Mark D. Regnerus
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195320947
- eISBN:
- 9780199785452
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195320947.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Americans remain deeply ambivalent about teenage sexuality. Many presume that such uneasiness is rooted in religion. This book tackles such questions as: how exactly does religion contribute to the ...
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Americans remain deeply ambivalent about teenage sexuality. Many presume that such uneasiness is rooted in religion. This book tackles such questions as: how exactly does religion contribute to the formation of teenagers' sexual values and actions? What difference, if any, does religion make in adolescents' sexual attitudes and behaviors? Are abstinence pledges effective? Who expresses regrets about their sexual activity and why? The book combines analyses of three national surveys with stories drawn from interviews with over 250 teenagers across America. It reviews how young people learn, and what they know about sex from their parents, schools, peers, and other sources. It examines what experiences teens profess to have had, and how they make sense of these experiences in light of their own identities as religious, moral, and responsible persons. The author's analysis discovers that religion can and does matter. However, the analysis finds that religious claims are often swamped by other compelling sexual scripts. Particularly interesting is the emergence of what the author calls a “new middle class sexual morality”, which has little to do with a desire for virginity but nevertheless shuns intercourse in order to avoid risks associated with pregnancy and STDs. And strikingly, evangelical teens aren't less sexually active than their non-evangelical counterparts, they just tend to feel guiltier about it. In fact, the analysis finds that few religious teens have internalized or are even able to articulate the sexual ethic taught by their denominations. The only-and largely ineffective-sexual message most religious teens are getting is: “don't do it until you're married”. Ultimately, the author concludes, religion may influence adolescent sexual behavior, but it rarely motivates sexual decision making.Less
Americans remain deeply ambivalent about teenage sexuality. Many presume that such uneasiness is rooted in religion. This book tackles such questions as: how exactly does religion contribute to the formation of teenagers' sexual values and actions? What difference, if any, does religion make in adolescents' sexual attitudes and behaviors? Are abstinence pledges effective? Who expresses regrets about their sexual activity and why? The book combines analyses of three national surveys with stories drawn from interviews with over 250 teenagers across America. It reviews how young people learn, and what they know about sex from their parents, schools, peers, and other sources. It examines what experiences teens profess to have had, and how they make sense of these experiences in light of their own identities as religious, moral, and responsible persons. The author's analysis discovers that religion can and does matter. However, the analysis finds that religious claims are often swamped by other compelling sexual scripts. Particularly interesting is the emergence of what the author calls a “new middle class sexual morality”, which has little to do with a desire for virginity but nevertheless shuns intercourse in order to avoid risks associated with pregnancy and STDs. And strikingly, evangelical teens aren't less sexually active than their non-evangelical counterparts, they just tend to feel guiltier about it. In fact, the analysis finds that few religious teens have internalized or are even able to articulate the sexual ethic taught by their denominations. The only-and largely ineffective-sexual message most religious teens are getting is: “don't do it until you're married”. Ultimately, the author concludes, religion may influence adolescent sexual behavior, but it rarely motivates sexual decision making.
Jerrold Levinson
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199206179
- eISBN:
- 9780191709982
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199206179.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Aesthetics
This book is a compendium of writings from the last ten years by one of the leading figures in aesthetics, Jerrold Levinson. It contains twenty-four essays and is divided into seven parts. The first ...
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This book is a compendium of writings from the last ten years by one of the leading figures in aesthetics, Jerrold Levinson. It contains twenty-four essays and is divided into seven parts. The first is about issues relating to art in general, not specific to one art form. The second is about philosophical problems specific to music. The third part focuses on pictorial art, and the fourth on interpretation, in particular, the interpretation of literature. The remaining parts of the book discuss aesthetic properties, issues in historical aesthetics, humor, and intrinsic value.Less
This book is a compendium of writings from the last ten years by one of the leading figures in aesthetics, Jerrold Levinson. It contains twenty-four essays and is divided into seven parts. The first is about issues relating to art in general, not specific to one art form. The second is about philosophical problems specific to music. The third part focuses on pictorial art, and the fourth on interpretation, in particular, the interpretation of literature. The remaining parts of the book discuss aesthetic properties, issues in historical aesthetics, humor, and intrinsic value.
Ian Carter
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198294535
- eISBN:
- 9780191598951
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198294530.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
When liberal political philosophers talk of equalizing, increasing or maximizing freedom (or liberty), they implicitly assume freedom to be a measurable attribute. Freedom is one of the currencies of ...
