bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Necessary and sufficient conditions for major evolutionary transitions
Authors: Boomsma Jacobus J.
Published: November 2022

From an individual perspective, there is a fundamental difference between cooperation for mutual benefit and self-sacrificing altruism. However, there is no such difference for the gene’s eye view of social evolution, which stipulates that both types of cooperation are equally self-serving. Gene’s eye explanations of altruism started with the pedigree version of Hamilton’s rule, and were later generalized when Price equation logic produced a statistical and fully general genetic theory of social evolution, and an approximate phenotypic theory amenable to empirical testing. However, this generalization applied to societies with redundant partnerships where relatedness is variable and social adaptations are mediated by condition-dependent altruism at the level of cellular or multicellular agents. Under such conditions, adaptations for the exclusive benefits of the higher-level of organizational complexity cannot evolve. Yet, such adaptations of unconditional somatic altruism universally characterize the convergent major evolutionary transitions (MTEs) towards multicellular organismality and colonial superorganismality. I show that the origins of (super)organismality can be conjectured to have required invariably maximal relatedness among cell copies or siblings, owing to lifetime commitment between a pair of gametes or monogamous parents. Such pairwise closure in terms of genetic information partitions Hamilton’s rule in an invariant necessary condition of relatedness equivalence between dispersing and adhering offspring, and a contingent sufficiency condition (b/c > 1) that is additionally required to forge a MTE origin. This implies that (super)organismality MTEs are expected to evolve by directional kin selection for unconditional, obligate altruism by entire cohorts, which is different from individual selection for conditional altruism in societies. I contrast the predictions of the classical continuous version of Hamilton’s rule for social evolution in societies and the partitioned discontinuous version applicable to MTE origins, and argue that conflict reduction and body- or family-size stabilize societies but played no role in the origin of (super)organismality.
Adaptation, control information, and the human condition
Authors: Boomsma Jacobus J.
Published: November 2022

Following the inductive logic of Hume’s fork, this book has partitioned Hamilton’s rule so that it offers a general necessary and concrete sufficiency condition for the origins of major transitions in evolution (MTEs). My conjecture could in principle have been formulated decades ago, but several forms of confusion have compromised its development. First, Darwinism was “environmentalized” throughout the 20th century, becoming a branch of ecology and allowing researchers to avoid asking questions about adaptive design. This problem disappears only when adhering to a strict definition of what an environment really is, as George Williams did in 1966 and Helena Cronin updated in 2005. Second, many have failed to appreciate that the gene’s eye view of adaptive evolution is a concept of genetic information and phenotypic agency rather than of genetic reductionism. Making that perspective explicit helps to connect inclusive fitness theory to Shannon’s information theory, because both are about the use of information for prediction and control. It then emerges that inclusive fitness theory, captured by Price equation logic of selection and transmission, is the only biological theory that might ultimately be reconciled with theoretical physics via quantum Darwinism. Third, anthropomorphic bias has been rampant in biology, particularly in conceptualizing the human MTE. Our own transition is exceptional in not having originated via a new level of lifetime commitment and obligate reproductive division of labor, but from an already complex society that became domesticated by cumulative culture—an endosymbiosis between individual brains and sets of self-organizing algorithmic symbionts. Under that assumption, a dual Price equation framework may be the best unbiased tool for unraveling the extent of cooperation and conflicts between our genetic endowment and the reproductive interests of our Lamarckian brain symbionts. Dual host–symbiont agency appears to make anthropomorphic concepts such as “self-domestication” and “self-deception” moot, and to shed intriguing light on patterns of MTE symmetry over time.
The social context
Authors: Braun Alexandra
Published: November 2022

This chapter offers an insight into the social context in which testamentary promises are made. It does so by drawing on information that can be gleaned from reported cases across a number of common and civil law jurisdictions. It outlines the specificities of testamentary promises, but also the vulnerabilities of the promisee, and why promisors should be held to their promises. The chapter first examines the distinguishing features of testamentary promises (e.g. that they are made informally and generically, involve close family members and friends, and are part of a testamentary exchange) before investigating the motivations that underpin both the behaviour of the promisor and that of the promisee, and finally, why testamentary promises may remain unfulfilled. It shows why testamentary promises are an attractive instrument for the promisee, but especially the promisor, and why the promisor is in a powerful position vis-à-vis the promisee. The analysis further illustrates that promises, even if made informally, are taken seriously and that they may remain unfulfilled for a number of reasons.
Establishing a claim on the basis of § 2057a BGB and §§ 677ff ABGB
Authors: Braun Alexandra
Published: November 2022

