Rereading Aristotle's Rhetoric.Alan G. Gross &Arthur E. Walzer (eds.) -2000 - Southern Illinois University Press.detailsIn this collection edited byAlan G. Gross and Arthur E. Walzer, scholars in communication, rhetoric and composition, and philosophy seek to “reread” Aristotle’s Rhetoric from a purely rhetorical perspective.
The Gradual Acceptance of Newton’s Theory of Light and Color, 1672–1727.Alan E. Shapiro -1996 -Perspectives on Science 4 (1):59-140.detailsSimon Schaffer has published a constructivist analysis of the acceptance of Newton’s theory of color that focuses on Newton’s experiments, the continual controversies over them, and his power and authority. In this article, I show that Schaffer’s account does not agree with the historical evidence. Newton’s theory was accepted much sooner than Schaffer holds, when and in places where Newton had little power; many successfully repeated the experiments and few contested them; and theory mattered more than experiment in acceptance. I (...) also present an alternative account of the acceptance of Newton’s theory that shows that, despite criticism when it was first published in 1672, the theory, or parts of it, gradually came to be accepted by mathematical scientists—including Huygens and Leibniz—and Scottish natural philosophers by the time of the publication of the Opticks in 1704. On the Continent, it was coming to be accepted within a decade or so after its publication, that is, before 1716, when Newton replied to a challenge, purportedly by Leibniz, that Schaffer sees as the crucial conflict that at last gave Newton’s experiments their authority. (shrink)
Integrating Ethics and Strategy: A Pragmatic Approach.Alan E. Singer -2010 -Journal of Business Ethics 92 (4):479-491.detailsAn organizing framework is set out for the diverse literature on business ethics in relation to strategic management. It consists of sets of bi-polar components, spanning themes and topical themes, with a derived typology of contributions. Then, in the spirit of classical pragmatism, the organizing framework is re-cast as an integrative conceptual model of the strategy–ethics relationship. The approach recognizes that both pragmatism and dialectics can underpin progress towards integration, encompassing both normative and empirical aspects.
Business Strategy and Poverty Alleviation.Alan E. Singer -2006 -Journal of Business Ethics 66 (2-3):225-231.detailsCurrently, entrepreneurs and corporations overwhelmingly do not view the alleviation of global poverty as a strategic priority. Yet business activity can have a negative as well as a positive effect on each distinctive form of poverty. In order to reduce poverty, entrepreneurs have to find ways of limiting the negative aspects. This might be achieved by deliberately augmenting strategies so that they can achieve a synthesis, in partnership with governments and NGO’s.
Mammalian DNA ligases.Alan E. Tomkinson &David S. Levin -1997 -Bioessays 19 (10):893-901.detailsDNA joining enzymes play an essential role in the maintenance of genomic integrity and stability. Three mammalian genes encoding DNA ligases, LIG1, LIG3 and LIG4, have been identified. Since DNA ligase II appears to be derived from DNA ligase III by a proteolytic mechanism, the three LIG genes can account for the four biochemically distinct DNA ligase activities, DNA ligases I, II, III and IV, that have been purified from mammalian cell extracts. It is probable that the specific cellular roles (...) of these enzymes are determined by the proteins with which they interact. The specific involvement of DNA ligase I in DNA replication is mediated by the non‐catalytic amino‐terminal domain of this enzyme. Furthermore, DNA ligase I participates in DNA base excision repair as a component of a multiprotein complex. Two forms of DNA ligase III are produced by an alternative splicing mechanism. The ubiqitously expressed DNA ligase III‐α forms a complex with the DNA single‐strand break repair protein XRCC1. In contrast, DNA ligase III‐β, which does not interact with XRCC1, is only expressed in male meiotic germ cells, suggesting a role for this isoform in meiotic recombination. At present, there is very little information about the cellular functions of DNA ligase IV. (shrink)
Towards a strong virtue ethics for nursing practice.Alan E. Armstrong -2006 -Nursing Philosophy 7 (3):110-124.detailsIllness creates a range of negative emotions in patients including anxiety, fear, powerlessness, and vulnerability. There is much debate on the ‘therapeutic’ or ‘helping’ nurse–patient relationship. However, despite the current agenda regarding patient-centred care, the literature concerning the development of good interpersonal responses and the view that a satisfactory nursing ethics should focus on persons and character traits rather than actions, nursing ethics is dominated by the traditional obligation, act-centred theories such as consequentialism and deontology. I critically examine these theories (...) and the role of duty-based notions in both general ethics and nursing practice. Because of well-established flaws, I conclude that obligation-based moral theories are incomplete and inadequate for nursing practice. I examine the work of Hursthouse on virtue ethics’ action guidance and the v-rules. I argue that the moral virtues and a strong (action-guiding) version of virtue ethics provide a plausible and viable alternative for nursing practice. I develop an account of a virtue-based helping relationship and a virtue-based approach to nursing. The latter is characterized by three features: (1) exercising the moral virtues such as compassion; (2) using judgement; and (3) using moral wisdom, understood to include at least moral perception, moral sensitivity, and moral imagination. Merits and problems of the virtue-based approach are examined. I relate the work of MacIntyre to nursing and I conceive nursing as a practice: nurses who exercise the virtues and seek the internal goods help to sustain the practice of nursing and thus prevent the marginalization of the virtues. The strong practice-based version of virtue ethics proposed is context-dependent, particularist, and relational. Several areas for future philosophical inquiry and empirical nursing research are suggested to develop this account yet further. (shrink)
