John M Findlay and Iain D Gilchrist
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198524793
- eISBN:
- 9780191711817
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198524793.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
More than one third of the human brain is devoted to the processes of seeing — vision is after all the main way in which we gather information about the world. But human vision is a dynamic process ...
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More than one third of the human brain is devoted to the processes of seeing — vision is after all the main way in which we gather information about the world. But human vision is a dynamic process during which the eyes continually sample the environment. Where most books on vision consider it as a passive activity, this book focuses on vision as an ‘active’ process. It goes beyond most accounts of vision where the focus is on seeing, to provide an account of seeing AND looking. The book starts by pointing out the weaknesses in our traditional approaches to vision and the reason we need this new approach. It then gives a thorough description of basic details of the visual and oculomotor systems necessary to understand active vision. The book goes on to show how this approach can give a new perspective on visual attention, and how the approach has progressed in the areas of visual orienting, reading, visual search, scene perception, and neuropsychology. Finally, the book summarizes progress by showing how this approach sheds new light on the old problem of how we maintain perception of a stable visual world.Less
More than one third of the human brain is devoted to the processes of seeing — vision is after all the main way in which we gather information about the world. But human vision is a dynamic process during which the eyes continually sample the environment. Where most books on vision consider it as a passive activity, this book focuses on vision as an ‘active’ process. It goes beyond most accounts of vision where the focus is on seeing, to provide an account of seeing AND looking. The book starts by pointing out the weaknesses in our traditional approaches to vision and the reason we need this new approach. It then gives a thorough description of basic details of the visual and oculomotor systems necessary to understand active vision. The book goes on to show how this approach can give a new perspective on visual attention, and how the approach has progressed in the areas of visual orienting, reading, visual search, scene perception, and neuropsychology. Finally, the book summarizes progress by showing how this approach sheds new light on the old problem of how we maintain perception of a stable visual world.
Daniel Butt
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199218240
- eISBN:
- 9780191711589
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199218240.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory, International Relations and Politics
This chapter outlines a number of critical responses to the project of seeking to rectify historic injustice, and explains why they largely do not apply to international libertarian accounts of ...
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This chapter outlines a number of critical responses to the project of seeking to rectify historic injustice, and explains why they largely do not apply to international libertarian accounts of international justice. It distinguishes between backward-looking and forward-looking accounts of distributive justice in both ideal and non-ideal theory, and looks at how both accounts relate to ideas of rectificatory justice. If one advocates a forward-looking account of distributive justice, and so advocates a redistribution of resources with each new generation, then the rectificatory project will seem to be of little importance. However, this nonchalance in the face of historic injustice is unsustainable if one advocates backward-looking principles. Since international libertarians resist cosmopolitan calls for a generational redistribution of resources across political boundaries, they must carefully scrutinize the provenance of modern day distributions.Less
This chapter outlines a number of critical responses to the project of seeking to rectify historic injustice, and explains why they largely do not apply to international libertarian accounts of international justice. It distinguishes between backward-looking and forward-looking accounts of distributive justice in both ideal and non-ideal theory, and looks at how both accounts relate to ideas of rectificatory justice. If one advocates a forward-looking account of distributive justice, and so advocates a redistribution of resources with each new generation, then the rectificatory project will seem to be of little importance. However, this nonchalance in the face of historic injustice is unsustainable if one advocates backward-looking principles. Since international libertarians resist cosmopolitan calls for a generational redistribution of resources across political boundaries, they must carefully scrutinize the provenance of modern day distributions.
Daniel Butt
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199218240
- eISBN:
- 9780191711589
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199218240.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory, International Relations and Politics
This chapter lays out the account of justice between nations — international libertarianism — which the book uses to assess present day obligations arising from historic injustice. The first section ...