This chapter examines two further modes of redress that can come to the aid of a testamentary promisee and their requirements. One is drawn from German law (§ 2057a BGB) and the other from Austrian law (§§ 677ff ABGB). Even though neither of these legislative solutions was developed to specifically address cases of unfulfilled informal testamentary promises, and thus no mention is made of promises, a promisee may nonetheless rely on them to obtain redress. While their scope of application is relatively narrow, and the protection offered on the whole limited, both legislative interventions are interesting. They represent attempts to acknowledge the importance of work and services provided by certain family members, and thus contributions to the estate, including in the form of domestic and care services that would otherwise remain unremunerated. In that sense they are similar to the créance de salaire différé, examined in the previous chapter, though the créance applies only in the agricultural context.
A Systematic Review of the Use of Systems-Thinking Frameworks in Health Systems Strengthening
Authors: Jha Savyasachee , Thomas Deepak , Thomas Steve , Normand Charles
Published: November 2022

Health systems strengthening is a priority for the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO identified systems thinking as one of the four revolutions that are going to transform health. A systematic literature review was conducted in order to investigate the six building blocks of the WHO framework and other systems-thinking approaches, which have been applied to the improvement and strengthening of health systems. Our findings from the analysis of twenty-six articles show that many authors used the WHO building blocks as guidelines to define health systems using similar sets of systems-thinking tools. However, frameworks which have been used in the field tended to define health systems more narrowly as compared to frameworks which have only been defined theoretically but not used for the design or evaluation of existing interventions or health systems. The analysis brings forth the need for practical frameworks to be designed for the same which are cognizant of the need for understanding relationships between different parts of a health system.
Applying Systems Thinking to Understand the Process of Decentralization
Authors: Chikaphupha Kingsley Rex , O’Byrne Thomasena , Nyondo-Mipando Linda , Chiumia Isabel Kazanga , Finn Mairéad , Vallières Frédérique
Published: November 2022

Decentralization of health services entails empowering local governments to take the lead on decision-making and governance of health services provided in their districts. If managed properly, decentralization has the potential to strengthen governance, leadership, management, and accountability of the district health system; improve efficiency and responsiveness of the district healthcare system at all levels; and increase investments in human capital. Undergoing decentralization since 1998, Malawi has made significant progress in devolving human resources for health (health workforce), strengthening governance and leadership, and enhancing accountability through devolved health financing and health information systems. However, challenges remain, including lack of clarity on the roles, responsibilities, and the decision-making process within the context of decentralization, insufficiency of funds, and insufficient human resources for health. Using human resources for health as an entry point, and the case example of Malawi, this chapter demonstrates that systems thinking offers a useful framework through which to understand the process of decentralization in a particular context.
A Systems-Thinking Approach to the Training and Supervision of Community Healthcare Workers in Kenya
Authors: Winters Niall , Geniets Anne , Lakati Alice
Published: November 2022

This chapter promotes a systems-thinking approach when using mobile technologies to enhance the ongoing supervision and training of community health workers (CHWs). The implications of developing a smartphone app for CHWs, the role it played in training and supervision, and the challenges of embedding use within the community and formal health systems are discussed. The analysis details the establishment of improved relationships between health workers, the health system, and the community when supported by a systems-thinking approach to design and implementation. The chapter contends that well-designed mobile-based interventions can improve community health workers’ practice and can contribute to wider health systems strengthening, although this remains a significant challenge.
Applying Systems Thinking to Health Information Systems
Authors: Koivu Annariina , Aanestad Margunn , Shidende Nima
Published: November 2022

This chapter explores how systems thinking can contribute to understanding and solving challenges around health information systems (HIS). While systems thinking is of general value, it is particularly relevant in low- and middle-income (LMIC) settings, where HIS resources are limited. From paper-based systems to digital ones, HIS are complex entities, comprising multiple components that need to exchange information and work together at different levels of a health system. Building on the authors’ experiences in South Africa and Tanzania, the chapter argues for an approach that fosters a better understanding of the HIS linkages, relationships, and interactions to design and make the best use of HIS, especially in contexts where resources are scarce.
Implementing Systems Thinking for Global Mental Health during Humanitarian Emergencies
Authors: Vallières Frédérique , Elshazly Mohamed , Sleiman Jihane Bou , Daher Rony Abou , Bháird Caoimhe Nic a , Ceannt Ruth , Hyland Philip , Ventevogel Peter
Published: November 2022

