Evaluative claims and assumptions are ubiquitous in positive psychology. Some will deny this. But such disavowals are belied by the literature. Some will consider the presence of evaluative claims a problem and hope to root them out. But this is a mistake. If positive psychology is to live up to its raison d’être – to be the scientific study of the psychological components of human flourishing or well-being – it must make evaluative claims. Well-being consists in those things that are (...) good for us, that make life go well. Thus, one cannot investigate this topic without making claims about what is good for people and what they have reason to do. It’s time, therefore, to embrace the fact that positive psychology is value-laden. Doing so would benefit the field by allowing for more rigorous theorizing, and – perhaps counterintuitively – increasing the field’s objectivity. (shrink)

It is widely held that the size of a probability makes no difference to the quality of a probabilistic explanation. I argue that explanatory practice in statistical physics belies this claim. The claim has gained currency only because of an impoverished conception of probabilistic processes and an unwarranted assumption that all probabilistic explanations have a single form.

An ontology of information belies our common intuitions about reality today and animates and governs both explicit scholarly study in philosophy and the sciences as well as the ideologies that are growing out of them. Transhumanism is one such technoscientific ideology that holds to a very specific ontology of information which need not be the only one on offer. This article argues that the transhumanist ontology of information exhibits gnostic and docetic religious overtones in it and that it devalues physical (...) existence. At the same time, despite claiming a rejection of supernature, hypothetical transhumanist practices (such as mind‐uploading) posit the infosphere as a kind of supernatural realm that is often set in opposition to the natural world. This article presents a critique of transhumanist conceptions of information and offers an alternative ontology of information that more adequately accounts for the distinction between the natural and supernatural as well as the integrity of the physical world. (shrink)

During his 2000–2001 seminar on the death penalty, Jacques Derrida argues that Kant is the most ‘rigorous’ philosophical proponent of the death penalty and, thus, the thinker who poses the most serious objections to the kind of philosophical abolitionism that Derrida is trying to develop in his seminar. For Kant, the death penalty is the logical result of the fundamental principle of criminal law, namely, talionic law or the right of retaliation as a principle of pure, disinterested reason. In this (...) paper, I demonstrate how Derrida attempts to undermine Kant’s defence of the death penalty by demonstrating both its internal contradictions and its strange affinities with the law of primitive peoples. I argue that Derrida’s repeated returns throughout the seminar to Kant’s Metaphysics of Morals suggest that Kant’s seemingly rational defence of the death penalty is ultimately motivated by interests that belie the supposed disinterestedness of modern law and by a notion of natural justice that at once subtends and subverts all criminal law. (shrink)

Drawing upon the practice of caregiving and the insights of feminist care ethics, I offer a phenomenology of caregiving through the work of Eva Feder Kittay and Emmanuel Lévinas. I argue that caregiving is a material dialectic of embodied response involving moments of leveling, attention, and interruption. In this light, the Levinasian opposition between responding to another's singularity and leveling it via parity-based principles is belied in the experience of care. Contra much of response ethics’ and care ethics’ respective literatures, (...) this dialectic suggests that they are complementary in ways that productively illuminate themes of each. I conclude by suggesting that when response and care ethics are thought together through the experience of caregiving, such labors produce finite responsibility with infinite hope. (shrink)

A traditional Humean view about motivation says that only desires motivate action. This theory meshes with the familiar ‘directions of fit’ metaphor: while beli.

Издание содержит: нравственность между эзотерикой и правом, геополитика нравственности, либерализованная Россия и либеральная эзотерика и др.

В настоящей книге представлен анализ внутренней логики и социокультурного контекста существования Московского методологического кружка - одной из самых влиятельных мыслительно-практических контркультурных традиций советской эпохи.

Until quite recently Michael Oakeshott has been widely regarded as a political thinker. So clearly has he been taken to express his political views that there is often little question as to where he lies in the political spectrum. He has been perceived by both �friend� and �foe� as one of the most eloquent twentieth- century exponents of the conservative cause. His best known work is a collection of essays first published together in 1962 as Rationalism in Politics and (...) Other Essays. The title, which is drawn from the first essay in the volume, belies a much broader agenda than one might at first expect. These �other essays� broach a diverse selection of subjects ranging from the idea of the university and what it is to be a historian to the part played by poetry in human experience. This might reveal something about the way in which Oakeshott works as well as what his project might be. He is not only interested in politics (this, if anything, is peripheral): he has a more general concern about a way of thinking which is encroaching upon how we understand ourselves. Oakeshott calls this way of thinking rationalism, and he identifies in rationalism an intellectual disposition to view the world as a series of problems to be solved by appeal to Reason. The rationalist reduces experience to instrumental relations, that is, he views all other objects in this world as means to his ends. Oakeshott identifies other hallmarks of rationalist thought but my present purpose leads me to concentrate on this particular aspect of rationalism. I mention rationalism only to give an indication of the type of thinking that Oakeshott has in his sights. (shrink)

This book defends a form of ethical intuitionism, according to which (i) there are objective moral truths; (ii) we know some of these truths through a kind of immediate, intellectual awareness, or "intuition"; and (iii) our knowledge of moral truths gives us reasons for action independent of our desires. The author rebuts all the major objections to this theory and shows that the alternative theories about the nature of ethics all face grave difficulties.

