(1993). A curriculum for the 21st century? Towards a new basis for overcoming academic/vocational divisions 1 . British Journal of Educational Studies: Vol. 41, No. 3, pp. 203-222.

In this article, we reconsider the syntactical analysis as well as the categorial status of two Medieval French elements, et and ne. In this connection, we illustrate and compare various approaches which principally differ with regard to the assignment of a unique category or of various categories to these elements. In the context of this comparison, we address some of the questions pertaining to their motivations and the evidence which has been offered in their favor, showing that approaches which assign (...) a unique category to et and ne, respectively, prove to be empirically more adequate. (shrink)

Rortys Konzeption der Menschenrechte basiert auf seiner Ablehnung eines universalistischen Rationalitätskonzepts. Vielmehr bildet für ihn das Gefühl aller Menschen, dass Grausamkeiten und Leid überwinden werden sollten, die Basis seiner sentimantalistischen Konzeption von Menschenrechten. Dabei werden jedoch insbesondere institutionelle und interkulturelle Aspekte der Menschenrechte und die unhinterfragten Aporien des Liberalismus zu wenig beachtet.

Human dignity is commonly regarded as the fundamental moral, legal and political value. However, in philosophy and legal studies, the concept is nonetheless highly contested; in particular, it is criticised for being vague, empty, highly arbitrary, not rationally justifiable and therefore dispensable. Against this criticism, this paper defends a classical Kantian understanding of human dignity; this is done in five steps: Firstly, the concept of human dignity is clarified by distinguishing it from the concept of social dignity. Secondly, well-known attempts (...) to justify human dignity are criticised for being insufficient, paving the way for a transcendental-philosophical justification. Thirdly, and this is the core of this paper, a transcendental-philosophical justification is presented: Starting with a broad understanding of the phenomenon of morality, the paper shows that morality has five necessary preconditions, namely the abilities of having a will, of being free, of being rational, of having a moral conscience and of being a self. As preconditions of morality, these five abilities lie beyond moral weighing and have thus to be regarded as absolute values, constituting human dignity. The paper ends - fourthly and fifthly - with a discussion of the ethical and legal consequences of this concept and with some of its difficulties. (shrink)

This “experimental” essay both investigates maps and functions as a map. Taking its cue from the Deleuzean rhizome, this essay proposes a new method of inquiry based upon the Scientific Method. This essay works as a series of displacements. Each piece of new evidence will take the paper in a different direction. After each piece of evidence is introduced, it will be my job to draw conclusions about the displacement. This inquiry works like a Deleuzean map.

The authors were involved in developing an ethical framework to assist the Queens Region Board (Prince Edward Island, Canada) set priorities in health and health care. Two and one half years after the adoption of this framework, the authors undertook an evaluation of the framework. This paper will discuss: a) the historical background of regionalization in Canada, and in particular the circumstances leading up to the institution of regional boards in Prince Edward Island; b) the sorts of ethical issues facing (...) the Queens Regional Board; c) issues arising in connection with the use and development of ethics frameworks for managing ethical issues in priority setting; d) the framework adopted by the Queens Board and the process that led to its development; e) issues arising as concerns implementation of the framework; f) questions and issues pertinent to other boards and bodies considering similar initiatives. (shrink)

In this article I critique Charles Kay’s aboriginal overkill hypothesis, which states that Native Americans numbered 100 million or more in precolumbian North America, extensively humanized the landscape, and suppressed wildlife numbers, thus allowing wildlife browse to proliferate. By examining Kay’s source use and pertinent information, I find that he makes four kinds of significant mistakes: exaggerations, failure to provide necessary data, errors of omission, and errors of logic. Through examples I illustrate that Kay’s errors compromise his hypothesis. Kay uses (...) Yellowstone National Park as his primary example of such a humanized area; in contrast, I suggest it is a relatively pristine area. (shrink)

