This paper proposes a roughly Aristotelian account of powers ontology. In doing so, the paper uses the distinction found in Aristotle between four analogous senses of potency to explain causation and the existence-essence distinction in substances. On this basis, the paper offers some justification in support of the claims that powers and dispositions are the truth-makers of categorical properties and that categorical properties are ontologically dependent upon powers and dispositions.

While there is high patient acceptance for clinical staff discussing issues regarding spirituality with hospital inpatients, it is not clear which staff member patients prefer for these discussions. This unique exploratory study investigated inpatient preferences regarding which staff member should raise the topic of spirituality. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with inpatients at six hospitals in Sydney, Australia (n=897), with a subset invited to participate in qualitative interviews (n=41). Pastoral care staf (32.9%) were the preferred staf members with whom to (...) discuss spiritual issues, followed by doctors (22.4%). Qualitative fndings indicated that individual characteristics of the staf member are more important than their role. (shrink)

Panpsychism is now a bona fide potential solution to the metaphysical quandary of consciousness. Much of the debate concerning the viability of panpsychism is centered on the combination problem. Intriguingly, the literature analyzing this problem displays two competing interpretations which differ in their modal force. According to the first, which we call the ‘no-necessitation view', CP consists in the absence of a priori necessitation of macro-level phenomenal facts from micro-level phenomenal facts. In contrast, the second interpretation, which we label the (...) ‘incoherence charge’, goes further by insisting that it can be positively demonstrated that micro-experiences cannot combine to yield integral macro-experiences. While conceivability arguments are vulnerable to debates over conflicting intuitions, as well as to the claim that a more complete picture will grant the desired necessitation, IC has the advantage that, if true, it removes these concerns and approaches a more final verdict. Nevertheless, while conceivability arguments are widely discussed IC has not been equally well understood or recognized. In this paper we conduct a systematic investigation and reevaluation of IC, as it applies to constitutive micropsychism. We argue that the problem is real and therefore that constitutive micropsychism is a blind alley. (shrink)

This paper will focus on one element of the pushback against the massive influx of immigrants taken in for humanitarian purposes, namely, an identity-based chauvinism which uses identity as the point of resistance to the perceived dilution of that identity, brought about by the transformation of culture induced by the incorporation of a foreign other. The solution to this perceived dilution is a simultaneous defence of that culture and a demand for a conformity to it. While those in the critical (...) tradition have encouraged a counter-position of revolutionary transformation by the other through ethics, dialogue, or the multitude, such a transformation is arguably impeded by what is ultimately a repetition of the metaphysics of conformity. Drawing on the personalism of Emmanuel Mounier and the Eucharistic theology of Creston Davis and Aaron Riches, this paper submits an alternative identity politics position that completes the revolutionary impulse. Identity here is not the flashpoint of a self-serving conflict, but the launch-point of politics of self-emptying, whose hallmarks include, on the one hand, a never-ending reception of transformation by the other, and on the other hand, an anchoring in the Body of Christ that is at once ever-changing and never-changing. (shrink)

This article examines how Edith Stein’s philosophical and theological anthropology is foundational to the “new feminism” that both Paul VI and John Paul II called for in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. In particular, this article shows how Stein helps to respond to Simone de Beauvoir’s argument that taking women’s biology into consideration leads to essentialism with political implications. This article outlines main themes in the new feminism, and gives a brief overview of the ideas about the “hour (...) of woman” and the “feminine genius” pronounced by popes Paul VI and John Paul II. This article then describes and analyzes Stein’s psycho-physical theory of the human person. Finally, this article considers the importance of Stein’s thought for feminist theology, with brief application to the issue of the ordination of women to the priesthood. (shrink)

This work explores the ways in which the anime of Makoto Shinkai cinematically portrays the theological virtues of faith, hope and love. The article will explore each virtue individually, with specific reference to the work of Josef Pieper and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. In addition, it will juxtapose their explorations of these virtues with samples of Shinkai’s corpus of films. It will assert that the consistency of Shinkai’s work reveals several important parallels with the theological virtues. Faith is the encounter (...) between one and another that reveals one’s nature. Hope is revealed by the distance between one and another, and is realised in traversing that distance to achieve an ecstatic reunion. Love, as the erotic attraction between one and another, is the driver that also sustains the journey and closes the distance. In spite of the similarities, important differences between the cinematic and theological will be highlighted. (shrink)

The text was written as a contribution to the celebration of the 92nd birthday of Joseph Ratzinger, who considered Romano Guardini to be one of the intellectual heroes of his youth. The author of the article discusses Guardini’s monograph published in 1933, entitled Das Gute, das Gewissen und die Sammlung. Among the enemies of moral life, Guardini included Immanuel Kant and his concept of absolute autonomy of conscience, Friedrich Nietzsche, according to whom Christianity is a form of slave morality, and (...) Bolshevism. As was diagnosed by Guardini, those who want to make an effort to evaluate a moral act feel “lost in chaos.” Conscience is susceptible to three types of error: the search for easy solutions; the exaggeration of duties; the adoption of false interpretations resulting from following conscious or unconscious desires. In Guardini’s opinion, conscience is the living voice of God’s holiness in man. The moral law is not the law of the human ‘I,’ and Kant’s thesis is both philosophically and theologically incorrect. God gives grace of a pure conscience to man praying for the fulfilment of His will, while the sacrament of Confirmation gives man gifts of the Holy Spirit. The last part of Guardini’s work focuses on the importance of prayer and concentration, as well as the supervision of the senses. (shrink)

In this article, I wish to explore the history and vocation of the deacon to highlight the hope for a new Golden Age of possessing a “thinking heart” of a martyr to inspire trust, truth and the evidence of love for the Church. Accordingly, deacons are called to be upstanders in Christ even to the point of demonstrating the disturbing resistance and counterforce of disobedience that will in time be seen and understood as the ethical action and ministry of speaking (...) frankly in the name of those who are most vulnerable within the Church. (shrink)

In his slim and punchy little book, Acedia and its Discontents: Metaphysics of Desire in an Age of Boredom, R.J. Snell suggests that the common experience of the loss of meaning in the modern world can be attributed to the vice of acedia. Relying on Evagrius of Pontus, as well as the Angelic Doctor, St Thomas Aquinas, Snell defines acedia as a rejection of life itself and an antipathy with one’s place in the world. It is the unhappy rejection of (...) one’s supernatural end, union with the Triune God. (shrink)

The martyrs of the faith and charity reveal a dramatic narrative of Christian experience. Like Mary, the martyr’s soul magnifies God rejoicing in the glory of God’s salvation. Testifying to the Gospel, martyrs unearth the trauma of existence with the radiance and splendour of dying and rising with Christ. Equally, the Gospel calls the faithful to journey through the turbulence and stumbling of life towards the Kingdom of God. The Gospel life of the martyr provides an insight into the affectivity (...) and otherness of Christian experience. For encountering people’s suffering, we stumble at the gravity of their pain and outrage, falling over and cutting ourselves upon their wounds. A martyr’s Christian experience teaches us at this humble and awkward descent to shed a little blood of compassion and become, to locate a metaphor, “God’s stumbler”. (shrink)

