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Jury and the Defense of Insanity
by Rita J. SimonThirty years after it was first published, the issues raised in The Jury and the Defense of Insanity remain pertinent. Rita James Simon examines how motivated and competent juries are, how well jurors understand and follow judges' instructions, their understand-ing of expert testimony, and the extent to which their own backgrounds and experiences influence their decisions. Simon provides a rare opportunity to observe how jurors go about the process of deliberating and reaching a verdict by following them into the jury room and recording their deliberations. This pathbreaking study of jury room behavior provides compelling evidence of the effectiveness of our trial by jury system.The Jury and the Defense of Insanity was the product of an experimental study con-ducted as part of the University of Chicago Jury Project. Over 1,000 jurors were chosen to participate, not as volunteers, but as part of their regular jury duty, in two experimental trials, one on a charge of housebreaking, the other of incest. In each the insanity de-fense was raised. Court judges instructed the jurors to consider the recorded trials they were about to hear with all the care and seriousness they would give to a real criminal prosecution, and the taped recordings of their deliberations make it clear that they did just that. These recordings, along with responses to detailed questionnaires, yielded significant data, equally applicable to civil as to criminal cases. We learn their reactions to their fellow jurors; personal evaluations of the quality and effectiveness of delibera-tions; the degree to which religion, sex, social status, education, and like factors affect participation in and influence on the course of the deliberation; and the recounting of and reliance upon personal experience in seeking to reach a verdict, among other in-sights furnished by this study.This is an exact record not a description or recollected account of the struggle of a jury to weigh evidence and achieve a just verdict. For lawyers whose job it is to win civil and criminal cases, for behavioral scientists who study male and female reactions in their cultural environment to the circumstances that confront them, and to all who are interested in how people behave and why, in a dramatic, socially significant situation, this is a fascinating and revealing book.
Ethics, Value, and Reality: Selected Papers Of Aurel Kolnai
by Aurel KolnaiEthics, Value, and Reality is a collection of essays written after Kolnai settled in England in 1955. These essays from Kolnai's mature years sit atop a remarkable gestation of moral and political thinking. At the heart of his thought is the special role of privilege in a good social order. Kolnai relies heavily on the work of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century value theorists such as Alexius Meinong, Nicolai Hartmann, and Max Scheler. He blends this continental tradition of ethics with British intuitionism and Scottish Enlightenment articulations.For Kolnai, ethical life cannot be adequately understood except by reference to moral emphasis, and thus, Kolnai can be thought of as a liberal conservative. He acknowledges myriad values, moral and non-moral, and accepts that all can have some claim upon us. Low values as much as high values have a legitimate claim. His is a tolerant conservatism though not for a moment does he forgo the necessity of judgment: a readily graspable hierarchy keeps the respective demands of values in proportion. Kolnai welcomes the call to seriousness, which is the hallmark of existentialism.The ground of Kolnai's thought is the idea of emotion as cognitive. He saw the typical analytical philosopher's fascination with simplicity of explanation not only thoroughly refuted by the gains in understanding wrought by phenomenological method, with its deference to the richness of phenomena, but sensed in the monistic inclination he dreaded a harbinger of totalitarianism. Never denying his emotionalism, he nonetheless made his points well enough by adopting an analytical approach to philosophy and ethics. This is a major work crossing moral and political philosophy.
