bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Protection of Human Dignity in Interrogations: May Interrogative Torture Ever Be Tolerated? Reflections in Light of Recent German and Israeli Experiences
Authors: Gur-Arye Miriam , Jessberger Florian
Published: February 2013

The issue of whether interrogative torture may ever be tolerated has been discussed explicitly by both the Israeli High Court of Justice and the Frankfurt Regional Court in Germany. The Israeli court ruling related to the use of interrogative torture in the war on terror; the case brought before the German court was one of routine police work. This paper analyzes the two rulings in depth and offers a comparative reading of the rulings. The comparative analysis reveals that, despite some fundamental differences, the Israeli and German rulings should both be seen as an attempt to uphold the ban on torture, on the one hand, and yet to grant fair treatment to an individual interrogator who used, or threatened to use, force in order to save innocent lives, on the other. While determining the lessons to be learned from the German and Israeli experiences, this paper raises doubts as to whether it is possible to keep the ban on torture intact while either excusing the individual interrogator (Israel) or significantly mitigating his punishment (Germany). The paper further suggests that, in order to provide a real barrier against the practice of interrogative torture, the evidence resulting from such interrogations should be inadmissible in any criminal proceedings.
Embassy Bank Accounts and State Immunity from Execution: Doing Justice to the Financial Interests of Creditors
Authors: RYNGAERT CEDRIC
Published: February 2013

Embassy bank accounts are among the properties of states most widely present in foreign states. Accordingly, they constitute an ideal target for attachment by creditors. International instruments have largely upheld state immunity from execution regarding bank accounts, however. Likewise, state practice largely – and apparently increasingly – supports state immunity from measures of attachment, by applying a presumption that funds in embassy bank accounts are used for governmental non-commercial purposes. This approach is overly deferential to the state. Instead, it is argued that domestic courts should require that the state, at least partially, discharge the burden of proof regarding the nature (commercial/sovereign) of the funds in the bank account. A failure to discharge this burden should result in a rejection of immunity. Only such an approach adequately balances the interests of states and creditors, and does sufficient justice to the creditor's right of access to a court. In addition, it is argued that such a balance is also brought about by construing literally general waivers of immunity from attachment, as not requiring an additional specific waiver regarding embassy bank accounts.
The Classification of International Legal Rules: A Reply to Stefan Talmon
Authors: ORAKHELASHVILI ALEXANDER
Published: February 2013

Any legal system, including the international legal system, consists of rules that serve multiple purposes and functions that the legal system in question needs to perform in order to survive as a viable organism. Jurisprudence of national and international courts relating to areas such as responsibility, immunity, and dispute settlement has involved intensive discussions as to the nature and implications of the various categories of rules. Approaching this broad area, with its multiple components, requires careful differentiation of the nature of those various categories of rules, for the fact that the relevant classification of rules works in one area does not inherently make it workable in other areas, which is confirmed in practice. The most problematic issue remains the judicial application ofjus cogensin relation to state immunities and the ensuing distinction between substantive and procedural rules. It is shown in this contribution that this artificial distinction does not reflect the functions international law actually accords to its various rules, and is instead a product of political and ideological preference to keep particular classes of plaintiffs out of certain jurisdictions.
Governing a Troubled Relationship: Can the Field of Fisheries Breed Sino-Japanese Cooperation?
Authors: MASUO CHISAKO T.
Published: February 2013

Since the boat clash incident in September 2010, tensions have persisted between Japan and China over the sovereignty of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. Although territorial issues can easily become national symbols and used against other countries, nationalism hampers diplomatic concessions essential for diverse international resolutions. Greater the attention the public pays to such issues, lesser the room governments have for maneuvering. The Japanese and Chinese administrations will find it difficult to extricate themselves from the current deadlock if each party merely continues to assert its sovereignty over the islands. This study examines the possibility of expanding both countries’ common interests in the East China Sea by focusing on the fisheries issues that triggered the 2010 incident. Japan and China have not fulfilled their obligation – as stipulated in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea – to conserve biological resources in their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). The New Japan–China Fisheries Agreement (2000) established vast special water zones in the middle of the East China Sea instead of demarking the EEZs between the two countries. However, the Joint Fisheries Committee established in accordance with the agreement has not worked to prevent overexploitation and to maintain sustainable development of fishery stocks in the zones. Thus, this paper proposes that Japan and China launch an initiative for effective control of fishing resources in the East China Sea, most preferably in collaboration with related neighboring parties.
Taiwanese Views of China and the World: Party Identification, Ethnicity, and Cross–Strait Relations
Authors: GRIES PETER HAYS , SU JENNY
Published: February 2013

This article presents results from a nationally representative survey conducted in Taiwan in November 2011 that explores Taiwanese attitudes toward China and the world. It demonstrates that while ‘blue’ (KMT) and ‘green’ (DPP) supporters maintained different attitudes towards China, few Taiwanese supported reunification. Taiwanese attitudes towards other countries, the sources of Taiwanese party identification, and policy implications for cross–Strait relations are also explored.
Aping Mankind
Authors: Tallis Raymond
Published: February 2013