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When liberal political philosophers talk of equalizing, increasing or maximizing freedom (or liberty), they implicitly assume freedom to be a measurable attribute. Freedom is one of the currencies of a liberal theory of distributive justice, and is therefore assumed to be something that individuals can possess in varying degrees. Yet it is rarely clear what is meant by claims about degrees of freedom. To make sense of such claims, we need to clarify the concept of overall freedom and ask whether its measurement is theoretically possible. This concept is important because freedom has, for liberals, non-specific (or content-independent) value–i.e. value that is independent of the value of being free to do specific things. Liberals prescribe not only that individuals have certain specific freedom-types but also that they have a measure of (overall) freedom. Attempts to make sense of the concept of overall freedom by weighting particular options in terms of their values are erroneous, as these do not account for freedom’s non-specific value. On the other hand, a closer examination of the problems of the individuation of actions and of the various types of constraints on freedom shows overall freedom to be measurable in a way that reflects its non-specific value. To this end, actions need to be individuated in spatio-temporal terms and constraints on freedom need to be characterized in terms of the physical compossibility of actions. The comparative judgements about freedom implied by this analysis (with reference both to individuals and to groups) are more coherent with our intuitive judgements than might at first be expected.Less
When liberal political philosophers talk of equalizing, increasing or maximizing freedom (or liberty), they implicitly assume freedom to be a measurable attribute. Freedom is one of the currencies of a liberal theory of distributive justice, and is therefore assumed to be something that individuals can possess in varying degrees. Yet it is rarely clear what is meant by claims about degrees of freedom. To make sense of such claims, we need to clarify the concept of overall freedom and ask whether its measurement is theoretically possible. This concept is important because freedom has, for liberals, non-specific (or content-independent) value–i.e. value that is independent of the value of being free to do specific things. Liberals prescribe not only that individuals have certain specific freedom-types but also that they have a measure of (overall) freedom. Attempts to make sense of the concept of overall freedom by weighting particular options in terms of their values are erroneous, as these do not account for freedom’s non-specific value. On the other hand, a closer examination of the problems of the individuation of actions and of the various types of constraints on freedom shows overall freedom to be measurable in a way that reflects its non-specific value. To this end, actions need to be individuated in spatio-temporal terms and constraints on freedom need to be characterized in terms of the physical compossibility of actions. The comparative judgements about freedom implied by this analysis (with reference both to individuals and to groups) are more coherent with our intuitive judgements than might at first be expected.
Wilfred Beckerman and Joanna Pasek
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199245086
- eISBN:
- 9780191598784
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199245088.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Environmental Politics
In rich countries, environmental problems are seen as problems of prosperity. In poor countries, they are seen as problems of poverty. This is because the environmental problems in poor ...
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In rich countries, environmental problems are seen as problems of prosperity. In poor countries, they are seen as problems of poverty. This is because the environmental problems in poor countries—such as lack of clean drinking water or decent sanitation—are problems that affect them here and now, whereas in rich countries the environmental problems that people worry about most—largely as a result of current prosperity and economic growth—are those that seem likely to harm mainly posterity and hence violate our obligations to future generations.But what exactly are our obligations to future generations? Are they determined by some sort of ethical system, such as the ‘rights’ of future generations, or justice between generations, or intergenerational equity, or sustainable development? The first part of this book is addressed to these questions. It is argued that while ethical ‘systems’ do not provide much help, we still have moral obligations to take account of the interests that future generations will have. But an appraisal of these interests in the light of probable future developments suggests that, while environmental problems have to be taken seriously, our main obligation to future generations is to bequeath to them a more decent society in which there is greater respect for basic human rights than is the case today throughout most of the world.Furthermore, it cannot serve the interests of justice if the burden of protecting the environment for the benefit of posterity is born mainly by poorer people today. More resources devoted to the environment means fewer are devoted competing claims for, say, health care or education or housing, not to mention plain private consumption. And in poor countries millions of people suffer from acute lack of sanitation, clean drinking water, shelter, and basic infrastructures to prevent or cure widespread disease. Neither generations nor nations are homogeneous entities. The later chapters of this book, therefore, are addressed to the ethical aspects of the way that resources ought to be shared out between environmental protection and competing uses in all countries, and how the burden of dealing with global environmental problems ought to be shared out between rich and poor nations.Less
In rich countries, environmental problems are seen as problems of prosperity. In poor countries, they are seen as problems of poverty. This is because the environmental problems in poor countries—such as lack of clean drinking water or decent sanitation—are problems that affect them here and now, whereas in rich countries the environmental problems that people worry about most—largely as a result of current prosperity and economic growth—are those that seem likely to harm mainly posterity and hence violate our obligations to future generations.