Οἱ ἀρχαίες τεχνικές συναρμαλόγησης τραβέρσας μέ τους βραχίονες τῆς λύρας δέν περιγράφονται μέ ἀκρίβεια στίς φιλολογικές πηγές. Ή ἐπανασύνθεσή τους εἶναι παρολαυτά δυνατή ἄν μελετήσουμε τίς εἰκονογραφήσεις (ἀττική κεραμεική), πού δείχνουν ὅτι τά τεμάχια αὐτά εἶναι γομφωμένα. Ή μελέτη τοῦ μοναδικοῦ δείγματος ἐλληνικής λύρας, τῆς «λύρας Elgin », μᾶς ἐπιτρέπει νά καταλάβουμε τήν ἐργασία και τή συναρμολόγηση τῶν τεμαχίων πού ἦταν γομφωμένα. 'Ορισμένες ἐνιγματικές λεπτομέρειες πού ἀπεικονίζονται στά ἀγγεία ἐξηγούνται καί αὐτές. Παρατηροῦμε δτι οἱ λεπτομέρειες τῆς λύρας του « θρόνου (...) τῆς Βοστόνης » εἶναι πιστές στίς ἀπεικονίσεις καί ἀντιστοιχούν ἀκριβώς στήν κατασκευή τῆς « λύρας Elgin ». Οἱ ἀναλογίες ὅμως τοῦ ὀργάνου καί ἡ στάση τοῦ λυράρη εἶναι παράλογες. (shrink)

The first edition of The Scientific Background to Modern Philosophy took the dialogue of science and philosophy from Aristotle through to Newton. This second edition adds eight chapters, taking the dialogue through the Enlightenment and up to Darwin. This anthology is an attempt to help bridge the gap between the history of science and the history of philosophy.

Part I: The representation of life -- Can life be given a real definition? -- The representation of the living individual -- The representation of the life-form itself -- Part II: Naive action theory -- Types of practical explanation -- Naive explanation of action -- Action and time -- Part III: Practical generality -- Two tendencies in practical philosophy -- Practices and dispositions as sources of the goodness of individual actions -- Practice and disposition as sources of individual action.

Le fragment d'épinétron 907 du Musée d'Eleusis représente une Amazone sonnant de la trompette et appelant ses compagnes aux armes ; elle est entourée de lettres jusqu'à présent considérées comme dépourvues de sens : TOTOTETO(T)H. Ces syllabes appartiennent en réalité à une notation musicale de type « solfégique » qui ne nous était connue jusqu'ici que par des théoriciens postérieurs au IIe siècle ap. J.-C, qui la faisait cependant remonter à Damon. Cette inscription constitue le plus ancien document musical grec (...) parvenu jusqu'à nous : œuvre du peintre de Sappho, l'épinétron est daté des débuts du Ve siècle. Elle atteste l'ancienneté de la notation solfégique, la première qu'aient connue les Grecs. (shrink)

Virtually all philosophers agree that for a belief to be epistemically justified, it must satisfy certain conditions. Perhaps it must be supported by evidence. Or perhaps it must be reliably formed. Or perhaps there are some other "good-making" features it must have. But does a belief's justification also require some sort of awareness of its good-making features? The answer to this question has been hotly contested in contemporary epistemology, creating a deep divide among its practitioners. Internalists, who tend to focus (...) on scientific or theoretical beliefs as the ideal, insist that such awareness is required for justification. Externalists, who think children's ordinary beliefs in obvious facts are paradigm cases of justified belief, say it isn't required. Michael Bergmann's book offers a decisive refutation of internalism and a sustained defense of externalism. (shrink)

Externalist theories of justification create the possibility of cases in which everything appears to one relevantly similar with respect to two propositions, yet one proposition is justified while the other is not. Internalists find this difficult to accept, because it seems irrational in such a case to affirm one proposition and not the other. The underlying internalist intuition supports a specific internalist theory, Phenomenal Conservatism, on which epistemic justification is conferred by appearances.

