bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Religion and Science
Authors: Russell Bertrand
Published: November 2023

In this timely work, Russell, philosopher, agnostic, mathematician, and renowned peace advocate, offers a brief yet insightful study of the conflicts between science and traditional religion during the last four centuries. Examining accounts in which scientific advances clashed with Christian doctrine or biblical interpretations of the day, from Galileo and the Copernican Revolution, to the medical breakthroughs of anesthesia and inoculation, Russell points to the constant upheaval and re-evaluation of our systems of belief throughout history. In turn, he identifies where similar debates between modern science and the Church still exist today. Michael Ruse's new introduction brings these conflicts between science and theology up to date, focusing on issues arising after the Second World War. This classic is sure to interest all readers of philosophy and religion, as well as those interested in Russell's thought and writings.
Suffering and Moral Responsibility
Authors: Mayerfeld Jamie
Published: November 2023

This book is about the duty to relieve suffering. Jamie Mayerfield argues that this duty is far stronger than most of us acknowledge—an argument with far-reaching implications for how we should live. He begins by offering an account of the meaning of suffering. From there he moves on to a discussion of the measurement and moral significance of suffering. Mayerfield argues that the prima facie duty (which may be overridden by other duties) to relieve suffering arises directly from the badness of suffering. The alleviation of suffering, he claims, is morally more important than the promotion of happiness. He goes on to examine the proper resolution of trade-offs internal to the duty to relieve suffering: e.g., what should we do when we can eliminate the suffering of one group of people or another, but not both? Finally, Mayerfield addresses the question of how to identify those occasions when the relief of suffering is not morally required or is indeed wrong.
The Skeptic’s Argument
Authors: Butchvarov Panayot
Published: November 2023

We are now ready to embark on an explicit discussion of our topic, skepticism about the external world. I shall devote this chapter to an exposition and defense of what I regard to be the skeptic’s strongest argument. But it cannot be fully appreciated without a discussion of the numerous objections to it and of several ways they can be answered, which will require strengthening the argument in what may be unfamiliar ways. Hence the length of the chapter. But I think it is unavoidable if the skeptic’s argument is to be done justice. In the remaining three chapters I shall try to answer it, though not to refute it.
Morality without Foundations
Authors: Timmons Mark
Published: November 2023

Timmons defends a metaethical view that exploits certain contextualist themes in philosophy of language and epistemology. He advances what he calls assertoric non-descriptivism, a view that employs semantic contextualism in giving an account of moral discourse. This view, which like traditional non-descriptivist views stresses the practical, action-guiding function of moral thought and discourse, also allows that moral sentences, as typically used, make genuine assertions. Timmons then defends a contextualist moral epistemology thus completing his overall program of contextualism in ethics.
Fungal Associations Of Protozoa And Animals
Authors: Paracer Surindar , Ahmadjian Vernon
Published: November 2023

Morn than 1 million species of fungi are estimated to exist, but only about 69,000 species have been described. Most of the undescribed fungi occur in tropical and subtropical regions of the world (Hawksworth and Rossman, 1997). Some fungi are large, like mushrooms, but most of them are microscopic. Armillaria bulbosa, a fungal parasite of the roots of conifers and hardwoods, may be one of the largest and oldest living organisms. One individual strain of this fungus occupies more than 30 acres of Michigan forest, weighs more than 11.0 tons, and is estimated to be 1500 years old (M.L. Smith et al., 1992). Fungi grow practically everywhere and produce large numbers of asexual spores that float in the air, are buried in soil and water, and cling to plants and animals. Under favorable conditions, the spores germinate and produce colonies. About two-thirds of all fungal species live in symbiotic associations with a wide variety of organisms. The major groups of filamentous fungi are ancient in origin, with a fossil record from the Precambrian and early Paleozoic (Sherwood-Pike, 1991).
Parasitic And Mutualistic Protozoans
Authors: Paracer Surindar , Ahmadjian Vernon
Published: November 2023

Protozoans live in oceans, lakes, streams, soils, and around the roots of plants. They also live in the alimentary canal, bloodstream, liver, lungs, brain, and other organs of animals.. Some protozoans cause serious human illnesses, such as malaria, African sleeping sickness, and Chagas’s disease (Roizman, 1996; Wills, 1996); others are pathogens of domesticated animals, such as horses, cattle, and poultry. Flagellate protozoa cause diseases in plants such as coffee, coconut palm, and oil palm (Dollet, 1984). The red tides that kill fish along coastal areas of the eastern United States are caused by large populations of toxin-producing dinoflagellates (Anderson, 1994). A newly discovered killer offish is the dinoflagellate Pfiesteria piscicida. Its toxins have killed millions of fish along the North Carolina coast (Russell, 1998; Burkholder, 1999).
“A Test for the Individual Viewer”: Bonnie and Clyde’s Violent Reception
Authors: Hoberman J
Published: November 2023

