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Machine Ethics and Robot Ethics
by Wendell Wallach and Peter AsaroOnce the stuff of science fiction, recent progress in artificial intelligence, robotics, and machine learning means that these rapidly advancing technologies are finally coming into widespread use within everyday life. Such rapid development in these areas also brings with it a host of social, political and legal issues, as well as a rise in public concern and academic interest in the ethical challenges these new technologies pose. This volume is a collection of scholarly work from leading figures in the development of both robot ethics and machine ethics; it includes essays of historical significance which have become foundational for research in these two new areas of study, as well as important recent articles. The research articles selected focus on the control and governance of computational systems; the exploration of ethical and moral theories using software and robots as laboratories or simulations; inquiry into the necessary requirements for moral agency and the basis and boundaries of rights; and questions of how best to design systems that are both useful and morally sound. Collectively the articles ask what the practical ethical and legal issues, arising from the development of robots, will be over the next twenty years and how best to address these future considerations.
Machine Ethics: From Machine Morals to the Machinery of Morality (Studies in Applied Philosophy, Epistemology and Rational Ethics #53)
by Luís Moniz Pereira António Barata LopesThis book offers the first systematic guide to machine ethics, bridging between computer science, social sciences and philosophy. Based on a dialogue between an AI scientist and a novelist philosopher, the book discusses important findings on which moral values machines can be taught and how. In turn, it investigates what kind of artificial intelligence (AI) people do actually want. What are the main consequences of the integration of AI in people’s every-day life? In order to co-exist and collaborate with humans, machines need morality, but which moral values should we teach them? Moreover, how can we implement benevolent AI? These are just some of the questions carefully examined in the book, which offers a comprehensive account of ethical issues concerning AI, on the one hand, and a timely snapshot of the power and potential benefits of this technology on the other. Starting with an introduction to common-sense ethical principles, the book then guides the reader, helping them develop and understand more complex ethical concerns and placing them in a larger, technological context. The book makes these topics accessible to a non-expert audience, while also offering alternative reading pathways to inspire more specialized readers.
Machine Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm: Spiritual Freedom and the Re-animation of Matter
by Luke Lafitte• Explores how we naturally project consciousness onto machines and how this is reflected in human culture, science, artificial intelligence, and literature • Demonstrates a direct connection between consciousness and the history of machines in American history • Looks at the contributions and influence of Grace Hopper, Richard Feynman, Philip K. Dick, Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, Elon Musk, David Bohm, Norbert Wiener, and Steve Jobs as well as the Nag Hammadi Gnostic gospels Humans invented and constructed machines to aid them, as far back as the Stone Age. As the machines became more complex, they became extensions of the body and mind, and we naturally began projecting consciousness onto them. As Luke Lafitte shows in detail, although machines complicate the already complicated issue of identity, because they are &“ours&” and &“of us,&” they are part of our spiritual development. In this sweeping exploration of the history of the machine as a tool, as a transpersonal object to assist human activity, and as a transitional artifact between spirits and the humans who interact with them, Lafitte examines the role that machines play in the struggle between &“spiritual man&” and &“mechanical man&” throughout history. He interprets the messages, archetypes, and language of the unconscious in the first popular stories related to mechanical men, and he demonstrates a direct connection between consciousness and the history of machines in American history, specifically between the inventors of these machines and the awakening of our imaginations and our powers of manifestation. He examines the influence of Philip K. Dick, Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, Grace Hopper, Richard Feynman, Elon Musk, David Bohm, and others and shows how the Nag Hammadi gospels explain how we can take back our myth and spirit from the machine. Although the term &“mechanical man&” is a catch-all phrase, Lafitte shows that the term is also a meeting ground where extra-dimensional communications between different forms of matter occur. Every machine, android, robot, and cyborg arose from consciousness, and these mechanical men, whether real or fictive, offer us an opportunity to free ourselves from enslavement to materialism and awaken our imaginations to create our own realities.