In a devastating critique Raymond Tallis exposes the exaggerated claims made for the ability of neuroscience and evolutionary theory to explain human consciousness, behaviour, culture and society. While readily acknowledging the astounding progress neuroscience has made in helping us understand how the brain works, Tallis directs his guns at Neuromania the belief that brain activity is not merely a necessary but a sufficient condition for human consciousness and that consequently our everyday behaviour can be entirely understood in neural terms. Tallis dismantles this idea, and shows it to be confused and fallacious, sidestepping a whole range of mindbody problems. To explain everyday behaviour in Darwinian terms and to identify human consciousness with the activity of the evolved brain denies human uniqueness, and by minimising the differences between us and our nearest animal kin, misrepresents what we are, offering a grotesquely simplified and degrading account of humanity. We are, shows Tallis, infinitely more interesting and complex than we appear in the mirror of biologism. Combative, fearless and always thought-provoking, Aping Mankind is an important book, one that scientists, cultural commentators and policy-makers cannot ignore.
Time and Philosophy
Authors: McCumber John
Published: February 2013

Since Kant, the past two centuries of continental philosophy have produced an extraordinary range of ways of thinking about the world and the self. But this diversity of thought has worked to obscure a sense of common interests, of a coherent history. Time and Philosophy presents a detailed survey of continental thought through a historical account of its key texts. The common theme taken up in each text is how philosophical thought should respond to time. The book examines the development of continental philosophy in both Europe and America, with discussions ranging from Hegel, Marx, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Husserl, Heidegger, Arendt, Adorno and Horkheimer, Sartre, Beauvoir, Foucault and Derrida to the most influential thinkers of today, Agamben, Badiou, Butler and Rancière. Throughout, the concern is to elucidate the primary texts for readers coming to them for the first time. But, beyond this, Time and Philosophy aims to reveal the philosophical rigour that underpins and connects the history of continental thought.
Kant's Critique of Pure Reason
Authors: O'Shea James R.
Published: February 2013

Immanuel Kants Critique of Pure Reason (1781) remains a landmark work of philosophy and one that most students will encounter at some point in their studies. At nearly seven hundred pages of detailed and complex argument it is a demanding and intimidating read. James OSheas introduction to the Critique seeks to make it less so. Aimed primarily at students coming to the book for the first time, it provides step by step analysis in clear, unambiguous prose. The conceptual problems Kant sought to resolve are outlined and his conclusions concerning the nature of human knowledge and the possibility of metaphysics, and the arguments for those conclusions, are explored. Key concepts are explained throughout and the reader is provided with an unrivalled route map through the many and varied parts of the text. In addition, OSheas careful and insightful analysis offers much for more seasoned readers of Kant and his interpretation provides a significant contribution to recent work
A Priori
Authors: Mares Edwin
Published: February 2013

In recent years many influential philosophers have advocated that philosophy is an a priori science. Yet very few epistemology textbooks discuss a priori knowledge at any length, focusing instead on empirical knowledge and empirical justification. As a priori knowledge has moved centre stage, the literature remains either too technical or too out of date to make up a reasonable component of an undergraduate course. Edwin Mares book aims to rectify this. The book seeks to make accessible to students the standard topics and current debates within a priori knowledge, including necessity and certainty, rationalism, empiricism and analyticity, Quines attack on the a priori, Kantianism, Aristotelianism, mathematical knowledge, moral knowledge, logical knowledge and philosophical knowledge.
David Armstrong
Authors: Mumford Stephen
Published: February 2013

David (D. M.) Armstrong is one of Australias greatest philosophers. His chief philosophical achievement has been the development of a core metaphysical programme, embracing the topics of universals, laws, modality and facts: a naturalistic metaphysics, consistent with a scientific view of the natural world. In this book Stephen Mumford offers an introduction to the full range of Armstrongs thought. Beginning with a discussion of Armstongs naturalism, his most general commitment, and his realism about universals, Mumford then examines Armstrong's theories of laws, modality and dispositions, which make up the basics of his core theory. With this in place, Mumford explores his ideas on perception, mind and belief before returning to metaphysics in the final chapters, looking at truth and the new view of instantiation. The book is a dispassionate, fair and unbiased account of Armstrongs thought. Although Armstongs is a body of work that Mumford regards highly and of real significance, he nevertheless highlights areas of weakness and issues about which there is room for further debate.
Understanding Phenomenology
Authors: Cerbone David R.
Published: February 2013

