Kant’s moral philosophy both enjoins the acquisition of self-knowledge as a duty, and precludes certain forms of its acquisition via what has become known as the Opacity Thesis. This article looks at several recent attempts to solve this difficulty and argues that they are inadequate. I argue instead that the Opacity Thesis rules out only the knowledge that one has acted from genuine moral principles, but does not apply in cases of moral failure. The duty of moral self-knowledge applies therefore (...) only to one’s awareness of one’s status as a moral being and to the knowledge of one’s moral failings, both in particular actions and one’s overall character failings, one’s vices. This kind of knowledge is morally salutary as an aid to discovering one’s individual moral weakness as well as the subjective ends for which one acts, and in this way for taking up the morally required end of treating human beings as human beings. In this way, moral self-knowledge can be understood as a necessary element of moral improvement, and I conclude by suggesting several ways to understand it thereby as genuinely primary among the duties to oneself. (shrink)

ABSTRACTIn the late 1970s the big bang model of cosmology was widely accepted and interpreted as implying the universe had a beginning. At the end of that decade William Lane Craig revived an argument for God known as the Kalam Cosmological Argument based on this scientific consensus. Furthermore, he linked the big bang to the supposed biblical concept of creation ex nihilo found in Genesis. I shall critique Craig's position as expressed in a more recent update and argue that contemporary (...) cosmology no longer understands the big bang as the ultimate beginning, seriously undermining the KCA. I will further contend that book of Genesis should not be understood as describing creation ex nihilo anyway. (shrink)

The purpose of our lives is to grow step by step toward a fundamental transformation. Instead of always seeking some form of gratification, we can learn to give to others with no self-interest at all. The is the essential teaching of the Kabbalah portrayed in these essays by Baal Hasulam – the greatest modern explicator of Kabbalah. Rabbi Gottlieb provides an illuminating commentary as a living Chassidic rebbe devoted to the practice and teaching of Baal Hasulam’s spiritual path.

Paparan stres tidak bisa dihindari dalam kehidupan kita sehari-hari. Kebanyakan orang mungkin pernah mengalami setidaknya satu stres yang ekstrem (misalnya: situasi traumatis yang berpotensi mengancam jiwa) yang dapat menyebabkan dampak buruk yang serius pada kesehatan mental mereka [1]. Oleh karena itu, resiliensi menjadi isu penelitian yang penting di kalangan peneliti di bidang ilmu kedokteran, kesehatan mental, dan ilmu pengetahuan secara umum untuk dapat membantu orang lain dalam meningkatkan kemampuan untuk menahan stres. Salah satu langkah terpenting untuk dapat meneliti resiliensi secara (...) efektif adalah dengan memberikan definisi yang tepat. Dalam rapat pleno tahunan ke-29, para ahli dari berbagai disiplin ilmu yang tergabung dalam International Society for Traumatic Stress membahas secara tuntas mengenai pengertian resiliensi, termasuk juga ketua rapat (Steven Southwick) dan panelis (George Bonanno, Ann Masten, Catherine Panter-Brick, dan Rachel Yehuda). Rapat pleno tersebut diselenggarakan di Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, pada bulan November 2013 [2]. (shrink)