Marian Stamp Dawkins
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198569350
- eISBN:
- 9780191717512
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198569350.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Animal Biology
This book introduces the power of observation prior to, and sometimes instead of, experimental manipulation in the study of animal behaviour. It starts with simple methods suitable for student ...
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This book introduces the power of observation prior to, and sometimes instead of, experimental manipulation in the study of animal behaviour. It starts with simple methods suitable for student projects, before going on to demonstrate the possibilities that now exist for far more sophisticated analyses of observational data. At a time when animal welfare considerations are attracting political as well as scientific debate, the potential for non-intrusive studies on animals is being increasingly recognized. Observation emerges as a valuable alternative approach, often yielding highly informative results in situations (such as in zoos, on farms, or for wild animals) where more invasive experimental techniques would be undesirable, unethical, or just plain impossible. However, to justify its place alongside experimentation as a rigorous scientific method, observation needs to be just as disciplined and systematic, and have just as much attention paid to project design in the way that observations are made and recorded. The book travels through all these stages, from the initial observations, to the formulation of hypotheses, and their subsequent testing with further systematic observations.Less
This book introduces the power of observation prior to, and sometimes instead of, experimental manipulation in the study of animal behaviour. It starts with simple methods suitable for student projects, before going on to demonstrate the possibilities that now exist for far more sophisticated analyses of observational data. At a time when animal welfare considerations are attracting political as well as scientific debate, the potential for non-intrusive studies on animals is being increasingly recognized. Observation emerges as a valuable alternative approach, often yielding highly informative results in situations (such as in zoos, on farms, or for wild animals) where more invasive experimental techniques would be undesirable, unethical, or just plain impossible. However, to justify its place alongside experimentation as a rigorous scientific method, observation needs to be just as disciplined and systematic, and have just as much attention paid to project design in the way that observations are made and recorded. The book travels through all these stages, from the initial observations, to the formulation of hypotheses, and their subsequent testing with further systematic observations.
Benjamin D. Koen
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195367744
- eISBN:
- 9780199867295
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195367744.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
Western medicine has conventionally separated music, science, and religion into distinct entities, yet traditional cultures throughout the world have always viewed music as a bridge that connects and ...
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Western medicine has conventionally separated music, science, and religion into distinct entities, yet traditional cultures throughout the world have always viewed music as a bridge that connects and balances the physical with the spiritual to promote health and healing. As people in even the most technologically advanced nations across the globe struggle with obtaining affordable and reliable healthcare, more and more people are now turning to these ancient cultural practices of holistic and ICAM healing (integrative, complementary, and alternative medicine). This book convincingly demonstrates the relevance of medical ethnomusicology in light of the globally spreading ICAM approaches to health and healing. Revealing the Western separation of healing from spiritual and musical practices as a culturally determined phenomenon, the book confirms their underlying unity. In a place poetically known as the Roof of the World, the culture found within the towering Pamir Mountains of Badakhshan Tajikistan serves as the paradigm of ICAM healing practices. The book’s research and immersion into the Badakhshani culture provides a well-balanced “insider” perspective while maintaining an “observer’s” view, as it effectively bridges the widespread gaps between ethnomusicology, health science, and music therapy.Less
Western medicine has conventionally separated music, science, and religion into distinct entities, yet traditional cultures throughout the world have always viewed music as a bridge that connects and balances the physical with the spiritual to promote health and healing. As people in even the most technologically advanced nations across the globe struggle with obtaining affordable and reliable healthcare, more and more people are now turning to these ancient cultural practices of holistic and ICAM healing (integrative, complementary, and alternative medicine). This book convincingly demonstrates the relevance of medical ethnomusicology in light of the globally spreading ICAM approaches to health and healing. Revealing the Western separation of healing from spiritual and musical practices as a culturally determined phenomenon, the book confirms their underlying unity. In a place poetically known as the Roof of the World, the culture found within the towering Pamir Mountains of Badakhshan Tajikistan serves as the paradigm of ICAM healing practices. The book’s research and immersion into the Badakhshani culture provides a well-balanced “insider” perspective while maintaining an “observer’s” view, as it effectively bridges the widespread gaps between ethnomusicology, health science, and music therapy.
