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What is Good?: The Search for the Best Way to Live
by Prof A.C. GraylingA.C. Grayling answers the most important question - How do we live a good life?One of the most fundamental questions in our life is to find out what we value - what principles we want to live by and which codes we will use to guide our behaviour. Most of us want to live a good life. But what, in today's secular society, does 'good' actually mean?To classical Greeks, the acquisition of knowledge, the enjoyment of the senses, creativity and beauty were all aspects of life to strive for. Then came the volcanic declarations of St Paul and his fundamentalist ideas on sin and human nature. In WHAT IS GOOD?, A.C. Grayling examines these and other proposals on how to live a good life, from the 'heroic' ideals of the Greek poets to Kant's theories on freedom and the UN Declaration on Human Rights.
What is Islamic Philosophy?
by Roy JacksonWhat is Islamic Philosophy? offers a broad introduction to Islamic thought, from its origins to the many challenging issues facing Muslims in the contemporary world. The chapters explore early Islamic philosophy and trace its development through key themes and figures up to the twenty-first century. Topics covered include: ethical issues such as just war, abortion, women’s rights, homosexuality and cloning questions in political philosophy regarding what kind of Islamic state could exist and how democratic can (or should) Islam really be the contribution of Islam to ‘big questions’ such as the existence of God, the concept of the soul, and what constitutes truth. This fresh and original book includes a helpful glossary and suggestions for further reading. It is ideal for students coming to the subject for the first time as well as anyone wanting to learn about the philosophical tradition and dilemmas that are part of the Islamic worldview.
What is Legal Education for?: Reassessing the Purposes of Early Twenty-First Century Learning and Law Schools (Emerging Legal Education)
by Paul Maharg Victoria Roper Rachel Ann DunnHow we interpret and understand the historical contexts of legal education has profoundly affected how we understand contemporary educational cultures and practices. This book, the result of a Modern Law Review seminar, both celebrates and critiques the lasting impact of Peter Birks’ influential edited collection, Pressing Problems in the Law: What is the Law School for? Published in 1996, his book addresses many critical issues that are hauntingly present in the 21st century, amongst them the impact of globalisation; technological disruption; and the tension inherent in law schools as they seek to balance the competing interest of teaching, research and administration. Yet Birks’ collection misses key issues, too. The role of wellbeing, of emotion or affect, the relation of legal education to education, the status of legal education in what, since his volume, have become the devolved jurisdictions of Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland – these and others are absent from the research agenda of the book. Today, legal educators face new challenges. We are still recovering from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on our universities. In 1996 Birks was keen to stress the importance of comparative research within Europe. Today, legal researchers are dismayed at the possibility of losing valuable EU research funding when the UK leaves the EU, and at the many other negative effects of Brexit on legal education. The proposed Solicitors Qualifying Examination takes legal education regulation and professional learning into uncharted waters. This book discusses these and related impacts on our legal educations. As law schools approach an existential crossroads post-Covid-19, it seems timely to revisit Birks’ fundamental question: what are law schools for?
What is Life Worth?: The Unprecedented Effort to Compensate the Victims of 9/11
by Kenneth R. FeinbergAs head of the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, Kenneth Feinberg was asked to do the impossible: calculate the dollar value of over 5,000 dead and injured as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
What is Property? An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government
by P. J. ProudhonIf I were asked to answer the following question: WHAT IS SLAVERY? and I should answer in one word, IT IS MURDER, my meaning would be understood at once. No extended argument would be required to show that the power to take from a man his thought, his will, his personality, is a power of life and death; and that to enslave a man is to kill him. Why, then, to this other question: WHAT IS PROPERTY! may I not likewise answer, IT IS ROBBERY, without the certainty of being misunderstood; the second proposition being no other than a transformation of the first?
What is Right and Wrong? Who Decides? Where Do Values Come From? And Other Big Questions (And Other Big Questions)
by Michael Rosen Annemarie YoungEvery day we make decisions that are underpinned by our ideas of what is right and wrong. But where do these ideas come from? Where do our values come from and who decides which values are used in a society? This book is a highly topical look at how our decisions about what is right and wrong play out on an indvidual, local, national and global scale. It examines topics that are strongly connected to the values people hold and their ideas of right and wrong, such as democracy, justice, fairness, prejudice and discrimination, education, climate change and war. There are contributions from Laura Bates, Richard Rieser, Tulip Siddiq and Alex Wheatle, who, along with the authors, discuss how their ideas of what is right and wrong have been shaped by their life experiences. Readers are encouraged to think for themselves about the issues discussed and decide which values are important to them.
