The author explores the fragmented and often fragile human psyche, revealing common, everyday forms of dementia that plague millions of people, discusses the ...

This article responds to Jeffrey Stout’s argument in favour of immanent criticism of religious convictions in public reasoning by examining the affective dimension of religious loyalty and conscience. To this end, a conversation between Jonathan Edwards and Martha Nussbaum is undertaken to explore the basis on which the shared evaluations of religious citizens, especially Christians, should inform public discourse. Whereas the affections of Edwards’s sense of the heart are shown to be epistemologically over-realised and in unsustainable tension with (...) the political implications of his contested social ontology, Nussbaum’s cognitivist theory of emotions improves on Edwards’s by providing a basis for social criticism of religious convictions, but is then found incompatible with her own commitment to a Rawlsian overlapping consensus. Moreover, the political appeal of the Protestant-Stoic conscience she advocates is cast into doubt by considering how Protestant and perhaps Islamic concepts of conscience structure eschatological loyalties that foster not Rawls’s overlapping consensus or even Nigel Biggar’s ‘tense consensus’ but rather the ‘tense communion’ appropriate to twenty-first-century democracies. (shrink)

In this groundbreaking, cross-disciplinary work of philosophy and biblical studies, New Testament scholar C. Kavin Rowe explores the promise and problems inherent in engaging rival philosophical claims to what is true. Juxtaposing the Roman Stoics Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius with the Christian saints Paul, Luke, and Justin Martyr, and incorporating the contemporary views of Jeffrey Stout, Alasdair McIntyre, Charles Taylor, Martha Nussbaum, Pierre Hadot, and others, the author suggests that in a world of religious pluralism there is (...) negligible gain in sampling from separate belief systems. This thought-provoking volume reconceives the relationship between ancient philosophy and emergent Christianity as a rivalry between strong traditions of life and offers powerful arguments for the exclusive commitment to a community of belief and a particular form of philosophical life as the path to existential truth. (shrink)

As an ethicist trained in narrative, I wondered what I could offer Dr. Darcy at this point, two weeks after the events he described. And what might I have offered those involved if they had called an ethics consult at the time? One of this physician's implicit questions was, “How might this have unfolded in a better way?”When difficult choices must be made, how can a narrative approach help? A narrativist focuses less on principles, rules, and law than would a (...) philosopher or a lawyer. This is not to say that we ignore the law or are unaware of bioethical principles. But where do we go from there? Narrative offers a mode of engagement that asks different kinds of questions than those that law or philosophy might ask about moral agency, context, and values. (shrink)

La ética de la virtud es frecuentemente considerada una categoría singular de la teoría ética, y una rival del kantismo y del utilitarismo. Considero que es un error, puesto que tanto kantianos como utilitaristas pueden tener, y tienen, un interés en las virtudes y en la formación del carácter. Mas, aun si focalizamos el grupo de teóricos de la ética, comúnmente llamados "teóricos de la virtud", porque rechazan la dirección tanto del kantismo como del utilitarismo y se inspiran en la (...) ética griega antigua, hay poca unidad en este grupo. Aun cuando hay un delgado territorio común que vincula a todos los miembros del grupo -una preocupación por la formación del carácter, la naturaleza de las pasiones y por la elección sobre el transcurso entero de la vida- también hay diferencias cruciales entre ellos. (shrink)

This book is a study of ancient views about "moral luck." It examines the fundamental ethical problem that many of the valued constituents of a well-lived life are vulnerable to factors outside a person's control, and asks how this affects our appraisal of persons and their lives. The Greeks made a profound contribution to these questions, yet neither the problems nor the Greek views of them have received the attention they deserve. This updated edition contains a new preface.

La idea de la Justicia es un libro escrito por Amartya Sen, el ganador del premio Nobel de Economía de 1998. Representa la síntesis de más de 50 años de su investigación académica. Consta de 18 capítulos, de los cuales los diez primeros se refieren a cuestiones teóricas sobre la justicia y los restantes a temas relacionados con la aplicación de los fundamentos en los cuales se basan los juicios sobre la justicia. Entre estos temas se encuentran como principales: las (...) libertades, las capacidades, los recursos, la felicidad, la igualdad y el bienestar. (shrink)

