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Virginia Politics & Government in a New Century: The Price of Power
by Jeff ThomasThe modern political landscape of Virginia bears little resemblance to the past. The commonwealth is a nationally influential swing state alongside stalwarts like Florida or Ohio. But with increased power comes greater scrutiny--and corruption. Governor Bob McDonnell received a jail sentence on federal corruption charges, later vacated by the U.S. Supreme Court. Corporate influence on the state legislature and other leaders resulted in numerous ethics violations. Scandal erupted at the prestigious University of Virginia when the school ousted its president amid political drama and intrigue. Author Jeff Thomas reveals the intersection of money, power and politics and the corrosive effect on government in a new era.
Viroid Life: Perspectives on Nietzsche and the Transhuman Condition
by Keith Ansell PearsonNietzsche's vision of the 'overman' continues to haunt the postmodern imagination. His call that 'man is something that must be overcome' can no longer be seen as simple rhetoric. Our experiences of the hybrid realities of artificial life have made the 'transhuman' a figure that looks over us all. Inspired by this vision, Keith Ansell Pearson sets out to examine if evolution is 'out of control' and machines are taking over.In a series of six fascinating perspectives, he links Nietzsche's thought with the issues at stake in contemporary conceptions of evolution from the biological to the technological. Viroid Life; Perspectives on Nietzsche and the Transhuman Condition considers the hybrid, 'inhuman' character of our future with the aid of Nietzsche's philosophy. Keith Ansell Pearson contrasts Nietzsche and Darwin before introducing the more recent figures such as Giles Deleuze and Guy Debord to sketch a new thinking of technics and machines and stress the ambiguous character of our 'machine enslavement'.
The Virtual (Key Ideas)
by Rob ShieldsThis book looks at the origins and the many contemporary meanings of the virtual. Rob Shields shows how the construction of virtual worlds has a long history. He examines the many forms of faith and hysteria that have surrounded computer technologies in recent years. Moving beyond the technologies themselves he shows how the virtual plays a role in our daily lives at every level. The virtual is also an essential concept needed to manage innovation and risk. It is real but not actual, ideal but not abstract. The virtual, he argues, has become one of the key organizing principles of contemporary society in the public realms of politics, business and consumption as well as in our private lives.
Virtual Existentialism: Meaning and Subjectivity in Virtual Worlds
by Stefano Gualeni Daniel VellaThis book explores what it means to exist in virtual worlds. Chiefly drawing on the philosophical traditions of existentialism, it articulates the idea that — by means of our technical equipment and coordinated practices — human beings disclose contexts or worlds in which they can perceive, feel, act, and think. More specifically, this book discusses how virtual worlds allow human beings to take new perspectives on their values and beliefs, and explore previously unexperienced ways of being. Virtual Existentialism will be useful for scholars working in the fields of philosophy, anthropology, media studies, and digital game studies.
Virtual Futures: Cyberotics, Technology and Posthuman Pragmatism
by Joan Broadhurst Dixon Eric J. CassidyVirtual Futures explores the ideas that the future lies in its ability to articulate the consequences of an increasingly synthetic and virtual world. New technologies like cyberspace, the internet, and Chaos theory are often discussed in the context of technology and its potential to liberate or in terms of technophobia. This collection examines both these ideas while also charting a new and controversial route through contemporary discourses on technology; a path that discusses the material evolution and the erotic relation between humans and machines. Virtual Futures brings together diverse fields such as cyberfeminism, materialist philosophy, postmodern fiction, computing culture and performance art, with essays by Sadie Plant, Stelarc and Manuel de Landa (to name a few). The collection heralds the death of humanism and the ride of posthuman pragmatism. The contested zone of debate throughout these essays is the notion of the posthuman, or the possibility of the cyborg as the free human. Viewed by some writers as a threat to human life and humanism itself, others in the collection describe the posthuman as a critical perspective that anticipates the next step in evolution: the integration or synthesis of humans and machines, organic life and technology. This view of technology and information is heavily influenced by Anglo American literature, especially cyberpunk, Pynchon and Ballard, as well as the materialist philosophies of Freud, Deleuze, and Haraway, Virtual Futures provides analyses by both established theorists and the most innovative new voices working in conjunction between the arts and contemporary technology.
