Results for 'Imperfect and perfect duties'

976 found
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  1. Forgiveness and Moral Development.Paula Satne - 2016 - Philosophia 44 (4):1029-1055.
    Forgiveness is clearly an important aspect of our moral lives, yet surprisingly Kant, one of the most important authors in the history of Western ethics, seems to have very little to say about it. Some authors explain this omission by noting that forgiveness sits uncomfortably in Kant’s moral thought: forgiveness seems to have an ineluctably ‘elective’ aspect which makes it to a certain extent arbitrary; thus it stands in tension with Kant’s claim that agents are autonomous beings, capable of determining (...)
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  2. Migration Crisis and the Duty of Hospitality: A Kantian Discussion.Evangelos D. Protopapadakis - 2020 - МЕЃУНАРОДЕН ДИЈАЛОГ: ИСТОК - ЗАПАД 7 (4):125-131.
    The European ideals – as well as the idea of Europe per se – are faced with a serious challenge due to recent migration crisis: it is not just the reflexes, the effectiveness and the policies, but also the consistency, the principles and the justification of the notion of the European Union that is in stake. Kant’s concept of universal hospitality could probably provide a good way out of this conundrum: while hospitality has largely been viewed as a solidarity-related (...) duty towards others, that is, a less compelling duty that allows moral agents for certain latitude concerning the occasions and the degree of its implementation, Kant’s views allow for a totally different perspective, and, in my view, a much more philosophically nuanced one: hospitality might also be considered as an autonomy-based duty owed to others, and in this respect could count as a perfect, morally compelling duty. To the extent that the concept of Europe consists in humanitarian ideals that are based upon a strong philosophical humanistic tradition, I consider my claim to be in perfect harmony with the true spirit of Europe. (shrink)
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  3.  93
    Duties and Poverty.Stephanie Collins - 2023 - In Gottfried Schweiger & Clemens Sedmak (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy and Poverty. Routledge.
    This chapter focuses on the question of who has duties regarding poverty and what those duties demand, from within the perspective of contemporary analytic normative philosophy. The chapter is structured in three sections. Section 1 considers the duties of those living in poverty, which might be either self-regarding or other-regarding duties, and which must be tempered by concerns of overdemandingness. Section 2 considers the duties of affluent individuals. These are imperfect duties grounded in (...)
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  4. The Claims of Animals and the Needs of Strangers: Two Cases of Imperfect Right.Christine M. Korsgaard - 2018 - Journal of Practical Ethics 6 (1):19-51.
    This paper argues for a conception of the natural rights of non-human animals grounded in Kant’s explanation of the foundation of human rights. The rights in question are rights that are in the first instance held against humanity collectively speaking—against our species conceived as an organized body capable of collective action. The argument proceeds by first developing a similar case for the right of every human individual who is in need of aid to get it, and then showing why the (...)
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  5. The Duty to Protect.Kok-Chor Tan - 2005 - In Terry Nardin & Melissa S. Williams (eds.), Humanitarian Intervention: Nomos Xlvii. New York University Press.
    Debates on humanitarian intervention have focused on the permissibility question. In this paper, I ask whether intervention can be a moral duty, and if it is a moral duty, how this duty is to be distributed and assigned. With respect to the first question, I contemplate whether an intervention that has met the "permissibility" condition is also for this reason necessary and obligatory. If so, the gap between permission and obligation closes in the case of humanitarian intervention. On the second (...)
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  6. Middle Theory, Inner Freedom, and Moral Health.Donald Wilson - 2007 - History of Philosophy Quarterly 24 (4):393 - 413.
    In her influential book, The Practice of Moral Judgment, Barbara Herman argues that Kantian ethics requires a “middle theory” applying formal rational constraints on willing to the particular circumstances and nature of human existence. I claim that a promising beginning to such a theory can be found in Kant’s discussion of duties of virtue in The Metaphysics of Morals. I argue that Kant’s distinction between perfect and imperfect duties of virtue should be understood as a distinction (...)
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  7. Justice and Charity: Positive duties and the right of necessity in Pablo Gilabert.Robert Sparling - 2013 - Les ateliers de l'éthique/The Ethics Forum 8 (2):84-96.
    This article considers Pablo Gilabert’s attempt to defend against libertarian critics his ambitious argument for basic positive duties of justice to the world’s destitute. The article notes that Gilabert’s argument – and particularly the vocabulary of perfect and imperfect duties that he adopts – has firm roots in the modern natural rights tradition. The article goes on to suggest, however, that Gilabert employs the phrase ‘imperfect duties’ in a manner that is in some tension (...)