Annie Bélis, À propos de la coupe CA 482 du Louvre. P. 53-59 Sur la coupe CA 482 du Louvre, le Peintre d'Hésiode a figuré, avec son élégance et son raffinement habituels, une jeune femme qui tient une cithare en berceau : sur ses genoux est posé un objet qui a résisté jusqu'à présent à toute tentative d'identification. Plusieurs hypothèses, peu satisfaisantes, ont été formulées. Schéma et mesures à l'appui, on montre qu'il s'agit en réalité d'une deuxième cithare en berceau, (...) posée à plat et donc vue de profil. Le a pris soin de lui donner exactement les mêmes dimensions et les mêmes au détail près, que l'autre. Reste une inconnue : le nom antique de la cithare en. (shrink)

A partir des témoignages littéraires et des représentations figurées les plus précises, on décrit cet accessoire que portaient les aulètes et certains joueurs de σάλπιγξ, et l'on détermine dans quelles limites chronologiques le port de la φορβειά est attesté. Le problème principal concerne son utilité ou sa fonction, question débattue depuis l'Antiquité, tant par les scholiastes que par Plutarque, et sur laquelle les modernes sont en désaccord. D'autre part, comme la φορβειά ne se conçoit que pour des instruments à anches, (...) et comme on voit des joueurs de trompette la porter, entre la fin du VIe s. et le début du Ve, il apparaît que des trompettes à anches ont été jouées en Grèce, ce que des témoignages écrits confirment. Il est sûr que cet instrument a été en usage chez les Romains : il en existe un témoignage archéologique (inédit), découvert à Pompéi. (shrink)

At the University of Sheffield during 2011 and 2012, a leading group of philosophers, psychologists, and others gathered to explore the nature and significance of implicit bias. The two volumes of Implicit Bias and Philosophy emerge from these workshops. Each volume philosophically examines core areas of psychological research on implicit bias as well as the ramifications of implicit bias for core areas of philosophy. Volume I: Metaphysics and Epistemology is comprised of two parts: “The Nature of Implicit Attitudes, Implicit Bias, (...) and Stereotype Threat,” and “Skepticism, Social Knowledge, and Rationality.” The first part contains chapters examining the relationship between implicit attitudes and “dual process” models of the mind; the role of affect in the formation and change of implicit associations; the unity (or disunity) of implicit attitudes; whether implicit biases are mental states at all; and whether performances on stereotype-relevant tasks are automatic and unconscious or intentional and strategic. The second part contains chapters examining implicit bias and skepticism; the effects of implicit bias on scientific research; the accessibility of social stereotypes in epistemic environments; the effects of implicit bias on the self-perception of members of stigmatized social groups as rational agents; the role of gender stereotypes in philosophy; and the role of heuristics in biased reasoning. (shrink)

Πρόκειται γιά διπλό ξύλινο αὐλό, ἐξαιρετικά καλά διατηρημένο. 'Αποτελεῖται ἀπό δυό σωλῆνες πού σχηματίζονται ἀπό ἕνα στόμιο καί ἕναν ὅλμο, καί ἀπό τόν « βόμβυκα » · ἔχουν 7-9 τρύπες, ἀπό τίς ὁποῖες μιά γιά τόν ἀντίχειρα στό κάτω μέρος καί τῶν δυό σωλήνων. Ἡ θέση τους ποικίλλει σημαντικά ἀπό σωλήνα σέ σωλήνα καί μπορεῖ κανείς νά ἀποκατάσταση τῆς μουσικῆς κλίμακας τοῦ ὀργάνου, σύμφωνα μέ ὑπολογισμούς πού χρησιμοποιοῦσαν οἱ Ἕλληνες θεωρητικοί. Μ' αὐτό τόν τρόπο ἀποδεικνύεται ὅτι ὁ διπλός αὐλός δέν (...) ἐπινοήθηκε γιά ἐκτέλεση ἐτεροφώνων μελωδιῶν : ὁ ὀργανοποιός ἀνοίγει τρύπες σέ δυό σωλῆνες, ἐκεί πού θά τοῦ ἦταν ἀδύνατο νά τό κάνει μόνο στον ἕνα χωρίς νά χαλάσει τό ὄργανο. Στό διπλό αὐλό τοῦ Λούβρου μπορεῖ νά ἐκτελεσθούν 16 νότες · πρόκειται γιά ὄργανο ἐξαιρετικῆς κατασκευῆς πού προορίζεται γιά δεξιοτέχνη. Μπορεῖ νά χρονολογηθεῖ στά τέλη τοῦ 4ου αἰώνα. (shrink)