To posit sexual display and violent action as the two most universal “attractions” of Hollywood movies is merely to state the obvious. In a practical sense, success for American movies may be gauged by the degree to which they are able to mass-produce audience excitement. There have, however, been instances in which that mass excitement has itself been deemed dangerously overstimulating.
The Presence of Violence 1n Religion
Authors: Bloch Maurice m.
Published: November 2023

This chapter concerns the place of violence in religion and more particularly in religious rituals. Although much of the discussion will refer to peoples living outside the industrial world, in societies that would often be qualified as simple, peasant, or even primitive, the conclusions apply to religious practices in general. To talk of violence in religion may at first seem surprising, especially to North American or European audiences, which often have a some what sentimental view of religion and a totally negative view of violence, in the abstract at least. That being so, the question for them seems to be how the two things can be mixed together. In fact, violence and religion are intimately linked all over the world. For example, a moment’s reflection about the familiar Semitic religions-Judaism, Christianity, and Islam-reveals the great role that violence has always played for them. The Old Testament is full of the celebrations of wars and killings, of maledictions and blood-curdling threats. The same is true of the Koran and the New Testament, in which we are told, for example, how, in the Acts of the Apostles, a couple who had not disclosed the full profit they had made on a property transaction to Saint Peter and to an early Christian congregation were immediately struck dead by God in an episode that seems to make matters worse by adding an element of grim humor. The presence of violence, or the evocation of it, is also very clear in rituals, such as the Muslim celebration of Abraham’s sacrifice or the Christian evocation of the crucifixion.
Information and Organisms
Authors: Loewenstein Werner R
Published: November 2023

No one can escape a sense of wonder when looking at a living being from within. From the humblest unicellular organism to man, from the smallest cell organelle to the stupendous human brain, living things present us with example after example of highly ordered matter, precisely shaped and organized to perform coordinated functions. Where does this order spring from? How does a living organism manage to do what nonliving matter cannot dobring forth and maintain order against the ever-present disordering pressures in the universe? The order prevailing in living beings strikes the eye at every level of their organization, even at the level of their molecular building blocks. These macromolecules are made of the same kind of atoms the molecules of nonliving things are made of and are held together by the same kind of forces, but they are more complex. Take a hemoglobin molecule, for example, the major protein of our blood, and set it against a sodium chloride molecule, the common salt from the inanimate mineral world. Both are orderly structures. The salt is an array of sodium and chloride atoms-always the same two atoms in an endless crystal repeat.
Syndromes of the Head and Neck
Authors: Gorlin Robert J , Cohen M Michael , Hennekam Raoul C M
Published: November 2023

This classic text, one of the true anchors of our clinical genetics publishing program, covers over 700 different genetic syndromes involving the head and neck, and it has established itself as the definitive, comprehensive work on the subject. The discussion covers the phenotype spectrum, epidemiology, mode of inheritance, pathogenesis, and clinical profile of each condition, all of which is accompanied by a wealth of illustrations. The authors are recognized leaders in the field, and their vast knowledge and strong clinical judgment will help readers make sense of this complex and burgeoning field. Dr. Gorlin retires as editor in this edition and co-editor Raoul Hennekam takes over. Dr. Hennekam is regarded as one of the top dysmorphologists--and indeed one of the top clinical geneticists--in the world. Judith Allanson is new to the book but is a veteran OUP author and a widely respected geneticist, and Ian Krantz at Penn is a rising star in the field. Dr. Gorlin's name has always been closely associated with the book, and it has now become part of the title. As in all fields of genetics, there has been an explosion in the genetics of dysmorphology syndromes, and the author has undertaken a complete updating of all chapters in light of the discoveries of the Human Genome Project and other ongoing advances, with some chapters requiring complete rewriting. Additional material has been added both in terms of new syndromes and in updating information on existing syndromes. The book will appeal to clinical geneticists, pediatricians, neurologists, head and neck surgeons, otolarynologists, and dentists. The 4th edition, which published in 2001, has sold 2,600 copies.
Syndromes with Unusual Facies: Well-Known Syndromes
Authors: Gorlin Robert J , Cohen M Michael , Hennekam Raoul C M
Published: November 2023

Frontonasal malformation (frontonasal dysplasia, median cleft face syndrome) Frontonasal malformation, probably first described by Hoppe (31) in 1859, consists of hypertelorism, broad nasal root, lack of nasal tip, widow’s peak, and anterior cranium bifidum occultum. Associated defects may include midline clefting of nose and/or upper lip, rarely, the palate, and defects of the alae nasi (Figs. 24–1 to 24–5).
Scientific Controversies: An Introduction
Authors: Machamer Peter , Pera Marcello , Baltas Aristides
Published: November 2023