Ethics in Planning
by Martin WachsSome planners limit discussions of ethics to simple, though important, questions about the propriety of their daily activities. This approach to ethics restricts discussion of professional ethics to the propriety of everyday social and professional relationships. It ignores the broader ethical content of planning practice, methods, and policies. While narrow definitions of ethical behavior can easily preoccupy public officials and professional associations, they divert attention from more profound moral issues.Martin Wachs argues that ethical issues are implicit in nearly all planning decisions. For illustrative and educational reasons, it is useful to divide ethics in planning into four distinct categories. The first category includes the moral implications of bureaucratic practices and rules of behavior regarding clients and supervisors. The second category includes ethical judgments which planners make in exercising their "administrative discretion." More complex, and represented by a third category, are the moral implications of methods and the ethical content of criteria built into planning techniques and models. The final type represents the basic choices which society makes - those inherent in the consideration of major policy alternatives.Ethics in Planning contains a variety of representative papers to capture the current state of thinking. This book will be important as a text for survey classes in professional ethics given by university planning programs. It should also supplement short courses in planning ethics for practicing professionals and provide source materials for discussions of planning ethics sponsored by local chapters of the American Planning Association and similar organizations. It gathers together exemplary and critical works, thus it will also interest individual planners in a field that only continues to grow in recognition and importance.
Economic Liberties and the Constitution
by Bernard H. SieganIn this seminal work, Bernard Siegan traces the history of onstitutional protection for economic liberties in the United States. He argues that the law began to change with respect to economic liberties in the late 1930s. At that time, the Supreme Court abdicated much of its authority to protect property rights, and instead condoned the expansion of state power over private property.Siegan brings the argument originally advanced in the .first edition completely up to date. He explores the moral position behind capitalism and discusses why former communist countries flirting with decentralization and a free market (for instance, China, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos) have become more progressive and prosperous as a result. He contrasts the benefits of a free, deregulated economy with the dangers of over-regulation and moves towards socialized welfare most specifically as happened during Franklin Roosevelt's presidency. Supporting his thesis with historical court cases, Siegan discusses the past and present status of economic liberties under the Constitution, clarifies constitutional interpretation and due process, and suggests ways of safeguarding economic liberties.About the original edition, Doug Bandow of Reason noted, "Siegan has written a vitally important book that is sure to ignite an impassioned legal and philosophical debate. The reason the necessity for protecting economic liberty is no less than that guaranteeing political and civil liberty." Joseph Sobran of the National Review wrote, "Siegan...makes a powerful general case for economic liberty, on both historical and more strictly empirical grounds.... Siegan has done a brilliant piece of work, not only where it was badly needed, but where the need had hardly been recognized until he addressed it." And Edwin Meese remarked that, "This timely and important book shows how far we have drifted from protecting basic liberties that the Framers of the Constitution sought to secure. I recommend it highly." This new, completely revised edition of Economic Liberties and the Constitution will be essential reading for students of economics, history, public policy, law, and political science.
Doctors and Rules: A Sociology of Professional Values
by Joseph M. JacobDoctors and Rules is a unique and immensely scholarly book. It draws on material which has informed our civilization, including many of the social sciences-history, sociology, and psychology, as well as law. The author accesses the current importance of the Hippocratic tradition within medicine, and puts forward various models of its practice. He seeks to expose the often inarticulated foundation of contemporary debates about the law, medicine, and health, and to question some common assumptions of the functionsand structures of social and legal order. The book challenges the idea that legal rules should be respected merely because they exist and because they play a part in centralizing the organization of society. It rejects the notion that the courts always, or even often, offer useful mechanisms for defining and settling disputes. On the contrary, the author sees in their formalism many things which hinder the common cause of humanity. Only a skeptic trained in law but also deeply concerned by our fate and circumstances could have produced it. It also contributes both to the sociology of law and the sociology of medicine. Out of a reassertion of old ways, this book presents a new blueprint for future professional conduct. It is rich in questions and ideas for researchers, teachers, and professionals in the fields of law, medical sociology, and medicine and generally for those concerned with the place of professional conduct.
Art of Judging: Volume 8
by James. E BondThe single most important issue in American constitutional law is the role the Supreme Court should play in interpretation of the constitution. This issue has been a source of controversy since at least 1803, when Chief Justice John Marshall proclaimed that the Supreme Court could declare acts of Congress unconstitutional. But public attention has been refocused by the recent debate between Attorney General Edwin Meese and Supreme Court Justice William Brennan. The Attorney General admonished the Justices to confine themselves to strict construction of the Constitution-to apply the Constitution as the framers intended. Justice Brennan rejected this as errant and arrogant because the framers had certainly not thought about the specific problems facing the country today.