Machine Intelligence: Perspectives on the Computational Model (Artificial Intelligence And Cognitive Science Ser.)
by Andy Clark Josefa ToribioSummarizes and illuminates two decades of researchGathering important papers by both philosophers and scientists, this collection illuminates the central themes that have arisen during the last two decades of work on the conceptual foundations of artificial intelligence and cognitive science. Each volume begins with a comprehensive introduction that places the coverage in a broader perspective and links it with material in the companion volumes. The collection is of interest in many disciplines including computer science, linguistics, biology, information science, psychology, neuroscience, iconography, and philosophy. Examines initial efforts and the latest controversiesThe topics covered range from the bedrock assumptions of the computational approach to understanding the mind, to the more recent debates concerning cognitive architectures, all the way to the latest developments in robotics, artificial life, and dynamical systems theory. The collection first examines the lineage of major research programs, beginning with the basic idea of machine intelligence itself, then focuses on specific aspects of thought and intelligence, highlighting the much-discussed issue of consciousness, the equally important, but less densely researched issue of emotional response, and the more traditionally philosophical topic of language and meaning. Provides a gamut of perspectives The editors have included several articles that challenge crucial elements of the familiar research program of cognitive science, as well as important writings whose previous circulation has been limited. Within each volume the papers are organized to reflect a variety of research programs and issues. The substantive introductions that accompany each volume further organize the material and provide readers with a working sense of the issues and the connection between articles.
Machine Learning and Knowledge Extraction: 6th IFIP TC 5, TC 12, WG 8.4, WG 8.9, WG 12.9 International Cross-Domain Conference, CD-MAKE 2022, Vienna, Austria, August 23–26, 2022, Proceedings (Lecture Notes in Computer Science #13480)
by Andreas Holzinger Edgar Weippl A Min Tjoa Peter KiesebergThis book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 6th IFIP TC 5, TC 12, WG 8.4, WG 8.9, WG 12.9 International Cross-Domain Conference, CD-MAKE 2022, held in Vienna, Austria during August 2022.The 23 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 45 submissions. The papers are covering a wide range from integrative machine learning approach, considering the importance of data science and visualization for the algorithmic pipeline with a strong emphasis on privacy, data protection, safety and security.
Machine Learning and Knowledge Extraction: 7th IFIP TC 5, TC 12, WG 8.4, WG 8.9, WG 12.9 International Cross-Domain Conference, CD-MAKE 2023, Benevento, Italy, August 29 – September 1, 2023, Proceedings (Lecture Notes in Computer Science #14065)
by Andreas Holzinger Edgar Weippl A Min Tjoa Peter Kieseberg Federico Cabitza Andrea CampagnerThis volume LNCS-IFIP constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 7th IFIP TC 5, TC 12, WG 8.4, WG 8.9, WG 12.9 International Cross-Domain Conference, CD-MAKE 2023 in Benevento, Italy, during August 28 – September 1, 2023. The 18 full papers presented together were carefully reviewed and selected from 30 submissions. The conference focuses on integrative machine learning approach, considering the importance of data science and visualization for the algorithmic pipeline with a strong emphasis on privacy, data protection, safety and security.
Machine Learning in Medical Diagnosis: A Framework for a Normative Evaluation of Benefits and Risks (Neue Wege der Angewandten Ethik / New Pathways of Applied Ethics)
by Leslye Denisse Dias DuranThis book seeks to navigate between the optimism that has arisen from the promise of the potential of machine learning (ML) in healthcare, and the lack of clarity about what realistic risks and benefits we can foresee. Its main aim is to develop a relational, rights-based normative approach to evaluating the distribution of burdens and benefits of implementing ML in medical diagnosis. This framework, called the "Ecosystem of Moral Constellations", assumes that every person has an equal claim to the fundamental rights necessary to lead one&’s life, but recognizes that there may be conflicting interests that risk violating or infringing the rights of an individual or individuals, and that therefore an assessment of these tensions requires a situational prioritization of certain rights over others. This framework proposes to consider the normative relevance of relationships at different points of moral engagement to assess the potential tensions between these burdens and benefits of these technologies. The author argues that decisions about the implementation of AI systems require more than an assessment of technical feasibility. Instead, it is imperative to consider the different normative goals and interests of the actors involved, the material capabilities of the tools, and the role they should play in the clinical workflow.