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  8. Forgiveness and Punishment in Kant's Moral System.Paula Satne - 2018 - In Larry Krasnoff, Nuria Sánchez Madrid & Paula Satne (eds.), Kant's Doctrine of Right in the 21st Century. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. pp. 201-219.
    Forgiveness as a positive response to wrongdoing is a widespread phenomenon that plays a role in the moral lives of most persons. Surprisingly, Kant has very little to say on the matter. Although Kant dedicates considerable space to discussing punishment, wrongdoing and grace, he addresses the issues of human forgiveness directly only in some short passages in the Lectures on Ethics and in one passage of the Metaphysics of Morals. As noted by Sussman, the TL passage, however, betrays some ambivalence. (...)
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  9.  93
    Can Kant tell us what to do? Intentions, dilemmas, and the long journey towards moral perfection.Alvaro Rodriguez-Gonzalez Barredo - 2023 - Revista de Estudios Kantianos 8 (1):23-35.
    The “received view” on Kantian ethics holds that perfect duties enjoy absolute priority over imperfect duties. More recently, several Kantian scholars have reassessed this situation, arguing that imperfect duties may remain binding even if they imply breaching a perfect duty. In this article, I argue that both positions rely on a misunderstanding of the bindingness of Kantian duties. Genuine Kantian duties, I claim, remain binding even when they cannot be fulfilled. We (...)
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  10. Kantian Ethics and Global Justice.Kok-Chor Tan - 1997 - Social Theory and Practice 23 (1):53-73.
    Kant divides moral duties into duties of virtue and duties of justice. Duties of virtue are imperfect duties, the fulfillment of which is left to agent discretion and so cannot be externally demanded of one. Duties of justice, while perfect, seem to be restricted to negative duties (of nondeception and noncoercion). It may seem then that Kant's moral philosophy cannot meet the demands of global justice. I argue, however, that Kantian justice (...)
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  11. Dignity and Respect: How to Apply Kant's Formula of Humanity.Paul Formosa - 2014 - Philosophical Forum 45 (1):49-68.
    Kant’s Formula of Humanity (FH) is considered by many, Kant included, to be the most intuitively appealing formulation of the categorical imperative. FH tells us that to treat persons with dignity and respect we must always treat them as ends in themselves and never as mere means. One set of issues raised by FH revolves around how FH is to be justified or grounded and how it relates to the other formulations of the categorical imperative. This set of issues, though (...)
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  12. Duties Regarding Nature: A Kantian Approach to Environmental Ethics.Toby Svoboda - 2012 - Kant Yearbook 4 (1):143-163.
    Many philosophers have objected to Kant’s account of duties regarding non-human nature, arguing that it does not ground adequate moral concern for non-human natural entities. However, the traditional interpretation of Kant on this issue is mistaken, because it takes him to be arguing merely that humans should abstain from animal cruelty and wanton destruction of flora solely because such actions could make one more likely to violate one’s duties to human beings. Instead, I argue, Kant’s account of (...) regarding nature grounds much stronger limitations on how humans may treat non-human animals and flora, since such duties are rooted in the imperfect duty to increase one’s own moral perfection. This duty proscribes actions affecting non-human nature that decrease one’s moral perfection, such as those that cause organisms unnecessary harm. Moreover, the duty to moral perfection prescribes (but does not strictly require) actions affecting non-human nature that increase one’s moral perfection, such as those that benefit organisms. Given this interpretation, I show that, contrary to a widely held view, Kant’s moral philosophy can ground a coherent and robust approach to environmental ethics. (shrink)
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  13. Moral Health, Moral Prosperity and Universalization in Kant's Ethics.Donald Wilson - 2004 - Teorema: International Journal of Philosophy 23 (1):17.
    Drawing on an analysis of the distinction between perfect and imperfect duties suggested by The Metaphysics of Morals, I argue that Kant’s Categorical Imperative (CI) requires that maxims be universalizable in the sense that they can be regarded as universal laws consistent with the integrity and effective exercise of rational agency. This account, I claim, has a number of advantages over Korsgaard’s practical contradic-tion interpretation of the CI both in terms of the criteria of assessment that Korsgaard (...)
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  14. Kantian Approaches to Human Reproduction: Both Favorable and Unfavorable.Lantz Fleming Miller - 2021 - Kantian Journal 40 (1):51-96.