Virtual History: Alternatives and Counterfactuals
by Niall FergusonWhat if there had been no American War of Independence? What if Kennedy had lived? These are some of the questions "answered" in "Virtual History", which provides intriguing, far-reaching answers to these questions.
Virtual Learning: Insights and Perspectives
by Ravi Inder Singh Pooja SikkaThis book brings together the research work conducted by renowned academics and practitioners on critical and immensely important issues of virtual learning. It provides innovative ideas and empirical findings on the subject. The sixteen chapters by established and young scholars from all over the country offer strong theoretical and analytical discussion, and examine a wide range of issues confronting the education sector in India in general and the higher education sector in particular. The book seeks to address pertinent issues relating to virtual learning like emerging scenario with respect to required changes in pedagogy used in higher education learning, perceptions of learners about online mode of learning, problems and challenges in virtual learning, paradigm shifts in higher education, designing of new learning strategies for online mode of learning and about the role virtual learning plays in inclusive growth. The scholarly discussion of the book will serve as an excellent vade mecum for readers who want to understand the various dimensions of virtual learning, specifically those that emerged during the Covid-19 Pandemic period, and will provide opportunities to researchers to use it as reference to pursue research in the field of virtual learning.
Virtual Literacies: Interactive Spaces for Children and Young People (Routledge Research in Education #84)
by Julia Gillen Jackie Marsh Guy Merchant Julia DaviesThe growth of interest in virtual worlds and other online spaces for children and young people raises important issues for literacy educators and researchers. This book is a timely and much-needed collection of current research in the area. It provides a synthesis of knowledge and understanding and will be a key resource for scholars, students and teachers, particularly those interested in digital literacies. The work presents a coherent vision of current knowledge, and some of the most engaging, empirical research being undertaken on virtual worlds and online spaces in and beyond educational institutions. It contains international studies from the UK, North America and Australasia. This is an important time for those researching virtual worlds, videogaming and Web 2.0 technologies, since there is growing professional interest in their significance in the education and development of children and young people. Whether these technologies are solely associated with informal learning or whether they should be incorporated into classroom contexts is hotly debated. This book provides a principled evaluation and appreciation of the learning, teaching and instruction that can occur in digital environments, showing children, young people and those who work with them as active agents with possibilities to navigate new paths.
Virtual Reality, Empathy and Ethics
by Matthew CottonThis book examines the ethics of virtual reality (VR) technologies. New forms of virtual reality are emerging in society, not just from low-cost gaming headsets, or augmented reality apps on phones, but from simulated “deep fake” images and videos on social media. This book subjects the new VR technological landscape to ethical scrutiny: assessing the benefits, risks and regulatory practices that shape it. Though often associated with gaming, education and therapy, VR can also be used for moral enhancement. Journalists, artists, philanthropic and non-governmental organisations are using VR films, games and installations to stimulate user empathy to marginalised peoples through a combination of immersion, embodiment and persuasion. This book critically assesses the use of VR for empathy arousal and pro-social behaviour change, culminating in the development of a VR “ethical tool” – a device to facilitate reflective ethical judgement. Drawing upon the pragmatist philosophy of John Dewey, virtual reality is reshaped as “dramatic rehearsal”. This book explains how a combination of immersive environment-building, moral imagination, choice architecture and reflective engagement can stimulate a future-focused and empathic ethics for users of the technology.
Virtual Selves, Real Persons
by Richard S. HallamHow do we know and understand who we really are as human beings? The concept of 'the self' is central to many strands of psychology and philosophy. This book tackles the problem of how to define persons and selves and discusses the ways in which different disciplines, such as biology, sociology and philosophy, have dealt with this topic. Richard S. Hallam examines the notion that the idea of the self as some sort of entity is a human construction and, in effect, a virtual reality. At the same time, this virtual self is intimately related to the reality of ourselves as biological organisms. Aiming to integrate a constructionist understanding of self with the universalizing assumptions that are needed in natural-science approaches, this text is unique in its attempt to create a dialogue across academic disciplines, while retaining a consistent perspective on the problem of relating nature to culture.
