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Human Dignity in an African Context

by Motsamai Molefe Christopher Allsobrook

This book is a contribution to African philosophy, by philosophers focusing specifically on the concept of human dignity in ethical theory. The concept of ‘human dignity’ denotes the intrinsic and superlative worth associated with human beings in virtue of which we owe them utmost moral regard. Although dignity is a foundational concept for African philosophy, there remains scant literature in African philosophy dedicated to critical and systematic reflection on the concept of human dignity. This volume responds to this lacuna by bringing together chapters that offer philosophical exposition, defense (or even rejection) and application of the concept of human dignity in light of intellectual resources in African cultures, such as ubuntu, personhood, and serithi.

Human Dignity in Bioethics: From Worldviews to the Public Square (Routledge Annals of Bioethics)

by Stephen Dilley Nathan J. Palpant

Human Dignity in Bioethics brings together a collection of essays that rigorously examine the concept of human dignity from its metaphysical foundations to its polemical deployment in bioethical controversies. The volume falls into three parts, beginning with meta-level perspectives and moving to concrete applications. Part 1 analyzes human dignity through a worldview lens, exploring the source and meaning of human dignity from naturalist, postmodernist, Protestant, and Catholic vantages, respectively, letting each side explain and defend its own conception. Part 2 moves from metaphysical moorings to key areas of macro-level influence: international politics, American law, and biological science. These chapters examine the legitimacy of the concept of dignity in documents by international political bodies, the role of dignity in American jurisprudence, and the implications—and challenges—for dignity posed by Darwinism. Part 3 shifts from macro-level topics to concrete applications by examining the rhetoric of human dignity in specific controversies: embryonic stem cell research, abortion, human-animal chimeras, euthanasia and palliative care, psychotropic drugs, and assisted reproductive technologies. Each chapter analyzes the rhetorical use of ‘human dignity’ by opposing camps, assessing the utility of the concept and whether a different concept or approach can be a more productive means of framing or guiding the debate.

Human Dignity in Classical Chinese Philosophy

by Qianfan Zhang

This book reinterprets classical Chinese philosophical tradition along the conceptual line of human dignity. Through extensive textual evidence, it illustrates that classical Confucianism, Mohism and Daoism contained rich notions of dignity, which laid the foundation for human rights and political liberty in China, even though, historically, liberal democracy failed to grow out of the authoritarian soil in China. The book critically examines the causes that might have prevented the classical schools from developing a liberal tradition, while affirming their positive contributions to the human dignity concept. Analysing the inadequacies of the western concept of human dignity, the text covers relevant teachings of Kongzi, Mengzi, Xunzi, Mozi, Laozi and Zhuangzi (in comparison with Rousseau). While the Confucian notions of humanity (Ren), righteousness (Yi), and gentleman (Junzi) bear most directly on the conception of dignity, Mohism and Daoism provide salutary corrections to the ossification of the orthodox Confucian practice (Li).

Human Empire: Mobility and Demographic Thought in the British Atlantic World, 1500–1800 (Ideas in Context)

by Ted McCormick

Arguing that demographic thought begins not with quantification but in attempts to control the qualities of people, Human Empire traces two transformations spanning the early modern period. First was the emergence of population as an object of governance through a series of engagements in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England, Ireland, and colonial North America, influenced by humanist policy, reason of state, and natural philosophy, and culminating in the creation of political arithmetic. Second was the debate during the long eighteenth century over the locus and limits of demographic agency, as church, civil society, and private projects sought to mobilize and manipulate different marginalized and racialized groups – and as American colonists offered their own visions of imperial demography. This innovative, engaging study examines the emergence of population as an object of knowledge and governance and connects the history of demographic ideas with their early modern intellectual, political, and colonial contexts.

Human Enhancement and Well-Being: A Case for Optimism (Routledge Research in Applied Ethics)