Business ethics in the 21st century: stability and change.Alan E. Singer -2013 - New York: Nova Science Publishers.detailsThis is the fifth book by ProfessorAlan E Singer on business ethics and strategy. This book emphasizes aspects that are thought to be most likely to rise to prominence in the years to come. These include ecological-understandings at the conceptual level and the participation at the practical level in a distributed system of global governance system that strives to uphold all of the human goods, including the positive and negative freedoms, but in a reasonably balanced way. In a (...) section on justice and politics, several issues related to social and environmental justice are duly viewed from both a theoretical perspective and from a corporate (strategic) perspective. A further section focuses upon the governance and ethical implications of what James Martin (founder of the 21st Century School at the University of Oxford) has called the technologies of sorcery: synthetic biology, nanotechnology, robotics and artificial general intelligence. The final section of the book applies a stable organizing framework to the teaching of ethics in business and politics. This book will be of interest to students and practitioners across a wide spectrum of academic subjects and professions. (shrink)
Posthumous Satisfactions and the Concept of Individual Welfare.Alan E. Fuchs -1991 -Journal of Philosophical Research 16:345-351.detailsCan events that take place after an individual’s death affect that person’s weIl-being? Aristotle apparently thought that they could, but Mark Overvold disagrees. Like other contemporary moral theorists, Overvold analyzes the notion of a person’s utility or welfare in terms of the fulfillment of the individual’s desires, but he adds the important qualification that the desites must be for states-of-affairs in which the agent is an essential constituent. The clear implication of such a view is that our welfare cannot be (...) affected by the post-mortem satisfaction of any of the interests which we had while alive.I shall defend Overvold against his critics who insist that at least some posthumous satisfactions can contribute to a person’s welfare. I shall also argue against Brad Hooker’s proposal that we revise Overvold’s theory in order to account for such cases. (shrink)
Mill's Theory of Morally Correct Action.Alan E. Fuchs -2006 - In Henry West,The Blackwell Guide to Mill's Utilitarianism. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 139–158.detailsThis chapter contains section titled: Introduction Mill as an Act‐Utilitarian Mill as a Rule‐Utilitarian Moral Rules, Justice, and Supererogation Mill's Theory of the Right and “The Art of Life”.
Deep Anthropology.Alan E. Wittbecker -1986 -Environmental Ethics 8 (3):261-270.detailsDeep ecology has been criticized for being anti-anthropocentric, ignorant of feminism, and utopian. Most of the arguments against deep ecology, however, are based on uncritical use of these terms. Deep ecology places anthropocentrism, feminism, and utopianism into a proper perspective--deep anthropology-which pennits understanding of the human relationships with other beings in nature, in a total-fieldmodel, without accepting unhealthy extremes. The principles of deep ecology are concerned with creating good places, rather than the “no places” of modem industrial cultures.
Management-science and business-ethics.Alan E. Singer &M. S. Singer -1997 -Journal of Business Ethics 16 (4):385-395.detailsMany leading management scientists have advocated ethicalism: the incorporation of social and ethical concerns into traditional "rational" OR-MS techniques and management decisions. In fact, elementary forms of decision analysis can readily be augmented, using ethical theory, in ways that sweep in ethical issues. In addition, alternative conceptual models of Decision-Analysis, Game-Theory and Optimality are now available, all of which have brought OR-MS and Business-Ethics into a closer alignment.
Personal Experiences of Research Misconduct and the Response of Individual Academic Scientists.Alan E. Bayer &John M. Braxton -1996 -Science, Technology and Human Values 21 (2):198-213.detailsFrom a national U.S. sample of senior academic biochemists, ninety-four indicated that they personally knew of an incident of scientific wrongdoing. Among these individuals, less formal actions against an offending individual were endorsed when either actions were believed to have the potential to publicly embarrass the offending individual, or the actions might adversely affect the professional career of the whistleblower. These relationships remain significant after controlling for professional status, career age, and current level of formal departmental administrative responsibility. Study limitations (...) and implications are discussed. (shrink)
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Needs and Welfare.Alan Ware &Robert E. Goodin -1990 - SAGE Publications.detailsThis book addresses the concept of need and how needs can be, and are, met in western societies. Different models of welfare provision are examined both in theoretical terms and through two case studies: of models of pension provision and of the connection between the satisfaction of needs and electoral success for governments. This timely study makes an important contribution to the understanding of welfare and politics in advanced industrial western states.