But what exactly are our obligations to future generations? Are they determined by some sort of ethical system, such as the ‘rights’ of future generations, or justice between generations, or intergenerational equity, or sustainable development? The first part of this book is addressed to these questions. It is argued that while ethical ‘systems’ do not provide much help, we still have moral obligations to take account of the interests that future generations will have. But an appraisal of these interests in the light of probable future developments suggests that, while environmental problems have to be taken seriously, our main obligation to future generations is to bequeath to them a more decent society in which there is greater respect for basic human rights than is the case today throughout most of the world.
Furthermore, it cannot serve the interests of justice if the burden of protecting the environment for the benefit of posterity is born mainly by poorer people today. More resources devoted to the environment means fewer are devoted competing claims for, say, health care or education or housing, not to mention plain private consumption. And in poor countries millions of people suffer from acute lack of sanitation, clean drinking water, shelter, and basic infrastructures to prevent or cure widespread disease. Neither generations nor nations are homogeneous entities. The later chapters of this book, therefore, are addressed to the ethical aspects of the way that resources ought to be shared out between environmental protection and competing uses in all countries, and how the burden of dealing with global environmental problems ought to be shared out between rich and poor nations.
Ermanno Bencivenga
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195307351
- eISBN:
- 9780199867851
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195307351.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Can we regard ourselves as free originators of some of our behavior? What is the place of values in a world of facts? What grounds the authority of moral imperatives, and why should we care about ...
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Can we regard ourselves as free originators of some of our behavior? What is the place of values in a world of facts? What grounds the authority of moral imperatives, and why should we care about them? Unless satisfactory answers are provided for these questions, ethics has no credible status and is likely to be swallowed by psychology, history, or rational decision theory: an outcome quite common in recent (post-Hegelian) times as well as one to be strongly regretted. Immanuel Kant's philosophy is a sustained, bold, and successful effort aiming at offering us the answers we need, and this book is a clear and thorough account of this effort that builds on the author's previous interpretation of transcendental philosophy (as articulated in his Kant'sCopernican Revolution) and draws on the entire Kantian corpus. Free choice is rational choice, hence, it is also what reason would consider a good choice; evil behavior is not free — when we behave irrationally, we lose all control on our conduct and become obtuse wheels in the hands of irresistible nature. Which does not mean, however, that we should not take responsibility for our evil actions. On the contrary, that is exactly the right thing to do, despite the absurdity of the stance it involves. This very absurdity teaches us an important Kantian lesson on how to negotiate the bounds of sense: how there is not a single line demarcating sense from nonsense, but rather a variety of shades of (non)sense, experienced in the wake of an ideal of perfect meaningfulness but forever falling short of that ideal. In pursuing this troubling suggestion, the author brings additional light on Kant's understanding of the human form of life. Specifically, on its irremediably conflictual, undecidable character, and on the primacy unrealizable norms have in it.Less
Can we regard ourselves as free originators of some of our behavior? What is the place of values in a world of facts? What grounds the authority of moral imperatives, and why should we care about them? Unless satisfactory answers are provided for these questions, ethics has no credible status and is likely to be swallowed by psychology, history, or rational decision theory: an outcome quite common in recent (post-Hegelian) times as well as one to be strongly regretted. Immanuel Kant's philosophy is a sustained, bold, and successful effort aiming at offering us the answers we need, and this book is a clear and thorough account of this effort that builds on the author's previous interpretation of transcendental philosophy (as articulated in his Kant'sCopernican Revolution) and draws on the entire Kantian corpus. Free choice is rational choice, hence, it is also what reason would consider a good choice; evil behavior is not free — when we behave irrationally, we lose all control on our conduct and become obtuse wheels in the hands of irresistible nature. Which does not mean, however, that we should not take responsibility for our evil actions. On the contrary, that is exactly the right thing to do, despite the absurdity of the stance it involves. This very absurdity teaches us an important Kantian lesson on how to negotiate the bounds of sense: how there is not a single line demarcating sense from nonsense, but rather a variety of shades of (non)sense, experienced in the wake of an ideal of perfect meaningfulness but forever falling short of that ideal. In pursuing this troubling suggestion, the author brings additional light on Kant's understanding of the human form of life. Specifically, on its irremediably conflictual, undecidable character, and on the primacy unrealizable norms have in it.
David Atkinson
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265536
- eISBN:
- 9780191760327
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265536.003.0009
- Subject:
- Political Science, Environmental Politics
Responding to the onset of tipping points evokes a combination of fear, bravado, greed, wonder, and worship. The Christian ethos bestows responsibility and care upon the human conscience and ...
