Just Plain "Ought'

Is there any sense to the idea of an ``ought''that is not relative to any particularnormative framework? This ``ought'' would not bea moral, prudential, legal, aesthetic, orreligious ``ought,'' but rather an unqualified or just plain ``ought.'' Thispaper (i) argues for the existence andusefulness of just plain ``ought''; (ii) locatesthe concept of just plain ``ought'' within amajor strand in the history of ethics (namely,the perennial attempt to demonstrate thatmorality and prudence are in harmony); and(iii) challenges David Copp's recent attempt toshow that in fact there is no such thing asjust plain ``ought.'' A theory of just plain``ought'' emerges along the way.     

Use of a paired-stimulus demand analysis to evaluate demands for inclusion in functional analyses

Clinicians regularly use both indirect and direct assessments to identify preferred stimuli to include in control conditions and positive reinforcement test conditions in a functional analysis (FA). However, clinicians often rely on indirect assessment alone (e.g., caregiver report) to identify aversive stimuli to include in negative reinforcement test conditions. In this study, we evaluate a paired-stimulus demand analysis and validate assessment results via FA. Results indicate that, for all 4 participants, the demands selected least often evoked higher rates of destructive behavior than more frequently selected demands. We identified an escape function for all 4 participants in the escape–least selected (LS) condition (true positive finding) and for only 1 participant in the escape–most selected (MS) condition (false negative finding for 3 of 4 participants). These results support the utility of empirically deriving stimuli for inclusion in the negative reinforcement test condition of an FA to decrease the likelihood of false negative findings.     

The good of today depends not on the good of tomorrow: a constraint on theories of well-being

Philosophical Studies - This article addresses three questions about well-being. First, is well-being future-sensitive? I.e., can present well-being depend on future events? Second, is well-being...     

Stages of readiness to quit smoking: population prevalence and correlates.

We examined the population prevalence and correlates of stages in smokers' readiness to quit, using data from 1,048 smokers recruited in a self-weighting, multistage, systematic clustered area sample from 0.44% of South Australian dwellings, with an 89% response rate. Smokers in the precontemplation stage comprised 24.1% of the sample, smokers in the contemplation stage comprised 47.2%, and smokers in the preparation stage comprised 28.7%. No sociodemographic variables (i.e., age, sex, marital status, educational level) were found to be significant independent predictors of membership in the different stages. The five significant independent predictors of being in the precontemplation stage (vs. the contemplation stage) were (a) having a higher confidence of quitting, (b) seeing fewer health risks associated with smoking, (c) not having made an attempt to quit, (d) seeing quitting as more difficult, and (e) smoking 25 or more cigarettes a day. The two significant independent predictors of being in the contemplation stage (vs. the preparation stage) were (a) having lower confidence of quitting and (b) not having tried to quit. We discuss implications for the understanding of smoking behavior in populations and also consider how cessation campaigns might address the factors associated with different stages of readiness to quit.