What is Sustainable Technology?: Perceptions, Paradoxes and Possibilities
by Karel Mulder Didac Ferrer Harro van LenteDesigners of technology have a major responsibility in the current age. Their designs can have tremendous effects on society, in both the short and the long term. In fact, sustainable development itself has all the characteristics of a design project, albeit a vast one. But a failed product design here will be not just be unsuccessful in the market – it will have far-reaching consequences. It is our common responsibility to make the project successful. Technology has played an important role in creating the problems that we now face; but it will also play an important role in solving them. But this does not mean the technological fix will be easy. How do we allocate resources and attention when there are myriad issues under the umbrella of "sustainable development" currently in competition with one another? How do we arrive at precise specifications for the sustainable technologies that are to be developed and, furthermore, reach consensus on these specifications? What if our sustainable technological solutions aggravate other problems or create new ones? And, because sustainable development is all about the long-term consequences of our actions, how do we assess the effects of modifying existing landscapes, infrastructures and patterns of life?How could we be sure in advance that the changes that new technologies bring will make our society more sustainable? These dilemmas and paradoxes are the subject of this provocative book. Sometimes the claim that a technology is sustainable is made in order to make the technology acceptable in the political process, as in the case of nuclear energy production, where the claims of "sustainability" refer to the absence of CO2 emissions. In the case of biofuels, claims of sustainability have led to a "fuel or food" debate, showing that sustainability has counteracting articulations. And the well-known rebound effect is observed when increased resource efficiency can create a stimulus for consumption. What is Sustainable Technology? illustrates that the sustainability impact of a technology is often much more complicated and ambivalent than one might expect. Making improvements to existing designs is not the technological challenge that will lead to real solutions. We mustn't look to change a part of a machine, but rather the machine as a whole – or even the whole system in which it functions. It is these system innovations that have the potential to make a genuine contribution to sustainable development. What is Sustainable Technology? will help all those involved in designing more sustainable technologies in determining their strategies. It does so by presenting case studies of different technologies in contrasting contexts. Each case asks: 1. What articulations of sustainability played a role in the design process? 2. What sustainability effects did this technology lead to? 3. Who was affected, where, and when? 4. Could the designer have foreseen these consequences? 5. How did the designer anticipate them? 6. How was societal interaction dealt with during the design process? Finally, the authors reflect on future options for the sustainable technology designer. They argue that an important first step is an awareness of the multitude of sustainable development challenges that play a role in production, use, recycling and end-of-life disposal. What is Sustainable Technology? will be essential reading for product designers, engineers, material scientists and others involved in the development of sustainable technologies, as well as a wide academic audience interested in the complexities of the sustainable design process.
What is the Human Being? (Kant's Questions)
by Patrick R. FriersonPhilosophers, anthropologists and biologists have long puzzled over the question of human nature. It is also a question that Kant thought about deeply and returned to in many of his writings. In this lucid and wide-ranging introduction to Kant’s philosophy of human nature - which is essential for understanding his thought as a whole - Patrick R. Frierson assesses Kant’s theories and examines his critics. He begins by explaining how Kant articulates three ways of addressing the question ‘what is the human being?’: the transcendental, the empirical, and the pragmatic. He then considers some of the great theorists of human nature who wrestle with Kant’s views, such as Hegel, Marx, Darwin, Nietzsche, and Freud; contemporary thinkers such as E.O.Wilson and Daniel Dennett, who have sought biological explanations of human nature; Thomas Kuhn, Michel Foucault, and Clifford Geertz, who emphasize the diversity of human beings in different times and places; and existentialist philosophers such as Sartre and Heidegger. He argues that whilst these approaches challenge and enrich Kant’s views in significant ways, all suffer from serious weaknesses that Kant’s anthropology can address. Taking a core insight of Kant’s - that human beings are fundamentally free but finite - he argues that it is the existentialists, particularly Sartre, who are the most direct heirs of his transcendental anthropology. The final part of the book is an extremely helpful overview of the work of contemporary philosophers, particularly Christine Korsgaard and Jürgen Habermas. Patrick R. Frierson explains how these philosophers engage with questions of naturalism, historicism, and existentialism while developing Kantian conceptions of the human being. Including chapter summaries and annotated further reading, What is the Human Being? is an outstanding introduction to some fundamental aspects of Kant’s thought and a judicious assessment of leading theories of human nature. It is essential reading for all students of Kant and the philosophy of human nature, as well as those in related disciplines such as anthropology, politics and sociology.