Understanding Phenomenology provides a concise and accessible guide to one of the most important schools of thought in modern philosophy. The book traces phenomenology's historical development, beginning with its founder, Edmund Husserl and his "pure" or "transcendental" phenomenology, and continuing with the later, "existential" phenomenology of Heidegger, Sartre and Merleau-Ponty. Each chapter provides an expert distillation of each philosopher's refinements to the movement's core ideas and provides readers with a clear picture of how phenomenology moved from primarily a theory of knowledge to a new philosophical method. The final chapter assesses later, critical responses to phenomenology  ranging from Derrida to Dennett  and reflects on the continued significance of phenomenology for philosophy today. Written for those coming to phenomenology for the first time, Understanding Phenomenology guides the reader through the often bewildering array of technical concepts and jargon, and provides clear explanations and helpful examples to encourage and enhance engagement with the primary texts. It is ideally suited for courses in twentieth-century continental philosophy and for the non-specialist looking for an authoritative overview.
The Philosophy of Foucault
Authors: May Todd
Published: February 2013

Michel Foucault's historical and philosophical investigations have gone through many phases: the archaeological, the genealogical, and the ethical among them. What remains constant, however, is the question that motivates them: "who are we?" Todd May follows Foucault's itinerary from his early history of madness to his posthumously published Collège de France lectures and shows how the question of who we are shifts and changes but remains constantly at or just below the surface of his writings. By approaching Foucault's work in this way, May is able to offer readers an engaging and illuminating way to understand Foucault. Each of Foucault's key works  Madness and Civilization, The Archaeology of Knowledge, The Order of Things, Discipline and Punish and the multi-volume History of Sexuality  are examined in detail and situated in an historical context that makes effective use of comparisons with other thinkers such as Freud, Nietzsche and Sartre. Throughout the book May strikes a balance between sympathetic presentation and criticism of Foucault's ideas and in so doing exposes Foucault's contributions of lasting value. The Philosophy of Foucault is an accessible and stimulating introduction to one of the most popular and influential thinkers of recent years and will be welcomed by students studying Foucault as part of politics, sociology, history and philosophy courses.
The Philosophy of Hegel
Authors: Speight Allen
Published: February 2013

Few philosophers can induce as much puzzlement among students as Hegel. His works are notoriously dense and make very few concessions for a readership unfamiliar with his systematic view of the world. Allen Speights introduction to Hegels philosophy takes a chronological perspective on the development of Hegels system. In this way some of the most important questions in Hegelian scholarship are illuminated by examining in their respective contexts works such as the Phenomenology and the Logic. Speight begins with the young Hegel and his writings prior to the Phenomenology focusing on the notion of positivity and how Hegels social, economic and religious concerns became linked to systematic and logical ones. He then examines the Phenomenology in detail, including its treatment of scepticism, the problem of immediacy, the transition from consciousness to self-consciousness, and the emergence of the social and historical category of Spirit. The following chapters explore the Logic, paying particular attention to a number of vexed issues associated with Hegels claims to systematicity and the relation between the categories of Hegels logic and nature or spirit (Geist). The final chapters discuss Hegels ethical and political thought and the three elements of his notion of absolute spirit: art, religion and philosophy, as well as the importance of history to his philosophical approach as a whole.
The New Pragmatism
Authors: Malachowski Alan
Published: February 2013

Some hundred years after its inception, pragmatism has reclaimed centre stage, not just within philosophy, but also within intellectual culture as a whole. This book sets out to explain what it is about pragmatism that makes it such a distinctively attractive prospect to so many thinkers, even in previously hostile traditions. Alan Malachowski sets out in a clear and accessible manner the original guiding thoughts behind the pragmatist approach to philosophy and examines how these thoughts have fared in the hands of those largely responsible for the present revival (Hilary Putnam and Richard Rorty). The pragmatism that emerges from this exploration of its classic and new wave forms is then assessed in terms of both its philosophical potential and its wider cultural contribution. Readers will emerge from the book with a more secure grip on what pragmatism involves and a correspondingly clearer grasp of what it has to offer and what its current resurgence is all about.
Reading Nietzsche
Authors: Burnham Douglas
Published: February 2013

Beyond Good and Evil is one of the classics of western philosophy. Pithy, lyrical and densely complex, it demands that its readers are already familiar with key Nietzschean concepts  such as the will-to-power, perspectivism or eternal recurrence  and are able to leap with Nietzschean agility from topic to topic, across metaphysics, psychology, religion, morality and politics. As a concise and comprehensive statement of Nietzsche's mature philosophy, it has served many readers as the point of entry into Nietzsche's work as a whole. Reading Nietzsche is an authoritative, insightful and detailed examination of this landmark text. It explains the central concepts, the range of Nietzsche's concerns, and highlights Nietzsche's writing strategies that are key to understanding his work and his processes of thought. In its close analysis of the text, Reading Nietzsche reassesses this most creative of philosophers and presents a significant contribution to the study of his thought. In setting this analysis within a comprehensive exposition of Nietzsche's ideas, the book serves as a guide both to Beyond Good and Evil and to Nietzsche's philosophy more generally.
Understanding Hermeneutics
Authors: Schmidt Lawrence K.
Published: February 2013