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Responding to the onset of tipping points evokes a combination of fear, bravado, greed, wonder, and worship. The Christian ethos bestows responsibility and care upon the human conscience and behaviour, widening the perspective to compassion, to living for sufficiency, and to sharing burdens. In tipping points there can be hope without fear so long as the ethics are firmly but respectfully in place.Less
Responding to the onset of tipping points evokes a combination of fear, bravado, greed, wonder, and worship. The Christian ethos bestows responsibility and care upon the human conscience and behaviour, widening the perspective to compassion, to living for sufficiency, and to sharing burdens. In tipping points there can be hope without fear so long as the ethics are firmly but respectfully in place.
Isaiah Berlin
Edited by Henry Hardy (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199249893
- eISBN:
- 9780191598807
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019924989X.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
Liberty is the new and expanded edition of Isaiah Berlin’s Four Essays on Liberty, a modern classic of liberalism. These essays, of which the best known is ‘Two Concepts of Liberty’, do not offer a ...
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Liberty is the new and expanded edition of Isaiah Berlin’s Four Essays on Liberty, a modern classic of liberalism. These essays, of which the best known is ‘Two Concepts of Liberty’, do not offer a systematic account of liberalism, but instead deploy a view of being, knowledge, and value which was calculated by Berlin to rule totalitarian thinking out of court. The new edition adds to the four, ‘From Hope and Fear set free’, which reinforces Berlin’s argument and which he wanted to include in the original edition. Three further essays, and three autobiographical appendices have been included, so that all Berlin’s principal statements on liberty are gathered together. The whole is introduced by Berlin’s editor, Henry Hardy.Less
Liberty is the new and expanded edition of Isaiah Berlin’s Four Essays on Liberty, a modern classic of liberalism. These essays, of which the best known is ‘Two Concepts of Liberty’, do not offer a systematic account of liberalism, but instead deploy a view of being, knowledge, and value which was calculated by Berlin to rule totalitarian thinking out of court. The new edition adds to the four, ‘From Hope and Fear set free’, which reinforces Berlin’s argument and which he wanted to include in the original edition. Three further essays, and three autobiographical appendices have been included, so that all Berlin’s principal statements on liberty are gathered together. The whole is introduced by Berlin’s editor, Henry Hardy.
Robert E. Goodin
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199256174
- eISBN:
- 9780191599354
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199256179.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
Democracy used to be seen as a relatively mechanical matter of merely adding up everyone's votes in free and fair elections. That mechanistic model has many virtues, among them allowing democracy to ...
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Democracy used to be seen as a relatively mechanical matter of merely adding up everyone's votes in free and fair elections. That mechanistic model has many virtues, among them allowing democracy to ‘track the truth’, where purely factual issues are all that is at stake. Political disputes invariably mix facts with values, however, and then it is essential to listen to what people are saying rather than merely note how they are voting. The great challenge is how to implement that deliberative ideal among millions of people at once. In this book, Goodin offers a solution: ‘democratic deliberation within’. Building on models of ordinary conversational dynamics, he suggests that people simply imagine themselves in the position of various other people they have heard or read about and ask, ‘What would they say about this proposal’? Informing the democratic imaginary then becomes the key to making deliberations more reflective—more empathetic, more considered, and more expansive across time and distance. After an introductory chapter, the book has eleven further chapters arranged in three sections: Preference Democracy (two chapters); Belief Democracy (four chapters); and Value Democracy (five chapters, including a conclusion).Less
Democracy used to be seen as a relatively mechanical matter of merely adding up everyone's votes in free and fair elections. That mechanistic model has many virtues, among them allowing democracy to ‘track the truth’, where purely factual issues are all that is at stake. Political disputes invariably mix facts with values, however, and then it is essential to listen to what people are saying rather than merely note how they are voting. The great challenge is how to implement that deliberative ideal among millions of people at once. In this book, Goodin offers a solution: ‘democratic deliberation within’. Building on models of ordinary conversational dynamics, he suggests that people simply imagine themselves in the position of various other people they have heard or read about and ask, ‘What would they say about this proposal’? Informing the democratic imaginary then becomes the key to making deliberations more reflective—more empathetic, more considered, and more expansive across time and distance. After an introductory chapter, the book has eleven further chapters arranged in three sections: Preference Democracy (two chapters); Belief Democracy (four chapters); and Value Democracy (five chapters, including a conclusion).
Ermanno Bencivenga
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195307351
- eISBN:
- 9780199867851
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195307351.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter identifies three problems as preliminary to the very existence of ethics: the reality of human freedom, the significance of value judgments, and the authority of moral imperatives. ...
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This chapter identifies three problems as preliminary to the very existence of ethics: the reality of human freedom, the significance of value judgments, and the authority of moral imperatives. Kant's philosophy is regarded as offering satisfactory solutions for these problems; hence, its contribution is identified as primarily located in metaethics, rather than normative ethics.Less
This chapter identifies three problems as preliminary to the very existence of ethics: the reality of human freedom, the significance of value judgments, and the authority of moral imperatives. Kant's philosophy is regarded as offering satisfactory solutions for these problems; hence, its contribution is identified as primarily located in metaethics, rather than normative ethics.
