Moral Philosophy and the Ontology of Relations

The essay undertakes to explore the possibilities of mutually fruitful dialogue between moral philosophy and ontology, in particular, the ontology of relations. The latter copes with the question of how relations relate, whereas moral philosophy often ignores the ontological implications of such crucial relations as love and interpersonality. The paper proceeds as follows. First, the ontology of relations is discussed. Second, various examples are analysed. From this, a conception of relation instantiation emerges, according to which to determine which relation actually obtains, one has to take into account (a) the context, (b) the specific content or meaning of the relation, and (c) some action or decision or mode of existence of the relata. This conception suggests that relation instantiation cannot be explained by a single formula. By the help of this conception, Hume's thesis of the identity of killing relations between human and nonhuman beings is questioned. Then, the relation of love is analysed. It is shown that love as a moral relation is perfectly explicable in terms of ontology. Moreover, its essence is best captured by the interrelation of the particulars, the relation of love as a universal, and by the relating action of the particulars. Finally, the alleged relation of universal fraternity (interpersonality as such), linking up each human being to all other human beings, is discussed.     

论莱布尼茨本体论的二阶性

罗素于1900年发表了《对莱布尼茨哲学的批判性解释》,尝试把莱布尼茨哲学当作一个完整的系统来解释。这种解释是逻辑主义的,声称莱布尼茨的整个形而上学都建立在其逻辑学的基础上。尽管这种观点在近几十年受到了一些挑战,但至今仍是英美学界对莱布尼茨的主流解释之一。本文试图     

Remarks On Quantum Ontology

Despite the discrepancies between quantum objects and `classical' ones, mainly with regard to the fact that the latter may be thought of as `individuals', contrary to the former, we still regard the quanta as `things' in our ordinary discourse as well as in the logico-mathematical basis of quantum theories. This paper considers some possibilities for accomodating the logico-mathematical framework of the theories which deal with such a strange ontology where the inhabitants are things devoid of identity and both having and not having certain properties.``All right', said the Cat; and this time it vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone.``Well! I've often seen a cat without a grin', thought Alice, ``but a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in all my life!'Lewis Carroll     

On the Substantive Nature of Disagreements in Ontology

This paper concerns a fundamental dispute in ontology between the " Foundational Ontologist ", who believes that there is only one correct way of characterizing what there is, and the ontological " Skeptic ", who believes that there are viable alternative characterizations of what there is. I examine in detail an intriguing recent proposal in Dorr (2005), which promises to yield (i) a way of interpreting the Skeptic by means of a counter/actual semantics; and (ii) a way of converting the Skeptic to a position within Foundational Ontology, viz., that of Nihilism (according to which nothing composes anything and the world consists of mereological simples); this alleged conversion crucially turns on a novel notion of " metaphysical analyticity ". I argue that both components of Dorr's proposal are problematic in central ways: as a result, the Foundational Ontologist gains an indirect argument against the coherence of the Skeptic's position; and the non-Nihilist Foundational Ontologist may feel confirmed in his doubts towards the Nihilist outlook.     

On Quine on Carnap on Ontology

Philosophical Studies -     

On Scientific Ontology: Reply to Tambassi

Axiomathes - Two opposing uses of the term ‘Scientific Ontology’ reflect attitudes towards the relation between (empirical) science and philosophical ontology. On the one side we can...     

论劳动的道德关系

劳动在造就了人的同时,也使人获得了最基本的权利和义务,不劳动或不爱劳动就是不为社会尽义务,同时,社会不给劳动者劳动的机会,就是剥夺了劳动者的基本人权;在劳动过程中,职业化的劳动不仅要对行业负责,也要对社会负责;在劳动结果上,要实现劳动得失的平衡,体现社会最基本的公平正义.     

熟人关系的道德审视

我国传统人际关系是以熟人为主的社会关系,这种人际关系是与生产力不发达的自然经济和宗法家族社会结构相适应的,具有明显的双重道德特征,在当今社会经济生活中日益显示出其局限性改革开放的深入和市场经济的发展正促使我国传统熟人关系向生人关系转变,必然要求人们养成平等待人、宽容博爱、理性自觉、公私分明的道德观念和相应的道德行为模式。     

On Future Ontology: A Reply to Longenecker

Axiomathes - The supporters of Indeterminate Futurism Theory [IFT] suggest three different reasons for preferring their view over Growing Block Theory [GBT]. If compared to GBT, IFT offers a better...     