In 2019, over 168 million people across fifty-three countries were in need of emergency humanitarian relief. In addition to requiring access to basic services, such as health, shelter, water and sanitation, and social protection, many individuals in need of emergency relief are also in need of mental health and psychosocial support, or support aimed to protect and promote social well-being and prevent or treat adverse psychological outcomes. Using a number of international case examples, including from Bangladesh, Lebanon, Nepal, and as part of the COVID-19 response, we demonstrate how systems-thinking approaches can be applied across the conventional six building blocks (i.e., leadership and governance, information systems, financing, human resources, essential medical products and technologies, and health service delivery) to deliver mental health services in humanitarian emergencies more effectively. We further argue that the role of communities within each of these building blocks cannot be overlooked if MHPSS programs are to be effective, acceptable, and sustained in the longer term.
Systems Thinking for Global Health Initiatives (GHIs) in Sub-Saharan Africa
Authors: Kidane Amanuel , Mwanri Lillian
Published: November 2022

This chapter illustrates the importance of systems thinking in Global Health Initiatives (GHIs) using the World Health Organization’s (WHO) health system framework. With a focus on the response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, it describes the positive and negative (unintended) effects of GHIs—such as the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFTAM)—on the health systems in Sub-Saharan African countries. The chapter further identifies lessons learnt from the implementation of GHIs to inform the design and the application of similar initiatives in the future. The challenges of HIV/AIDS becoming a chronic disease along with the increasing double burden of diseases is also discussed, suggesting a reorientation of the health system of Sub-Saharan African countries.
Systems Thinking in the Implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
Authors: Pang Tikki , Amul Gianna Gayle Herrera
Published: November 2022

Reducing tobacco use is acknowledged globally as a highly desirable public health goal as embodied in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Previous work on systems thinking for tobacco control has primarily focused on healthcare delivery, particularly in smoking cessation programs and on governance with a focus on regulatory networks. This chapter will examine how systems thinking can improve governance, financing, and information as the most relevant health system building blocks to successful FCTC implementation. Using a case study approach, it emphasizes the relationships among the various actors and stakeholders involved in the implementation of the FCTC in South East Asia, particularly among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It has a specific focus on how the interaction between intergovernmental organizations, philanthropic foundations, and non-governmental organizations involved in tobacco control, and unrelenting tobacco industry interference influence the state of FCTC implementation in the region.
Systems Thinking to Combat Malaria
Authors: Jha Savyasachee , Gurtoo Anjula
Published: November 2022

A systems-thinking approach studies structures through their constituent parts and the interconnections between them. It forms a powerful strategy for designing and evaluating disease interventions and their effects on health systems. In this chapter, we review literature on malaria interventions and malaria frameworks to understand their role in shaping health systems using systems thinking. Malarial interventions are categorized using the six defined building blocks in the World Health Organization (WHO) health systems framework: namely service delivery, workforce, information systems, financing, access to medical technologies, and leadership and governance. Other anti-malaria frameworks are compared to the WHO framework. Analysis demonstrates many interventions target one or more of the six aforementioned subsystems. A close relationship exists between various building blocks, and hence there is a strong argument for anti-malaria interventions to change from being “vertical”, that is, separated from other parts of a health system, to being diagonal, or more integrated. Additionally, the analysis brings forth a need for health systems (and the WHO framework) to be more forward-looking by considering factors such as population movement, climate change-led health impacts, and cultural practices.
Human Rights and Social Inclusion in Health Policies
Authors: Amin Mutamad , MacLachlan Malcolm , Mannan Hasheem , Elhussein Durria M. , Swartz Leslie , Munthali Alister , Rooy Gert Van , McVeigh Joanne
Published: November 2022

This chapter presents analyses of nine HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria policies across Namibia, Malawi, South Africa, and Sudan, using EquiFrame, a framework that encourages a systems approach. The Global Fund partnership invests approximately US$ 4 billion per year in support of AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria programs. However, the prevalence of these diseases remains substantial, particularly in Africa. Crucially, these pandemics disproportionately affect the world’s poorest and most marginalized people. Inclusive access to prevention and treatment for vulnerable groups is key to addressing these diseases and is increasingly recognized as a human rights issue. EquiFrame evaluates policies’ commitment to twenty-one core concepts of human rights and inclusion of twelve vulnerable groups. The analyses presented here highlighted strong and weaker policies, and country-specific patterns. For the Global Fund to reach the most vulnerable, it should support policy development that incorporates human rights of vulnerable groups, a vital step toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Socratic Idiosyncrasy and Cynic Exhibitionism
Authors: Long A. A.
Published: November 2022

The Roman Stoic philosophers made Socrates and Diogenes into virtual models of wisdom and rationality, but they excised the extraordinary personalities that had made both men into iconic figures for their Greek contemporaries. Plato in fact promoted the development of Greek biography as a literary genre by his memorable representations of Socrates. This chapter asks where we should situate Socrates’ theatrical persona in the mores of his time. It also compares the peculiarities Plato confers on Socrates with the self-fashioning of Diogenes and the personae of Antisthenes and the sophists.
Aristotle on Eudaimonia, Nous, and Divinity
Authors: Long A. A.
Published: November 2022