David B. Resnik
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195309782
- eISBN:
- 9780199871285
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195309782.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
This chapter summarizes the arguments contained in the book. It argues that scientists and society should manage the relationship between research and financial interests, and develop social and ...
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This chapter summarizes the arguments contained in the book. It argues that scientists and society should manage the relationship between research and financial interests, and develop social and economic institutions that promote the values of science, such as objectivity, honesty, and openness. Universities, private companies, granting agencies, journals, and professional associations should develop rules and guidelines for mitigating money’s corrupting influence on science and support education, training, and mentoring on research ethics for scientists and students in all sectors of the research economy.Less
This chapter summarizes the arguments contained in the book. It argues that scientists and society should manage the relationship between research and financial interests, and develop social and economic institutions that promote the values of science, such as objectivity, honesty, and openness. Universities, private companies, granting agencies, journals, and professional associations should develop rules and guidelines for mitigating money’s corrupting influence on science and support education, training, and mentoring on research ethics for scientists and students in all sectors of the research economy.
Joseph Epes Brown
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195138757
- eISBN:
- 9780199871759
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195138757.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This book offers a thematic approach to looking at Native American religious traditions. Within the great multiplicity of Native American cultures, the book observes certain common themes that ...
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This book offers a thematic approach to looking at Native American religious traditions. Within the great multiplicity of Native American cultures, the book observes certain common themes that resonate within many Native traditions. It demonstrates how themes within native traditions connect with each other, at the same time upholding the integrity of individual traditions. The book illustrates each of these themes with explorations of specific native cultures including Lakota, Navajo, Apache, Koyukon, and Ojibwe. It demonstrates how Native American values provide an alternative metaphysics that stand opposed to modern materialism. It also shows how these spiritual values provide material for a serious rethinking of modern attitudes—especially toward the environment—as well as how they may help non-native peoples develop a more sensitive response to native concerns. Throughout, the book draws on the author's extensive personal experience with Black Elk, who came to symbolize for many the greatness of the imperiled native cultures.Less
This book offers a thematic approach to looking at Native American religious traditions. Within the great multiplicity of Native American cultures, the book observes certain common themes that resonate within many Native traditions. It demonstrates how themes within native traditions connect with each other, at the same time upholding the integrity of individual traditions. The book illustrates each of these themes with explorations of specific native cultures including Lakota, Navajo, Apache, Koyukon, and Ojibwe. It demonstrates how Native American values provide an alternative metaphysics that stand opposed to modern materialism. It also shows how these spiritual values provide material for a serious rethinking of modern attitudes—especially toward the environment—as well as how they may help non-native peoples develop a more sensitive response to native concerns. Throughout, the book draws on the author's extensive personal experience with Black Elk, who came to symbolize for many the greatness of the imperiled native cultures.
James K. Wellman
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195300116
- eISBN:
- 9780199868742
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195300116.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
The book is the first in-depth ethnographic study of churched religion in the Pacific Northwest. It describes and explains how Protestant churches survive and thrive in the most unchurched region of ...
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The book is the first in-depth ethnographic study of churched religion in the Pacific Northwest. It describes and explains how Protestant churches survive and thrive in the most unchurched region of the country. The study is based on nearly 450 interviews from thirty-four vital liberal and evangelical Protestant churches in the Pacific Northwest. These two sets of congregations embody separate moral worldviews and the study shows how these moral worldviews conflict, compete, and, on rare occasions, find common ground in five areas: ideology; religious beliefs; organizational and ritual life; mission (both local and international), and finally, how each relates to the politics of the region and nation. Evangelicals have dominated the public discourse on American religious life and politics over the last decade; it has become popular to accuse them of advocating an American theocracy. There was no evidence for this claim in the data from this study. Evangelicals do want influence — focusing intense energy on a political culture to nurture families — but they express the same intense distrust of the government that was found among liberals. Moreover, the study found relative disinterest on the part of liberals in influencing the public square. There was little consensus among liberals in protesting the Iraq War. Nonetheless, liberals were committed to a “moral culture” like evangelicals, though with distinctively different values — embracing a culture of inclusiveness and hospitality for homosexuals, the homeless, and the hungry.Less
The book is the first in-depth ethnographic study of churched religion in the Pacific Northwest. It describes and explains how Protestant churches survive and thrive in the most unchurched region of the country. The study is based on nearly 450 interviews from thirty-four vital liberal and evangelical Protestant churches in the Pacific Northwest. These two sets of congregations embody separate moral worldviews and the study shows how these moral worldviews conflict, compete, and, on rare occasions, find common ground in five areas: ideology; religious beliefs; organizational and ritual life; mission (both local and international), and finally, how each relates to the politics of the region and nation. Evangelicals have dominated the public discourse on American religious life and politics over the last decade; it has become popular to accuse them of advocating an American theocracy. There was no evidence for this claim in the data from this study. Evangelicals do want influence — focusing intense energy on a political culture to nurture families — but they express the same intense distrust of the government that was found among liberals. Moreover, the study found relative disinterest on the part of liberals in influencing the public square. There was little consensus among liberals in protesting the Iraq War. Nonetheless, liberals were committed to a “moral culture” like evangelicals, though with distinctively different values — embracing a culture of inclusiveness and hospitality for homosexuals, the homeless, and the hungry.