论医患关系的法律属性

医事法（又称卫生法）究竟是属于民法的调整范畴还是属于行政法的范畴,国内学术界争议很大。从医学科学与医疗行为的本质特征看,医患关系并不具备民事法律关系所必须具备的主体平等、双方自愿及等价有偿互惠互利三大特征中的任何一个特征。同时也不存在行政主体与行政相对人的关系。为此,首次提出医事法既不调整横向的民事法律关系,也不调整纵向的行政法律关系,而是调整斜向的医事法律关系的一门独立的法律体系的理论。     

On Decolonizing Social Ontology and the Feminist Canon for Transnational Feminisms

Serene J. Khader’s Decolonizing Universalism presents a vision for how feminism might be decolonized for transnational work by doing without traditional Western feminist values and focusing instead on opposing sexist oppression. This paper presents a challenge to the idea that feminism consists in opposing sexist oppression, claiming that it instead consists in opposing gender oppression, where that includes combating cissexism and heterosexism. More specifically, it argues that critiquing cissexist criteria within gender categories as well as critiquing harms that follow from having a queer sexual identity are decidedly feminist tasks. Furthermore, cases of these harms where group identities cannot arise in the social ontology due to a lack of hermeneutical resources challenge the idea that feminism is concerned only with oppression. The second half of the paper extends Khader’s critique of the Western liberal moral vocabulary of feminism by proposing a radical decolonization of the feminist canon as it is usually conceived in the global North.     

论《老子》道之本体论的和谐意蕴及现代指向

《老子》最早赋予“道”以完整和深刻的哲学本体论意义。道的哲学本体论具有三重基本内涵,即追寻作为世界统一性的终极存在、知识统一性的终极解释、意义统一性的终极价值。三重内涵的融通合一即是和谐的意义和旨趣所在,体现为天人和谐、人际和谐和群体和谐。《老子》认为道是万物的本原,德是万物分享形上之道而各自获得的本性,二者皆以和谐为内核,和谐是道的基本特征和存在状态。和谐的终极价值以人的意义统一性为逻辑基点,和谐的终极存在以道的世界统一性为生成维度,和谐的终极解释以道的知识统一性为治理向度。     

论诠释学对话:方法、本体与德行

在西方诠释学的发展进程中曾出现过两种形态的对话理论:以施莱尔马赫为代表的方法论诠释学对话和以伽达默尔为代表的本体论诠释学对话。两种对话的宗旨分别在于作者原意的重建和理解意义的创造。这两种诠释学本身的限制暴露了对话的局限性:前者缺少意义的发挥,后者缺少方法的约束。完善的对话理论应该扬弃这两种诠释学理论,兼善原意的释读与意义的阐扬两个向度,且以德行作为价值诉求。德行诠释学视域中的对话乃是诠释学对话理论在当代语境中的发展新方向。     

中国古代"恶"之存在论与价值论探讨

从存在论角度来说,人的本质属性——自然属性与社会属性构成中国古代性恶论的前提和根据。从价值论层面而言,古代性恶论者主张抑恶扬善或存善除恶。这就导致古代性恶论的悖论,一方面在存在论上肯定"恶"有存在的事实和根据,另方面在价值论上却否定"恶"的正当性和合理性。正是因为性恶论者最终的价值取向是使人成善、为善,性恶论和性善论在善恶问题上是殊途同归的:在存在论意义上是殊途——性恶论者道性恶而性善论者道性善,而在价值论意义上是同归——为善。但在去"恶"、除"恶"的正统思想之外,宋明时期的功利学派却不同程度地肯定了"恶"的正当性和合理性。     

论曾国藩的睦邻观

在中国传统家庭伦理思想中,睦邻观是一个重要的层面。曾国藩作为晚清大儒、深受中国传统文化之浸润。在其丰富的家庭伦理思想中,睦邻观是重要内容之一,当代人从中或许可以获得一些有益的启示。     

对角线元素与不同复杂度的系统的关系

<正>对角线方法是指德国学者康托尔 ( G. Cantor) 在证明实数集不可数时所运用的一种技术方法。在这种意义上,康托尔的实数集不可数论本身便是对角线方法的一种重要运用。此外,对角线方法还有两种重要运用,即哥德尔对角线定理和汤姆逊引理的证明。哥德尔对角线定理又叫 "哥德尔自指定     

构建和谐医医关系刍议

构建和谐医医关系是一项复杂而艰巨的系统工程,其必要性源于医务人员队伍状况的现实需要和现代医学发展以及构建和谐医院的客观要求,应采取的对策主要包括:加强医学职业道德教育;尊重同行,求同存异;坚持以人为本和人文关怀;加强管理机制、制度创新建设;营造和谐医院文化氛围等.