Robert C. Fuller
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195146806
- eISBN:
- 9780199834204
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195146808.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This book explores the history and present status of unchurched spirituality in the U.S. Nearly 20% of all Americans consider themselves interested in spiritual issues even though they never step ...
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This book explores the history and present status of unchurched spirituality in the U.S. Nearly 20% of all Americans consider themselves interested in spiritual issues even though they never step inside a church or synagogue. Most would describe themselves as spiritual at a personal level, but in some way alienated from organized religion. Today's alternative spirituality is the outgrowth of long‐standing traditions in American religious life. Colonial Americans were astonishingly eclectic in their religious pursuits, availing themselves of sundry magical and occult religious philosophies. In the nineteenth century, a number of metaphysical systems (e.g., Transcendentalism, Swedenborgianism, mesmerism, and spiritualism) penetrated deep into the spiritual vocabulary of middle‐class Americans who were eager to synthesize science and religion into a single vision of the universe. By the early twentieth century, there was already something of an “American tradition” of unchurched spirituality. Diverse interests including alternative medicine, parapsychology, the hidden powers of the unconscious mind, and Asian religions all contributed to the spiritual journeys of those who looked for religious inspiration outside America's established churches. The book concludes by demonstrating that far from the kooky and self‐absorbed dilettantes they are often made out to be, America's unchurched spiritual seekers embrace a mature and dynamic set of beliefs.Less
This book explores the history and present status of unchurched spirituality in the U.S. Nearly 20% of all Americans consider themselves interested in spiritual issues even though they never step inside a church or synagogue. Most would describe themselves as spiritual at a personal level, but in some way alienated from organized religion. Today's alternative spirituality is the outgrowth of long‐standing traditions in American religious life. Colonial Americans were astonishingly eclectic in their religious pursuits, availing themselves of sundry magical and occult religious philosophies. In the nineteenth century, a number of metaphysical systems (e.g., Transcendentalism, Swedenborgianism, mesmerism, and spiritualism) penetrated deep into the spiritual vocabulary of middle‐class Americans who were eager to synthesize science and religion into a single vision of the universe. By the early twentieth century, there was already something of an “American tradition” of unchurched spirituality. Diverse interests including alternative medicine, parapsychology, the hidden powers of the unconscious mind, and Asian religions all contributed to the spiritual journeys of those who looked for religious inspiration outside America's established churches. The book concludes by demonstrating that far from the kooky and self‐absorbed dilettantes they are often made out to be, America's unchurched spiritual seekers embrace a mature and dynamic set of beliefs.
Ishtiyaque Haji
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199899203
- eISBN:
- 9780199949885
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199899203.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
To have free will with respect to an act is to have the ability both to perform and to refrain from performing it. This book argues that no one can have practical reasons of a certain sort—“objective ...
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To have free will with respect to an act is to have the ability both to perform and to refrain from performing it. This book argues that no one can have practical reasons of a certain sort—“objective reasons”—to perform some act unless one has free will regarding that act. So we cannot have objective reasons to perform an act unless we could have done otherwise. This is reason’s debt to freedom. the book argues, further, for the thesis that various things we value, such as moral and prudential obligation, intrinsic value, and a range of moral sentiments that figure centrally in interpersonal relationships, presuppose our having free will. They do so because each of these things essentially requires that we have objective reasons, the having of which, in turn, demands that we have alternatives. Finally, the book distinguishes between two sorts of alternative, strong or incompatibilist alternatives and weak or compatibilist alternatives. Assuming, on the one hand, that obligation and some of the other things we value require strong alternatives, the book concludes that determinism precludes these things because determinism expunges strong alternatives. If, on the other hand, they require only weak alternatives, a chief compatibilist agenda of establishing the compatibility of these things with determinism without appeal to alternatives of any kind—the semi-compatibilist’s agenda—is jeopardized.Less
To have free will with respect to an act is to have the ability both to perform and to refrain from performing it. This book argues that no one can have practical reasons of a certain sort—“objective reasons”—to perform some act unless one has free will regarding that act. So we cannot have objective reasons to perform an act unless we could have done otherwise. This is reason’s debt to freedom. the book argues, further, for the thesis that various things we value, such as moral and prudential obligation, intrinsic value, and a range of moral sentiments that figure centrally in interpersonal relationships, presuppose our having free will. They do so because each of these things essentially requires that we have objective reasons, the having of which, in turn, demands that we have alternatives. Finally, the book distinguishes between two sorts of alternative, strong or incompatibilist alternatives and weak or compatibilist alternatives. Assuming, on the one hand, that obligation and some of the other things we value require strong alternatives, the book concludes that determinism precludes these things because determinism expunges strong alternatives. If, on the other hand, they require only weak alternatives, a chief compatibilist agenda of establishing the compatibility of these things with determinism without appeal to alternatives of any kind—the semi-compatibilist’s agenda—is jeopardized.