Virtual Worlds As Philosophical Tools
by Stefano Gualeni• What does it mean for human beings to 'be' in simulated worlds? • Will experiencing worlds that are not 'actual' change our ways of structuring thought? • Can virtual worlds open up new possibilities to philosophize? Inspired by Martin Heidegger's work,Virtual Worlds as Philosophical Tools seeks to answer these questions from a perspective that combines insights from the field of philosophy of technology with videogame design. Gualeni's exploration casts new light on interactive digital simulations as the context in which a new humanism has already begun to arise. From that perspective, this book articulates an understanding of virtual worlds as philosophical mediators.
Virtuality and Humanity: Virtual Practice and Its Evolution from Pre-History to the 21st Century
by Sam N. Lehman-WilzigThis is a pioneering study of virtuality through human history: ancient-to-modern evolution and recent expansion; expression in many fields (chapters on Religion; Philosophy, Math, Physics; Literature and the Arts; Economics; Nationhood, Government and War; Communication); psychological and social reasons for its universality; inter-relationship with "reality." The book's thesis: virtuality was always an integral part of humanity in many areas of life, generally expanding over the ages. The reasons: 1- brain psychology; 2- virtuality's six functions — escape from boredom to relieving existential dread. Other questions addressed: How will future neuroscience, biotech and "compunications" affect virtuality? Can/should there be limits to human virtualizing?
Virtually Human: The Promise—and the Peril—of Digital Immortality
by Martine RothblattVirtually Human explores what the not-too-distant future will look like when cyberconsciousness—simulation of the human brain via software and computer technology—allows our consciousness to be present forever.Meet Bina48, the world's most sentient robot, commissioned by Martine Rothblatt and created by Hanson Robotics. Bina48 is a nascent Mindclone of Martine's wife that can engage in conversation, answer questions, and even have spontaneous thoughts that are derived from multimedia data in a Mindfile created by the real Bina. If you're active on Twitter or Facebook, share photos through Instagram, or blogging regularly, you're already on your way to creating a Mindfile—a digital database of your thoughts, memories, feelings, and opinions that is essentially a back-up copy of your mind. Soon, this Mindfile can be made conscious with special software—Mindware—that mimics the way human brains organize information, create emotions and achieve self-awareness. This may sound like science-fiction A.I. (artificial intelligence), but the nascent technology already exists. Thousands of software engineers across the globe are working to create cyberconsciousness based on human consciousness and the Obama administration recently announced plans to invest in a decade-long Brain Activity Map project. Virtually Human is the only book to examine the ethical issues relating to cyberconsciousness and Rothblatt, with a Ph.D. in medical ethics, is uniquely qualified to lead the dialogue.
Las virtudes cotidianas
by Michael Ignatieff«En un tiempo de fractura, ¿dónde podemos encontrar orden y estabilidad? Debemos fijarnos en los pequeños detalles, pasar del amplio mundo de la política, los mercados y el sistema internacional al mundo más pequeño y más íntimo de la familia, el barrio y la esquina.» A medida que la globalización nos reúne económicamente,¿convergen también nuestros valores? Michael Ignatieff, intelectual de primera fila internacional, emprende un viaje por ocho naciones en busca de respuestas. Las virtudes cotidianas, una propuesta moral original, valiente y persuasiva, presenta sus descubrimientos y su interpretación de los efectos morales de la globalización -y de la resistencia a ella. A partir de diálogos con brasileños de las favelas, africanos que viven en chozas, granjeros japoneses o pandilleros en Los Ángeles y monjes en Myanmar, Ignatieff se encontró con que, mientras que los derechos humanos son, siacaso, el lenguaje de los Estados y las élites liberales, el lenguaje moral con el que se identifica la mayoría de la gente es el de las virtudes cotidianas: la tolerancia, el perdón, la confianza y la resiliencia. Estas virtudes cotidianas son el sistema operativo moral en ciudades globales y barrios oscuros por igual, el cimiento que permite el experimento multicultural funcione y, en definitiva, la clave para la reconciliación y la solidaridad, a escala local y global. Críticas:«Un libro importante. Las virtudes cotidianas son un sistema operativo de código abierto, una lengua vernácula moral mediante la cual los miembros de diferentes grupos étnicos y religiosos pueden vivir, si