Andreas Herberg‐Rothe
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199202690
- eISBN:
- 9780191707834
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199202690.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
The problem with Clausewitz's world-renowned formula depends on an internal tension within his concept of policy/politics. This tension invalidates neither his formula nor his theory, but it has to ...
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The problem with Clausewitz's world-renowned formula depends on an internal tension within his concept of policy/politics. This tension invalidates neither his formula nor his theory, but it has to be unfolded in order that the formula could serve as an analytical tool. Otherwise, the formula would become a dogma. Clausewitz emphasized this fundamental tension only indirectly by saying that war is the continuation of policy, but with ‘other means’. Peter Paret has clearly revealed this tension by declaring: ‘The readiness to fight and the readiness to compromise lie at the core of politics’. By following up this tension in Clausewitz's work, this chapter introduces a ‘small’ change in the understanding of what Clausewitz endorses with a ‘state’: nothing else than any kind of community. By taking this ‘small’ change into account, it argues that Clausewitz's trinity enables a general theory of war.Less
The problem with Clausewitz's world-renowned formula depends on an internal tension within his concept of policy/politics. This tension invalidates neither his formula nor his theory, but it has to be unfolded in order that the formula could serve as an analytical tool. Otherwise, the formula would become a dogma. Clausewitz emphasized this fundamental tension only indirectly by saying that war is the continuation of policy, but with ‘other means’. Peter Paret has clearly revealed this tension by declaring: ‘The readiness to fight and the readiness to compromise lie at the core of politics’. By following up this tension in Clausewitz's work, this chapter introduces a ‘small’ change in the understanding of what Clausewitz endorses with a ‘state’: nothing else than any kind of community. By taking this ‘small’ change into account, it argues that Clausewitz's trinity enables a general theory of war.
Asifa Hussain and William Miller
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199280711
- eISBN:
- 9780191604102
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199280711.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics
Questions in the 2003 Scottish Social Attitudes Survey were used to compare Islamophobia with four other Scottish phobias: sectarianism (primarily anti-Catholic), and phobias about Europe, Asylum ...
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Questions in the 2003 Scottish Social Attitudes Survey were used to compare Islamophobia with four other Scottish phobias: sectarianism (primarily anti-Catholic), and phobias about Europe, Asylum seekers, and ‘the auld enemy’(England). Social factors affected all phobias the same way, but political factors discriminated. Conservative voters scored low on Anglophobia but high on every other phobia; SNP voters scored high on Anglophobia but not on other phobias. This suggested that Anglophobia itself displaced Islamophobia by providing another target, and that England itself helped reduce within-Scotland phobias by providing Scots with a common, external and very significant ‘other’. Scotland is too small, too peripheral, and too insignificant to play a corresponding role in displacing phobias within England. However, by stimulating English nationalism without providing a truly significant ‘other’, Scottish nationalism may actually increase Islamophobia in England, but not in Scotland.Less
Questions in the 2003 Scottish Social Attitudes Survey were used to compare Islamophobia with four other Scottish phobias: sectarianism (primarily anti-Catholic), and phobias about Europe, Asylum seekers, and ‘the auld enemy’(England). Social factors affected all phobias the same way, but political factors discriminated. Conservative voters scored low on Anglophobia but high on every other phobia; SNP voters scored high on Anglophobia but not on other phobias. This suggested that Anglophobia itself displaced Islamophobia by providing another target, and that England itself helped reduce within-Scotland phobias by providing Scots with a common, external and very significant ‘other’. Scotland is too small, too peripheral, and too insignificant to play a corresponding role in displacing phobias within England. However, by stimulating English nationalism without providing a truly significant ‘other’, Scottish nationalism may actually increase Islamophobia in England, but not in Scotland.
Quassim Cassam
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199208319
- eISBN:
- 9780191708992
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199208319.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
How is knowledge of the external world possible? How is knowledge of other minds possible? How is a priori knowledge possible? These are all examples of ‘how-possible’ questions in epistemology. In ...