Ishtiyaque Haji
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199899203
- eISBN:
- 9780199949885
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199899203.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
The final chapter summarizes the book’s principal argument and it draws some general conclusions.
The final chapter summarizes the book’s principal argument and it draws some general conclusions.
Jan Abel Olsen
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199237814
- eISBN:
- 9780191717215
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199237814.001.0001
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health, Epidemiology
Principles in Health Economics and Policy is a concise introduction to health economics and its application to health policy. It introduces the subject of economics, explains the ...
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Principles in Health Economics and Policy is a concise introduction to health economics and its application to health policy. It introduces the subject of economics, explains the fundamental failures in the market for health care, and discusses the concepts of equity and fairness when applied to health and health care. The book takes a policy-oriented approach, emphasizing the application of economic analysis to universal health policy issues. It explores the key questions facing health policy-makers across the globe right now, such as: how should society intervene in the determinants that affect health? How should health care be financed? How should health care providers be paid? And, how should alternative health care programmes be evaluated when setting priorities? Exercises and suggested readings are included after each chapter.Less
Principles in Health Economics and Policy is a concise introduction to health economics and its application to health policy. It introduces the subject of economics, explains the fundamental failures in the market for health care, and discusses the concepts of equity and fairness when applied to health and health care. The book takes a policy-oriented approach, emphasizing the application of economic analysis to universal health policy issues. It explores the key questions facing health policy-makers across the globe right now, such as: how should society intervene in the determinants that affect health? How should health care be financed? How should health care providers be paid? And, how should alternative health care programmes be evaluated when setting priorities? Exercises and suggested readings are included after each chapter.
Søren Johansen
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198774501
- eISBN:
- 9780191596476
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198774508.003.0014
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Econometrics
The local power of the trace test is given for local alternatives. The results use the formulation of local alternatives and near integrated processes as formulated by Phillips. The limit process is ...
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The local power of the trace test is given for local alternatives. The results use the formulation of local alternatives and near integrated processes as formulated by Phillips. The limit process is an Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process.Less
The local power of the trace test is given for local alternatives. The results use the formulation of local alternatives and near integrated processes as formulated by Phillips. The limit process is an Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process.
Andrew Reynolds
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198295105
- eISBN:
- 9780191600128
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198295103.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, Democratization
Together with Chs 5 and 6, Ch. 7 forms the historical, empirical, and quantitative heart of the book, providing the foundational evidence against which earlier postulated theories are gauged (Ch 1 ...
