What is philosophy? How should we do it? Why should we bother to? These are the kinds of questions addressed by metaphilosophy - the philosophical study of the nature of philosophy itself. Students of philosophy today are faced with a confusing and daunting array of philosophical methods, approaches and styles and also deep divisions such as the notorious rift between analytic and Continental philosophy. This book takes readers through a full range of approaches - analytic versus Continental, scientistic versus humanistic, (...) 'pure' versus applied - enabling them to locate and understand these different ways of doing philosophy. Clearly and accessibly written, it will stimulate reflection on philosophical practice and will be invaluable for students of philosophy and other philosophically inclined readers. (shrink)

A welcome introduction to one of the most intellectually demanding areas of the undergraduate philosophy curriculum. The authors provide a clear framework within which students can fit contemporary developments in the Anglo-American tradition which provide the core themes of philosophy of mind and which connect to their other work in epistemology and philosophy of language.

The concept, benefits and recommendations for the cultivation of compassion have been recognized in the contemplative traditions for thousands of years. In the last 30 years or so, the study of compassion has revealed it to have major physiological and psychological effects influencing well-being, addressing mental health difficulties, and promoting prosocial behavior. This paper outlines an evolution informed biopsychosocial, multicomponent model to caring behavior and its derivative “compassion” that underpins newer approaches to psychotherapy. The paper explores the origins of caring (...) motives and the nature and biopsychosocial functions of caring-attachment behavior. These include providing a secure base (sources of protection, validation, encouragement and guidance) and safe haven (source of soothing and comfort) for offspring along with physiological regulating functions, which are also central for compassion focused therapy. Second, it suggests that it is the way recent human cognitive competencies give rise to different types of “mind awareness” and “knowing intentionality” that transform basic caring motives into potentials for compassion. While we can care for our gardens and treasured objects, the concept of compassion is only used for sentient beings who can “suffer.” As psychotherapy addresses mental suffering, cultivating the motives and competencies of compassion to self and others can be a central focus for psychotherapy. (shrink)

Evolutionary analysis focuses on how genes build organisms with different strategies for engaging and solving life’s challenges of survival and reproduction. One of those challenges is competing with conspecifics for limited resources including reproductive opportunities. This article suggests that there is now good evidence for considering two dimensions of social competition. The first, has been labeled as antisocial strategies, to the extent that they tend to be self-focused, threat sensitive and aggressive, and use tactics of bulling, threatening, and intimidating subordinates, (...) or even injuring/killing competitors. Such strategies can inhibit care and affiliative social interactions and motivation. The social signals emitted stimulate threat processing in recipients and can create stressed and highly stratified groups with a range of detrimental psychological and physiological effects. Second, in contrast, prosocial strategies seek to create relaxed and secure social interactions that enable sharing, cooperative, mutually supportive and beneficial relationships. The friendly and low/no threat social signals emitted in friendly cooperative and affiliative relationships stimulate physiological systems (e.g., oxytocin, the vagus nerve of the parasympathetic system) that downregulates threat processing, enhances the immune system, and facilitates frontal cortical processes and general wellbeing. This article reviews the literature pertaining to the evidence for these two dimensions of social engagement. (shrink)

In this, the first truly philosophical study of nationalism, Paul Gilbert attempts to make sense of the fact that there are different sorts of nationalism—for example, political and cultural—and that each concept functions with a different understanding of what a nation is. He sets out to explore whether there are any common ideas about what constitutes nationhood and whether these “nations” have particular rights due to them. By treating nationalism as a coherent body of ideas, the text permits a rational (...) reconstruction of the origins of nationalist movements. The book also examines the work of many key theorists, including Mill, Hume, Gramsci, and Gellner, in its coverage of secession, immigration, cultural rights and multiculturalism, and the aesthetics of nationalism. (shrink)