Aristotle disputed with his precursors and predecessors about atoms, void, space, movement, celestial spheres, and so on. Galileo argued against Ptolemy and contemporary seventeenth-century Aristotelians about the fundamental laws of motion, the structure of the universe, the causes of tides, floating bodies, and so on. Newton quarreled with Descartes, Hooke, Boyle, and many others about colors, light, and other topics. Einstein had controversies with Poincare and Lorentz about absolute space and time, and with Bohr, Born, and many others about quantum mechanical laws.
The Structure of a Scientific Controversy: Hooke versus Newton about Colors
Authors: Mamiani Maurizio
Published: November 2023

The controversy between Robert Hooke and Isaac Newton about colors may be regarded both from a factual point of view and from a theoretical one. Newton’s Ven Theory about Light and Colours was read at the meeting of the Royal Society on 8 February 1672, and Hooke was asked to peruse it and bring a report to the society. A week after, at the next meeting, Hooke read his brief report. A copy of it was immediately sent to Newton.1 There arose a quarrel, which went on until the beginning of 1676. Despite its short duration and the restricted nature of the scientific topic under discussion, this quarrel is very significant theoretically, because of its gradual development toward more and more general issues concerning the meanings of the scientific research. For this reason, I believe that the quarrel between Hooke and Newton about colors includes some items typical of scientific controversies, which may be isolated from the historical background. Consequently, I suggest that the analysis of historical cases of scientific controversies is also the key to detecting their theoretical structure.
Controversies and the Becoming of Physical Chemistry
Authors: Gavroglu Kostas
Published: November 2023

That controversies have had a rather pronounced role in disciplinary politics is something implicit to the character of the controversies themselves. But controversies were quite decisive in defining (sub)disciplinary boundaries as well. In this chapter I assess the role of controversies in defining such boundaries through their role in forming the discourse of a particular (sub)discipline. Assessing the dynamics of a controversy between British chemists and physicists at the end of the nineteenth century concerning claims over the atom and understanding the controversy surrounding the discovery of argon in 1894-1895 will clarify issues related to the processes of legitimizing the language of physical chemistry and the praxis of its practitioners. I also comment on quantum chemistry.
Revising with Feedback
Authors: Elbow Peter
Published: November 2023

Revising with feedback is the most powerful way to revise, and happily enough it is also the most interesting and enjoyable technique. No-revising relies on a magical polishing process inside you-using luck and your unconscious. Quick revising relies on a detached critical consciousness: you step out of your involvement with your writing and clean it up with dispassionate pragmatic eyes; you can make quick harsh decisions because you haven’t got time to vacillate, you must cut your losses. Thorough revising relies most of all upon time-more time for careful wrestling and more time in addition for setting your writing aside, which gives you newer, fresher eyes than you could get by mere will power or any vow to be dispassionate. Cut-and-paste revising (next chapter) relies on aesthetic intuition. When you revise with feedback you are of course trying to use all these faculties, but in addition you are using the most powerful tool of all: the eyes of others.
Breathing Experience into Words
Authors: Elbow Peter
Published: November 2023

Go to the pine if you want to learn about the pine, or to the bamboo if you want to learn about the bamboo. And in doing so, you must leave your subjective preoccupation with yourself. Otherwise you impose yourself on the object and do not learn. Your poetry issues of its own accord when you and the object have become one “Leave your subjective preoccupation with yourself.” I’ve been talking so much about self, self, self in the chapters on voice. What if that’s all wrong: incorrect; immoral. I don’t think it is, but since what I am seeking in this section of the book is a central mysterylife or power or magic in words-there is probably more than one path to it. I pursue now another approach, another line of attack, a different set of terms.
The New Red Negro
Authors: Smethurst James Edward
Published: November 2023

The New Red Negro surveys African-American poetry from the onset of the Depression to the early days of the Cold War. It considers the relationship between the thematic and formal choices of African-American poets and organized ideology from the proletarian early 1930s to the neo-modernist late 1940s. This study examines poetry by writers across the spectrum: canonical, less well-known, and virtually unknown. The ideology of the Communist Left as particularly expressed through cultural institutions of the literary Left significantly influenced the shape of African-American poetry in the 1930s and 40s, as well as the content. One result of this engagement of African-American writers with the organized Left was a pronounced tendency to regard the re-created folk or street voice as the authentic voice--and subject--of African-American poetry. Furthermore, a masculinist rhetoric was crucial to the re-creation of this folk voice. This unstable yoking of cultural nationalism, integrationism, and internationalism within a construct of class struggle helped to shape a new relationship of African-American poetry to vernacular African-American culture. This relationship included the representation of African-American working class and rural folk life and its cultural products ostensibly from the mass perspective. It also included the dissemination of urban forms of African-American popular culture, often resulting in mixed media high- low hybrids.
Soil Sampling, Preparation, Archiving, and Quality Control
Authors: Boone Richard D , Grigal David F , Sollins Phillip , Ahrens Robert J , Armstrong David E
Published: November 2023