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Together with Chs 5 and 6, Ch. 7 forms the historical, empirical, and quantitative heart of the book, providing the foundational evidence against which earlier postulated theories are gauged (Ch 1 and 2), and upon which subsequent comparisons, recommendations, and conclusions are based. Chapter 7 deals with the methodology used for an election re-running exercise under alternative electoral systems, presents the results obtained for each of the five country case studies presented in the book, and discusses the practical implications of each set of re-running observations, as well as the positive and negative consequences for stability and representative government; further details of the methods used for crafting districts for re-runs are given in an appendix at the end of the book. The chapter first discusses the importance of re-running evidence, and second, outlines the range of alternative electoral systems used for the re-runnings, justifying their inclusion in the exercise, and addressing the underlying assumptions and methodological objections. Third, results are given of plurality single-member districts (SMD) elections re-run in Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe under the alternative vote in single-member districts (AV-SMD), the alternative vote in multi-member districts (AV-MMD), list proportional representation (PR) in regionally defined multi-member districts, and list PR in one national multi-member district. Finally, the results are given of re-running the list PR elections held in Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Namibia under plurality SMD, AV-SMD, AV-MMD, and the list PR method not utilized in the actual elections.Less
Together with Chs 5 and 6, Ch. 7 forms the historical, empirical, and quantitative heart of the book, providing the foundational evidence against which earlier postulated theories are gauged (Ch 1 and 2), and upon which subsequent comparisons, recommendations, and conclusions are based. Chapter 7 deals with the methodology used for an election re-running exercise under alternative electoral systems, presents the results obtained for each of the five country case studies presented in the book, and discusses the practical implications of each set of re-running observations, as well as the positive and negative consequences for stability and representative government; further details of the methods used for crafting districts for re-runs are given in an appendix at the end of the book. The chapter first discusses the importance of re-running evidence, and second, outlines the range of alternative electoral systems used for the re-runnings, justifying their inclusion in the exercise, and addressing the underlying assumptions and methodological objections. Third, results are given of plurality single-member districts (SMD) elections re-run in Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe under the alternative vote in single-member districts (AV-SMD), the alternative vote in multi-member districts (AV-MMD), list proportional representation (PR) in regionally defined multi-member districts, and list PR in one national multi-member district. Finally, the results are given of re-running the list PR elections held in Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Namibia under plurality SMD, AV-SMD, AV-MMD, and the list PR method not utilized in the actual elections.
Duncan Pritchard
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199280384
- eISBN:
- 9780191602290
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019928038X.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
One of the key supposed ‘platitudes’ of contemporary epistemology is the claim that knowledge excludes luck. One can see the attraction of such a claim, in that knowledge is something that one can ...
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One of the key supposed ‘platitudes’ of contemporary epistemology is the claim that knowledge excludes luck. One can see the attraction of such a claim, in that knowledge is something that one can take credit for; it is an achievement of sorts, and yet luck undermines genuine achievements. The problem, however, is that luck seems to be an all-pervasive feature of our epistemic enterprises that tempts us to think that either scepticism is true, and we don’t know very much after all, or else knowledge is compatible with knowledge after all. My claim is that we do not need to choose between these two austere alternatives, since a closer inspection of what is involved in the notion of epistemic luck reveals varieties of luck that are compatible with knowledge possession and varieties that aren’t. We can thus do justice to the intuition that knowledge is compatible with (some forms of) luck without acceding to the sceptical claim that we do not know as much as we think we do. Nevertheless, I also claim that there is a sceptical problem lurking in the background that is related to the problem of epistemic luck, though it is not best thought of in terms of the possession of knowledge.Less
One of the key supposed ‘platitudes’ of contemporary epistemology is the claim that knowledge excludes luck. One can see the attraction of such a claim, in that knowledge is something that one can take credit for; it is an achievement of sorts, and yet luck undermines genuine achievements. The problem, however, is that luck seems to be an all-pervasive feature of our epistemic enterprises that tempts us to think that either scepticism is true, and we don’t know very much after all, or else knowledge is compatible with knowledge after all. My claim is that we do not need to choose between these two austere alternatives, since a closer inspection of what is involved in the notion of epistemic luck reveals varieties of luck that are compatible with knowledge possession and varieties that aren’t. We can thus do justice to the intuition that knowledge is compatible with (some forms of) luck without acceding to the sceptical claim that we do not know as much as we think we do. Nevertheless, I also claim that there is a sceptical problem lurking in the background that is related to the problem of epistemic luck, though it is not best thought of in terms of the possession of knowledge.
Alfred R. Mele
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195305043
- eISBN:
- 9780199786015
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195305043.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This book aims to help readers think more clearly about free will. It identifies and makes vivid the most important conceptual obstacles to the justified belief in the existence of free will, and ...
