PRESENTISM, TRUTHMAKERS, AND GOD

The truthmaker objection to presentism (the view that only what exists now exists simpliciter ) is that it lacks sufficient metaphysical resources to ground truths about the past. In this paper I identify five constraints that an adequate presentist response must satisfy. In light of these constraints, I examine and reject responses by Bigelow, Keller, Crisp, and Bourne. Consideration of how these responses fail, however, points toward a proposal that works; one that posits God's memories as truthmakers for truths about the past. I conclude that presentists have, in the truthmaker objection, considerable incentive to endorse theism.     

Differential Motivating Factors Among Intrapreneurial and Traditional Managers?: A Look At The Influence Of Reward Systems and Structures On Performance Among Intrapreneurial and Traditional Managers

ABSTRACT This paper examines the influence of rewards and structures on the performance of managers in positions defined as intrapreneurial and those defined as traditional managerial. Results indicated that financially oriented rewards and loosely coupled structures more strongly influenced the performance of intrapreneurial managers than the performance of traditional managers. The findings suggest that such measures may be key ingredients to enhance organizational environment.     

A Fortnight of My Life is Missing: a discussion of the status of the human 'pre-embryo'

ABSTRACT Summed up in the coinage of the term 'pre-embryo'is the denial that human beings, as such, begin to exist from the moment of conception. This denial, which may be thought to have significant moral implications, rests on two kinds of reason. The first is that the pre-embryo lacks the characteristics of a human being. The second is that the pre-embryo lacks what it takes to be an individual human being. The first reason, I argue, embodies an untenable view of what it is to be human. The second reason exploits certain logical difficulties which arise over the possibility of twinning. I question the relevance of the appeal to such difficulties and conclude that there is no good reason for denying that a human being begins to exist from the moment of conception.     

Interactional Influence in the Structuring of Media Use in Groups Influence in Members’Perceptions of Group Decision Support System Use

The aim of this study is to examine the ways in which individuals’perceptions of media use are influenced by others. Traditional theories of media use have proposed that perceptions of media use are shaped by individuals’demographic characteristics and the media's characteristics. However, three recent theories—critical mass theory, social influence model of media use, and adaptive structuration theory—suggest that individuals’perceptions of media emerge as a result of their interaction with others in their social network. Results from a longitudinal study of 30 group decision support system (GDSS) groups and 25 non-GDSS groups over a 3-week period indicate that interactional influence was a better predictor of individuals’perceptions of media use than were individuals’demographic characteristics or characteristics of the media.