The saying “‘The devil is in the details”‘ appropriately describes the many decisions that must be made when conducting soils research, particularly long-term investigations where consistency over time and among scientific staff is essential. In addition to technical and often sophisticated analytical methods, soils research also includes the basic sampling and processing of samples as well as adherence to general standards for quality control in the laboratory. Though many decisions about the more nonanalytical steps of soils research may seem inconsequential at the time, they often largely determine the quality of data and their general utility later on.
Soil Water and Temperature Status
Authors: Jarrell Wesley M , Armstrong David E , Grigal David F , Kelly Eugene F , Monger H Curtis , Wedin David A
Published: November 2023

Soil water status and temperature are critical factors that affect the activity of organisms in soils. Soil water content also has important effects on the quantity of water that eventually becomes available to surface water, both through its influence on infiltration/runoff relationships (wet soils have lower infiltration rates) and because of its potential contribution to the groundwater. Soil temperature influences soil water availability, the growth rates of plants and microorganisms, and rates of chemical/biochemical reactions.
Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Availability Nitrogen Mineralization, Nitrification, and Soil Respiration Potentials
Authors: Robertson G Philip , Wedin David , Groffman Peter M , Blair John M , Holland Elisabeth A , Nadelhoffer Knute J , Harris David
Published: November 2023

soil’s capacity to transform organic nitrogen in soil organic matter to inorganic nitrogen-its nitrogen mineralization potential-is often used as an index of the nitrogen available to plants in terrestrial ecosystems. It is perhaps the most common and best means available to assess nitrogen fertility (e.g., Keeney 1980; Binkley and Hart 1989; Palm et al. 1993), related as it is to both the size of the labile soil organic matter (SOM) pool and the activity of the organisms responsible for its oxidation. Mineralization potentials (the net production of inorganic nitrogen under standard conditions) are superior to inorganic soil nitrogen concentrations (pool size) as an indicator of site fertility simply because the supply rate of a limiting nutrient is more important to its availability than is its instantaneous concentration. Most mineralization assays are designed to exclude plant uptake and leaching, and most also ignore immobilization (microbial uptake) and denitrification, so net mineralization potentials provide a good general index of the capacity of a soil to make nitrogen available to plants via the soil solution.
Characterizing Soil Microbial Communities
Authors: Sinsabaugh Robert L , Klug Michael J , Collins Harold P , Yeager Phillip E , Petersen Søren O
Published: November 2023

The soil microbial community is intimately linked to primary production, soil structure, and biogeochemical cycling. The analyses described in this chapter provide structural or functional information about the soil microbiota beyond that provided by integrative measures of biomass or respiration. These methods of community analysis can be separated into two categories: those that generate phenotypic data and those that generate genotypic data {Fig. 16.1). The former includes lipid analysis, substrate utilization profiles, and extracellular enzyme activity assays. The latter includes a variety of techniques for analyzing extracted nucleic acids. With all these approaches, the objective is to acquire an unbiased “‘snapshot”‘ of the whole microbial community, bypassing the well-known problems of culture-based methods. Unfortunately, whole-community analyses also have limitations; these are discussed within each section.
Recent Problems of Induction
Authors: Hempel Carl G , Fetzer James H
Published: November 2023

In the philosophical discussion of induction, one problem has long occupied the center stage—so much so, indeed, that it is usually referred to as the problem of induction. That is the problem of justifying the way in which, in scientific inquiry and in our everyday pursuits, we base beliefs and assertions about empirical matters on logically inconclusive evidence. This classical problem of justification, raised by Hume and made famous by his skeptical solution, is indeed of great philosophical importance. But more recent studies, most of which were carried out during the past two or three decades, have given rise to new problems of induction, no less perplexing and important than the classical one, which are logically prior to it in the sense that the classical problem cannot even be clearly stated—let alone solved—without some prior clarification of the new puzzles.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Introductory” (6 December 1837) to Human Culture lecture series
Authors: Myerson Joel
Published: November 2023

EMERSON, IN Nature, promises that the main goal of life is the “upbuilding of a man,” so it is not surprising that his first successful lecture series partakes of his lifelong interest in how we may best and most profitably live our lives (as his last major work, The Conduct of Life [1860], also attests). This lecture helps to explain the individualism that infuses Nature and the great addresses of the late 1830s and early 1840s, as well as many of his essays.
William Henry Channing, “Introduction” to the Present (September 1843)
Authors: Myerson Joel
Published: November 2023

WILLIAM HENRY CHANNING (1810 — 1884), nephew of the Reverend Channing and cousin of the poet Ellery Channing, was one of the most active social reformers among the Transcendentalists. In his “Ode” inscribed to Channing, Emerson called him the “evil time’s sole patriot.” He was an active supporter of Brook Farm and other communitarian ventures, edited reform journals, and wrote a biography of his uncle. While the Present lasted for fewer than eight months, Channing’s introduction very nicely articulates the high hopes many Transcendentalists had for contemporary reform.
Charles Lane and A. Bronson Alcott, “The Consociate Family Life” (8 September 1843)
Authors: Myerson Joel
Published: November 2023

