Nella nuova Italia gli interpreti e i difensori delle civili libertà (l'espressione è di Romagnosi) furono pochi e poco considerati. Tra essi, gli amici e i seguaci radicali e federalisti di Carlo Cattaneo, ma anche un moderato come Pasquale Villari, il maestro di Gaetano Salvemini. Tutti ebbero in comune la condivisione del pensiero filosofico e politico di John Stuart Mill e il proposito di favorirne la diffusione nella cultura del loro tempo. Mill fu uno degli autori più tradotti nell'Italia dell'Ottocento. (...) Se la sua filosofia ebbe pochissima fortuna, il suo liberalismo attraversò invece tutta la classe politica ed intellettuale italiana: fu come un crocevia di strade diverse per provenienza e destinazione. Ciò vale per Francesco Ferrara e per Vilfredo Pareto, per Marco Minghetti e per Luigi Luzzatti, per i liberisti della Società Adamo Smíth e per i vincolisti del Giornale degli economisti. Il confronto con Mill permette di individuare i caratteri della filosofia civile del liberalismo post-unitario, le sue aspirazioni di buon governo e di giustizia, la sua fiducia nella cultura della modernità. La ricostruzione dei dibattiti e delle polemiche che si susseguirono tra gli anni sessanta e settanta sul decentramento, sulla rappresentanza proporzionale, sul suffragio femminile, sui rapporti fra stato e società civile, sul metodo dell'economia politica, sul socialismo e sull'utilitarismo i temi essenziali del liberalismo milliano aiuta a cogliere il significato storico del complesso rapporto tra liberalismo e positivismo in Italia. Ne viene fuori, come mette in rilievo Norberto Bobbio nella prefazione al volume, il carattere tortuoso e difficile del liberalismo italiano; la sua difficoltà a divenire una base effettiva di riferimento del nuovo stato, dei suoi ceti dirigenti, delle sue elite intellettuali. (shrink)

El objetivo de este artículo es presentar una propuesta para desbloquear el impasse en el que parece estar estancada la discusión filosófica hoy en día. Se observa, por una parte, la cerrazón de los positivismos o cientificismos; y, por otra, la excesiva apertura de los relativismos posmodernos. Al parecer, se trata de una lucha entre el univocismo de los primeros y el equivocismo de los segundos. En vista de ello, se busca una salida intermedia, a la noción de analogía, y (...) se trata de delinear un hermenéutica analógica, que esta siendo desarrollada por el autor y un grupo de investigadores. Esa hermenéutica está altamente interesada en la interpretación de los símbolos, ya que es en ellos donde más se encuntra lo más característico de las culturas, y al mismo tiempo es donde más se exhibe esa lucha entre los que quieren interpretar unívocamente al símbolo, reduciendolo forzadamente a algún tipo de ciencia, y los que renuncian a interpretarlo y solo quieren vivirlo, encerrados en un equivocismo que lleva, en el mejor de los casos, a la teología negativa, y en el peor al mutismo. (shrink)

Entendendo “pensamento pós-metafísico” no sentido da crítica moderna e positivista à metafísica como forma de conhecimento, o artigo apresenta a filosofia analítica da religião como uma resposta à tese de que a linguagem religiosa não tem sentido porque não se refere a nenhum dado empiricamente verificável ou falseável. Em primeiro lugar, é apresentada a resposta não-realista ao desafio pós-metafísico, especialmente a de D. Z. Phillips, baseada nas ideias de Wittgenstein. Nessa proposta, o sentido da linguagem religiosa não está na referência (...) a uma realidade transcendente, mas ao uso que ela tem como guia existencial e ético. Em seguida, é exposta a resposta realista à crítica antimetafísica, usando-se elementos das ideias de alguns dos principais autores da filosofia analítica da religião: Alvin Plantinga, William Alston e Richard Swinburne. Além de sustentarem o significado referencial real da linguagem religiosa, eles argumentam que a metafísica é não só defensável cognitivamente, mas também condição importante para o raciocínio científico.Taking ‘post-metaphysical thought’ in the sense of the modern and positivistic criticism to metaphysics as a form of knowledge, the article presents analytic philosophy of religion as a response to the thesis that religious language has no meaning since it does not refer to any empirically verifiable or falsifiable data. Firstly, it is presented the non-realist reply to the post-metaphysical challenge. The main non-realist author introduced is D. Z. Phillips, who based his ideas on Wittgenstein’s philosophy. According to this proposal, the meaning of religious language is not given by reference to a transcendent reality, but to its use as an ethical and existential guide. Next, it is expounded the realist position to the antimetaphysical criticism, using ideas by some of the leading authors in the analytic philosophy of religion: Alvin Plantinga, William Alston and Richard Swinburne. Apart from holding that religious language has a real referential meaning, they argue that metaphysics is not only cognitively defensible, but also an important condition for scientific reasoning. (shrink)

