Hugh Ward
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198292371
- eISBN:
- 9780191600159
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198292376.003.0010
- Subject:
- Political Science, Reference
A summary explanation of rational choice theory, and its development in game theory, as a challenge to conventional social science theories. The example, demonstrating its application to the campaign ...
More
A summary explanation of rational choice theory, and its development in game theory, as a challenge to conventional social science theories. The example, demonstrating its application to the campaign strategies of political parties, highlights the particular strength of rational choice approaches in throwing up non‐intuitive but empirically testable propositions.Less
A summary explanation of rational choice theory, and its development in game theory, as a challenge to conventional social science theories. The example, demonstrating its application to the campaign strategies of political parties, highlights the particular strength of rational choice approaches in throwing up non‐intuitive but empirically testable propositions.
Adil E Shamoo and David B Resnik
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195368246
- eISBN:
- 9780199867615
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195368246.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Disease Ecology / Epidemiology, Biochemistry / Molecular Biology
Recent scandals and controversies—such as the falsification, fabrication, and plagiarism of data in federally funded science; the manipulation and distortion of research sponsored by private ...
More
Recent scandals and controversies—such as the falsification, fabrication, and plagiarism of data in federally funded science; the manipulation and distortion of research sponsored by private companies; human embryonic stem cell research; cloning; and the patenting of DNA and cell lines—illustrate the importance of ethics in scientific research. This book provides an introduction and overview of many of the social, ethical, and legal issues facing scientists today. The book includes chapters on research misconduct, conflicts of interest, data management, mentoring, authorship, peer review, publication, intellectual property, research with human subjects, research with animal subjects, genetic and stem cell research, international research, and ethical decision making. The book also features dozens of real and hypothetical cases for discussion and analysis and introduces the reader to important research regulations and guidelines. Now in its second edition, this book synthesizes the diverse talents and experiences. This second edition of this book includes new chapters and cases and has been brought up to date on the latest issues and problems in research ethics.Less
Recent scandals and controversies—such as the falsification, fabrication, and plagiarism of data in federally funded science; the manipulation and distortion of research sponsored by private companies; human embryonic stem cell research; cloning; and the patenting of DNA and cell lines—illustrate the importance of ethics in scientific research. This book provides an introduction and overview of many of the social, ethical, and legal issues facing scientists today. The book includes chapters on research misconduct, conflicts of interest, data management, mentoring, authorship, peer review, publication, intellectual property, research with human subjects, research with animal subjects, genetic and stem cell research, international research, and ethical decision making. The book also features dozens of real and hypothetical cases for discussion and analysis and introduces the reader to important research regulations and guidelines. Now in its second edition, this book synthesizes the diverse talents and experiences. This second edition of this book includes new chapters and cases and has been brought up to date on the latest issues and problems in research ethics.
Nachman Ben-Yehuda
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199734863
- eISBN:
- 9780199895090
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199734863.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Taking Niklas Luhmann’s suggestion that understanding social systems requires that we examine communication systems, and based on contextual constructionism, this chapter explains why using the ...
More
Taking Niklas Luhmann’s suggestion that understanding social systems requires that we examine communication systems, and based on contextual constructionism, this chapter explains why using the printed media as a main tool to understand a cultural conflict is an advantageous and persuasive methodology. The chapter discusses various alternative methods (e.g., ethnographies, police records, interviews, using informants) and points out that relying on the printed media offers clear benefits such as more information in an historical perspective, easy accessibility and cross checking. The chapter summarizes the advantages and shortcomings of using the media as compared to examining police records; examines the issue of falsification and reliability of journalists’ reports and surveys other relevant studies that used the media as a methodological tool. How the media data base for fifty years was created and used is explained and illustrated, as well as raising some potential criticisms.Less
Taking Niklas Luhmann’s suggestion that understanding social systems requires that we examine communication systems, and based on contextual constructionism, this chapter explains why using the printed media as a main tool to understand a cultural conflict is an advantageous and persuasive methodology. The chapter discusses various alternative methods (e.g., ethnographies, police records, interviews, using informants) and points out that relying on the printed media offers clear benefits such as more information in an historical perspective, easy accessibility and cross checking. The chapter summarizes the advantages and shortcomings of using the media as compared to examining police records; examines the issue of falsification and reliability of journalists’ reports and surveys other relevant studies that used the media as a methodological tool. How the media data base for fifty years was created and used is explained and illustrated, as well as raising some potential criticisms.