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How is knowledge of the external world possible? How is knowledge of other minds possible? How is a priori knowledge possible? These are all examples of ‘how-possible’ questions in epistemology. In general, we ask how knowledge, or knowledge of some specific kind, is possible when we encounter obstacles to its existence or acquisition. So the question is: how is knowledge possible given the various factors that make it look impossible? A satisfactory answer to such a question will therefore need to do several different things. In essence, explaining how a particular kind of knowledge is possible is a matter of identifying ways of acquiring it, overcoming or dissipating obstacles to its acquisition, and figuring out what makes it possible to acquire it. To respond to a how-possible question in this way is to go in for what might be called a ‘multi-levels’ approach. The aim of this book is to develop and defend this approach.Less
How is knowledge of the external world possible? How is knowledge of other minds possible? How is a priori knowledge possible? These are all examples of ‘how-possible’ questions in epistemology. In general, we ask how knowledge, or knowledge of some specific kind, is possible when we encounter obstacles to its existence or acquisition. So the question is: how is knowledge possible given the various factors that make it look impossible? A satisfactory answer to such a question will therefore need to do several different things. In essence, explaining how a particular kind of knowledge is possible is a matter of identifying ways of acquiring it, overcoming or dissipating obstacles to its acquisition, and figuring out what makes it possible to acquire it. To respond to a how-possible question in this way is to go in for what might be called a ‘multi-levels’ approach. The aim of this book is to develop and defend this approach.
Stephen G. Post
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195182910
- eISBN:
- 9780199786794
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195182910.003.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Health Psychology
This introductory chapter begins by defining the term altruism. Altruism, for the purposes of this volume, refers to a fundamental orientation of the agent that is primarily ‘other-regarding’, in ...
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This introductory chapter begins by defining the term altruism. Altruism, for the purposes of this volume, refers to a fundamental orientation of the agent that is primarily ‘other-regarding’, in contrast to one that is primarily self-regarding. Altruistic (benevolent, kind, compassionate, charitable) individuals, motivated with little or no interest in reciprocity or reputation gain, may enjoy enhanced health, broadly defined. An overview of the four parts of the book is also presented.Less
This introductory chapter begins by defining the term altruism. Altruism, for the purposes of this volume, refers to a fundamental orientation of the agent that is primarily ‘other-regarding’, in contrast to one that is primarily self-regarding. Altruistic (benevolent, kind, compassionate, charitable) individuals, motivated with little or no interest in reciprocity or reputation gain, may enjoy enhanced health, broadly defined. An overview of the four parts of the book is also presented.
David B. Wong
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195305395
- eISBN:
- 9780199786657
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195305396.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
It is argued that moral ambivalence is best explained through a naturalistic approach that construes morality as a social invention for promoting and regulating social cooperation. Morality ...
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It is argued that moral ambivalence is best explained through a naturalistic approach that construes morality as a social invention for promoting and regulating social cooperation. Morality accomplishes this function through the shaping not only of behavior but also of motivational structures in human beings. Biological and cultural evolutionary theories identify plausible bases for the emergence of such an invention (e.g., the strength of self-concern combined with capacities to develop other concern, reliance on cultural norms to regulate and direct behavior and motivation). Such bases, together with the common conditions of social cooperation constrain the variety of ways that the function of morality could be fulfilled (e.g., norms of reciprocity are required, and justifications for the subordination of the interests of some to that of others). Within these constraints a plurality of moralities can be true. It is explained how the conditions for what counts as a true morality can vary with the meaning of moral concepts.Less
It is argued that moral ambivalence is best explained through a naturalistic approach that construes morality as a social invention for promoting and regulating social cooperation. Morality accomplishes this function through the shaping not only of behavior but also of motivational structures in human beings. Biological and cultural evolutionary theories identify plausible bases for the emergence of such an invention (e.g., the strength of self-concern combined with capacities to develop other concern, reliance on cultural norms to regulate and direct behavior and motivation). Such bases, together with the common conditions of social cooperation constrain the variety of ways that the function of morality could be fulfilled (e.g., norms of reciprocity are required, and justifications for the subordination of the interests of some to that of others). Within these constraints a plurality of moralities can be true. It is explained how the conditions for what counts as a true morality can vary with the meaning of moral concepts.