Nietzsche claimed to be a political thinker in Ecce Homo and elsewhere. He constantly compared his thought with other political theorists, chiefly Rousseau, Kant and Mill, and he claimed to offer an alternative to the bankruptcy of Enlightenment liberalism. It is worthwhile re-examining Nietzsche's claim to offer serious criticisms of liberal political philosophy. I shall proceed by setting out seven criteria for serious political thought: understanding of material need; procedural justification; liberty and its worth; racial, ethnic and religious difference; gender (...) and family; justice between nations; and moral psychology. I shall argue polemically that on the first six issues Nietzsche has nothing to offer, but that on the seventh, moral psychology, he makes a profound contribution. Serious political theory, however, needs to forget about Nietzsche and turn to those thinkers he found so boring - the liberal Enlightenment thinkers. (shrink)

This article discusses three main orientations in recent works of legal and political theory about the family-contract-based, community-based, and rights-based-and argues that none of these takes adequate account of two paradoxical features of family life and of the family's relationship to the state. A coherent political and legal theory of the family in the contemporary United States requires recognition of the relational rights and responsibilities intrinsic to family life.

Vulnerability theory as developed in the Vulnerability and Human Condition Initiative is an alternative to a rights-based or social contract paradigm for thinking about foundation concepts of state responsibility. One fundamental premise of the theory is that the individuals and groups currently described as “vulnerable populations” should not be labelled vulnerable, nor should they be sequestered in discreet categories for the purposes of law and policy. This plea for their inclusion in a larger whole is not to deny that discrimination, (...) harm, and relative disadvantage arising from all sorts of circumstances and situations exist. Nor is it to suggest that particular instances of harm should not be addressed by appropriate state action. Rather, it is an argument that “vulnerability” is the wrong concept to use to define and isolate these groups, or any other specific group, from the whole of humanity. Human vulnerability is universal and constant, inherent in the human condition. Recognizing the theoretical mandates of accepting the universal, vulnerability theory presents a “vulnerable subject” as the only appropriate object of law and policy. This inclusive, universal legal subject incorporates the realities of the ontological body and its life-long dependence on social institutions and relationships, building a theory of essential social cohesion and reciprocity in which the state has the responsibility to see that these vital social institutions and relationships operate justly. (shrink)

This paper deals with how telematic technologies such as the cellular phones, Internet, telerobotics and other varieties of telematic communication and control are placing into discussion the nature of knowledge and its scope. These technologies offer us knowledge by description and representation instead of physical contact, a fact that is often seen with suspicion since they are perceived as technologies of delusion in a culture characterized by its conspicuous materialism. What are the possible roles for our mediated activities in relation (...) with the comprehension of our environment and the construction of subjectivity? Telematic mediation necessarily deals with the immaterial aspects of technologies such as the changing concepts of reality and nature, future possibilities of an ethereal afterlife achieved through spiritual or technological means and the concept of distance that can render mediated communication delusory and unsatisfying while acting as an agent of delocalization. This view is supported by our traditional Platonic view that perceives representation of things as a palpable degradation while neglecting the constructive aspects of those fictional endeavours. (shrink)

