Philip R. Shields shows that ethical and religious concerns inform even the most technical writings on logic and language, and that, for Wittgenstein, the need to establish clear limitations is both a logical and an ethical demand. Rather than merely saying specific things about theology and religion, major texts from the Tractatus to the Philosophical Investigations express their fundamentally religious nature by showing that there are powers which bear down upon and sustain us. Shields finds a religious view of the (...) world at the very heart of Wittgenstein's philosophy. "Shields argues that the appearance throughout Wittgenstein's writings of such concepts as ritual, limit, transgression, a change of will, pride, temptation, and judgment implies a relation between religion and the logical aspects of Wittgenstein's philosophy."-- Choice "Of the many recent books about Wittgenstein, Logic and Sin is one of the very few that are well worth having"--Fergus Kerr, Modern Theology "What Shields has uncovered in Wittgenstein's religious sensibility is something genuine and profound. . . . Shields has not just written an important book on Wittgenstein but an enlightening work that invites further reflection."--Eric O. Springsted, Cross Currents. (shrink)

The Oxford Handbook of Jane Addams is a selective collection of original analyses offered by an international group of social and political theorists who have contributed to the burgeoning field of Addams Studies. This collection pays particular attention to her contributions to scholarly fields of sociology and philosophy as well as to more professional disciplines of public administration and social work. Furthermore, this volume signifies Addams's globalimpact as scholars from all over the world contribute to the tapestry of her intellectual (...) legacy. (shrink)

Recent books by Paul Johnston, D. Z. Phillips, Philip Shields, and B. R. Tilghman all depict Wittgenstein as centrally concerned with ethics, but they range from representing his main works as expressing and advocating a particular religious-ethical outlook to arguing that his work has no ethical content but aims primarily to clarify such logical distinctions as that between ethical and empirical judgments. All four books raise the question about the moral philosopher's proper role, and each suggests a rather different answer. (...) Via the discussion of these books, I argue that Wittgenstein's stress on diversity in the ways of human life, his notion of conceptual grammar, the idea of a perspicuous representation, his lifelong involvement with art and his suggestions about its connection with morality, and his preoccupation with aspect-seeing-all suggest new possibilities of rehabilitating the historically recurrent idea that the philosopher may be a moral sage. (shrink)

In our contemporary society it is widely recognized that public discourse has become increasingly polemical and polarized, as claims to truth and justice are cynically dismissed as manipulative power plays. We argue first that this growth of power politics reflects the triumph of the objectifying stance of the social sciences, and the consequent loss of any distinction between legitimate and illegitimate power, and second that it is ad hominem to dismiss or accept people’s arguments simply because of their identity interests, (...) their positionality, instead of considering the explicit meaning and validity of what they say. By adopting the objectifying perspective of the social sciences, identity theorists on the left and the right reduce “power” to coercion and fail to appreciate the power of persuasion, and the normative conditions that make rational agency possible. This tendency is ultimately contemptuous of human dignity because it undermines the rational agency and moral responsibility of everyone concerned, from the objectified human subjects to the objectifying theorists. (shrink)

Philosophical Pragmatism and International Relations bridges the gap between philosophical pragmatism and international relations, two disciplinary perspectives that together shed light on how to advance the study and conduct of foreign affairs. Authors in this collection discuss a broad range of issues, from policy relevance to peacekeeping operations, with an eye to understanding how this distinctly American philosophy, pragmatism, can improve both international relations research and foreign policy practice.

The education of safety science professionals is a key requirement to ensuring the ongoing recognition of Occupational Health and Safety as a profession. Safety science educators, at some point in their academic career, are required to align with an appropriate teaching philosophy, however this important aspect of education pedagogy rarely receives scholarly attention in the safety sciences. Therefore, this article makes the case for philosophical pragmatism as an overarching teaching philosophy that works well within the evidence informed safety science practice (...) model. Pragmatism is a logical and valuable teaching philosophy which centres on linking theory, research, ideas and actions to multi-disciplinary practical applications. It is embedded in the notion that both multiple stakeholder, and multiple perspectives are required to solve practical safety-oriented problems. Pragmatism links to a reflective practitioner paradigm whereby students are asked to think critically about what they do. Further, learning is influenced by self-discovery. The key theoretical underpinnings of pragmatism are presented, as well as the 4 Ps of pragmatism as a teaching framework. The rational for embracing pragmatism as a higher educational teaching philosophy for the safety sciences is presented. Pragmatism is seen as both a path forward in reducing the theory into practice divide for safety science educators and professionals, and a teaching philosophy which enhances the safety science pedagogy educational lens. (shrink)

In Deweyan Inquiry: From Education Theory to Practice, James Scott Johnston sets an ambitious and important goal—applying Deweyan inquiry to the problem of teaching children in K-12. He relies primarily on Dewey's (1938) Logic: The Theory of Inquiry, a work seldom applied to educational settings. For this alone Johnston should be applauded.John Dewey (1938) defines inquiry as "the controlled or directed transformation of an indeterminate situation into one that is so determinate in its constituent distinctions and relations as to convert (...) the elements of the original situation into a unified whole" (p.104). From this passage and several others, Johnston distills the distinguishing features of Deweyan inquiry .. (shrink)

De verkenning van God als vreeswekkende rechter is diep verankerd in het werk van Wittgenstein. Hiermee wil hij de grenzen van het menselijk denken aftasten.

This paper argues that there is a counter-productive tendency for many feminist critiques of patriarchy to revert to the same impoverished conception of power that they are critiquing, and thus—despite a commitment to the idea of a social self—inadvertently to valorize the notions of independence, autonomy, and choice that are enshrined in the ideal of the patriarchal individual. An adequate account of power relations between men and women cannot be rendered if we employ a misplaced and reductive model of power, (...) nor if we fail to acknowledge the intersubjective and interdependent nature of human self-consciousness—the deep and varied ways in which our identity and agency are intricately interwoven and wax or wane as a whole. Rightly understood, men are not as powerful and autonomous, nor women as powerless and oppressed, as they seem when viewed through the distorting lens provided by modern liberal individualism. (shrink)