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This chapter lays out the account of justice between nations — international libertarianism — which the book uses to assess present day obligations arising from historic injustice. The first section outlines international libertarianism as a backward-looking account of international distributive justice, in contrast with forward-looking redistributive cosmopolitanism. The second section differentiates international libertarianism from prescriptive realism, by giving details of the principles of just international interaction which international libertarians believe should govern relations between different communities. These combine a respect for national self-determination with a prohibition on self-interested aggression. The third section considers the propriety of using these principles to judge historic international interaction, in the light of historically different beliefs about morality and the relatively recent development of international law. It concludes by considering the claim that historic departures from the principles might be seen as having been justified by necessity, and considers the duties of compensation which would result from such actions.Less
This chapter lays out the account of justice between nations — international libertarianism — which the book uses to assess present day obligations arising from historic injustice. The first section outlines international libertarianism as a backward-looking account of international distributive justice, in contrast with forward-looking redistributive cosmopolitanism. The second section differentiates international libertarianism from prescriptive realism, by giving details of the principles of just international interaction which international libertarians believe should govern relations between different communities. These combine a respect for national self-determination with a prohibition on self-interested aggression. The third section considers the propriety of using these principles to judge historic international interaction, in the light of historically different beliefs about morality and the relatively recent development of international law. It concludes by considering the claim that historic departures from the principles might be seen as having been justified by necessity, and considers the duties of compensation which would result from such actions.
George Sher
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195187427
- eISBN:
- 9780199786596
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195187423.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
This chapter develops a new account of what blame adds to the belief that someone has acted badly. According to the proposed account, the additional element consists of a set of dispositions (to ...
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This chapter develops a new account of what blame adds to the belief that someone has acted badly. According to the proposed account, the additional element consists of a set of dispositions (to become angry, express one’s disapproval, and the like) which are explained by the combination of the belief that the agent has acted badly and a desire that he not have done so. Unlike most desires, this one is oriented to the past rather than the future. Nevertheless, it remains a source of motivation that is capable of accounting for the blame-constituting dispositions.Less
This chapter develops a new account of what blame adds to the belief that someone has acted badly. According to the proposed account, the additional element consists of a set of dispositions (to become angry, express one’s disapproval, and the like) which are explained by the combination of the belief that the agent has acted badly and a desire that he not have done so. Unlike most desires, this one is oriented to the past rather than the future. Nevertheless, it remains a source of motivation that is capable of accounting for the blame-constituting dispositions.
Bill Brewer
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199260256
- eISBN:
- 9780191725470
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199260256.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This book presents, motivates, and defends a new solution to a fundamental problem in the philosophy of perception. What is the correct theoretical conception of perceptual experience, and how should ...
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This book presents, motivates, and defends a new solution to a fundamental problem in the philosophy of perception. What is the correct theoretical conception of perceptual experience, and how should we best understand the nature of our basic perceptual relation with the physical objects in the world around us? Most theorists today analyze perception in terms of its representational content, in large part in order to avoid fatal problems attending the early modern conception of perception as a relation with particular mind-dependent direct objects of experience. Having set up the underlying problem and explored the lessons to be learnt from the various difficulties faced by opposing early modern responses to it, it is argued that this contemporary approach has serious problems of its own. Furthermore, the early modern insight that perception is most fundamentally to be construed as a relation of conscious acquaintance with certain direct objects of experience is perfectly consistent with the commonsense identification of such direct objects with persisting mind-independent physical objects themselves. The resultant picture of perception as acquaintance from a given point of view and in certain specific circumstances with particular mind-independent physical objects offers a rich and nuanced account of the various ways such things look in perception that also accommodates illusion and hallucination. This solution is proposed and elaborated as the most satisfactory and defensible vindication of empirical realism.Less
This book presents, motivates, and defends a new solution to a fundamental problem in the philosophy of perception. What is the correct theoretical conception of perceptual experience, and how should we best understand the nature of our basic perceptual relation with the physical objects in the world around us? Most theorists today analyze perception in terms of its representational content, in large part in order to avoid fatal problems attending the early modern conception of perception as a relation with particular mind-dependent direct objects of experience. Having set up the underlying problem and explored the lessons to be learnt from the various difficulties faced by opposing early modern responses to it, it is argued that this contemporary approach has serious problems of its own. Furthermore, the early modern insight that perception is most fundamentally to be construed as a relation of conscious acquaintance with certain direct objects of experience is perfectly consistent with the commonsense identification of such direct objects with persisting mind-independent physical objects themselves. The resultant picture of perception as acquaintance from a given point of view and in certain specific circumstances with particular mind-independent physical objects offers a rich and nuanced account of the various ways such things look in perception that also accommodates illusion and hallucination. This solution is proposed and elaborated as the most satisfactory and defensible vindication of empirical realism.