    Recent years have seen a surge of interest in the question of whether humans should reproduce. Some say human life is too punishing and cruel to impose upon an innocent. Others hold that such harms do not undermine the great and possibly unique value of human life. Tracing these outlooks historically in the debate has barely begun. What might philosophers have said, or what did they say, about human life itself and its value to merit reproduction? This article looks to (...)
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  15. The Right to Die Revisited.Evangelos D. Protopapadakis - 2019 - In Proceedings from the Second International interdisciplinary conference „BIOETHICS – THE SIGN OF A NEW ERA”. Skopje, North Macedonia: pp. 53-65.
    In this short paper I will discuss the ambiguous and, even, controversial term ‘right to die’ in the context of the euthanasia debate and, in particular, in the case of passive euthanasia. First I will present the major objections towards the moral legitimacy of a right to die, most of which I also endorse myself; then I will investigate whether the right to die could acquire adequate moral justification in the case of passive euthanasia. In the light of the Kantian (...)
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  16. Murder and Violence in Kantian Ethics.Donald Wilson - 2018 - In Violetta L. Waibel, Margit Ruffing & David Wagner (eds.), Natur und Freiheit: Akten des XII. Internationalen Kant-Kongresses. De Gruyter. pp. 2257-2264.
    Acts of violence and murder have historically proved difficult to accommodate in standard accounts of the formula of universal law (FUL) version of Kant’s Categorical Imperative (CI). In “Murder and Mayhem,” Barbara Herman offers a distinctive account of the status of these acts that is intended to be appropriately didactic in comparison to accounts like the practical contradiction model. I argue that while Herman’s account is a promising one, the distinction she makes between coercive and non-coercive violence and her response (...)
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  17. Justice and Beneficence.Pablo Gilabert - 2016 - Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 19 (5):508-533.
    What is a duty of justice? And how is it different from a duty of beneficence? We need a clear account of the contrast. Unfortunately, there is no consensus in the philosophical literature as to how to characterize it. Different articulations of it have been provided, but it is hard to identify a common core that is invariant across them. In this paper, I propose an account of how to understand duties of justice, explain how it contrasts with several (...)
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  18. Weeding Out Flawed Versions of Shareholder Primacy: A Reflection on the Moral Obligations That Carry Over from Principals to Agents.Santiago Mejia - 2019 - Business Ethics Quarterly 29 (4):519-544.
    ABSTRACT:The distinction between what I call nonelective obligations and discretionary obligations, a distinction that focuses on one particular thread of the distinction between perfect and imperfect duties, helps us to identify the obligations that carry over from principals to agents. Clarity on this issue is necessary to identify the moral obligations within “shareholder primacy”, which conceives of managers as agents of shareholders. My main claim is that the principal-agent relation requires agents to fulfill nonelective obligations, but it (...)
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  19. Imperfect Duties, Group Obligations, and Beneficence.S. Andrew Schroeder - 2014 - Journal of Moral Philosophy 11 (5):557-584.
    There is virtually no philosophical consensus on what, exactly, imperfect duties are. In this paper, I lay out three criteria which I argue any adequate account of imperfect duties should satisfy. Using beneficence as a leading example, I suggest that existing accounts of imperfect duties will have trouble meeting those criteria. I then propose a new approach: thinking of imperfect duties as duties held by groups, rather than individuals. I show, again (...)
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  20. On the Uses and Abuses of Celebrity Epistemic Power.Alfred Archer, Mark Alfano & Matthew Dennis - 2024 - Social Epistemology 38 (6):759-773.
    ABSTRACT The testimonies of celebrities affect the lives of their many followers who pay attention to what they say. This gives celebrities a high degree of epistemic power, which has come under scrutiny during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper investigates the duties that arise from this power. We argue that celebrities have a negative duty of testimonial justice not to undermine trust in authoritative sources by spreading misinformation or directing attention to untrustworthy sources. Moreover, celebrities have a general (...) duty to try to correct for an unjust distribution of attention by redirecting it to those who deserve it. During a pandemic this may become a perfect one, due to the harm that could be prevented if people follow the advice of experts. Relatedly, we argue that celebrities have an imperfect duty to promote behavior that will reduce the spread of a pandemic. We outline three ways they might do so: they might take on the position of a role model, they may act as a salience magnet or they can direct people’s attention towards others who have taken on these roles. (shrink)
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  21. Elizabeth Anscombe on Consequentialism and Absolute Prohibitions.Sergio Cremaschi - 2012 - Danish Yearbook of Philosophy 47 (1):7-39.