by Emma C. Gordon

New technologies and medicines make it increasingly possible to enhance human functioning in new ways: to become smarter, more emotionally attuned, and perhaps even morally better. But just because we can use the latest science to improve ourselves, should we? This book has two main aims. First, it outlines and criticises the six main contemporary arguments for scepticism about the role of human enhancements in promoting well-being. These arguments concern, respectively, (i) the value of achievements, (ii) freedom, (iii) hyperagency, (iv) human nature, (v) authenticity, and (vi) inequality. It will be shown – for the first time in a book-length treatment – why the overarching bioconservative case against enhancement doesn’t hold water. The second central aim of the book is positive; as we’ll see, each of the bioconservative critiques considered and rejected will be shown to nonetheless motivate a distinctive kind of theoretical desideratum that a viable positive enhancement proposal should satisfy. The remainder of the book then defends a two-part enhancement proposal that will be shown to clearly satisfy the theoretical desiderata that emerged from reflecting on the earlier critique of bioconservativism. The first part of the positive proposal motivates and outlines the general role of an enhancement counsellor in facilitating voluntary enhancement; I then offer an applied case study of this role in the special case of enhancement for the purpose of facilitating romantic and parental relationships. Human Enhancement and Well-Being: A Case for Optimism will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working in applied ethics, bioethics, philosophy of technology, philosophy of well-being, and social epistemology.

Human Enhancements for Space Missions: Lunar, Martian, and Future Missions to the Outer Planets (Space and Society)

by Konrad Szocik

This book presents a collection of chapters, which address various contexts and challenges of the idea of human enhancement for the purposes of human space missions. The authors discuss pros and cons of mostly biological enhancement of human astronauts operating in hostile space environments, but also ethical and theological aspects are addressed. In contrast to the idea and program of human enhancement on Earth, human enhancement in space is considered a serious and necessary option. This book aims at scholars in the following fields: ethics and philosophy, space policy, public policy, as well as biologists and psychologists.

Human-Environment Relations

by Pauline Phemister Emily Brady

This fresh and innovative approach to human-environmental relations will revolutionise our understanding of the boundaries between ourselves and the environment we inhabit. The anthology is predicated on the notion that values shift back and forth between humans and the world around them in an ethical communicative zone called 'value-space'. The contributors examine the transformative interplay between external environments and human values, and identify concrete ways in which these norms, residing in and derived from self and society, are projected onto the environment.

The Human Eros: Eco-ontology and the Aesthetics of Existence (American Philosophy)

by Thomas M. Alexander

The Human Eros explores themes in classical American philosophy, primarily the thought of John Dewey, but also that of Ralph Waldo Emerson, George Santayana, and Native American traditions. Alexander’s primary claim is that human beings have an inherent need to experience meaning and value, a “Human Eros.” Our various cultures are symbolic environments or “spiritual ecologies” within which the Human Eros seeks to thrive. This is how we inhabit the earth. Encircling and sustaining our cultural existence is nature, yet Western philosophy has not provided adequate conceptual models for thinking ecologically. Alexander introduces the idea of “eco-ontology” to explore ways in which this might be done, beginning with the primacy of Nature over Being but also including the recognition of possibility and potentiality as inherent aspects of existence. He argues for the centrality of Dewey’s thought to an effective ecological philosophy. Both “pragmatism” and “naturalism,” he shows, need to be contextualized within an emergentist, relational, nonreductive view of nature and an aesthetic, imaginative, nonreductive view of intelligence.

Human Extinction: A History of the Science and Ethics of Annihilation (Routledge Studies in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine)

by Émile P. Torres

This volume traces the origins and evolution of the idea of human extinction, from the ancient Presocratics through contemporary work on "existential risks." Many leading intellectuals agree that the risk of human extinction this century may be higher than at any point in our 300,000-year history as a species. This book provides insight on the key questions that inform this discussion, including when humans began to worry about their own extinction and how the debate has changed over time. It establishes a new theoretical foundation for thinking about the ethics of our extinction, arguing that extinction would be very bad under most circumstances, although the outcome might be, on balance, good. Throughout the book, graphs, tables, and images further illustrate how human choices and attitudes about extinction have evolved in Western history. In its thorough examination of humanity’s past, this book also provides a starting point for understanding our future. Although accessible enough to be read by undergraduates, Human Extinction contains new and thought-provoking research that will benefit even established academic philosophers and historians.

The Human Factor in a Mission to Mars: An Interdisciplinary Approach (Space and Society)

by Konrad Szocik

A manned mission to Mars is faced with challenges and topics that may not be obvious but of great importance and challenging for such a mission. This is the first book that collects contributions from scholars in various fields, from astronomy and medicine, to theology and philosophy, addressing such topics. The discussion goes beyond medical and technological challenges of such a deep-space mission. The focus is on human nature, human emotions and biases in such a new environment.The primary audience for this book are all researchers interested in the human factor in a space mission including philosophers, social scientists, astronomers, and others. This volume will also be of high interest for a much wider audience like the non-academic world, or for students.