This book began as a series of professional development sessions held in 2014 for the faculty and staff at the Broome Campus of the University of Notre Dame Australia. Those sessions were given in response to concerns that included: questions about the identity of a Catholic University, the relationship between the Church and Aboriginal people, the place of social justice in a Catholic university, the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, the constitution of the University’s faculty and staff as well as issues of (...) academic freedom. Those concerns made it clear that members of the University community and key stakeholders needed clarification about the mission and nature of a Catholic university, especially one that has a unique campus such as University of Notre Dame’s Broome campus and which has a mandated mission of outreach to Aboriginal people. Since then, and with the encouragement of colleagues both from the Broome campus and Notre Dame’s other campuses, I have refined those presentations and augmented them with other material in order to present this book, which is a series of essays that focus on the common theme of, “A Catholic University in the Kimberley.” Because each essay is mostly independent, some material may be repeated, though this repetition will occur in different contexts and with different emphases. The intention of this book is to provide a series of research papers that will serve as resources for faculty, students and other stakeholders. It is my intention to help key parties to articulate the intellectual tradition that grounds the University, the relationship between the Church and Aboriginal culture, the nature and constitution of the faculty and to outline the theological and social teaching issues that affect the mission of the University. While some of the material in the book may not be entirely new, it is presented in what I trust is a fresh and new perspective, from the Catholic Intellectual Tradition and from theology, that can answer questions of the “why” and “how” of a Catholic University in the Kimberley. (shrink)

Book Reviews: God and the Art of Happiness. By Ellen T. Charry. Pp. xii, 299. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2010, $24.92. Earthly Paradise: Myths and Philosophies. By Milad Doueihi; translated by Jane Marie Todd. Pp. xiii, 171, Harvard University Press, 2009, $45.44.

Professor Moschella begins by discussing confusions in the brain death debate surrounding the use of the concepts of “integration” and “wholeness.” Some scholars, she says, such as Alan Shewmon, take the presence of biological integration as an indication of ontological wholeness. Others, such as the members of the President’s Council for Bioethics, think that some bodily integration can persist in the body of a brain-dead individual; but that the subject in which it persists in not a whole.

Spiritual intelligence describes self-awareness and intuition, with the development of creative thinking, compassion, and connectedness with others. Many researchers point to an awakening and development of spiritual intelligence that is enhanced through exploration of existential questions within the genre of young adult fiction. Such literature absorbs the adolescent reader so that they become transported into the narrative, exploring a sense of self and of others This article discusses the ways in which young adult fiction, including comparison of a novel of (...) older context with contemporary dystopian fiction, can foster young adults’ exploration of self-awareness and cultivate the continued development of notions of connectedness, justice and responsibility. It describes current research on the relationship between spiritual intelligence in young adults and the narrative transportation effect of young adult fiction. (shrink)

Many philosophies of engagement build upon pedagogical, metaphysical, epistemological and ethical frameworks, particularly Virtue Ethics frameworks. However, a glance at the literature suggests that there are many debates about the nature, meaning, value and application of such things. In this paper, I will look at some recent empirical work (particularly in neuroscience) on virtues. I will argue that not only do such (empirical) studies enrich and deepen our understanding of virtues and indeed of virtue ethics; when combined with a reinterpretation (...) of some key parts of virtue ethics, drawn from Aristotle, it may be possible to respond coherently to some well-­‐known “misgivings” about virtue ethics (and indeed its range of possible applications in education), namely that 1) ‘the previous history of virtue-­‐educational initiatives does not augur well for the prospects of future ones’; 2) ‘the study of virtue and character lacks a clear empirical methodology’; 3) ‘we know very little about the impact of previous interventions in this field.’(Kristjánsson, 2013) It may also make possible a more cogent explanation of the place of eudaimonia, if any, in modern (higher) education. (shrink)

Over the past decade, interest in human enhancement has waxed and waned. The initial surge of interest and funding, driven by the US Army’s desire for a ‘Future Force Warrior’ has partly given way to the challenges of meeting operational demands abroad. However the ethical opportunities provided by soldier enhancement demand that investigation of its possibilities continue. Benefits include enhanced decision-making, improved force capability, reduced force size and lower casualty rates. These benefits — and enhancement itself — carry concomitant risks, (...) including morale issues due to tension between enhanced and unenhanced soldiers, the issues of enhanced veterans and ownership of enhanced bodies, challenges to the army’s core values and personal identity issues. A range of measures should be designed to highlight the opportunities offered by enhancement while also minimising the potential risks. This includes providing advice on which areas the army ought to demonstrate restraint in research for ethical reasons. (shrink)

This article explores the meeting of two approaches towards philosophy and education: the philosophy for children approach advocated by Lipman and others, and Schmid’s philosophical concept of Lebenskunst. Schmid explores the concept of the beautiful or good life by asking what is necessary for each individual to be able to develop their own art of living and which aspects of life are significant when shaping a good and beautiful life. One element of Schmid’s theory is the practical application of philosophy (...) through the notions of Bildung, reflection, prudence and practical wisdom, as well as the requirement for each individual to take responsibility for actively shaping their life as an artwork. In this sense, each person is the artist responsible for living their own beautiful life. We argue that there are useful parallels between Schmid’s concept of the art of living and P4C, such as the ideal of a holistic philosophy that is “lived.” The pragmatic approach of P4C focuses on the embodied learner who practices critical, caring and creative thinking. Both P4C and Schmid’s theory are reminiscent of the Aristotelian notion of practical wisdom, which allows for an approach to an education for life that prepares students to develop their own art of living. (shrink)

Philosophy in Schools: An introduction for philosophers and teachers edited by Sara Goering, Nicholas J Shudak and Thomas E Wartenberg. Taylor & Francis, New York, NY. ISBN: 9780415640633. The edited collection Philosophy in Schools: An introduction for philosophers and teachers is exactly that; an introduction to the central ideas of the Philosophy in Schools movement, with tips and strategies as to how to implement Philosophy for Children in your classroom or educational space. With 25 chapters, this handy edition includes the (...) writings of 31 academics and well known practitioners of P4C worldwide. While all the voices contributing to this volume are positive and optimistic as they exalt the benefits of P4C, the diversity comes in the form of the various ways in which the numerous authors have practiced philosophy with participants of different ages, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. There is a mix of theory and pedagogy, with a focus on the pragmatic reality of doing philosophy with young people. (shrink)

This article details Cultural DeCoding, a humanities based high school extension program for gifted and talented Year 11 and 12 students in Western Australia. The brainchild of Dr Annette Pedersen and Dr Angela McCarthy, the program runs for four days across the summer holidays before the start of the school term. The program fills a gap that exists in the education of gifted and talented secondary students who are interested in the humanities. It is comprised of sessions run by academics (...) who facilitate discussion and activities based on their area of research and teaching expertise. The group is deliberately kept small in order to give students a chance to engage deeply and respectfully with like-minded others. The intention is to give these students an experience of what university will be like, and to have a chance to think philosophically; namely, critically, creatively and morally, in collaboration with others. (shrink)

The economic crisis in Europe exposes the European Union’s political fragility. How a polity made of very different states can live up to the motto “Europe united in diversity” is difficult to envisage in practice. In this paper I attempt an “exegesis”—a critical explanation or interpretation of a series of published pieces (“the Series”) which explores, first, if European unity is desirable at all. Second, it presents a new methodology—analogical hermeneutics—used throughout the Series to approach the problem of unity. Third, (...) it conceptualises the source of unity as political identity. Fourth, it advances that the vehicle to share such identity is an analogical language: the political culture of human rights. Fifth, it submits the conditions under which such political culture could ground political identity through an open public sphere. Finally, it presents a way in which solidarity can grow as the increasingly diverse citizens of the European Union interact with each other. Even though the economic crisis can be solved by means of sound economic strategy (which is not the main object of my work), any successful economic strategy requires—as a precondition—a certain degree of political unity (the central concern of my research). (shrink)

St. Augustine's Just War Theory is relatively unique in the history of just war in that he relies heavily on Divine involvement in his doctrine of just war. God is the ultimate source of the justice of all wars, and his command is the source of justice for some wars. Furthermore, the authority of political leaders is also derived from God. This is problematic for Augustine's theory because it renders the causa justa of wars inexpressible to the subjects of the (...) sovereign, who are forced to rely on the sovereign's authority. Although these ideas may seem a long way from the state-of-affairs in war today, I will suggest that notions like the privilege of state secrecy, the implied expertise of political leaders, and the coercive power of patriotism represent new manifestations of the inexpressibility of the Divine in the modern-day practice of warfare. (shrink)

This seminar has been designed to provide practical and interesting sessions that meet the requirements of rule 42. Topics include: • Conflicts of interest and ethical dilemmas • Email communications • ‘Without prejudice’ negotiations.