In this volume, the concept of "medical neutrality," which states that medical services should not be interfered with during armed conflicts and other emergencies, is challenged based on the experience and expertise of the authors, who come from diverse military, humanitarian, and academic backgrounds. The principle of medical neutrality is grounded in International Humanitarian Law as well as in Human Rights Law and it can be justified by ethical rationales such as the principle of Humanity and ordinary medical ethics. Health (...) workers often understand medical neutrality as an obligation not to engage in anything else other than medical outcomes. In this book, a variety of problems and ethical issues in the application of medical neutrality in the professional practice of healthcare personnel are analyzed. The contributors expand the debate around “medical neutrality” and aim at better-informing policy and operational decisions regarding the application of medical ethics, the protection of medical missions in conflict, and the training of healthcare professionals to operate ethically and safely in volatile environments. The volume is of great interest to academics, practitioners, policymakers, and students who are looking for analyses and guidance regarding medical neutrality. (shrink)

Emotions evolved to guide animals in pursuing specific motives and goals (e.g., to find food, avoid harm, seek out sexual partners, rear offspring). They function as short-term alertors and regulators of behaviour and can be grouped into their evolved functions (evolutionary function analysis). Emotions can coregulate/influence each other, where one emotion can activate or suppress another. Importantly, affiliative emotions, that arise from experiencing validation, care and support from others, have major impacts on how people process and respond to threats and (...) emotions associated with threats. Hence, exploring how affiliative emotional experiences change and transform the capacity to cope with threat and pursue life goals, are salient research issues. (shrink)

For thousands of years, various spiritual traditions and social activists have appealed to humans to adopt compassionate ways of living to address the suffering of life. Yet, along with our potential for compassion and self-sacrifice, the last few thousand years of wars, slavery, tortures, and holocausts have shown humans can be extraordinarily selfish, callous, vicious, and cruel. While there has been considerable engagement with these issues, particularly in the area of moral psychology and ethics, this paper explores an evolutionary analysis (...) relating to evolved resource-regulation strategies that can be called “care and share” versus “control and hold.” Control and hold are typical of primates that operate through intimidatory social hierarchies. Care and share are less common in non-human primates, but evolved radically in humans during our hunter-gatherer stage when our ancestors lived in relatively interdependent, small, mobile groups. In these groups, individualistic, self-focus, and self-promoting control and hold strategies (trying to secure and accumulate more than others) were shunned and shamed. These caring and sharing hunter-gatherer lifestyles also created the social contexts for the evolution of new forms of childcare and complex human competencies for language, reasoning, planning, empathy, and self-awareness. As a result of our new ‘intelligence’, our ancestors developed agriculture that reduced mobility, increased group size, resource availability and storage, and resource competition. These re-introduced competing for, rather than sharing of, resources and advantaged those who now pursue (often aggressively) control and hold strategies. Many of our most typical forms of oppressive and anti-compassionate behavior are the result of these strategies. Rather than (just) thinking aboutindividualscompeting with one another, we can also consider these different resource regulation strategies ascompeting within populationsshaping psychophysiological patterns; both wealth and poverty change the brain. One of the challenges to creating a more compassionate society is to find ways to create the social and economic conditions that regulate control and hold strategies and promote care and share. No easy task. (shrink)

L'histoire de la métaphysique est riche en tournants et tourments. Initiée par Aristote mais avec la difficulté de concevoir de manière univoque ce qu'elle recherche, elle semble avoir fixé son objectif au XVIIe siècle, quand fut inventé le mot " ontologie ". Cette invention a constitué un véritable " tournant " de la métaphysique en direction d'un rationalisme unilatéral. Et c'est précisément contre cette ontologie que se sont levés Nietzsche et Heidegger. Les " tourments " de la métaphysique aujourd'hui naissent (...) d'un tel tournant, ou plutôt d'une réaction à ce tournant sans revenir cependant aux hésitations antiques. Plutôt que d'en demeurer au stérile débat entre une métaphysique " ontologique " d'un côté et la phénoménologie de l'autre, ce livre tente de faire le point sur la possible et mutuelle fécondité entre la phénoménologie et la métaphysique, avec la confrontation d'auteurs aussi divers qu'Éric Weil, Emmanuel Levinas ou Michel Henry. -- Site de l"éditeur. (shrink)