Machine Learning: Eine Einführung für Psychologie, Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften (Quantitative Sozialforschung)
by Alfred Lindl Sven Hilbert Elisabeth KrausDieses Buch richtet sich an alle, welche die enormen Potenziale maschinellen Lernens für wissenschaftliche Fragestellungen und innovative Ansätze in Studium oder Beruf nutzen möchten. Denn maschinelles Lernen eröffnet neue Möglichkeiten zum effizienten Umgang mit umfassenden, komplex strukturierten und sich schnell entwickelnden Daten. Zunächst werden Grundideen und typische Anwendungsfelder maschinellen Lernens sowie dessen Vorzüge gegenüber inferenzstatistischen Verfahren erläutert. Daran schließen praktische Hinweise dazu an, wie Daten für maschinelle Lernprozesse aufbereitet werden und wie diese durch Anpassung verschiedener Parameter möglichst optimale Ergebnisse erzielen können. Von den hierzu einsetzbaren Modellen werden die gängigsten theoretisch und anhand anschaulicher Beispiele vorgestellt. Auch auf verschiedene Optionen zur besseren Interpretierbarkeit sowie auf spezifische Limitationen von Analyseresultaten wird eingegangen. Weiterführende Anwendungsfälle und verständlich kommentierte Analysecodes sind auf dem GitHub-Repositorium zu diesem Buch auf SpringerLink online verfügbar.
Machine and Metaphor: The Ethics of Language in American Realism (Literary Criticism and Cultural Theory)
by Jennifer C. CookAmerican literary realism burgeoned during a period of tremendous technological innovation. Because the realists evinced not only a fascination with this new technology but also an ethos that seems to align itself with science, many have paired the two fields rather unproblematically. But this book demonstrates that many realist writers, from Mark Twain to Stephen Crane, Charles W. Chesnutt to Edith Wharton, felt a great deal of anxiety about the advent of new technologies – precisely at the crucial intersection of ethics and language. For these writers, the communication revolution was a troubling phenomenon, not only because of the ways in which the new machines had changed and increased the circulation of language but, more pointedly, because of the ways in which language itself had effectively become a machine: a vehicle perpetuating some of society’s most pernicious clichés and stereotypes – particularly stereotypes of race – in unthinking iteration. This work takes a close look at how the realists tried to forge an ethical position between the two poles of science and sentimentality, attempting to create an alternative mode of speech that, avoiding the trap of codifying iteration, could enable ethical action.
Machine and Sovereignty: For a Planetary Thinking
by Yuk HuiDeveloping a new political thought to address today&’s planetary crises What is &“planetary thinking&” today? Arguing that a new approach is urgently needed, Yuk Hui develops a future-oriented mode of political thought that encompasses the unprecedented global challenges we are confronting: the rise of artificial intelligence, the ecological crisis, and intensifying geopolitical conflicts. Machine and Sovereignty starts with three premises. The first affirms the necessity of developing a new language of coexistence that surpasses the limits of nation-states and their variations; the second recognizes that political forms, including the polis, empire, and the state, are technological phenomena, which Lewis Mumford terms &“megamachines.&” The third suggests that a particular political form is legitimated and rationalized by a corresponding political epistemology. The planetary thinking that this book sketches departs from the opposition between mechanism and organism, which characterized modern thought, to understand the epistemological foundations of Hegel&’s political state and Schmitt&’s Großraum and their particular ways of conceiving the question of sovereignty. Through this reconstruction, Hui exposes the limits of the state and reflects on a new theoretical matrix based on the interrelated concepts of biodiversity, noodiversity, and technodiversity. Arguing that we are facing the limit of modernity, of the eschatological view of history, of globalization, and of the human, Hui conceives necessary new epistemological and technological frameworks for understanding and rising to the crises of our present and our future. Retail e-book files for this title are screen-reader friendly.