Τό λατινικό scabellum, οι ελληνικές «κρούπεζαι» είναι βοηθητικά αντικείμενα πού χρησιμοποιούν οί αυλητές : αποτελείται άπό Ινα διπλό ξύλινο πέλμα ενισχυμένο ενδεχομένως μέ μέταλλο πού ό οργανοπαίχτης κινεί μέ τό πόδι · γιά νά γίνει πιό ηχηρό καμμιά φορά υπάρχουν δύο κύμβαλα ανάμεσα στά δύο πέλματα · μελέτη τών ελληνικών δρων · προέλευση καί λειτουργία τοΰ οργάνου, ειδικότερα στή Βοιωτία · σχέσεις μέ τόν Βάταλο πού αναφέρεται στην επιγραφή τοΰ Διονυσίου της Θάσου · σχέσεις μεταξύ αύλου, ρ* υθμοΰ καί εργασίας (...) " συμπεράσματα πάνω στους μουσικούς ^υθμούς στην Ελλάδα καί στή Τώμη. (shrink)

On one of the reliefs in the famous Passage of the Theoria Apollo is depicted holding aloft a cithara, all of whose parts, detached from the wall, are today broken (left upright strut above the crosspiece and the whole right-hand section of the instrument). If a reconstruction drawing of how the complete cithara originally looked is made on the basis of the surviving elements, it can be seen that it is more squat and less high than similar instruments generally are, (...) a large number of which are depicted on red-figure vases, with the dates usually proposed by sculpture experts to place the Theoria relief in a chronological context. The cithara that we see is closer in its proportions to the slightly earlier ones which appear on black-fîgure pottery at around 490 B. C. The form and type of the Theoria cithara thus argue in favour of a high date for the whole monument. (shrink)

Σε ένα μελανόμορφο αμφορέα του Εθνικού Μουσείου της Αθήνας απεικονίζεται μία σκηνή που, εκ πρώτης όψεως, μοιάζει κοινή : ένας μουσικός παίζει δίαυλο και παρευρίσκονται τρεις ακροατές. Αλλά κάποιος άλλος απέναντί του τον ακούει προσεκτικά : μία χήνα που τον κυττάζει με τεντωμένο λαιμό και ολοστρόγγυλο μάτι. Προτείνεται μία ερμηνεία στην αταίριαστη παρουσία του τόσο άμουσου αυτού πτηνού.

In this engaging and spirited text, Michael Lynch argues that truth does matter, in both our personal and political lives. He explains that the growing cynicism over truth stems in large part from our confusion over what truth is.

Causation: A Realist Approach Traditional empiricist accounts of causation and laws of nature have been reductionist in the sense of entailing that given a complete specification of the non-causal properties of and relations among particulars, it is therefore logically determined both what laws there are and what events are causally related. It is argued here, however, that reductionist accounts of causation and of laws of nature are exposed to decisive objections, and thus that the time has come for empiricists to (...) break with that tradition. -/- The basic goal of this book, therefore, is to set out and defend realistic accounts of those concepts. In the case of causal relations, for example, Tooley maintains that causation is basically a matter of theoretical relations between states of affairs that underlie and explain relative frequencies. He also argues that such an approach avoids the objections that tell against reductionist accounts and that it does so without making causal relations epistemologically inaccessible. (shrink)

Dignity plays a central role in current thinking about law and human rights, but there is sharp disagreement about its meaning. Combining conceptual precision with a broad historical background, Michael Rosen puts these controversies in context and offers a novel, constructive proposal. “Penetrating and sprightly...Rosen rightly emphasizes the centrality of Catholicism in the modern history of human dignity. His command of the history is impressive...Rosen is a wonderful guide to the recent German constitutional thinking about human dignity...[Rosen] is in (...) general an urbane and witty companion, achieving his aim of accessibly written philosophy.” —Samuel Moyn, The Nation “[An] elegant, interesting and lucid exploration of the concept of dignity...Drawing on classical, liberal and Catholic traditions, Rosen hopes to rehabilitate dignity to its rightful place near the centre of moral thought...Rosen's admirable book deserves wide attention from political theorists, jurisprudes and political philosophers.” —Simon Blackburn, Times Higher Education “Dignity deserves to be widely read, not only for its intrinsic interest, but also as a corrective to the habit of discussing such topics in abstraction from their social context. Whether or not one agrees with Rosen's arguments, there can be no doubt he has widened our horizons.” —Rae Langton, Times Literary Supplement. (shrink)

edition (unseen), $12.95. traditions, bringing into being new modes of understanding. Paper Anthropology, and particularly ethnography, is torn between two quests, one to capture the diversity of social life and the other to discover universal principles structuring that diversity. Jackson examines these quests within the context of ethnographic fieldwork, focusing on the relationship between ethnographers and the people they study. He is concerned with defining the anthropological project as something more than the projection of the anthropologist's traditions and concerns onto (...) an alien culture. Rather, he would have the project open a genuine dialogue between people from different cultures or Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR. (shrink)

Michael G. Titelbaum presents a new Bayesian framework for modeling rational degrees of belief—the first of its kind to represent rational requirements on agents who undergo certainty loss.