Sovetlər dönəmində ictimai elmlər, xüsusən də, daha çox ideolojiləşmiş sahələrdən biri olmuş fəlsəfə, hakim ideologiyanın kursunu tutmağa çalışırdı. Bu cəhət isə, fəlsəfə və fəlsəfə tarixi ilə bağlı aparılan tədqiqatların obyektivliyinə kifayət qədər xələl gətirirdi. XX əsrin Sovet fəlsəfə tarixçisi olan Şeydabəy Məmmədovun (1912-1984) Mirzə Fətəli Axundzadənin ictimai-fəlsəfi görüşlərinin təhlili ilə bağlı tədqiqatları da, bu mənada, ideoloji xarakteri ilə seçilməkdədirlər. Ş.Məmmədov tədqiq etdiyi Axundzadəni görmək istədiyi kimi göstərməyə çalışır. Onun tədqiqatları Axundzadənin irsini araşdırmaqdan daha çox, böyük maarifçini müasirləşdirmək və Sovetlər dönəminin (...) ideoloji formatında təqdim etməyə yönəlmişdir. Ş.Məmmədovun ideoloji örtüklü tədqiqatları təbii ki, Axundzadənin ictimai-fəlsəfi görüşlərinin analizində şişitmələr və təhrifləri də qaçılmaz edir. Onun bütün tədqiqatlarında Axundzadə, Sovetlər dönəminin ruhuna uyğun mübariz materialist və qatı ateist kimi təqdim olunur. Ş.Məmmədov Axundzadənin maarifçiliyini fransız maarifçiliyi ilə əlaqələndirsə də, konkret səbəbləri açıqlamır. O, fransız maarifçilərinin Axundzadənin materialist və ateist kimi formalaşmasında rollarını qeyd etmək ilə kifayətlənir. O, həm də, maarifçilik dövrünün sonrakı inkişaf prosesi və XX əsrdəki tənqidləri haqqında da danışmır. Sovetlər dönəmində Azərbaycan mədəniyyətinin nümayəndələri haqqında aparılmış belə tədqiqatlar müasir dövrdə aktuallıq kəsb edir. Bu mənada, fəlsəfi irsimizin ayrılmaz tərkib hissəsi olan Sovetlər dövrü tədqiqatlarının konstruktiv tənqidi vacibdir. Məqalədə Ş.Məmmədovun Axundzadə haqqında əsərlərinin tədqiqində də, bu metoda müraciət edilmişdir. Konstruktiv tənqid Sovetlər dövründə fəlsəfənin müxtəlif sahələri üzrə aparılan tədqiqatlara yeni aktuallıq qazandırır. (shrink)

At the very beginning of L’Homme-Machine, La Mettrie claims that Leibnizians with their monads have “rather spiritualized matter than materialized the soul”; a few years later Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis, President of the Berlin Academy of Sciences and natural philosopher with a strong interest in the modes of transmission of ‘genetic’ information, conceived of living minima which he termed molecules, “endowed with desire, memory and intelligence,” in his Système de la nature ou Essai sur les corps organisés. This text first (...) appeared in Latin in 1751 under the title Dissertatio inauguralis metaphysica de universali naturae systemate, with the pseudonym Dr Baumann; it was translated by Maupertuis in 1754 as Essai sur la formation des corps organisés and was later included in his 1756 Œuvres under the title Système de la nature. Now, it is clear that Maupertuis was a kind of Leibnizian; and that his molecule possessed higher-level, ‘mental’ properties. In that sense he falls under the first category described by La Mettrie. But he was also involved in a debate on this issue with Diderot, who put forth a sustained critique of Maupertuis’ theory of the molecule in the additions to his 1753 Pensées sur l’interprétation de la nature. Where Maupertuis attributes higher-level properties to his living minima, Diderot argues that these properties are ‘organizational’, i.e., they can only be properties of the whole. At issue here is the degree of commitment to a form of materialism. (shrink)

What is the highest good actually good for in Kant’s third Critique? While there are well-worked out answers to this question in the literature that focus on the highest good’s practical importance, this paper argues that there is an important function for the highest good that has to do exclusively with contemplation. This important function becomes clear once one notices that coherent [konsequent] thinking, for Kant, was synonymous with "bündiges" thinking, and that both are connected with the highest good in (...) the third Critique’s moral proof for God’s existence. I show that the original meaning of "bündig," which is from the carpentry trade and has been forgotten, illuminates the stakes of the highest good in Kant’s system. For us, as proverbial carpenters of reason, coherence is essential for the intellectual activity of constructing a philosophical worldview in his transcendental idealism. I motivate the reading further by showing how this function can neatly reconstruct Kant’s proof for God’s existence in the third Critique. I conclude by sketching Kant’s reasons for why the project of creating a coherent worldview grounded in the highest good is worth the labor costs. (shrink)

What is a natural kind? As we shall see, the concept of a natural kind has a long history. Many of the interesting doctrines can be detected in Aristotle, were revived by Locke and Leibniz, and have again become fashionable in recent years. Equally there has been agreement about certain paradigm examples: the kinds oak, stickleback and gold are natural kinds, and the kinds table, nation and banknote are not. Sadly agreement does not extend much further. It is impossible to (...) discover a single consistent doctrine in the literature, and different discussions focus on different doctrines without writers or readers being aware of the fact. In this paper I shall attempt to find a defensible distinction between natural and non-natural kinds. (shrink)

Discourses on the Bhagavadgītā, Bhakti, and Hindu ethics.