The Human Factor in the Settlement of the Moon: An Interdisciplinary Approach (Space and Society)

by Margaret Boone Rappaport Konrad Szocik

Approaching the settlement of our Moon from a practical perspective, this book is well suited for space program planners. It addresses a variety of human factor topics involved in colonizing Earth's Moon, including: history, philosophy, science, engineering, agriculture, medicine, politics & policy, sociology, and anthropology. Each chapter identifies the complex, interdisciplinary issues of the human factor that arise in the early phases of settlement on the Moon. Besides practical issues, there is some emphasis placed on preserving, protecting, and experiencing the lunar environment across a broad range of occupations, from scientists to soldiers and engineers to construction workers. The book identifies utilitarian and visionary factors that shape human lives on the Moon. It offers recommendations for program planners in the government and commercial sectors and serves as a helpful resource for academic researchers. Together, the coauthors ask and attempt to answer: “How will lunar society be different?”

Human Factors in Privacy Research

by Nina Gerber Alina Stöver Karola Marky

This book covers topics needed to be considered in research around usable privacy. The book starts from a psychological perspective and introduces readers to basic behavioral theories and models that can explain end-user privacy behavior (including the “privacy paradox”) on a theoretical level. Subsequently, an introduction to different study methods (e.g., experiment, survey, interviews, co-creation) used in usable privacy research is given. Based on this, different methodological aspects, such as identifying appropriate questionnaires, and applying User-Centered Design, will be discussed. Finally, the book describes application areas for privacy research such as dark patterns and presents solutions for privacy protection, e.g., regarding consent-giving and PETs. The book aims to bring together the different research approaches to the topic of usable privacy, which often originate from computer science, psychology, and law, and provide a methodologically sound basis for researchers who want to delve deeper into this topic.This is an open access book.

Human Flourishing: A Multidisciplinary Perspective on Neuroscience, Health, Organizations and Arts

by Mireia Las Heras Marc Grau Grau Yasin Rofcanin

This open access book presents a novel multidisciplinary perspective on the importance of human flourishing. The study of the good life or Eudaimonia has been a central concern at least since Aristotelian times. This responds to the common experience that we all seek happiness. Today, we are immersed in a new paradoxical boom, where the pursuit of happiness seems to permeate everything (books, media, organizations, talks), but at the same time, it is nowhere, or at least very difficult to achieve. In fact, it is not easy to even find a consensus regarding the meaning of the word happiness. Seligman (2011), one of the fathers of the positive psychology, confirmed that his original view the meaning he referred to was close to that of Aristotle. But, he recently confessed that he now detests the word happiness, since it is overused and has become almost meaningless. The aim of this open access book is to shed new light on human flourishing through the lenses of neurosciences and health, organizations, and arts. The novelty of this book is to offer a multi-disciplinary perspective on the importance of human flourishing in our lives. The book will examine further how different initiatives, policies and practices create opportunities for generating human flourishing.

Human Flourishing, Spiritual Awakening and Cultural Renewal: Personal and Communal Challenges

by Francisco Díaz Estrada Catalina Elena Dobre Rafael García Pavón

This book seeks to generate a theoretical and a reflective framework to re-connect people with culture and spirituality. It seeks to recreate important links between these domains to provide interpretative, foundational, and ethical perspectives. It is distinctive in that it focusses on the challenges that humanity is facing at a cultural, social, moral, and spiritual level. It provides a philosophical understanding of humanity from a humanistic and multidisciplinary perspective (encompassing ethics, language, art/cinema, political, cultural and gender approaches) and offers a variety of ways of how we can rethink our culture and our society for the future.

Human Foundations of Management: Understanding the Homo Humanus

by Domènec Melè Cèsar González Cantón

Human Foundations of Management explores the human foundation of management and economic activity in a way that is accessible to readers. The structure and contents of this book examines those aspects of the human being which are relevant to management and economic activities.

