A History of Western Philosophy and Theology is the fruit of John Frame's forty-five years of teaching philosophical subjects. No other survey of the history of Western thought offers the same invigorating blend of expositional clarity, critical insight, and biblical wisdom. The supplemental study questions, bibliographies, links to audio lectures, quotes from influential thinkers, twenty appendices, and indexed glossary make this an excellent main textbook choice for seminary- and college-level courses and for personal study. Book jacket.

John Frame gives us an accessible introduction to "triperspectival" study-where theological issues are fruitfully viewed from multiple perspectives without compromise to their unity and truth. Book jacket.

Charles Darwin found much in Australia to challenge and inform his thinking. This book explores the impact that Darwin’s short visit to Australia in 1836 had on the man himself and on the emerging nation. Now, more than 170 years later, Darwin continues to influence Australian attitudes to life and living.

What is everything made of? -- Do I have free will? -- Can I know the world? -- Does God exist? -- How shall I live? -- What are my rights? -- How can I be saved? -- Appendix: Letters on philosophical topics.

The 1968 My Lai Massacre in South Vietnam and shocking events at Abu Graibh prison in Iraq in 2003 show that the behaviour of some in the American military has descended into barbarism. How strong is the military's commitment to avoiding misconduct and atrocity? This timely and compelling book asks critical questions and raises sobering issues the Australian Army can't ignore. Leading military personnel, aid workers, commentators and scholars discuss the Australian Army's commitment to behaving ethically and the challenges associated (...) with contemporary warfare. With chapters on social media and inciting violence, cyberweapons, and special operations and humanitarian deployments, 'Ethics Under Fire' offers a rare insight into the key issues facing the modern army, from technology and tactics to terrorism"--Back cover. (shrink)

In this paper we seek to make the case for a teaching and learning strategy that integrates business ethics in the curriculum, whilst not precluding a disciplines based approach to this subject. We do this in the context of specific work experience modules at undergraduate level which are offered by Middlesex University Business School, part of a modern university based in North West London. We firstly outline our educative values and then the modules that form the basis of our research. (...) We then identify and elaborate what we believe are the five dimensions which distinguish an integrated approach based on work experience from a disciplines-based approach, namely: process and content, internal and external, facilitation and teaching, covert and overt, and living wisdom and established wisdom. The last dimension draws on the practical relevance of the Aristotelian notion of phronesis inherent in our approach. We go on to provide two case examples of our practice to illustrate our perspective and in support of our conclusions. These are that reflection integrated into the Business Studies curriculum, using the ASKE typology of learning [Frame, 2001, Proceedings of the 9th Annual Teaching and Learning Conference, p. 80], in respect of personal and group process in a work experience context, provides a useful heuristic for the development of moral sensibility and ethical practice. (shrink)

In the wake of recent developments in Large Language Model (LLM) Artificial Intelligence technologies, there has been a resurgence of scholarly conversation regarding the roles and value of human teachers in the educative process. In this article, we situate these scholarly discussions against the backdrop of an ancient tale of artificial intelligence from the Mahabharata. We begin by providing a basic explanation of how LLMs function and then highlight major trends in the literature that advocate for, or caution against, their (...) implementation in education. Next, we explore the dangers of anthropomorphizing LLMs more generally before situating those dangers in an educational context. Finally, we outline the specific ways in which LLMs cannot fulfil the human teacher’s role. This is in large part because LLMs lack the capacity that human teachers have for empathetic understanding in relation with their students. Because LLMs function within the bounds of numerical algorithmic predictions that are based on patterns of textual data devoid of semantic meaning, we argue that LLMs as currently constituted cannot embody some of the most salient attributes of a human teacher. (shrink)

Volume 22, Issue 1-2, July - December 2019, Page 94-102.

In this paper we argue that object perception may be affected by what we call “perceptual frames.” Perceptual frames are adaptations of the perceptual system that guide how perceptual objects are singled out from a sensory environment. These adaptations are caused by perceptual learning and realized through bottom-up functional processes such that sensory information is organized in a subject-dependent way leading to idiosyncratic perceptual object representations. Through domain-specific training, perceptual learning, and the acquisition of object-knowledge, it is possible to modulate (...) the adaptive perceptual system such that its ability to represent becomes bespoke. Different perceivers with different perceptual frames may, therefore, receive the same sensory information and perceive different perceptual objects due to the effects of framing. Consequently, we demonstrate the plausibility of this account by surveying empirical data concerning the functions of (1) multisensory integration, (2) amodal completion, and (3) predictive anticipation. Regarding (1), we argue that the perceptual system’s optimization processes employ perceptual frames to facilitate multisensory feature binding. Regarding (2), we argue that amodal completion can occur with or without the help of mental imagery, yet either instance of amodal completion requires perceptual frames. Regarding (3), we demonstrate that perceptually anticipating an object’s motion involves the implementation of perceptual frames. We conclude that framing effects are a matter of perceptual diversity and highlight the need to accommodate unique perspectives in the philosophy and science of perception. (shrink)