Menschenbilder sind wichtig, darüber ist sich die Wissenschaft einig. Nicht von ungefähr spielt die Berufung auf ein Menschenbild in vielen öffentlichen Debatten eine zentrale Rolle. Doch was ist überhaupt gemeint, wenn von einem "Menschenbild" die Rede ist? Was sind die Inhalte dieser Bilder? Welche Funktion haben und welche Rolle spielen sie? Vor allem aber: Welche Auswirkungen haben Menschenbilder im Alltag? Sind Menschenbilder tatsächlich, wie manche meinen, das Fundament unserer moralischen und politischen, ja selbst der existenziellsten Orientierungen im Alltag? Fragen wie (...) diese sind bislang weitgehend unbeantwortet geblieben. Denn so beliebt und zentral der Begriff des Menschenbildes ist, so unbestimmt ist er; er besitzt kein wissenschaftliches Profil. Bis heute gibt es keine gründliche theoretische Untersuchung zum Begriff und keinen Versuch, das Phänomen Menschenbild im Allgemeinen theoretisch umfassend zu bestimmen. Selbst in manchen Nachschlagewerken sucht man den Terminus vergebens. Eben dieser längst überfälligen Forschungsarbeit nimmt sich dieses Buch an: der Klärung des Begriffs "Menschenbild" einerseits und der allgemein-theoretischen Bestimmung des Phänomens Menschenbild andererseits. Ziel ist es, damit der verbreiteten Rede vom Menschenbild endlich ein tragfähiges wissenschaftliches Fundament zu verleihen. Quelle: Verlag. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: Background Chisholm's Theory of Action Remaining Questions References.

Renewed attention to integrating information ethics within graduate library and information science programs has forced LIS educators to ensure that future information professionals - and the users they interact with - participate appropriately and ethically in our contemporary information society. Along with focusing on graduate LIS curricula, information ethics must become infused in multiple and varied educational contexts, ranging from elementary and secondary education, technical degrees and undergraduate programs, public libraries, through popular media, and within the home.Teaching information ethics in (...) these diverse settings and contexts brings numerous challenges and requires new understandings and innovative approaches. In keeping with the 2011 Association for Library and Information Science Education conference theme of "Competitiveness and Innovation," a diverse panel of educators and researchers were convened to foster a discussion in how to best incorporate information ethics education across diverse contexts, and how to develop innovative educational methods to overcome the challenges these contexts inevitably present. This article reports on that panel discussion and offers recommendations towards achieving success in information ethics education. (shrink)

Robert Nozick worked in a Lockean tradition of political philosophy, a tradition with deep resonance in the American political culture. This paper attempts to explore the formative moments of that culture and at the same time to clarify the role of Lockean philosophy in the American Revolution. One of the currently dominant approaches to the revolution emphasizes the colonists' commitments to their rights, but identifies the relevant rights as “the rights of Englishmen,” not natural rights in the Lockean mode. This (...) approach misses, however, the way the Americans construed their positive or constitutional rights in the light of a Lockean background theory. In a word, the Americans recreated an amalgam of traditional constitutional principles and Lockean philosophy, an amalgam that nearly guaranteed that they and the British would speak past each other. The ambiguities and uncertainties of the British constitution as extended to the colonies provided an incentive to the Americans (but not the British) to look to Locke as a guide to their rights, thereby helping win a place for Lockean theory in American political thinking. (shrink)

Whelan, Michael 'Travel light!' This is good advice for anyone going overseas. And it is not bad advice for each time you get out of bed and turn up for the new day. 'Travel light!' People who cling to what they should have let go years ago are like people who travel overseas with stuff they should have left at home - they are encumbered, burdened and weighed down. And that sense of weight is what they project into their (...) environment and those who have the misfortune to travel with them. (shrink)

The Tanner Lectures are a collection of educational and scientific discussions relating to human values. Conducted by leaders in their fields, the lectures are presented at renowned institutions around the world, including the Universities of Oxford, Harvard, and Yale. In January 2019, University of Toronto's Michael Lambek, professor, former Canada Research Chair, and member of the Royal Society of Canada, delivered the Tanner Lecture at the University of Michigan's Department of Philosophy on the topic of "Concepts and Persons." As (...) well as tracing his career in social and cultural anthropology, Lambek's Tanner Lecture spoke on the intersection of anthropology and philosophy as a means of articulating the moral basis of human action. By elucidating where anthropology and philosophy might intersect, Lamberk's lecture is a profound examination of the human condition, and is beautifully captured in this publication. Concepts and Persons recounts the lecture as delivered at the prestigious event, the commentary of three distinguished respondents, and Lambek's own response to that commentary. The book's presentation of the lecture also includes a rich and layered set of notes that augment the lecture significantly, as well as additional clarification and thought that has developed since the event. (shrink)

Michael Tanner; IV—Examples in Moral Philosophy, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 65, Issue 1, 1 June 1965, Pages 61–76, https://doi.org/10.1093/.

This book is an easy-to-read, fun and provocative discussion of how to understand, appreciate, and evaluate film. Written by professor and film guru Michael Gose, the book is loved by students and moviegoers alike.