    I discuss the third of Anscombe’s theses from “Modern Moral Philosophy”, namely that post-Sidgwickian consequentialism makes the worst action acceptable. I scrutinize her comprehension of “consequentialism”, her reconstruction of Sidgwick’s view of intention, her defence of casuistry, her reformulation of the double-effect doctrine, and her view of morality as based on Divine commands. I argue that her characterization of consequentialism suffers from lack of understanding of the history of utilitarianism and its self-transformation through the Intuitionism-Utilitarianism controversy; that she uncritically accepted (...)
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  22. Moral Luck and the Imperfect Duty to Spare Blame.Robert J. Hartman - forthcoming - Erkenntnis:1-17.
    It is conventional wisdom that appreciating the role of luck in our moral lives should make us more sparing with blame. But views of moral responsibility that allow luck to augment a person’s blameworthiness are in tension with this wisdom. I resolve this tension: our common moral luck partially generates a duty to forgo retributively blaming the blameworthy person at least sometimes. So, although luck can amplify the blame that a person deserves, luck also partially generates a duty not to (...)
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  23. Equal Access to Parenthood and the Imperfect Duty to Benefit.Ji-Young Lee & Ezio Di Nucci - forthcoming - Philosophy of Medicine.
    Should involuntarily childless people have the sameopportunities to access parenthood as those who are not involuntarily childless? In the context of assisted reproductive technologies, affirmative answers to this question are often cashed out in terms of positive rights, including rights to third-party reproduction. In this paper, wecritically explore the scope and extent to which any such right would hold up morally. Ultimately, we argue for a departure away from positive parental rights. Instead, we argue that the state has an (...) duty to benefit involuntarily childless people in relation to their parental aspirations. (shrink)
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  24. Evolution of communication in perfect and imperfect worlds.Patrick Grim - 2000 - World Futures 56 (2):179-197.
    We extend previous work on cooperation to some related questions regarding the evolution of simple forms of communication. The evolution of cooperation within the iterated Prisoner's Dilemma has been shown to follow different patterns, with significantly different outcomes, depending on whether the features of the model are classically perfect or stochastically imperfect (Axelrod 1980a, 1980b, 1984, 1985; Axelrod and Hamilton, 1981; Nowak and Sigmund, 1990, 1992; Sigmund 1993). Our results here show that the same holds for communication. Within (...)
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  25. Imperfection, Accuracy, and Structural Rationality.Marc-Kevin Daoust - 2024 - Erkenntnis 89 (3):1095-1116.
    Structural requirements of rationality prohibit various things, like having inconsistent combinations of attitudes, having means-end incoherent combinations of attitudes, and so on. But what is the distinctive feature of structural requirements of rationality? And do we fall under an obligation to be structurally rational? These issues have been at the heart of significant debates over the past fifteen years. Some philosophers have recently argued that we can unify the structural requirements of rationality by analyzing what is constitutive of our attitudes (...)
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  26. Kant on Education and evil—Perfecting human beings with an innate propensity to radical evil.Klas Roth & Paul Formosa - 2018 - Educational Philosophy and Theory 51 (13):1304-1307.
    Kant begins his Lectures on Pedagogy by stating, “[t]he human being is the only creature that must be educated” (Kant, 2007, 9:441), and he argues that it is through education that we can transform our initial “animal nature into human nature” (ibid. 2007, 9:441). Kant understands education as involving an ordered process of care, discipline, instruction and formation through enculturating, civilizing and moralizing (Formosa 2011). Further, Kant envisages that we should pursue as a species the “moral perfection” that is the (...)
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  27.  38
    Kant’s Conception of Enlightenment.Jelena Govedarica - 2021 - Theoria 64 (2):49-67.
    By interpreting the basic concepts of Kant’s definition of enlightenment, as well as pointing out the importance of discussion for the development of understanding and explaining the role of state power in educating citizens, the author argues that enlightenment ought to be understood as an imperfect duty of every human being. This duty belongs to the duty of virtue according to which we are obligated, among other things, to advance our own perfection. In order to better understand the responsibility (...)
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  28. The Duty to Listen.Hrishikesh Joshi & Robin McKenna - forthcoming - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research.
    In philosophical work on the ethics of conversational exchange, much has been written regarding the speaker side—i.e., on the rights and duties we have as speakers. This paper explores the relatively neglected topic of the duties pertaining to listeners’ side of the exchange. Following W.K. Clifford, we argue that it’s fruitful to think of our epistemic resources as common property. Furthermore, listeners have a key role in maintaining and improving these resources, perhaps a more important role than speakers. (...)