Machines for Making Gods: Mormonism, Transhumanism, and Worlds without End
by Jon BialeckiThe Mormon faith may seem so different from aspirations to transcend the human through technological means that it is hard to imagine how these two concerns could even exist alongside one another, let alone serve together as the joint impetus for a social movement. Machines for Making Gods investigates the tensions between science and religion through which an imaginative group of young Mormons and ex-Mormons have found new ways of understanding the world.The Mormon Transhumanist Association (MTA) believes that God intended humanity to achieve Mormonism’s promise of theosis through imminent technological advances. Drawing on a nineteenth-century Mormon tradition of religious speculation to reimagine Mormon eschatological hopes as near-future technological possibilities, they envision such current and possible advances as cryonic preservation, computer simulation, and quantum archeology as paving the way for the resurrection of the dead, the creation of worlds without end, and promise of undergoing theosis—of becoming a god. Addressing the role of speculation in the anthropology of religion, Machines for Making Gods undoes debates about secular transhumanism’s relation to religion by highlighting the differences an explicitly religious transhumanism makes.Charting the conflicts and resonances between secular transhumanism and Mormonism, Bialecki shows how religious speculation has opened up imaginative horizons to give birth to new forms of Mormonism, including a particular progressive branch of the faith and even such formations as queer polygamy. The book also reveals how the MTA’s speculative account of God and technology together has helped to forestall some of the social pressure that comes with apostasy in much of the Mormon Intermountain West.A fascinating ethnography of a group with much to say about crucial junctures of modern culture, Machines for Making Gods illustrates how the scientific imagination can be better understood when viewed through anthropological accounts of myth.
Machines of Nature and Corporeal Substances in Leibniz
by Justin E. Smith Ohad NachtomyIn recent decades, there has been much scholarly controversy as to the basic ontological commitments of the philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716). The old picture of his thought as strictly idealistic, or committed to the ultimate reduction of bodies to the activity of mind, has come under attack, but Leibniz's precise conceptualization of bodies, and the role they play in his system as a whole, is still the subject of much controversy. One thing that has become clear is that in order to understand the nature of body in Leibniz, and the role body plays in his philosophy, it is crucial to pay attention to the related concepts of organism and of corporeal substance, the former being Leibniz's account of the structure of living bodies (which turn out, for him, to be the only sort of bodies there are), and the latter being an inheritance from the Aristotelian hylomorphic tradition which Leibniz appropriates for his own ends. This volume brings together papers from many of the leading scholars of Leibniz's thought, all of which deal with the cluster of questions surrounding Leibniz's philosophy of body.
Machines of the Mind: Personification in Medieval Literature
by Katharine BreenIn Machines of the Mind, Katharine Breen proposes that medieval personifications should be understood neither as failed novelistic characters nor as instruments of heavy-handed didacticism. She argues that personifications are instead powerful tools for thought that help us to remember and manipulate complex ideas, testing them against existing moral and political paradigms. Specifically, different types of medieval personification should be seen as corresponding to positions in the rich and nuanced medieval debate over universals. Breen identifies three different types of personification—Platonic, Aristotelian, and Prudentian—that gave medieval writers a surprisingly varied spectrum with which to paint their characters. Through a series of new readings of major authors and works, from Plato to Piers Plowman, Breen illuminates how medieval personifications embody the full range of positions between philosophical realism and nominalism, varying according to the convictions of individual authors and the purposes of individual works. Recalling Gregory the Great’s reference to machinae mentis (machines of the mind), Breen demonstrates that medieval writers applied personification with utility and subtlety, employing methods of personification as tools that serve different functions. Machines of the Mind offers insight for medievalists working at the crossroads of religion, philosophy, and literature, as well as for scholars interested in literary character-building and gendered relationships among characters, readers, and texts beyond the Middle Ages.