Reflective practice appears to be a "buzz word" in educational circles in present times. It is encouraged and deemed essential in nursing practice and in the teaching of nursing curricula. This paper will attempt to challenge two basic assumptions upon which reflective practice is based. These are the assumptions that reflective practice is objective and that there is action associated with reflection. These arguments will be set within a nursing context. Strategies employed by the School of Nursing, Notre Dame University (...) to enhance clinical practice using reflective practice will be addressed. This paper will address the main forum theme of "The Reflective Practitioner". An area of the forum that this paper will refer to is theoretical underpinnings of innovative practices in teaching and learning from the perspective of educators in the School of Nursing, Notre Dame University. (shrink)

In recent years there has been a growing interest in approaches to military ethics that focus on guarding the moral character of soldiers against the horrors they may be required to commit in war. This approach, which Christopher Toner calls the “shield approach”, offers a variety of mechanisms by which soldiers might shape their characters in ways that reduce their vulnerability to moral corruption; specifically, the likelihood of their committing moral atrocities. Two prominent examples of the shield approach are those (...) of Nancy Sherman and Shannon French. Sherman argues that the inculcation of empathy within soldiers; empathy for the plight and humanity of noncombatants, enemy soldiers, and colleagues, is the best way for soldiers to guard themselves against committing atrocities. French, on the other hand, argues that appealing to a warrior code of honour provides soldiers with an internalised set of beliefs about the type of things that soldiers should and should not do. In this paper I will argue that Sherman’s approach, whilst effective in preventing the killing of noncombatants, will do little to restrain soldier’s passions when the target of those passions is culpable for some wrongdoing . French’s approach, on the other hand, relies on a soldier seeing himself primarily as a warrior . The difficulty here is that the soldier’s conduct is governed by what the rest of his peers see as laudable or blameworthy. A better approach, I believe, is revealed to us by Shakespeare in Coriolanus when the protagonist, Caius Marcius, is persuaded against destroying Rome by the exhortations of his mother, who reminds him of the shame he will bring on himself as a son, a husband, a father, and as a Roman. Coriolanus is swayed by the prospect of shame not by fellow soldiers, but by society generally. In a similar vein, this paper will argue for a variant on the shield approach which appeals to the soldiers’ self-identity outside of the military, as well as his role as a warrior. Coriolanus’ eyes are brought to “sweat compassion” out of love for his mother, and his memories of home. This approach is also appealing in that it can be applied more easily to the growing number of military operators who do not fit the warrior archetype, such as drone operators. Thus, soldiers will do well to remember their moral commitments on the “home front”, as well as the expectations of fellow soldiers. (shrink)

Lawyers have been referred to as indispensable suppliers of “artificial trust” in the sense that they supply us with enforceable agreements and contracts which serve to formalise social relationships, a necessary function in our increasingly litigious society. Consequently, the way in which law students are prepared for their professional role in discharging their public responsibilities is something in which the whole society has a vested – if not explicit - interest. This paper examines the complex issues raised in the literature (...) on teaching ethics within the context of professional education programs and in particular in legal education programs. Ensuring that law students graduate with the requisite elements of legal professionalism is a complex task. It entails challenging the business model of legal practice and broadening the ethical focus of students beyond an emphasis on mere compliance with a professional code of ethics. Sophisticated ethical competence requires the development of skills in legal analysis and practical decision-making; as well as the development of habits of mind and dispositions which allow practitioners to intelligently address new and challenging problems as they arise. The paper explores legal professionalism via the Aristotelian distinction between the practice of an art and the practice of a craft; the former being an enterprise to which the virtues - in particular interaction with one another - and phronesis are intrinsic, while the latter is often associated with more mechanical activity. The content of the paper is based on work undertaken in the process of a current study of the teaching of legal ethics at the University of Notre Dame Australia. (shrink)

The balance of ethical and legal considerations necessary to the work of health care professionals is shared by other professions. However, given that many health care professionals share intimate aspects of their patients’ lives and that most of us receive professional healthcare during our lives, the way in which students are prepared for their professional roles in healthcare is something in which the whole society has a vested interest. This paper examines the issues relevant to teaching ethics within the context (...) of professional healthcare education programs. Developing the requisite competence in students is a complex task. It entails challenging models of healthcare practice which suggest that practitioners must act “dispassionately, at the proper remove from the white heat of the event”i if they are to practise well; and broadening ethical foci beyond an emphasis on mere compliance with a professional code of ethics. Sophisticated ethical competence requires the development of skills in analysis and decision-making; as well as the development of habits of mind and dispositions which allow practitioners to intelligently address new and challenging problems as they arise. The paper explores healthcare education from two perspectives. Firstly, it focuses on the distinction between the practice of an art and that of a craft in the work of Aristotle and others. Art is considered as an enterprise to which the virtues and phronēsis are intrinsic, while craft’s associations with more mechanical, predetermined professional activity are considered, along with a possible reconciliation of the two. The second perspective focuses on the nature of care and on integrative approaches to care which suggest that the healer’s art involves “sharp compassion”. (shrink)

I intend to defend the following as a necessary condition of a belief S being epistemically justified for a subject:Awareness Requirement: S is justified in believing that P only if i) there is something, X, that contributes to the justification of B; and ii) S is aware of X.This will be shown through drawing attention to our considered judgments about cases. That will then lay the groundwork for giving an account of the nature of this awareness in the second half (...) of this paper. In doing so I will examine and respond to an argument against the awareness requirement that we might call Bergmann‟s Dilemma. My solution invokes what I call “non-doxastic strong awareness” in a way that avoids the regresses that Bergmann advances. (shrink)

Martin Heidegger is infamous for his rejection of the validity of Ethics as a philosophical endeavour and moreover, for his aesthetic formulation of ετηος. In this paper I will attempt to trace the path of Heidegger’s thought from his early engagement with Aristotle and Religion, through pre-Socratic thinking, to the formulation of ετηος as an authentic dwelling in the truth of being revealed by the poet.

Empirical evidence advancing the theory of anthropogenic climate change and resultant policy action has been framed through the perspectives of scientists, economists and politicians; the ultimate objective being to minimise the risk of dangerous climate change through the reduction of GHG emissions. However, policies designed to reduce carbon pollution have utilised cost benefit analysis , largely ignoring ethical implications of such actions. This has resulted in a climate debate that sidelines the moral and social considerations of the suggested actions designed (...) to reduce the impact of dangerous climate change. Special interest groups have focussed on subjective interpretations of objective statistics, resulting in an extreme polarisation of viewpoints, pitting climate change deniers against politico-economic rationalists, with climate scientists largely sitting on the sidelines. There has, however, been a recent shift in the science of climate change acknowledging that, “many profound ethical questions are hidden in scientific and economic arguments about various climate change policy proposals” ‘White Paper on the Ethical Dimensions of Climate Change’, Rock Ethics Institute, Penn State University). We wish to promote an inter-disciplinary approach to the ethical considerations of climate change and situate the debate within a ‘real world’ context to enable people to link evidence and resultant policy to their own moral responsibility as ‘global citizens’. By placing reliable scientific information within a holistic framework, scientific outcomes with a high level of certainty may be conveyed within a wider perspective that includes ethical and social considerations, resulting in a stronger claim for practical outcomes with respect to climate change solutions. This can be used to support policies that are practical as well as moral. (shrink)