Hermeneutics concerns itself with the theory of understanding and the interpretation of language. The question of how to correctly interpret and understand others remains one of the most contested branches of philosophy. In Understanding Hermeneutics Lawrence Schmidt provides an introduction to modern hermeneutics through a systematic examination of the ideas of its key philosophical proponents. Chapter 1 examines the ideas of the Protestant theologian, Friedrich Schleiermacher, who argues that misunderstanding is always possible so we must always employ interpretation if we are to understand correctly. Chapter 2 discusses the ideas of Dilthey, who maintains that understanding in the humanities is fundamentally different from explanation in the natural sciences, and who presents a methodology to judge what another person means or feels by means of their language and also their gestures, facial expressions, and manners of acting. Chapter 3 explores the ideas of Heidegger who radicalizes the concept by shifting its focus from interpreting texts to an existential interpretation of human being. In Chapter 4 the recent ideas of Gadamer are examined, which extend to examining the structures of hermeneutic experience and to question the supremacy of the natural sciences as models for truth. The final chapters consider some of the criticisms and controversies surrounding hermeneutics, including the work of Habermas, Hirsch, Ricoeur and Derrida, and the prospects for the future of hermeneutics.
Death
Authors: Scarre Geoffrey
Published: February 2013

What is death and why does it matter to us? How should the knowledge of our finitude affect the living of our lives and what are the virtues suitable to mortal beings? Does death destroy the meaningfulness of lives, or would lives that never ended be eternally and absurdly tedious? Can death really be an evil if, after death, we no longer exist as subjects of goods or evils? How should we respond to the deaths of others and do we have any duties towards the dead? These, and many other, questions are addressed in Geoffrey Scarres book, which draws upon a wide variety of philosophical and literary sources to offer an up-to-date and highly readable study of some of the major ethical and metaphysical riddles concerning death and dying. Scarre shows that far from being a morbid subject for a philosophy book reflecting on death and its significance doubles as an illuminating way of reflecting on life.
Annihilation
Authors: Belshaw Christopher
Published: February 2013

The ever-present possibility of death forces upon us the question of lifes meaning and for this reason death has been a central concern of philosophers throughout history. From Socrates to Heidegger, philosophers have grappled with the nature and significance of death. In Annihilation, Christopher Belshaw explores two central questions at the heart of philosophys engagement with death: what is death; and is it bad that we die? Belshaw begins by distinguishing between literal and metaphorical uses of the term and offers a unified and biological account of death, denying that death brings about non-existence. How our death relates to the death of the brain is explored in detail. Belshaw considers the common-sense view that death is often bad for us by examining the circumstances that might make it bad as well as the grounds for thinking that one death can be worse than another. In addition, Belshaw explores whether we can be harmed after we die and before we were born. The final chapters explore whether we should prevent more deaths and whether, via cryonics, brain transplants, data storage, we might cheat death. Throughout Belshaw shows how questions of personhood and lifes value are bound up with our views on the sense and significance of death. Annihilations in-depth analysis and insightful exposition will be welcomed not only by philosophers working on the metaphysics of death but also by students and scholars alike looking for a foundation for discussions of the ethics of abortion, euthanasia, life-support and suicide.
White Ink
Authors: Cixous Hélène
Published: February 2013

Hélène Cixous is widely regarded as one of the worlds most influential feminist writers and thinkers. White Ink brings together her most revealing interviews. Spanning over four decades and including a new interview with the editor Susan Sellers, this collection presents a brilliant, running commentary on the subjects at the heart of Cixouss writing. Here, Cixous discusses her books and her creative process, her views on and insights into literature, philosophy, theatre, politics, aesthetics, faith and ethics, human relations and the state of the world. As she responds to interviewers questions, Cixous is prompted to reflect on her roles and activities as poet, playwright, feminist theorist, professor of literature, philosopher, woman, Jew. Each interview is a remarkable performance, an event in language and thought where Hélène Cixouss celebrated intellectual and poetic force can be witnessed in action. The accessibility of the interview format provides an excellent starting-point for readers new to Cixous, while those already familiar with her work will find unexpected insights and fresh elucidations of her thought.
Ethics and Experience
Authors: Chappell Timothy
Published: February 2013

Ethics and Experience presents a wide-ranging and thought-provoking introduction to the question famously posed by Socrates: How is life to be lived? An excellent primer for any student taking a course on moral philosophy, the book introduces ethics as a single and broadly unified field of inquiry in which we apply reason to try and solve Socrates question. Ethics and Experience examines the major forms of ethical subjectivism and objectivism - including expressivism, error theory, naturalism, and intuitionism. The book lays out the detail of the most significant contemporary moral theories - including utilitarianism, virtue ethics, Kantianism, and contractarianism - and reconsiders these theories in the light of two questions that should perhaps be asked more often: Is moral theory, with its tendency to regiment ethical thought and experience, really the best way for us to apply reason to deciding how to live? And, might it not be more truly reasonable to look for less system and more insight?
Clothes
Authors: Harvey John
Published: February 2013