Ernest Sosa
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199297023
- eISBN:
- 9780191711411
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199297023.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This book presents the six Locke Lectures given in Oxford in May and June of 2005. They appear now very nearly as delivered; they argue for two levels of knowledge — the animal and the reflective — ...
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This book presents the six Locke Lectures given in Oxford in May and June of 2005. They appear now very nearly as delivered; they argue for two levels of knowledge — the animal and the reflective — each viewed as a distinctive human accomplishment. Sceptics would deny us any such accomplishment, and the account of knowledge here is framed by confrontations with the two sceptics. A lecture on dream scepticism begins the volume, and one on the problem of the criterion ends it. The core positive account of knowledge is presented in the second lecture and developed further in the fifth. These two lectures detail how the account solves the problem of external world scepticism, and the sixth how it solves the problem of the criterion. In the middle lectures, the account is used to illuminate two central issues of epistemology: intuitions and their place in philosophy, in the third; and the nature of epistemic normativity, in the fourth. The lectures aim to present a kind of virtue epistemology in line with a tradition found in Aristotle, Aquinas, Reid, and especially Descartes (though none of these advocates it in all its parts), and to shine its light on varieties of skepticism, on the nature and status of intuitions, and on epistemic normativity.Less
This book presents the six Locke Lectures given in Oxford in May and June of 2005. They appear now very nearly as delivered; they argue for two levels of knowledge — the animal and the reflective — each viewed as a distinctive human accomplishment. Sceptics would deny us any such accomplishment, and the account of knowledge here is framed by confrontations with the two sceptics. A lecture on dream scepticism begins the volume, and one on the problem of the criterion ends it. The core positive account of knowledge is presented in the second lecture and developed further in the fifth. These two lectures detail how the account solves the problem of external world scepticism, and the sixth how it solves the problem of the criterion. In the middle lectures, the account is used to illuminate two central issues of epistemology: intuitions and their place in philosophy, in the third; and the nature of epistemic normativity, in the fourth. The lectures aim to present a kind of virtue epistemology in line with a tradition found in Aristotle, Aquinas, Reid, and especially Descartes (though none of these advocates it in all its parts), and to shine its light on varieties of skepticism, on the nature and status of intuitions, and on epistemic normativity.
James Halteman and Edd Noell
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199763702
- eISBN:
- 9780199932252
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199763702.003.0007
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Financial Economics
Is economics like car building or car repair? Are we working toward a finished product, or are we attempting to answer pertinent questions that arise and change from time to time? These questions are ...
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Is economics like car building or car repair? Are we working toward a finished product, or are we attempting to answer pertinent questions that arise and change from time to time? These questions are entertained in this chapter in order to explore the nature of the methods economists employ. The subjective nature of data and the relevance of predicting from past trendsis explored. The proof that rational choice analysis predicts better than any alternative process is seen to be less than definitive by typical standards of proof. Welfare economics comes closest to philosophy when it optimizes social welfare with a social welfare function, but the ramifications of that model are rarely explored. Finally, it is suggested that key questions change and economic thinking then adapts to deal with the new challenges. The vignette for this chapter looks at John Maynard Keynes and his rethinking of mainstream macroeconomics.Less
Is economics like car building or car repair? Are we working toward a finished product, or are we attempting to answer pertinent questions that arise and change from time to time? These questions are entertained in this chapter in order to explore the nature of the methods economists employ. The subjective nature of data and the relevance of predicting from past trendsis explored. The proof that rational choice analysis predicts better than any alternative process is seen to be less than definitive by typical standards of proof. Welfare economics comes closest to philosophy when it optimizes social welfare with a social welfare function, but the ramifications of that model are rarely explored. Finally, it is suggested that key questions change and economic thinking then adapts to deal with the new challenges. The vignette for this chapter looks at John Maynard Keynes and his rethinking of mainstream macroeconomics.