Our relations with friends are often poignant. We yearn for friendship and enjoy the playfulness and pleasure it provides; and yet we are also confronted with loss and disappointment in friendship. This poignancy is partly explained by the structure of the relationship and the tension between similarity and difference that it entails. This paper will argue that rather than being dispiriting, the tension between similarity and separateness inherent in friendship is to be celebrated. Specifically it maintains that a failure to (...) recognise the tension between similarity and separateness and the significance of difference in friendship emasculates the relationship, undermining the possibilities it presents for genuine engagement and for the understanding of both self and other. It undermines the possibility that we can, as Thomas Aquinas argues, come to “know ourselves aright” and hence the possibility that we can come to an adequate understanding of our place in the world. (shrink)

What is it to be or to have a true friend? Views on this question within the history of philosophy appear to differ. Aristotle suggests that friendship of the best kind, arguably that which best approximates the notion of true friendship, is a relationship in which friends love one another for their own sakes and regard one another as second selves. Cicero also explains friendship at its finest as involving a transference of one’s natural feelings for oneself to one’s friend. (...) However there are conceptions of friendship that celebrate difference and the profound separateness between self and other as the crucial element in friendship. Underlying these latter conceptions is the concept of an encounter with oneself in friendship in which a tension between care for a friend and identification with the other is juxtaposed to self-awareness, self-regard and autonomy. This paper explores the notion of truth in the context of those tensions. (shrink)

The epistemic-basing relation is the relation that holds between a reason, or one’s grounds, and one’s belief when the belief is held for that reason. As I will explain, understanding this relation is crucial for epistemology since basing a belief on a reason seems necessary for epistemic justification to obtain. But what is the nature of this relation? Is it, at least in part, causal as one might assume? Or, due to problems with causal accounts, are rival accounts of the (...) basing relation motivated? That depends whether causal theories are really subject to the standard objections made against them. I will discuss what I take to be the most fundamental objection here. (shrink)

One of the more common questions arising in areas of political and media ethics today is ‘are the public entitled to know of the private activities of public figures?’ As the media continue to push the boundaries of privacy, and as the rise of social media permits anybody with a camera phone and internet access to expose a person’s behaviour to the world, the question is constantly asked: how much of a public figures life should be public knowledge? However, whilst (...) this question is important, the focus that it has been given has, undermined another important question associated with the public exposition of a person’s behaviour: the psychological ramifications it can have on an individual. In this paper I discuss, with reference to a number of recent ‘public outings’ of behaviour, the moral dimension of guilt, and how social perception and guilt can affect self-perception in a way that can be damaging to the individual who is the subject of it. Informed by this account, I examine whether, where the publicising of private activity is argued to be a call to a ‘higher standard’ for public figures, such action is successful, given the overwhelming change to self-perception that can manifest as a result of public shaming. This paper evaluates whether the media can be considered to play a moral-pedagogical function in society, or whether the publicising of private activity represents an unethical crippling of a public figure’s moral-psychological wellbeing and self-perception. (shrink)

Human relationships have always held a unique position in moral philosophy, particularly in eudaemonist ethics, where they are considered by most to be essential to “the good life”. However, this fact has made conceptualising the good life in purely individualistic terms difficult, due to the important role that the ‘other’ plays in any kind of relationship. In this paper I argue that the fragile relationship between self and other that exists in all human relationships – but especially in more meaningful (...) ones – can be best understood by considering it to be a kind of luck. In developing this account I look closely at the nature of human relationships, using Aristotle’s account of friendship as a model. From this I argue that friendship consists of two virtues working in reciprocity in two persons. Finally, I explain how this reciprocity can be understood as luck, and how recognising that a particular type of luck, dependence luck, is inherent to relationships can in fact help to foster the virtues that allow a person to participate in those relationships. (shrink)

Neurophenomena such as central sensitisation, hyperalgesia and allodynia, speak of a brain that is anything but hardwired. The brain's ability to self-organise in staggeringly complex ways forces us to look beyond what turn out to be perceptions of a body-mind reference, ie the idea of a mind is more a story than an actuality. There are mounting criticisms of body-mind dualism, , but with poor understanding of what philosophical narrative can replace it. Clearly, our human condition and pain's unique role (...) in it, is much more unpredictable than we had hitherto thought. This unpredictability dictates that we at least attempt to advance the philosophical debate in the interests of the pain sufferer. Richard Hamilton will investigate other roads of pain from Spinoza to Wittgenstein and Merleau-Ponty. Richard, Horst Ruthrof and David Buchanan will look at how the theory of language has long contended its place beyond the body-mind problem. (shrink)

This paper is a philosophical investigation of the medieval understanding of the anagogical level of interpretation . It proposes that anagogy is represented in Gothic sacred architecture, where the visible constantly refers to what is invisible but intelligible. The builders of these structures intimate that something can actually be experienced and known of the unseen. I propose to discover and articulate the juncture at which the seen and the unseen meet in such sacred spaces.

The so-called internalism/externalism debate is of interest in epistemology since it addresses one of the most fundamental questions in the discipline: what is the basic nature of epistemic justification? What has been called epistemic internalism holds, as the label suggests, that all the relevant factors that determine positive epistemic status of a belief must be “internal”. A common way that the “internal” is understood is those things that are, or easily can be, available to the agent’s conscious awareness. However, there (...) is another, and increasingly popular, way of spelling out the epistemically “internal”. A view advocated by Feldman and Conee which they regard as a kind of epistemic internalism, called ‘Mentalism’, holds that epistemic justification strongly supervenes upon the mental. In this paper I will show that even many of those who claim to deny an awareness requirement implicitly appeal to it to motivate their accounts of justification. By considering the arguments for ‘Mentalism’ I will show that, unless an awareness requirement is presupposed, the cases that such arguments appeal to are of no intuitive force. Therefore, insofar as one wants to be an internalist about epistemic justification, one needs to motivate, articulate, and defend an access/awareness condition. Epistemic Internalism, properly construed, ought to stress the epistemic significance of consciousness and the first person perspective. (shrink)

The Australian Football League (AFL) is the premier sporting competition in Australia in terms of capital outlay, breadth of industry associations, public consumption, and arguably cultural significance. The AFL competition is now a domain of specialisations and interests, which provides vast opportunity for both sporting and non-sporting institutions seeking to utilise the game to capitalise on a society of consumption, entertainment and risk. AFL officials expect high standards of their players both on and off the field. These standards are expressed (...) in various forms of Codes and Policies. Off field player misconduct is an ongoing concern not escaping media attention, which is a resounding indication more needs to be done by the AFL to improve responsible player character development. Whether the current education programmes are sufficient to meet the AFL’s own expectations is the central issue addressed in this chapter. As it stands AFL governance is deficient on several counts. In this chapter I will focus on three governance deficiencies: firstly, the AFL Illicit Drug Policy (IDP) contains unnecessary inconsistencies relative to its primary purpose; secondly, the present measures undertaken to ensure players have appropriate education to achieve the expected character development are far from efficacious and so arguably can be vastly improved; and thirdly, the promotion of live-odds gambling during televised games is culturally problematic and inconsistent with its own demands. The ethical grounds central to this investigation are ‘fairness’ and ‘cultural influence’. In order to resolve some of its governance concerns I will explain why the AFL should be characterised as a practice-community and as such should adopt a comprehensive virtue and value-based compliance ethical education programme consistent with its own vision and conduct expectation of its players and officials. I will argue that the AFL as a practice community is much more than simply a game, given its cultural influence, commercial associations and community programmes. (shrink)