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  29. Give till it hurts? Beneficence, imperfect duties, and a moderate response to the aid question.Robert Noggle - 2009 - Journal of Social Philosophy 40 (1):1-16.
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  30. Wolff, the Pursuit of Perfection and What We Owe to Each Other: The Case of Veracity and Lying.Stefano Bacin - 2024 - In Sonja Schierbaum, Michael Walschots & John Walsh (eds.), Christian Wolff's German Ethics: New Essays. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 237-252.
    My chapter deals with an important part of how Wolff pursued the normative ambitions of his ethics in giving practical guidance with regard to specific moral issues. I first consider how Wolff’s ethics tackles the duties to others, which traditionally represent a difficult issue for moral perfectionism. In this regard, I argue that Wolff’s strategy combines two aspects: (a) he includes in perfection non-active aspects and (b) operates with an agent-neutral notion of perfection, in spite of important passages that (...)
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  31. Kantian Personal Autonomy.Robert S. Taylor - 2005 - Political Theory 33 (5):602-628.
    Jeremy Waldron has recently raised the question of whether there is anything approximating the creative self-authorship of personal autonomy in the writings of Immanuel Kant. After considering the possibility that Kantian prudential reasoning might serve as a conception of personal autonomy, I argue that the elements of a more suitable conception can be found in Kant’s Tugendlehre, or “Doctrine of Virtue”—specifically, in the imperfect duties of self-perfection and the practical love of others. This discovery is important for at (...)
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  32. Kantian Care.Helga Varden - 2020 - In Amy Baehr & Asha Bhandary (eds.), Caring for Liberalism: Dependency and Liberal Political Theory. New York, USA: Routledge. pp. 50-74.
    How do we care well for a human being: ourselves or another? Non-Kantian scholars rarely identify the philosophy of Kant as a particularly useful resource with which to understand the full complexity of human care. Kant’s philosophy is often taken to presuppose that a philosophical analysis of good human life needs to attend only to how autonomous, rational agents—sprung up like mushrooms out of nowhere, without a childhood, never sick, always independent—ought to act respectfully, and how they can be forced (...)
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  33. Climate Change and Individual Obligations: A Dilemma for the Expected Utility Approach, and the Need for an Imperfect View.Julia Nefsky - 2021 - In Budolfson Mark, McPherson Tristram & Plunkett David (eds.), Philosophy and Climate Change. Oxford University Press. pp. 201-221.
    This chapter concerns the nature of our obligations as individuals when it comes to our emissions-producing activities and climate change. The first half of the chapter argues that the popular ‘expected utility’ approach to this question faces a problematic dilemma: either it gives skeptical verdicts, saying that there are no such obligations, or it yields implausibly strong verdicts. The second half of the chapter diagnoses the problem. It is argued that the dilemma arises from a very general feature of the (...)
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  34. The Imperfect God.Ron Margolin - 2020 - European Journal for Philosophy of Religion 12 (2):65-87.
    This paper focuses on the Hasidic view, namely, that human flaws do not function as a barrier between a fallen humanity and a perfect deity, since the whole of creation stems from a divine act of self-contraction. Thus, we need not be discouraged by our own shortcomings, nor by those of our loved ones. Rather, seeing our flaws in the face of another should remind us that imperfection is an aspect of the God who created us. Such a positive (...)
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  35. Is there a Duty to Be a Digital Minimalist?Timothy Aylsworth & Clinton Castro - 2021 - Journal of Applied Philosophy 38 (4):662-673.
    The harms associated with wireless mobile devices (e.g. smartphones) are well documented. They have been linked to anxiety, depression, diminished attention span, sleep disturbance, and decreased relationship satisfaction. Perhaps what is most worrying from a moral perspective, however, is the effect these devices can have on our autonomy. In this article, we argue that there is an obligation to foster and safeguard autonomy in ourselves, and we suggest that wireless mobile devices pose a serious threat to our capacity to fulfill (...)
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  36. Deriving Positive Duties from Kant's Formula of Universal Law.Guus Duindam - 2023 - History of Philosophy Quarterly 40 (3):191-201.
    According to the objection from positive duties, Kant's Formula of Universal Law is flawed because it cannot be used to derive any affirmative moral requirements. This paper offers a response to that objection and proposes a novel way to derive positive duties from Kant's formula. The Formula of Universal Law yields positive duties to adopt our own perfection and others’ happiness as ends because we could not rationally fail to will those ends as universal ends.