Nachman Ben-Yehuda
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199734863
- eISBN:
- 9780199895090
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199734863.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter describes some themes, cases and affairs that served as axes around which media reports revolved for 1948-1998, and beyond. Such themes focus on such topics as archaeological ...
More
This chapter describes some themes, cases and affairs that served as axes around which media reports revolved for 1948-1998, and beyond. Such themes focus on such topics as archaeological excavations, preparations to build the Third Jewish Temple, blackmail, cursing, boycotting and excommunicating, mixed mingling, elections falsifications, stopping El Al from flying on Shabbat, forbidden romances, using magical objects during election time, denial of state symbols, Ovadya Yoseph, pirate radio stations, attacks on the secular legal system, misusing and mismanagement of state funds, modesty and pornography and more.Less
This chapter describes some themes, cases and affairs that served as axes around which media reports revolved for 1948-1998, and beyond. Such themes focus on such topics as archaeological excavations, preparations to build the Third Jewish Temple, blackmail, cursing, boycotting and excommunicating, mixed mingling, elections falsifications, stopping El Al from flying on Shabbat, forbidden romances, using magical objects during election time, denial of state symbols, Ovadya Yoseph, pirate radio stations, attacks on the secular legal system, misusing and mismanagement of state funds, modesty and pornography and more.
John O. McGinnis
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691151021
- eISBN:
- 9781400845453
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691151021.003.0009
- Subject:
- Political Science, Public Policy
This chapter surveys the many kinds of political bias. These include special interest bias, “knowledge falsification” by the majority, innate majoritarian bias, status quo bias, cultural cognition ...
More
This chapter surveys the many kinds of political bias. These include special interest bias, “knowledge falsification” by the majority, innate majoritarian bias, status quo bias, cultural cognition and motivated reasoning, and framing. It then shows that democracy is often able to overcome biases within the citizenry, because it takes only a majority or a relatively modest supermajority of people to change ordinary legislative policy. Thus, if many, or even most, people are imprisoned by their own worldviews, misled by politicians' frames, or remain ignorant of all new information relevant to public policy, the shift of a relatively small portion of voters can often make a decisive difference.Less
This chapter surveys the many kinds of political bias. These include special interest bias, “knowledge falsification” by the majority, innate majoritarian bias, status quo bias, cultural cognition and motivated reasoning, and framing. It then shows that democracy is often able to overcome biases within the citizenry, because it takes only a majority or a relatively modest supermajority of people to change ordinary legislative policy. Thus, if many, or even most, people are imprisoned by their own worldviews, misled by politicians' frames, or remain ignorant of all new information relevant to public policy, the shift of a relatively small portion of voters can often make a decisive difference.
Wolfgang Spohn
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199697502
- eISBN:
- 9780191739323
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199697502.003.0012
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology, Philosophy of Science
The remaining chapters are devoted to various philosophical applications of ranking theory. The first goal is to understand natural modalities as covertly epistemological modalities by a kind of ...
More
The remaining chapters are devoted to various philosophical applications of ranking theory. The first goal is to understand natural modalities as covertly epistemological modalities by a kind of projectivistic strategy on the basis of ranking theory, which has already proved how well it accounts for epistemological modalities. The first of those natural modalities, lawlikeness, is treated in this chapter. A review of the difficulties with that notion concludes that laws are best understood via their inductive behavior. The study of that behavior arrives, after thorough argument, at the notion of a subjective (deterministic) law that is simply the ranking-theoretic analogue of the notion of a Bernoulli measure or statistical law. It turns out then that de Finetti’s philosophy of probability, incarnated in his representation theorem, can be fully carried over to the deterministic side. Thus, the confirmation of deterministic laws works in essentially the same way as that of statistical laws. The chapter concludes with some observations about the apriority of the belief in lawfulness, i.e., in the uniformity of nature.Less
The remaining chapters are devoted to various philosophical applications of ranking theory. The first goal is to understand natural modalities as covertly epistemological modalities by a kind of projectivistic strategy on the basis of ranking theory, which has already proved how well it accounts for epistemological modalities. The first of those natural modalities, lawlikeness, is treated in this chapter. A review of the difficulties with that notion concludes that laws are best understood via their inductive behavior. The study of that behavior arrives, after thorough argument, at the notion of a subjective (deterministic) law that is simply the ranking-theoretic analogue of the notion of a Bernoulli measure or statistical law. It turns out then that de Finetti’s philosophy of probability, incarnated in his representation theorem, can be fully carried over to the deterministic side. Thus, the confirmation of deterministic laws works in essentially the same way as that of statistical laws. The chapter concludes with some observations about the apriority of the belief in lawfulness, i.e., in the uniformity of nature.