We do indeed “live and work in a time when the issues facing education, many of which have been with us for a considerable period, are being approached primarilythrough measurement – classroom assessment, research methods, standardized testing, international comparisons”. It is also true that “we do not often stop to consider what counts – and alternatively, what doesn’t count – in a climate where measuring up to a standard is the name of the game. At a deeper level, we rarely (...) raise questions about measurement itself.” Heidegger argued that what is “most thought provoking [in this ‘thought provoking age’] is that we are still not thinking,” in What is called thinking? . This somewhat startling assertion deserves careful attention especially in relation to the quote above . Heidegger’s assertion is pertinent for a number of reasons: he associated this “not thinking” with a “critical moment in history”, with a “call”, and with a “miscalculation”. I will argue that it is important to reflect on a number of questions: what is thinking, especially in relation to measurement? Was Heidegger correct in arguing that we have “miscalculated” in so far as we have sought “the safety of the mere drive for calculation” ? And how does the desire for a higher form of “representational thinking” in these contexts serve and promote a number of aims in higher education, such as learning and even “flourishing”? I will attempt to provide answers to a number of these questions by reflecting on the broad but fundamentally important question of measurement and its limits. (shrink)

Generally speaking, just war theory holds that there are two just causes for war: self-defence and ‘other-defence’, the most common type of which is popularly known as ‘humanitarian intervention’. There is however some debate as to whether these serve equally as just causes for preventive war. Whilst this debate is ongoing, those theorists who claim to subscribe to JWT tend to be unified in treating preventive war with a healthy dose of suspicion. Those who oppose preventive war tend to do (...) so on the basis that it fails to fit popular criteria for jus ad bello; particularly, the just cause and last resort criteria. Francisco di Vitoria held that the only just cause for war was “a wrong received”, undermining any justification for preventive war. However, more recent developments in military practice suggest a questioning of an outright ban; most notably, the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Interestingly, both supporters and critics of preventive war tend to justify their view through the broader logic of JWT; viz., a conception of what is good for both political communities and individuals, and defending those goods. Supporters point to situations where there is ‘grave and imminent risk’ that a nation will suffer aggression as good reasons to resist the oncoming aggression, whilst critics may argue that to attack another political community on the basis of crimes not yet performed is a breach of the same rights that JWT strives to defend. The advocate of preventive war does capture a point which should be of very real concern to us today. Situations such as the ongoing tensions between Iran and The United States and her allies are situations where – if the rhetoric is to be believed – an ongoing threat to security and liberty is tolerated, and our being subject to aggression is risked in the interest of the rights of the antagonistic, but not yet aggressive, state. Is such tolerance and risk consistent with the logic of just war? When is the risk of being attacked too great to abstain from declaring war in anticipation? In this paper I will highlight some of the theoretical and practical difficulties in determining what counts as a grave and imminent threat; focussing especially on the complicating case of ‘imminence’ in the face of so-called ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’. Secondly, I will argue that not only is the notion of preventive war both inconsistent with the defence of the rights of political communities that JWT defends, but is also forbidden by the proportionality requirement of jus ad bellum. The risk of being subject to aggression is the cost of global peace; and whilst political communities can do a great deal to prevent aggression and be prepared in case it occurs, the demands of just war require that this prevention and preparation stop short of declaring war. We must accept a degree of risk in this area. (shrink)

Ethical debate about the use of animals in science is argued within different ethical frameworks; mainly utilitarianism, deontology, relativism or emotional ethics, with some debaters preferring particular frameworks. Stakeholders to the debate are veterinarians, scientists using animals, animal welfare groups and the general public. To estimate the balance of ethical frameworks used, we ran a discourse analysis of written texts by each stakeholder . The discourse analysis targeted the description of animals, instances of emotional language and language associated with utilitarianism, (...) deontology and relativism. Frequencies were compared using ANOVAs and Tukey tests. All stakeholders used words associated with all frameworks but emotional language was the most used followed by utilitarian , relativist and deontological language. Emotional language was used in texts from the general public more than in texts from veterinarians and scientists and animal welfare representatives . Animals were mainly described in a utilitarian way , more frequently by scientists than the general public . All stakeholders preferentially used negative emotional language when referring to animals than positive , and all stakeholders prioritised human interests over animals . Not surprisingly, a mixture of ethical frameworks were used to assess the ethics of animal experimentation. However, the language used in texts from animal welfare groups and the general public suggest that those two groups preferentially build arguments with emotion rather than utilitarianism, a framework that is privileged by veterinarians and scientists since they primarily use animals. (shrink)

The Affect of good artworks can be difficult to explain or describe, particularly in relation to conceptual art. The experiential process of engaging with an artwork involves the spectator perceiving the physical art object as well as receiving a concept. For an aesthetic experience to result, or for the viewer to be affected, the artist must be skilled and the receiver must adopt the relevant attitude. Many theorists argue that the correct attitude to adopt is one that is objective and (...) ‘disinterested’. I argue that a ‘loving’ attitude, in the Iris Murdoch / Martha Nussbaum sense derived from an ethics of care / virtue ethics framework is also appropriate when engaging with art in order to achieve an aesthetic affect. This open, caring attitude requires the receiver to be receptive to the concepts contained within the work as well as its formal features. If the concepts implored are ethical or social, a disinterested attitude may impede the appropriate up-take of intended affect. Therefore, I argue that pure aesthetes are misguided when they take their ‘disinterested’ attitude too far and argue that ethical judgements do not apply to art qua art. If the artist is making an ethical point, or if the concept involved relies on ethics, then a caring critique is not a contradiction in terms; the viewer is encouraged to adopt multiple perspectives in order to get closer to an objective whole. I will explore the notion of affect through the art of a contemporary, conceptual Western Australian artist, Steven Morgana. (shrink)

This contribution explores some of the paradoxes involved in travelling through a labyrinth. Labyrinths have sometimes been proffered as a form of travel. For instance, during the Middle Ages, Church officials encouraged persons to walk the path of a labyrinth whose centre was taken to represent the city of Jerusalem. Instead of actually going to the Holy Land, pilgrims undertook a path free of the dangers and distractions of more usual forms of travel. A revival of interest in labyrinths in (...) the last decade has opened up many questions about what the labyrinth still has to offer. Why, we can ask, was a labyrinth earlier considered such an apt substitute for travel; and what can the journey through a labyrinth reveal about the nature of travel? I will address these questions in two parts. First, I will discuss the labyrinth as a space of interiority still connected to the exterior world. This challenges the idea of travel as sheer escape and distraction from any circumstances that might impinge upon one’s self in a current situation. Second, I will demonstrate how the circular and recursive path of the labyrinthine journey emphasises aspects of the learning particular to travel. Too often, the time between departure and arrival can often seem nothing more than a necessary inconvenience. In the labyrinth, path and central goal are each significant. The one who follows its path learns from repetition and from the ability to follow a course already laid out ahead and behind. (shrink)

The emergence of cyberwar as a mode of warfare poses a number of challenges to moral appraisals of war. Although elsewhere I have argued that most of the questions provoked by cyberwar can be resolved within the existing framework of just war theory, there do appear to be important moral differences between individuals carrying out acts of cyberwar and soldiers on the battlefield. As well as being governed by principles of jus in bello, warriors tend to see themselves as being (...) bound by a “code of honour”. This code includes values like loyalty, fraternity, courage and obedience, as is central to soldiers’ ability to take pride in a practice which can be morally dubious. However, as war shifts into the cyber dimension, it is important to ask whether practitioners of “cyberwar” should see the same warrior codes as governing their conduct. Unlike soldiers, these government-employed hackers face no personal risk. Should they be divided into regiments and seen as military personnel, or are they more akin to intelligence agents? In this paper, I will argue that the cyberwarrior must see himself as governed by a different moral code than the soldier, because he faces no personal risk in plying his trade. The cyberwarrior is much more akin to a spy than a soldier, and thus the “cyberwarrior code” should emphasise values such as discretion, creativity and temperance over courage, loyalty and fraternity. (shrink)