In this report, we summarize the outcome of a consultation session held in January 2024 appraising adopted attitudes within scientific research. This Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Sandpit was a collaboration between interdisciplinary researchers from the ECMage (Extracellular Matrix [ECM] ageing across the life course interdisciplinary research network) and BLAST (Building Links in Ageing Science & Translation) networks, both part of the UK Ageing Networks, and the lifETIME (Engineered Tissues for Discovery, Industry and Medicine) Centre for Doctoral Training. Statements representing (...) previously prevalent patterns of thinking that could influence research practice were put to delegate teams to discuss in relation to social and cultural behaviors that have been adopted over the years. Discussions focused on five themes across two main categories, aiming to identify and understand areas where change is needed, as well as to offer suggestions on how best to concentrate efforts to make the most impact. (shrink)

One of the traditional requirements of jus in bello is that military action should be proportionate in the loss and injury caused to troops to the military objectives it secures. However, the ?overwhelming force? applied in two Gulf Wars has been criticised as disproportionate. This article suggests a criterion for judging whether force is proportionate by considering what those who enter the profession of arms might be expected to tolerate or to undertake. A tacit agreement between troops on each side (...) is postulated, breaches of which count as unfair conduct, including cases of the disproportionate use of force. (shrink)

La conférence de Heidegger, « Qu’est-ce que la métaphysique? », prononcée en 1929, insère au coeur de la réflexion métaphysique le thème du “rien”. Cette conférence a été précédée en 1928 par un essai intitulé « L’essence du fondement » et suivie en 1930 par un discours sur « L’essence de la vérité ». Elle a été complétée ensuite par une « Postface » (1943), puis par une « Introduc­tion » (1949), toutes deux rédigées par Heidegger. La première partie de (...) l’article suit les évolutions du philosophe allemand dont témoigne la séquence temporelle de ces textes. La seconde partie expose des interprétations de la conférence de 1929 proposées par deux phénoménologues français : Jean-Louis Chrétien (1985) et Jean-Luc Marion (1989). Mots-clés: Être. Rien. Heidegger. Marion. Chrétien. (shrink)

Paul Gilbert; XI*—Immediate Experience, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 92, Issue 1, 1 June 1992, Pages 233–250, https://doi.org/10.1093/aristot.

Contemporary philosophy is sensitive to an approach that renounces the need for a single foundation as the principle of any explanation of the realities of the world and of our lives. It is therefore attentive to the tension expressed by the preposition “meta” in the word “metaphysics”, and wary of the modern “ontologies” that Kant did not fail to deconstruct. It therefore adopts the term “difference” as the key to understanding all that is. The word “paradox” highlights the fact that (...) all difference is not opposition between mutually exclusive terms. It belongs to the most rigorous philosophical language and has been meditated on throughout the history of philosophy. Plato initiated it in a few pages of the Sophist, by examining the link between the two terms “same” and “other”, a tension that Aristotle nevertheless found difficult to accept, but which Plotinus singularly deepened. It returned in the twentieth century with Levinas and Derrida, in a cultural context where metaphysical reflection is making new departures. (shrink)

If morality concerns the question how to live then can it be a science? Can there be a science of how to live? Hilary Putnam who poses this question answers it thus:1 logically impossible. But, he reassures us, . In the meantime moral reasoning must engage . This is developed through in literature. If the computer takes over, of course, then . So too, he says, may science, not because redundant but because complete in its explanatory and predictive power.

The last 20 years have seen the development of a new form of therapy, compassion focused therapy. Although CFT has a growing evidence base, there have been few studies of CFT outside of an Anglo-European cultural context. In this paper, we ask: Might a CFT-based approach be of value for Indigenous Australians? If so, what kind of cultural adaptations might be needed? We report the findings from a pilot study of an arts-based compassion skills training group, in which usual CFT (...) group processes were significantly adapted to meet the needs of Indigenous Australians. At face value, CFT appeared to be a promising approach to enhancing the social and emotional wellbeing of Australia’s Indigenous peoples. However, despite initial consultations with Indigenous health professionals, the first attempts to offer a more conventional group-based CFT to Indigenous clients were largely unsuccessful. Following a review and advice from two Indigenous clients, we combined elements of CFT with visual arts to develop a new approach, “arts-based compassion skills training”. This paper reports an evaluation of this pilot ABCST group. The group had 6 × 4 h sessions of ABCST, facilitated by two psychologists and two artists. There were 10 participants, who attended between 2 and 6 sessions: five were clients, five were health professionals. Between 1 and 3 months later, six of the participants were interviewed. Qualitative analysis of interview data identified that two key processes—creating a positive group atmosphere and channeling compassion skills training through the medium of visual arts—led to four positive outcomes for participants: planting the seeds of new understandings, embodying the skills of compassion, strengthening relationships with others, and evolving a more self-compassionate relationship. We suggest that the preliminary results are sufficiently encouraging to warrant further development of ABCST in Indigenous communities. (shrink)