Consumers, Commissions, and Congress: Law, Theory and the Federal Trade Commission, 1968-85
by Bernice Rothman HasinFirst Published in 2017. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an Informa company.
Research on Human Subjects: Problems of Social Control in Medical Experimentation
by Bernard Barber, John J. Lally, Julia Loughlin Makarushka and Daniel SullivanThe use of human subjects in biomedical research has increased rapidly with scientific discoveries. However, the failure to achieve the highest - or even adequate - standards of professional moral concern and behavior is a serious side effect. Research on Human Subjects is based on four years of intensive research in which two studies were completed - one on a nationally representative sample of biomedical research institutions, the second on a sample of 350 researchers who actually used human subjects. The authors explore prevalent ethical norms, the actual ethical behavior of scientists, and the dilemma between the values of humane therapy and scientific discovery. They document the inadequate training that biomedical researchers receive in the ethics of research on human subjects, not only in medical schools but in post-graduate training as well. This landmark work makes very specific suggestions for policy change and reform for the biomedical research profession and its employment of human subjects.
The Courts, Social Science, and School Desegregation
by Besty Levin and Willis D. HawleyFirst Published in 2018. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an Informa company.
Individual and Group Privacy
by Edward J. Bloustein Nathaniel J. PalloneIn exploring a series of problems associated with privacy and the First Amendment, Bloustein defines individual and group privacy, distinguishing them from each other and related concepts. He also identifies the public interest in individual privacy as individual integrity or liberty, and that of group privacy as the integrity of social structure. The legal protection afforded each of these forms of privacy is illustrated at length, as is the clash between them and the constitutional guarantees of the First Amendment and the citizen's general right to know. In his final essay, Bloustein insists that the concept of group privacy is essential to a properly functioning social structure, and warns that it would be disastrous if this principle were neglected as part of an overreaction to the misuse of group confidences that characterized the Nixon era.
Law without Force: The Function of Politics in International Law
by Gerhart Niemeyer Michael HenryLaw Without Force is a landmark in political and social philosophy. It proposes nothing less than a completely new basis for international law. As relevant today as when it was first published nearly sixty years ago, it commands the attention of all concerned with what the future may bring to the law of nations. The great scope of Niemeyer's undertaking draws respect even from those who disagree with his challenging analysis of the historical past and his suggestions for the future of international law. In his new introduction, Michael Henry observes that Law Without Force provides us with a foundation of Niemeyer's thinking. Published in 1941, when Hitler was swallowing up Europe, this volume shows how a first-rate mind grappled with a legal, historical, social, and ultimately metaphysical problem. It provides in detail the reasoning behind Niemeyer's rejection of a foreign policy based on morality and his distinction between authoritarian and totalitarian governments; and it provides us with the first stage of his lengthy and prodigious effort to understand "this terrible century." It is a book that no serious student of Niemeyer can afford to ignore. At the very heart of the author's vigorous discussion may be found his rejection of a moral basis for international law and his suggestion that a functional basis should be substituted for it. The book incisively reviews the relation between traditional international law and the changing structure of international politics concluding that the traditional system of law has operated as an agency of disharmony and conflict. After an investigation of the traditional legal system, the author then asks, "What type of law fits the social structure of this modern world?" The answers are presented in the last part of the book, as Neimeyer offers his case for a functional system of law, divorced from moral exhortations or appeals to shattered authority. Philosophy, sociology, and legal theory are brilliantly interwoven in this volume, which will engage serious readers interested in political and social theory.
