Thomas Nagel Thomas, Alan
2009, 20150128, 2008, 2015-01-28, 2008-12-30
eBook
In the first systematic study of the philosophy of Thomas Nagel, Alan Thomas discusses Nagel's contrast between the "subjective" and the "objective" points of view throughout the various areas of his ...wide ranging philosophy. Nagel's original and distinctive contrast between the subjective view and our aspiration to a "view from nowhere" within metaphysics structures the chapters of the book. A "new Humean" in epistemology, Nagel takes philosophical scepticism to be both irrefutable and yet to indicate a profound truth about our capacity for self-transcendence. The contrast between subjective and objective views is then considered in the case of the mind, where consciousness proves to be the central aspect of mind that contemporary theorising fails to acknowledge adequately. The second half of the book analyses Nagel's work on moral and political philosophy where he has been most deeply influential. Topics covered include the contrast between agent-relative and agent-neutral reasons and values, Nagel's distinctive version of a hybrid ethical theory, his discussion of life's meaningfulness and finally his sceptical arguments about whether a liberal society can reconcile the conflicting moral demands of self and other.
We used seismic, gravity and aeromagnetic information to better define the basement structure of the southern Fairbanks and Salcha seismic zones and the Northern Foothills Fold and Thrust Belt ...(NFFTB), regions that accommodate deformation in interior Alaska north of the Denali fault. At least five earthquakes of M ≥ 6 occurred within this region between 1929 and 1947. Relocated epicenters of two foreshocks and the October 16, 1947 (Mw 7.2) mainshock suggest they occurred in a topographically low area covered with recent alluvial deposits located ∼20 km north of the northernmost mapped thrusts of the NFFTB, although the largest aftershock of the sequence occurred within the exposed NFFTB. The three largest events of the 1947 sequence had similar waveforms, indicating similar mechanisms. Relocations of the 1929 events, also with waveforms similar to the 1947 sequence, indicate they likely occurred along thrust faults associated with the exposed NFFTB. In contrast, the 1937 sequence (mainshock of Mw 7.3) involved strike-slip rupture along the Salcha seismic zone. We constructed and modeled three gravity/aeromagnetic profiles extending across the NFFTB to the northwestern edge of the Tanana Basin that support the presence of subsurface thrusting north to 64.4°N, coincident with the absence of the Totatlanika schist at this latitude. A third profile extending across the Salcha seismic zone suggests reactivation of high angle faults within the Yukon-Tanana crystalline complex. The extension of thrust faulting ∼20–30 km north of the exposed NFFTB has important implications for the seismic hazards of the Fairbanks region.
•Extension of thrust faulting 20–30 km north of exposed Northern Foothills Fold and Thrust Belt.•Magnitude ≥6 earthquakes in 1929, 1946 and 1947 associated with the Northern Foothills Fold and Thrust Belt.•Salcha earthquake (1937) occurred on reactivated, high angle fault in Yukon-Tanana crystalline complex.
This collection is an in-depth exploration of a central contemporary American poet with links to many key literary movements. The book provides a sweeping intellectual survey of modernism, ...postmodernism, and twentieth- and twenty-first-century American poetry.
James J. Florio is best known as governor of New Jersey from 1990 to 1994. But his career in local, state, and national government is far more varied, and his achievements as a progressive reformer ...are more substantial than most realize.  This political memoir tells the remarkable story of how Florio, a high school dropout who left to join the Navy as a teenager, went on to become an attorney, a state assemblyman, a congressman, and a governor. A passionate defender of the environment, Florio played a crucial role in the enactment of 1980s-era Superfund laws, which helped to clean up toxic waste sites in New Jersey and around the country. As governor, he fought for the groundbreaking Clean Water Enforcement Act. But his reforms quite literally came at a cost, as he raised New Jersey sales taxes and income taxes to balance the state budget. Florio reflects upon the challenges of meeting the state’s budgetary needs while keeping his tax-averse constituents happy.   Standing on Principle reveals a politician who has never been afraid to take a progressive stand—including a firm stance against semiautomatic weapons that led gun lobbyists to bankroll his opponent. His story is sure to inspire readers from New Jersey and across the nation. Published in cooperation with the Center on the American Governor, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University
The Silence of Physics Dainton, Barry
Erkenntnis,
06/2023, Letnik:
88, Številka:
5
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Although many find it hard to believe that every physical thing—no matter how simple or small—involves some form of consciousness, panpsychists offer the reassurance that their claims are perfectly ...compatible with everything physics has to say about the physical world. This is because although physics has a lot to say about causal and structural properties it has nothing to say about the intrinsic natures of physical things, and if physics is silent in this regard it is perfectly possible that everything physical has an experiential intrinsic nature. Following in Thomas Nagel’s footsteps, panpsychists have also argued that by revealing that everything is composed of the same fundamental ingredients, physics provides grounds for holding that if
any
physical things (e.g. our neural processes) have an experiential intrinsic nature then
all
must. My main contention in this paper is that the relationship between physics and panpsychism is considerably more complex than panpsychists have tended to assume. Nagel’s reasoning may be sound in the context of simplistic atomic theories which posit just
one
kind of fundamental particle. However, it begins to look distinctly dubious in the context of the diverse range of primitive entities that are to be found in the Standard Model of particle physics. Galen Strawson has suggested that mass-energy interconvertibility should be regarded as evidence that everything physical has the same intrinsic nature. I suggest Strawson’s claim relies on a dubious construal of the nature of energy. Special relativity is another of the cornerstones of contemporary physics, and it too makes life difficult for panpsychists, a fact which emerges when we consider what it would like to
be
a ray of light. However in this case I suggest that there is an interesting—if radical—move open to the panpsychist: they can simply deny that light exists. To conclude I briefly consider whether what QCD has revealed about the nature of mass poses a problem for panpsychism.
Whether considering the treatment of refugees fleeing a war zone on the other side of the world, or that of psychiatric patients closer to home, the Dublin Business School (DBS) conference of 6 ...September 2019 sought to explore why it is we respond to some human rights abuses and why we turn away from others. It opened a tightly sealed door in our individual and collective psyches, inviting us to turn towards difficulties that we spend so much of our time avoiding or explaining away. This piece seeks to explore why it is we do this; why we struggle with some aspects of reality and how we, as human beings, attempt to manage or out-manoeuvre, those aspects too difficult to comprehend. Drawing on the philosophy of Cora Diamond, particularly as captured in her paper The Difficulty of Reality and the Difficulty of Philosophy (2003), this piece attempts to bring some of these philosophical conversations and understandings into the conference’s broad and multi-disciplinary exploration of why we respond and why we turn away.
In the 1930s the Bolivian and Mexican governments decreed the nationalization of their respective oil industries, thus starting a juncture of tensions in their relationship with the United States ...government and companies. In both cases foreign companies quit the respective host countries, but Bolivia was less successful than Mexico in maintaining its initial stand in face of the external pressure. Following a most-similar-system design strategy to compare both cases of asymmetrical confrontation, which share a similar set of conditions regarding simultaneity, starting causes of the conflict, actors involved and international context, we contend that the difference in the confrontation's resolution is mainly attributable to differing domestic variables. Controlling for the similarity in external conditions, we show that the building and maintenance of a strong internal support coalition was critical for the capacity of the weakest part to advance its interest in an asymmetrical atmosphere.
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