Eviatar Zerubavel
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195187175
- eISBN:
- 9780199943371
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195187175.003.0003
- Subject:
- Sociology, Culture
This chapter explores institutionalized prohibitions against looking, listening, and speaking that help keep certain matters off-limits. It is noted that what is seen, heard, and talked about is ...
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This chapter explores institutionalized prohibitions against looking, listening, and speaking that help keep certain matters off-limits. It is noted that what is seen, heard, and talked about is influenced by both normative and political pressures. The role of power in the social organization of attention and discourse is then addressed. Power enables people to control the amount of information that is conveyed to them. It also involves control over the bounds of acceptable discourse and involves the ability to redirect others' attention by “changing the subject.” Silencing is used “as a weapon of subjugation…the suffocation of the Other's voice.” Imposing secrecy need not involve any verbal exchange at all, as when a potential witness is promoted or given a raise in tacit exchange for his or her silence, or when a child molester simply closes the blinds or locks the door. Silencing is thus often done in utter silence.Less
This chapter explores institutionalized prohibitions against looking, listening, and speaking that help keep certain matters off-limits. It is noted that what is seen, heard, and talked about is influenced by both normative and political pressures. The role of power in the social organization of attention and discourse is then addressed. Power enables people to control the amount of information that is conveyed to them. It also involves control over the bounds of acceptable discourse and involves the ability to redirect others' attention by “changing the subject.” Silencing is used “as a weapon of subjugation…the suffocation of the Other's voice.” Imposing secrecy need not involve any verbal exchange at all, as when a potential witness is promoted or given a raise in tacit exchange for his or her silence, or when a child molester simply closes the blinds or locks the door. Silencing is thus often done in utter silence.
Jay H. Jasonoff
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199249053
- eISBN:
- 9780191719370
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199249053.003.0008
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Semantics and Pragmatics
This final chapter reviews the ‘new look’ of the PIE verbal system in the light of the h2e-conjugation theory. In most respects, the new look is no different from the old since all the familiar IE ...
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This final chapter reviews the ‘new look’ of the PIE verbal system in the light of the h2e-conjugation theory. In most respects, the new look is no different from the old since all the familiar IE categories of person-number, tense-aspect, and voice are retained in the revised system. The only innovation is at the formal level: a certain number of present and aorist actives that traditionally would have been set up with the active endings *-m(i), *-s(i), etc. are said here to have taken the ‘perfect’ (=h2e-conjugation) endings *-h h2e, *-t h2e, etc. While it is interesting to speculate on how this state of affairs could have arisen, it cannot be emphasized too strongly that the origin of the h2e-conjugation, which lends itself to educated guesswork, is a separate matter from the fact of the h2e-conjugation, which is guaranteed by the comparative method.Less
This final chapter reviews the ‘new look’ of the PIE verbal system in the light of the h2e-conjugation theory. In most respects, the new look is no different from the old since all the familiar IE categories of person-number, tense-aspect, and voice are retained in the revised system. The only innovation is at the formal level: a certain number of present and aorist actives that traditionally would have been set up with the active endings *-m(i), *-s(i), etc. are said here to have taken the ‘perfect’ (=h2e-conjugation) endings *-h h2e, *-t h2e, etc. While it is interesting to speculate on how this state of affairs could have arisen, it cannot be emphasized too strongly that the origin of the h2e-conjugation, which lends itself to educated guesswork, is a separate matter from the fact of the h2e-conjugation, which is guaranteed by the comparative method.