Human Freedom in the Age of AI (Routledge Research in Applied Ethics)

by Filippo Santoni de Sio

This book claims that artificial intelligence (AI) may affect our freedom at work, in our daily life, and in the political sphere. The author provides a philosophical framework to help make sense of and govern the ethical and political impact of AI in these domains. AI presents great opportunities and risks, raising the question of how to reap its potential benefits without endangering basic human and societal values. The author identifies three major risks for human freedom. First, AI offers employers new forms of control of the workforce, opening the door to new forms of domination and exploitation. Second, it may reduce our capacity to remain in control of and responsible for our decisions and actions, thereby affecting our free will and moral responsibility. Third, it may increase the power of governments and tech companies to steer the political debate, thereby affecting the possibility of a free and inclusive political participation. The author claims that it is still possible to promote human freedom in our interactions with AI. This requires designing AI systems that help promote workers’ freedom, strengthen human control and responsibility, and foster a free, active, and inclusive democratic participation.Human Freedom in the Age of AI will be of interest to scholars and graduate students working on the ethics of technology, philosophy of technology, political philosophy, design, and artificial intelligence.

Human Genetics: The Basics (The Basics)

by Ricki Lewis

Human genetics has blossomed from an obscure biological science and explanation for rare disorders to a field that is profoundly altering health care for everyone. This thoroughly updated new edition of Human Genetics: The Basics provides a concise background of gene structure and function through the lens of real examples, from families living with inherited diseases to population-wide efforts in which millions of average people are learning about their genetic selves. The book raises compelling issues concerning: • The role of genes in maintaining health and explaining sickness • Genetic testing, gene therapy, and genome editing • The common ancestry of all humanity and how we are affecting our future. Written in an engaging, narrative manner, this concise introduction is an ideal starting point for anyone who wants to know more about genes, DNA, genomes, and the genetic ties that bind us all.

Human Goodness

by Yi-Fu Tuan

In his many best-selling books, Yi-Fu Tuan seizes big, metaphysical issues and considers them in uniquely accessible ways. Human Goodnessis evidence of this talent and is both as simple, and as epic, as it sounds. Genuinely good people and their actions, Tuan contends, are far from boring, naive, and trite; they are complex, varied, and enormously exciting. In a refreshing antidote to skeptical times, he writes of ordinary human courtesies, as simple as busing your dishes after eating, that make society functional and livable. And he writes of extraordinary courage and inventiveness under the weight of adversity and evil. He considers the impact of communal goodness over time, and his sketches of six very different individuals-Confucius, Socrates, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, John Keats, Dr. Albert Schweitzer, and Simone Weil-confirm that there are human lives that can encourage and lead us to our better selves. Best Books for General Audiences, selected by the American Association of School Librarians, and Best Books for Special Interests, selected by the Public Library Association

Human Guinea Pigs, by Kenneth Mellanby: A Reprint with Commentaries (Philosophy and Medicine #134)

by Lisa M. Rasmussen

This book reprints Human Guinea Pigs, by Kenneth Mellanby, a seminal work in the history of medical ethics and human subject research that has been nearly unavailable for over 40 years. Detailing the use of World War II conscientious objectors who volunteered for experimentation on scabies transmission, Mellanby’s book offers insight into one approach to human subject experimentation before the development of ethical oversight regulations. His work was initially published prior to the articulation of the Nuremberg Code, which makes his subsequent position as a reporter for the British Medical Journal at the Nuremberg Trials very interesting, particularly given his sometimes controversial opinions on Nazi medical experimentation. This book reprints the second edition together with commentary essays that situate Mellanby’s ethical approach in historical context and relative to contemporary approaches. This volume is of particular interest to scholars of the history of human subject research.

Human Happiness (Penguin Great Ideas)

by Blaise Pascal

Created by the seventeenth-century philosopher and mathematician Pascal, the essays contained in Human Happiness are a curiously optimistic look at whether humans can ever find satisfaction and real joy in life – or whether a belief in God is a wise gamble at best. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves – and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives – and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.

The Human Instinct: How We Evolved to Have Reason, Consciousness, and Free Will

by Kenneth R. Miller

A radical, optimistic exploration of how humans evolved to develop reason, consciousness, and free will.Lately, the most passionate advocates of the theory of evolution seem to present it as bad news. Scientists such as Richard Dawkins, Lawrence Krauss, and Sam Harris tell us that our most intimate actions, thoughts, and values are mere byproducts of thousands of generations of mindless adaptation. We are just one species among multitudes, and therefore no more significant than any other living creature. Now comes Brown University biologist Kenneth R. Miller to make the case that this view betrays a gross misunderstanding of evolution. Natural selection surely explains how our bodies and brains were shaped, but Miller argues that it’s not a social or cultural theory of everything. In The Human Instinct, he rejects the idea that our biological heritage means that human thought, action, and imagination are pre-determined, describing instead the trajectory that ultimately gave us reason, consciousness and free will. A proper understanding of evolution, he says, reveals humankind in its glorious uniqueness—one foot planted firmly among all of the creatures we’ve evolved alongside, and the other in the special place of self-awareness and understanding that we alone occupy in the universe. Equal parts natural science and philosophy, The Human Instinct is a moving and powerful celebration of what it means to be human.

