Analysis of editions of classical historians-both in original and vernacular languages-as given in F.L.A. Schweiger's Handbuch der classischen Bibliographie, indicates variations in taste for models of historical writing. Many more Roman than Greek historians were reprinted: Sallust was the most popular author, but almost all the Romans were reprinted more often than any of the Greeks. National preferences can be seen in statistics of vernacular editions arranged by place of publication. Scholarly readers show a different pattern of preference. Introductions to (...) editions often reveal the social groups to whom the book is expected to appeal, and show qualities particularly admired. (shrink)

Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa contra Gentiles, cites by name and quotes Avicenna seventeen times explicitly. A detailed examination of all these passages reveals that Thomas sometimes, although rarely—in fact, only with regard to the discussion of the divine attributes of truth and liberality—makes a positive assessment of Avicenna’s ideas. Much more often, Thomas is highly critical of the latter’s doctrines. It comes as no surprise that Thomas strongly opposes Avicenna’s theories of emanation and of knowledge acquisition by an illumination (...) of the agent intellect. However, it is astonishing that he qualifies Avicenna as a “Platonist.” This understanding seems to result partly from Averroistic influences, partly from Thomas’s desire to make Avicenna’s system—in spite of the presence of obvious tensions in it—completely coherent, and partly from some rewordings which fit better Thomas’s own system. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that Avicenna was for Thomas a real “auctoritas.”. (shrink)

Every epoch possesses its proper Plato, its proper Thomas and its proper Kant. To interpret or to assimilate a doctrine does not merely consist in the knowledge of that which the author has literally taught but rather in representing to oneself one's own impression while reading. The new literature which has appeared since 1950 will in the future behave just like the preceding: the attempt will be made to re-think the authentic Criticism as well as to complete Kant's intellectual portrait (...) by carving out certain aspects of his thought which are little or not yet known. (shrink)

Introduction Stored human samples and the establishment of biobanks are increasing in the world. Along with this there are the questions of ethics that arise such as the correct method of obtaining informed consent for research on stored samples and the policies involved in collaborative research using collected samples. This study is an attempt to evaluate the researchers, academics and policy makers' views on these ethical aspects. Methods This was an anonymised study involving a Sri Lankan population of researchers, ethics (...) committee members, and policy makers. A self administered questionnaire was utilised as the study instrument. The questionnaire captured four major areas of interest: demographic characteristics of respondents, their attitudes on informed consent policy, their opinion on rights of collaborating researchers, their attitudes on dealing with international differences in regulatory frameworks. Results The study included 55 responders with 40/55 agreeing that donors should receive the option of giving informed consent for future research, with 31/55 considering multiple- type consent options most appropriate. Regarding the issue of shared samples in collaborative research majority agreed that source country ethics review committee approval was necessary 53/55. Conclusion The study concludes that sample donors should be given the option of giving advance consent to unspecified future research provided that future research is approved by an ethics committee. In collaborative research, it is necessary to involve ethics committees from donor countries in the research approval process. (shrink)

Research on the development of historical time knowledge among school children has been sparse and seldom grounded in a firm body of content that is likely to have been taught in the formal curriculum. This study attempts to extend our understanding of the development of historical time knowledge of students by assessing four dimensions of this construct and it casts this knowledge within the context of U.S. History. The study is cross sectional, involving fifth grade, eighth grade, twelfth grade, and (...) college level students. It was hypothesized that a gradual development of historical time knowledge would be found and that considerable ignorance of historical time knowledge would also be revealed at all levels. The results of this study raise several questions about the outcomes of history instruction provided in our schools. (shrink)

A comprehensive review of Marxism and its development by Engels, Lenin, and contemporary Soviet philosophers. Two sections of equal length deal with "Marxism as a Philosophy" and "Marxism as a Theory of History." The results of recent scholarship done in many parts of the world are presented in a systematic account of Marx and his relationship to Engels, Lenin and others. In post-Marxian philosophy, major emphasis is placed on the "classical" dialectical materialism, but other types of Marxism are considered as (...) well. Extensive notes and an excellent annotated bibliography are included. This volume will be of use both as a text book and as a resource to those who are interested in Marx or Marxism-Leninism.—K. A. M. (shrink)

Design ethics has been offered as a course in undergraduate design programs in Taiwan for over a decade, but research on teaching design ethics and the results of teaching these courses is scant. We conducted two tests to examine the effect of an ethics course, and the differences among the effects of design department, gender, and study year on student opinions regarding ethical design standards at the National Yunlin University of Science and Technology in Taiwan. The participants comprised 934 undergraduates (...) from the five design departments at YunTech’s College of Design from Years 1–4. The results confirmed the effect of an ethics course on student EDS opinions. In addition, we observed significant variations among students according to design departments, suggesting that the characteristics of the design departments also affected students’ EDS opinions. The results indicated that gender did not significantly affect design students’ EDS opinions; however, students in their early years of study produced higher scores than those in their advanced years of study did, based on the six EDS opinions. The implications of these results for teaching design ethics and future research are discussed in this paper. (shrink)