In defense of the community criterion: A reply

Studies in Philosophy and Education -     

A defense of fundamental principles and human rights: a reply to Robert Baker

This article seeks to rebut Robert Baker's contention that attempts to ground international bioethics in fundamental principles cannot withstand the challenges posed by multiculturalism and postmodernism. First, several corrections are provided of Baker's account of the conclusions reached by the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments. Second, a rebuttal is offered to Baker's claim that an unbridgeable moral gap exists between Western individualism and non-Western communalism. In conclusion, this article argues that Baker's "nonnegotiable primary goods" cannot do the work of "classical human rights" and that the latter framework is preferable from both a practical and a theoretical standpoint.     

Methodological Patterns In A Structuralist Setting

A new approach to analyze scientific methods as patternsof state transitions is proposed and exemplified by the two mostimportant, general methods: induction and deduction. Though only`local' states of science are considered in this paper, includinghypotheses, data, approximation and degree of fit, the approach caneasily be extended to more comprehensive kinds of states. Two `pure'forms of induction are distinguished, enumerative and hypothesisconstruction induction. A combination of these two forms is proposedto yield a more adequate picture of induction. While the pure forms ofinduction are clearly distinct from the deductive pattern, the patternof the combined form of induction is very similar to the latter. Thepresent account of scientific methods not only points out thedifferences between different methods but – in contrast to usualdiscussions of methodology – also clarifies what they have in common.     

In defense of the right and left audiograms: a reply to Coren (1989) and Coren and Hakstian (1990)

Coren (1989) noticed that the various air-conduction pure-tone thresholds obtained from one ear of an individual in quiet tend to display a high correlation. In addition, Coren and Hakstian (1990) reported a consistently high correlation between pure-tone thresholds in the two ears of the same individual. On the basis of these observations, these authors proposed that pure-tone thresholds measured at audiometric frequencies in one ear, and those measured in both ears of an individual, be collapsed into a single average threshold value. The present paper disputes the usefulness and the appropriateness of such a proposal.     

Accreditation: A reply to mathers

Accreditation in counselling is meant not for the benefit of the counsellor but for the protection of the public. It is concerned more with guaranteeing certain standards of ethics than with the acclamation of status. Whatever method is used, it must avoid the pitfalls of conservatism and academicism which in other professions have been jointly responsible for the attack on accreditation itself as a process. Those involved in counselling and psychotherapy should not wait passively until Parliament acts, but need to be critically involved in bringing into being a system of accreditation which is both flexible and creative.     

In Favour of Mereological Nominalism: reply to Cumpa and Declos

Mereological nominalism is the thesis that properties are identical to mereological fusions of their instances. Cumpa and Declos have raised two problems for the view. This paper is a reply to both problems.

     

现代性的运作机制:反思性唯我主义

反思性唯我主义是现代性的运作机制;现代性的一些基本现象,技术主义、资本主义、自由主义和历史主义只有根据反思性唯我主义才能得到恰当的理解;要克服现代性的困境即普遍的异化现象和虚无主义,首先要克服反思性唯我主义。     

In defense of reliabilism

Objections to reliabilist theories of knowledge and justification have looked insuperable. Reliability is a property of the process of belief formation. But the generality problem apparently makes the specification of any such process ambiguous. The externalism of reliability theories clashes with strongly internalist intuitions. The reliability property does not appear closed under truth-preserving inference, whereas closure principles have strong intuitive appeal. And epistemic paradoxes, like the preface and the lottery, seem unavoidable if knowledge or justification depends on the frequency with which a process generates true beliefs. The present theory has the conceptual resources to meet these challenges. It requires that a justificatory belief-formation process be intentionally applied. It distinguishes the justification of beliefs from that of the believer. And it avoids a frequency interpretation of reliability by introducing a notion of the normalcy of conditions under which processes are intentionally used.     

In defense of caring

I hope to persuade Hilde L. Nelson that she is wrong about an ethics of caring....In conclusion, caring is an "ethics of attention," but it includes more than attention. 'Carers' must respond as well as attend. Much more needs to be done in describing caring responses, especially when social problems are involved. I agree with Nelson that an ethics or a moral orientation must deal with social problems. I also agree that, to date, most of us working on caring have written little on the subject. However, I do not agree that an ethics of caring is unable to address social problems. We have to work at showing that it can.