Andrew Gleeson
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195320398
- eISBN:
- 9780199869534
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195320398.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, General
In Mike Leigh’s 1996 film Secrets and Lies a black woman seeking her birth mother enters a white family, and shatters its walls of illusion. The family, and the audience, confront the questions of ...
More
In Mike Leigh’s 1996 film Secrets and Lies a black woman seeking her birth mother enters a white family, and shatters its walls of illusion. The family, and the audience, confront the questions of what distinguishes true from false marital and familial love. The film exhibits these distinctions in a thoughtful way, rather than preaching or arguing about them. It creates an object of enlightening contemplation rather than fuelling a sugar rush of feeling by violent sensory stimulation. This is what distinguishes art from propaganda or advertising. But film’s sheer sensory power makes it uniquely susceptible, among the arts, for perversion in the latter ways. So ironically, artistically serious film must exercise an almost anti-filmic restraint. The temptation to overwhelm the critical faculties of its audience, to pander to its prejudices or desire to be ‘thrilled’, must be resisted.Less
In Mike Leigh’s 1996 film Secrets and Lies a black woman seeking her birth mother enters a white family, and shatters its walls of illusion. The family, and the audience, confront the questions of what distinguishes true from false marital and familial love. The film exhibits these distinctions in a thoughtful way, rather than preaching or arguing about them. It creates an object of enlightening contemplation rather than fuelling a sugar rush of feeling by violent sensory stimulation. This is what distinguishes art from propaganda or advertising. But film’s sheer sensory power makes it uniquely susceptible, among the arts, for perversion in the latter ways. So ironically, artistically serious film must exercise an almost anti-filmic restraint. The temptation to overwhelm the critical faculties of its audience, to pander to its prejudices or desire to be ‘thrilled’, must be resisted.
Geoffrey Cubitt
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198228684
- eISBN:
- 9780191678790
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198228684.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History, History of Religion
This chapter discusses the anti-Jesuits' historical and ethical attacks surrounding the Jesuit organization. For the anti-Jesuits, the theories and teachings of the Jesuits were instruments of ...
More
This chapter discusses the anti-Jesuits' historical and ethical attacks surrounding the Jesuit organization. For the anti-Jesuits, the theories and teachings of the Jesuits were instruments of corruption. The influence of the Jesuits themselves and of their affiliates, the confessional and the Jesuit schools were all deemed poisonous corruptions. The Jesuitical notions of Jesuit subversion was also seen as corruption in the most dangerous manner. This chapter focuses on the two dominant Jesuit contamination of the intellect which caught the attention of the anti-Jesuits during the 19th century. These two are the falsification of history primarily in schoolbooks and the propagation of a corrupt and corrupting body of moral discipline through the confessional.Less
This chapter discusses the anti-Jesuits' historical and ethical attacks surrounding the Jesuit organization. For the anti-Jesuits, the theories and teachings of the Jesuits were instruments of corruption. The influence of the Jesuits themselves and of their affiliates, the confessional and the Jesuit schools were all deemed poisonous corruptions. The Jesuitical notions of Jesuit subversion was also seen as corruption in the most dangerous manner. This chapter focuses on the two dominant Jesuit contamination of the intellect which caught the attention of the anti-Jesuits during the 19th century. These two are the falsification of history primarily in schoolbooks and the propagation of a corrupt and corrupting body of moral discipline through the confessional.
Kevin A. Clarke and David M. Primo
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195382198
- eISBN:
- 9780199932399
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195382198.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
Models are ubiquitous in political science research. Although game theory models, statistical models, and even non-mathematical models are common in the discipline, the field lacks a coherent ...