Who Owns Knowledge?: Knowledge and the Law
by Bernd WeilerWho Owns Knowledge? explores the emerging linkages between the extension of knowledge and the law. It anticipates that the legal system will not only be called upon to adjudicate in matters of creative minds, but will be expected to do so to an ever increasing degree.Linkages between the legal system and knowledge are bound to multiply in modern societies. Ironically, while increasingly relying on knowledge, we are simultaneously investing significant resources into controlling this same knowledge. This includes developing a system of legal governance over how knowledge is extended or enlarged. Such modes of governance may take the form of regulatory legal codes, or legal challenges and judgments that shape the evolution of modern society and potentially transform knowledge itself, as a productive force. Who Owns Knowledge? asks such questions as: What is the appropriate balance of public and private interests involved in this process? How can creative powers, natural resources and indigenous knowledge be protected from either public or private exploitation? Does the law have the power to prevent this exploitation, or is adaptive technology needed? Also, in this identity theft conscious age, how can the rights of the individual be protected against policies allowing access to any kind of information, especially confidential information? The editors and contributors demonstrate that the relationship between knowledge and the law needs to be further researched and discussed. Who Owns Knowledge? is a must-read for those interested in the subjects of intellectual property, the history and development of modern legal and economic systems and their entanglements, and how judicial systems make choices between the legal and economic systems and, especially, between the public and private good and their often opposing interests.
Frames of Justice: Implications for Social Policy
by Leroy H. PeltonThis work is devoted to analyzing three major frames of justice--group justice, individual desert, and life affirmation--and their implications for social policy as well as their reflections in contemporary social policies. Pelton finds that all three frames of justice are reflected in the Bible and, later, the Koran. He contends that there is no evidence in the Bible of a genesis or development from one frame of justice to another. Rather, a sense of justice has existed in the human mind from time immemorial, with the three frames coexisting and manifesting themselves in both inter- and intra-group relations. The prominence of one frame over another at any particular point in history or in a particular geographical location is influenced by a variety of factors, though it is ultimately open to human choice.Pelton compares and contrasts the philosophies of nonviolence and liberalism in regard to the frames, and explores the relationships between principle, sentiment, reason, justice, and policy. He discusses social science's problematic relationship to justice in policymaking--for instance, how scholars have focused more on the effectiveness of policies, largely in terms of statistical outcomes reflecting aggregate data analyses, than on their justice. He goes on to explore in depth how frames of justice give direction to social policies, including those of genocide.Frames of Justice is an outstanding work that analyzes the question of justice and social policy, while simultaneously exploring the notion of desert in religion, philosophy, and legislation--especially within the context of the moral question of the relationship between means and ends--and contrasting it with the principle of life affirmation.
The National Interest on International Law and Order
by R. James WoolseyInternational law and the nature of the global order is regularly examined and debated among specialists. This volume brings together in one place twenty-four articles addressing these subjects, written by some of America's leading academics, lawyers, and policymakers, and originally published in The National Interest, a leading realist journal of international affairs.Prominent jurists, lawyers, and practitioners debate the role that international law should play in the formulation of policy in the first section, and whether 'international law' really exists. Authors explore such questions as the enforceable norms of global behavior, and if American foreign policy should conform to such regulations. A second section looks at the viability and utility of international institutions in advancing U.S. interests. Included are debates over the role and purpose of the United Nations and the International Criminal Court. A third Section deals with the intersection of law enforcement and foreign policy. It explores such questions as whether primary responsibility for combating global terrorism and the international drug trade should be vested with law enforcement agencies or whether it should fall under the purview of foreign policy.The final portion of the book is devoted to the question of human rights, particularly the tripartite debate between Robin Fox, Francis Fukuyama, and William F. Schulz over the nature and origins of human rights. Among the questions considered are whether human rights are an outgrowth of natural law, or are natural imperatives at odds with protecting individual dignities and freedoms. Is there a universal standard of rights, or are human rights norms derived from majority consensus?The list of distinguished contributors to this volume include John Bolton, Robert Bork, Lee Casey, Douglas Feith, Owen Harries, Senator Jesse Helms, Alan Keyes, Irving Kristol, Joseph Nye, Jeremy Rabkin, David Rivkin, Alfred P. Rubin, and Abrahama Sofaer. This volume will be of interest to legal scholars, political scientists, and students of diplomacy and international relations.