Current phylogenies show that paired fins and limbs are unique to jawed vertebrates and their immediate ancestry. Such fins evolved first as a single pair extending from an anterior location, and later stabilized as two pairs at pectoral and pelvic levels. Fin number, identity, and position are therefore key issues in vertebrate developmental evolution. Localization of the AP levels at which developmental signals initiate outgrowth from the body wall may be determined by Hox gene expression patterns along the lateral plate (...) mesoderm. This regionalization appears to be regulated independently of that in the paraxial mesoderm and axial skeleton. When combined with current hypotheses of Hox gene phylogenetic and functional diversity, these data suggest a new model of fin/limb developmental evolution. This coordinates body wall regions of outgrowth with primitive boundaries established in the gut, as well as the fundamental nonequivalence of pectoral and pelvic structures. BioEssays 20:371–381, 1998. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons Inc. (shrink)

_Taking Religious Claims Seriously_ is a systematic, critical, and comprehensive study of the fundamental questions of the philosophy of religion: religious experience, the existence and nature of God, religious knowledge and truth, good and evil, immortality of the soul, religious diversity, religious claims about the person, faith, and the religious way of life. In this study the author seeks to capture the reality and meaning of the religious as such: What is the foundation of religion? Under what conditions is an (...) authentic religious way of life possible? His method of inquiry is phenomenological. The author begins his discussion with a general characterization of the basic features of all the literate and illiterate religions of the world. He then identifies the ideas, beliefs, and concerns which are common to these religions: What are the central claims of these religions? How did the various religions understand these claims? The author makes a serious attempt to clarify these claims and explore the possibility for a reconcilation between them. For him, the foundation of religion is the religious experience, and the essence of this experience consists in a serious, cognitive, and meaningful encounter with the Ultimate Being. This being is the ground of the world and human life. This book is a comparative, pluralistic study of the philosophy of religion. (shrink)

Dans cet article Michael Stolleis s’intéresse au devenir de la science du droit constitutionnel sous le régime national-socialiste. L’intérêt de la question dépasse la simple curiosité historique, car elle concerne une discipline de la science juridique centrale à tout État démocratique. Partant des attaques contre le positivisme juridique qui émergent au cours de la République de Weimar, l’article s’ouvre sur une typologie des groupes qui constituent l’Union des professeurs de droit public. Stolleis montre l’affaiblissement progressif des « positivistes » (...) à la faveur des groupes à l’idéologie plus autoritaire et antidémocratique. Cette première typologie des forces en présence permet ensuite d’analyser plus finement les différentes attitudes face à la mise en place du régime national-socialiste – allant de l’émigration (extérieure ou intérieure) à la collaboration, en passant par le retrait vers des domaines de la pensée juridique moins directement exposés politiquement. S’intéressant au destin de la discipline plutôt qu’aux devenirs individuels, Stolleis constate l’effacement progressif du droit constitutionnel face à un pouvoir n’acceptant aucune contrainte, aucune restriction. Au point que le silence des représentants de cette discipline semble total après 1938. Enfin, l’article se conclut sur un appel à l’étude historique de la période, d’autant plus nécessaire que l’immédiat après-guerre fut marqué par l’occultation des faits et la volonté de laisser le passé être le passé. (shrink)

Interview with Michael Bruce and Steven Barbone, editors of Just the Arguments.

A calculus for classical propositional sequents is introduced that consists of a restricted version of the cut rule and local variants of the logical rules. Employed in the style of proof search, this calculus explodes a given sequent into its elementary structural sequents—the topmost sequents in a derivation thus constructed—which do not contain any logical constants. Some of the properties exhibited by the collection of elementary structural sequents in relation to the sequent they are derived from, uniqueness and unique representation (...) of formula occurrences, will be discussed in detail. Based on these properties it is suggested that a collection of elementary structural sequents constitutes the purely structural representation of the sequent from which it is obtained. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Semiotica Jahrgang: 2015 Heft: 207 Seiten: 201-215.

Certain scholars wish to acquit St. Thomas Aquinas of the “illicit inference from facts to norms” commonly referred to as the naturalistic fallacy. Seeing in certain passages his awareness of illegitimate ways to derive morality from natural ends, many have come to read Aquinas as agreeing with the view that knowledge of the moral order does not derive from knowledge of human nature and of the natural ends of its parts and powers. This paper aims to expose the deficiencies of (...) this reading as a way of bringing more fully into view the whole thought of Aquinas on the question. National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 13.4 : 637–661. (shrink)

With this special volume of Speculations, the editors wanted to challenge the contested term "speculative realism," offering scholars who have some involvement with it a space to voice their opinions of the network of ideas commonly associated with the name.