Ever since antiquity Aristotle’s interpreters have puzzled over the respective roles he assigned in his ethics to practical and theoretical rationality. No one doubts, however, that he regarded the essence of the human self as the godlike capacity of intellect (nous). This chapter argues that the divinity of nous pertains to reason’s contributions to happiness throughout the Nicomachean Ethics. Hence the work is not bifurcated, as commonly supposed, into the political goal of moral virtue and the intellectual end of contemplation. The latter is the highest human function, but it should be regarded as ancillary to the mainly practical thrust of Aristotelian ethics.
Introduction
Authors: McHugh Conor , Way Jonathan
Published: November 2022

The Introduction explains the book’s two central aims—to develop and defend a constitutive account of normative reasons as premises of good reasoning, and a broader fittingness-first account of the structure of the normative domain, of which the account of normative reasons is a part. Having explained these aims in turn, and how they fit together, the Introduction outlines the argumentative strategy to be pursued. It then indicates some assumptions the book makes. These concern the ontology of reasons, the distinction between authoritative and formal normativity, and the nature of and motivation for constitutive accounts. The Introduction ends by providing a plan for the rest of the book.
Fittingness
Authors: McHugh Conor , Way Jonathan
Published: November 2022

This chapter addresses the question: what is fittingness? Since the book takes fittingness to be normatively basic, the chapter answers this question by providing elucidation rather than a constitutive account. It begins with examples that provide an initial grasp of fittingness. The chapter then describes four marks of fittingness. They are that the fittingness of a response is insensitive to incentives bearing on that response, that fittingness is intuitively stronger than permissibility but weaker than ought, that the absence of a response cannot be fitting, and that the fittingness of a response does not depend, in general, on a subject’s epistemic position. It is argued that these marks distinguish fittingness from permissibility and ought, and count against analysing fittingness in terms of reasons. The chapter ends by discussing what makes beliefs, intentions, desires, and emotions fitting.
The Explanatory Role of Reasons I
Authors: McHugh Conor , Way Jonathan
Published: November 2022

This chapter presents the first part of an account of the explanatory role of normative reasons—the role they play in determining deontic status. Whether you ought to respond in a certain way depends on the strength of the overall case for that response in comparison to alternatives. The strength of the case for a response depends on the weights of the reasons for that response. This chapter provides an account of the weights of reasons. The central idea is that one reason outweighs another when it’s good reasoning to respond to the former and not the latter. The chapter spells out and illustrates this idea, showing how it accommodates desiderata which other accounts of the weights of reasons struggle with. It shows how the idea delivers plausible results when combined with the account of good reasoning in Chapter 2 and can accommodate conditions and modifiers of reasons.
Reasons for Belief, Action, and Emotions
Authors: McHugh Conor , Way Jonathan
Published: November 2022

This chapter examines some categories of reasons that may appear problematic for the account of reasons defended in this book. It first considers certain types of reason for belief, including reasons based on perception and reasons for credences. It argues that, where these reasons are genuine, the account can capture them. The chapter then describes a problem about reasons for action and defends a solution on which reasons for action are to be understood as reasons for intention. Finally, the chapter considers how the account accommodates reasons for emotions. While there are reasons for emotions, many doubt that emotions can feature in reasoning. The chapter argues that this doubt is misplaced. It also addresses a recent argument that there are no reasons for emotions.
Conclusion
Authors: McHugh Conor , Way Jonathan
Published: November 2022

This book develops and defends a constitutive account of reasons and an account of the structure of the normative domain. According to the former, a reason for a response is a non-redundant premise of good reasoning from fitting responses to that response. According to the latter, the normative domain has a foundational structure with fittingness at its base. Reasons depend on fittingness because they depend on good reasoning, which is reasoning that preserves fittingness other things equal. Since deontic status depends on reasons, it also ultimately depends on fittingness. Value depends on the fittingness of valuing attitudes. Thus, in the normative domain, fittingness is first. The Conclusion summarizes these central claims of the book and the further issues that have been addressed. It notes issues that remain to be addressed and further debates that the views defended in the book bear on.
Introduction
Authors: Joho Tobias
Published: November 2022