Praxiology and Pragmatism
by F. NahserVolume l0 in this distinguished series addresses two distinct but interrelated philosophical movements, which exemplify different approaches to the study of ethics. Praxiology, an unique Central European philosophical movement, embraces the study of purposeful and conscious action and the elements essential to each action, act, and causative act. Pragmatism, an uniquely American philosophical movement, was founded by Charles S. Peirce and William James, and is based on the meaning of conceptions, defined in their practical bearings that guides actions and measures them by practical consequences of belief. The chapters in this volume are grouped in a section on Praxiology and one on Pragmatism. Each section defines the historical origins of their respective philosophical movements, describes their methodology, and interrelates their impact on "human conduct" and contemporary society. The section on Praxiology presents for the first time in English a seminal study, "The ABC of Practicality," written in l972 by Tadeusz Kotarbinski, the father of modern Polish praxiology. Wojciech W. Gasparski offers an interpretative analysis of Praxiology. Daryl Koehn explores the nature of practical judgment and Timo Airaksinen applies praxiological efficiency in professional ethics. The section devoted directly to Pragmatism includes scholarly contributions by eight academics on the relevance of pragmatism to management (Juan Fontrodona), business ethics (Sandra Rosenthal), law ( Fred Kellogg), and pragmatic inquiry (F. Byron Nahser). The contribution of Max Scheler to pragmatism (Manfred Frings) and the influence of William James on business ethics(Dennis McCann) are groundbreaking contributions to the study of pragmatism. The volume also includes a teaching model for a classroom application of pragmatism (Jack Ruhe), and concludes with an evaluation of the renaissance of interest in pragmatism in Europe (Jacek Sojka). Leo V. Ryan, C.S.V., professor of management, DePaul University, is past president of the Society for Business Ethics. He is co-editor of Human Action in Business (Vol. 5) and Business Students Focus on Ethics (Vol. 8) of the Praxiology series. F. Byron Nahser is chairman and CEO, Globe Group, Chicago, the originator of Pathfinder Pragmatic Inquiry Method and author of Learning to Read the Signs: Reclaiming Pragmatism in Business. Wojciech W. Gasparski is professor of humanities at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, and editor-in-chief of the Praxiological series. He has published numerous volumes and over two hundred articles and conference papers.
Fairness
by Nicholas RescherIn theory and practice, the notion of fairness is far from simple. The principle is often elusive and subject to confusion, even in institutions of law, usage, and custom. In Fairness, Nicholas Rescher aims to liberate this concept from misunderstandings by showing how its definitive characteristics prevent it from being absorbed by such related conceptions as paternalistic benevolence, radical egalitarianism, and social harmonization. Rescher demonstrates that equality before the state is an instrument of justice, not of social utility or public welfare, and argues that the notion of fairness stops well short of a literal egalitarianism.Rescher disposes of the confusions arising from economists' penchant to focus on individual preferences, from decision theorists' concern for averting envy, and from political theorists' sympathy for egalitarianism. In their place he shows how the idea of distributive equity forms the core of the concept of fairness in matters of distributive justice. The coordination of shares with valid claims is the crux of the concept of fairness. In Rescher's view, this means that the pursuit of fairness requires objective rather than subjective evaluation of the goods being shared. This is something quite different from subjective equity based on the personal evaluation of goods by those laying claim to them. Insofar as subjective equity is a concern, the appropriate procedure for its realization is a process of maximum value distribution. Further, Rescher demonstrates that in matters of distributive justice, the distinction between new ownership and preexisting ownership is pivotal and calls for proceeding on very different principles depending on the case. How one should proceed depends on context, and what is adjudged fair is pragmatic, in that there are different requirements for effectiveness in achieving the aims and purposes of the sort of distribution that is intended.Rescher concludes that fairness is a fundamentally ethical concept. Its distinctive modus operandi contrasts sharply with the aims of paternalism, preference-maximizing, or economic advantage. Fairness will be of interest to philosophers, economists, and political scientists.