Clothes protect our vulnerable skin and they keep us warm or cool. They help us show that we are young or old, rich or poor, at work or play, and whether we may be good to know. But though they are basic, much as food and shelter are  and also may be beautiful  they have long had a bad press in serious, moral and philosophical writing. The main reason for this is that they are external to us, a cover we may hide behind, and one on which some people spend too much money, perfecting a pompous plumage of vanity: also they, and the fashions for them, may not last long. Nonetheless, when we choose our own clothes, we know the choice is a sensitive matter and far from being merely superficial. John Harvey considers the overlapping values that clothes have for us. Clothes both cover and advertise the bodies within them. They help make us the men and women we are, and help us to attract each other. They enroll us in groups, from our own circle to our generation worldwide; and they show just how, as individuals, we want to be noticed. Clothes, like their wearers, may compete in claiming power. They may also, on and off the catwalk, compete to claim the spotlight. In sum they show how we think we matter  and they can matter themselves in ways that may be intimate and even crucial to us. At all times clothes have demanded attention, even when they have been castigated for their vanity, and contemporary opinion is still divided. Are clothes the most frivolous of consumer disposables  or are they, however extravagant, art? Though we wear and see them every day, the value that they have for us is multiple and fugitive and hard to catch exactly. Clothes attempts to sort the many-coloured wardrobe which marks off mankind from other creatures.
Wellbeing
Authors: Vernon Mark
Published: February 2013

Type 'how to be happy' into Google and you get 276 million hits. Thats a lot of advice! But why does so much of it  work less, earn more, keep fit  sound so trite? If it were that easy, wouldnt we all be happy by now? The reason is that a central and tricky question is being glossed over: just what is happiness? In his absorbing new book, Mark Vernon explains that finding happiness is not as simple as having good friends or a full social life. For Vernon, writing as a religious agnostic, the crunch issue is our ability, or inability, to find within ourselves a sense of meaning or deeper purpose, something not found in everyday life. The search for transcendence, argues Vernon, is the greatest challenge of our day. The idea that we are part of something bigger, something unfamiliar and unknown, was, until modern times, a fundamental step in cultivating wellbeing. Whereas today happiness is all too often associated with pleasure, a concern with the bits and pieces that make up a good life rather than a love of the good itself and a search for the good in life. Unless our understanding of wellbeing is both more expansive and profound, Vernon argues, people will only be let down, and although many warm sounding words will be uttered, life will continue much as before. Drawing on the thought of the ancient Greek philosophers, Wellbeing challenges us to think about our values and beliefs, to discover a sense of place in the universe, and to work out what we love and how to love it. In doing so, a sense of wellbeing is shown to be within the grasp of us all.
Work
Authors: Svendsen Lars
Published: February 2013

Work is, for almost all of us, an unavoidable feature of our daily lives. Whether we see it as a curse, or a blessing, what we choose to do, day in day out, shapes our attitude to the world and to ourselves. In this thought-provoking book, Lars Svendsen explores the part work plays in our search for a happy and fulfilling life. In a fascinating narrative that takes us from Marx to McJobs, Fordism to funsultants, Svendsen shows that despite our moaning, for most of us, life without work would probably fill us with despair. Not only is it generally good for our physical and mental health (burn out is more likely to come from leisure than work), it gives us a sense of purpose, an identity and a social network. For Svendsen, our frustrations with work have much to do with the way the characteristics of work and our attitudes towards it have changed over the years. Unlike previous generations, we now look to work to provide us with a sense of meaning and self-realization, we expect work to be fulfilling, fun and full of people we like. Svendsen argues that this is too much to expect from work and that it is a mistake to seek in work so much of the meaning we need in our lives. What happens when our expectations are not met? And, more crucially, what happens when they are? Are we then in danger of ignoring all those things that matter a lot more than a job? We need to consider these questions, says Svendsen, if we are to ensure that our work makes us happy. For anyone who has struggled with the worklife balance, Work is an absorbing and enlightening read that challenges us to think about our attitude to work and what it means to us.
Hunger
Authors: Tallis Raymond
Published: February 2013

Understanding hunger is the key to understanding ourselves. While they seem the most obvious things about us, our hungers are also deeply mysterious, arising out of, and casting light on, the unique character of human consciousness. In humans, physiological need is transformed into a multitude of needs that are remote from organic necessity. Even first-level biological hunger is experienced differently in humans; and little in human feeding behaviour has any parallel in the animal kingdom. In this book, Ray Tallis takes us through the different levels of our hunger. Out of our primary appetites arise a myriad of pleasures and tastes that are elaborated in second-level hedonistic hungers creating new values. The evolution of appetite into desire opens the way to social hungers such as the hunger for acknowledgement. Awareness of death awakens a further level of hunger for something that lies beyond the pell-mell of successive experiences leading towards extinction. The art of living is the art of managing our hungers.
Fame
Authors: Rowlands Mark
Published: February 2013