Some bioethicists argue that a doctor may frame treatment options in terms of effects on survival rather than on mortality in order to influence patients to choose the better option. The debate over such framing typically assumes that the survival and mortality frames convey the same numerical information. However, certain empirical findings contest this numerical equivalence assumption, demonstrating that framing effects may in fact be due to the two frames implying different information about the numerical bounds of survival (...) and mortality rates. In this paper, I use these findings to argue that framing is presumptively wrong because it violates the duty of proper disclosure. Along the way, I highlight morally relevant features affecting the permissibility of framing, tackle three objections and draw some general lessons for the ethics of nudging. (shrink)

The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 includes provisions to deny reunification services under specified conditions and gives states latitude to develop any number of additional "aggravated circumstances" in which parents need not be offered services. California legislators have developed a relatively large number of conditions enabling agencies to bypass reunification services. Based upon a case record review involving 55 parents, this study attempts to identify the proportion of parents eligible for a reunification bypass, the proportion recommended to the (...) courts, and the proportion of parents who were denied reunification services, and examines the characteristics of parents associated with reunification bypass recommendations. Based upon focus groups and interviews with child welfare and judicial personnel in six counties, the study also examines the implementation of reunification bypass provisions. Implications for public policy and practice are provided. (shrink)

In a recent paper, Yeo argues that the framing of treatment options by physicians in the contexts of patient’s decision-making conflicts with a physician’s duty of disclosure. I argue that this conclusion is drawn too quickly, as it is questionable whether the empirical research on which Yeo relies is applicable to the framing of treatment options. This means that Yeo’s main assumption is undermined, and we should hold off on concluding that the framing of treatment options is (...) misleading. (shrink)

I use the psychological phenomenon of ‘attribute framing’ as a case study for exploring philosophical conceptions of semantics and the semantics-pragmatics divide. Attribute frames are pairs of sentences that use contradictory expressions to predicate the same property of an individual or object. Despite their equivalence, pairs of attribute frames have been observed to induce systematic variability in hearers’ responses. One explanation of such framing effects appeals to the distinct ‘reference point information’ conveyed by alternative frames. Although this information (...) is taken to be pragmatic, a live debate in the philosophy of language concerns the extent to which pragmatic information can really be held apart from semantics. Therefore, in this article I examine whether – and how – reference point information might be thought to intrude on the semantics of an attribute frame. I describe two ways in which the information might be considered broadly semantic, due to its being directly communicated or conventional. However, I argue that the framing data in fact support a narrower conception of semantics, and a semantics-pragmatics distinction that separates standing sentence meaning from enriched communicated meaning. (shrink)

_Framing effects_ concern the having of different attitudes towards logically or necessarily equivalent contents. Framing is of crucial importance for cognitive science, behavioral economics, decision theory, and the social sciences at large. We model a typical kind of framing, grounded in (i) the structural distinction between beliefs activated in working memory and beliefs left inactive in long term memory, and (ii) the topic- or subject matter-sensitivity of belief: a feature of propositional attitudes which is attracting growing research attention. (...) We introduce a class of models featuring (i) and (ii) to represent, and reason about, agents whose belief states can be subject to framing effects. We axiomatize a logic which we prove to be sound and complete with respect to the class. (shrink)

This paper addresses James O. Young's and Nemesio Puy's critical assessments of Nelson Goodman's account of musical expressiveness. For that, I draw substantially on the work of Maria do Carmo d’Orey (1933–2023), an important although underrecognized Goodman scholar who argued (pace Goodman) that exemplified resemblance—not plain resemblance—is the core of expressiveness, as well as of other forms of representation. I call theories of exemplified resemblance ‘frame theories.’ Young claims that (1) Goodman's theory is but a muddled version of resemblance theory; (...) (2) if emotion predicates applied to music are literal, then Goodman's theory lacks motivation; (3) Goodman's version bears no theoretical benefits. Puy denies 3 while granting 1 and 2. In this paper, §3, §4, §5, and §6 constitute an argument that: (i) resemblance theory is a defective version of frame theory; (ii) objections based on the metaphoric-literal distinction have no legs; (iii) the theoretical payoffs of Goodman's version outstrip what Puy concedes. Sections 3 and 4 challenge Claim 1; §5 and §6 challenge Claim 2; together they show that framing generates resemblance, which conflicts with granting Claims 1 and 2. (shrink)