“It is no chance matter we are discussing,” said Plato’s Socrates, “but how one should live.” All the major ancient Greek and Roman traditions of philosophy held that it was no mere academic discipline, but an art of living, a study whose aim included the improvement of conduct. All held, in addition, that philosophy, properly practiced and properly integrated into the public life of a community, would improve the practice of political life. That public role was not the only role (...) they saw for philosophy, but it was an important one. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Philosophy and Rhetoric 33.3 (2000) 294-298 [Access article in PDF] Book Review Reclaiming Rhetorica: Women in the Rhetorical Tradition Listening to Their Voices: The Rhetorical Activities of Historical Women The Changing Tradition: Women in the History of Rhetoric Reclaiming Rhetorica: Women in the Rhetorical Tradition. Ed. Andrea A. Lunsford. Pittsburgh Series in Composition, Literacy, and Culture. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 1995. Pp. xiv + 354. $22.95 paperback; $59.95 (...) cloth. Listening to Their Voices: The Rhetorical Activities of Historical Women. Ed. Molly Meijer Wertheimer. University of South Carolina Series in Rhetoric/Communication. Columbia, SC: U of South Carolina P, 1997. Pp. xii + 408. NP. The Changing Tradition: Women in the History of Rhetoric. Ed. Christine Mason Sutherland and Rebecca Sutcliffe. Calgary, Alberta: U of Calgary P, 1999. Pp. 279. NP. These three books, all published within the last five years, are both reflections of and important contributions to the growing scholarship on women's roles in rhetorical history as theorists and as practitioners. Indeed, the titles listed in chronological order--Reclaiming Rhetorica, Listening to Their Voices, and The Changing Tradition--suggest the process of transformation that the study of rhetorical history has undergone in recent years. Both individually and together, these works are a healthful antidote to the rhetorical history most of us learned at our (male) professors' knees.The books share certain features. As edited volumes, they span rhetorical history, from its classical roots to modern feminist theories. Although some figures appear more than once in different volumes (e.g., Aspasia and Mary Astell), the constraints of brief chapters permit us only tantalizing glimpses of each woman and her activities. Like all edited collections, these books include a variety of viewpoints and voices. Despite the disparity that is inevitable in a collection of essays, the quality of the work in these volumes is uniformly high. The editors of all three collections have done a nice job of assuring that the contributors stay to the point and write well without sacrificing scholarly precision. For those seeking a simple history or detailed analysis of any particular figure or time, these books will not suffice. But for most readers who are unfamiliar with the full range [End Page 294] of women in rhetorical history, this reader among them, these volumes provide a delightful introduction to the resilience, creativity, and significance of women in our formerly unacknowledged rhetorical past.In her introduction to Reclaiming Rhetorica, Andrea Lunsford shares the intriguing history of the volume, which explains its eclecticism and its goals. Approached by students who wanted to explore the role of women in rhetorical history, Annette Kolodny offered a two-semester graduate seminar titled "Women Rhetoricians." For the class, the students did extensive archival recovery research, much of which is included in the published volume. Interestingly, the students were the ones who persisted in trying to bring their works, plus the other contributors' efforts, to publication. The resultant book is, then, as James J. Murphy says in his foreword, "not a history of women rhetoricians, or women orators, or women writers. It is, instead, a glimmer of possibilities, an array of glances,--an enthymeme."The essays range widely in time covered and in focus. For example, the first chapter is a consideration of Aspasia, who left no written record of her own. Her accomplishments and influence must, then, be constructed from references to her in the works of others. The authors, Susan Jarratt and Rory Ong, contend that both her gender and her non-Athenian roots played a role in the suppression of her memory. Returning to the theme of "dangerous femininity," the concluding chapter explores the work of a modern theorist, Julia Kristeva. In that chapter, Suzanne Clark demonstrates how Kristeva has challenged traditional notions of rhetoric and provides dialogism as an antidote to the constraints of earlier approaches to human interaction. The chapters between these two take a variety of directions. Mary Wollstonecraft's feminist dialogics stands alongside of the autobiographical The... (shrink)

Instruction in the arts of life is something other than conveying information about them. It is a matter of communication and participation in values of life by means of imagination, and works of art are the most intimate and energetic means of aiding individuals to share in the arts of living. In teaching for aesthetic experience, I ask my students, most of whom are classroom teachers, to bring their lived experiences to each encounter with a work of art to determine (...) the meaning and value for their lives. Central to this engagement is the development of the skills of aesthetic perception and response through the analysis of form and content in dance, drama, music, and the visual arts.2 To provide a.. (shrink)

Mobile technologies and networks facilitate the delocalization of traditional power structures within an economic frame. This shift usually incorporates the discourse of the body creation as well. Our bodies are constructs in which individuals as well as and social perceptions and projections, reality and fiction fuse together. In a similar way, we doubt about the representation of reality and highly editable and generative images. Nonetheless, some forms of bio-power can be identified in contemporary constructed mental images such as race or (...) ethnicity usually linked to religious or linguistic differences that are traditionally used as borderline zones. Many examples can be traced back to representations of both fauna and populations of the new world in colonial America. This phenomenon has also emerged in representations of cyberspace even though Internet is advertised as a place in which traditional distinctions and imbalances in power between individuals have been effaced. If Zizek's statement is true that in order to capture the spirit of an age you should not look to explicit social structures but rather to the ghosts that haunt us, and live in a region of nonexistent entities, the topic of globalization should not put aside issues of immigration and multiple representations of race. This situation is inherent to the present and future construction of both cyberspace and public physical space. Media imaginaries create a myriad of information that also includes artificial savages. This fact constitutes what some artists provocatively call a rather explosive universe of cultural misunderstanding under a new world border. (shrink)