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This book aims to help readers think more clearly about free will. It identifies and makes vivid the most important conceptual obstacles to the justified belief in the existence of free will, and meets them head on. It also clarifies the central concepts in the philosophical debate about free will and moral responsibility, criticizes various influential contemporary theories about free will, and develops two overlapping conceptions of free will: one for readers who are convinced that free will is incompatible with determinism (incompatibilists), and another for readers who are convinced of the opposite (compatibilists). Luck poses problems for all believers in free will, and this book offers novel solutions. One chapter explains influential neuroscientific studies of free will, and debunks some extravagant interpretations of the data. Other featured topics include abilities and alternative possibilities, control and decision-making, the bearing of manipulation on free will, and the development of human infants into free agents.Less
This book aims to help readers think more clearly about free will. It identifies and makes vivid the most important conceptual obstacles to the justified belief in the existence of free will, and meets them head on. It also clarifies the central concepts in the philosophical debate about free will and moral responsibility, criticizes various influential contemporary theories about free will, and develops two overlapping conceptions of free will: one for readers who are convinced that free will is incompatible with determinism (incompatibilists), and another for readers who are convinced of the opposite (compatibilists). Luck poses problems for all believers in free will, and this book offers novel solutions. One chapter explains influential neuroscientific studies of free will, and debunks some extravagant interpretations of the data. Other featured topics include abilities and alternative possibilities, control and decision-making, the bearing of manipulation on free will, and the development of human infants into free agents.
Bryan Frances
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199282135
- eISBN:
- 9780191602917
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199282137.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
The nagging voice of the sceptic has always been present in epistemology. Over the last thirty years or so, philosophers have thought of several promising ways to counter the radical sceptic. For ...
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The nagging voice of the sceptic has always been present in epistemology. Over the last thirty years or so, philosophers have thought of several promising ways to counter the radical sceptic. For instance, facts about the reliability of cognitive processes, principles determining which possibilities must be ruled out in order to have knowledge, and principles regarding the context-sensitivity of knowledge attributions. In this research monograph, Bryan Frances presents a new argument template for generating new kinds of radical scepticism, ones that hold even if all the clever anti-sceptical fixes such as contextualism, relevant alternatives theory, and reliabilism defeat the traditional sceptic. However, the new sceptical conclusions are quite different from traditional scepticism. Although the new sceptic concludes that people don’t know that fire engines are red, that people sometimes have pains in their knees, or even that people believe that fire engines are red or that knees sometimes throb, people admit that they know millions of exotic truths, such as the fact that black holes exist. One can know about the existence of black holes, but not about the colour of one’s shirt or even about what one believes regarding the colour of one’s shirt. The new sceptical arguments proceed in the usual way (here’s a sceptical hypothesis; one can’t neutralize it, one has to be able to neutralize it to know P; so one doesn’t know P), but the sceptical hypotheses plugged into it are “real, live” scientific-philosophical hypotheses often thought to be actually true, such as error theories about belief, colour, pain location, and character traits. Frances investigates the questions, ‘Under what conditions do we need to rule out these error theories in order to know things inconsistent with them?’ and ‘Can we rule them out?’Less
The nagging voice of the sceptic has always been present in epistemology. Over the last thirty years or so, philosophers have thought of several promising ways to counter the radical sceptic. For instance, facts about the reliability of cognitive processes, principles determining which possibilities must be ruled out in order to have knowledge, and principles regarding the context-sensitivity of knowledge attributions. In this research monograph, Bryan Frances presents a new argument template for generating new kinds of radical scepticism, ones that hold even if all the clever anti-sceptical fixes such as contextualism, relevant alternatives theory, and reliabilism defeat the traditional sceptic. However, the new sceptical conclusions are quite different from traditional scepticism. Although the new sceptic concludes that people don’t know that fire engines are red, that people sometimes have pains in their knees, or even that people believe that fire engines are red or that knees sometimes throb, people admit that they know millions of exotic truths, such as the fact that black holes exist. One can know about the existence of black holes, but not about the colour of one’s shirt or even about what one believes regarding the colour of one’s shirt. The new sceptical arguments proceed in the usual way (here’s a sceptical hypothesis; one can’t neutralize it, one has to be able to neutralize it to know P; so one doesn’t know P), but the sceptical hypotheses plugged into it are “real, live” scientific-philosophical hypotheses often thought to be actually true, such as error theories about belief, colour, pain location, and character traits. Frances investigates the questions, ‘Under what conditions do we need to rule out these error theories in order to know things inconsistent with them?’ and ‘Can we rule them out?’
David E. Guinn (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195178739
- eISBN:
- 9780199784943
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195178734.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This book discusses the role of religion in a religiously pluralistic liberal society, namely the United States. Nowhere else in the public realm do the fundamental religious questions about the ...