Property Rights: From Magna Carta to the Fourteenth Amendment
by Bernard SieganProperty Rights: From Magna Carta to the Fourteenth Amendment breaks new ground in our understanding of the genesis of property rights in the United States. According to the standard interpretation, echoed by as lofty an authority as Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, the courts did little in the way of protecting property rights in the early years of our nation. Not only does Siegan find this accepted teaching erroneous, but he finds post-Colonial jurisprudence to be firmly rooted in English common law and the writings of its most revered interpreters. Siegan conducts an exhaustive examination of property rights cases decided by state courts between the time of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution in 1788 and the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868. This inventory, which in its sweep captures scores of cases overlooked by previous commentators on the history of property rights, reveals that the protection of these rights is neither a relatively new phenomenon nor a heritage with precarious pedigree. These court cases, as well as early state constitutions, consistently and repeatedly embraced key elements of a property rights jurisprudence, such as protection of the privileges and immunities of citizens, due process of law, equal protection under the law, and prohibitions on the taking of property without just compensation. Case law provides overwhelming evidence that the American legal system, from its inception, has held property rights and their protection in the highest regard.The American Revolution, Siegan reminds us, was fought largely to affirm and protect private property rights-that is, to uphold the "rights of Englishmen"-even if it meant that the colonists would cease being Englishmen. John Locke and other great theoreticians of property rights understood their importance, not only to individuals who happened to possess property, but to the preservation of a free society and to the prosperity of its inhabitants. Siegan's contribution to this venerable tradition lies in his faithful reconstruction of our legal history, which allows us to see just how central property rights have been to the American experiment in liberty-from the very beginning.
Ethical Theory and Social Change
by Abraham EdelJohn Dewey was unique among American philosophers in his insistence that the events, the social structure, the beliefs and attitudes of a period, its models of science and human history, all have some constitutive role in its philosophical theory. This belief is amply demonstrated in Dewey's own writings. Dewey and James H. Tufts' Ethics was first published in 1908 with a revised edition appearing in 1932. Dewey's part in the latter was wholly rewritten, and in effect constituted a new work, showing that Dewey did not believe ethical beliefs were eternal and unchanging. In Ethical Theory and Social Change, Abraham Edel provides a comparative analysis of the two editions to show how Dewey conceived ethics as part of an ongoing culture, not intelligible if isolated.The years between the two editions of Dewey and Tufts' Ethics were momentous in America and across the world. In 1908 industrialism was in high gear, putting greater pressure on social institutions and raising expectations of technological progress and extended democratic growth. By 1932, the devastation of World War I, economic depression, and the rise of totalitarianisms of the left and right had shattered that earlier optimism. The shift toward secular philosophy and new perspectives in research and method in the social sciences was challenging established universalizing views of morality with perceptions of fundamental moral conflict and the threat of relativism in their resolution.Dewey, is an ideal case for comparing changes in ethical theory over a quarter century. Unlike many philosophers he appreciated change and many of his basic ideas are geared to the problem of human control over change. Moreover he is concerned with the relation of theory and practice, and much of his work in metaphysics and epistemology is devoted to discovering the role that doctrines in these fields play and how they reflect the movement of social life. He is constantly concerned with ethics, with the history of ethics, and with the presuppositions of ethical theories that are studied in the social sciences and applied in the normative disciplines of politics, education, and law.Dewey's project of comparison in ethics reveals how theory is crystallized in the processes of the growth of knowledge in all fields and the human vicissitudes of history. Ethical Theory and Social Change will be of interest to philosophers, sociologists, and intellectual historians.