At the heart of Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics lays an awareness of the role that friendship plays in the formation or moral character. This ontological aspect of moral deliberation stands in stark contrast to the decision-making protocols currently in vogue for most forms of practical ethics, particularly the style of preference utilitarianism adopted in Australia. As the twentieth century began to unfold, a series of achievements in science caused a technical anxiety that had hitherto been unknown. Two major developments serve as (...) book-ends to this twentieth-century period of technical anxiety, Einstein’s theories of special and general relativity and the completion of the human genome map . At the other end of the century, advances in the genomic sciences produced a technical anxiety over the hereditary risks associated with transgenic species, the moral issues associated with cloning, and the ‘big brother’ risks associated with genetic information. This paper will make two related claims. First, it will argue that something like Aristotle’s understanding of friendship is required for the formation of moral character, and second, the type of impartial rationality commonly advocated in practical ethics is deficient because it ignores this ontological dimension. [1] Meacham, S. ‘The Social Aspects of Nuclear Anxiety.’ American Journal of Psychiatry 120: 837-841. [2] Funding to the ELSI program exceeds all other funding that had previously been devoted to ethical, legal, and social issues in health care. (shrink)

The central issue here concerns whether Being as explored by Martin Heidegger in Being and Time is constituted spatiotemporally. As such this project has two interlinked objectives. One objective is to supply conceptually plausible answers to Heidegger’s unanswered questions regarding the temporality of Being, which he raised at the very end of Being and Time. In response I argue that each individual human being is constituted as a Space-Time-Event-Motion (STEM) containment-field embodied entity. Heidegger situates Dasein (human existence) in a temporal (...) stream moving towards the nothingness of death but all the while separating being and time as two distinct phenomena rather than coexistent. I demonstrate why this was a crucial error in Heidegger’s thinking. The second objective deals with the sense of authentic being developed by Heidegger. The spatiotemporal nature of one’s life for Heidegger is understood from the standpoint of Being-in-the-world, as an engaged participant, coexistent with the world, so that contextually it is through this engagement in recognition of this facticity or thrownness that one comes to recognise one’s own authentic self. Somewhat problematic is the coexistent phenomenological recognition that one does not live in isolation and as such one may question what of the contingent, constraining and influencing factors that shape one’s sense of self particularly against the backdrop of self-other relations. This project is situated methodologically within Process Philosophy, and it is from this perspective that draws attention to the role of human agency in which individuals are spatiotemporally construed in terms of Space-Time-Event-Motion (STEM) entities. (shrink)

The images of soldiers which are commonly evoked on memorial days commonly include a number of different virtues: courage, loyalty, fraternity, etc. One ideal perhaps extolled above all others is that of sacrifice. Soldiers, according to popular moral platitudes, are lauded for the sacrifices they make for the common good. Implied in this is the expectation that soldiers ought to be the type of people who are willing to sacrifice themselves in defence of an ideal. However, within modern formulations of (...) just war theory – the most popular framework for morally evaluating war – sacrifice is difficult to explain or justify. Why should a solider be expected to risk his life for that of somebody else? This is particularly complex in cases where soldiers might be asked to take on increased levels of personal risk in order to reduce the chance of civilian casualties in wartime and in cases where forgiveness appears necessary in the interests of peace. In this paper I will argue that the problem of sacrifice highlights a problem in formulations of just war theory which emphasise moral rights above other moral values. I argue that modern just war theories would be better equipped to explain the morality of sacrifice by seeing it as a function of virtue. (shrink)

In Australia, the ethics of the use of animals for scientific purposes are assessed by Animal Ethics Committees that are comprised of the four major parties involved in the animal experimentation debate: veterinarians, scientists using animals, animal welfare representatives and members of the public. AECs are required to assess animal experiments as ethical based on a cost/benefit analysis, suggesting the use of consequentialist ethics. However, people are more likely to use a mixture of frameworks when making ethical decisions. Therefore, we (...) hypothesised that AEC members will make their decisions using argumentation relying on multiple frameworks, including ethical relativism, deontology and emotional ethics; frameworks commonly used in the public debate about animal experimentation. The language used by AEC members, examined using discourse analysis techniques, can indicate which ethical frameworks they rely upon. Using a role playing method, representatives from each of the four AEC categories discussed the ethical value of eight fictional protocols involving animal experimentation. The discussions were recorded and analysed using Nvivo for instances of emotional and ethical language. Data were analysed using ANOVAs and Tukey tests. Emotional language was more common than ethical language (p. (shrink)

It is a difficult time to be a mother. Either one is chided for being too much of a detached tiger, or else too attached, too natural and earthy. This in part derives from the fact that the definition of motherhood is contested. This presentation argues from a philosophical standpoint that such extremes are more properly understood by seeing that, ontologically, a mother relates to her child as one whole person to another. The basis for this understanding is the psychosomatic (...) union developed within Christian personalism. On this basis, the presentation argues that the mother-child relationship is not one of subjugation and obligation; nor is it either complete oneness or else absolute separation. Mother and child have mutual dignity and can enter into ways of reciprocal nurturing. Reciprocal nurturing entails that mother as whole person benefits the child as whole person in irreplaceable ways – physically, emotionally, psychologically, but also by bringing the child into a network of relations that form the basis of all other communal life. Similarly, the child enables the mother’s unique and otherwise impossible social attachments, allowing her to develop personal capacities that might otherwise simply lie dormant. An examination of the definition and results of the practice of surrogate motherhood provides a way to emphasise that motherhood includes but also exceeds physically carrying a child to term in the womb. This type of mothering, contrasted with the natural paradigm, indicates the profound ways in which mother and child mutually nurture. (shrink)

Much of the current philosophy of film literature follows Walter Benjamin’s optimistic account and sees film as a vehicle for screening philosophical thought experiments, and offering new perspectives on issues that have relevance to everyday life. If these kinds of films allow for philosophical thinking, then they are like other so-called ‘high’ artworks in that they encourage social, political and economic critique of social norms. Yet, most popular films that are digested in large quantities are not of a high aesthetic (...) or moral quality. Theorists who conceive of cinema as a means of thinking must firstly reply to the objections that most films simply do not encourage active, intelligent, imaginative participation. Prior to the publication of Deleuze’s cinema books, theorists such as T. W. Adorno feared the advent of the Hollywood Studio film as akin to Nazi propaganda. Dismissed as elitist, their concern was that mass produced and distributed artworks portrayed the depicted social norms as immutable reality. If the imagination cannot enter and engage with the messages depicted through the filmic medium, i.e. through montage or similar ‘shock’ techniques, then viewers cannot critique the moral and social status quo screened; instead, they simply receive it, and it is reinforced. If we consider how passive cinematic viewers are, voyeuristically ensconced in a darkened theatre, we can see the concern here. If only some films allow for critique of social, political and economic norms in society, and these films are attended by those viewers who are already critical viewers, then how is film more generally a tool for thinking? If we are to honestly discuss the filmic medium, we must acknowledge the Hollywood blockbusters that stifle imaginative engagement with their narratives and often depict stereotypes. I argue that we need to read Adorno alongside Benjamin, in order to acknowledge the positive as well as negative attributes of films. In doing this we see the need to focus on the critical attitude of the viewer, as well as the moral messages of the film, particularly when we consider what the majority of consumers willingly ingest uncritically. Adorno and Benjamin both offer a historical account of art whereby their aesthetics require audience reception and are linked to experience. The way art is tied to human experience and the world of sensory perception is through language. Language allows the communication of ideas or referents which convey meaning via signs that contain some kind of ‘truth’ in the form of a cognitive component that must be interpreted. While there are many different stories being told in contemporary culture, the focus on the critical thinker, the interpreter of the narrative, is vital. (shrink)