no juntos, uno al lado del otro.»Kieran Setiya, The Times Literary Supplement «Una lectura reveladora.»Simon Winchester, The New York Review of Books «Un librito admirable.»James Traub, The New York Times Book Review «Ignatieff combina poderosos argumentos morales con una escritura maravillosa.»David Herman, New Statesman «Michael Ignatieff lleva mucho tiempo siendo un modelo de internacionalismo liberal, y lo que él tiene que decir es importante en sí mismo y el reflejo de un temperamento que evoluciona en el tiempo. La habilidad literaria de Ignatieff convierte la lectura en una experiencia maravillosa, se esté o no de acuerdo con sus polémicas tesis sobre ética y derechos humanos. Indispensable para cualquier lector interesado en política internacional.»Samuel Moyn, autor de The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History «Michael Ignatieff ha escrito su libro más importante. Habla de los dilemas morales de nuestro tiempo en un lenguaje que se enfrenta a las profundas contradicciones entre las lenguas universales que manejan las élites globales y las "virtudes cotidianas" de los ciudadanos comunes, que cobran vida en contextos locales en lenguas locales.»Janice Stein, Universidad de Toronto «En este libro extraordinario, Michael Ignatieff viaja por el mundo con el fin de explorar dos cuestiones aparentemente opuestas: lo que nos separa y lo que permite a comunidades de extraños vivir hombro a hombro. Duda de que un único código legal, religioso o filosófico sea capaz de unirnos. La globalización en lo económico no conlleva globalización en nuestros corazones.»Adam Roberts, Universidad de Oxford «Michael Ignatieff es un historiador, periodista y pensador excepcional. Las virtudes cotidianas es una incorporación cautivadora, original y elegantemente escrita al resto de su maravillosa obra. En un mundo globalizado aquejado de una terrible desigualdad, Ignatieff hace una defensa moral de la ilustración, con un nivel de sofisticación apto para expertos en teoría política y, al mismo un compromiso con el mundo real que da gran fuerza a la obra.»Gary Bass, Universidad de Princeton
Virtue and Knowledge: An Introduction to Ancient Greek Ethics (Routledge Library Editions: Ancient Philosophy #6)
by William J. PriorOriginally published in 1991, this book focuses on the concept of virtue, and in particular on the virtue of wisdom or knowledge, as it is found in the epic poems of Homer, some tragedies of Sophocles, selected writings of Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoic and Epicurean philosophers. The key questions discussed are the nature of the virtues, their relation to each other, and the relation between the virtues and happiness or well-being. This book provides the background and interpretative framework to make classical works on Ethics, such as Plato’s Republic and Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, accessible to readers with no training in the classics.
Virtue and Knowledge: An Introduction to Ancient Greek Ethics (Routledge Library Editions: Ancient Philosophy)
by William J. PriorOriginally published in 1991, this book focuses on the concept of virtue, and in particular on the virtue of wisdom or knowledge, as it is found in the epic poems of Homer, some tragedies of Sophocles, selected writings of Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoic and Epicurean philosophers. The key questions discussed are the nature of the virtues, their relation to each other, and the relation between the virtues and happiness or well-being. This book provides the background and interpretative framework to make classical works on Ethics, such as Plato’s Republic and Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, accessible to readers with no training in the classics.
Virtue and Meaning: A Neo-Aristotelian Perspective
by David McPhersonThe revival of Aristotelian virtue ethics can be seen as a response to the modern problem of disenchantment, that is, the perceived loss of meaning in modernity. However, in Virtue and Meaning, David McPherson contends that the dominant approach still embraces an overly disenchanted view. In a wide-ranging discussion, McPherson argues for a more fully re-enchanted perspective that gives better recognition to the meanings by which we live and after which we seek, and to the fact that human beings are the meaning-seeking animal. In doing so, he defends distinctive accounts of the relationship between virtue and happiness, other-regarding demands, and the significance of linking neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics with a view of the meaning of life and a spiritual life where contemplation has a central role. This book will be valuable for philosophers and other readers who are interested in virtue ethics and the perennial question of the meaning of life.