A LONGER VERSION of Alcott and Lane’s promotional tract for Fruitlands than the brief note that had appeared in the Dial (printed above), this extended essay expands upon the goals and organization of the community.
Margaret Fuller, “New Year’s Day” (28 December 1844)
Authors: Myerson Joel
Published: November 2023

FULLER HAD MOVED to New York in November 1844, working as the literary critic for Horace Greeley’s New-York Tribune. This article greets both the real and the metaphoric new year.
Christopher Pearse Cranch, “Correspondences,” “To the Aurora Borealis,” and “Enosis”
Authors: Myerson Joel
Published: November 2023

ALL things in nature are beautiful types to the soul that can read them; Nothing exists upon earth, but for unspeakable ends, Every object that speaks to the senses was meant for the spirit; Nature is but a scroll; God’s handwriting thereon.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Hymn: Sung at the Completion of the Concord Monument, April 19, 1836,” “Each and All,” “Uriel,” “Hamatreya,” “Ode, Inscribed to W. H. Charming,” “Blight,” “Threnody,” “Brahma,” “Days,” “Two Rivers,” and “Terminus”
Authors: Myerson Joel
Published: November 2023

By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood, And fired the shot heard round the world. The foe long since in silence slept; Alike the conqueror silent sleeps; And Time the ruined bridge has swept Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.
Margaret Fuller, “To the Same. A Feverish Vision,” “Leila in the Arabian Zone,” “Double Triangle, Serpent and Rags,” “For the Power to whom we bow,” “The Sacred Marriage,” “Flaxman,” “Meditations,” and “Sistrum”
Authors: Myerson Joel
Published: November 2023

After a day of wearying, wasting pain, At last my aching eyes I think to close; — Hoping to win some moments of repose, Though I must wake to suffering again.
Margaret Fuller, “Things and Thoughts in Europe. No. XVIII” (I January 1848)
Authors: Myerson Joel
Published: November 2023

FULLER LEFT FOR Europe in the summer of 1846, writing a number of letters home for Greeley’s Tribune. In this one, she compares democracies in the New and the Old Worlds.
James Freeman Clarke, from “Cambridge” (1891)
Authors: Myerson Joel
Published: November 2023

JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE (1810 – 1888) had a career that ran the full gamut, from being a member of the Transcendental Club, to editing the Western Messenger, to starting his own congregation (The Church of the Disciples) in 1841, to contributing to the Dial, to being general secretary of the American Unitarian Association. He knew most of the Transcendentalists, had an extended correspondence with Margaret Fuller, was involved in many of the Transcendentalists’ activities, and exchanged pulpits with Parker after the latter was shunned following publication of the Discourse on the Transient and Permanent in Christianity, but Clarke nevertheless pursued his reforms within the general structure of the Unitarian establishment. In his “Autobiography,” he looks back on what it was like to be educated as an undergraduate at Harvard (1825 – 1829) and at the Divinity School (1829 – 1832) right before the time when Transcendentalism burst upon the scene. Even a cursory reading of Clarke’s reminiscences will clearly show why Emerson’s “American Scholar” address fell on receptive ears.
Morality
Authors: Gert Bernard
Published: November 2023

What is morality? This question seems as if it could be answered by any intelligent person until one actually tries to answer it. Then a funny thing happens. If one starts by saying “Morality is ... “ nothing one says afterward seems to be quite right. Of course one can say clever things like “Morality is simply the expression of the demands of the superego.” But this kind of clever remark does not explain what morality is. The superego makes many demands that are not moral demands. Which of its demands are the moral ones? Simply asking this question makes clear that morality cannot be equated with the demands of the superego. And so it goes with any answer that one initially proposes.
Rationalisty And Irrationality
Authors: Gert Bernard
Published: November 2023

I am concerned with the concept of rationality such that the question “Why be rational?” makes no sense. This is the evaluative or normative sense of “rational” that applies to the actions, beliefs, and decisions of moral agents. It is not the sense of “rational” where rationality is taken to be a capacity for reasoning, which is often regarded as distinguishing human beings from other animals. However, the two senses sometimes get confused, or some fairly obvious naturalistic fallacy is being committed. Some philosophers (from the present time to even farther back than Plato and Aristotle) seem to claim that human beings are essentially rational (reasoning) beings; therefore reasoning is the highest goal or best activity of human beings and they should reason as much as possible. But even if rationality (reasoning) is a unique characteristic of human beings, it does not follow that people should be rational if that means that reasoning is the best activity or that people should reason as much as possible. In some circumstances, a person can understand what it is to engage in reasoning and prefer some other activity. In the sense of “rational” with which I am concerned, no person who understands what “rational” means would ever ask why be rational.
Reasons
Authors: Gert Bernard
Published: November 2023

