Omnipotence

Recently, many philosophers have supposed that the divine attribute of omnipotence is properly understood as some kind of maximal power. I argue that all of the best known attempts to analyse omnipotence in terms of maximal power are multiply flawed. Moreover, I argue that there are compelling reasons for supposing that, on orthodox theistic conceptions, maximal power is not one of the divine attributes.     

A study of the psychological effects of redundancy and unemployment

This study is an investigation of the psychological and social consequences of redundancy and unemployment. A sample of redundant adults was monitored for the first six months following job loss. They were interviewed every four weeks and data concerning psychiatric symptoms, level and direction of hostility, self-concept, social attitudes, interpersonal relations and family relationships were collected on each occasion. A matched control group of employed workers was also recruited and monitored. Significant differences between the unemployed who remained without work for the duration of the study and employed subjects were found on the measures of symptomatology, hostility, guilt, self-satisfaction, acceptance by others and family role behaviour. In each case the redundant workers manifested the greater personal distress. Although there were no significant differences between the male and female unemployed, unemployment was experienced differently by each sex. Previous writers have suggested a stage theory of unemployment which is characterized by four principal stages: anticipation—optimism—pessimism—fatalism. The results of this study failed to confirm a stage model of unemployment.     

Personal relationships in late modernity

This article is concerned with the significance of personal relationships in contemporary social life, principally drawing on recent British research. After reviewing traditional sociological theories concerning the impact of economic transformations on family and community ties, the author examines the character of couple and family commitment in the context of the radical demographic changes that have been occurring, particularly in patterns of family formation and dissolution. Relating these changes to theories of “late modernity,” the author assesses their implications for the relevance of personal relationships in general, and friendship in particular, in contemporary social formations. The author's argument is that far from becoming socially marginal as dominant theories generally imply, personal relationships are likely to become increasingly significant as social life becomes more fragmented and less predictable.     

The reliability of romantic love: A reliability generalization meta‐analysis

The present study is a reliability‐generalization meta‐analysis of 5 commonly used measures of romantic love: Rubin’s Loving and Liking scales, the Love Attitudes Scale, the Love Attitudes Scale–Short Form, the Passionate Love Scale, and the Triangular Love Scale. Data from 127 studies representing 38,132 participants provided internal consistency reliability estimates. The studies provide information on the average score reliability across studies and the effect of sample characteristics on score reliability across measures. The reliability of scores from several measures proved to be susceptible to the influence of sample characteristics, most notably, the ethnicity of the sample. The discussion provides recommendations to researchers and focuses on the ramifications of score reliability on love research.     

Justified Judging

Traditional approaches to epistemology have sought, unsuccessfully, to define knowledge in terms of justification. I follow Timothy Williamson in arguing that this is misconceived and that we should take knowledge as our fundamental epistemological notion. We can then characterise justification as a certain sort of approximation to knowledge. A judgement is justified if and only if the reason (if there is one) for a failure to know is to be found outside the subject's mental states; that is, justified judging is possible knowing (where one world accessible from another if and only if they are identical with regard to a subject's antecedent mental states and judgement forming processes). This view is explained and defended.