Machines of the Mind: Personification in Medieval Literature
by Katharine BreenIn Machines of the Mind, Katharine Breen proposes that medieval personifications should be understood neither as failed novelistic characters nor as instruments of heavy-handed didacticism. She argues that personifications are instead powerful tools for thought that help us to remember and manipulate complex ideas, testing them against existing moral and political paradigms. Specifically, different types of medieval personification should be seen as corresponding to positions in the rich and nuanced medieval debate over universals. Breen identifies three different types of personification—Platonic, Aristotelian, and Prudentian—that gave medieval writers a surprisingly varied spectrum with which to paint their characters. Through a series of new readings of major authors and works, from Plato to Piers Plowman, Breen illuminates how medieval personifications embody the full range of positions between philosophical realism and nominalism, varying according to the convictions of individual authors and the purposes of individual works. Recalling Gregory the Great’s reference to machinae mentis (machines of the mind), Breen demonstrates that medieval writers applied personification with utility and subtlety, employing methods of personification as tools that serve different functions. Machines of the Mind offers insight for medievalists working at the crossroads of religion, philosophy, and literature, as well as for scholars interested in literary character-building and gendered relationships among characters, readers, and texts beyond the Middle Ages.
Machines of the Mind: Personification in Medieval Literature
by Katharine BreenIn Machines of the Mind, Katharine Breen proposes that medieval personifications should be understood neither as failed novelistic characters nor as instruments of heavy-handed didacticism. She argues that personifications are instead powerful tools for thought that help us to remember and manipulate complex ideas, testing them against existing moral and political paradigms. Specifically, different types of medieval personification should be seen as corresponding to positions in the rich and nuanced medieval debate over universals. Breen identifies three different types of personification—Platonic, Aristotelian, and Prudentian—that gave medieval writers a surprisingly varied spectrum with which to paint their characters. Through a series of new readings of major authors and works, from Plato to Piers Plowman, Breen illuminates how medieval personifications embody the full range of positions between philosophical realism and nominalism, varying according to the convictions of individual authors and the purposes of individual works. Recalling Gregory the Great’s reference to machinae mentis (machines of the mind), Breen demonstrates that medieval writers applied personification with utility and subtlety, employing methods of personification as tools that serve different functions. Machines of the Mind offers insight for medievalists working at the crossroads of religion, philosophy, and literature, as well as for scholars interested in literary character-building and gendered relationships among characters, readers, and texts beyond the Middle Ages.
Machines, Computations, and Universality: 8th International Conference, MCU 2018, Fontainebleau, France, June 28–30, 2018, Proceedings (Lecture Notes in Computer Science #10881)
by Jérôme Durand-Lose Sergey VerlanThis book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Machines, Computations, and Universality, MCU 2018, held in Fontainebleau, France, in June 2018. The 9 revised full papers presented together with 5 invited talks were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. MCU explores computation in the setting of various discrete models (Turing machines, register machines, cellular automata, tile assembly systems, rewriting systems, molecular computing models, neural models, concurrent systems, etc.) and analog and hybrid models (BSS machines, infinite time cellular automata, real machines, quantum computing, etc.).