It is always irrational to act so as to achieve the object of an irrational desire: death (permanent loss of consciousness), pain, loss of ability, loss of freedom or loss of pleasure, without a reason. If one acts so as to achieve the object of an irrational desire, one needs a reason for acting in that way in order for one’s actions to count as rational. However, people usually have reasons for acting in these ways, and if the reason is adequate the action is no longer irrational. Reasons for acting are conscious rational beliefs that can make some otherwise irrational actions, rationa/.1 The belief that having one’s right arm cut off will save one’s life is a reason for having one’s arm cut off. In the discussion of irrational desires, several of these kinds of beliefs were mentioned. Beliefs that one’s action will decrease one’s own or anyone else’s chances of dying, of suffering pain, or of losing some ability, freedom, or pleasure count as reasons. These beliefs are reasons because they can sometimes make acting to achieve the object of an irrational desire rational. Other reasons are beliefs that one’s action will maintain or increase one’s own or anyone else’s consciousness, abilities, freedom, or pleasure. These beliefs can also make some otherwise irrational actions rational.
Moral Rules
Authors: Gert Bernard
Published: November 2023

Talking about moral rules is a convenient way of talking about those general kinds of actions that are morally required and prohibited, for example, keeping promises and killing. These rules can be stated in many different ways, such as “Killing is wrong” or “Do not kill.” I have chosen the formulation “Do not kill,” for it has the advantage that this is a common formulation for precepts that are taken to be moral rules, such as the Ten Commandments. Nothing of philosophical significance turns on the choice of this formulation; the same points can be made using other formulations, or even in talking about the general kinds of actions that are required and prohibited. However, the formulation I have chosen allows the points to be made in a simple and understandable way, without creating philosophical problems.
Impartiality
Authors: Gert Bernard
Published: November 2023

Impartiality has been almost universally misdescribed by philosophers. Like simultaneity, impartiality is usually taken to be a simpler concept than it really is. Einstein made the conceptual discovery that it was inadequate to characterize the simultaneity of two events by simply considering those two events. The point of view of the observer must also be considered. Einstein showed that it is incomplete to say merely “A and B occurred simultaneously.” A complete characterization requires saying ‘‘A and B occurred simultaneously to an observer at C.” This point had not been previously recognized because all of the known observers were at C. Thus it seemed sufficient to use the simpler characterization of simultaneity. Once it is clear that observers need not be at C, but can be at D or E, it becomes apparent that A and B can occur simultaneously with regard to one observer, but not occur simultaneously with regard to another. There is no answer to the question “But did A and B really occur simultaneously?” because this question presupposes an account of simultaneity that Einstein has shown to be inadequate.
Justifying Violations
Authors: Gert Bernard
Published: November 2023

As pointed out in chapter 5, moral rules have justified exceptions. In the two previous chapters it was shown that the attitude of all impartial rational persons toward the justified moral rules includes an except clause. In this chapter I shall examine this moral attitude in greater detail, making clear what violations may be punished, what is meant by the except clause, and providing an explicit account of the morally relevant features that determine what counts as the same violation. I shall then explain how to determine whether this violation is justified or unjustified and, if justified, whether it is strongly or weakly justified. This account of the two-step procedure is necessary in order to fully understand the moral attitude toward the moral rules. Since a complete understanding of the moral rules requires an understanding of the proper attitude toward them, an account of how violations of the moral rules are justified is essential for a complete understanding of these rules.
Moral Ideals
Authors: Gert Bernard
Published: November 2023

Moral ideals seem to embody the nature of morality more than moral rules, for following moral ideals is acting so as to achieve the point of morality, the lessening of evil or harm being suffered. A person can act in accordance with moral rules, that is, not violate any of them, without any contact with other people, but following moral ideals involves helping other people. It never seems out of place to praise someone for justifiably following moral ideals, but it would be odd to praise a hermit for justifiably obeying moral rules. Thus it may seem surprising that the account of morality presented so far has been far more involved with describing and justifying the moral rules than with describing and justifying moral ideals. But even John Stuart Mill, who is the leading representative of the view that the goal of morality is the greatest good, makes the following statements: “The moral rules which forbid mankind to hurt one another (in which we must never forget to include a wrongful interference with each other’s freedom) are more vital to human well-being than any maxims, however important, which only point out the best mode of managing some department of human affairs It is their observance which alone preserves peace among human beings; if obedience to them were not the general rule, and disobedience the exception, everyone would see in everyone else an enemy against whom he must be perpetually guarding himself.
“Why Should I Be Moral?”
Authors: Gert Bernard
Published: November 2023

When people ask, “Why should I be moral?” they may be asking why they should act morally on a particular occasion but usually they are asking why they should obey the moral rules in general. They want to know why they should not cause harm to others, why they should not deceive or cheat, and why they should keep their promises, obey the law, and perform their duties. The question “Why should I be moral?” would make no sense if one did not have a fairly clear idea of what morality prohibits, requires, encourages, and allows. The account of morality as an informal public system that every rational person wants others to follow, and knows that others want him to follow, both explains why the question “Why should I be moral?” has a clear sense and provides the foundation for a sensible answer.
Introduction
Authors: Mackenzie Catriona , Stoljar Natalie
Published: November 2023