More
Models are ubiquitous in political science research. Although game theory models, statistical models, and even non-mathematical models are common in the discipline, the field lacks a coherent foundation for understanding the role models play in scientific inquiry. In A Model Discipline, Kevin Clarke and David Primo challenge the conventional wisdom that theoretical models must be tested by statistical models in order to be useful, and they provide an alternative account for understanding the role of models in political science. In Clarke and Primo’s account, models are tools, like maps, and should be evaluated based on whether they are useful for a specific purpose, not based on whether they are “true” or “false.” After tracing the historical roots of modern political science and offering their alternative account, the authors then detail the many uses for theoretical and statistical models, providing examples from across the discipline. They also show why that one common use of statistical models, the empirical testing of formal models, is doomed to fail. Clarke and Primo go on to argue that another goal of science, explanation, does justify the combination of theoretical and empirical models. A Model Discipline will be of interest to political scientists and other social scientists who want to understand how and why models ought to be used in scientific inquiry.Less
Models are ubiquitous in political science research. Although game theory models, statistical models, and even non-mathematical models are common in the discipline, the field lacks a coherent foundation for understanding the role models play in scientific inquiry. In A Model Discipline, Kevin Clarke and David Primo challenge the conventional wisdom that theoretical models must be tested by statistical models in order to be useful, and they provide an alternative account for understanding the role of models in political science. In Clarke and Primo’s account, models are tools, like maps, and should be evaluated based on whether they are useful for a specific purpose, not based on whether they are “true” or “false.” After tracing the historical roots of modern political science and offering their alternative account, the authors then detail the many uses for theoretical and statistical models, providing examples from across the discipline. They also show why that one common use of statistical models, the empirical testing of formal models, is doomed to fail. Clarke and Primo go on to argue that another goal of science, explanation, does justify the combination of theoretical and empirical models. A Model Discipline will be of interest to political scientists and other social scientists who want to understand how and why models ought to be used in scientific inquiry.
Kristin Shrader-Frechette
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199794638
- eISBN:
- 9780199919277
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199794638.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
Chapter 1 begins by stressing the severity of climate change (CC) and showing how, contrary to popular belief, atomic energy is not a viable solution to ...
More
Chapter 1 begins by stressing the severity of climate change (CC) and showing how, contrary to popular belief, atomic energy is not a viable solution to CC. Many scientists and most market proponents agree that renewable energy and energy efficiencies are better options. The chapter also shows that government subsidies for oil and nuclear power are the result of flawed science, poor ethics, short-term thinking, and special-interest influence. The chapter has 7 sections, the first of which surveys four major components of the energy crisis. These are oil addiction, non-CC-related deaths from fossil-fuel pollution, nuclear-weapons proliferation, and catastrophic CC. The second section summarizes some of the powerful evidence for global CC. The third section uses historical, ahistorical, Rawlsian, and utilitarian ethical principles to show how developed nations, especially the US, are most responsible for human-caused CC. The fourth section shows why climate-change skeptics, such as “deniers” who doubt CC is real, and “delayers” who say that it should not yet be addressed, have no valid objections. Instead, they all err scientifically and ethically. The fifth section illustrates that all modern scientific methods—and scientific consensus since at least 1995—confirm the reality of global CC. Essentially all expert-scientific analyses published in refereed, scientific-professional journals confirm the reality of global CC. The sixth section of the chapter shows how fossil-fuel special interests have contributed to the continued CC debate largely by paying non-experts to deny or challenge CC. The seventh section of the chapter provides an outline of each chapter in the book, noting that this book makes use of both scientific and ethical analyses to show why nuclear proponents’ arguments err, why CC deniers are wrong, and how scientific-methodological understanding can advance sound energy policy—including conservation, renewable energy, and energy efficiencies.Less
Chapter 1 begins by stressing the severity of climate change (CC) and showing how, contrary to popular belief, atomic energy is not a viable solution to CC. Many scientists and most market proponents agree that renewable energy and energy efficiencies are better options. The chapter also shows that government subsidies for oil and nuclear power are the result of flawed science, poor ethics, short-term thinking, and special-interest influence. The chapter has 7 sections, the first of which surveys four major components of the energy crisis. These are oil addiction, non-CC-related deaths from fossil-fuel pollution, nuclear-weapons proliferation, and catastrophic CC. The second section summarizes some of the powerful evidence for global CC. The third section uses historical, ahistorical, Rawlsian, and utilitarian ethical principles to show how developed nations, especially the US, are most responsible for human-caused CC. The fourth section shows why climate-change skeptics, such as “deniers” who doubt CC is real, and “delayers” who say that it should not yet be addressed, have no valid objections. Instead, they all err scientifically and ethically. The fifth section illustrates that all modern scientific methods—and scientific consensus since at least 1995—confirm the reality of global CC. Essentially all expert-scientific analyses published in refereed, scientific-professional journals confirm the reality of global CC. The sixth section of the chapter shows how fossil-fuel special interests have contributed to the continued CC debate largely by paying non-experts to deny or challenge CC. The seventh section of the chapter provides an outline of each chapter in the book, noting that this book makes use of both scientific and ethical analyses to show why nuclear proponents’ arguments err, why CC deniers are wrong, and how scientific-methodological understanding can advance sound energy policy—including conservation, renewable energy, and energy efficiencies.