Once a title held only by a privileged few, fame went hand-in-hand with respect and hard work. To be famous meant that you had achieved something noteworthy, or had an exceptional talent. But things have changed, as demonstrated by the number of singularly untalented people who are currently famous. Why has there been such a shift in our notion of fame and why has the desire for fame become such a powerful motivation for so many people? Mark Rowlands brings his philosophical expertise to bear on our concept of fame and explores the reasons behind its radical transformation. To understand this new variant fame, Rowlands argues, we must engage in an extensive philosophical excavation that takes us back to a dispute that began in fourth-century BC Athens. Rowlands reveals that our presentday notion of fame and the extremes that accompany it are symptoms of a significant cultural change: the decline of Enlightenment ideas has seen individualism eclipse objectivism about value, so much so that what characterizes Western society today is its constitutional inability to distinguish quality from bullshit. This, argues Rowlands, is the predicament in which we find ourselves today and which explains how fame can now be unconnected with any discernible distinction: we have lost any grip on the idea that there might be objective standards of evaluation even for some of the most important choices we make. A fascinating mix of amusing anecdote and serious philosophical reflection, Fame presents us with a new way of looking at and understanding fame as we now know it, one that shows us how and why we have become the fame-hungry people we are today. It is a book written for anyone who has wondered how the world could ever have turned out like this.
Philosophy, Neuroscience and Consciousness
Authors: Welshon Rex
Published: February 2013

Explaining consciousness is one of the last great unanswered scientific and philosophical problems. Immediately known, familiar and obvious, consciousness is also baffling, opaque and strange. This introduction to the problems posed by consciousness discusses the most important work of cognitive science, neurophysiology and philosophy of mind of recent years and presents an up to date assessment of the issues and debates. The books engagement with the neuroscience material sets it apart from other philosophical introductions. Welshon presents an informal and largely non-technical account of the properties of consciousness that are thought to be the most paradigmatic and problematic before examining recent scientific work  from neurophysiological studies of the brain to computational theories of the mind  and the philosophical problems that these accounts raise.
Epicureanism
Authors: O'Keefe Tim
Published: February 2013

Epicureanism was one of the major philosophical systems of the Hellenistic world. It provided a systematic account of the nature of the world and our place in it, how we can come to know the world, and how we can attain happiness. Founded by Epicurus of Samos (c.341-270 BCE) the Epicurean school of philosophy flourished for hundreds of years after Epicurus death, and its rediscovery helped shape the scientific revolution. This clear and engaging introduction provides lucid exposition of the central tenets of Epicurus philosophy. Part 1 of the book examines the fundamentals of Epicurus metaphysics, including atoms, cosmology, mechanistic biology, the nature and functioning of the mind, and death. Part 2 explores Epicurus epistemology, including his arguments against scepticism and his ideas on sensations, preconceptions and feelings. The third and final part deals with Epicurus ethics, exploring his arguments for hedonism, his distinctive conceptions of types of pleasure and desire, his belief in virtue, and his notions of justice and friendship. Tim OKeefe explores the arguments supporting Epicurus positions, indicating their strengths and weaknesses, while showing how they connect to other parts of his philosophy and how Epicureanism hangs together as a whole. Particular stress is placed on those features that have enduring philosophical interest and which parallel debates in contemporary philosophy. OKeefe shows Epicurus to be a philosopher of the highest order and that even after two millennia grappling with his ideas continues to reward study.
Cosmopolitanism
Authors: van Hooft Stan
Published: February 2013

Cosmopolitanism is a demanding and contentious moral position. It urges us to embrace the whole world into our moral concerns and to apply the standards of impartiality and equity across boundaries of nationality, race, religion or gender. It suggests a range of virtues which the cosmopolitan individual should display: tolerance, justice, pity, righteous indignation at injustice, generosity toward the poor and starving, care for the global environment, and the willingness to take responsibility for change on a global scale. This book explains and espouses the values of cosmopolitanism, adjudicates between various forms of cosmopolitanism, and defends it against its critics. The book highlights ethical issues and identifies the moral obligations that individuals, multinational corporations and governments might have in relation to them. The book discusses the work of Kwame Anthony Appiah, Seyla Benhabib, Martha Nussbaum, Thomas Pogge, John Rawls, Amartya Sen, Henry Shue, Peter Singer and others to provide a clear and accessible survey of cosmopolitanism that analyses the reality of the rights and responsibilities that it espouses.
Understanding Environmental Philosophy
Authors: Brennan Andrew
Published: February 2013