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This book discusses the role of religion in a religiously pluralistic liberal society, namely the United States. Nowhere else in the public realm do the fundamental religious questions about the meaning and nature of life arise in a context where resort to a political answer is the norm. Many people continue to insist that the US Constitution precludes religious participation in the political process, while others insist that by denying a role to religion we fundamentally discriminate against people of faith. As the chapters in this book demonstrate, the issues are complex and multifaceted. The book address such specific and highly contested issues as assisted suicide, stem cell research, cloning, reproductive health, and alternative medicine as well as general questions concerning as who legitimately speaks for religion in public bioethics, what religion can add to our understanding of justice, and the value of faith-based contributions to healthcare. The book begins with overview chapters about the role of religion in bioethics since the inception of the field. It then explores that role in the formation of public policy in terms of sociology, critical studies, philosophy, and religious studies. The book questions the distinction between public policy bioethics and clinical care, recognizing the close interconnection between the two. It offers insight on how religion shapes questions of justice in patient care and the ethical tools provided by Islam, Buddhism, and Evangelical Christianity that can be used both in advocating for public policy and in making individual care decisions. Over the last five to ten years, researchers have begun to explore the efficacy of religion as a mode of treatment.Less
This book discusses the role of religion in a religiously pluralistic liberal society, namely the United States. Nowhere else in the public realm do the fundamental religious questions about the meaning and nature of life arise in a context where resort to a political answer is the norm. Many people continue to insist that the US Constitution precludes religious participation in the political process, while others insist that by denying a role to religion we fundamentally discriminate against people of faith. As the chapters in this book demonstrate, the issues are complex and multifaceted. The book address such specific and highly contested issues as assisted suicide, stem cell research, cloning, reproductive health, and alternative medicine as well as general questions concerning as who legitimately speaks for religion in public bioethics, what religion can add to our understanding of justice, and the value of faith-based contributions to healthcare. The book begins with overview chapters about the role of religion in bioethics since the inception of the field. It then explores that role in the formation of public policy in terms of sociology, critical studies, philosophy, and religious studies. The book questions the distinction between public policy bioethics and clinical care, recognizing the close interconnection between the two. It offers insight on how religion shapes questions of justice in patient care and the ethical tools provided by Islam, Buddhism, and Evangelical Christianity that can be used both in advocating for public policy and in making individual care decisions. Over the last five to ten years, researchers have begun to explore the efficacy of religion as a mode of treatment.
P. Kyle Stanford
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195174083
- eISBN:
- 9780199786367
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195174089.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
The incredible achievements of modern scientific theories lead most of us to embrace scientific realism: the view that our best theories offer us at least roughly accurate descriptions of otherwise ...
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The incredible achievements of modern scientific theories lead most of us to embrace scientific realism: the view that our best theories offer us at least roughly accurate descriptions of otherwise inaccessible parts of the world like genes, atoms, and the big bang. This book argues that careful attention to the history of scientific investigation invites a challenge to this view that is not well represented in contemporary debates about the nature of the scientific enterprise. The historical record of scientific inquiry, the book suggests, is characterized by the problem of unconceived alternatives. Past scientists have routinely failed even to conceive of alternatives to their own theories and lines of theoretical investigation, alternatives that were both well-confirmed by the evidence available at the time and sufficiently serious as to be ultimately accepted by later scientific communities. The book supports this claim with a detailed investigation of the mid-to-late 19th-century theories of inheritance and generation proposed in turn by Charles Darwin, Francis Galton, and August Weismann. It goes on to argue that this historical pattern strongly suggests that there are equally well-confirmed and scientifically serious alternatives to our own best theories that remain currently unconceived. Moreover, this challenge is more serious than those rooted in either the so-called pessimistic induction or the underdetermination of theories by evidence, in part because existing realist responses to these latter challenges offer no relief from the problem of unconceived alternatives itself.Less
The incredible achievements of modern scientific theories lead most of us to embrace scientific realism: the view that our best theories offer us at least roughly accurate descriptions of otherwise inaccessible parts of the world like genes, atoms, and the big bang. This book argues that careful attention to the history of scientific investigation invites a challenge to this view that is not well represented in contemporary debates about the nature of the scientific enterprise. The historical record of scientific inquiry, the book suggests, is characterized by the problem of unconceived alternatives. Past scientists have routinely failed even to conceive of alternatives to their own theories and lines of theoretical investigation, alternatives that were both well-confirmed by the evidence available at the time and sufficiently serious as to be ultimately accepted by later scientific communities. The book supports this claim with a detailed investigation of the mid-to-late 19th-century theories of inheritance and generation proposed in turn by Charles Darwin, Francis Galton, and August Weismann. It goes on to argue that this historical pattern strongly suggests that there are equally well-confirmed and scientifically serious alternatives to our own best theories that remain currently unconceived. Moreover, this challenge is more serious than those rooted in either the so-called pessimistic induction or the underdetermination of theories by evidence, in part because existing realist responses to these latter challenges offer no relief from the problem of unconceived alternatives itself.