Contributed research papers on Indic philosophy.

It is generally wrong to manipulate. One leading reason is because manipulation interferes with autonomy, in particular the component of autonomy called ‘independence’, that is, freedom from intentional control by others. Manipulative health promotion would therefore seem wrong. However, manipulative techniques could be used to counter-manipulation, for example, playing on male fears of impotence to counter ‘smoking is sexy’ advertisements. What difference does it make to the ethics of manipulation when it is counter-manipulation? This article distinguishes two powerful defences of (...) counter-manipulative health promotion: that the counter-manipulation would prevent manipulation occurring, leaving people unmanipulated; and that the counter-manipulation would make people healthier without being any more manipulated than they would otherwise be. The article explains how counter-manipulation might work and the limits to its scope. The upshot is that counter-manipulative health promotion could respect the independence people are owed in virtue of their autonomy. However, autonomy is not the only consideration, and the article discusses further potential problems. Counter-manipulative health promotion might be misapplied, it might undermine trust, it might infringe on some norms for role behaviour and it might encourage a regrettable social practice. These objections are likely to be decisive against the counter-manipulation in some but not all cases. (shrink)

Auditors' virtue comprises those qualities of character that manifest the ideals of the audit community ), and are instrumental in ensuring that auditors' professional judgment is exercised according to a high moral standard ). Nevertheless, the lack of valid and reliable quantitative measures of auditors' virtue impedes research that furthers our understanding of how best to promote virtue in the audit community. To address this gap, we develop two measures of auditors' virtue. We report the results of the validity and (...) reliability of the scales. In addition, we use the findings from the administration of these scales to professional accountants to refine and validate the theoretical characterization of virtues developed by Pincoffs and Libby and Thorne. In so doing, this study provides a foundation by which future audit research can study ways to ensure that auditors' virtue is promoted throughout the audit community. (shrink)

Gametes, tissue, and organs can be taken from the dying or dead for reproduction, transplantation, and research. Whole bodies as well as parts can be used for teaching anatomy. While these uses are diverse, they have an ethical consideration in common: the claims of the people whose bodies are used. Is some use permissible only when people have consented to the use, actually wanted the use, would have wanted the use, not opposed the use, or what? The aim of this (...) article is to make progress in answering these questions. Initially I assume knowledge of people’s desires in order to test whether consent is directly required by their rights without worrying about mistaken uses against their wishes. I claim consent is not directly required by people’s rights. If we know people wanted or would want a use, their rights permit the use, but if we know they wanted or would want not to be used, their rights do not permit the use. The knowledge assumption is then dropped and the question becomes how to decide what to do when the wishes of rightholders are not known. I suggest working out what to do when wishes are known and then adjusting, on the basis of whatever evidence there is, for probability and strength of desire. There are other considerations too, for instance about default rules. The key general comment here is that, in setting rules, the costs to rightholders in not getting what they want needs to be taken into account. The final section tries to show that, in setting these rules, mistaken uses are not to be taken as worse than mistaken failure to use. (shrink)

In the past 25 years or so, the issue of ethical universalizability has figured prominently in theoretical as well as practical ethics. The term, 'universaliz ability' used in connection with ethical considerations, was apparently first introduced in the mid-1950s by R. M. Hare to refer to what he characterized as a logical thesis about certain sorts of evaluative sentences (Hare, 1955). The term has since been used to cover a broad variety of ethical considerations including those associated with the ideas (...) of impartiality, consistency, justice, equality, and reversibility as well as those raised in the familar questions: 'What if everyone did that?' and 'How would you like it if someone did that to you? But this recent effloresence of the use of the term 'universalizability' is something that has deep historical roots, and has been central in various forms to the thinking about morality of some of the greatest and most influential philosophers in the western tradition. While the term is relatively new, the ideas it is now used to express have a long history. Most of these ideas and questions have been or can be formulated into a principle to be discussed, criticized, or defended. As we discuss these ideas below this prin ciple will be stated on a separate numbered line. The concepts of justice and equality were closely linked in Greek thought. These connections between these two concepts are apparent even in two authors who were hostile to the connection, Plato and Aristotle. (shrink)

The article provides arguments for including social-emotional education in moral education. The first part of the article presents an analysis of the concept of “emotional intelligence”, considering the history of its creation and the methodological difficulties with which this concept is burdened. In the second part of the article, the expectations that can be placed on emotional education classes are formulated. The starting point is empirical research that examined the effectiveness of past attempts to provide emotional education to adolescents and (...) adults. The last part of the article discusses the assumptions of the pedagogical movement that emerged in the 1990s, which calls for conducting classes in the field of so-called “character education”. Furthermore, experiences from social-emotional learning (SEL) classes developed by the University of Illinois are discussed. The text also briefly takes into account Spain's first experiences in the field of emotional education. (shrink)