Under international law military doctors are expected to be neutral in the sense of treating the wounded in accordance with their medical needs alone irrespective of which side they are on, and military staff enjoy immunity from attack in consequence. But it has been objected that their military role should sometimes lead them to act otherwise. The paper maintains that this misunderstands the doctor’s role in the armed forces, but the objection does raise the question of why the forces employ (...) doctors with their strict ethical code rather than medical technicians who would just obey orders rather than following purely medical priorities. The paper claims that this is because adherence to the principles of discrimination and proportionality would result in such staff usually being ordered to act in accordance with the same priorities as doctors proper. The immunity from attack of medical staff can be derived from the same principles. Possible exceptions and the applicability of the present system of neutrality to contemporary conflicts are discussed. (shrink)

For 40 years, Ted Honderich has pursued the unpopular project of acting as an advocate for what he has called the violence of the Left—the violence involved in those terrorist campaigns which stand a reasonable chance of getting “freedom and power for a people when it is clear that nothing else will get it for them.” One question I want to keep in mind in discussing Honderich’s views is what might thus be required of us in our role as philosophers. (...) Honderich’s own answer derives from his view of political philosophy as, indeed, advocacy. On the face of it, there is no contradiction in performing the role of both philosopher and citizen simultaneously in advocating political positions on philosophical grounds. There is, however, a potential tension between the roles. As a philosopher, Honderich formulates the Principle of Humanity which brings order and consistency to the judgments he makes on its basis. But as an advocate in the court of public opinion, he surely needs to carry as many of the jury along with him as he can. It cannot be assumed, however, that they will all wish to subscribe to the Principle of Humanity or, indeed, to any consequentialist principle. Some may have deontological convictions. Furthermore, Honderich does not rely only on the Principle of Humanity in arriving at his judgments. He uses it, rather, to organize and justify them. Thus, he says that “the wrong of 9/11 is to be taken as a kind of datum, a moral truth that has general moral principles as its possible consequences” (Honderich. Humanity, terrorism, terrorist war. London: Continuum, 2006, p. 126). Most people would share his reaction. His task, then, in trying to convince us that Palestinian terrorism is not similarly wrong is to expose the differences between the cases. (shrink)

Near the end of someone’s life, or when a chapter in their life closes, they may nurse regrets but no longer be able to act to change the situation they regret having caused. This paper asks what is the point of such vain regrets and contrasts them with the typical case where regret is effectual. Regret usually involves both anger at oneself for what one has done and sadness at having done it. Richard Wollheim takes regret to be an attitude (...) of hostility to oneself resulting from a fall in one’s secure sense of self as an ongoing person. His account is considered and rejected as unable to reveal the point of vain regrets. Sartre’s description of the emotions is adapted to the case of regret with its dual affective character. His idea of anger as a substitute for the suppression of another consciousness is used to show how regret involves a rejection of one’s previous way of seeing the world, by contrast with one’s present view. This enables us to see how regret, even when vain, can reinforce, rather than undermine, one’s sense of self and provide a form of self-understanding. (shrink)

Pensar na graça de Deus e na liberdade do homem, ao mesmo tempo, tem sido sempre essencial, embora difícil para a reflexão cristã. Anselmo considerou com frequência essa dificuldade, que é semelhante à que nasce do uso da sola ragione numa postura de oração. Na sua obra De Concordia, terceira parte, cap. 11, o Doutor Magnígico constrói uma representação da vontade que assume as exigências máximas da reflexão cristã. Este capítulo distingue três aspectos na vontade: instumentum, aptitudo e usus; a (...) aptitudo é chamada de affectio. No seu De libero arbitrio, Anselmo distinguia, em vez, o instrumento e o uso, sem considerar a affectio. Com um atenção especial à fenomenologia contemporânea, o presente artigo destaca tanto por que o tema da afeição deve ser introduzido quanto o signifcado desta introdução tardia na obra de Anselmo. (shrink)