David B. Wong
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195305395
- eISBN:
- 9780199786657
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195305396.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
This chapter responds to the following objections against pluralistic relativism: it is unable to explain moral disagreement; it undermines confidence in one’s moral commitments; it makes learning ...
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This chapter responds to the following objections against pluralistic relativism: it is unable to explain moral disagreement; it undermines confidence in one’s moral commitments; it makes learning from other cultures impossible; the notion of “local” criteria of adequacy for moralities cannot be regarded as criteria at all; it is not a form of relativism but rather a form of pluralism simpliciter; there is nothing like the fixed human nature presupposed in the argument for it; the functional conception of morality is biased toward consequentialist moralities.Less
This chapter responds to the following objections against pluralistic relativism: it is unable to explain moral disagreement; it undermines confidence in one’s moral commitments; it makes learning from other cultures impossible; the notion of “local” criteria of adequacy for moralities cannot be regarded as criteria at all; it is not a form of relativism but rather a form of pluralism simpliciter; there is nothing like the fixed human nature presupposed in the argument for it; the functional conception of morality is biased toward consequentialist moralities.
Robert C. Solomon
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195181579
- eISBN:
- 9780199786602
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195181573.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Sartre’s No Exit is a conscientiously trite play that explores some profound truths about what Sartre (in Being and Nothingness) calls Being-for-Others. No Exit presents us with three perverse ...
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Sartre’s No Exit is a conscientiously trite play that explores some profound truths about what Sartre (in Being and Nothingness) calls Being-for-Others. No Exit presents us with three perverse characters in Hell who are forced to spend eternity together. The play explores the nature of human relationships, how people deceive one another and deceive themselves. Sartre’s conclusion is “Hell is other people”.Less
Sartre’s No Exit is a conscientiously trite play that explores some profound truths about what Sartre (in Being and Nothingness) calls Being-for-Others. No Exit presents us with three perverse characters in Hell who are forced to spend eternity together. The play explores the nature of human relationships, how people deceive one another and deceive themselves. Sartre’s conclusion is “Hell is other people”.
Steven Kepnes
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195313819
- eISBN:
- 9780199785650
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195313819.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
Cohen's Religion of Reason is based on careful textual reasonings of Torah and creative interpretations of Jewish liturgies such as the Sabbath and High Holidays. Cohen places liturgy at the crucial ...
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Cohen's Religion of Reason is based on careful textual reasonings of Torah and creative interpretations of Jewish liturgies such as the Sabbath and High Holidays. Cohen places liturgy at the crucial bridge points between the self and the other, the self and the community, and the self and God. Cohen uses liturgy to map out a path for the growth of the self into moral autonomy. I refer to this moral self as a “liturgical self.” What Cohen's liturgical self explains, and Kantian ethics does not, is how the individual becomes at once autonomous and moral, at once for others, for itself, and for its community. Cohen's textual and liturgical thinking makes him an important resource to critique both modern foundational and postmodern views of the self‐other relation.Less
Cohen's Religion of Reason is based on careful textual reasonings of Torah and creative interpretations of Jewish liturgies such as the Sabbath and High Holidays. Cohen places liturgy at the crucial bridge points between the self and the other, the self and the community, and the self and God. Cohen uses liturgy to map out a path for the growth of the self into moral autonomy. I refer to this moral self as a “liturgical self.” What Cohen's liturgical self explains, and Kantian ethics does not, is how the individual becomes at once autonomous and moral, at once for others, for itself, and for its community. Cohen's textual and liturgical thinking makes him an important resource to critique both modern foundational and postmodern views of the self‐other relation.
Bonnie Mann
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195187458
- eISBN:
- 9780199786565
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195187458.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy
The turn of the century was marked by a preoccupation with relationships of Otherness, both internal and external to Europe. In establishing his difference from these Others, the Euro-masculine ...