Stephen Mumford and Rani Lill Anjum
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199695614
- eISBN:
- 9780191731952
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199695614.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology, Philosophy of Science
The theory offered suggests a univocal account of causation, but without offering any reductive analysis. The chapter can still say something informative about the features of causation, such as ...
More
The theory offered suggests a univocal account of causation, but without offering any reductive analysis. The chapter can still say something informative about the features of causation, such as logical properties, and how these differ from non-causal but superficially similar claims. Employing Kant’s logical distinction between hypotheticals and categoricals, we see that causal claims relate differently to the matters of prevention, falsification, modality, induction, transitivity and context than do categorical claims. It is argued that while categorical claims are typically about the logical relationship between kinds, properties or classes, causal claims are about powers disposing or tending towards an effect. Issues that are usually considered problematic for causation, such as the possibility of prevention, transitivity failure, the problem of induction and context sensitivity, we take to be what mark out a claim as causal. Unless we find these features, we are not dealing with causation at all.Less
The theory offered suggests a univocal account of causation, but without offering any reductive analysis. The chapter can still say something informative about the features of causation, such as logical properties, and how these differ from non-causal but superficially similar claims. Employing Kant’s logical distinction between hypotheticals and categoricals, we see that causal claims relate differently to the matters of prevention, falsification, modality, induction, transitivity and context than do categorical claims. It is argued that while categorical claims are typically about the logical relationship between kinds, properties or classes, causal claims are about powers disposing or tending towards an effect. Issues that are usually considered problematic for causation, such as the possibility of prevention, transitivity failure, the problem of induction and context sensitivity, we take to be what mark out a claim as causal. Unless we find these features, we are not dealing with causation at all.
John Allan Knight
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199969388
- eISBN:
- 9780199301546
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199969388.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
The divide between liberal and postliberal theology is one of the most important and far-reaching methodological disputes in twentieth-century theology. Their divergence in method brought related ...
More
The divide between liberal and postliberal theology is one of the most important and far-reaching methodological disputes in twentieth-century theology. Their divergence in method brought related differences in their approaches to hermeneutics and religious language. The split between liberals and postliberals in their understanding of religious language is widely acknowledged, but rigorous philosophical analysis and assessment of these divergent understandings is seldom seen. Liberalism vs. Postliberalism provides just such analyses, using remarkable developments in analytic philosophy of language over the past forty years. The book provides an original analysis of the “theology and falsification” debates of the 1950s and 60s, placing them in the context of developments in analytic philosophy of language out of which they arose. These debates then supply the philosophical lens that brings into focus the centrality of the issue of religious language in the methodological dispute between liberal and postliberal theologians in the latter part of the twentieth century. Knight argues that recent developments in analytic philosophy of language reveal serious problems with both positions. In the course of the argument, the author makes important recent work in analytic philosophy accessible to theologians, religious studies scholars and their students. This philosophical work clears the ground for a more inclusive method that takes seriously the aspirations of both liberal and postliberal theologians. The book thus makes an important contribution to contemporary theological method, to the understanding of liberal and postliberal theologies in their similarities and differences, and to our understanding of the role of analytic philosophy in contemporary theology and religious studies.Less
The divide between liberal and postliberal theology is one of the most important and far-reaching methodological disputes in twentieth-century theology. Their divergence in method brought related differences in their approaches to hermeneutics and religious language. The split between liberals and postliberals in their understanding of religious language is widely acknowledged, but rigorous philosophical analysis and assessment of these divergent understandings is seldom seen. Liberalism vs. Postliberalism provides just such analyses, using remarkable developments in analytic philosophy of language over the past forty years. The book provides an original analysis of the “theology and falsification” debates of the 1950s and 60s, placing them in the context of developments in analytic philosophy of language out of which they arose. These debates then supply the philosophical lens that brings into focus the centrality of the issue of religious language in the methodological dispute between liberal and postliberal theologians in the latter part of the twentieth century. Knight argues that recent developments in analytic philosophy of language reveal serious problems with both positions. In the course of the argument, the author makes important recent work in analytic philosophy accessible to theologians, religious studies scholars and their students. This philosophical work clears the ground for a more inclusive method that takes seriously the aspirations of both liberal and postliberal theologians. The book thus makes an important contribution to contemporary theological method, to the understanding of liberal and postliberal theologies in their similarities and differences, and to our understanding of the role of analytic philosophy in contemporary theology and religious studies.