Oser parler du " don ", c'est prendre à rebours la logique économique et les dérives sociales qu'elle génère ; c'est faire droit à une attente inamissible des personnes et des sociétés. " Faire un don " perturbe de l'intérieur les mouvements économiques et leurs lois d'échange. Marcel Mauss a estimé que l'échange de dons unifiait les sociétés, mais un don sans retour, et donc sans contre-don, peut ouvrir celles-ci à des dimensions d'essentielle humanité, irréductibles aux lois des marchés. Jacques (...) Derrida et Jean-Luc Marion accompagnent la réflexion que voici. Paul Gilbert et Silvano Petrosino y rappellent que nos vies n'appartiennent pas au seul domaine de l'échange égalitaire et que la gratuité y est essentielle. L'amitié et la paternité en témoignent. (shrink)

Uma primeira seção do presente trabalho se deterá sobre um problema preliminar, sobre a diferença entre a “ontologia” e a “metafísica” – o tratamento desse problema determinará toda reflexão posterior. A segunda seção interpretará alguns textos recentes de filosofia “continental” que promoveram a ideia de um fim da metafísica. A terceira seção, por sua vez, se coloca em posição crítica diante da filosofia analítica que surgiu exatamente com o projeto de superar, com a ontologia, a metafísica morta. A quarta e (...) última seção colocará em evidência as razões pelas quais a metafísica, concebida no seu significado clássico, permanece viva, a despeito de todas as contestações. (shrink)

The concept of ontology has a long and complex history, with roots that can be traced back to the ancient Greek philosopher Parmenides, who is widely regarded as its founder. Parmenides developed the idea of ontology as a means of exploring the fundamental nature of existence and being. He sought to understand the logical and immanent meaning of the term “being” and how it relates to the world around us. In contrast, metaphysics is concerned with exploring the fundamental nature of (...) reality itself. It distances itself from the physical world and its distinct temporal elements. Plato, in his work Sophist, argued that only the “eteros” remained identical to itself within the system of genera, highlighting the importance of understanding the nature of existence itself. Similarly, Aristotle’s Metaphysics reflected a tension between the creation of a closed system and the impossibility of reaching it. In book Δ/V, chapters 9 and 10, he discussed the meanings of the terms “other” and “opposite”, revealing the challenges of understanding the nature of reality itself.The debate between ontology and metaphysics has been ongoing in the Anglo-Saxon world since the early twentieth century, particularly in the context of empiricism. This debate has resurfaced in France, where philosophers like Levinas and Ricoeur have attempted to reconcile the tension between ontology and metaphysics by proposing categories such as “dialectic” and “metaphor” to bridge the divide. In this chapter, we will continue this process of reconciliation between ontology and metaphysics, recognizing the necessary identity of each pole involved in the dispute. By exploring the complexities and nuances of these concepts, we hope to gain a deeper understanding of the fundamental nature of existence and reality. (shrink)

AimThis study aims to translate the Compassionate Engagement and Action Scales into Turkish and to test their subsequent validity, reliability, and psychometric properties. Turkey is one of the blended cultures with eastern and western elements under the influence of traditional religion. This cultural diversity brings about a rich context to study compassion and its relationship to mental health. The scales assess the ability to be sensitive to suffering and engage and then take helpful actions in compassion. The motivation for compassionate (...) engagement and action is measured at three ‘flows’ as follows: compassion for others; compassion from others; and compassion for self.MethodsThe sample consists of 525 college students aged 18 years or older. The participants completed the CEAS Turkish Form for Others, Self and from Others, Self-Compassion Scale Short Form, Compassionate Love Scale, and Self-Criticism Scale.ResultsThe confirmatory factor analyses were conducted using AMOS version 27 to examine the validity of the three scales with two different factor structures each. All the three models show good fits to the data. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the CEAS for Others and for Self and from Others are good to excellent. Compassion for self, compassion for others, and compassion from others correlated modestly.ConclusionIt can be concluded that the Turkish version of the Compassionate Engagement and Action Scales for Others and Self and from Others has sufficient psychometric properties and can be used as a reliable and valid measure to assess compassionate engagement and action. (shrink)