Janette Atkinson
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198525998
- eISBN:
- 9780191712395
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198525998.003.0002
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
This chapter describes some of the methods used for testing vision in infants and young children in research and clinical assessment, including behavioural measures from observing eye movements ...
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This chapter describes some of the methods used for testing vision in infants and young children in research and clinical assessment, including behavioural measures from observing eye movements (forced choice preferential looking /habituation), video/photorefraction, and visual evoked potentials (VEP) or visual event related potentials (VERP). It outlines how these methods have been used and compared, including the use of forced-choice preferential looking for acuity testing and acuity measures in preschool children using the Cambridge Crowding Cards, devised in the Visual Development Unit. It describes the subtests from the Atkinson Battery of Child Development for Examining Functional Vision (ABCDEFV), a behavioural battery which assesses children's functional use of sensory, perceptual, and cognitive vision, from birth to five years.Less
This chapter describes some of the methods used for testing vision in infants and young children in research and clinical assessment, including behavioural measures from observing eye movements (forced choice preferential looking /habituation), video/photorefraction, and visual evoked potentials (VEP) or visual event related potentials (VERP). It outlines how these methods have been used and compared, including the use of forced-choice preferential looking for acuity testing and acuity measures in preschool children using the Cambridge Crowding Cards, devised in the Visual Development Unit. It describes the subtests from the Atkinson Battery of Child Development for Examining Functional Vision (ABCDEFV), a behavioural battery which assesses children's functional use of sensory, perceptual, and cognitive vision, from birth to five years.
Janette Atkinson
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198525998
- eISBN:
- 9780191712395
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198525998.003.0004
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
This chapter considers the visual capabilities of the normal newborn infant, starting with crude visual orienting behaviour towards visually conspicuous objects. The evidence for a specific ability ...
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This chapter considers the visual capabilities of the normal newborn infant, starting with crude visual orienting behaviour towards visually conspicuous objects. The evidence for a specific ability in newborns to recognize face configurations, and its possible neural underpinnings is reviewed. Studies that measure the development of acuity and contrast sensitivity from birth are discussed, including the likely optical, retinal, and neural factors limiting these processes, and the relationship between measurements based on preferential looking and those obtained by VEP/VERP methods. It presents data from two unique intensive longitudinal studies of the author's daughters, Fleur and Ione, on development of contrast sensitivity and acuity. The results show that compared across many testing sessions, OKN (optokinetic nystagmus), VEPs, and preferential looking measures show broad agreement in the time course of development of contrast sensitivity.Less
This chapter considers the visual capabilities of the normal newborn infant, starting with crude visual orienting behaviour towards visually conspicuous objects. The evidence for a specific ability in newborns to recognize face configurations, and its possible neural underpinnings is reviewed. Studies that measure the development of acuity and contrast sensitivity from birth are discussed, including the likely optical, retinal, and neural factors limiting these processes, and the relationship between measurements based on preferential looking and those obtained by VEP/VERP methods. It presents data from two unique intensive longitudinal studies of the author's daughters, Fleur and Ione, on development of contrast sensitivity and acuity. The results show that compared across many testing sessions, OKN (optokinetic nystagmus), VEPs, and preferential looking measures show broad agreement in the time course of development of contrast sensitivity.
Patrick Dattalo
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195378351
- eISBN:
- 9780199864645
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195378351.003.0002
- Subject:
- Social Work, Research and Evaluation
This chapter begins with a discussion of external validity and sampling bias. Next, the rationale and limitations of RS as a way to maximize external validity and minimize sampling bias are ...