Environmental philosophy is one of the exciting new fields of philosophy to emerge in the last forty years. Understanding Environmental Philosophy presents a comprehensive, critical analysis of contemporary philosophical approaches to current ecological concerns. Key ideas are explained, placed in their broader cultural, religious, historical, political and philosophical context, and their environmental policy implications are outlined. Central ideas and concepts about environmental value, individual wellbeing, ecological holism and the metaphysics of nature set the stage for a discussion of how to establish moral rules and priorities, and whether it is possible to transcend human-centred views of the world. The reader is also helped with an annotated guide to further reading, questions for discussion and revision as well as boxed studies highlighting key concepts and theoretical material. A clear and accessible introduction to this most dynamic of subjects, Understanding Environmental Philosophy will be invaluable for a wide range of readers.
Commitment
Authors: Benn Piers
Published: February 2013

What does it mean when you say you are 'committed' to something, whether its to a partner, a vocation, a political belief, or a religion? On what basis do we make commitments? Do they matter? Or are we better off avoiding them? Philosopher Piers Benn explores the notion of commitment and tries to unpick what it is and why it might be valuable to a life lived well. He focuses on the commitments we have to one another, the commitments we have with respect to work and vocation, and those we have to political and religious creeds or ways of life. He explores the many obstacles to commitment, in particular boredom and the failure to take an interest in the world. Although Benn shows commitment to be a central ingredient in the meaning of life, he suggests it is better to risk a sense of lack of meaning and some unhappiness than to make false or frivolous commitments. The tension between the urge to commit and grounds for resisting is a theme running throughout the book. Piers Benn brings a much-needed clarity to the subject and offers some welcome advice to all those who have wrestled with the failure, falsehood or futility of their commitments.
Ethics for a Broken World
Authors: Mulgan Tim
Published: February 2013

Imagine living in the future in a world already damaged by humankind, a world where resources are insufficient to meet everyones basic needs and where a chaotic climate makes life precarious. Then imagine looking back into the past, back to our own time and assessing the ethics of the early twenty-first century. Ethics for a Broken World imagines how the future might judge us and how living in a time of global environmental degradation might utterly reshape the politics and ethics of the future. The book is presented as a series of history of philosophy lectures given in the future, studying the classic texts from a past age of affluence, our own time. The central ethical questions of our time are shown to look very different from the perspective of a ruined world. The aim of Ethics for a Broken World is to look at our present with the benefit of hindsight  to reimagine contemporary philosophy in an historical context  and to highlight the contingency of our own moral and political ideals.
A dynamic calibration technique for temperature programmed desorption spectroscopy
Authors: Hurst K. E. , Heben M. J. , Blackburn J. L. , Gennett T. , Dillon A. C. , Parilla P. A.
Published: February 2013

A novel, rapid and accurate calibration procedure as a means for quantitative gas desorption measurement by temperature programmed desorption (TPD) spectroscopy is presented. Quantitative measurement beyond the linear regime of the instrument is achieved by associating an instantaneous calibrated molar flow rate of gas to the detector response. This technique is based on fundamental methods, and is independently verified by comparison to the hydrogen desorption capacity of a known standard metal hydride with known stoichiometry. The TPD calibration procedure described here may be used for any pure gas, and the accuracy is demonstrated for the specific case of hydrogen.
Implicit large-eddy simulation of passive scalar mixing in statistically stationary isotropic turbulence
Authors: Wachtor A. J. , Grinstein F. F. , DeVore C. R. , Ristorcelli J. R. , Margolin L. G.
Published: February 2013

Turbulent mixing of a passive scalar by forced isotropic turbulence with a prescribed mean scalar gradient is studied in the context of implicit large-eddy simulation. The simulation strategy uses a multi-dimensional compressible flux-corrected transport algorithm, with low wavenumber momentum forcing imposed separately for the solenoidal and dilatational velocity components. Effects of grid resolution on the flow and scalar mixing are investigated at turbulent Mach numbers 0.13 and 0.27. Turbulence metrics are used to show that an implicit large-eddy simulation can accurately capture the mixing transition and asymptotic self-similar behaviors predicted by previous theoretical, laboratory, and direct numerical simulation studies, including asymptotically constant scalar variance and increasing velocity-to-scalar Taylor micro-scales ratio as function of effective Reynolds number determined by grid resolution. The results demonstrate the feasibility of predictive under-resolved simulations of high Reynolds number turbulent scalar mixing using implicit large-eddy simulation.
Correlation between write endurance and electrical low frequency noise in MgO based magnetic tunnel junctions
Authors: Amara-Dababi S. , Béa H. , Sousa R. C. , Baraduc C. , Dieny B.
Published: February 2013