John Allan Knight
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199969388
- eISBN:
- 9780199301546
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199969388.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
This chapter provides a description of the theology and falsification controversy that erupted in the middle of the twentieth century. In addition, it contextualizes the debate, describing the ...
More
This chapter provides a description of the theology and falsification controversy that erupted in the middle of the twentieth century. In addition, it contextualizes the debate, describing the assumptions derived from analytic philosophy of language that drove the controversy. The chapter describes the most influential writings on language of Gottlob Frege and Bertrand Russell, including the puzzles that animated their positions on reference. Frege’s investigation of the meaning of coreferential terms, and Russell’s investigations of how to understand negative existential sentences, led them to place great importance on descriptive senses of terms in accounting for reference and meaning. The chapter then describes the epistemological commitments Russell derived from his position on reference. The chapter then shows how the falsification theorists’ (especially John Wisdom’s and Antony Flew’s) challenge to theology depends on Russell’s descriptivist program and the epistemological positions he derived from it.Less
This chapter provides a description of the theology and falsification controversy that erupted in the middle of the twentieth century. In addition, it contextualizes the debate, describing the assumptions derived from analytic philosophy of language that drove the controversy. The chapter describes the most influential writings on language of Gottlob Frege and Bertrand Russell, including the puzzles that animated their positions on reference. Frege’s investigation of the meaning of coreferential terms, and Russell’s investigations of how to understand negative existential sentences, led them to place great importance on descriptive senses of terms in accounting for reference and meaning. The chapter then describes the epistemological commitments Russell derived from his position on reference. The chapter then shows how the falsification theorists’ (especially John Wisdom’s and Antony Flew’s) challenge to theology depends on Russell’s descriptivist program and the epistemological positions he derived from it.
John Allan Knight
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199969388
- eISBN:
- 9780199301546
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199969388.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
This chapter describes liberal responses to the falsification challenge, which tended to be a version of one of two sorts. For noncognitivists, religious or theological utterances were never ...
More
This chapter describes liberal responses to the falsification challenge, which tended to be a version of one of two sorts. For noncognitivists, religious or theological utterances were never straightforward assertions, but are to be understood symbolically, or as expressions of an intention to follow a certain way of life, or as expressions of an internalized spiritual principle. Cognitive responses, on the other hand, argued that some religious or theological utterances are indeed straightforward assertions. Some argued that theological assertions could in principle be falsified, but in fact have not been (at least not all of them). Others argued that such assertions are meaningful because some things count as evidence against them, despite their invulnerability to conclusive empirical falsification. Yet both sorts of responses agreed with Flew that if religious or theological language is to be meaningful, it must meet the descriptivist requirements described in chapter one. This chapter considers the noncognitive response of R.M. Hare and the cognitive responses of Basil Mitchell, I.M. Crombie and Schubert M. Ogden. Though different from each other, liberal responses all assumed a descriptivist view of religious and theological language.Less
This chapter describes liberal responses to the falsification challenge, which tended to be a version of one of two sorts. For noncognitivists, religious or theological utterances were never straightforward assertions, but are to be understood symbolically, or as expressions of an intention to follow a certain way of life, or as expressions of an internalized spiritual principle. Cognitive responses, on the other hand, argued that some religious or theological utterances are indeed straightforward assertions. Some argued that theological assertions could in principle be falsified, but in fact have not been (at least not all of them). Others argued that such assertions are meaningful because some things count as evidence against them, despite their invulnerability to conclusive empirical falsification. Yet both sorts of responses agreed with Flew that if religious or theological language is to be meaningful, it must meet the descriptivist requirements described in chapter one. This chapter considers the noncognitive response of R.M. Hare and the cognitive responses of Basil Mitchell, I.M. Crombie and Schubert M. Ogden. Though different from each other, liberal responses all assumed a descriptivist view of religious and theological language.
Sarah Oates
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199735952
- eISBN:
- 9780199332465
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199735952.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Russian Politics, Democratization
By the end of 2011, it became clear the internet had changed the political landscape in Russia as the largest street protests since 1993 were triggered by reports of election falsification. This ...