Business Students Focus on Ethics (Praxiology: The International Annual Of Practical Philosophy And Methodology Ser. #Vol. 8)
by Wojciech W. GasparskiThe study of business ethics seeks to understand business institutions, practices and activities in light of normative behavior. The ethical concern is for the rightness or wrongness of human action. Business Students Focus on Ethics brings together essays written by twenty-five MA and MBA students from seven countries in Europe, North and South America, and the Pacific Rim. Collectively, they give us an applied business ethics framework, one with international dimensions.Business Students Focus on Ethics achieves a number of objectives: it recognizes ethics as legitimate content in graduate level studies in business world wide; seriously examines specific ethical concerns by young managers; and reflects on these concerns from across cultural and geographic borders. It also demonstrates the quality of their analysis and recommendations.The essays in this volume are arranged into four interrelated groups. The first group, "Praxiological and Ethical Framework," examines issues of human action from both the theory of human action (i.e., praxiological) and ethical dimensions. The section group of essays, "Social Issues-Compensation and Labor," discuss applications of praxiological and ethical principles in relation to the ethical responsibilities of business. The third group discusses "Ethical Issues in Health Care" from three different cultural perspectives. The fourth group is a series of "Corporate Case Studies." This volume may be seen as a companion to Volume 5 of the Praxiology series, Human Action in Business and will be of interest to business people, economists, policy makers, social scientists and students of philosophy and ethics.
Grounded Ethics: The Empirical Bases of Normative Judgements
by Max HocuttScientific naturalism--basing beliefs on empirical evidence--has now triumphed in every field of inquiry except moral philosophy. There it is still thought appropriate to cite otherworldly standards known by divine revelation or moral intuition. In Grounded Ethics Max Hocutt argues that, since there is no transcendent reality on which to base the claims of ethics, normative truth must be sought in the desires of individuals and the conventions of societies.Hocutt begins with an empiricist analysis of normative judgments. Following B.F. Skinner, he asserts that we call good what reinforces our desires, and that we call right or just what we desire to reinforce. Consequently, desire is the immediate measure of both goodness and justice. Acknowledging that goodness is relative to individual preferences, and justice is relative to social norms, Hocutt denies that goodness is a matter of personal opinion and that every society's institutions are as good as every other's. Instead, he says, the conduct of individuals and the customs of societies must ultimately be evaluated by how well they serve biologically based needs. These must be discovered empirically, because they cannot be known a priori.In support of this analysis, Hocutt challenges rationalist belief, that normative concepts cannot be defined in empirical terms because they are rooted in divine law or ideals of pure reason. Against this view, Hocutt argues that if the moral law exists only as an ideal, it is not binding in the same sense as the empirically known laws and moralities of actual societies. He also points out that rationalist intuitions are best understood as expressions of animal instinct, socially conditioned prejudice, and personal preference. In addition, he offers extensive critiques of major philosophers, both ancient and modern, who hold contrary views.All of this is meant to show that there is no escaping the empirical: A sensible ethics must be built on observable facts; it cannot be pulled from a vague but pious rationalist sky. Hocutt's demonstration of this thesis will interest philosophers, behavioral biologists, sociologists and ethicists.
Prescribing Our Future: Ethical Challenges in Genetic Counseling
by Diane M. Bartells Bonnie LeRoyGenetic counselors translate the findings of scientific investigation into meaningful accounts that enable individuals and families to make decisions about their lives. This collection of original papers explores the history, values, and norms of that process, with some focus on the value of nondirectiveness in counseling practice. The contributors; examination of genetic counseling issues serves as a foundation from which to address other ethical, legal, and policy considerations in the expanding universe of clinical genetics.