Already in antiquity, Dionysius of Halicarnassus highlighted the idiosyncrasy of Thucydides’ style. In fact, Dionysius rewrites several Thucydidean passages, and his streamlined versions show that Thucydides frequently uses abstract nouns in places where a more commonplace idiom might prefer personal and verbal phrases. Upon closer analysis, it turns out that several general characterisations used by Dionysius to describe Thucydides’ style also reflect Thucydides’ representation of the Peloponnesian War. The book’s central hypothesis is based on this correspondence between style and content: Thucydides tends to employ abstract nominal phrases because they enable him to highlight a distinctive feature of events. By diverting attention from persons and their actions, the abstract phrases highlight forces beyond human control. Thus, beside the problem of Thucydides’ abstract style, the theme of necessity emerges as the book’s second major focus. Since recent scholarly work has stressed the importance of contingency in Thucydides, the book also seeks to explain how it is possible for necessity and contingency to coexist in Thucydides’ thought.
The Passivity of the Powerful
Authors: Joho Tobias
Published: November 2022

At two central places in the History, Thucydides indicates that events are subject to a circular pattern, thus implying that the course of events is not entirely open. The prevalence of the depersonalizing style in both passages suggests a link between abstract language and necessity. The Archaeology provides a clue regarding the nature of this necessity: a quest for power emerges as the driving force of the development of early empires. This process also fuels the rise of the Athenian empire according to the Athenian ambassadors at Sparta, who use impersonal phrases that suggest the general exposure of human beings to forces beyond their control. Thucydides’ own account of the rise of the Athenian empire in the Pentecontaetia confirms the main point of the ambassadors: the Athenians have been caught up in a process that paradoxically reduces them, despite their immense power, to a passive role.
Decision-Making Overshadowed by Necessity
Authors: Joho Tobias
Published: November 2022

The chapter investigates the dominant forces in three major decisions recounted by Thucydides. First, in his account of the ‘truest cause’ of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides makes stylistic choices that highlight the subjection of the major players to an impersonal process: a pull unleashed by power and collective impulses. Secondly, the aftermath of the Athenian triumph at Pylos gives the paradoxical picture that victors and losers alike are passive in the face of the irrational forces confronting them. Finally, the Athenians’ decision to undertake the Sicilian Expedition takes place under the influence of rampant passions that impose themselves upon the Athenians and are represented as the forces that ultimately prompt the vote in favour of the expedition. In all three major decisions the implications of the abstract style suggest the prevalence of forces beyond the control of human agents. This exposure of all humans to far-reaching processes and collective forces is more fundamental than the contrast, however blatant, between the Athenian and Spartan character.
Dual Motivation
Authors: Joho Tobias
Published: November 2022

This chapter examines how the constraint exerted by general forces intertwines with the contingency of individual action in Thucydides’ presentation of the Athenian decision in favour of the Sicilian Expedition. The chapter thus complements the emphasis on necessity in chapters 3 to 5. This interaction crystallizes around Alcibiades: he is depicted both as the personification of general forces (viz. ἔρως and ἐλπίς) and as a recognizable individual. The history of Greek thought provides a prototype for this interaction of different levels of motivation: the dual motivation model, which usually combines divine and human factors. Herodotus’ treatment of the downfall of Croesus is a case in point. Although Croesus’ undoing is predestined, the events leading to the fated outcome display an immanent logic free from glaring superhuman interventions. In particular, all of Croesus’ decisions arise naturally from his character. This background helps to explain the interaction of necessity and individual agency in Thucydides: just as in Herodotus fate asserts itself through Croesus’ natural choices, so in Thucydides Alcibiades’ individual agency opens the door for necessity to run its course. Thus, the patterns set by transpersonal forces do not obliterate individual action. Instead, a stark manifestation of the general level is reflected in an equally marked expression of individual agency.
Necessity and Leeway for Choice
Authors: Joho Tobias
Published: November 2022

Thucydides knows examples of decisions that might easily have played out differently and of individuals who withstand the general current of human nature. Thus, necessity in Thucydides cannot mean that every single event is predetermined. Homer and Herodotus are Thucydides’ most important predecessors for gauging the interplay between necessity and choice. The stories of the homecoming of Odysseus and of Croesus’ rescue after his downfall show that the most important events in Homer and Herodotus are foreordained, but that there is considerable leeway concerning the manner of their realization. This latitude gives scope to individual agents to have some impact on the formation of events. Thucydides’ account of the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War follows this model: the necessity of war is set, but there is flexibility with regard to the timing and the specific way in which the War is unleashed. In Thucydides, human nature regularly asserts itself over individuals and communities because it is inherently more powerful than they are. Nonetheless, the actions of enlightened individuals can temporarily modify the destructive potential. People make choices, but they are always more or less qualified by the thrust of necessity. In the long run, however, necessity rooted in human nature will assert itself.
Conclusion
Authors: Joho Tobias
Published: November 2022

