bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
An Objectivistaccount of Probabilities in Statistical Mechanics
Authors: Lavis D.A. 
Published: October 2011

AbstractThis chapter defends and refines a specific objectivist interpretation of probabilities in statistical mechanics. For ergodic systems, probabilities are defined as time-averages. For other systems, ergodic decomposition is applied, and stochastic nomological machines are used to assign probabilities over the members of the decomposition. The relevance of this analysis to the Boltzmann and Gibbs approaches to statistical mechanics is discussed. The chapter shows that the proposed definition of probabilities matches a Boltzmann-like approach particularly well if the sharp distinction between equilibrium and non-equilibrium is given up and if more emphasis is laid upon the global time profile of entropy. The chapter furthermore argues that the alleged weaknesses of the time-average definition of probability are avoided.
Interpreting Probabilities in Quantum Field Theory and Quantum Statistical Mechanics
Authors: Ruetsche Laura , Earman John 
Published: October 2011

AbstractPhilosophical accounts of quantum theory commonly suppose that the observables of a quantum system form a Type-I factor von Neumann algebra. Such algebras always have atoms, which are minimal projection operators in the case of quantum mechanics. However, relativistic quantum field theory and the thermodynamic limit of quantum statistical mechanics make extensive use of von Neumann algebras of more general types. This chapter addresses the question whether interpretations of quantum probability devised in the usual manner continue to apply in the more general setting. Features of non-type I factor von Neumann algebras are cataloged. It is shown that these novel features do not cause the familiar formalism of quantum probability to falter, since Gleason's Theorem and the Lüders Rule can be generalized. However, the features render the problem of the interpretation of quantum probability more intricate.
Intentionally Killing the ‘Permanently Unconscious’
Authors: Finnis John 
Published: October 2011

Abstract
This chapter presents a critique of the decision of the House of Lords in Bland, upholding the withdrawing of food and water from Bland, with intent to terminate his life, on the ground that because he was in PVS (a permanent vegetative state) it was no longer worth living. The significance of the Lords' distinction between action and omission is questioned. The dualism involved in various judicial dicta about his life is critiqued. The very limited decriminalization of suicide in 1961 was not a recognition of ‘the principle of self-determination’. The intent in withdrawing sustenance to invalids whose death is not imminent is distinguished from the intent in desisting from medical treatments.
Introduction
Authors: Finnis John 
Published: October 2011

AbstractThis introductory chapter aims to vindicate the idea of human rights (properly understood in their logical complexity) against scepticism which puts in doubt, or treats as ungrounded, the idea that rights can and should be predicated of human persons just as such. The vindication involves articulating and illustrating the reality of the spiritual as an intrinsic aspect of each human being's unitary reality or nature. This in turn requires articulation of the idea of radical capacities, and at least suggests the relevance of the universe's being providentially ordered. A change of mind in relation to Aquinas and paternalism is pointed out. The main arguments in the volume's remaining parts are surveyed with brief commentary, explanation, contextualizing, and some updating.
Distributive Justice and the Bottom Line
Authors: Finnis John 
Published: October 2011

AbstractThis chapter presents an unpublished 1979 essay which responds to a critique of the draft chapter on justice in Natural Law and Natural Rights. It emphasizes that in the classical conception defended in that chapter, judgments about justice and injustice must take into account all relevant considerations; ‘just but unjustified’ and ‘unjust but justified’ are excluded predicates. This bears also on the fairness of procedures for distributing benefits or burdens. But objective injustice is one thing and subjectively culpable injustice can be another. The relation between justice and common good, e.g., in famine, is discussed.
Limited Government
Authors: Finnis John 
Published: October 2011

AbstractThis chapter contains the text of a 1996 essay which predates the author's revised understanding of Aquinas. But it points to other aspects of Aquinas's theory that promote (partly following Aristotle) the idea of morally required limits — of various kinds — on state government and law. One kind of limit is that (concerning killing of the innocent) rejected by Leo Strauss. Section III gives a brief list of the basic human goods, indicating that the political common good as such is not one of them — unlike marriage, which is. The political common good is, in a sense, instrumental. Section IV argues against framing political theory as liberal or non-liberal, and begins the critique, extended into the remaining two sections, of Stephen Macedo's incomplete rejection of state neutrality and espousal, instead, of a requirement of ‘public justifiability’. Natural law theory accepts that requirement, but not the artificial interpretation of it advanced by Rawls and Macedo. The discussion is illustrated by, inter alia, an examination and defence of the classical judgments (Plato, Plutarch, Musonius Rufus) about marriage and anti-marital (inter alia same-sex) practices.
Nationality and Alienage
Authors: Finnis John 
Published: October 2011