In the current climate of feminist theory, the notion of individual autonomy may seem an unlikely topic for a collection of feminist essays. Although the ideal of autonomy once seemed to hold out much promise, in providing both a liberatory goal and a moral standpoint from which to criticize sex-based oppression, autonomy is now generally regarded by feminist theorists with suspicion. Crudely stated, the charge is that the concept of autonomy is inherently masculinist, that it is inextricably bound up with masculine character ideals, with assumptions about selfhood and agency that are metaphysically, epistemologically, and ethically problematic from a feminist perspective, and with political traditions that historically have been hostile to women’s interests and freedom. What lies at the heart of these charges is the conviction that the notion of individual autonomy is fundamentally individualistic and rationalistic.
69 A.D.
Authors: Morgan Gwyn
Published: November 2023

The Year of Four Emperors, so the ancient sources assure us, was one of the most chaotic, violent and frightening periods in all Roman history: a time of assassinations and civil wars, of armies so out of control that they had no qualms about occupying the city of Rome, and of ambitious men who seized power only to lose it, one after another. In 69 AD, Gwyn Morgan offers a fresh look at this period, based on two considerations to which insufficient attention has been paid in the past. First, that we need to unravel rather than cherry-pick between the conflicting accounts of Tacitus, Plutarch and Suetonius, our three main sources of information. And second, that the role of the armies, as distinct from that of their commanders, has too often been exaggerated. The result is a remarkably accurate and insightful narrative history, filled with colorful portraits of the leading participants and new insights into the nature of the Roman military. Morgan ranges from the suicide of Nero in June 68 to the triumph of Vespasian in December 69. In between, three other emperors hold power. We meet Galba, old, tightfisted and conservative, who was declared emperor in June 68 and assassinated in January 69. Otho, once Nero’s boon companion, who was responsible for murdering Galba, seized power in a coup in Rome in January 69 and, to everybody’s surprise, committed suicide three months later in a vain attempt to end the civil wars. Vitellius, as indolent as he was extravagant, who was put forward by two ambitious lieutenants, recognized by the senate in Rome once they heard of Otho’s death in April, and cut down by Vespasian’s partisans in the last days of December. And then there is Vespasian, the candidate who looked least likely to succeed, but (according to Tacitus) was the first to be improved by becoming emperor. A strikingly vivid history of ancient Rome, 69 AD is an original and compelling account of one of the best known but perhaps least understood periods in all Roman history.
The American Disease
Authors: Musto David F
Published: November 2023

Before 1800, opium was available in America in its crude form as an ingredient of multidrug prescriptions, or in such extracts as laudanum, containing alcohol, or “black drop,” containing no alcohol. Valued for its calming and soporific effects, opium was also a specific against symptoms of gastrointestinal illnesses such as cholera, food poisoning, and parasites. Its relatively mild psychological effect when taken by mouth or as part of a more complex prescription was enhanced by frequent use, and the drug was supplied freely by physicians. In addition, self-dosing with patent medicines and the ministrations of quacks contributed to narcotic intake. The medical profession’s need for something that worked in a world of mysterious mortal diseases and infections cannot be overlooked as a major stimulus for the growth of the opium market. A drug that calmed was especially appealing since physicians could at least treat the patient’s anxiety.
The Antimicrobial Drugs
Authors: Scholar Eric M , Pratt William B
Published: November 2023

This is a thorough updating of a classic text that has been published in three editions since Pratt’s Chemotherapy of Infection (OUP, 1973). Its treatment of the mechanisms of action, pharmacology and adverse effects of the drugs used to treat bacterial, fungal, parasitic and viral infections has been greatly expanded, and this edition includes two completely new chapters on the fluoroquinolones and the drugs used to treat AIDS.
Bactericidal Inhibitors of Protein Synthesis: The Aminoglycosides
Authors: Scholar Eric M , Pratt William B
Published: November 2023

The aminoglycoside group of antibiotics includes a large number of structurally related polycationic compounds containing two or more amino sugars connected by glycosidic linkage to a hexose core ( see Fig. 5-1).
Antibiotics that Affect Membrane Permeabiliry
Authors: Scholar Eric M , Pratt William B
Published: November 2023

The antibiotics to be considered here interact specifically with membranes, and this interaction alters the function of the cell membrane in a manner incompatible with the survival of the bacterium. There arc two groups of membrane antibiotics employed in the therapy of bacterial infection: Some of the most interesting antibiotics acting on the cell membrane belong to the polyene group. These drugs do not affect bacteria; they are used only in the treatment of fungal infections, and they will be discussed in Chapter 12.
The Fluoroquinolones
Authors: Scholar Eric M , Pratt William B
Published: November 2023