What is the Judicial Branch (Your Guide to Government)
by Ellen RodgerThe judicial branch of government consists of the nation's courts. This title explores the role of the United States Supreme Court and its role in interpreting the U.S. Constitution, as well as the role of Federal Courts. Justices and judges, and how they are selected for their jobs is also provided. A comparison to other judicial bodies in state governments, as well as in other countries, is also included. Teacher's guide available.
What is the legislative branch (Your Guide to Government)
by James BowThe legislative branch of the United States government represents the people and makes the laws which they live by. This book introduces readers to the House of Representatives and Senate, and the main players in both. Whips, committees, and filibusters are also discussed. A comparison to other legislative bodies in state and local governments, as well as in other countries, is also included.
What is this thing called Ethics?
by Christopher BennettWhat is morality? How do we define what is right and wrong? How does moral theory help us deal with ethical issues in the world around us? This second edition provides an engaging and stimulating introduction to philosophical thinking about morality. Christopher Bennett provides the reader with accessible examples of contemporary and relevant ethical problems, before looking at the main theoretical approaches and key philosophers associated with them. Topics covered include: life and death issues such as abortion and global poverty; the meaning of life; whether life is sacred and which lives matter; major moral theories such as utilitarianism, Kantian ethics and virtue ethics; critiques of morality from Marx and Nietzsche. What is this Thing Called Ethics? has been thoroughly revised and updated throughout, with a new final chapter on meta-ethics. With boxed case studies, discussion questions and further reading included within each chapter this textbook is the ideal introduction to ethics for philosophy students coming to the subject for the first time.
What the #MeToo Movement Highlights and Hides about Workplace Sexual Harassment: Spotlights and Shadows (Applied Psychology Series)
by Anne M. O’Leary-Kelly Shannon L. RawskiWhat the #MeToo Movement Highlights and Hides about Workplace Sexual Harassment seeks to examine both the spotlights (Part I) and the shadows (Part II) of the #MeToo movement, setting a research agenda to examine both more carefully in management research.Sexual harassment (SH) is not a new phenomenon in organizations; it has been the topic of scholarly inquiry since the 1970s and has existed as a form of dysfunctional organizational behavior and abuse of power for much longer. Even so, the #MeToo movement thrust this organizational issue into the spotlight, raising new awareness and concern about an age-old problem, including digital forms of SH, bystander behavior, and organizational and societal ideas around masculinity and gender-based violence. At the same time, #MeToo kept other aspects of SH in the dark. Shadows addressed include the more mundane and common forms of low-severity micro-SH, how to help targets heal from trauma, the complex intersectional experiences of women of color, the experiences of male targets and those in low socioeconomic status jobs, and the implications of #MeToo on legal theory.Insights from #MeToo highlight the power of social movements to frame the public’s understanding of the issue of SH and to spark counter-movements that challenge that frame. This volume will be of interest to researchers, scholars, students, practitioners and policymakers.
What the Best Law Teachers Do
by Michael Hunter Schwartz Gerald F. Hess Sophie M. SparrowWhat makes a great law professor? The first study of its kind, What the Best Law Teachers Do identifies the methods, strategies, and personal traits of professors whose students achieve exceptional learning. This pioneering book will be of interest to any instructor seeking concrete, proven techniques for helping students succeed. What the Best Law Teachers Do introduces readers to twenty-six professors from law schools across the United States. These instructors are renowned for their exacting standards: they set expectations high, while also making course requirements--and their belief that their students can meet them--clear from the outset. They demonstrate professional behavior and tell students to approach class as they would their future professional life: by being as prepared, polished, and gracious as possible. And they prepare themselves for class in depth, even when they have taught the course for years. The best law professors understand that the little things matter. They start class on time and stay afterward to answer questions. They learn their students' names and respond promptly to emails. These instructors are all tough--but they are also committed, creative, and compassionate mentors. With its close-to-the-ground accounts of exceptional educators in action, What the Best Law School Teachers Do offers insights into effective pedagogy that transcend the boundaries of legal education.
What the World Needs Now: Virtue and Character in an Age of Chaos
by Clay StaufferRedefine leadership and character.Discover a path to a more connected and meaningful life with What the World Needs Now. Written by Clay Stauffer, a seasoned pastor, professor, husband, and father, this book explores moral leadership, character, and values that transcend generational and cultural divides. With 30 concise chapters covering topics such as love, hope, diversity, and joy, Stauffer invites you to reflect on how we can improve our relationships, reshape culture, and build a sustainable future for generations to come. Blending Christian wisdom with universally accessible principles, the book illuminates the importance of virtues, emotional intelligence, and spiritual growth. What the World Needs Now inspires readers from all walks of life to embody values of decency, civility, and mutual respect.