Large language models (LLMs) have a wide range of current and potential applications across the higher education sector. Most research to date has focused on the benefits and challenges of LLMs and other generative artificial intelligence tools in teaching, learning, and research. However, how these technologies might influence prospective students’ choices of where to study by shaping the way study opportunities are presented has yet to be explored. This study investigates responses generated by four LLMs regarding international study opportunities. The (...) responses are analysed using qualitative and quantitative content analysis. The findings reveal framing mechanisms through inclusion and exclusion, ordering, and qualitative propositions. Variations across prompts, tools, and countries are discussed, along with methodological considerations for working with LLM-generated data. The article concludes by reflecting on the potential implications of the growing reliance on LLMs for sourcing information related to higher education choices. (shrink)

Crowdfunding is regarded a financing mechanism that could improve the funding opportunities of businesses with a pro-social orientation. Indeed, it is assumed that on digital platforms, citizens are inclined to provide more support to projects with a social benefit than to those without such an orientation, with significant ethical implications for the common good. Yet, extant empirical evidence regarding such a claim is still inconclusive. To advance this discussion, the present paper analyzes the conditions that influence crowd support for projects (...) displaying a pro-social orientation on a reward-based crowdfunding platform. To build our hypotheses, we adopt the lens of framing theory, and we relate it to the digital context. Beginning from the premise that, on crowdfunding platforms, information about projects has a hierarchical structure, we argue that a project’s success crucially depends on how much its proponent emphasizes the pro-social cues within this structure. Moreover, we propose that because pro-social cues demarcate a project over others, the effectiveness of pro-social framing is enhanced when the number of projects on the platform, i.e., its crowdedness, increases. Logit estimates on 8631 Kickstarter projects indicate that pro-social framing is positively associated with success as we expected, yet only when it is moderately emphasized. Further, we find that crowdedness on the platform positively moderates the effect of pro-social orientation on success. (shrink)

Research in phenomenology has benefitted from using exceptional cases from pathology and expertise. But exactly how are we to generate and apply knowledge from such cases to the phenomenological domain? As researchers of cerebral palsy and musical absorption, we together answer the how question by pointing to the resource of the qualitative interview. Using the qualitative interview is a direct response to Varela’s call for better pragmatics in the methodology of phenomenology and cognitive science and Gallagher’s suggestion for phenomenology to (...) develop its methodology and outsource its tasks. We agree with their proposals, but want to develop them further by discussing and proposing a general framework that can integrate research paradigms of the well-established disciplines of phenomenological philosophy and qualitative science. We give this the working title, a “phenomenological interview”. First we describe the what of the interview, that is the nature of the interview in which one encounters another subject and generates knowledge of a given experience together with this other subject. In the second part, we qualify why it is worthwhile making the time-consuming effort to engage in a phenomenological interview. In the third and fourth parts, we in general terms discuss how to conduct the interview and the subsequent phenomenological analysis, by discussing the pragmatics of Vermersch’s and Petitmengin’s “Explicitation Interview”. (shrink)

Despite their clear relationship, the classical rhetorical concept of stasis (or status) and the more contemporary notion of ‘framing’ have rarely been considered together, a situation that is made all the more surprising considering that the latter term can be argued as originating from a rhetorical context, namely, Kenneth Burke’s ‘acceptance frames’. This article seeks to examine the similarities between stasis theory and the various ways in which the trope of framing has come to be instantiated in argumentation (...) in the social sciences, the humanities and select therapeutic modalities. While it is Goffman’s Frame Analysis that is usually provided as the origin point for the adoption of the concept of framing into common intellectual parlance, Goffman himself credited Gregory Bateson’s formulation of ‘psychological frames’ as his source. Consequently, I will argue that it is the therapeutic-oriented work of Bateson (and its later development by Watzlawick) that represents the potential bridge between the current demotic understanding of framing, the introductory conceptualization of Burke and the classical stasis tradition. The uncovering and exploration of the relationships between the traditions of stasis, Goffman’s frame analysis, Burke’s acceptance frames and the Batesonian approach to therapeutic reframing will allow us to re-position stasis at the heart of modern rhetorical theory and, furthermore, advance a therapeutic understanding of rhetoric that both reconnects it to its deepest past while also preparing it for its future place in an increasingly disordered (even [dis]eased) environment of public address and interpersonal communication. (shrink)