El presente trabajo trata de ensayar la utilidad metateórica de una distinción filosófica acuñada por ciertos pensadores españoles —la distinción entre “dintorno”, “entorno” y “contorno”— a la hora de reordenar críticamente las diferentes posiciones teóricas en torno al problema de la determinación de los límites del Derecho (el problema de la autonomía o la demarcación de la categoría jurídica) y particularmente para clarificar los términos y las implicaciones del debate entre concepciones positivistas y post-positivistas.

In the scope of social sciences (and particularly in the field of sociology) from the Sixties of the last century a series of theories and practices of investigation has arisen with force -these last ones, identified generally like qualitative- that declare to be inspired by the phenomenology (al..

El objetivo de este trabajo es mostrar la importancia que tiene recuperar el concepto de «ideología» y con él la labor de crítica ideológica en la teoría del derecho. En las teorías positivistas de Kelsen y Ross era uno de los conceptos centrales, pero cayó paulatinamente en desuso en la segunda mitad del siglo xx, tanto a nivel político como en el campo específico de la teoría jurídica. En este trabajo se examinan algunas de las razones por las que se (...) dejó de utilizar y se propone un concepto de «ideología» capaz de evitar esos cuestionamientos. Por último, se ponen de manifiesto las consecuencias perjudiciales (tanto teóricas como prácticas) que trae aparejado el abandono de la crítica ideológica en la teoría jurídica. Se utiliza como caso de estudio la concepción postpositivista sobre la naturaleza del derecho defendida por Manuel Atienza y algunas de las decisiones argumentativas que el propio Atienza ha adoptado guiado por ella en una polémica sobre el estatus normativo de la gestación por sustitución en la práctica jurídica española. (shrink)

The article suggests a reading of the 1st edition of H. L. A. Hart, The Concept of Law (1961) which involves bringing to the fore the elements of moral prescription which accompany the descriptive/explanatory intent which Hart himself explicitly espouses. Thus, the functionalist account of the emergence of secondary rules in complex societies draws on the importance of social benefits, relating to justice and efficiency, benefits which Hart endorses. Consideration is then given to how the posthumous Postscript in the 2nd (...) edition of The Concept of Law (1994) might be rewritten to take into account responses to Dworkin other than those adopted by Hart in the Postscript. The alternative of a tentative form of prescriptive ‘hard’ legal positivism would better preserve the prescriptive ingredients evident in the 1st edition and assist in the regeneration of contemporary analytic legal philosophy within the Hartian traditionResumen:Este artículo propone una lectura de la primera edición de El concepto de derecho (1961), de H. L. A. Hart, en la cual se recuperan los elementos de prescripción moral que acompañan a la tesis descriptiva/explicativa que Hart explícitamente defendió. De tal modo, la tesis funcionalista del surgimiento de normas secundarias en sociedades complejas depende de la importancia de los beneficios sociales, relacionados con la justicia y la eficiencia, los cuales Hart suscribe. Después se llama la atención sobre la forma en que el Post Scriptum a la segunda edición de El concepto de derecho (1994), publicado póstumamente, podría ser reescrito para tomar en cuenta respuestas a Dworkin distintas a las que ofreció el propio Hart en su Post Scriptum. La alternativa de una forma tentativa de un positivismo jurídico prescriptivo “duro” conservaría de mucho mejor manera los ingredientes prescriptivos que son tan evidentes en la 1a edición, y contribuiría a la regeneración de una filosofía del derecho analítica contemporánea dentro de la tradición hartiana. (shrink)