Machinic Eros: Writings on Japan (Univocal)
by Félix GuattariThe French philosopher Félix Guattari frequently visited Japan during the 1980s and organized exchanges between French and Japanese artists and intellectuals. His immersion into the &“machinic eros&” of Japanese culture put him into contact with media theorists such as Tetsuo Kogawa and activists within the mini-FM community (Radio Home Run), documentary filmmakers (Mitsuo Sato), photographers (Keiichi Tahara), novelists (Kobo Abe), internationally recognized architects (Shin Takamatsu), and dancers (Min Tanaka). From pachinko parlors to high-rise highways, alongside corporate suits and among alt-culture comrades, Guattari put himself into the thick of Japanese becomings during a period in which the bubble economy continued to mutate. This collection of essays, interviews, and longer meditations shows a radical thinker exploring the architectural environment of Japan&’s &“machinic eros.&”
Macho Alfa
by Guido Galeano Vega Eunice T AndreLivro que trata de aspectos sociais e culturais de líderes em grupos animais e humanos. Macho Alfa Este conceito é mais bem aplicado no âmbito da natureza ou no sistema biológico animal. Nas sociedades modernas, é aplicado também para definir certo tipo de pessoas, que se caracterizam por sua capacidade de liderança. Como o conceito tem uma relação mais direta com o mundo animal, e mais ainda vinculado a certas espécies de predadores, implacáveis, de extrema eficiência no processo de caçada grupal, atividade motivada para garantir ou melhorar a possibilidade de sobrevivência em contextos de natureza selvagem, como é o caso dos lobos. Ele tem sido aplicado também nos grupos humanos com um estilo de vida de características similares.
Macht - Knoten - Fleisch: Topographien des Körpers bei Foucault, Lacan und Merleau-Ponty (Abhandlungen zur Philosophie)
by Ulrike Kadi Gerhard UnterthurnerDer "Macht - Knoten - Fleisch. Topographien des Körpers bei Foucault, Lacan und Merleau Ponty" greift eine Reihe von Begriffen und Konzepten der drei Referenzautoren heraus, die für ein zeitgemäßes Verständnis des Körpers entscheidend sind. Bei Foucault wird der Körper von seiner Verflechtung mit Macht und Wissen her thematisiert. Die Knoten, die Körper machen und Körper-Raum-Verhältnisse vorstellen, sind für Lacan relevant. Und Merleau-Ponty bietet mit Stichworten wie der leiblichen Praxis, der Zwischenleiblichkeit oder des „Fleisches des Welt“ weitere theoretische Facetten, die es zu berücksichtigen gilt. Der Band versteht sich nicht nur als ein Beitrag zu einem Dialog über den Körper zwischen Genealogie, Psychoanalyse und Phänomenologie. Sondern der Band ist als Brückenkopf für einen Wissenstransfer zu anderen Körperwissenschaften konzipiert. Er richtet sich daher an Lehrende, Forschende und Lernende aus Disziplinen, die sich mit dem Körper beschäftigen. Gleichermaßen soll er interessierten Laien ein Werkzeug zur Einordnung und Bearbeitung von neuen Phänomenen in, an und mit dem Körper an die Hand geben.
Macht und Herrschaft: Zur Revision zweier soziologischer Grundbegriffe
by Peter Gostmann Peter-Ulrich Merz-BenzDas Buch befasst sich mit Kernbegriffen der Sozialwissenschaften: Macht und Herrschaft. Mit Beiträgen von Gerhard Wagner, Guy Oakes, Hubert Treiber, Peter Gostmann, Peter-Ulrich Merz-Benz, Dirk Tänzler und Stephen Turner.
Macht und Magie: Tiefenhermeneutische Rekonstruktion nationalsozialistischer, neokonservativer und rechtspopulistischer Inszenierungen in Deutschland (Kritische Sozialpsychologie)
by Hans-Dieter KönigDieses Buch beantwortet die sozialpsychologische Frage, wie politische Akteure und Akteurinnen die Mehrheit der Deutschen für partikulare Machtinteressen eingenommen haben. Die tiefenhermeneutische Analyse zeigt, wie politische Reden ihre Wirkung durch eine Magie der Worte und durch magische Inszenierungen entfalten.
Macroeconomic Aspects of Aging and Retirement of College and University Teachers: Indo-French Perspectives
by Geeta NairThis book explores the universal and highly topical issues of ageing and retirement. It places a particular focus on the macroeconomic aspects of the ageing and retirement of college and university teachers, through a case study of teachers and professors in France and India. While the ageing of the population and the financing of the pension system are notoriously pressing issues in Western nations such as France, it has previously not been acknowledged that these issues are also critical to the development trajectory of emerging countries such as India. The book also highlights the importance of pensions for welfare, well-being and stability in all categories of workers, including workers in the informal sector and private companies devoid of pension schemes, where jobs are largely irregular and temporary in nature. It will be of great interest to researchers in the fields of comparative education, sociology and economics.