Nursing ethics: a virtue-based approach.Alan E. Armstrong -2007 - New York: Palgrave.detailsReacting against the dominance of obligation-based moral theories in both general and nursing ethics, the author proposes a 'strong' (action-guiding) account of a virtue-based approach to moral decision-making within contemporary nursing practice. Merits and criticisms of obligation and virtue-based approaches to morality are identified and examined. One of the author's central premises is that the notions of moral goodness and badness carry more moral weight than the traditionally important notions of moral rightness and wrongness. Therefore, the author argues that in (...) order to deliver morally good care, it is vital to consider the kind of nurse one is and this means examining one's moral character. This book will be rewarding reading for a wide range of readers including clinical nurses, nurse educators and nurse ethicists; indeed, anyone interested in morality and ethics and the work of nurses will find this book stimulating reading. (shrink)
Autonomy, slavery, and mill's critique of paternalism.Alan E. Fuchs -2001 -Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 4 (3):231-251.detailsCritics have charged that John Stuart Mill''s discussion as of paternalism in On Liberty is internally inconsistent, noting, for example, the numerous instances in which Mill explicitly endorses examples of paternalistic coercion. Similarly, commentators have noted an apparent contradiction between Mill''s political liberalism – according to which the state should be neutral among competing conceptions of the good – and Mill''s condemnation of non-autonomous ways of life, such as that of a servile wife. More generally, critics have argued that while (...) Mill professes an allegiance to utilitarianism, he actually abandons it in favor of a view that values personal autonomy as the greatest intrinsic good. This paper presents an interpretation of Mill that provides a viable and consistent treatment of paternalism, thereby refuting each of the aforementioned critiques. Mill''s views, it argues, are consistently utilitarian. Moreover, the interpretation accounts for all of Mill''s departures from his otherwise blanket prohibition of paternalistic legislation. In particular, it explains his most notorious example, the condemnation of voluntary contracts for slavery. The interpretation emphasizes Mill''s conceptual linkage between autonomy and utility, noting his implicit use of at least three different senses of the notion of autonomy. (shrink)
La "filosofía experimental" de Newton.Alan E. Shapiro -2007 -Estudios de Filosofía (Universidad de Antioquia) 35:111-148.detailsNewton se rehusó a usar el término “filosofía experimental”, ampliamente usado en la Inglaterra de la Restauración al comienzo de su carrera, hasta 1712 cuando añadió un pasaje al Escolio General de los Principia que exponía brevemente su metodología anti-hipotética. No obstante, los borradores para la Cuestión 23 de la segunda edición de la Óptica (1706) (que se convertiría en la Cuestión 31 en la tercera edición) muestran que con anterioridad había intentado introducir el término para explicar su metodología. Newton (...) introdujo el término por propósitos polémicos para defender su teoría de la gravedad contra las críticas de los cartesianos y los leibnizianos pero, especialmente en los Principia, contra Leibniz mismo. La "filosofía experimental" tiene poco que ver directamente con el experimento, sino que más bien designa de manera más amplia la ciencia empírica. Los manuscritos de Newton proporcionan la oportunidad de comprender el uso que hace de la “filosofía experimental” y la formulación de su metodología, especialmente de términos claves como “deducir”, “inducción” y “fenómenos”, a comienzos del siglo XVIII. (shrink)
Corporate conscience and foreign divestment decisions.Alan E. Singer &N. T. Van der Walt -1987 -Journal of Business Ethics 6 (7):543-552.detailsThe rational-agent frame of reference for the analysis of corporate strategic decision-making may be expanded to a moral-agent perspective where decision content is seen as comprising both commercial and ethical factors. Relevant factors may then be classified on the basis of the ethical decision principles to which they relate: rational-egoism, self-referential altruism or deontology. This approach is then applied to the problem of decision support for strategic divestment by MNCs.
Twenty-nine years in the making: Newton's opticks.Alan E. Shapiro -2008 -Perspectives on Science 16 (4):pp. 417-438.detailsThe 300th anniversary of the publication of Isaac Newton’s Opticks in 1704 provides an occasion to review the history of its composition and publication. As a preliminary to presenting that history, Newton’s attitude to publication and response to criticism are examined. Newton’s clashes with Hooke and his presumed role as the cause of the delay in the publication of the Opticks until after his death are also scrutinized. Rather than simply presenting Newton and Hooke as quarrelsome, which they indeed were, (...) they are presented as rivals to be England’s leading optical authority. Although Newton announced his intention to publish a book very much like the Opticks in the winter of 1675–76, he did not begin to write it until 1687. It was composed in various stages, including new experimental investigations, by 1692, except for the part on diffraction. A planned, but unfulfilled, revision of the part on diffraction was responsible for delaying its publication for a number of years. (shrink)