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  37. Christian Wolff on Common Notions and Duties of Esteem.Andreas Blank - 2019 - Journal of Early Modern Studies 8 (1):171-193.
    While contemporary accounts understand esteem and self-esteem as essentially competitive phenomena, early modern natural law theorists developed a conception of justified esteem and self-esteem based on naturally good character traits. This article explores how such a normative conception of esteem and self-esteem is developed in the work of Christian Wolff. Two features make Wolff’s approach distinctive: He uses the analysis of common notions that are expressed in everyday language to provide a foundation for the aspects of natural law on which (...)
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  38. The Argument from Imperfection.Nicholas Everitt - 2006 - Philo 9 (2):113-130.
    The paper argues that given the defining features of the God of “perfect being” theology, God would not create any contingently existing things. To do so would introduce a kind of gratuitous metaphysical imperfection in an otherwise metaphysically perfect universe. Given that in fact there are contingent things, it follows that the God of perfect being theism does not exist.
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  39. Learning to Discriminate: The Perfect Proxy Problem in Artificially Intelligent Criminal Sentencing.Benjamin Davies & Thomas Douglas - 2022 - In Jesper Ryberg & Julian V. Roberts (eds.), Sentencing and Artificial Intelligence. Oxford: OUP.
    It is often thought that traditional recidivism prediction tools used in criminal sentencing, though biased in many ways, can straightforwardly avoid one particularly pernicious type of bias: direct racial discrimination. They can avoid this by excluding race from the list of variables employed to predict recidivism. A similar approach could be taken to the design of newer, machine learning-based (ML) tools for predicting recidivism: information about race could be withheld from the ML tool during its training phase, ensuring that the (...)
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  40. Eine Kantische Begründung individueller Klimapflichten.Simon Hollnaicher - 2020 - Grazer Philosophische Studien 97 (4):679-692.
    According to a well-known problem in climate ethics, individual actions cannot be wrong due to their impact on climate change since the individual act does not make a difference. By referring to the practical interpretation of the categorical imperative, the author argues that certain actions lead to a contradiction in conception in light of the climate crisis. Universalizing these actions would cause foreseeable climate impacts, making it impossible to pursue the original maxim effectively. According to the practical interpretation, such actions (...)
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  41. Democracy within, justice without: The duties of informal political representatives.Wendy Salkin - 2022 - Noûs 56 (4):940-971.
    Informal political representation can be a political lifeline, particularly for oppressed and marginalized groups. Such representation can give these groups some say, however mediate, partial, and imperfect, in how things go for them. Coeval with the political goods such representation offers these groups are its particular dangers to them. Mindful of these dangers, skeptics challenge the practice for being, inter alia, unaccountable, unauthorized, inegalitarian, and oppressive. These challenges provide strong pro tanto reasons to think the practice morally impermissible. This (...)
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  42. A Direct Kantian Duty to Animals.Michael Cholbi - 2014 - Southern Journal of Philosophy 52 (3):338-358.
    Kant's view that we have only indirect duties to animals fails to capture the intuitive notion that wronging animals transgresses duties we owe to those animals. Here I argue that a suitably modified Kantianism can allow for direct duties to animals and, in particular, an imperfect duty to promote animal welfare without unduly compromising its core theoretical commitments, especially its commitments concerning the source and nature of our duties toward rational beings. The basis for such (...)
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  43. Kantian Beneficence and the Problem of Obligatory Aid.Karen Stohr - 2011 - Journal of Moral Philosophy 8 (1):45-67.
    Common sense tells us that in certain circumstances, helping someone is morally obligatory. That intuition appears incompatible with Kant's account of beneficence as a wide imperfect duty, and its implication that agents may exercise latitude over which beneficent actions to perform. In this paper, I offer a resolution to the problem from which it follows that some opportunities to help admit latitude and others do not. I argue that beneficence has two components: the familiar wide duty to help others (...)
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  44. The Battle of the Endeavors: Dynamics of the Mind and Deliberation in New Essays on Human Understanding, book II, xx-xxi.Markku Roinila - 2016 - In Wenchao Li (ed.), “Für unser Glück oder das Glück anderer”. Vorträge des X. Internationalen Leibniz-Kongresses, Hannover, 18. – 23. Juli 2016. Hildesheim: G. Olms. pp. Band V, 73-87.