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The turn of the century was marked by a preoccupation with relationships of Otherness, both internal and external to Europe. In establishing his difference from these Others, the Euro-masculine subject also established himself. The very possibility of erecting a convincing edifice of freedom, autonomy, and sovereignty rested on what he did with these Others. Kant wrote his Observations and, more than two decades later, his “Analytic of the Sublime” in the midst of these debates. He attempted to sort through the confusions that characterized the Euro-masculine relation to Others, both as a philosopher and as one of the founders of the new field of anthropology. This chapter discusses these confusions based on two general sets of paradoxes: the paradox of space and the paradox of time. The first paradox considers these sorts of questions: where are the Others of the Euro-masculine subject in relation to him — inside or outside? What kind of space or place does this subject inhabit? Is a woman a part of a man? If so then how is it that a man is not partly a woman? How is this subject's spatial self-constitution built around a man's spatial relations to nature and women? The second paradox considers questions of time and sequence: what kind of time does this subject inhabit? What kind of time inhabits him? Where are others in this subject's time? Are racialized others that I encounter encountered in my time? How is temporal self-constitution built around temporal relations to racialized others?Less
The turn of the century was marked by a preoccupation with relationships of Otherness, both internal and external to Europe. In establishing his difference from these Others, the Euro-masculine subject also established himself. The very possibility of erecting a convincing edifice of freedom, autonomy, and sovereignty rested on what he did with these Others. Kant wrote his Observations and, more than two decades later, his “Analytic of the Sublime” in the midst of these debates. He attempted to sort through the confusions that characterized the Euro-masculine relation to Others, both as a philosopher and as one of the founders of the new field of anthropology. This chapter discusses these confusions based on two general sets of paradoxes: the paradox of space and the paradox of time. The first paradox considers these sorts of questions: where are the Others of the Euro-masculine subject in relation to him — inside or outside? What kind of space or place does this subject inhabit? Is a woman a part of a man? If so then how is it that a man is not partly a woman? How is this subject's spatial self-constitution built around a man's spatial relations to nature and women? The second paradox considers questions of time and sequence: what kind of time does this subject inhabit? What kind of time inhabits him? Where are others in this subject's time? Are racialized others that I encounter encountered in my time? How is temporal self-constitution built around temporal relations to racialized others?
Lorraine Code
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195159431
- eISBN:
- 9780199786411
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195159438.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy
Although knowing other people often seems to offer better exemplars of the complexity of knowing than does knowing medium-sized physical objects, the scope and limits of such knowledge need to be ...
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Although knowing other people often seems to offer better exemplars of the complexity of knowing than does knowing medium-sized physical objects, the scope and limits of such knowledge need to be examined. It is unclear how well anyone can imagine/claim to know another person’s experiences, circumstances, situation, feelings; and expressions of empathy are often imperialistic, insensitive, coercive, intrusive. Considering Mark Johnson’s The Moral Imagination, and Marguerite La Caze’s work on the arrogance of the analytic imaginary according to which anyone can, with a little effort, imagine being in someone else’s shoes, this chapter addresses the difficulties of knowing well enough to think responsibly, beyond one’s “own” situation. How might such thinking be possible, and who, specifically, is in a position to claim such knowledge? Issues of vulnerability, both as exposed in the Oxford Amnesty Lectures 1992, and in Susan Brison’s accounts of the aftermath of a brutal rape inform the analysis.Less
Although knowing other people often seems to offer better exemplars of the complexity of knowing than does knowing medium-sized physical objects, the scope and limits of such knowledge need to be examined. It is unclear how well anyone can imagine/claim to know another person’s experiences, circumstances, situation, feelings; and expressions of empathy are often imperialistic, insensitive, coercive, intrusive. Considering Mark Johnson’s The Moral Imagination, and Marguerite La Caze’s work on the arrogance of the analytic imaginary according to which anyone can, with a little effort, imagine being in someone else’s shoes, this chapter addresses the difficulties of knowing well enough to think responsibly, beyond one’s “own” situation. How might such thinking be possible, and who, specifically, is in a position to claim such knowledge? Issues of vulnerability, both as exposed in the Oxford Amnesty Lectures 1992, and in Susan Brison’s accounts of the aftermath of a brutal rape inform the analysis.