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This chapter begins with a discussion of external validity and sampling bias. Next, the rationale and limitations of RS as a way to maximize external validity and minimize sampling bias are presented. Then, the following alternatives and supplements to RS will be presented in terms of their assumptions, implementations, strengths, and weaknesses: (1) deliberate sampling for diversity and typicalness; and (2) sequential sampling. Deliberate sampling for diversity and typicalness and sequential sampling are methodological alternatives for RS.Less
This chapter begins with a discussion of external validity and sampling bias. Next, the rationale and limitations of RS as a way to maximize external validity and minimize sampling bias are presented. Then, the following alternatives and supplements to RS will be presented in terms of their assumptions, implementations, strengths, and weaknesses: (1) deliberate sampling for diversity and typicalness; and (2) sequential sampling. Deliberate sampling for diversity and typicalness and sequential sampling are methodological alternatives for RS.
Ingmar Persson
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199276905
- eISBN:
- 9780191603198
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199276900.003.0031
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This chapter takes a preview of the argument of part V. It draws the fundamental distinction between direct and ultimate responsibility. Direct responsibility is the responsibility we have for our ...
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This chapter takes a preview of the argument of part V. It draws the fundamental distinction between direct and ultimate responsibility. Direct responsibility is the responsibility we have for our actions in virtue of their being controlled by our intentions or foresight. This responsibility is compatible with determinism and sufficient for a forward-looking justification of punishment and reward, blame and praise. Ultimate responsibility requires that we are responsible for our intentions and other states in virtue of which we have direct responsibility. It is presupposed by backward-looking justification in terms of desert but, irrespective of whether determinism or indeterminism is correct, it is still the case that we are not ultimately responsible.Less
This chapter takes a preview of the argument of part V. It draws the fundamental distinction between direct and ultimate responsibility. Direct responsibility is the responsibility we have for our actions in virtue of their being controlled by our intentions or foresight. This responsibility is compatible with determinism and sufficient for a forward-looking justification of punishment and reward, blame and praise. Ultimate responsibility requires that we are responsible for our intentions and other states in virtue of which we have direct responsibility. It is presupposed by backward-looking justification in terms of desert but, irrespective of whether determinism or indeterminism is correct, it is still the case that we are not ultimately responsible.
Jerome Neu
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195314311
- eISBN:
- 9780199871780
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195314311.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
Modern rap battles are a continuation of the traditional dozens played by black male adolescents. Such insult rituals allow for the controlled expression of aggression and the defining of boundaries ...
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Modern rap battles are a continuation of the traditional dozens played by black male adolescents. Such insult rituals allow for the controlled expression of aggression and the defining of boundaries (between adolescents and their mothers as well as among peers). Still, there are limits, and what starts as playful insult sometimes crosses over into personal insult. The aggression is sometimes naked, as in Brazilian briga. Even looking at someone “the wrong way” can be a provocation in a world of macho honor. How we are looked at and how we are seen raise issues of who we are, of status and honor.Less
Modern rap battles are a continuation of the traditional dozens played by black male adolescents. Such insult rituals allow for the controlled expression of aggression and the defining of boundaries (between adolescents and their mothers as well as among peers). Still, there are limits, and what starts as playful insult sometimes crosses over into personal insult. The aggression is sometimes naked, as in Brazilian briga. Even looking at someone “the wrong way” can be a provocation in a world of macho honor. How we are looked at and how we are seen raise issues of who we are, of status and honor.
Robert Wyatt and John Andrew Johnson
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195327113
- eISBN:
- 9780199851249
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195327113.003.0019
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
This chapter presents an excerpt from Alec Wilder's 1972 book titled American Popular Song: The Great Innovators. This book is about the successful opening the musical Tip-Toes in December 1925, ...