More
By the end of 2011, it became clear the internet had changed the political landscape in Russia as the largest street protests since 1993 were triggered by reports of election falsification. This chapter analyzes a combination of factors that contributed to the Russian “winter of discontent”: (1) the failure of state media controls that relied on self-censorship; (2) an online sphere that was freer than traditional mass media; (3) an explosion in internet use that eroded the dominance of state-run television; (4) a lack of understanding about citizen attitudes and the online sphere on the part of the Kremlin; (5) crowd-sourcing; (6) online political networks; and (7) the role of online social entrepreneurs. In conjunction with these factors, reports of widespread electoral falsification served as a particularly emotive and powerful protest trigger for Russian citizens.Less
By the end of 2011, it became clear the internet had changed the political landscape in Russia as the largest street protests since 1993 were triggered by reports of election falsification. This chapter analyzes a combination of factors that contributed to the Russian “winter of discontent”: (1) the failure of state media controls that relied on self-censorship; (2) an online sphere that was freer than traditional mass media; (3) an explosion in internet use that eroded the dominance of state-run television; (4) a lack of understanding about citizen attitudes and the online sphere on the part of the Kremlin; (5) crowd-sourcing; (6) online political networks; and (7) the role of online social entrepreneurs. In conjunction with these factors, reports of widespread electoral falsification served as a particularly emotive and powerful protest trigger for Russian citizens.
Sarah Oates
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199735952
- eISBN:
- 9780199332465
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199735952.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, Russian Politics, Democratization
This concluding chapter argues that the collusion of online factors including growth, content, networking, online social entrepreneurship with the political catalyst of election falsification marked ...
More
This concluding chapter argues that the collusion of online factors including growth, content, networking, online social entrepreneurship with the political catalyst of election falsification marked a new era in political communication in Russia. This has shifted the role of the internet, in the eyes of the public and the leaders alike, from a marginal arena for malcontents into an important source of political information and aggregation. The evidence is not only through the tens of thousands of people who attended rallies in Russian cities in the winter of 2011–12, demonstrations that would have been impossible without the informative and organizational role of the internet. The proof also is in the rising evidence of critical political content and community in the online sphere. As citizens learn about empowerment through activity spurred by the online sphere, they are learning how to seek more rights in their society.Less
This concluding chapter argues that the collusion of online factors including growth, content, networking, online social entrepreneurship with the political catalyst of election falsification marked a new era in political communication in Russia. This has shifted the role of the internet, in the eyes of the public and the leaders alike, from a marginal arena for malcontents into an important source of political information and aggregation. The evidence is not only through the tens of thousands of people who attended rallies in Russian cities in the winter of 2011–12, demonstrations that would have been impossible without the informative and organizational role of the internet. The proof also is in the rising evidence of critical political content and community in the online sphere. As citizens learn about empowerment through activity spurred by the online sphere, they are learning how to seek more rights in their society.
Adolf Grünbaum
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199989928
- eISBN:
- 9780199346356
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199989928.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
This volume is a collection of Adolf Grünbaum’s most discussed essays on Scientific Rationality. It covers the problem of what it takes for a theory to be called scientific and asks whether it is ...
More
This volume is a collection of Adolf Grünbaum’s most discussed essays on Scientific Rationality. It covers the problem of what it takes for a theory to be called scientific and asks whether it is plausible to draw a clear distinction between science and non-science as was famously proposed by Karl Popper. It also delves into the debate between determinism and indeterminism both in science and in the humanities, and defends the position of the Human Determinist. This then leads to a thorough criticism of the current theological approaches to ethics and morality, where Grünbaum defends an explicit Secular Humanism, as well as to a detailed critique of the prominent theistic interpretations of twentieth century physical cosmologies. This volume is the first of a trilogy of Adolf Grünbaum’s papers and lectures, of which the second volume is devoted to Grünbaum’s writings on the Philosophy of Physics, Time and Space, and the third to his lectures on the Philosophy of Psychology and Psychoanalysis, including his 1985 Gifford Lectures which are published here for the first time.Less
This volume is a collection of Adolf Grünbaum’s most discussed essays on Scientific Rationality. It covers the problem of what it takes for a theory to be called scientific and asks whether it is plausible to draw a clear distinction between science and non-science as was famously proposed by Karl Popper. It also delves into the debate between determinism and indeterminism both in science and in the humanities, and defends the position of the Human Determinist. This then leads to a thorough criticism of the current theological approaches to ethics and morality, where Grünbaum defends an explicit Secular Humanism, as well as to a detailed critique of the prominent theistic interpretations of twentieth century physical cosmologies. This volume is the first of a trilogy of Adolf Grünbaum’s papers and lectures, of which the second volume is devoted to Grünbaum’s writings on the Philosophy of Physics, Time and Space, and the third to his lectures on the Philosophy of Psychology and Psychoanalysis, including his 1985 Gifford Lectures which are published here for the first time.