In this paper I defend an 'ontology of binding relations' entailed in a critical examination of the concept of ‘being’ based on a new perspective of the human organism conceived as a Space-Time-Event-Motion entity or containment-field of being. As such the paper serves to defend the viability of ontology by way of revising how we ought to engage in ontological thinking. Central to this analysis is to demonstrate what explanations can be deduced by examining what otherwise have remained disparate ontological (...) categories such to enable a new view of two major metaphysical problems: the ‘problem of identity and persistence’ and associated ‘problem of composition’. As a result of this examination a candidate coupling formulation emerges to serve as a principle of individuation. Part of this analysis is to examine the nature of substance, the concept of energy, and to establish what is required to situate energy as one kind of primary substance. Naimo, J. . Ontology that matters: Binding relations. In P. Hanna , An anthology of philosophical studies, Vol. 5. . Athens, Greece: Athens Institute for Education and Research. (shrink)

The disciplinary enterprises engaged in the study of consciousness now extend beyond their original paradigms providing additional knowledge toward an overall understanding of the fundamental meaning and scope of consciousness. A new transdisciplinary domain has resulted from the syncretism of several approaches bringing about a new paradigm. The background for this overarching enterprise draws from a variety of traditions. In this paper however elaboration is restricted to the quantum-mechanical account in David Bohm’s theoretical work in relation to his ideas about (...) “active information”, “protointelligence”, and “non-locality”. This leads to an adapted version of Bohm’s thesis concerning the implicate order and explicate order of the Universe - the Impression Order and the Expression Order, respectively. On this view, the Universe is formed on an actual-material level, the apparent properties of things, and a potential-material level, a constant process of becoming that exerts an attractive force on the present. The central thesis emerges from a radical reformulation of certain core concepts that transforms many ontological assumptions about the material basis of consciousness. That is, the above platform inclusively connects to a hypothesis that the concepts of ‘space’, ‘time’, ‘event’, and ‘motion’ can be unified to capture the notion of simultaneous activity at reducing levels to the Impression order. This notion coheres with a physical-theoretical model of Signature-Energy-Frequency which has been well demonstrated in the atomic, chemical, and information fields. This study embraces a holistic and creative worldview based on a triadic model wherein consciousness itself is postulated as the most basic, primordial stratum. Importantly, both orders are constantly conjoined since the Impression Order exists as potential energy of the quantum vacuum. The physical realm is formed by the proposed Triangulate-Three conditions as a principle of animation and ‘being’: Consciousness, Body-of-Experience and Intellect-Reflective in the Expression Order, one aspect of which emerge as lifelike properties. This Triangulate-Three principle inheres in every particle and organism to which it guides its development, adaptation, and survival. The conscious being thus possesses all three conditions in Expression Order through STEM-interactions via SEF transmissions, as a self-organising organism. (shrink)

Jacques Derrida begins the first chapter of his book The Politics of Friendship1 with a statement attributed to Aristotle by both Diogenes Laertes and the 16th Century French philosopher Michel de Montaigne. The statement is this: “O my friends, there is no friend.” Derrida points out the paradox and apparent contradication in such an impossible declaration. Who is Aristotle talking to, given that he is addressing friends to inform them that there are none? How can the statement be taken seriously? (...) We might say that the paradox is a result of a bit of philosophical licence on Aristotle’s part. Aristotle defines the friend as “another self”2 and since it is logically impossible that the friend could actually be another self, then this is simply a bit of philosophical hyperbole that Aristotle engages in, but about which he is not serious. Yet the fact that Derrida has written three hundred pages of text on this subject suggests that this interpretation would be hard to sustain. As the title of his text suggests, Derrida approaches the question of friendship via an analogy with politics, specifically with republican democracy. This paper focuses on three aspects of that analogy. (shrink)

What is religion? What does the concept of religion mean? Today, the word ‘religion’ appears everywhere; a seemingly all pervasive notion associated with a vast array of phenomena, including: war, terrorism, politics, science fiction, morality, and of course, with delusion and irrationality. However, what religion is, or what it means, remains a highly contested matter. It will be the aim of this paper to offer an interpretation of the meaning of the concept of religion by using just one of many (...) philosophical ways of approaching religion, namely; phenomenology as ontology. The paper will focus upon the remaining fragments of three Pre-Socratic philosophers; Anaximander, Heraclitus, and Parmenides, seeking in these fragments the basic conceptual subject matter for an interpretation of the meaning of religion. I will argue that these fragments reveal that the meaning of religion is a relation between being-human and what gets called the arche (or ground of being). Further, I will argue that this relation can be conceptually determined as a quest for ground: the ground of the human sense of being and of grounding thinking, meaning, truth, and purpose… Ultimately, I will argue in this paper that there are two essential characteristics of the meaning of religion as this relation to ground(ing). First, insofar as religion belongs to humans in our being; the meaning of religion may be characterized as the directed-ness of being-human towards meaning and purpose. Additionally, as with all relationships, the relationship that constitutes religion has a ‘towards which’ – or – if you will, a being that is related to. Thus, the second essential characteristic of religion will be disclosed as the arche; that which is the ground of being and as such, that which is otherwise than being. (shrink)

Heloise of the Paraclete has appeared in the volumes of Tjurunga several times over the years. Nevertheless, for those readers who know little of this famed abbess of the twelfth century, perhaps it is worthwhile reiterating a little of her story before focusing on yet another important aspect of her fascinating writings. Heloise of the Paraclete is perhaps better known for her brief, yet passionate love affair with Peter Abelard, arguably the greatest intellectual mind of the twelfth century. Briefly stated, (...) in the course of their famous and spectacular love affair, Heloise became pregnant, was eventually married to Abelard in secret and bore a child whose fate, other than through legend and speculation, is lost to us today. ISSN: 1031-6582. (shrink)

Cyberwar is increasingly common in the landscape of global conflict, and represents a dramatic shift away from conventional means of fighting war and toward an entirely new landscape. Coinciding with this shift has been a view amongst some academics that cyberwar represents a ‘new’ type of war with new ethical requirements which the traditional and widely accepted view known as ‘Just War Theory’ is unable to address. It is likely that this debate will grow and continue as cyberwar becomes increasingly (...) prominent in military discussions. This paper contributes to that growing debate by arguing against the ‘new war’ view of cyberwar and just war. I will argue that just war theory is adequately equipped to explain the new challenge of cyberwar, and that although cyberwar requires novel applications of just war theory, this neither generates any need for a new theory, nor does it demonstrate that cyberwar is a new kind of war. I will conclude with some remarks about how existing just war theory might best be applied to the unusual challenges of cyberwar. (shrink)

This is a book review of The William Desmond Reader, edited by Christopher Ben Simpson. The review focuses on the ethical implications of Desmond's work, but places these in the broader context of his philosophy of the between, or metaxu.