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This chapter presents an excerpt from Alec Wilder's 1972 book titled American Popular Song: The Great Innovators. This book is about the successful opening the musical Tip-Toes in December 1925, which was written by George and Ira Gershwin. Wilder compares the show to other musicals and suggestes that it had the most excellent opening number in the song The Certain Feeling and the most number of memorable hit songs including Looking for a Boy, Sweet and Low-Down, and Nice Baby!. He also describes the uniqueness of George's compositions.Less
This chapter presents an excerpt from Alec Wilder's 1972 book titled American Popular Song: The Great Innovators. This book is about the successful opening the musical Tip-Toes in December 1925, which was written by George and Ira Gershwin. Wilder compares the show to other musicals and suggestes that it had the most excellent opening number in the song The Certain Feeling and the most number of memorable hit songs including Looking for a Boy, Sweet and Low-Down, and Nice Baby!. He also describes the uniqueness of George's compositions.
Hans Genberg
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- August 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199271405
- eISBN:
- 9780191601200
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199271402.003.0016
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic Systems
Countries in Eastern and Central Europe that are joining the European Union will eventually also join EMU. The process of accession entails a transition period at whose end the domestic currency is ...
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Countries in Eastern and Central Europe that are joining the European Union will eventually also join EMU. The process of accession entails a transition period at whose end the domestic currency is certain to be replaced by the euro. This chapter argues that this programmed demise of the domestic currency may bring about significant spontaneous euroization already during the transition period. If the euro is adopted by the private sector in anticipation of the official changeover, the country incurs a resource cost in the form of lost seignorage.Less
Countries in Eastern and Central Europe that are joining the European Union will eventually also join EMU. The process of accession entails a transition period at whose end the domestic currency is certain to be replaced by the euro. This chapter argues that this programmed demise of the domestic currency may bring about significant spontaneous euroization already during the transition period. If the euro is adopted by the private sector in anticipation of the official changeover, the country incurs a resource cost in the form of lost seignorage.
Thomas E. Hill Jr.
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199692002
- eISBN:
- 9780191741241
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199692002.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This chapter compares and contrasts rule-utilitarian and Kantian thinking about what moral rules should be accepted and what exceptions they should allow. We do not, and may never, know just what ...
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This chapter compares and contrasts rule-utilitarian and Kantian thinking about what moral rules should be accepted and what exceptions they should allow. We do not, and may never, know just what particular rules would maximize expected aggregate utility, and the relevant Kantian perspective is not a fully determinate decision procedure. So assessment by reference to putative counter-examples is unpromising. Nevertheless, the chapter offers four considerations for thinking that the Kantian way of assessing moral rules is more plausible than the rule-utilitarian way. The fundamental problem is that rule-utilitarianism gives an inadequate account of relevant moral reasons even if it does not clearly lead to counter-intuitive conclusions. Promoting utility (the general welfare, preference satisfaction, etc.) is not the only reason for moral permissions and requirements, for why certain commitments are morally worthy, and for why facts about the past matter. To have a right and moral permission to pursue one’s own projects in certain contexts, for example, it is not necessary that general adoption of a system of rules allowing it would maximize utility. Kantians and rule-utilitarians will no doubt agree that one should not in general commit murder to prevent a comparable murder, but arguably this is not simply a matter of the utility of accepting moral codes permitting or forbidding it. Further, we may question whether it is morally worthy to commit oneself to any set of rules solely because they are utility maximizing. Finally, although rule-utilitarianism can be expected to favor moral codes with some backward-looking requirements regarding fidelity, reparations, gratitude, and just deserts, we may doubt that their moral force stems entirely from forward-looking estimates of their effects on aggregate welfare.Less
This chapter compares and contrasts rule-utilitarian and Kantian thinking about what moral rules should be accepted and what exceptions they should allow. We do not, and may never, know just what particular rules would maximize expected aggregate utility, and the relevant Kantian perspective is not a fully determinate decision procedure. So assessment by reference to putative counter-examples is unpromising. Nevertheless, the chapter offers four considerations for thinking that the Kantian way of assessing moral rules is more plausible than the rule-utilitarian way. The fundamental problem is that rule-utilitarianism gives an inadequate account of relevant moral reasons even if it does not clearly lead to counter-intuitive conclusions. Promoting utility (the general welfare, preference satisfaction, etc.) is not the only reason for moral permissions and requirements, for why certain commitments are morally worthy, and for why facts about the past matter. To have a right and moral permission to pursue one’s own projects in certain contexts, for example, it is not necessary that general adoption of a system of rules allowing it would maximize utility. Kantians and rule-utilitarians will no doubt agree that one should not in general commit murder to prevent a comparable murder, but arguably this is not simply a matter of the utility of accepting moral codes permitting or forbidding it. Further, we may question whether it is morally worthy to commit oneself to any set of rules solely because they are utility maximizing. Finally, although rule-utilitarianism can be expected to favor moral codes with some backward-looking requirements regarding fidelity, reparations, gratitude, and just deserts, we may doubt that their moral force stems entirely from forward-looking estimates of their effects on aggregate welfare.