Sydney D. Bailey and Sam Daws
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198280736
- eISBN:
- 9780191598746
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198280734.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Looks at the people that make up the UN Security Council. It starts with sections on the Secretary‐General and the President, and goes on to discuss permanent members (of which there are five — from ...
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Looks at the people that make up the UN Security Council. It starts with sections on the Secretary‐General and the President, and goes on to discuss permanent members (of which there are five — from China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States) and non‐permanent members, of which details are given for each year from 1946 to 1997. The next section gives details of other participants in the UN Security Council: UN member states that are non‐members of the Council; the PLO/Permanent Observer for Palestine; the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia; UN member states that are non‐members of the Council in informal consultations of the whole; troop‐contributing states; individuals and regional organizations. The next two sections of the chapter discuss permanent missions of member states to the Council, and groups (bodies of UN members) within the Council with certain ideological or regional interests. The remaining sections discuss regionalism, credentials, the representation of China and diplomatic precedence.Less
Looks at the people that make up the UN Security Council. It starts with sections on the Secretary‐General and the President, and goes on to discuss permanent members (of which there are five — from China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States) and non‐permanent members, of which details are given for each year from 1946 to 1997. The next section gives details of other participants in the UN Security Council: UN member states that are non‐members of the Council; the PLO/Permanent Observer for Palestine; the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia; UN member states that are non‐members of the Council in informal consultations of the whole; troop‐contributing states; individuals and regional organizations. The next two sections of the chapter discuss permanent missions of member states to the Council, and groups (bodies of UN members) within the Council with certain ideological or regional interests. The remaining sections discuss regionalism, credentials, the representation of China and diplomatic precedence.
Alvin I. Goldman
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195138924
- eISBN:
- 9780199786480
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195138929.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
Most cognitive scientists and many philosophers of mind resist the traditional notion that the mind has a special method of monitoring or accessing its own current mental states. We review the ...
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Most cognitive scientists and many philosophers of mind resist the traditional notion that the mind has a special method of monitoring or accessing its own current mental states. We review the critiques of both philosophers (Wittgenstein, Burge, Shoemaker) and cognitive scientists (Gazzaniga, Nisbett and Wilson, Gopnik), based on confabulation or self/other parallelism, and find all to be wanting. We then examine the more congenial monitoring account of Nichols and Stich, but find it incapable of handling the problem of attitude-type identification. A nuanced special-method approach is presented that combines introspection (inner recognition) for self-attributing state-types and redeployment for self-attributing attitude contents. The question of what the input-properties are for introspection is addressed at length.Less
Most cognitive scientists and many philosophers of mind resist the traditional notion that the mind has a special method of monitoring or accessing its own current mental states. We review the critiques of both philosophers (Wittgenstein, Burge, Shoemaker) and cognitive scientists (Gazzaniga, Nisbett and Wilson, Gopnik), based on confabulation or self/other parallelism, and find all to be wanting. We then examine the more congenial monitoring account of Nichols and Stich, but find it incapable of handling the problem of attitude-type identification. A nuanced special-method approach is presented that combines introspection (inner recognition) for self-attributing state-types and redeployment for self-attributing attitude contents. The question of what the input-properties are for introspection is addressed at length.
S.C. Dube
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198077312
- eISBN:
- 9780199081158
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198077312.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Stratification, Inequality, and Mobility
This book takes a comprehensive look at the Kamar tribe, an aboriginal tribe located within the Central Province (present day Chhattisgarh) of India. It presents an anthropological monograph on the ...