Pericles’ successful agency poses a challenge to the book’s thesis that necessity prevails in the world of political action according to Thucydides. The Conclusion explains how these two positions can coexist: the general prevalence of necessity vs. the possibility that specific agents can make a difference for the better. Necessity in Thucydides is based on innate predispositions that will inevitably break out at some point. This model differs from modern causal determinism in settling outcomes but not the road that leads to these outcomes. Prudent agents are ultimately powerless against the necessity of outcomes, but they can wield some influence on whether, or not, the destructive potential will erupt. This type of agency, however, requires an exceedingly rare combination of intelligence and ability to get things done. Moreover, ongoing success in the realm of politics tends to produce circumstances that are increasingly averse to the emergence of reason-guided leaders. This tragic dialectic ultimately prevents rational agents following in the footsteps of Pericles from guiding the affairs of a city in perpetuity.
Principles of Criminal Evidence
Authors: Roberts Paul
Published: November 2022

This introductory chapter extends an ‘invitation to criminal evidence’. It outlines the conceptual scope of the field—and by extension the book’s aims and topical coverage—and differentiates this book’s approach from more traditional common law conceptions of the law of evidence. From a normative perspective, criminal evidence combines epistemology, political morality, and jurisprudence. These multiple dimensions are distilled into ‘five foundational principles of criminal evidence’. Doctrinal sources of criminal evidence are surveyed, extending beyond legislation and case-law to include human rights law, constitutional law, and ‘hard-working soft law’ (miscellaneous doctrinally inferior yet in practice highly influential directives, guidelines and advice). A central institutional tension between rule-based decision-making and judicial discretion is introduced and explored through preliminary examples. The book’s structure and topical organization are briefly outlined.
Confessions
Authors: Roberts Paul
Published: November 2022

This chapter explores one of the oldest, most persuasive, and routinely problematic forms of judicial evidence: the accused’s confession. The common sense apprehension that full confessions are conclusive proof of guilt is challenged both by modern psychological research demonstrating the reality of false confessions and by the inherently coercive nature of criminal investigations creating pressures towards unreliable admissions. For a time, common lawyers conceptualized informal party admissions as falling within an exception to the hearsay rule (so long as they were ‘voluntary’), but their admissibility at trial is now governed in England and Wales by section 76 of PACE 1984. The institutional context of police interrogation is sketched, highlighting PACE Code C’s normative framework of detainee rights and the jurisprudential evolution and practical realties of suspects’ access to custodial legal advice, before turning to detailed evidentiary analysis. PACE 1984 s.76 establishes both an inclusionary basis for (partly) ‘adverse’ statements, and two primary exclusionary rules targeting (a) oppression and (b) circumstances conducive to unreliability. In neither case is the truth of the confession decisive. Confessions are inadmissible unless the prosecutor can disprove (a) and/or (b), whenever either is raised on the facts, beyond reasonable doubt. The admissibility of contested confessions is determined on the voir dire (‘trial within a trial’). Doctrinal exposition critically examines procedural matters (e.g. Mushtaq directions), consequential discoveries (‘fruit of the poisoned tree’), admissibility jurisprudence interpreting section 76(2), special rules for vulnerable suspects (PACE 1984 s.77 directions), and confessions adduced by a co-accused (PACE 1984 s.76A).
The Accused’s Privilege Against Self-Incrimination
Authors: Roberts Paul
Published: November 2022

This chapter reconsiders the accused’s ‘privilege against self-incrimination’ and associated ‘right to/of silence’. The topic overlaps with confessions, inasmuch as self-incriminating admissions may be compelled and silence in the face of accusations may itself be regarded as suspicious or incriminating. The privilege against self-incrimination boasts a celebrated historical pedigree as a bulwark of liberty and constitutional assurance against governmental oppression. The modern jurisprudential position is more conflicted. Having clarified conceptual and definitional issues, a survey of underlying normative rationales (intrinsic, conceptual, and instrumental) produces, at best, only qualified vindication. Shaky theoretical foundations may partly account for modern law’s attenuation of the privilege. This has occurred both in relation to the proliferation of statutory duties mandating compulsory disclosure of potentially incriminating information (partly accomplished through the legislative device of ‘use immunity’); and also, more controversially, through legislative curtailment of the common law right of silence by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. Neither development has been significantly hampered by modern human rights law, notwithstanding the European Court of Human Rights’ creative interpretations of Article 6(1) in Funke and Saunders to ‘read in’ the privilege. Legislation curtailing the right of silence in the police station (s.34) and at court (s.35) was politically-motivated and dubiously evidence-based. It has spawned an extensive and complex case-law, requiring trial judges to deliver very detailed directions on the permissible evidential uses of ‘significant silences’. The implications of suspects having relied on legal advice to remain silent has repeatedly been litigated, including before Strasbourg. Theoretically, this topic exemplifies the modern development of forensic reasoning rules, partly through elucidation in hard-working soft law instruments (especially the Crown Court Compendium).
Introduction
Authors: Maiden John
Published: November 2022