AbstractThis chapter articulates, and provides the (English) constitutional-historical and recent legal background for, a constitutional principle: risks to the public good that must be accepted when posed by a citizen — who therefore cannot be deported — need not be accepted when posed by a non-citizen, and may be obviated by the foreigner's expulsion. This is compatible with the right of everyone alike to be treated alike — equality before the law — while within the territory. The rationale of the principle finds support in parts of Raz's and other political theorists' discussion of multiculturalism and the conditions for a welfare and rule-of-law state.
The Restoration of Retribution
Authors: Finnis John 
Published: October 2011

Abstract
This chapter shows how Hart's account of restorative justice in relation to torts, in The Concept of Law, suggests an account of retributive justice in relation to crimes. Such an account is partially developed by Jeffrie Murphy, but needs the completion that is afforded when what the offender gains in the act of offending is correctly identified, along with the responsiveness of punishment precisely to that gain. Punishment has as its general justifying aim the restoration of the fair balance of advantages and disadvantages between citizens that was disrupted by the crime (when committed with full mensrea). The relations between this account and the different accounts of punishment's aim by Aquinas, Kant, and utilitarianism are traced.
Euthanasia and Justice
Authors: Finnis John 
Published: October 2011

Abstract
This chapter brings together the three phases of a rolling debate with John Harris about the justifiability of euthanasia. The senses of ‘euthanasia’ are carefully distinguished; the defining importance of intention is underlined and illustrated, and intention's moral significance is explored. The moral wrongness of choosing to terminate life is argued for as an implication of the reality of personhood and good of life even in the very young, very ill, or very old. The individuality of the early conceptus and the significance of radical capacity are explained against Harris's misunderstandings. The idea of the person in Harris and in Dworkin is discussed, as well as Dworkin's concept of critical interests. The final phases of the debate concern voluntary verses involuntary euthanasia, responsibility for side effects, the idea that some people ‘should die’, the dualism involved in denying radical capacity's significance, and the unfair implications of autonomous choices to be killed.
Justice for Mother and Child
Authors: Finnis John 
Published: October 2011

Abstract
The main sections of this chapter argue, with attention to many distinctions, that if the life of either the mother or her unborn child can be saved only by some medical procedure which will adversely affect the other, it is morally (and should be legally) permissible to undertake the procedure with intent to save life, provided it is the most effective procedure available to increase the overall probability that one or other (or both) will survive. Later sections briefly consider prenatal screening and genetic counselling, participation in abortions, and embryo experimentation.
Blackstone's Theoretical Intentions
Authors: Finnis John 
Published: October 2011

AbstractThe introductory discourse in Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765), and its definition of law, has usually been read as focused on the thesis that unjust laws are not laws. But that was not Blackstone's point, and his theoretical intentions, as manifested in the highly deliberated architecture of the Commentaries (traced in historical origin and structural and linguistic detail in the chapter), were much more interesting and complex. Like the main body of the natural law tradition, his interest lay in the various forms of derivation of positive from natural law (moral principle). His works' fruits in William Jones 1781 Essay on Bailments are methodologically superior to Bentham's work from 1776 onwards.
Practical Reasoning in Law: Some Clarifications
Authors: Finnis John 
Published: October 2011

AbstractThis chapter responds to criticisms of Natural Law and Natural Rights, Chapter 16 of this volume, and a version of Chapter 14 in Volume I of this text. The topics debated are method in natural law theory; ‘rational choice’ and incommensurability (an important section engaging with a number of hypothetical pertinently raised by David Luban); consequentialism; fairness, and the decision about ‘affirmative action’ in City of Richmond v Croson (1989) 488 US 469; easy cases at law; and the obligation to obey the law.
Darwin, Dewey, Religion, and the Public Domain
Authors: Finnis John 
Published: October 2011

AbstractThis chapter, composed as a Dewey lecture, argues that Darwin is a better guide for thinking about the place of religion in public life and in the Constitution than John Dewey, who denied that knowledge discloses reality and is all for the sake of controlling experience. Darwin acknowledged that there are reasons, not merely feelings or prior faith, for judging that the world is the product of an intelligent designer/creator. The arguments of Eisgruber and Sager that religious freedom deserves no specific constitutional protection misunderstand natural religion's significance and rational worth, for example as underpinning for the idea of human equality. Their arguments attributing disrespect, insult, or disparagement to religious exercises in schools are unsound. All philosophical arguments ought to be consistent with the worth of critically arguing for them, and that is a test failed by Hart and in different ways by Nietzsche, Posner, and many others. The European Court of Human Rights's judgment about Islamic Sharia provides important matter for reflection.
Catholic Positions in Liberal Debates
Authors: Finnis John 
Published: October 2011