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This book takes a comprehensive look at the Kamar tribe, an aboriginal tribe located within the Central Province (present day Chhattisgarh) of India. It presents an anthropological monograph on the tribe, starting with a basic description of its location, population, and organization. The rest of the book is devoted to several aspects of the Kamar culture, including tribal law, its myths and rituals, attitudes towards marriage and sex, and religious ceremonies and rituals. The final part of the book focuses on the various changes that have occurred within the Kamar tribe due to the influences of other castes, tribes, and cultures. In order to clearly demonstrate the tribal organization, physical appearance, and sources of livelihood of the Kamars, several photographs and illustrations have been provided throughout the book.Less
This book takes a comprehensive look at the Kamar tribe, an aboriginal tribe located within the Central Province (present day Chhattisgarh) of India. It presents an anthropological monograph on the tribe, starting with a basic description of its location, population, and organization. The rest of the book is devoted to several aspects of the Kamar culture, including tribal law, its myths and rituals, attitudes towards marriage and sex, and religious ceremonies and rituals. The final part of the book focuses on the various changes that have occurred within the Kamar tribe due to the influences of other castes, tribes, and cultures. In order to clearly demonstrate the tribal organization, physical appearance, and sources of livelihood of the Kamars, several photographs and illustrations have been provided throughout the book.
John Wall
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195182569
- eISBN:
- 9780199835737
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195182561.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
A more complex dimension of moral creativity is involved in the deontological problem of responsibility toward “the other” in the sense of otherness, alterity, or irreducibility to the self. Immanuel ...
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A more complex dimension of moral creativity is involved in the deontological problem of responsibility toward “the other” in the sense of otherness, alterity, or irreducibility to the self. Immanuel Kant’s obscuring of this problem of otherness can be attributed in part to his separation of ethics from poetics (or aesthetics) in his second and third critiques. Paul Ricoeur shows that Kantian moral freedom is always in poetic tension with the passivity of the command not to do violence to otherness. Beyond Ricoeur, however, the other should be understood more radically as not just another self like oneself but, as Emmanuel Levinas and others argue, itself the transcending origin of the moral command as an invisible face of the Wholly Other. Moral creativity in its deontological sense combines Ricoeur’s Christian and Levinas’ Jewish interpretations of “the other” in a more profoundly presupposed mythology of humanity as an image of its Creator, so that others in particular originate or create a love command to selves who are in turn called to a negative moral poetics of creating others an ever less violent and reductive response.Less
A more complex dimension of moral creativity is involved in the deontological problem of responsibility toward “the other” in the sense of otherness, alterity, or irreducibility to the self. Immanuel Kant’s obscuring of this problem of otherness can be attributed in part to his separation of ethics from poetics (or aesthetics) in his second and third critiques. Paul Ricoeur shows that Kantian moral freedom is always in poetic tension with the passivity of the command not to do violence to otherness. Beyond Ricoeur, however, the other should be understood more radically as not just another self like oneself but, as Emmanuel Levinas and others argue, itself the transcending origin of the moral command as an invisible face of the Wholly Other. Moral creativity in its deontological sense combines Ricoeur’s Christian and Levinas’ Jewish interpretations of “the other” in a more profoundly presupposed mythology of humanity as an image of its Creator, so that others in particular originate or create a love command to selves who are in turn called to a negative moral poetics of creating others an ever less violent and reductive response.
Sydney D. Bailey and Sam Daws
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198280736
- eISBN:
- 9780191598746
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198280734.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Discusses relations of the UN Security Council with other organs. The first organ discussed is the UN Military Staff Committee, for which a chronology of activities and instructions is given for the ...