The write endurance and the 1/f noise of electrical origin were characterized in CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJ) for spin transfer torque or thermally assisted magnetic random access memories. A statistical study carried out on a set of 60 nominally identical patterned junctions of 200 nm diameter revealed a correlation trend between the electrical 1/f noise power in the unexercised MTJs and the number of write cycles that these MTJs can withstand before electrical breakdown. The junctions showing the largest 1/f noise power before the write endurance test (successive 30 ns pulses of 1.73 V) have the lowest endurance. In contrast, MTJs initially exhibiting lower 1/f noise tend to have a better electrical reliability, i.e., much longer write endurance. This correlation is explained by the presence of electron trapping sites in the MgO barrier and the role of electron trapping/detrapping phenomena in both MTJ reliability and its 1/f electrical noise power. These results suggest that 1/f noise could be used as a predictive characterization of the MTJ endurance.
NbTiN superconducting nanowire detectors for visible and telecom wavelengths single photon counting on Si3N4 photonic circuits
Authors: Schuck C. , Pernice W. H. P. , Tang H. X.
Published: February 2013

We demonstrate niobium titanium nitride superconducting nanowires patterned on stoichiometric silicon nitride waveguides for detecting visible and infrared photons. The use of silicon nitride on insulator on silicon substrates allows us to simultaneously realize photonic circuits for visible and infrared light and integrate them with nanowire detectors directly on-chip. By implementing a traveling wave detector geometry in this material platform, we achieve efficient single photon detection for both wavelength regimes. Our detectors are an ideal match for integrated quantum optics as they provide crucial functionality on a wideband transparent waveguide material.
Invited Review Article: The electrostatic plasma lens
Authors: Goncharov Alexey
Published: February 2013

The fundamental principles, experimental results, and potential applications of the electrostatic plasma lens for focusing and manipulating high-current, energetic, heavy ion beams are reviewed. First described almost 50 years ago, this optical beam device provides space charge neutralization of the ion beam within the lens volume, and thus provides an effective and unique tool for focusing high current beams where a high degree of neutralization is essential to prevent beam blow-up. Short and long lenses have been explored, and a lens in which the magnetic field is provided by rare-earth permanent magnets has been demonstrated. Applications include the use of this kind of optical tool for laboratory ion beam manipulation, high dose ion implantation, heavy ion accelerator injection, in heavy ion fusion, and other high technology.
Fast excited state dynamics in the isolated 7-azaindole-phenol H-bonded complex
Authors: Capello Marcela C. , Broquier Michel , Dedonder-Lardeux Claude , Jouvet Christophe , Pino Gustavo A.
Published: February 2013

The excited state dynamics of the H-bonded 7-azaindole-phenol complex (7AI-PhOH) has been studied by combination of picosecond pump and probe experiments, LIF measurements on the nanosecond time scale and ab initio calculations. A very short S1 excited state lifetime (30 ps) has been measured for the complex upon excitation of the $0_0^0$000 transition and the lifetime remains unchanged when the ν6 vibrational mode ($0_0^0$000 + 127 cm−1) is excited. In addition, no UV-visible fluorescence was observed by exciting the complex with nanosecond pulses. Two possible deactivation channels have been investigated by ab initio calculations: first an excited state tautomerization assisted by a concerted double proton transfer (CDPT) and second an excited state concerted proton electron transfer (CPET) that leads to the formation of a radical pair (hydrogenated 7AIH• radical and phenoxy PhO• radical). Both channels, CDPT and CPET, seem to be opened according to the ab initio calculations. However, the analysis of the ensemble of experimental and theoretical evidence indicates that the excited state tautomerization assisted by CDPT is quite unlikely to be responsible for the fast S1 state deactivation. In contrast, the CPET mechanism is suggested to be the non-radiative process deactivating the S1 state of the complex. In this mechanism, the lengthening of the OH distance of the PhOH molecule induces an electron transfer from PhOH to 7AI that is followed by a proton transfer in the same kinetic step. This process leads to the formation of the radical pair (7AIH•⋅⋅⋅PhO•) in the electronically excited state through a very low barrier or to the ion pair (7AIH+⋅⋅⋅PhO−) in the ground state. Moreover, it should be noted that, according to the calculations the πσ* state, which is responsible for the H loss in the free PhOH molecule, does not seem to be involved at all in the quenching process of the 7AI-PhOH complex.
Generalized Born forces: Surface integral formulation
Authors: Fogolari Federico , Corazza Alessandra , Esposito Gennaro
Published: February 2013

Generalized Born (GB) models offer a convenient alternative to Poisson-Boltzmann based models. In the last decade, the GB radii computed based on the exact results obtained for a charge embedded in a conducting sphere have proven to be accurate also for the complex molecular shapes of proteins. The surface integral formulation of the theory has been much less explored than the volume integral formulation. In this work, we provide the exact equations for the GB solvation forces in the surface integral formulation, which are non-trivial due to the non-negligible dependence of GB radii on atomic positions and due to the discontinuity in the derivative of the solvent accessible surface point positions with respect to atomic positions. The equations derived here provide a useful reference for developing faster approximations.