Abstract
This chapter presents an essay written for a Catholic audience, and affirming the author's new position on Aquinas and the limited (non-paternalist) jurisdiction of State government and law. The three questions considered are: the reasons for treating truths of faith as proper grounds for action in public life; the permissibility and limits of cooperation (‘material’ or ‘formal’) with wrongdoers; and the limits to and proper forms of teaching by Church pastors on social and political issues. The chapters discussion of voting for ‘imperfect laws’ was corrected in Chapter 22 of Volume IV of this text.
The Significance of Questioning
Authors: Finnis John 
Published: October 2011

AbstractThis chapter presents an unpublished university sermon which challenges Hume's account of intelligence, A. J. Ayer's account of explanation and other forms of sceptical dogmatism, and attends to the role of questions in science. Questioning and scientific inquiry is then considered as an action, to which ethical demands apply so as to exclude obscurantism, over-confidence. As in Chapters 2 and 6 in Volume IV of this text, this is linked with friendship. An explanation is offered of Plato's ‘God is the measure’.
Hell and Hope
Authors: Finnis John 
Published: October 2011

AbstractThis chapter, unpublished from the 1990s, contests the thesis of Hans Urs von Balthasar that it is legitimate to hope that Hell will be found to have no human person ‘in it’. The doctrine of Hell is expounded in its own right (not least its difference from human conceptions of punishment), and in contrast with liberalized Christianity, and the new arguments of the Swiss theologian prove on analysis, it is argued, to be incoherent, and incompatible with the image and character of Christ as teacher and with a just appreciation of Augustine of Hippo.
Evolutionary Interpretation of Treaties: Between Memory and Prophecy
Authors: Dupuy Pierre-Marie 
Published: October 2011

Abstract
The durability of a treaty requires its capacity to adapt and change in accordance with the evolution of the situation for which it was designed to apply. One of the means that allow such adaptability is evolutionary interpretation. This chapter underlines the twofold nature of this interpretative technique. According to a first approach, evolutionary interpretation may be considered as a way to identify the common will of the parties as it would have resulted if they had renegotiated the agreement taking into account the circumstances that have since evolved. In the silence of Article 31 of the Vienna Convention, the case law of the ICJ supports the view that such a dynamic interpretation is allowed only where it is possible to infer from the terms of the treaty that the text is open to considerations of factual or legal evolution after its conclusion. However, when a treaty establishes an organization designed to achieve a shared purpose, the international judge entrusted with task of interpreting that treaty is often prone to act as the depositary of the common finality. In such a case, evolutionary interpretation tends to a teleological one. It therefore leads to question how far such interpretation could be taken and may generate allegations of ‘judicial activism’.
Treaty Interpretation by the WTO Appellate Body: The Conundrum of Article 17(6) of the WTO Antidumping Agreement
Authors: McRae Donald 
Published: October 2011

Abstract
Article 17(6)(ii) of the WTO Antidumping Agreement provides that where a panel finds that a provision of the Agreement admits of two ‘permissible’ interpretations, then it must find that a measure of a state is in conformity with the Agreement if it rests on one of those ‘permissible’ interpretations. The application of this provision by the WTO Appellate Body has led to considerable controversy. By following the approach that it must first interpret the provision of the Antidumping Agreement in question before deciding whether there are two ‘permissible’ interpretations, the Appellate Body has routinely concluded that interpretation leads to a single meaning, rather than to two ‘permissible’ interpretations of that provision. A single meaning by definition rules out the possibility of two ‘permissible’ meanings. This chapter argues that this constitutes a failure of interpretative methodology by the Appellate Body, which has the effect of voiding Article 17(6)(ii) of any content. It suggests that, the Appellate Body should see the application of Article 17(6)(ii) as requiring it first to address specifically whether two ‘permissible’ interpretations of the provision in question exist, rather than first establishing a single meaning and then asking whether there are other ‘permissible’ meanings.
TheHomeric Hymn to Hermes
Authors: Vergados Athanassios 
Published: October 2011

AbstractThis chapter looks at the unique presentation of epiphany in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes. Consideration is first given to the function and qualities of epiphanies elsewhere in the Homeric Hymns and other early epic. It is then shown that the Hymn to Hermes, while not containing a conventional scene of epiphany, treats epiphany according to the mode of the god's presentation in early Greek literature. Hermes' epiphany is enacted in performance and effected in part through the humour of the poem.
TheHomeric Hymn to Pan
Authors: Thomas Oliver 
Published: October 2011

AbstractThis chapter offers a systematic reading of the nineteenth Homeric Hymn to Pan and considers its relationship to the long Hymn to Hermes. A detailed analysis treats the poetics of the Hymn's narrative structures and Pan's representation in relation to other gods. It is argued that the inset musical performances of the nymphs serve to reflect upon the contents and performative roles of hymns in Greece. The chapter also considers carefully the poem's place and date of composition and its relationship to the spread of Pan's cult in Greece.
TheHomeric Hymnsas Genre
Authors: Clay Jenny 
Published: October 2011