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Discusses relations of the UN Security Council with other organs. The first organ discussed is the UN Military Staff Committee, for which a chronology of activities and instructions is given for the period 1946–1996. The next is the UN General Assembly: aspects of this body discussed include elections and appointments, annual and special reports, threats to peace and security, special sessions, subsidiary organs, action relating to UN membership, financing peacekeeping operations, and the election of non‐members of the Council. Other organs discussed are the UN Economic and Social Council, the UN Trusteeship Council (now of historical interest only), the UN International Court of Justice, and non‐governmental organizations. The final section of the chapter discusses the appointment of the Secretary‐General of the UN.Less
Discusses relations of the UN Security Council with other organs. The first organ discussed is the UN Military Staff Committee, for which a chronology of activities and instructions is given for the period 1946–1996. The next is the UN General Assembly: aspects of this body discussed include elections and appointments, annual and special reports, threats to peace and security, special sessions, subsidiary organs, action relating to UN membership, financing peacekeeping operations, and the election of non‐members of the Council. Other organs discussed are the UN Economic and Social Council, the UN Trusteeship Council (now of historical interest only), the UN International Court of Justice, and non‐governmental organizations. The final section of the chapter discusses the appointment of the Secretary‐General of the UN.
George Pattison
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199588688
- eISBN:
- 9780191723339
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199588688.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Hegel's dialectic of masters and slaves shows how the question of Being becomes entangled in the conflicts of self-conscious agents. Hegel resolves such conflicts in the course of history and speaks ...
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Hegel's dialectic of masters and slaves shows how the question of Being becomes entangled in the conflicts of self-conscious agents. Hegel resolves such conflicts in the course of history and speaks of a final state of Being-in-and-for-itself. Hegelian optimism is denied by Sartre, for whom the positing of the for-itself brings about a state of perpetual conflict. But even if a positive relation to the Other is conceivable, will it be a relation of being? If love can cross the divide of otherness, can love assure us as to the being of the one who is the object of love? Whilst it is possible to envisage a community of love as an eschatological possibility of human existence, the role of freedom would seem to stretch the language of ontology to breaking point, a point explored with reference to Derrida's politics of friendship and the Russian religious philosophers' notion of sobornost'.Less
Hegel's dialectic of masters and slaves shows how the question of Being becomes entangled in the conflicts of self-conscious agents. Hegel resolves such conflicts in the course of history and speaks of a final state of Being-in-and-for-itself. Hegelian optimism is denied by Sartre, for whom the positing of the for-itself brings about a state of perpetual conflict. But even if a positive relation to the Other is conceivable, will it be a relation of being? If love can cross the divide of otherness, can love assure us as to the being of the one who is the object of love? Whilst it is possible to envisage a community of love as an eschatological possibility of human existence, the role of freedom would seem to stretch the language of ontology to breaking point, a point explored with reference to Derrida's politics of friendship and the Russian religious philosophers' notion of sobornost'.
Alvin I. Goldman
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195138924
- eISBN:
- 9780199786480
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195138929.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
A brief overview and mini-history of the subject of mindreading are presented. Philosophers were the first to worry about the folk understanding of other minds and the distinctive nature of ...
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A brief overview and mini-history of the subject of mindreading are presented. Philosophers were the first to worry about the folk understanding of other minds and the distinctive nature of self-knowledge. They advanced the view that “folk psychology” presupposes a naive theory of mind. Empirical evidence about young children’s poor performance on false-belief tasks and about the link between autism and “mindblindness” spurred interest among developmental psychologists and psychopathologists. The central questions for a comprehensive theory of mindreading are (1) how people mindread others, (2) how they mindread themselves, (3) how they acquire their mindreading abilities, and (4) what is the content of mental-state concepts.Less
A brief overview and mini-history of the subject of mindreading are presented. Philosophers were the first to worry about the folk understanding of other minds and the distinctive nature of self-knowledge. They advanced the view that “folk psychology” presupposes a naive theory of mind. Empirical evidence about young children’s poor performance on false-belief tasks and about the link between autism and “mindblindness” spurred interest among developmental psychologists and psychopathologists. The central questions for a comprehensive theory of mindreading are (1) how people mindread others, (2) how they mindread themselves, (3) how they acquire their mindreading abilities, and (4) what is the content of mental-state concepts.
Peter Dula
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195395037
- eISBN:
- 9780199894451
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195395037.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Some readers of Wittgenstein think that he provides a conclusive refutation of skepticism. Others, like the pragmatists, think he renders skepticism's questions irrelevant. Cavell takes up these ...
