The standard rationality hypothesis implies that behaviour can be represented as the maximization of a suitably restricted utility function. This hypothesis lies at the heart of a large body of recent work in economics, of course, but also in political science, ethics, and other major branches of social sciences. Though the utility maximization hypothesis is venerable, it remains an area of active research. Moreover, some fundamental conceptual problems remain unresolved, or at best have resolutions that are too recent to have (...) achieved widespread understanding among social scientists. The main purpose of the Handbook of Utility Theory is to make recent developments in the area more accessible. The editors selected a number of specific topics, and invited contributions from researchers whose work had come to their attention. Therefore, the list of topics and contributions is largely the editors' responsibility. Each contributor's chapter has been refereed, and revised according to the referees' remarks. This is the first volume of a two volume set, with the second volume focusing on extensions of utility theory. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the extent to which allowing for individuals to be indifferent among alternatives may alter the qualitative results that are obtained in social choice theory when domain restrictions are defined on profiles of linear orders. The general message is that indifferences require attention and careful treatment, because the translation of results from a world without indifferences to another where agents may be indifferent among some alternatives is not always a straightforward exercise. But the (...) warning is not one-directional: sometimes indifferences complicate the statement of results, but preserve their essential message. Sometimes, they help to create domains where some rules work better than in the presence of linear orders. In other cases, however, their presence destroys the positive results that would apply in their absence. I provide examples of these three situations. (shrink)

En el presente trabajo intento demostrar que existe una relación de necesidad epistémica entre prueba y verdad. Esto quiere decir que no es posible, en el proceso, ni creer justificadamente ni aceptar que está probado que p si, por información pública pero extraprocesal, el juez sabe que p es falso. Con todo, ello es así bajo ciertas condiciones, a saber: en primer lugar, que se trate de un proceso penal legítimo en términos de Estado de derecho; y en segundo lugar, (...) que por verdad se entienda correspondencia entre enunciado y mundo. Esa es la tesis principal y se desarrolla en esta segunda parte de la investigación. Pero tiene apoyo en algunas tesis secundarias, ya analizadas en la primera parte del trabajo, publicada también en este volumen. (shrink)

En el presente trabajo intento demostrar que, dadas ciertas condiciones, puede haber una relación de necesidad epistémica entre prueba y verdad. Esa es la tesis principal, desarrollada en la segunda parte de la investigación y publicada también en este volumen. Pero tiene apoyo en algunas tesis secundarias, que son expuestas y fundamentadas aquí, en esta primera parte. Las más relevantes son: no es correcto interpretar la fórmula de Tarski como una definición sofisticada de la noción correspondentista de verdad; la verdad, (...) en discursos teóricos, es un parámetro objetivo y alcanzable, en función del cual, siquiera provisoriamente y con base en razones, pueden ser dirimidas disputas de justificación; existe una conexión conceptual entre verdad y justicia retributiva; aunque usualmente esto no se explicite, la relación que interesa es entre prueba legítima y verdad; verdad no equivale a justificación; prueba equivale a justificación; justificaciones epistémicas pueden colapsar frente a la verdad. (shrink)

Amir Muzur and Hans Martin-Sass, Fritz Jahr and the foundations of global bioethics: The future of integrative bioethics, Berlin: LIT Verlag, 2012, reviewed by Christopher P. La Barbera.

Margaret Wiley, Women, Wellness, and the Media, Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008, reviewed by Chris La Barbera and Melissa Meade.

After three decades of intensive debate in academic and activist circles, intersectionality has progressively been adopted in public policies. Yet, the challenges of its application are still largely unexplored. This article adopts a discursive approach to study the process of policy implementation of an intersectionality-informed plan in Madrid City Council, Spain. The analysis of materials retrieved through interviews, a focus group, and participant observation enables us to explore how the technical staff interpret intersectionality and links it with other established approaches (...) in equality and antidiscrimination law and policy, namely gender and diversity. We argue that preconceptions and positionality within the institutional structure deeply affect the interpretation of intersectionality and the subsequent action or non-action taken by implementing actors. Our study shows the challenges and opportunities to implement intersectionality in public policies that result from its discursive construction through the frames of gender and diversity. (shrink)

Feminist bioethicists have explicitly recognized that women may bear the undue burden of iatrogenic disease, or disease deliberately created by health care. Further, the feminist critique of science, or the "science wars," as it is sometimes called, has affected the ways we approach scientific and medical knowledge when it comes to women. The idea that science is situated and constructed, rather than naturally revealed to us, has exposed androcentric tendencies in research as well as health-care practices. Indeed the highly successful (...) public relations campaign of the Breast Cancer Action "pink" campaign reminds us that not only do we now know more about women's health, but we also know that women's health issues .. (shrink)

Research indicates that religious values and ethical behavior are closely associated, yet, at a firm level, the processes by which this association occurs are poorly understood. Family firms are known to exhibit values-based behavior, which in turn can lead to specific firm-level outcomes. It is also known that one’s family is an important incubator, enabler, and perpetuator of religious values across successive generations. Our study examines the experiences of a single, multigenerational business family that successfully enacted their religious values in (...) their business. Drawing upon intergenerational solidarity and values-based leadership theory, and by way of an interpretive, qualitative analysis, we find that the family’s religious values enhanced their cohesion and were manifested in their leadership style, which, in turn, led to outcomes for the business. Our findings highlight the processes that underlie the relationship between religious values and organizational outcomes in family firms and offer insights into the role of solidarity in values-based leadership. (shrink)