When examining the human being as a conscious being, we are still to arrive at an understanding of, firstly, the conditions required whereby physical processes give rise to consciousness and secondly, how consciousness is something fundamental to life as an intrinsic part of nature. Humans are complex organisms with myriad interacting systems whereby the convergence of the activities toward the support and development of the whole organism requires a high level of organisation. Though what accounts for the dynamic unity of (...) the human being? From an empirical perspective the question remains unanswered. The aim of this paper is to conceptually establish a fundamental biophysical organising principle to account for the unity and organisation of the human being. To this end I draw from David Bohm’s interpretation of quantum theory to provide an adapted and adjunct conceptual scheme in the form of a Triple-Aspect-Theory (TAT) of Being as a grounding ontology. David Bohm presented a holistic view of two interwoven orders of existence defined as the Explicate material world and the Implicate (quantum) enfolded world from which the former materialises. Consistent with David Bohm’s idea that matter at a fundamental level consists of a kind of protointelligence, the TAT facilitates a perspective based on aspect conditions of the human organism intended to furnish an explanation of the constitutive mechanism (TAT) inherent in the evolving human being. The TAT operates as an organising principle by which evolution inherently proceeds and maintains itself in an interactive relation between the Implicate and Explicate orders. The accumulated effect of natural selection is to produce adaptations, but without an organising principle: ‘Consciousness’, ‘Body-of-Experience’ and ‘Intellect-Reflective’ (the terms for the engaged coexistent aspects of being) it is argued could not occur. (shrink)

In 2011 members of the School of Philosophy and Theology at The University of Notre Dame Australia (UNDA) Sydney campus, designed two standards rubrics as part of a project aimed at undertaking research within the area of assuring graduate attributes and capabilities in Australian universities. The standards rubrics designed were oriented towards developing particular graduate attributes intrinsic to the Core Curriculum programme in philosophy, ethics, and theology; all students at UNDA are required to undertake this programme, which reflects a ‘liberal (...) arts’ or ‘liberal education’ approach to university education. In this paper, we engage in an institutional case study of this project, discussing the advantages and challenges of developing and using these standards rubrics with a specific focus on: how they have already been used, how we plan to use them in the continuing development of our Core Curriculum programme, and the particular challenges we face in developing standards rubrics within a ‘liberal arts’ or ‘liberal education’ environment. In doing so, we will attempt to demonstrate the usefulness of developing standards rubrics as a basis for careful and systematic review of our pedagogical approach, and curriculum and assessment design so as to assure the achievement of graduate attributes and capabilities. (shrink)

This essay explores William Desmond’s concept of porosity, especially as developed in God and the Between. The author analyses Desmond’s imagery of the clogging and unclogging of pores in relation to the ability to sense signs of the transcendent, and thus one’s givenness, in the between. The origins of Desmond’s concept of porosity in Plato’s Symposium are then explored, particularly the significance of the dual parentage of Eros in the myth of Diotima. Finally, Desmond’s understanding of porosity is related to (...) St. Augustine’s philosophy of prayer. In conclusion, the significance of the relation between thought and prayer for Desmond is discussed which, through humility, allows one to partake in the agapeic nourishment by the divine. (shrink)

The content of this paper is primarily the product of an attempt to understand consciousness by working through the Gestell - conventionalised epistemology, at least some of several foundational concepts. This paper indirectly addresses the ancient question: “How is objective reference – or intentionality, possible? How is it possible for one thing to direct its thoughts upon another thing?” As such, I have adopted a holistic methodology; one in which I develop a framework based on a form of process philosophy (...) and descriptive emergentism. Many of the problems associated within the philosophy of mind arise because of a failure to understand the interrelations among the concepts we employ when we talk about consciousness and perception. These concepts are generally associated with certain structural features of reality. Hence, the paper advances through a series of attempts at defining the concept of time, moving through to some of the central figures, their thoughts and arguments and problems associated within the philosophy of time. Given the intertwined nature of the associated concepts, I have expanded on these to a level of conceptual integration. (shrink)

Does the blasphemous nature of writing Koranic verses on naked women make for good art? Is not the very obscenity of ‘gangsta’ rap part of its appeal as music? In the face of an artist's claims to aesthetic autonomy from ethical evaluation, or even the expression of a kind of duty to transgress normal moral boundaries, Berys Gaut has dedicated 252 pages of crisp but rather dry academic review to a defence of a positive relationship between art and ethics.

Generally speaking, just war theory (JWT) holds that there are two just causes for war: self-defence and ‘other-defence’. The most common type of the latter is popularly known as ‘humanitarian intervention’. There is debate, however, as to whether these can serve as just causes forpreventive war. Those who subscribe to JWT tend to be unified in treating so-called preventive war with a high degree of suspicion on the grounds that it fails to satisfy conventional criteria for jus ad bello; – (...) particularly the just cause and last resort criteria. Francisco di Vitoria held that the only just cause for war was ‘a wrong received’, which renders impossible any justification for preventive war. There are assumptions implicit in recent military practice, however – most notably, the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 – that challenge this ban on preventive war. Interestingly, both supporters and critics attempt to justify their views through the broader logic of JWT; viz., through a conception of what is good for both political communities and individuals, and through a legitimate defence of these goods. Supporters point to situations where so-called rogue states represent ‘grave and imminent risk’ of committing acts of aggression as grounds that justify preventive war; critics argue that to attack another political community on the basis of crimes not yet committed is a breach of the very rights JWT was created to defend. The advocate of preventive war does not appreciate important aspects concerning the morality of war. In the ongoing tension between Iran and The United States and her allies – if the rhetoric is to be believed – I am asked to tolerate a threat to my security and liberty, and to risk suffering aggression in defence of the rights of the antagonistic, but not yet aggressive, state. The crucial question is how such tolerance and risk fit in with the logic of just war: at what point, if any, does the risk of being attacked become great enough to justify declaring war in anticipation? In this paper I highlight some of the theoretical and practical difficulties in determining what counts as a grave and imminent threat, focusing especially on the complicated case of ‘imminence’ in the face of so-called ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’. Secondly, I will argue that not only is the notion of preventive war inconsistent with the defence of the rights of political communities that JWT requires; it is also forbidden by the proportionality requirement of jus ad bellum. A risk of being subjected to aggression is the price for global peace. Whilst political communities can do much to prevent aggression and prepare themselves in case it occurs, the conditions for just war require that this prevention and preparation stop short of declaring war. We must live with a certain degree of risk in this area. (shrink)

Virtue Epistemology has come a long way since Ernest Sosa first mooted its possibility in ‘The Raft and the Pyramid’, a paper about the pitfalls of coherentism and foundationalism. What makes Virtue Epistemology distinctive, as opposed to other forms of reliabilist externalism, is that the epistemic agent becomes the locus for justification rather than the belief. In the midst of a small but growing literature in this focus on the agent, two clear trends are emerging that reflect a difference in (...) interest by the authors rather than any real underlying antagonism between camps. Where faculty reliabilists like Sosa and Greco are concerned about sceptical challenges, virtue responsibilists like Zazebski or Roberts and Wood prefer to write about intellectual flourishing. (shrink)

Among the competency standards stipulated by the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council for graduating students are competencies in moral and ethical decision making and ethics education within professions such as nursing has traditionally focussed on these competencies, on raising ethical awareness and developing skills of analysis and reasoning. However, ethics education in tertiary settings places less emphasis on developing students’ capacities to act on their values. This paper explains and explores the adoption of Dr. Mary Gentile's curriculum (the Giving Voice (...) to Values curriculum) which specifically focuses on developing students’ capacities to act on their values. The curriculum (Gentile, 2010) assists students and professionals to explore, script and rehearse responses which build upon their capacity to respond in accordance with their own values in complex workplace settings in which they face conflicts of value and belief. The paper firstly examines the theoretical underpinnings of the Giving Voice to Values (GVV) curriculum. It then presents the integration and evaluation phase of a Project inspired by the GVV methodology, using a case study approach within two areas of an undergraduate nursing curriculum. As a pilot project, this initiative has provided signposts to further curriculum development and to research pathways within the UNDA School of Nursing, by highlighting students’ uncertainties regarding their own professional values, and their intense struggles to voice their values within health care contexts. (shrink)