Flavio M. Menezes and Paulo K. Monteiro
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199275984
- eISBN:
- 9780191602214
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019927598X.001.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Microeconomics
This book presents an in-depth discussion of the auction theory. It introduces the concept of Bayesian Nash equilibrium and the idea of studying auctions as games. Private, common, and affiliated ...
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This book presents an in-depth discussion of the auction theory. It introduces the concept of Bayesian Nash equilibrium and the idea of studying auctions as games. Private, common, and affiliated values models and multi-object auction models are described. A general version of the Revenue Equivalence Theorem is derived and the optimal auction is characterized to relate the field of mechanism design to auction theory.Less
This book presents an in-depth discussion of the auction theory. It introduces the concept of Bayesian Nash equilibrium and the idea of studying auctions as games. Private, common, and affiliated values models and multi-object auction models are described. A general version of the Revenue Equivalence Theorem is derived and the optimal auction is characterized to relate the field of mechanism design to auction theory.
John L. Bell
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198568520
- eISBN:
- 9780191717581
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198568520.001.0001
- Subject:
- Mathematics, Logic / Computer Science / Mathematical Philosophy
This is the third edition of a well-known graduate textbook on Boolean-valued models of set theory. The aim of the first and second editions was to provide a systematic and adequately motivated ...
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This is the third edition of a well-known graduate textbook on Boolean-valued models of set theory. The aim of the first and second editions was to provide a systematic and adequately motivated exposition of the theory of Boolean-valued models as developed by Scott and Solovay in the 1960s, deriving along the way the central set theoretic independence proofs of Cohen and others in the particularly elegant form that the Boolean-valued approach enables them to assume. In this edition, the background material has been augmented to include an introduction to Heyting algebras. It includes chapters on Boolean-valued analysis and Heyting-algebra-valued models of intuitionistic set theory.Less
This is the third edition of a well-known graduate textbook on Boolean-valued models of set theory. The aim of the first and second editions was to provide a systematic and adequately motivated exposition of the theory of Boolean-valued models as developed by Scott and Solovay in the 1960s, deriving along the way the central set theoretic independence proofs of Cohen and others in the particularly elegant form that the Boolean-valued approach enables them to assume. In this edition, the background material has been augmented to include an introduction to Heyting algebras. It includes chapters on Boolean-valued analysis and Heyting-algebra-valued models of intuitionistic set theory.
Michael O. Emerson and George Yancey
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199742684
- eISBN:
- 9780199943388
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199742684.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Race and Ethnicity
Despite recent progress against racial inequalities, American society continues to produce attitudes and outcomes that reinforce the racial divide. This book offers a fresh perspective on how to ...
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Despite recent progress against racial inequalities, American society continues to produce attitudes and outcomes that reinforce the racial divide. This book offers a fresh perspective on how to combat racial division. The chapters document the historical move from white supremacy to institutional racism, and then look at modern efforts to overcome the racialized nature of our society. They argue that both conservative and progressive approaches have failed, as they continually fall victim to forces of ethnocentrism and group interest. They then explore group interest and possible ways to account for the perspectives of both majority and minority group members. They also look to multiracial congregations, multiracial families, the military, and sports teams—all situations in which group interests have been overcome before. In each context they find the development of a core set of values that binds together different racial groups, along with the flexibility to express racially-based cultural uniqueness that does not conflict with this critical core. The book offers what is at once a balanced approach towards dealing with racial alienation and a bold step forward in the debate about the steps necessary to overcome present-day racism.Less
Despite recent progress against racial inequalities, American society continues to produce attitudes and outcomes that reinforce the racial divide. This book offers a fresh perspective on how to combat racial division. The chapters document the historical move from white supremacy to institutional racism, and then look at modern efforts to overcome the racialized nature of our society. They argue that both conservative and progressive approaches have failed, as they continually fall victim to forces of ethnocentrism and group interest. They then explore group interest and possible ways to account for the perspectives of both majority and minority group members. They also look to multiracial congregations, multiracial families, the military, and sports teams—all situations in which group interests have been overcome before. In each context they find the development of a core set of values that binds together different racial groups, along with the flexibility to express racially-based cultural uniqueness that does not conflict with this critical core. The book offers what is at once a balanced approach towards dealing with racial alienation and a bold step forward in the debate about the steps necessary to overcome present-day racism.
Rolf Niedermeier
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198566076
- eISBN:
- 9780191713910
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198566076.003.0006
- Subject:
- Mathematics, Combinatorics / Graph Theory / Discrete Mathematics
This chapter ends the first, introductory part of the book by recalling some of the central observations so far.