Dictionary of Shipping Terms: French-English and English-French
by Peter BrodieUpdated and expanded to include new equipment and also new documentation relating to bills of lading and charter-parties, this new edition of Peter Brodie’s dictionary provides a reference tool for all of those who use or operate cargo ships, both tramp and liner, or who are concerned with their use. This includes ship operators, forwarding agents, chartering agents and port agents as well as importers and exporters. The principal areas covered are: voyage and time charters documentation, including bills of lading ship types and their gear; ports, their equipment and facilities cargoes and their packing geographical and weather features. With few exceptions, standard charter-parties and bills of lading are in English, as are a great number of textbooks. Consequently, French speaking students following the various college and university courses in Shipping and Shipbroking are expected to find this dictionary of great practical use.
Game Theory and Society (China Perspectives)
by Weiying ZhangThe progress of society can only happen through interpersonal cooperation, because only cooperation can bring about mutual benefit, thus bringing happiness to each person. This should be our collective rationality, but we often see it conflicts with individual interests, which leads to the so-called "Prisoners’ Dilemma" and does not bring happiness to all. From a game theoretical perspective, this book addresses the issue of how people can cooperate better. It has two objectives. The first is to use common language to systematically introduce the basic methodologies and core conclusions of Game Theory, including the Nash equilibrium, multiple equilibriums, dynamic games, etc. Mathematics and theoretical models are used to the minimum necessary scope too, to make this book get access to ordinary readers with elementary mathematical training. The second objective is to utilize these methods and conclusions to analyze various Chinese social issues and institutional arrangements, with a focus on the reasons people exhibit non-cooperative behaviors as well as the institutions and cultures that promote interpersonal cooperation. In addition to economics, specialists in sociology, law, history, politics and management will also be attracted by this book for its insightful analysis on the issue of cooperation in these fields. Also, readers curious about Chinese society will benefit from this book.
Sustainability Certification Schemes in the Agricultural and Natural Resource Sectors: Outcomes for Society and the Environment (Earthscan Studies in Natural Resource Management)
by Melissa VogtThis book provides a balanced critique of a range of international sustainability certification schemes across nine agricultural and natural resource industries. Certification schemes set standards through intramarket private and multi-stakeholder mechanisms, and while third-party verification is often compulsory, certification schemes are regulated voluntarily rather than legislatively. This volume examines the intricacies of certification schemes and the issues they seek to address and provides the context within which each scheme operates. While a distinction between sustainability certifications and extra-markets or intrabusiness codes of conducts is made, the book also demonstrates how both are often working towards similar sustainability objectives. Each chapter highlights a different sector, including animal welfare, biodiversity, biofuels, coffee, fisheries, flowers, forest management and mining, with the contributions offering interdisciplinary perspectives and utilising a wide range of methodologies. The realities, achievements and challenges faced by varying certification schemes are discussed, identifying common outcomes and findings and concluding with recommendations for future practice and research. The book is aimed at advanced students, researchers and professionals in agribusiness, natural resource economics, sustainability assessment and corporate social responsibility.
The Criminalisation of Fantasy Material: Law and Sexually Explicit Representations of Fictional Children
by Hadeel Al-AlosiThis book addresses the criminalisation of sexually explicit material depicting or describing fictitious characters who appear to be children. It is the first book of its kind to specifically examine the expansion of the law to include fictional representations of children, focusing on the law in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The author explores the potential criminalisation of comics and subgenres of manga that frequently depict childlike characters in a sexual context. Of course, the need to protect children from harm outweighs freedom of expression and the right to privacy; however, this argument is complicated by the material being purely fictional. Does prohibiting the fictional representation of minors interfere with individual freedoms? Based on a detailed socio-legal study, this book extensively analyses literature and pertinent theories of criminalisation, such as the Harm Principle, Offense Principle, and Legal Moralism. The book will be an invaluable resource for academics and students in various disciplines, including law, criminology, sociology, and psychology. It will also be of interest to fans of fantasy fiction.