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Some readers of Wittgenstein think that he provides a conclusive refutation of skepticism. Others, like the pragmatists, think he renders skepticism's questions irrelevant. Cavell takes up these issues in detail in his longest and greatest work, The Claim of Reason. There, he rejects both options and, instead, insists that philosophy must remain open to external world and other mind skepticism as a “standing threat to thought and communication.” This chapter provides a brief summary of some key themes of that complex text. It also asks, “What is it Cavell discovers about skepticism that necessitates the turn to companionship, and what is it about those discoveries that invites theological engagement?”Less
Some readers of Wittgenstein think that he provides a conclusive refutation of skepticism. Others, like the pragmatists, think he renders skepticism's questions irrelevant. Cavell takes up these issues in detail in his longest and greatest work, The Claim of Reason. There, he rejects both options and, instead, insists that philosophy must remain open to external world and other mind skepticism as a “standing threat to thought and communication.” This chapter provides a brief summary of some key themes of that complex text. It also asks, “What is it Cavell discovers about skepticism that necessitates the turn to companionship, and what is it about those discoveries that invites theological engagement?”
Robert C. Solomon
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195181579
- eISBN:
- 9780199786602
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195181573.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Camus’ novel, The Stranger, can be read as a philosophically profound phenomenological study of personal experience, more or less devoid of reflection. The novel also presents the development of ...
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Camus’ novel, The Stranger, can be read as a philosophically profound phenomenological study of personal experience, more or less devoid of reflection. The novel also presents the development of reflective consciousness through the increasing awareness of the significance of other people. Camus himself has interpreted the hero of the book as a hero for the truth, but the point is made here that Meursault (the supposed hero) is not sufficiently reflective to either be concerned with the truth or to tell a lie.Less
Camus’ novel, The Stranger, can be read as a philosophically profound phenomenological study of personal experience, more or less devoid of reflection. The novel also presents the development of reflective consciousness through the increasing awareness of the significance of other people. Camus himself has interpreted the hero of the book as a hero for the truth, but the point is made here that Meursault (the supposed hero) is not sufficiently reflective to either be concerned with the truth or to tell a lie.
Michael Ostling
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199587902
- eISBN:
- 9780191731228
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199587902.003.0013
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History, Social History
This conclusion reviews the themes of the book, in particular its notion of ‘imagining witchcraft’. Drawing on the work of Jonathan Z. Smith, it claims that witchcraft, like religion, is a ...
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This conclusion reviews the themes of the book, in particular its notion of ‘imagining witchcraft’. Drawing on the work of Jonathan Z. Smith, it claims that witchcraft, like religion, is a second-order category created by scholars for their own comparative purposes: accordingly scholars have the responsibility to use the category well. Drawing on the work of Clifford Geertz, the conclusion argues that we study not ‘The Other’ but others—real people and their own projects of self-imagination. Accused witches were caught in multiple layers of imaginative labeling—as criminals, Satanists, pagans, demoniacs. They also imagined themselves as Christians, wives, mothers. The task of this book has been to explore these multiple imaginations in an attempt to understand all the actors caught up in witch-trials: the accused, their accusers, magistrates, and alleged victims.Less
This conclusion reviews the themes of the book, in particular its notion of ‘imagining witchcraft’. Drawing on the work of Jonathan Z. Smith, it claims that witchcraft, like religion, is a second-order category created by scholars for their own comparative purposes: accordingly scholars have the responsibility to use the category well. Drawing on the work of Clifford Geertz, the conclusion argues that we study not ‘The Other’ but others—real people and their own projects of self-imagination. Accused witches were caught in multiple layers of imaginative labeling—as criminals, Satanists, pagans, demoniacs. They also imagined themselves as Christians, wives, mothers. The task of this book has been to explore these multiple imaginations in an attempt to understand all the actors caught up in witch-trials: the accused, their accusers, magistrates, and alleged victims.