Beginning with a description of the 1971 international conference of the Fountain Trust, this chapter introduces the notion of a reanimation of Christianity in the Anglo-world in the second half of the twentieth century. It explains the theoretical understanding of a charismatic imaginary and a ‘Spiritscape of charismatic renewal’ which underpins the study. Various ecumenical dimensions and the scope of charismatic renewal are assessed, delineating the categories of mainline charismatic, independent charismatic, and charismaticised pentecostal. Charismatic renewal is placed alongside three key historical scholarly themes concerning the global 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s: secularisation, authenticity, and cosmopolitanism.
Potential
Authors: Maiden John
Published: November 2022

This chapter interrogates the standard, explanatory ‘myths of origin’ of charismatic renewal in the Anglo-world and presents an alternative richer, complex pre-history of charismatic potential. It traces transnational flows of mainline healing, Catholic apostolates, empowered evangelicalism and pentecostal revivalism, through time and space, before their convergence as the Spiritscape of charismatic renewal. Examining lineages including Cursillo, Legion of Mary, the Oxford Group, Camp’s Farthest Out, and the Order of St Luke, the chapter describes a mid-century religious flux, in which ‘seekership’, small groups, and developing notions of the Self provided the conditions in which charismatic renewal was able to emerge.
Crafting
Authors: Lutz Deborah
Published: November 2022

Chapter 5 moves even further away from more traditional ideas about “authorship” to focus on the notion of “writing” as a more experimental act. Paper and text-related materials had talismanic, decorative, and artistic purposes. Needlework skills helped authors revise manuscripts or craft blank books to be filled with composition. Writing needn’t include ink, as Victorian women were adept at exploiting. Embroidery on paper, pinpricks through paper, cut-out silhouettes, and needle-books inscribed or shaped like books locate the work of women’s hands in a continuum of craft. Samplers provided a mode of composition so labor intensive that the makers sometimes invested them with magical significance. The Victorian novelist and botanist Anna Atkins made albums of seaweed, ferns, flowers, and lace using cyanotype technology, an early form of camera-less photography that marked the shadow of the object directly on the page. Atkins also made these “photograms” of her handwriting, turning text and autograph into ghostly absence.
Mysticism, Methodology, and Epistemic Justice
Authors: Van Dyke Christina
Published: November 2022

Modern philosophical conceptions of mysticism and mystical experience tend to be rooted in the early twentieth-century theories of William James and Evelyn Underhill, yet those theories are deeply suspicious of embodied experience. After laying out a contemporary definition of “mystical experience” that has inherited these suspicions, this chapter examines the nature and range of mystical experiences reported in the Rome-based Christian mystical and contemplative traditions of the thirteenth–fifteenth centuries, in which standard views of mystical experiences include embodied and affective experiences as well as experiences involving non-sensory, selfless union. The chapter explains how broadening contemporary philosophical conceptions of mysticism and mystical experience can help philosophers engage with scholars working on similar topics in other disciplines and concludes with an overview of the rest of the book.
Reason and Its Limits
Authors: Van Dyke Christina
Published: November 2022

There is a persisting perception that medieval mystical and contemplative projects are somehow ‘a-rational’ or even ‘anti-rational,’ and thus inherently opposed to the projects of medieval scholastic philosophy (in which faith seeks understanding). This chapter argues that this perception is misleading in at least two ways. First, even those contemplative texts which do ultimately advocate abandoning reason and knowledge (such as Marguerite Porete’s Mirror, Meister Eckhart’s Counsels, and the anonymous Cloud of Unknowing) affirm intellect’s importance for starting the contemplative journey and progressing to the point where reason can be transcended. Second, any number of contemplatives in the thirteenth–fifteenth centuries portray reason not as something to be overcome or relinquished but, rather, as one of the most important ways in which we resemble or ‘image’ God—and thus, view reason as a crucial point of connection between human beings and the divine.
Love and the Will
Authors: Van Dyke Christina
Published: November 2022

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, love and the will are increasingly portrayed as central to the contemplative life. This chapter address the will’s general role in human life with respect to the rational soul’s other relevant faculties (intellect, imagination, and sensation and sense appetite) and the specific role of will and love in the moral and spiritual life. The practice of imaginative meditation is widely recommended in this period, for it is seen as inspiring love, encouraging virtue, and increasing knowledge. Such meditation also serves as a bridge between our experience of the material world and experience of the immaterial God in higher levels of contemplation. The chapter concludes by explaining how the late medieval focus on imaginative meditation and love also creates space in which women, who are seen as better at loving and more closely connected with embodiment, can claim religious authority and be understood as contemplatives.
Immortality and the Afterlife
Authors: Van Dyke Christina
Published: November 2022