ESPAÑOL: Frente al positivismo racionalista, que sólo cree en el poder de la razón filosófica y que considera que el mundo es esencialmente racional y justo, y frente al tragicismo, que sostiene que la realidad carece de sentido y orden, y que por tanto sólo la poesía puede comprenderla, la actitud postrágica de Ortega, Heidegger y Adorno, afirma que sólo en la tensión entre filosofía y poesía puede salvarse el ser humano, porque sólo esa colaboración y diálogo le permite (...) acceder al ser. PORTUGUÊS: Filosofia e poesia no sentido pós-trágico: Ortega, Heidegger e Adorno. Contra o positivismo racionalista, que só acredita no poder da razão filosófica e considera que o mundo é essencialmente racional e justo, e em contraste com tragicism, que afirma que a realidade não tem significado e ordem, e, que portanto, somente a poesia pode compreendê-la, a atitude pós-trágica de Ortega, Heidegger e Adorno considera que apenas na tensão entre filosofia e poesia pode o ser humano salvar-se, porque somente essa colaboração dialógica entre filosofia e poesia lhe permite ter acesso ao ser. ENGLISH: Philosophy and Poetry from a Post-tragic Point of View: Ortega, Heidegger, Adorno. Against rationalist positivism, which only believes in the power of philosophical reason and considers that the world is essentially rational and fair, and in contrast with tragicism, which asserts that reality lacks meaning and order, and therefore only poetry can understand it, the post-tragic attitude of Ortega, Heidegger and Adorno states that only in the tension between philosophy and poetry the human being can be safe, because only that colaboration and dialog allows him to gain access to the being. -/- . (shrink)

ESPAÑOL: Frente al positivismo racionalista, que sólo cree en el poder de la razón filosófica y que considera que el mundo es esencialmente racional y justo, y frente al tragicismo, que sostiene que la realidad carece de sentido y orden, y que por tanto sólo la poesía puede comprenderla, la actitud postrágica de Ortega, Heidegger y Adorno, afirma que sólo en la tensión entre filosofía y poesía puede salvarse el ser humano, porque sólo esa colaboración y diálogo le permite (...) acceder al ser. PORTUGUÊS: Filosofia e poesia no sentido pós-trágico: Ortega, Heidegger e Adorno. Contra o positivismo racionalista, que só acredita no poder da razão filosófica e considera que o mundo é essencialmente racional e justo, e em contraste com tragicism, que afirma que a realidade não tem significado e ordem, e, que portanto, somente a poesia pode compreendê-la, a atitude pós-trágica de Ortega, Heidegger e Adorno considera que apenas na tensão entre filosofia e poesia pode o ser humano salvar-se, porque somente essa colaboração dialógica entre filosofia e poesia lhe permite ter acesso ao ser. ENGLISH: Philosophy and Poetry from a Post-tragic Point of View: Ortega, Heidegger, Adorno. Against rationalist positivism, which only believes in the power of philosophical reason and considers that the world is essentially rational and fair, and in contrast with tragicism, which asserts that reality lacks meaning and order, and therefore only poetry can understand it, the post-tragic attitude of Ortega, Heidegger and Adorno states that only in the tension between philosophy and poetry the human being can be safe, because only that colaboration and dialog allows him to gain access to the being. -/- . (shrink)

The scientific work of Gianfranco Miglio must be placed in the cleavage of ''political realism'', and it must be seen together with the attempt to study political phenomena applying the same methodology of natural science (this is the meaning of the Miglian ''positivism''). What kind of role did he therefore appointed to political thought? To Miglio, the political class – in the way in which Mosca conceived it – needed ideologies to concretely exercise power: in particular, the class of ''helpers'' (...) had the duty to release technical assignments but also to think forms of legitimation of the authority. Persuaded that the end of Cold War meant also the end of an era, started four centuries before with the birth of modern State, Miglio devoted the last years of his life to think new political models, and with them new forms of legitimation of power. Beyond the specific contents of his constitutional proposals and rather than fulfilling a political role strictu sensu, the ''militant'' commitment of Miglio answered to his theoretical need to think post-State political thought and institutions, once perceived the first signs of the «autumn» of the modern State. (shrink)