Virtue And The Promise Of Conservatism: The Legacy Of Burke And Tocqueville
by Bruce FrohnenOften loud and acrimonious, the public tug-of-war between a reinvigorated conservatism and a liberalism in apparent disarray has obscured an equally important competition-that among conservatives themselves. <p><p> In Virtue and the Promise of Conservatism, Bruce Frohnen joins the fray in an effort to rescue the essence of conservative virtue from rationalists and materialists of whatever political stripe. He argues that we have "lost and must attempt to regain the conservative good life and the outlook which made it possible." The tools needed to do that, according to Frohnen, are humility and—yes—political action aimed at combatting the centralizing and materialistic structures and beliefs interfering with the formation and retention of family, church, and neighborhood. <p> Drawing deeply from the writings of Edmund Burke and Alexis de Tocqueville, both critics of untempered reason and "the drive toward a spiritually impoverished egalitarian materialism," Frohnen explores how their work has influenced individuals as diverse as traditionalist Russell Kirk, "apocalyptic" libertarian Michael Oakeshott, and neoconservative Irving Kristol. <p> While differing greatly in their views and prescriptions, these contemporary conservatives, Frohnen shows, are nevertheless united in their desire to preserve the local community's natural and fundamental institutions. This preservation, he argues, requires a renewed faith in and humble acceptance of the essential good contained within these institutions.
Virtue and Terror
by Maximilien Robespierre Slavoj Zizek Jean Ducange John HoweRobespierre’s justification of the Terror in the French RevolutionRobespierre’s defence of the French Revolution remains one of the most powerful and unnerving justifications for political violence ever written. It has an extraordinary resonance in a world obsessed with terrorism and appalled by the language of its proponents. Yet today the French Revolution is celebrated as the event which gave birth to a nation built on the principles of Enlightenment. So how should a contemporary audience approach Robespierre’s vindication of revolutionary terror? i ek’s introduction analyzes these contradictions with a prodigious breadth of analogy and reference.
Virtue and the Making of Modern Liberalism (New Forum Books #23)
by Peter BerkowitzVirtue has been rediscovered in the United States as a subject of public debate and of philosophical inquiry. Politicians from both parties, leading intellectuals, and concerned citizens from diverse backgrounds are addressing questions about the content of our character. William Bennett's moral guide for children, A Book of Virtues, was a national bestseller. Yet many continue to associate virtue with a prudish, Victorian morality or with crude attempts by government to legislate morals. Peter Berkowitz clarifies the fundamental issues, arguing that a certain ambivalence toward virtue reflects the liberal spirit at its best. Drawing on recent scholarship as well as classical political philosophy, he makes his case with penetrating analyses of four central figures in the making of modern liberalism: Hobbes, Locke, Kant, and Mill. These thinkers are usually understood to have neglected or disparaged virtue. Yet Berkowitz shows that they all believed that government resting on the fundamental premise of liberalism--the natural freedom and equality of all human beings--could not work unless citizens and officeholders possess particular qualities of mind and character. These virtues, which include reflective judgment, sympathetic imagination, self-restraint, the ability to cooperate, and toleration do not arise spontaneously but must be cultivated. Berkowitz explores the various strategies the thinkers employ as they seek to give virtue its due while respecting individual liberty. Liberals, he argues, must combine energy and forbearance, finding public and private ways to support such nongovernmental institutions as the family and voluntary associations. For these institutions, the liberal tradition powerfully suggests, play an indispensable role not only in forming the virtues on which liberal democracy depends but in overcoming the vices that it tends to engender. Clearly written and vigorously argued, this is a provocative work of political theory that speaks directly to complex issues at the heart of contemporary philosophy and public discussion. New Forum Books makes available to general readers outstanding, original, interdisciplinary scholarship with a special focus on the juncture of culture, law, and politics. New Forum Books is guided by the conviction that law and politics not only reflect culture, but help to shape it. Authors include leading political scientists, sociologists, legal scholars, philosophers, theologians, historians, and economists writing for nonspecialist readers and scholars across a range of fields. Looking at questions such as political equality, the concept of rights, the problem of virtue in liberal politics, crime and punishment, population, poverty, economic development, and the international legal and political order, New Forum Books seeks to explain--not explain away--the difficult issues we face today.