Macroeconomic Dynamics: An Essay in Circulation Analysis, Volume 15
by Bernard Lonergan Charles Hefling Jr. Frederick Lawrence Patrick ByrneFew theologians in history have matched Bernard Lonergan's range of learning. Fewer still have written on the "dismal science" of economics. Rooted so solidly in the concerns of this world, economics is not a discipline we associate with the more rarified pursuit of theology. In this long-awaited volume, Lonergan demonstrates the short-sightedness of this view. This companion volume to For A New Political Economy (Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan, Volume 21) continues the work of bringing together the various elements of Lonergan's economic thought. His economic writings span forty years and represent one of the most important intellectual achievements of the twentieth century. They have previously been inaccessible outside of the Lonergan research community as the majority of them have not been formally published, and exist only as a group of unfinished essays and material for courses on economics taught by Lonergan. Lonergan's economic ideas track a different line of thought from that taken by contemporary economists. Macroeconomic Dynamics: An Essay in Circulation Analysis represents the economic thought of Lonergan at the end of his career. His analysis, while taking a fresh look at fundamental variables, breaks from centralist theory and practice towards a radically democratic perspective on surplus income and non-political control, and explores more fully the ideas introduced in For a New Political Economy. This work will be read not only by economists but also by liberation theologians, political theologians, and others inside and outside of religious organizations interested in social justice issues and alternative approaches to economics.
Macropolitics: Essays on the Philosophy and Science of Politics
by Friedrich MeineckeA selection of essays by a pioneer in the application of systems theory to political analysis, Macropolitics develops the author's concern with the philosophical foundations of political science, and with the extension of philosophical principles into the realm of empirical analysis. For this volume, Kaplan has written a long essay on the philosophical foundations of his work, which constitutes one of his most important statements. He develops and explains within a philosophical context his contention that values can be treated in an empirically meaningful fashion. Organized to expand or illustrate the major points raised in this introduction, the essays that follow deal with such topics as the nature and utility of systems theory, empirical treatment of historical explanations, the systemic and psychological foundations of values, and empirical applications of systems theory in analyzing international political systems. Enlarging the dialogue between conflicting viewpoints, Kaplan exposes the common roots of Western scientific thought and Marxist philosophy, emphasizing that both status quo and revolutionary philosophies are one-sided. In his new introduction, Ira Sharkansky sees this as a truly groundbreaking work: "thanks in considerable part to the contributions of Professor Kaplan, international relations theory is a major component of political sciencei?1/2a milestone on our quest for understanding i?1/2 a distinguished part of the ongoing record." When the book first appeared, William Welch in the American Political Science Review called it "excellent: his weighing against the evidence of competing hypotheses is truly exemplary i?1/2 thorough, careful, fair-minded."
Macroscopic Metaphysics: Middle-Sized Objects and Longish Processes (Synthese Library #390)
by Paul NeedhamThis book is about our ordinary concept of matter in the form of enduring continuants and the processes in which they are involved in the macroscopic realm. It emphasises what science rather than philosophical intuition tells us about the world, and chemistry rather than the physics that is more usually encountered in philosophical discussions. The central chapters dealing with the nature of matter pursue key steps in the historical development of scientific conceptions of chemical substance. Like many contemporary discussions of material objects, it relies heavily on mereology. The classical principles are applied to the mereological structure of regions of space, intervals of time, processes and quantities of matter. Quantities of matter, which don't gain or lose parts over time, are distinguished from individuals, which are typically constituted of different quantities of matter at different times. The proper treatment of the temporal aspect of the features of material objects is a central issue in this book, which is addressed by investigating the conditions governing the application of predicates relating time and other entities. Of particular interest here are relations between quantities of matter and times expressing substance kind, phase and mixture. Modal aspects of these features are taken up in the final chapter.