Andrew R. Holmes
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199288656
- eISBN:
- 9780191710759
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199288656.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
This chapter examines two areas of practice to illustrate how Ulster Presbyterians perceived both life and death. Section one deals with wakes, their social character, the various popular beliefs ...
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This chapter examines two areas of practice to illustrate how Ulster Presbyterians perceived both life and death. Section one deals with wakes, their social character, the various popular beliefs that surrounded death, and the efforts of the Presbyterian authorities to reform perceived abuses. Section two examines the rituals of the deathbed, specifically the differences and shared experiences of evangelical and liberal Presbyterians as they attempted to ‘die well’.Less
This chapter examines two areas of practice to illustrate how Ulster Presbyterians perceived both life and death. Section one deals with wakes, their social character, the various popular beliefs that surrounded death, and the efforts of the Presbyterian authorities to reform perceived abuses. Section two examines the rituals of the deathbed, specifically the differences and shared experiences of evangelical and liberal Presbyterians as they attempted to ‘die well’.
David M. Farrell and Ian McAllister
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199257560
- eISBN:
- 9780191603280
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199257566.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
The history of Australian electoral systems shows a high degree of democratic experimentation. Australia employs the alternative vote to elect its lower house of parliament, and the single ...
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The history of Australian electoral systems shows a high degree of democratic experimentation. Australia employs the alternative vote to elect its lower house of parliament, and the single transferable vote to elect the upper house. In addition, the adoption of compulsory voting has consequences for the operation of those electoral systems. Political culture reflects a high degree of delegation by voters to political parties, and electoral reform is not high on the political agenda.Less
The history of Australian electoral systems shows a high degree of democratic experimentation. Australia employs the alternative vote to elect its lower house of parliament, and the single transferable vote to elect the upper house. In addition, the adoption of compulsory voting has consequences for the operation of those electoral systems. Political culture reflects a high degree of delegation by voters to political parties, and electoral reform is not high on the political agenda.
Andrew R. Holmes
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199288656
- eISBN:
- 9780191710759
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199288656.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
This chapter describes and assesses the various customs and beliefs in which Presbyterians indulged at springtime, Halloween, and Christmas. Presbyterians observed holidays because they marked the ...
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This chapter describes and assesses the various customs and beliefs in which Presbyterians indulged at springtime, Halloween, and Christmas. Presbyterians observed holidays because they marked the passing of the seasons and allowed them the opportunity to relax. They utilized alternative beliefs and practices because they made practical sense and accorded with a belief in God who was omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. The efforts of reformers to eradicate anti-social and superstitious aspects are addressed, and comments are made about the persistence of these customs and beliefs.Less
This chapter describes and assesses the various customs and beliefs in which Presbyterians indulged at springtime, Halloween, and Christmas. Presbyterians observed holidays because they marked the passing of the seasons and allowed them the opportunity to relax. They utilized alternative beliefs and practices because they made practical sense and accorded with a belief in God who was omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. The efforts of reformers to eradicate anti-social and superstitious aspects are addressed, and comments are made about the persistence of these customs and beliefs.
Andrew R. Holmes
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199288656
- eISBN:
- 9780191710759
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199288656.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
This chapter explores the official and popular understandings of baptism and its importance to the life of communities, whether in terms of the church or local society.
This chapter explores the official and popular understandings of baptism and its importance to the life of communities, whether in terms of the church or local society.
