FICTION'S ONTOLOGICAL COMMITMENTS1

相似文献   

DEATH AND DEPRIVATION

Abstract:  The view that death is the loss of a person's future is less defensible than many philosophers have thought, in part because it is often presented as a response to an indefensibly crude Epicurean doctrine. But the most direct argument for this view suffers from two sorts of ambiguity – the first concerning what it is to "have" a future to lose, the second concerning what the loss consists in. However, another conception of what is lost is possible, and this alternative, which is more congenial to the Epicurean outlook, does not depend on considerations about the future.     

Finding Work Following Job Loss: The Role of Coping Resources

The negative physical and psychological effects of job loss are well-documented. Much less research has explored factors that might help people cope with job loss and become reemployed quickly. Individuals who became reemployed within 3 months of job loss were more “internal” in locus of control, had greater self-efficacy, and possessed better problem-solving skills than did individuals who remained unemployed.     

Rock as a Three‐Value Tradition

Gracyk, Kania, and Davies all agree that the rock tradition is distinctive for the central place that it gives to the appreciation of recorded tracks. But we should not be led by those arguments to conclude that the central position of the recorded track makes such appreciation the exclusive interest in rock. I argue that both songwriting and live performance are also central to the rock tradition by showing that the practice of recording tracks admits of a diversity of goals and aims that is not exhausted by a concern for track construction.     

Jobs You Won't Find in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles

This article, although written in a whimsical style, points out the value-laden nature of our premier source of occupational information, the Dictionary of Occupational Titles. Other than legal occupations, jobs that are remunerative can be placed into three categories: (a) illegal occupations, (b) underground or counterculture occupations, and (c) occupations “in limbo.”     

Unifying the Intellectual Virtues

The intellectual virtues include two seemingly quite different types of traits: reliable faculties on the one hand and inquiry‐regulating traits of intellectual character like conscientiousness and openmindedness on the other. Extant virtue theories do not appear to have provided a single account that adequately covers both types of virtue. In this paper, I examine the different ways in which a trait or disposition can contribute to our cognitive goal of acquiring significant true beliefs. I propose that the two types of virtues can be understood as contributing in different ways to our cognitive goal, and develop a general framework for understanding their value.     

Structuring the Religion-Environment Connection: Identifying Religious Influences on Environmental Concern and Activism

Recent research on the connection between religion and environmental concern and activism has led to divergent conclusions, with some studies finding a negative effect of religious factors, and others finding no influence or a positive effect. Using a conceptual apparatus of structuration theory, we explain how these divergent findings might be reconciled. We examine data from the 1993 General Social Survey to elaborate how religious affiliation, participation, and beliefs influence environmental concern and private and political environmental activism. Estimates from structural equation models are presented to show the sometimes competing direct and indirect effects of religious affiliation, participation, and beliefs on environmental concern and private and political environmental action .     

KARL RAHNER AND THE EXTRA‐TERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENCE QUESTION

The prospect of extra‐terrestrial intelligence has become a central topic of scientific investigation and popular speculation. This has generated questions of ethical and theological significance that now receive growing coverage. Throughout his writings, Karl Rahner remained open to the prospect that the process of cosmic evolution had yielded sentient life form in other galaxies. He argued against any theological veto on this notion, while also distinguishing the existential significance of such life forms from that of angels. Furthermore, the possibility of multiple incarnations is raised though not affirmed. With its christological intensity, his theology seems to militate against any repetition of the incarnation. This essay examines some of the arguments for and against the possibility of multiple incarnations, before assessing the current state of the extra‐terrestrial intelligence debate. In the light of inconclusive scientific findings, the cautionary position of Rahner is re‐affirmed.