M. G. F. Martin
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195386196
- eISBN:
- 9780199866748
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195386196.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This paper is a discussion of the superficial: it concerns the semantics of looks statements and the nature of the looks objects have. The aim is to provide first a minimal semantics for looks ...
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This paper is a discussion of the superficial: it concerns the semantics of looks statements and the nature of the looks objects have. The aim is to provide first a minimal semantics for looks statements which accords with the intuitive truth conditions we ascribe to our talk of looks while remaining neutral about the underlying nature of perceptual experience; being neutral, for example, on the question whether perceptual experience is a representational state, or is the presentation of an array of sense-data. An account of the nature of looks is also offered which is parsimonious: I suggest that we can take ways of looking just to be the basic visible properties of objects, and that we do not need to recognize a special category of appearance properties beyond those properties we need to attribute to objects to make sense of the truth of visually grounded descriptions of them.Less
This paper is a discussion of the superficial: it concerns the semantics of looks statements and the nature of the looks objects have. The aim is to provide first a minimal semantics for looks statements which accords with the intuitive truth conditions we ascribe to our talk of looks while remaining neutral about the underlying nature of perceptual experience; being neutral, for example, on the question whether perceptual experience is a representational state, or is the presentation of an array of sense-data. An account of the nature of looks is also offered which is parsimonious: I suggest that we can take ways of looking just to be the basic visible properties of objects, and that we do not need to recognize a special category of appearance properties beyond those properties we need to attribute to objects to make sense of the truth of visually grounded descriptions of them.
Kelly S. Mix, Janellen Huttenlocher, and Susan Cohen Levine
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- April 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195123005
- eISBN:
- 9780199893959
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195123005.003.0002
- Subject:
- Psychology, Developmental Psychology
This chapter reviews the literature on infant quantification. This includes habituation studies that tested infants' discrimination of small sets, preferential looking studies that tested whether ...
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This chapter reviews the literature on infant quantification. This includes habituation studies that tested infants' discrimination of small sets, preferential looking studies that tested whether infants can detect relations between sets (e.g. equivalence), and other procedures that seemed to indicate infants performing simple calculations. For each body of evidence in support of early number concepts, evidence in support of alternative accounts is also provided. Taken together, it appears that the evidence for sensitivity to number in infancy is too weak and inconclusive to justify the strong claims based on it. In short, for every class of evidence of infant number concepts, there is a plausible counter-explanation which, in many cases, already has empirical support.Less
This chapter reviews the literature on infant quantification. This includes habituation studies that tested infants' discrimination of small sets, preferential looking studies that tested whether infants can detect relations between sets (e.g. equivalence), and other procedures that seemed to indicate infants performing simple calculations. For each body of evidence in support of early number concepts, evidence in support of alternative accounts is also provided. Taken together, it appears that the evidence for sensitivity to number in infancy is too weak and inconclusive to justify the strong claims based on it. In short, for every class of evidence of infant number concepts, there is a plausible counter-explanation which, in many cases, already has empirical support.
Lee Jussim
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195366600
- eISBN:
- 9780199933044
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195366600.003.0011
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
This chapter reviews some of the earliest research relating social perception to social reality. This includes some of the earliest (and classic) studies of stereotypes, the “New Look” in perception ...