    In New Essays on Human Understanding, book II, chapter xxi Leibniz presents an interesting picture of the human mind as not only populated by perceptions, volitions and appetitions, but also by endeavours. The endeavours in question can be divided to entelechy and effort; Leibniz calls entelechy as primitive active forces and efforts as derivative forces. The entelechy, understood as primitive active force is to be equated with a substantial form, as Leibniz says: “When an entelechy – i.e. a primary or (...)
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  45. (1 other version)Deliberators Must Be Imperfect.Derek Clayton Baker - 2015 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 90 (3):321-347.
    This paper argues that, with certain provisos, predicting one's future actions is incompatible with rationally deliberating about whether to perform those actions. It follows that fully rational omniscient agents are impossible, since an omniscient being could never rationally deliberate about what to do . Consequently, theories that explain practical reasons in terms of the choices of a perfectly rational omniscient agent must fail. The paper considers several ways of defending the possibility of an omniscient agent, and concludes that while some (...)
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  46. Wolff on duties of esteem in the law of peoples.Andreas Blank - 2021 - European Journal of Philosophy 29 (2):475-486.
    The role that the desire for self‐worth plays in international relations has become a prominent topic in contemporary political theory. Contemporary accounts are based on the notion of national self‐worth as a function of status; therefore, the desire for national self‐worth is seen as a source of anxiety and conflict over status. By contrast, according to Christian Wolff, there exists a duty to take care that both one's own and other political communities deserve to be esteemed. In his view, this (...)
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  47. The Case for a Duty to Use Gender-Fair Language in Democratic Representation.Martina Rosola & Corrado Fumagalli - forthcoming - The Philosophical Quarterly.
    In the light of a study of the di erence between political actors and ordinary citizens as language users, and based on three moral arguments (consequence-based, recognition-based, and complicity-based), we propose that democratic representatives have an imperfect duty to use gender-fair-language in their public communication. In the case of members of the executive, such as ministries, prime ministries, and presidents, such an imperfect duty could also be justi ed on democratic grounds. Their choice of using a gender-unfair language, (...)
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  48. Knowing in Aristotle part 2: Technē, phronēsis, sophia, and divine cognitive activities.Caleb Murray Cohoe - 2021 - Philosophy Compass 17 (1):e12799.
    In this second of a 2-part survey of Aristotle’s epistemology, I present an overview of Aristotle’s views on technē (craft or excellent productive reason) and phronēsis (practical wisdom or excellent practical reason). For Aristotle, attaining the truth in practical matters involves actually doing the right action. While technē and phronēsis are rational excellences, for Aristotle they are not as excellent or true as epistēmē or nous because the kinds of truth that they grasp are imperfect and because they are (...)
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  49. Religious Protest and Religious Loyalty.Avi Sagi & Nir Sagi - 2020 - European Journal for Philosophy of Religion 12 (2):7-36.
    In the accepted view, the basic disposition of believers is one of absolute obedience, humility, and lack of critique, doubt, or, indeed, defiance of God. Only through such a disposition do believers convey their absolute faith and establish the appropriate hierarchy between God and humans. This article challenges this view and argues that, in mainstream rabbinic tradition, the believer is not required to renounce his or her moral autonomy and certainly not his or her understanding of God and the world. (...)