Rancière riflette sulle condizioni di un’emancipazione intesa, kantianamente, come uscita dallo stato di minorità; e pensa tale uscita a partire da una nozione di uguaglianza formale da verificare nell’ambito in cui si presume ci sia una disuguaglianza naturale, come quello del sociale. Tuttavia, anziché ragionare su quest’ambito come luogo da cui si sviluppa l’istanza dell’emancipazione, Rancière si concentra piuttosto sulla critica alle scienze sociali che lo hanno costituito epistemologicamente. Tale impostazione della sua riflessione dipende dalla maniera in cui l’autore, in (...) una certa fase della sua traiettoria teorica, si è appropriato del pensiero di Jacotot. Questi, nella prima metà dell’Ottocento, ha ideato, praticandolo, un concetto di emancipazione di cui l’articolo propone una mappatura storico-teorica. Da questa emergerà come Jacotot facesse i conti criticamente con l’evoluzione del pensiero materialista francese settecentesco che, da una certa prospettiva, è il germe del positivismo ottocentesco. Rancière ha ripreso e perfino incorporato il pensiero di Jacotot per rispondere a delle poste in gioco del suo presente e sviluppare un’idea di uguaglianza come «metodo» dell’emancipazione. (shrink)

En este artículo analizo ciertos problemas que se derivan de los principios que se utilizan en el discurso ético sobre la «mejora humana», y que guardan relación con el positivismo. Comienzo esbozando las dos posiciones principales que configuran el debate sobre la mejora humana: la posición creativa, post-humanista o pro-mejora frente a la postura bio-conservadora u orientada a la gratitud. Mi objetivo es mostrar, primero, que el debate ético sobre la mejora humana proviene, especialmente en el bando pro-mejora, (...) de una visión demasiado optimista, casi ingenua, de la ciencia y de la tecnología; y segundo, que este debate ha prestado poca atención a las cuestiones epistemológicas, sociales y políticas que están en juego. (shrink)

José María Vigil y Antonio Caso fueron dos defensores de la democracia liberal y de la posibilidad de un limitado, aunque efectivo, manejo consciente de los asuntos públicos y sociales dentro de los contextos adversos de México durante la administración de Porfirio Díaz y en el periodo post-revolucionario. Ambos autores basan sus posiciones en una crítica concerniente al positivismo y al determinismo social, que apuntaría hacia una manera de pensar muy distante del pensamiento subjetivista, aunque muy cercana a (...) un “realismo directo” epistemológico que establece que el mundo no es de hecho una construcción subjetiva o intersubjetiva que debe interpretarse subjetiva o intersubjetivamente. Sin embargo, esto no es algo que pueda saberse a través de una copia mental o representación de sus entidades y procesos. Tal vez el defensor más evocador del realismo directo en la historia ha sido el filósofo escocés del siglo XVIII, Thomas Reid, un gran representante del “sensocomunismo” explícitamente recuperado por Vigil y reivindicado tácitamente por Antonio Caso. (shrink)