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This chapter reviews some of the earliest research relating social perception to social reality. This includes some of the earliest (and classic) studies of stereotypes, the “New Look” in perception movement of the 1940s and 1950s, and some of the early classics of social perception research. Much of this work was interpreted by the original authors as demonstrating widespread flaws and biases in social judgment and is routinely interpreted in much the same manner by modern scholars. Nonetheless, this chapter shows that, in general, this early work either failed to demonstrate inaccuracy or provided far more evidence of accuracy than of error or bias.Less
This chapter reviews some of the earliest research relating social perception to social reality. This includes some of the earliest (and classic) studies of stereotypes, the “New Look” in perception movement of the 1940s and 1950s, and some of the early classics of social perception research. Much of this work was interpreted by the original authors as demonstrating widespread flaws and biases in social judgment and is routinely interpreted in much the same manner by modern scholars. Nonetheless, this chapter shows that, in general, this early work either failed to demonstrate inaccuracy or provided far more evidence of accuracy than of error or bias.
Michael Ruse
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691195957
- eISBN:
- 9781400888603
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691195957.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter talks about Aristotle who implied that knowledge is the object of inquiry, and men do not think they know a thing till they have grasped the “why” of it. He was not the first to raise ...
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This chapter talks about Aristotle who implied that knowledge is the object of inquiry, and men do not think they know a thing till they have grasped the “why” of it. He was not the first to raise the question of causation, for it was nigh an obsession of his philosophical predecessors, back through his teacher Plato, to Socrates, and to the earlier “pre-Socratic” thinkers, including Empedocles, Anaxagoras, and the atomist Democritus. They all grasped that in some sense causation is both a backward-looking and forward-looking matter. Backward-looking in the sense that this happens because a hammer was picked up and used to hit the head of the nail; forward-looking in the sense that this happens because the builder wants to tie the planks together to support a roof. The chapter also argues that the forward-looking side to causation lends itself to different approaches: “external” teleology, “internal teleology,” and “eliminative” or, more positively, “heuristic” teleology.Less
This chapter talks about Aristotle who implied that knowledge is the object of inquiry, and men do not think they know a thing till they have grasped the “why” of it. He was not the first to raise the question of causation, for it was nigh an obsession of his philosophical predecessors, back through his teacher Plato, to Socrates, and to the earlier “pre-Socratic” thinkers, including Empedocles, Anaxagoras, and the atomist Democritus. They all grasped that in some sense causation is both a backward-looking and forward-looking matter. Backward-looking in the sense that this happens because a hammer was picked up and used to hit the head of the nail; forward-looking in the sense that this happens because the builder wants to tie the planks together to support a roof. The chapter also argues that the forward-looking side to causation lends itself to different approaches: “external” teleology, “internal teleology,” and “eliminative” or, more positively, “heuristic” teleology.
Paul Snowdon
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199573301
- eISBN:
- 9780191722172
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199573301.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This chapter locates Sellars's discussion of perception in ‘Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind’ within the context of his discussion of the myth of the given. It argues that his criticisms of the ...
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This chapter locates Sellars's discussion of perception in ‘Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind’ within the context of his discussion of the myth of the given. It argues that his criticisms of the traditional sense datum theory are insightful but in some respects indecisive. It is further argued that Sellars's account of our thought about perception contains important insights in his treatment of looks-judgments, but that he mis-describes in a fundamental way our understanding of such talk, and that more mistakes creep into his account when he links our thought about perception to the second myth of Jones.Less
This chapter locates Sellars's discussion of perception in ‘Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind’ within the context of his discussion of the myth of the given. It argues that his criticisms of the traditional sense datum theory are insightful but in some respects indecisive. It is further argued that Sellars's account of our thought about perception contains important insights in his treatment of looks-judgments, but that he mis-describes in a fundamental way our understanding of such talk, and that more mistakes creep into his account when he links our thought about perception to the second myth of Jones.