Medieval scholastic and contemplative philosophy shares a common focus on our final or ultimate end. While scholastic texts tend to focus on metaphysical and mechanical issues (such as whether the soul can survive the death of the body or how the numerically same body can be resurrected), though, contemplative texts focus more on our experience of immortality. This chapter addresses contemplative expectations for immortality and the afterlife—which range from a selfless merging with the divine to union that preserves personal distinction—and constructs an ‘experiential continuum of immortality.’ In addition to providing a helpful framework for discussing mystical and contemplative views, this continuum also proves useful for better understanding scholastic accounts of immortality, as the chapter demonstrates using the cases of Robert Grosseteste’s and Thomas Aquinas’s views about the final end for human beings.
Confronting the Gulf between Law and Solidarity
Authors: Rosenfeld Michel
Published: November 2022

This chapter addresses the wide gap that separates abstract law launched from above—as a consistent systemic normative whole most famously developed in Kelsen’s positivist Kantian vision—from concrete, mainly affective, commitment to law-like behavior that springs from below within a given collectivity. On the side of abstract law, emphasis is on the demos and the universal; on that of solidarity and communal glue, support is drawn from the ethnos, the singular, and the plural. The mystery, however, is how there could be any connection between abstract law and concrete bonds of solidarity allowing those under the law in question to accept it as their own. Kelsen himself was puzzled regarding why citizens felt compelled to obey the law and was convinced that fear of sanctions did not supply an adequate answer. This led Kelsen to turn to Freud’s theories regarding group psychology in search for some amalgam between an unconscious drive towards group identity and solidarity and a logical acceptance of an orderly and unified polity’s need for adherence to a constitutional hierarchy. Only such a link could properly account for why those subjected to laws would internalize and validate them as their own. This chapter explores the plausible nexus between Kelsen and Freud further to determine whether, or how far, the conjunction of a formal constitutional order and of an unconscious group drive to law-like conduct may advance the quest for justice through the constitution.
Law Redux
Authors: Rosenfeld Michel
Published: November 2022

This chapter concentrates on those who, in contrast to Kelsen, envision law as ultimately largely absorbed into politics or economics. Schmitt and the Critical Legal Studies movement (CLS) envisage law as largely reducible to politics. Schmitt submits law to a political theology resting on the divide between friend and foe whereas CLS characterizes law as infinitely malleable and thus as amenable to serving the interests of the powerful. Politicized law serves some against others, and thus the constitution cannot genuinely advance the cause of justice. Subsuming law to economics, on the other hand, may be equally reductionist, but the consequences for justice appear at first to differ. Economics figures importantly in the pursuit of the material component of distributive justice. Posner argues that law should be geared to maximizing wealth consistent with a libertarian conception of distributive justice. Marx, on the other hand, posits both law and economics as exclusively serving the interests of capitalism while remaining notoriously ambiguous on the question of justice. The subordination of law to economics leads to opposite conclusions for Posner and for Marx. Accordingly, any resulting claim to justice would remain contested, thus failing from the standpoint of the plural. Accordingly, to be compatible with justice through the constitution, law must engage with the economy and the political without losing its distinct mediating potential.
Kantian Universalism Reframed for a Post-Totalitarian Age
Authors: Rosenfeld Michel
Published: November 2022

This chapter revisits the universalist philosophical tradition going back to Kant that provides a categorical justification for the normative order carved out by liberal constitutionalism. The key characteristic of that deontological tradition is that questions of justice can be kept separate from questions of the good, thus opening the way for achieving justice while encompassing a wide plurality of conceptions of the good. Rawls links the universal to the individual but largely removes the singular from the latter while virtually completely ignoring the plural. Nevertheless, Rawls provides a key baseline through his conception of “constitutional essentials” for purposes of seizing the potentials and limitations of the justice essentials. Habermas’ dialogical ethics and his postulation of consensus-based vindication of universalizable norms opens a path that seems initially more amenable to singularity and plurality. Like Rawls, however, Habermas ultimately underplays singularity and plurality. Nevertheless, Habermas’ dialogical approach endeavoring to reconcile Kant’s universalism and Rousseau’s republicanism proves useful in assessing the viability of claims relating linking unity to solidarity. Finally, Dworkin advances a position combining liberal constitutionalism with egalitarian justice and presents it as a universally valid one for present day constitutionalists. Dworkin’s position is of particular interest in as much as it intimates that his theoretical defense of liberal constitutionalism is the best defense against the dangers of illiberal constitutionalism. Dworkin ultimately falls short as he does not sufficiently account for the plural.