The postmodern world upholds autonomy as its greatest value, and thus prioritizes the healthy and independent. This view is flawed insofar as dependency is not equivocal to helplessness, but instead ...is the virtue of properly ordering one's individual life within broader society and, ultimately, in relation to God himself. Understood properly as a virtue cultivated through particular actions, genuine dependency avoids the vicious extremes of radical individualism and radical helplessness. Instead, it enables man to experience fulfillment through the development of an authentic personality in the context of a “relational subjectivity” that aims towards the common good, yet always respects the dignity of each individual human person.
In spite of the large research interest in older adults’ wellbeing, a theory of older adult’s wellbeing as such is still lacking. I present the outline of such a theory, determining its scope and ...premises and suggesting avenues for its further development and related empirical research. I assume that wellbeing is a complex and dynamic phenomenon, depending on a subtle interplay between several different factors. Older adults tend to combine and value these factors differently from other age groups, and this should be reflected by a domain-specific wellbeing theory. I argue more specifically that dispositional properties are less important to older adults’ wellbeing; that vulnerability is a second-order disposition, and that this explains why it does not seem to impede wellbeing; that hedonic adaptation takes very different forms, not least in older adults, and that it should be assessed in a correspondingly differentiated manner; that cognition and cognitive impairment can play very different, both positive and negative, roles depending on the context; and that notions like flourishing need modification, and are actually modified in wellbeing assessments and self-assessments.
Bertrand’s paradox is a problem in geometric probability that has resisted resolution for more than one hundred years. Bertrand provided three seemingly reasonable solutions to his problem — hence ...the paradox. Bertrand’s paradox has also been influential in philosophical debates about frequentist versus Bayesian approaches to statistical inference. In this paper, the paradox is resolved (1) by the clarification of the primary variate upon which the principle of maximum entropy is employed and (2) by imposing constraints, based on a mathematical analysis, on the random process for any subsequent nonlinear transformation to a secondary variable. These steps result in a unique solution to Bertrand’s problem, and this solution differs from the classic answers that Bertrand proposed. It is shown that the solutions proposed by Bertrand and others reflected sampling processes that are not purely random. It is also shown that the same two steps result in the resolution of the Bing–Fisher problem, which has to do with the selection of a consistent prior for Bayesian inference. The resolution of Bertrand’s paradox and the Bing–Fisher problem rebuts philosophical arguments against the Bayesian approach to statistical inference, which were based on those two ostensible problems.
This article reviews the work of Fr. John F. Kavanaugh, SJ (1941–2012), on the human person as embodied reflexive consciousness (RC). It then analyzes the implications of his work for the subject of ...brain death. Case studies are reviewed which suggest that RC persists unchanged in the setting of substantial brain trauma. RC is posited as an immaterial endowment, rather than a material phenomenon, which is fully present so long as a person is alive and becomes absent when a person is truly dead. As the endowment which makes possible ethical action and is common to all human persons, RC becomes the foundation of human equality. Empirically ascertaining the presence or absence of RC may not be possible—its demonstration may be precluded by physical immaturity or damage. Therefore, until the human person (and not only the brain) has wholly and irreversibly died, RC should be assumed to be present. The current criteria for brain death are incapable of ensuring that the entire brain has permanently and irreversibly ceased to function. Therefore, RC may still be present in those whose organs are harvested after meeting the criteria for brain death. As such, a human person would still be present, albeit a wounded human person. Based on this, a healthcare provider could (and likely should) in good conscience oppose the use of brain death criteria for purposes of harvesting vital organs. On a societal level, utilizing brain death criteria to declare a person dead has the potential in any given case to violate the dead donor rule, and as such conflicts with the widely held moral consensus that organs should only be harvested from those who are dead. Healthcare providers should advocate for medicolegal frameworks consistent with their informed consciences.
When can we be morally responsible for our behavior? Is it fair to blame people for actions that are determined by heredity and environment? Can we be responsible for the actions of relatives or ...members of our community? In this provocative book, Tamler Sommers concludes that there are no objectively correct answers to these questions. Drawing on research in anthropology, psychology, and a host of other disciplines, Sommers argues that cross-cultural variation raises serious problems for theories that propose universally applicable conditions for moral responsibility. He then develops a new way of thinking about responsibility that takes cultural diversity into account.