Frank Chouraqui
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780823254118
- eISBN:
- 9780823261116
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823254118.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This book seeks to elucidate Nietzsche and Merleau-Ponty’s treatments of the question of truth by using each of their philosophies to shed light on the other. For both philosophers, the question of ...
More
This book seeks to elucidate Nietzsche and Merleau-Ponty’s treatments of the question of truth by using each of their philosophies to shed light on the other. For both philosophers, the question of truth arises from the fact that even though truth is an illusion, it remains a meaningful concept. What authentic experience is truth an inauthentic expression of? By following the trajectory of this question in both authors’ works, this book demonstrates how this question structures both their philosophies and how its answer constitutes the systematic and intrinsic link between them: the concept of truth arises from the authentic experience of Being as an endless movement of falsification. For Being must be defined as the very movement whereby the world transforms itself into truths.Less
This book seeks to elucidate Nietzsche and Merleau-Ponty’s treatments of the question of truth by using each of their philosophies to shed light on the other. For both philosophers, the question of truth arises from the fact that even though truth is an illusion, it remains a meaningful concept. What authentic experience is truth an inauthentic expression of? By following the trajectory of this question in both authors’ works, this book demonstrates how this question structures both their philosophies and how its answer constitutes the systematic and intrinsic link between them: the concept of truth arises from the authentic experience of Being as an endless movement of falsification. For Being must be defined as the very movement whereby the world transforms itself into truths.
Keith E. Stanovich, Richard F. West, and Maggie E. Toplak
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262034845
- eISBN:
- 9780262336819
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262034845.003.0006
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
In this chapter, the Scientific Reasoning subtest is described. The reason for each of the task-types chosen for this subtest is discussed. The skills tapped by this subtest include: covariation ...
More
In this chapter, the Scientific Reasoning subtest is described. The reason for each of the task-types chosen for this subtest is discussed. The skills tapped by this subtest include: covariation detection; falsification tendencies in the four-card selection task; understanding the logic of converging evidence; the ability to avoid drawing causal inferences from correlation evidence; the tendency to accurately assess the likelihood ratio by processing P(D/~H); and the tendency to use control-group reasoning. A large study of this subtest is described and correlations with cognitive ability and thinking dispositions are presented, as well as correlations with some other subtests of the CART.Less
In this chapter, the Scientific Reasoning subtest is described. The reason for each of the task-types chosen for this subtest is discussed. The skills tapped by this subtest include: covariation detection; falsification tendencies in the four-card selection task; understanding the logic of converging evidence; the ability to avoid drawing causal inferences from correlation evidence; the tendency to accurately assess the likelihood ratio by processing P(D/~H); and the tendency to use control-group reasoning. A large study of this subtest is described and correlations with cognitive ability and thinking dispositions are presented, as well as correlations with some other subtests of the CART.
Peter J. Bailey
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780813167190
- eISBN:
- 9780813167862
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813167190.003.0004
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
The central cinematic tension that this chapter locates in Allen’s Manhattanexists between its deliberately idealized visualizations of New York City and the trivial romantic entanglements of the ...
More
The central cinematic tension that this chapter locates in Allen’s Manhattanexists between its deliberately idealized visualizations of New York City and the trivial romantic entanglements of the Manhattanites portrayed in the film. Allen and cinematographer Gordon Willis open the movie with a montage of cityscapes to which protagonist Isaac Davis attempts to provide a correspondingly dramatic monologue of self-introduction, but his life can rise to neither the images nor the lush Gershwin score, and the film oscillates between the grandeur of what Isaac designates as “my town” and the characters’ unethical attempts to secure for themselves erotic gratification. In Manhattan, art can raise physical reality to levels of stunning beauty, but its creators are consistently morally unworthy of the idealizations it projects.Less
The central cinematic tension that this chapter locates in Allen’s Manhattanexists between its deliberately idealized visualizations of New York City and the trivial romantic entanglements of the Manhattanites portrayed in the film. Allen and cinematographer Gordon Willis open the movie with a montage of cityscapes to which protagonist Isaac Davis attempts to provide a correspondingly dramatic monologue of self-introduction, but his life can rise to neither the images nor the lush Gershwin score, and the film oscillates between the grandeur of what Isaac designates as “my town” and the characters’ unethical attempts to secure for themselves erotic gratification. In Manhattan, art can raise physical reality to levels of stunning beauty, but its creators are consistently morally unworthy of the idealizations it projects.