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  50.  20
    Why All Mathematical Equations Have an Equal Sign in the Middle (Including Deviations and Applications Across All Fields of Mathematics).Angelito Malicse - manuscript
    Why All Mathematical Equations Have an Equal Sign in the Middle (Including Deviations and Applications Across All Fields of Mathematics) -/- Mathematics is a universal tool used to express relationships, patterns, and structures in both abstract and real-world settings. At the heart of this tool is the equal sign, which symbolizes balance and equivalence between two ideas. The equal sign ensures that what is expressed on one side of an equation corresponds directly to the other. However, in practical applications, (...) balance is often disrupted, leading to deviations that reflect real-world imperfections. These deviations, whether positive or negative, help make mathematical models more applicable to reality. This essay explores the importance of the equal sign, the concept of deviations, and how they apply across various fields of mathematics. -/- The Equal Sign: A Symbol of Balance -/- The equal sign serves as a bridge, showing that two expressions, ideas, or quantities are equivalent. It represents the foundational principle of balance in mathematics, allowing relationships to be defined and analyzed logically. For example, when describing physical, economic, or biological systems, the equal sign provides clarity, ensuring that all components of the system interact in harmony. -/- In theory, the equal sign represents perfect balance. However, real-world scenarios rarely follow such exactitude. External factors, approximations, or errors often create deviations from this balance. These deviations allow us to account for variability and adjust our models accordingly, making mathematics a flexible tool for solving practical problems. -/- Deviations from Equality -/- While the equal sign represents the ideal state of balance, deviations account for the imperfections and complexities of reality. -/- 1. Positive Deviations: These occur when one side of a relationship exceeds the other, reflecting surplus or unexpected growth. For example, this might happen when actual outcomes surpass predictions, such as higher-than-expected profits in business. -/- 2. Negative Deviations: These arise when one side falls short, representing a deficit or shortfall. For instance, in weather modeling, negative deviations might occur when observed rainfall is less than forecasted. -/- These deviations are crucial for refining mathematical models, especially in fields where variability is unavoidable, such as physics, economics, and biology. -/- Applications in Various Fields of Mathematics -/- 1. Arithmetic and Number Theory -/- The equal sign ensures balance when performing basic operations, such as addition, subtraction, or multiplication. However, in practical applications, rounding errors or approximations often introduce deviations. For example, when adding measurements with decimals, the result might be slightly adjusted due to rounding. -/- In number theory, the equal sign represents equivalence in concepts like divisibility or patterns among numbers. Deviations can highlight remainders or shifts in these relationships, as seen in practical uses like cryptography. -/- 2. Algebra -/- Algebra explores relationships between variables and constants, often solving for unknowns. The equal sign is central to defining and solving these relationships. However, real-world algebraic problems often involve constraints or uncertainties, such as production limits in business. Deviations in algebra can account for these irregularities, making it a critical tool for optimization and resource allocation. -/- 3. Geometry -/- In geometry, the equal sign helps define relationships like the congruence of shapes, the proportions of angles, or the equivalence of areas. Deviations arise in practical applications, such as construction or design, where imperfect measurements lead to slight discrepancies. For instance, a building’s dimensions might not align perfectly with theoretical calculations due to material constraints or human error. -/- 4. Trigonometry -/- Trigonometry studies relationships in triangles and periodic phenomena, such as waves. The equal sign ensures that relationships between angles and sides are consistent. However, in fields like engineering or physics, deviations occur due to inaccuracies in measurements or environmental factors. These deviations are essential for improving real-world applications, such as signal processing or sound wave analysis. -/- 5. Calculus -/- Calculus deals with changes and accumulations. The equal sign helps express how quantities evolve or grow over time, such as the speed of an object or the amount of water collected in a tank. -/- In differential calculus, deviations reflect changes in rates caused by external influences, like friction affecting the motion of an object. -/- In integral calculus, deviations occur when real-world accumulations, such as population growth or fuel consumption, differ from idealized predictions. These adjustments make calculus more effective for analyzing and predicting real-world behavior. -/- 6. Linear Algebra -/- Linear algebra examines relationships in systems involving multiple variables, such as equations describing supply and demand. The equal sign is used to establish balance within these systems. Deviations, such as noise or inaccuracies in data, play a significant role in real-world applications like machine learning, where adjustments improve predictive accuracy. -/- 7. Probability and Statistics -/- Probability and statistics analyze uncertainty and variation. The equal sign represents theoretical models, such as the average outcome of a random event. However, deviations from these models, often referred to as errors or residuals, highlight differences between predictions and observed results. These deviations are essential for refining models, whether in weather forecasting, market analysis, or medical research. -/- 8. Real-World Modeling Across Disciplines -/- Physics: In physics, the equal sign links relationships like force and motion. Deviations arise when real-world conditions, such as air resistance, alter the ideal balance predicted by equations. -/- Economics: The concept of equilibrium in supply and demand relies on the equal sign, but market fluctuations often introduce deviations, leading to surpluses or shortages. -/- Biology: Growth models in biology, such as the spread of a population or a virus, use the equal sign to describe ideal patterns. Deviations account for environmental factors, resource limitations, or mutations. -/- Conclusion -/- The equal sign is the foundation of all mathematical equations, symbolizing balance and equivalence. It ensures that relationships are clearly defined, making mathematical reasoning precise and reliable. However, deviations play an equally important role, accounting for imperfections and variability in the real world. Across all fields of mathematics—arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, and beyond—the interplay between balance and deviation enhances our ability to model, analyze, and solve complex problems. Together, the equal sign and deviations allow mathematics to bridge the gap between idealized theory and the complexities of real-world phenomena. -/- . (shrink)
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