What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do: The Book of James
by David JeremiahAccording to Dr. Jeremiah: "In life, we often find ourselves not knowing what to do when faced with trials and temptations. This book is the perfect guide for those uncertain situations. What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do explains how to have the kind of faith that perseveres in persecution, resists temptation, responds obediently to God's Word, overcomes prejudice, produces good works, controls the tongue, follows God's wisdom, considers God in all its plans, depends on God rather than wealth, waits patiently for the return of the Lord, and makes prayer, not personal effort, its spiritual resource." Through study questions and exercises, at the back of the book, the author encourages his readers to apply the insights they have obtain from reading his work along with the Book of James and other relevant scriptures to their own lives.
What's Changing in Prosecution?: Report of a Workshop
by Committee on Law JusticeA report on What's Changing in Prosecution
What's Fair: American Beliefs About Distributive Justice
by Jennifer L. HochschildThe search for equality has been an enduring one in the United States. Yet there has been little significant change in the distribution of wealth over the generations, while the political ideology of socialism has been rejected outright by most people. In a sensitive rendering of data, Jennifer Hochschild discovers that it is the nonrich themselves who do not support the downward redistribution of wealth. Using a long questionnaire and in-depth interviews, she examines the ideals and contemporary practices of Americans on the subject of distributive justice. She finds that both rich and poor Americans perceive three realms in their lives: the private, the political, and the economic. People tend to support equality in two of the realms: the private, where fundamental socialization takes place in the family, school, and neighborhood, and the political, where issues arise about taxes, private property, rights, political representation, social welfare policies, and visions of utopia. But in the economic realm of the workplace, class structure, and opportunity, Americans favor maintaining material differences among people. Hochschild shows how divergence between ideals and practices, and especially between Americans' views of political and economic justice, produces ambivalence. Issues involving redistribution of wealth force people to think about whether they prefer political equalization or economic differentiation. Uncertain, Americans sometimes support equality, sometimes inequality, sometimes are torn between these two beliefs. As a result, they are often tense, helpless, or angry. It is not often that Americans are allowed to talk so candidly and within rigorous social science sampling about their lives. Hochschild gives us a new combination of oral history and political theory that political scientists, philosophers, sociologists, and policymakers can read with profit and pleasure.
What's Good on TV
by Robert Arp Jamie Carlin WatsonWhat's Good on TV? Understanding Ethics Through Television presents an introduction to the basic theories and concepts of moral philosophy using concrete examples from classic and contemporary television shows.Utilizes clear examples from popular contemporary and classic television shows, such as The Office, Law and Order, Star Trek and Family Guy, to illustrate complex philosophical conceptsDesigned to be used as a stand-alone or supplementary introductory ethics textFeatures case studies, study questions, and suggested readingsEpisodes mentioned are from a wide variety of television shows, and are easily accessibleOffers a balanced treatment of a number of controversial ethical issues including environmental ethics, animal welfare, abortion, homosexuality, capital punishment, assisted suicide, censorship and the erosion of valuesIncludes a companion website at http://whatsgoodontv.webs.com
What's Happening?: A Novel
by John Nicholas IannuzziBanned in court, burned in Greenwich Village, What's Happening? dares tell the shocking truth about the beat generation. The kind of no-holds-barred truth that has offended some, that others have tried to suppress, the kind of truth that dares to be told! A realistic novel about America's Left Bank--its rebels, its outcasts, its morally confused and sexually misguided and their frantic, neverending search for brand-new kicks and offbeat thrills.
What's It All About?: Philosophy & the Meaning of Life
by Julian Baggini&“Secular-minded readers seeking an alternative to The Purpose-Driven Life have an excellent starting point here.&”—Publishers Weekly For readers who are serious about confronting the big issues in life—but are turned off by books which deal with them through religion, spirituality, or psychobabble, this is an honest, intelligent discussion by a philosopher that doesn't hide from the difficulties or make undeliverable promises. It aims to help the reader understand the overlooked issues behind the obvious questions, and shows how philosophy does not so much answer them as help provide us with the resources to answer them for ourselves. &“Useful and provocative.&”—The Wall Street Journal &“Looking for a clear guide to what contemporary philosophy has to say about the meaning of life? Baggini takes us through all the plausible answers, weaving together Kierkegaard, John Stuart Mill, Monty Python, and Funkadelic in an entertaining but always carefully reasoned discussion.&”—Peter Singer, author of How Are We To Live &“The question of the meaning of life has long been a byword for pretentious rambling. It takes some nerve to tackle it in a brisk and no-nonsense fashion.&”—New Statesman
What's Law Got To Do With It?: What Judges Do, Why They Do It, and What's at Stake (Stanford Studies in Law and Politics)
by Charles Gardner GeyhInWhat's Law Got to Do With It?, the nation's top legal scholars and political scientists examine to what extent the law actually shapes how judges behave and make decisions, and what it means for society at large. Although there is a growing consensus among legal scholars and political scientists, significant points of divergence remain. Contributors to this book explore ways to reach greater accord on the complexity and nuance of judicial decisionmaking and judicial elections, while acknowledging that agreement on what judges do is not likely to occur any time soon. As the first forum in which political scientists and legal scholars engage with one another on these hot button issues, this volume strives to establish a true interdisciplinary conversation. The inclusion of reactions from practicing judges puts into high relief the deep-seated and opposing beliefs about the roles of law and politics in judicial work.