Human Intelligence and Medical Illness

by R. Grant Steen

There's little doubt that people are growing smarter. This effect is so strong that IQ tests must be renormed periodically to prevent classifying an overabundance of people as geniuses. The question is why is this collective rise in IQ - known as the Flynn effect -occurring? Possible theories to explain the Flynn effect have ranged from better parenting to faster evolution. Bringing a bold new voice to the debate, Human Intelligence and Medical Illness sets out a simple definition of intelligence that is appropriate for assessing intelligence at the population level. The definition is then used to probe the relationship between population intelligence and public health. This volume uses the latest medical and behavioral science research to argue that declines in serious disease and illness-causing conditions (e.g., lead paint in buildings) correlate strongly with continued cognitive gains in both developed and developing countries. Current political realities explain why the Flynn effect should be approached as a public policy as well as a public health issue. This provocative volume: Reviews the most widely held hypotheses accounting for the Flynn effect. Examines the relationship between intelligence and public health. Assesses the extent to which public health improvements can potentially account for the Flynn effect. Details how treatment of common medical problems may result in a substantial rise in IQ. Explores the possibility of continued IQ gains in the United States and worldwide. Reframes the Flynn effect in the contexts of public health, early childhood education, and social justice. With its groundbreaking findings on the causes of cognitive impairment and the possibility of cognitive improvement, Human Intelligence and Medical Illness is must-reading for researchers, professors, and graduate students in developmental psychology, education, public health, psychiatry, neuroscience, social work, and related fields.

Human Kindness and the Smell of Warm Croissants: An Introduction to Ethics

by Ruwen Ogien

Human Kindness and the Smell of Warm Croissants makes philosophy fun, tactile, and popular. Moral thinking is simple, Ruwen Ogien argues, and as inherent as the senses. In our daily experiences, in the situations we confront and in the scenes we witness, we develop an understanding of right and wrong as sophisticated as the moral outlook of the world's most gifted philosophers. By drawing on this knowledge to navigate life's most perplexing problems, ethics becomes second nature.Ogien explores, through experimental philosophy and other methods, the responses nineteen real-world conundrums provoke. Is a short, mediocre life better than no life at all? Is it acceptable to kill a healthy person so his organs can save five others? Would you swap a "natural" life filled with frustration, disappointment, and partial success for a world in which all of your needs are met, but through artificial and mechanical means? Ogien doesn't seek to show how difficult it is to determine right from wrong or how easy it is for humans to become monsters or react like saints. Helping us tap into the wisdom and feeling we already possess in our ethical "toolboxes," Ogien instead encourages readers to question moral presuppositions and rules; embrace an intuitive sense of dignity, virtue, and justice; and pursue a pluralist ethics suited to the principles of human kindness.

Human Knowledge

by George A. Reisch Juha Manninen Ilkka Niiniluoto Eino Kaila Anssi Korhonen

The Finnish philosopher Eino Kaila (1890-1958) wrote a classic statement of Logical Empiricism. He had experienced the foundational debates of the Vienna Circle, invited by Moritz Schlick, during the early summer of 1929. Kaila was a keen follower of the further developments of the Circle. His synoptic presentation and analysis of the basic themes, or "theses", of the movement was based on his lectures as professor of theoretical philosophy at the University of Helsinki.The work appeared as a book in Finnish in 1939. A Swedish translation by Georg Henrik von Wright followed immediately. Earlier, a translation of his philosophical essays from the original German, entitled Reality and Experience, edited by Robert S. Cohen, appeared in 1979. However, this is the first translation of Kaila's major epistemological work.Kaila's text remains a source for re-evaluations of Logical Empiricism

Human Knowledge: Its Scope and Limits

by Bertrand Russell

How do we know what we "know"? How did we –as individuals and as a society – come to accept certain knowledge as fact? In Human Knowledge, Bertrand Russell questions the reliability of our assumptions on knowledge. This brilliant and controversial work investigates the relationship between ‘individual’ and ‘scientific’ knowledge. First published in 1948, this provocative work contributed significantly to an explosive intellectual discourse that continues to this day.

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