The original quinolone, nalidixic acid, was discovered in the 1960s as a byproduct of the purification of the antimalarial drug, chloroquine.4 Unfortunately, nalidixic acid has a narrow antibacterial spectrum, with activity mainly against gram-negative organ isms. Nalidixic acid penetrates poorly into the tissues; thus it can be used only for the treatment of urinary tract infections. The study of nalidixic acid led, however, to the development of the f1uoroquinolones5 which have several advantages over the parent drug. The fluroroquinolones were introduced into therapy in the mid-1980s as orally administered antibiotics with activity that ranges from the Enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonas to several gram-positive pathogens.
Intention and Deliberation
Authors: Gauthier David
Published: November 2023

Successful deliberation about action in the future gives rise to an intention. Michael Bratman expresses the orthodox view about how deliberation, action, and intention are related when he says, “But in deliberation about the future we deliberate about what to do then, not what to intend now, though of course a decision about what to do later leads to an intention now so to act later ... This means that in such deliberation about the future the desire-belief reasons we are to consider are reasons for various ways we might act later” (Bratman 1987, p. 103). I intend to challenge this view, arguing that it rests on an incomplete account of the relations among deliberation, intention, and action. In particular, I want to reject the contrast that Bratman draws between deliberating about what to do in the future, and deliberating about what to intend now. And in rejecting this contrast, I want also to reject his claim that in deliberating about the future we are to consider only the desire-belief reasons that we should expect to have at the time of action. Bratman wants to replace the desire-belief theory of intention in action with what he calls the planning theory. But he does not go far enough; he accepts too much of the desire-belief model to exploit fully the resources that planning offers.
Beliefs and Co-operation
Authors: Huberman Bernardo A , Glance Natalie S
Published: November 2023

Social dilemmas have long attracted the attention of sociologists, economists and political scientists because they are central to issues that range from securing ongoing co-operation in volunteer organizations, such as unions and environmental groups, to the possibility of having a workable society without a government. Environmental pollution, nuclear arms proliferation, population explosion, conservation of electricity and fuel, and giving to charity are a few more examples of situations where an individual benefits by not contributing to the common cause, but if all individuals shirk, everyone is worse off. Although there are no simple solutions to social dilemmas, studying them sheds light on the nature of interactions among people and the emergence of social compacts. And because such dilemmas involve the interplay between individual actions and global behaviour, they elucidate how the actions of a group of individuals making personal choices gives rise to social phenomena (Glance and Huberman 1994).
Morally Speaking
Authors: Dworkin Gerald
Published: November 2023

This chapter is a study in the pragmatics of moral discourse. It concerns who can say what to whom. It will, therefore, focus on moral reasoning as dialogue. First person moral reasoning may also best be thought of as a dialogue of the person with herself, but at least initially I shall be focusing on reasoning that takes place between at least two persons.
Choral Masterworks
Authors: Steinberg Michael
Published: November 2023

Michael Steinberg’s highly successful listener’s guides--The Symphony and The Concerto--have been universally praised for their blend of captivating biography, crystal clear musical analysis, and delightful humor. Now Steinberg follows these two greatly admired volumes with Choral Masterworks: A Listener’s Guide, the only such guide available to this most popular of musical forms. Here are more than fifty illuminating essays on the classic choral masterworks, ranging from Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Mass in B Minor, and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, to works by Haydn, Brahms, Mendelssohn, and many others. Steinberg spans the entire history of classical music, from such giants of the Romantic era as Verdi and Berlioz, to leading modern composers such as Elgar, Rachmaninoff, Vaughan Williams, and Stravinsky, to contemporary masters such as John Adams and Charles Wuorinen. For each piece, Steinberg includes a fascinating biographical account of the work’s genesis, often spiced with wonderful asides, such as the true story of Mozart’s Requiem--Salieri had nothing to do with the composition of it, nor did he poison Mozart, who most likely died of rheumatic fever. The author also includes an astute musical analysis of each piece, one that casual music lovers can easily appreciate and that musicians and more serious fans will find invaluable. The book also includes basic information such as the various movements of the work, the organization of the chorus and orchestra, and brief historical notes on early performances. More than twenty million Americans perform regularly in choirs or choruses. Choral Masterworks will appeal not only to concert goers and CD collectors, but also to this vast multitude of choral performers, an especially engaged and active community.
Underlying States and Time Travel
Authors: Parsons Terence
Published: November 2023

The theory to be discussed is at least as old as Plato’s Sophist. It is that verbs stand for kinds of events and that several other parts of sentences contribute additional information about those events, sometimes standing for things that are related to the event in common ways.
On Re-Doing Man
Authors: Hirschhorn Kurt
Published: November 2023

When Dan Callahan was the editor of Commonweal he organized a symposium in 1967 to address many aspects, cultural and scientific, of the rapid changes going on at the time in human biology and behavior. He asked me to address the genetics aspects, which I did in an article entitled, “On Re- Doing Man,” originally published in Commonweal. This was later re- printed in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. I have been asked to comment on my predictions and concerns in that paper and perhaps look somewhat into the future.