In argumentation, metaphors are often considered as ambiguous or deceptive uses of language leading to fallacies of reasoning. However, they can also provide useful insights into creative argumentation, leading to genuinely new knowledge. Metaphors entail a framing effect that implicitly provides a specific perspective to interpret the world, guiding reasoning and evaluation of arguments. In the same vein, emotions could be in sharp contrast with proper reasoning, but they can also be cognitive processes of affective framing, influencing our (...) reasoning and behavior in different meaningful ways. Thus, a double (metaphorical and affective) framing effect might influence argumentation in the case of emotive metaphors, such as “Poverty is a disease” or “Your boss is a dictator,” where specific “emotive words” (disease, dictator) are used as vehicles. We present and discuss the results of two experimental studies designed to explore the role of emotive metaphors in argumentation. The studies investigated whether and to what extent the detection of a fallacious argument is influenced by the presence of a conventional vs. novel emotive metaphor. Participants evaluated a series of verbal arguments containing either “non-emotive” or “emotive” (positive or negative) metaphors as middle terms that “bridge” the premises of the argument. The results show that the affective coherence of the metaphor's vehicle and topic plays a crucial role in participants' reasoning style, leading to global heuristic vs. local analytical interpretive processes in the interplay of the metaphorical and the affective framing effects. (shrink)

We develop a dynamic model which addresses cognitive processes that precede moral reasoning. Our model emphasizes framing-the initial process an individual uses to determine whether a decision has an ethical component-and reframing, an iterative process through which an individual may seek out and consider alternative viewpoints prior to moral reasoning. The role of both conscious, and automatic processing are considered. We highlight the influence of critical contextual factors as well as the effects of selfawareness, moral empathy, and past experience.

Sustainability is generally conceptualised as comprising three interrelated aspects, or “pillars”, namely environmental, social, and economic dimensions (Purvis, Ben, Yong Mao & Darren Robinson. 2019. Three pillars of sustainability: In search of conceptual origins. Sustainability Science 14. 681–695). This conceptual framework is mirrored in the tripartite structure of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reports used by pharmaceutical companies for annual disclosure. This paper focuses specifically on the first “pillar” – the “E” – the environmental aspect of ESG, with a view (...) to exploring the “framing effects” employed in pharmaceutical discourse to construct an image of environmental awareness. The study draws on a corpus of ESG reports from eight pharmaceutical companies present on the stock exchange. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, combining quantitative analysis of lexical patterns with qualitative analysis of framing devices specific to the environmental section of the reports. This dual approach allows for a comprehensive examination of how language is used to frame environmental issues across different companies, while ensuring statistical robustness. Grounded in cognitive linguistics, and specifically in the analytic concept of frame and the theoretical notion of construal (Langacker 1987. Foundations of cognitive grammar: Volume I, theoretical prerequisites. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2007. Constructing grammar: Cognitive and contextual. Oxford: Oxford University Press; Talmy 1988. Frames of reference and the semantics of space. In Vyvyan Evans & Melanie Green (eds.), The cognitive linguistics reader, 21–44. London: Equinox, 2000. Toward a cognitive semantics: Volume I: Concept structuring systems. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press), this paper examines the mental representations stakeholders are prompted to construct in response to specific lexical and grammatical choices. By analysing both lexical frequency and force-dynamic patterns in the ESG corpus, this study elucidates the role of framing devices in shaping stakeholders’ cognitive and emotional responses to environmental concerns within pharmaceutical corporate communication. (shrink)

In this article, we aim to illustrate evolutionary explanations for the emergence of framing effects, discussed in detail in Cristina Bicchieri’s The Grammar of Society . We show how framing effects might evolve which coalesce two economically distinct interactions into a single one, leading to apparently irrational behavior in each individual interaction. Here we consider the now well-known example of the ultimatum game, and show how this ‘irrational’ behavior might result from a single norm which governs behavior in (...) multiple games. We also show how framing effects might result in radically different play in strategically identical situations. We consider the Hawk-Dove game (the game of chicken) and also the Nash bargaining game. Here arbitrary tags or signals might result in one party doing better than another. (shrink)