Il testo vuole testimoniare della piena partecipazione delle scienze sociali alla storia delle scienze, in un quadro di sviluppo che prevede la ricezione in Europa della riforma della filosofia naturale attuata da Francesco Bacone nel XVII secolo e recepita nel principio dell’induzione da Auguste Comte in Francia e da Herbert Spencer in Inghilterra. I temi della fondazione delle scienze sono quindi al centro dell’opera di ricostruzione di eventi cruciali. L’investigazione della natura e del mondo empirico da parte dell’uomo sociale si (...) svolge attraverso i secoli nei modi prescritti dalla filosofia naturale, laddove la tradizione antica e medioevale lasciava irrisolti alcuni problemi di tipo finalistico e vitalistico. Nel Cinquecento e soprattutto nel Seicento assistiamo ad una certa ripresa di tematiche suscitate dall’atomismo e dal meccanicismo in concomitanza del declino della fisica aristotelica. Nel secolo di Cartesio, che rifiutava l’atomismo, la ricerca di una teoria della materia dominò la scena nonché quella del movimento rettilineo uniforme che determinava lo stato di quiete dei corpi, come si nota nei Principia philosophiae del 1644 (pubblicati in francese nel 1647). Il principio che la conoscenza derivasse soltanto dall’interpretazione e dal commento dei testi antichi, sotto una certa forma di principium potestatibus, fu gradualmente sostituito da una filosofia della storia del progresso incarnata nell’ambito della conoscenza scientifica dal metodo sperimentale. La Rivoluzione scientifica culminò con l’applicazione di questa metodologia nella filosofia naturale, nelle scienze della vita (biologia, anatomia, zoologia, botanica), nella medicina e nella chimica, nella fisica (ottica, magnetismo, termologia, elettricità) nonché nella scoperte di William Harvey sulla pressione del sangue, di Evangelista Torricelli sulla pressione dell’atmosfera, Francesco Redi sui corpi viventi e Isaac Newton sulla natura della luce. In particolare, Newton seppe sintetizzare la tradizione dell’empirismo inglese, che va da Ruggero Bacone e Guglielmo di Ockham a John Locke, suo contemporaneo. Il contesto di sviluppo delle idee illuministiche e del positivismo in Francia segnò l’evolversi in Occidente della riflessione più matura sulle scienze e sulle scienze sociali nei vari contesti storico-concreti dove la filosofia naturale poté essere interpretata alla luce di nuove scoperte, le quali dovevano segnare, a loro volta, il momento incisivo di una azione progressiva dell’uomo condotta sulla natura stessa e, in modo tale da fare risaltare, infine, il passaggio al mondo della cultura del progresso. Come è noto, l’idea del progresso sta alla base di tante teorizzazioni della società a partire dal XVIII secolo. Per questo, basterà anche ricordare ciò che Kant pensasse dell’ Illuminismo quando affermava: “L’illuminismo è l’uscita dell’uomo dallo stato di minorità che egli deve imputare a se stesso. Minorità è l’incapacità di servirsi del proprio intelletto senza la guida di un altro. Questa minorità è imputabile a se stesso, se la causa non dipende dalla mancanza di intelligenza ma da mancanza di decisione e del coraggio di far uso del proprio intelletto senza essere guidati da un altro. Sapere aude! Abbi il coraggio di servirti della tua propria intelligenza. È questo il motto dell’illuminismo.” La stessa identificazione data da Auguste Comte nel suo Cours all’uso del termine ‘positivo’ cercava di spiegare come si potesse “considerare tutti i fenomeni come assoggettati a leggi naturali ed invariabili, la scoperta e la riduzione al minor numero possibile delle quali è il fine di tutti i nostri sforzi, considerando inoltre come assolutamente inaccessibile e vuota di senso la ricerca di quelle che si chiamano cause, sia cause prime che quelle finali” (Cours de philosophie positive, I). Al cospetto del nuovo modo di pensare e di operare i temi fondanti dell’intervento umano sulla natura circolavano in concomitanza della diffusione dei saperi scientifici, di quei saperi che si erano manifestati quindi in forma di pratiche illuministiche, cioè di un insieme di ragioni teoriche e pratiche poste in relazione tra loro a beneficio del mondo sociale circostante. Gradualmente anche il tema della rappresentazione dei fenomeni della vita si rapporta allo sviluppo della nuova filosofia naturale, tenendo conto del fatto che le scienze raggiungono uno stadio positivo nonché astratto e concreto (v. Herbert Spencer, The Classification of the Sciences). Ciò sarebbe sufficiente per spiegare il nesso esistente tra le scienze e i fenomeni vitali organici, cioè quel collegamento tra lo sviluppo filosofico e scientifico e il progresso dell’ambiente natura-le e sociale. (shrink)

John F. Post argues that physicalistic materialism is compatible with a number of views often deemed incompatible with it, such as the objectivity of values, the irreducibility of subjective experience, the power of the metaphor, the normativity of meaning, and even theism.