AbstractThis chapter offers a reading of the Homeric Hymns as a genre distinct from the theogonic poetry of Hesiod and the Homeric epics the Iliad and Odyssey. It is argued that the Hymns are unified by their treatment of formative events that are epoch‐making moments in the Olympian order, such as the introduction of a god through birth. Consideration is also given to the performance context of the Hymns, and it is suggested that the longer Hymns developed originally as independent, Panhellenic compositions, not tied to any location.
Human Rights at the Interface of State and Sub-state: The Case of Scotland
Authors: Himsworth Chris 
Published: October 2011

Abstract
This chapter reviews the continuing peculiarities of the human rights regime in Scotland. These include: the strange emerging relationship between the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Scotland Act 1998, involving considerable technicalities that few parliamentarians can understand; the different and very limited character and potential contribution of ‘dialogue’ in devolved conditions; and the ‘threat’ of a ‘UK Bill of Rights’ fitting ill with a devolved jurisdiction.
Reclaiming the Political Protection of Rights: A Defence of Australian Party Politics
Authors: Tham Joo-Cheong 
Published: October 2011

Abstract
It is generally assumed that political parties are ‘unprincipled’ and uninvolved in debate and dialogue, so that they cannot be a significant player in protecting human rights. Political parties are disqualified because of their collectivist outlook, their concern with bargaining, and their focus on mobilization. However, political parties are necessary intermediaries between interest groups and the formulation of comprehensive policies. Moreover, politics in a democracy is pervasively party politics. Parties are agents of and forums for political deliberation and activism, activities that may enhance human rights. Political parties influence and structure political opinion. Nevertheless, there is a problem with cartel-like behaviour and the centralization of power within them.
3 The Brain: An Outlook
Authors: Auletta Gennaro 
Published: October 2011

AbstractIn this chapter the brain is considered as a device to acquire information. It is shown how information is processed from the peripheral sensory system to the central nervous system. Some basic information about the brain’s structure is provided. Three specific problems are dealt with: The brain’s modularity, the stages of information processing, and the brain’s mapping activity. Finally, the neural networks approach is introduced.
4 Vision
Authors: Auletta Gennaro 
Published: October 2011

AbstractThere are two different visual systems: one for perceiving form and colour, the other for dealing with objects’ motion. The steps of visual information processing are scrutinized and it is shown that, although a certain mapping (retinotopy) with the external environment is maintained in the first stages, in subsequent stages the feedback coming from higher-level processing regions determines a sophisticated object construction. Both a pure reductionist view and a holist view are insufficient and need to be integrated.
6 Complexity: A Necessary Condition
Authors: Auletta Gennaro 
Published: October 2011

AbstractIn order to explain how the brain and also elementary organisms are able to refer to external things and processes we need to consider complexity. Complexity is a specific combination of order and disorder in which several subsystems are interconnected but do not share an overall information. This allows for information encapsulation and modularization as well as for the necessary plasticity of organisms. A proto-metabolism can emerge when several autocatalytic processes are interconnected.
11 Epigeny
Authors: Auletta Gennaro 
Published: October 2011

AbstractHere, I deal with the general nature and significance of epigeny. Then, some fundamental mechanisms operating during the epigenetic process are considered. The core of this chapter is represented by the analysis of the steps of epigeny (especially embryogenesis and organogenesis will be considered). A specific but very relevant aspect is the way in which the brain develops and how a functional organization of the brain is superposed to a developmentally previous one having a simple structural character. Another important issue is the significance of the Waddington effect, one of the first phenomena to have attracted the attention of scholars to this field. Finally, the relations between phylogeny, ontogeny, and epigeny are framed in a wider synthesis.
21 Consciousness
Authors: Auletta Gennaro 
Published: October 2011

AbstractAfter discussing several forms of consciousness and distinguishing between awareness and consciousness, the very controversial and difficult issue of whether animals, especially non-human primates and cetaceans, possess a form of self-awareness is examined. After this investigation, the function and significance of awareness is discussed. Then, the relations between brain and consciousness are considered as a very enlightening inquiry for understanding the problem of the relation between brain and mind in general terms.
Sense and meaning
Authors: Horty John 
Published: October 2011

AbstractThis chapter states that it is difficult to reconcile the weak interpretation of the fruitfulness requirement with Frege's requirement of eliminability. In addition, the chapter provides that there is still a tension between these two requirements because once the idea of fruitfulness is taken into account, Frege cannot maintain both his requirement of eliminability and the correlation he sought between senses and psychological states. After a brief description of such conflict, an exploration on one way that Frege may be able to resolve the conflict and a comparison of that method of resolution with similar themes in recent work is illustrated.