This chapter ends the first, introductory part of the book by recalling some of the central observations so far.
William E. Nelson
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195327281
- eISBN:
- 9780199870677
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195327281.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: early to 18th Century
The four-volume series of which this book is the first volume shows how the legal systems of Britain's thirteen North American colonies, which were initially established in response to divergent ...
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The four-volume series of which this book is the first volume shows how the legal systems of Britain's thirteen North American colonies, which were initially established in response to divergent political, economic, and religious initiatives, slowly converged until it became possible by the 1770s to imagine that all thirteen participated in a common American legal order, which diverged in its details but differed far more substantially from English common law. This book reveals how Virginians' zeal for profit led to the creation of a harsh legal order that efficiently squeezed payment out of debtors and labor out of servants. In comparison, Puritan law in early Massachusetts strove mainly to preserve the local autonomy and moral values of family-centered, subsistence farming communities. The law in the other New England colonies, although it was distinctive in some respects, gravitated toward the Massachusetts model, while Maryland's law, except during a brief interlude of Puritan rule, gravitated toward that of Virginia.Less
The four-volume series of which this book is the first volume shows how the legal systems of Britain's thirteen North American colonies, which were initially established in response to divergent political, economic, and religious initiatives, slowly converged until it became possible by the 1770s to imagine that all thirteen participated in a common American legal order, which diverged in its details but differed far more substantially from English common law. This book reveals how Virginians' zeal for profit led to the creation of a harsh legal order that efficiently squeezed payment out of debtors and labor out of servants. In comparison, Puritan law in early Massachusetts strove mainly to preserve the local autonomy and moral values of family-centered, subsistence farming communities. The law in the other New England colonies, although it was distinctive in some respects, gravitated toward the Massachusetts model, while Maryland's law, except during a brief interlude of Puritan rule, gravitated toward that of Virginia.
Katherine Beckett and Steve Herbert
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195395174
- eISBN:
- 9780199943319
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195395174.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Law, Crime and Deviance
With urban poverty rising and affordable housing disappearing, the homeless and other “disorderly” people continue to occupy public space in many American cities. Concerned about the alleged ill ...
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With urban poverty rising and affordable housing disappearing, the homeless and other “disorderly” people continue to occupy public space in many American cities. Concerned about the alleged ill effects their presence inflicts on property values and public safety, many cities have wholeheartedly embraced “zero-tolerance” or “broken window” policing efforts to clear the streets of unwanted people. Through an almost completely unnoticed set of practices, these people are banned from occupying certain spaces. Once zoned out, they are subject to arrest if they return—effectively banished from public places. This book offers an exploration of these new tactics that dramatically enhance the power of the police to monitor and arrest thousands of city dwellers. Drawing upon an extensive body of data, the chapters chart the rise of banishment in Seattle, a city on the leading edge of this emerging trend, to establish how it works and explore its ramifications. They demonstrate that, although the practice allows police and public officials to appear responsive to concerns about urban disorder, it is a highly questionable policy—it is expensive, does not reduce crime, and does not address the underlying conditions that generate urban poverty. Moreover, interviews with the banished themselves reveal that exclusion makes their lives and their path to self-sufficiency immeasurably more difficult. At a time when ever more cities and governments in the U.S. and Europe resort to the criminal justice system to solve complex social problems, the book provides a challenge to exclusionary strategies that diminish the life circumstances and the rights of those it targets.Less
With urban poverty rising and affordable housing disappearing, the homeless and other “disorderly” people continue to occupy public space in many American cities. Concerned about the alleged ill effects their presence inflicts on property values and public safety, many cities have wholeheartedly embraced “zero-tolerance” or “broken window” policing efforts to clear the streets of unwanted people. Through an almost completely unnoticed set of practices, these people are banned from occupying certain spaces. Once zoned out, they are subject to arrest if they return—effectively banished from public places. This book offers an exploration of these new tactics that dramatically enhance the power of the police to monitor and arrest thousands of city dwellers. Drawing upon an extensive body of data, the chapters chart the rise of banishment in Seattle, a city on the leading edge of this emerging trend, to establish how it works and explore its ramifications. They demonstrate that, although the practice allows police and public officials to appear responsive to concerns about urban disorder, it is a highly questionable policy—it is expensive, does not reduce crime, and does not address the underlying conditions that generate urban poverty. Moreover, interviews with the banished themselves reveal that exclusion makes their lives and their path to self-sufficiency immeasurably more difficult. At a time when ever more cities and governments in the U.S. and Europe resort to the criminal justice system to solve complex social problems, the book provides a challenge to exclusionary strategies that diminish the life circumstances and the rights of those it targets.
