue that, whether or not we continue to use the term “justified” in a way that does not require truth, we need the concept. Contrary to the claims of some who reject the reasonable belief view of justification, justification thus understood does not reduce to excuse. (shrink)

It is widely agreed that the top three Model Penal Code culpability levels suffice for criminal liability, but the fourth is controversial. And it isn’t just the particular MPC wording; that negligence should be on the list at all is controversial. My question is: What makes negligence so different? What is it about negligence that gives rise to the view that it should not suffice for criminal liability? In addressing it, I draw attention to how we conduct the debate, and (...) how our framing of the issues is shaping it. My hope is to prompt thought and discussion on just what we want the element of mens rea to provide, and to draw attention to background assumptions that shape our views of what it should take for negligence to count as a species of mens rea. (shrink)