Thirsk Joan
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198208136
- eISBN:
- 9780191677922
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208136.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Social History
This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which is to survey people's past experience of alternative agriculture. This survey is ...
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This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which is to survey people's past experience of alternative agriculture. This survey is important in order to place the present phase in better perspective. It also allows people to repeat some of their past without any strong sense of being condemned to a sorry fate.Less
This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which is to survey people's past experience of alternative agriculture. This survey is important in order to place the present phase in better perspective. It also allows people to repeat some of their past without any strong sense of being condemned to a sorry fate.
P. Kyle Stanford
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195174083
- eISBN:
- 9780199786367
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195174089.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
This chapter focuses on the history of our theorizing about the phenomena of generation and inheritance. It attempts to show that according to historical records, our efforts to theorize about ...
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This chapter focuses on the history of our theorizing about the phenomena of generation and inheritance. It attempts to show that according to historical records, our efforts to theorize about inheritance and generation continued to be plagued by the problem of unconceived alternatives long after we came to embrace substantive evidential, metaphysical, and methodological constraints essentially continuous with those of the present day. It is argued that Darwin shows no evidence of having considered and rejected the idea that similarities between ancestors and offspring might be results of a common cause rather than links in a causal chain, and indeed shows no evidence of even having been able to understand this line of thought when it was explicitly presented to him directly by Galton. Instead the most natural conclusion to draw from the historical evidence is that Darwin simply failed to conceive of or consider the entire class of theoretical alternatives to pangenesis picked out by this idea, notwithstanding the fact that it offered an equally promising strategy for explaining what he took to be the central phenomena of inheritance and generation.Less
This chapter focuses on the history of our theorizing about the phenomena of generation and inheritance. It attempts to show that according to historical records, our efforts to theorize about inheritance and generation continued to be plagued by the problem of unconceived alternatives long after we came to embrace substantive evidential, metaphysical, and methodological constraints essentially continuous with those of the present day. It is argued that Darwin shows no evidence of having considered and rejected the idea that similarities between ancestors and offspring might be results of a common cause rather than links in a causal chain, and indeed shows no evidence of even having been able to understand this line of thought when it was explicitly presented to him directly by Galton. Instead the most natural conclusion to draw from the historical evidence is that Darwin simply failed to conceive of or consider the entire class of theoretical alternatives to pangenesis picked out by this idea, notwithstanding the fact that it offered an equally promising strategy for explaining what he took to be the central phenomena of inheritance and generation.
P. Kyle Stanford
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195174083
- eISBN:
- 9780199786367
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195174089.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
This chapter examines the most influential recent efforts by scientific realists to blunt or block the pessimistic induction by engaging the details of the history of science itself, including the ...
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This chapter examines the most influential recent efforts by scientific realists to blunt or block the pessimistic induction by engaging the details of the history of science itself, including the first serious efforts to recruit those details to the realist cause. It argues that the most promising and influential realist replies to the historical challenge (including those of Clyde Hardin and Alexander Rosenberg, Philip Kitcher, Stathis Psillos, Jarrett Leplin, and John Worrall) ultimately manage to achieve only Pyrrhic victories for realism, that is, “defences” of scientific realism that are forced to concede to the realist's opponent either just the substantive points that were in dispute between them or everything he/she needs for a convincing historical case against realism itself. Both the problem of unconceived alternatives and the pessimistic induction itself survive even the best recent efforts to defend realism from the specter of the historical record.Less
This chapter examines the most influential recent efforts by scientific realists to blunt or block the pessimistic induction by engaging the details of the history of science itself, including the first serious efforts to recruit those details to the realist cause. It argues that the most promising and influential realist replies to the historical challenge (including those of Clyde Hardin and Alexander Rosenberg, Philip Kitcher, Stathis Psillos, Jarrett Leplin, and John Worrall) ultimately manage to achieve only Pyrrhic victories for realism, that is, “defences” of scientific realism that are forced to concede to the realist's opponent either just the substantive points that were in dispute between them or everything he/she needs for a convincing historical case against realism itself. Both the problem of unconceived alternatives and the pessimistic induction itself survive even the best recent efforts to defend realism from the specter of the historical record.