This paper is about the question of whether or not virtual rape should be considered a crime under current law. A virtual rape is the rape of an avatar (a person’s virtual representation) in a ...virtual world. In the future, possibilities for virtual rape of a person him- or herself will arise in virtual reality environments involving a haptic device or robotics. As the title indicates, I will study both these present and future instances of virtual rape in light of three categories of legal philosophical theories on rape in order to answer the aforementioned question. I will argue that a virtual rape in a future virtual reality environment involving a haptic device or robotics should in principle count as the crime of rape; for it corresponds to rape as it is viewed under the liberal theories that currently dominate the law. A surprising finding will be that a virtual rape in a virtual world re-actualizes the conservative view of rape that used to dominate the law in the Middle Ages and resembles rape as it is viewed under the feminist theories that criticize current law. Virtual rape in a virtual world cannot count as rape under current law; however, and at the end of this paper, I will suggest qualifying it as sexual harassment instead.
The relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament is a major problem in the discipline of Biblical theology. From a historical perspective the ways in which some New Testament authors ...have justified their truth-claims by appealing to the Old Testament clearly involve the fallacy of contextomy. A good example of this is the interpretation of texts from the Psalter in the letter to the Hebrews. As a result, the question of logical status arises, i.e., Is it true? With this article the author hopes to contribute to the ongoing discussion by suggesting that, given so many incommensurable philosophical theories on the nature of truth, a more nuanced manner of speaking may be in order. Whether and in what sense the text will be seen as "true" ultimately depends on what we mean when we affirm or deny that something is true in the first place. Waarheidsteorieë in die filosofie en die logiese status van intra-Bybelse kontekstonomie Die verhouding tussen die Ou en Nuwe Testamente word tradisioneel beskou as 'n fundamentele probleem in die Bybelse teologie. Vanuit 'n historiese perspektief blyk dit dat party Bybelse outeurs se waarheidsaansprake geregverdig word by wyse van kontekstomieë. 'n Goeie voorbeeld hiervan is die interpretasie van tekste uit die Psalms in die brief aan die Hebreërs. Gevolglik ontstaan 'n vraag na logiese status, met ander woorde, Is dit waar? Met hierdie artikel hoop die outeur om 'n bydra te lewer tot die voortgaande bespreking deur voor te stel dat, gegewe die magdom onversoenbare filosofiese teorieë oor die aard van waarheid, dit dalk nodig mag wees om in gesprekke oor die onderwerp meer genuanseerd met die waarheidsbegrip om te gaan. Op welke wyse die teks as "waar" beskou kan word, sal uiteindelik afhanklik wees van wat ons bedoel indien ons beweer of ontken dat iets in die eerste plek waar is.
Brain, Mind and Consciousness are the research concerns of psychiatrists, psychologists, neurologists, cognitive neuroscientists and philosophers. All of them are working in different and important ...ways to understand the workings of the brain, the mysteries of the mind and to grasp that elusive concept called consciousness. Although they are all justified in forwarding their respective researches, it is also necessary to integrate these diverse appearing understandings and try and get a comprehensive perspective that is, hopefully, more than the sum of their parts. There is also the need to understand what each one is doing, and by the other, to understand each other's basic and fundamental ideological and foundational underpinnings. This must be followed by a comprehensive and critical dialogue between the respective disciplines. Moreover, the concept of mind and consciousness in Indian thought needs careful delineation and critical/evidential enquiry to make it internationally relevant. The brain-mind dyad must be understood, with brain as the structural correlate of the mind, and mind as the functional correlate of the brain. To understand human experience, we need a triad of external environment, internal environment and a consciousness that makes sense of both. We need to evolve a consensus on the definition of consciousness, for which a working definition in the form of a Consciousness Tetrad of Default, Aware, Operational and Evolved Consciousness is presented. It is equally necessary to understand the connection between physical changes in the brain and mental operations, and thereby untangle and comprehend the lattice of mental operations. Interdisciplinary work and knowledge sharing, in an atmosphere of healthy give and take of ideas, and with a view to understand the significance of each other's work, and also to critically evaluate the present corpus of knowledge from these diverse appearing fields, and then carry forward from there in a spirit of cooperative but evidential and critical enquiry - this is the goal for this monograph, and the work to follow.
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