L'articolo mette in evidenza le convergenze e differenze tra religione, pensiero moderno e postmoderno. Tutti i tre appartengono alle culture e le loro storie sociali, però questa convergenza non garantisce l'indentificazione delle loro prospettive. La religione si consente di fare affermazioni di relazione non razionabile, al di là delle condizioni sociali e culturali. Il pensiero, lo stesso se postmoderno, è invece d'ordine ideologico e autoreferenziale, inseparabile di concetti organizzati in una cultura particolare. La postmodernità, che intende liberarsi della prepotenza della (...) razionalità moderna, potrebbe fornire un orizzonte di pensiero la cui appertura sembra stabilire un'alleanza con la religione. Ma alla fine si mostra insufficiente. Il postmoderno rimane ancora in una concezione sull'individuo nell'ambito dell'emozione di un esse in, un piano radicalmente distinto dell'esperienza religiosa autentica che ha la sua origine nell'interiorità personale, nell'affettività di un esse ad. Palavras-chave: Religione, ragione, pensiero postmoderno, modernità, cultura Resumo O artigo coloca em evidência as convergências e diferenças entre religião, pensamento moderno e pós-moderno. Todos eles pertencem às culturas e suas histórias sociais, porém tal convergência não garante a identificação de suas perspectivas. A religião se consente em fazer afirmações de relação não racional, para além das condições sociais e culturais. O pensamento, mesmo o pós-moderno, é, por sua vez, de ordem ideológica e autoreferencial, inseparável de conceitos organizados numa cultura particular. A pós-modernidade, que tem a intenção de se libertar da prepotência da racionalidade moderna, poderia oferecer um horizonte de pensamento cuja abertura parece estabelecer uma aliança com a religião. Mas, afinal de contas, se mostra insuficiente. O pós-moderno permanece ainda em uma concepção sobre o indivíduo no âmbito da emoção de um esse in, em um plano radicalmente distinto da experiência religiosa autêntica, que tem sua origem na interioridade pessoal, na afetividade de um esse ad. Palavras-chave: Religião, razão, pensamento pós-moderno, modernidade, culturaThe present article highlights the similarities and differences among religion, modern and postmodern thought. They all belong to cultures and their social histories, but such convergence does not guarantee the identification of their perspectives. Religion has consented in making irrational statements, beyond social and cultural conditions. The thought, even the postmodern one should be comprehended in its ideological and self-referential bias, and not separated from the concepts organized in a particular culture. Post-modernity, which has the intention to release itself from the tyranny of modern rationality, could offer an open horizon of though in order to establish an alliance with religion. But, after all, it has not worked. Postmodernism is still based in a conception of the individual under the emotion of the so called esse in, within a plan which is totally distinct of genuine religious experience, which has its origin in the inner personal emotion of the so called esse ad. Key words: Religion, reason, postmodern thought, modernity, culture. (shrink)

This chapter directs attention to calls to integrate compassion training in curricula throughout the education system. Following a review of current Higher Education aims and objectives, and the potential psychological impacts that these can have on staff and students, we outline a case for compassion based initiatives in education. We discuss the nature and functions of compassion, as well as how compassion can heighten prosocial competencies. We then consider how compassion based approaches can be - and have been - implemented (...) in education settings, including HE, to promote the health and well-being of staff and students, as well as academic performance. We argue that elements of compassion should underpin the training of lecturers, as well as students, if UK institutes of learning truly embrace the various core values they advertise. (shrink)

The word “ontology” has no meaning outside the context in which it was created. When it was invented, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, the word 'metaphysics' already existed. So the creation of “ontology” had to express a distance with respect to tradition. “Metaphysics” had its roots in Aristotle and his search, his impossible search, for a first principle. This project is taken up again by “ontology” but this time by limiting the Aristotelian intention to the area of univocal (...) formality, while Aristotle had situated himself within the order of dialectical investigation. Current phenomenology tries to re-actualize the Aristotelian intention by emphasizing ontological difference and analogy, while analytic philosophy remains firmly within the tradition of modern ontology. (shrink)