Virtue and Vice in Popular Film (Routledge Focus on Film Studies)
by Joseph H. KupferThis book addresses a prominent group of virtues and vices as portrayed in popular films to further our understanding of these moral character traits. The discussions emphasize the interplay between the philosophical conception of the virtues and vices and the cinematic representations of character. Joseph H. Kupfer explores how fictional characters possessing certain moral strengths and weaknesses concretize our abstract understanding of them. Because the actions that flow from these traits occur in cinematic contexts mirroring real world conditions, the narrative portrayals of these moral characteristics can further our appreciation of their import. Humility, integrity, and perseverance, for example, are depicted in Chariots of Fire, The Fabulous Baker Boys, and Billy Elliot, while the vices of envy, arrogance and vanity are captured in Amadeus, Whiplash, and Young Adult. This interdisciplinary work in philosophy and film criticism will be of great interest to scholars and students of film studies, philosophy of film, ethics, aesthetics, and popular culture.
Virtue and Vice, Moral and Epistemic (Metaphilosophy #13)
by Heather BattalyVirtue and Vice, Moral and Epistemic presents a series of essays by leading ethicists and epistemologists who offer the latest thinking on the moral and intellectual virtues and vices, the structure of virtue theory, and the connections between virtue and emotion. Cuts across two fields of philosophical inquiry by featuring a dual focus on ethics and epistemology Features cutting-edge work on the moral and intellectual virtues and vices, the structure of virtue theory, and the connections between virtue and emotion Presents a radical new moral theory that makes exemplars the foundation of ethics; and new theories of epistemic vices such as epistemic malevolence and epistemic self-indulgence Represents one of the few collections to address both the moral virtues and the epistemic virtues Explores a new approach in epistemology - virtue epistemology - which emphasizes the importance of intellectual character traits
Virtue as Social Intelligence: An Empirically Grounded Theory
by Nancy E. SnowVirtue as Social Intelligence: An Empirically Grounded Theory takes on the claims of philosophical situationism, the ethical theory that is skeptical about the possibility of human virtue. Influenced by social psychological studies, philosophical situationists argue that human personality is too fluid and fragmented to support a stable set of virtues. They claim that virtue cannot be grounded in empirical psychology. This book argues otherwise. Drawing on the work of psychologists Walter Mischel and Yuichi Shoda, Nancy E. Snow argues that the social psychological experiments that philosophical situationists rely on look at the wrong kinds of situations to test for behavioral consistency. Rather than looking at situations that are objectively similar, researchers need to compare situations that have similar meanings for the subject. When this is done, subjects exhibit behavioral consistencies that warrant the attribution of enduring traits, and virtues are a subset of these traits. Virtue can therefore be empirically grounded and virtue ethics has nothing to fear from philosophical situationism.
A Virtue-Based Defense of Perinatal Hospice (Routledge Annals of Bioethics)
by Aaron D. CobbPerinatal hospice is a novel form of care for an unborn child who has been diagnosed with a significantly life-limiting condition. In this book, Aaron D. Cobb develops a virtue-based defense of the value of perinatal hospice. He characterizes its promotion and provision as a common project of individuals, local communities, and institutions working together to provide exemplary care. Engaging with important themes from the work of Alasdair MacIntyre and Robert Adams, he shows how perinatal hospice manifests virtues crucial to meeting the needs of families in these difficult circumstances. As a work of applied virtue ethics, this book has important normative, social, and political implications for the creation and development of structured programs of care. It grounds the view that communities ought (i) to devote resources to ensure that these programs are widely available and (ii) to develop social structures that promote awareness of and accessibility to these forms of care. A Virtue-Based Defense of Perinatal Hospice will be of interest to philosophers working in bioethics and applied virtue ethics, as well as scholars in the fields of neonatology, nursing, palliative and hospice care, and counseling who are interested in the study of perinatal hospice.
The Virtue Driven Life
by Benedict J. GroeschelSince when is being called virtuous an insult? She's quite virtuous. sounds rather prissy, doesn't it? Father Benedict J. Groeschel, C.F.R., would agree. It's a word that's gotten a bad rap, misused and misunderstood even by great thinkers, philosophers, and theologians, and mocked in the cynical soundbites of the media. Rediscover virtue as it should be understood in our lives. With wit, warmth, and wisdom, Father Groeschel reintroduces the Seven Cardinal Virtues of prudence, justice, temperance, fortitude, faith, hope, and charity. One by one he makes them meaningful for modern men and women, shaking off the dusty mantle of pretentiousness and demonstrating how each has a real role in a whole and holy life. Father Groeschel's charming conversational style entertains even as he educates and challenges us.