What's Left of Me is Yours
by Stephanie ScottA BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE DAILY MAIL AND WOMAN AND HOMEA New York Times 'Editor's Pick'One of the Observer's Ten Best Debut Novelists of 2020Shortlisted for the Author's Club First Novel AwardLonglisted for the Jhalak PrizeLonglisted for the CWA John Creasy New Blood Dagger'Enrapturing... This richly imagined novel considers the many permutations of love and what we are capable of doing in its name' New York Times'A brilliant debut' Louise Doughty, author of Apple Tree Yard'You'll have the heart rate of an Olympic hurdler' Sunday Express'I read it with my heart in my throat' Sara Collins, author of The Confessions of Frannie Langton 'An exquisitely crafted masterpiece you'll be pressing into the hands of others' Woman & Home 'An intoxicatingly atmospheric mystery' Daily Mail'Dark, addictive and eye-opening, this is a brilliant debut' StylistA gripping debut set in modern-day Tokyo and inspired by a true crime, What's Left of Me Is Yours follows a young woman's search for the truth about her mother's life - and her murder.In Japan, a covert industry has grown up around the wakaresaseya (literally "breaker-upper"), a person hired by one spouse to seduce the other in order to gain the advantage in divorce proceedings.When Sato hires Kaitaro, a wakaresaseya agent, to have an affair with his wife, Rina, he assumes it will be an easy case. But Sato has never truly understood Rina or her desires and Kaitaro's job is to do exactly that - until he does it too well.While Rina remains ignorant of the circumstances that brought them together, she and Kaitaro fall in a desperate, singular love, setting in motion a series of violent acts that will forever haunt her daughter Sumiko's life.Told from alternating points of view and across the breathtaking landscapes of Japan, What's Left of Me Is Yours explores the thorny psychological and moral grounds of the actions we take in the name of love, asking where we draw the line between passion and possession.
What's So Good About Biodiversity?: A Call for Better Reasoning About Nature's Value
by Donald S. MaierThere has been a deluge of material on biodiversity, starting from a trickle back in the mid-1980's. However, this book is entirely unique in its treatment of the topic. It is unique in its meticulously crafted, scientifically informed, philosophical examination of the norms and values that are at the heart of discussions about biodiversity. And it is unique in its point of view, which is the first to comprehensively challenge prevailing views about biodiversity and its value. According to those dominant views, biodiversity is an extremely good thing - so good that it has become the emblem of natural value. The book's broader purpose is to use biodiversity as a lens through which to view the nature of natural value. It first examines, on their own terms, the arguments for why biodiversity is supposed to be a good thing. This discussion cuts a very broad and detailed swath through the scientific, economic, and environmental literature. It finds all these arguments to be seriously wanting. Worse, these arguments appear to have consequences that should dismay and perplex most environmentalists. The book then turns to a deeper analysis of these failures and suggests that they result from posing value questions from within a framework that is inappropriate for nature's value. It concludes with a novel suggestion for framing natural value. This new proposal avoids the pitfalls of the ones that prevail in the promotion of biodiversity. And it exposes the goals of conservation biology, restoration biology, and the world's largest conservation organizations as badly ill-conceived.
What's Tha Up To Nah?
by Martyn Johnson'Many times I heard people say that you'll have no friends if you're a policeman. How wrong they were. If you were right with them, they were right with you.' PC Martyn Johnson is back on the beat with more hilarious and heart-warming stories from the golden age of policing.With his nose for trouble and a knack for mischief, there's no such thing as a quiet shift for the friendly Yorkshire bobby - from drunken dogs and runaway horses to high-speed chases after Burglar Bill, there's always something to keep him busy and always another troublemaker to put to rights. And with a cuppa-tea stop and a familiar face on every corner of his beat, he's never far from a friend.