After some preliminary clarifications, arguments for the supposed asymmetry of supervenience and determination, such as they are, are shown to be unsound. An argument against the supposed asymmetry is then constructed and defended against objections. This is followed by explanations of why the intuition of asymmetry is nonetheless so entrenched, and of how the asymmetric ontological priority of the physical over the non-physical can be understood without the supposed asymmetry of supervenience and determination.

After some preliminary clarifications, arguments for the supposed asymmetry of supervenience and determination, such as they are, are shown to be unsound. An argument against the supposed asymmetry is then constructed and defended against objections. This is followed by explanations of why the intuition of asymmetry is nonetheless so entrenched, and of how the asymmetric ontological priority of the physical over the non-physical can be understood without the supposed asymmetry of supervenience and determination.

This paper discusses global corporate citizenship in the twenty-first century. The primary focus is on the responsibility of managementeducators to foster among students an understanding of the causes and consequences of business activitiy that creates organizationalwealth, including the role of stakeholders. The modern corporation is a stakeholder enterprise: stakeholders enable the business to create wealth and require that it distribute wealth appropriately. The stakeholder enterprise model, which has been so economically successful, also implies corporate citizenship responsibilities. The Clarkson Principles are (...) discussed as a means through which educators and managers can better understand and address the challenges of corporate citizenship in the modern world. (shrink)

A growing body of work suggests that the presence of women and of independent directors on boards of directors is associated with higher corporate environmental performance. However, the mechanisms linking board composition to corporate environmental performance are not well understood. This study proposes and empirically tests the mediating role of sustainability-themed alliances in the relationship between board composition and corporate environmental performance. Using the population of public oil and gas firms in the United States as the sample, the study relies (...) on renewable energy alliances to measure sustainability-themed alliances and longitudinally analyzes lagged data for independent and control variables. The study found that the higher the representation of women on a firm’s board, the more likely the firm is to form sustainability-themed alliances, and the higher the representation of independent directors on a firm’s board, the more likely the firm is to form sustainability-themed alliances. Such alliances, in turn, positively contribute to corporate environmental performance. This paper discusses the study’s contributions to the board composition-social performance literature. (shrink)

Anti-racist debate today remains polarised between ‘class reductionist’ (any attempt to address racial disparities reinforces capitalist class relations) and ‘liberal identity’ (disparities in racial representation can be resolved without questioning class inequality) politics. Both positions share a common perspective – racial oppression and class exploitation are the products of distinctive social dynamics whose relationship is historically contingent. This essay is an initial step toward characterising a structurally necessary relationship between capitalism and racial oppression. The essay draws upon Anwar Shaikh and (...) Howard Botwinick’s elaboration of Marx’s political economy, and Ellen Wood’s analysis of the specificity of capitalist imperialism. (shrink)

David Papineau's model of scientific reduction, contrary to his intent, appears to enable a naturalist realist account of the primitive normativity involved in a biological adaptation's being “for” this or that (say the eye's being for seeing). By disabling the crucial anti‐naturalist arguments against any such reduction, his model would support a cogni‐tivist semantics for normative claims like “The heart is for pumping blood, and defective if it doesn't.” No moral claim would follow, certainly. Nonetheless, by thus “pressing from below” (...) we may learn something about moral normativity. For instance, suppose non‐cognitivists like Mackie are right that the semantics of normative claims should be “unified”: if the semantics of moral claims is non‐cognitivist, so too is that of all normative claims. Then, assuming that a naturalist reduction does yield a sound cognitivist account of the primitive normativity, it would follow that our semantics of moral claims is cognitivist as well. (shrink)

INTRODUCTION In ita original form the present paper was presented to the American Mathematical Society, April 2k,, as a companion piece to the writer's ...

Theory as History brings together twelve essays by Jarius Banaji addressing the nature of modes of production, the forms of historical capitalism and the varieties of pre-capitalist modes of production. Problematic formulations concerning the relationship of social-property relations and the laws of motion of different modes of production and his notion of merchant and slave-holding capitalism undermines Banaji’s project of constructing a non-unilinear, non-Eurocentric Marxism.

The Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) requires as a condition of accreditation that every health care institution -- hospital, nursing home, or home care agency -- have a standing mechanism to address ethical issues. Most organizations have chosen to fulfill this requirement with an interdisciplinary ethics committee. The best of these committees are knowledgeable, creative, and effective resources in their institutions. Many are wellmeaning but lack the information, experience, and skills to negotiate adequately the complex ethical (...) issues that arise in clinical and organizational settings. Handbook for Health Care Ethics Committees is the first resource designed to address the range of work performed by ethics committees as part of their multiple responsibilities, including education, case consultation, and policy development. It features an eight-chapter curriculum reviewing the content of contemporary health care bioethics and discussing the ethical foundations of clinical practice, with each subsequent section focusing on a set of ethical issues that commonly arise in the clinical setting. Through case studies, the authors explore issues such as informed consent and refusal, decision making and decisional capacity, truth telling, decision-making concerns of minors, end-of-life issues, palliation, justice in and access to health care services, and organizational ethics. They offer sample policies and procedures, draft guidelines and protocols, and key legal cases. Providing both a strong theoretical foundation and practical applications, this handbook will be essential reading for every member of a health care ethics committee. (shrink)

In this essay, the philosophies of John Dewey and Martin Heidegger are compared specifically on the topic of the productionist metaphysics. In this comparison, the readings of Larry Hickman and Michael E. Zimmerman are utilized to highlight the noted philosophers’ views. In Hickman’s reading of Dewey, production is the key virtue of the entire pragmatic theory and the evolution of humanity through the improvement of technique and productivity the focus of human life.Hickman’s reading of Dewey, deemed the “technological” reading of (...) Dewey, provides proof of support of the productionist metaphysics view of the West that Heidegger deemed as the root of the “darkening” of the world. To illustrate the historical calamity that Heidegger deemed directly connected to this brand of metaphysics, which he believed began with the ancient Greeks and since has expanded to all areas of human life, the reading of Zimmerman is applied. (shrink)

In this essay, the philosophies of John Dewey and Martin Heidegger are compared specifically on the topic of the productionist metaphysics. In this comparison, the readings of Larry Hickman and Michael E. Zimmerman are utilized to highlight the noted philosophers’ views. In Hickman’s reading of Dewey, production is the key virtue of the entire pragmatic theory and the evolution of humanity through the improvement of technique and productivity the focus of human life.Hickman’s reading of Dewey, deemed the “technological” reading of (...) Dewey, provides proof of support of the productionist metaphysics view of the West that Heidegger deemed as the root of the “darkening” of the world. To illustrate the historical calamity that Heidegger deemed directly connected to this brand of metaphysics, which he believed began with the ancient Greeks and since has expanded to all areas of human life, the reading of Zimmerman is applied. (shrink)

This essay argues that Knafo and Teschke fundamentally misread Brenner’s original contribution to the transition debate. They equate his rejection of trans-historical or trans-modal laws of motion with the notion that social-property relations do not have strong rules of reproduction that structure the actions of agents and give rise to ‘developmental patterns’ specific to each form of social labour. Knafo and Teschke’s critique of Brenner’s analysis of capitalist expansion and crisis is also theoretically and empirically questionable.

In order to defend the regress argument for foundationalism against Post’s objection that relevant forms of inferential justification are not transitive, Lydia McGrew and Timothy McGrew define a relation E of positive evidence, which, they contend, has the following features: It is a necessary condition for any inferential justification; it is transitive and irreflexive; and it enables both a strengthened regress argument proof against Post’s objection and an argument that nothing can ever appear in its own justificational ancestry. (...) In reply, we construct in their own terms both a counterexample to the would-be transitivity of E, and a related objection to their never-in-its-own-ancestry argument. We also rebut their rejection of certain counterexamples to the would-be transitivity of some forms of inferential justification. By doing so, and by questioning their transitivity claim for E, we aim to further the project of undermining the circularity arguments advanced by a zoo of skeptics, relativists, antirealists and internalists against realism and externalism. (shrink)