In Natural Ethical Facts William Casebeer argues that we can articulate a fully naturalized ethical theory using concepts from evolutionary biology and cognitive science, and that we can study moral cognition just as we study other forms of cognition. His goal is to show that we have "softly fixed" human natures, that these natures are evolved, and that our lives go well or badly depending on how we satisfy the functional demands of these natures. Natural Ethical Facts is a comprehensive examination of what a plausible moral science would look like.Casebeer begins by discussing the nature of ethics and the possible relationship between science and ethics. He then addresses David Hume's naturalistic fallacy and G. E. Moore's open-question argument, drawing on the work of John Dewey and W. V. O. Quine. He then proposes a functional account of ethics, offering corresponding biological and moral descriptions. Discussing in detail the neural correlates of moral cognition, he argues that neural networks can be used to model ethical function. He then discusses the impact his views of moral epistemology and ontology will have on traditional ethical theory and moral education, concluding that there is room for other moral theories as long as they take into consideration the functional aspect of ethics; the pragmatic neo-Aristotelian virtue theory he proposes thus serves as a moral "big tent." Finally, he addresses objections to ethical naturalism that may arise, and calls for a reconciliation of the sciences and the humanities. "Living well," Casebeer writes, "depends upon reweaving our ethical theories into the warp and woof of our scientific heritage, attending to the myriad consequences such a project will have for the way we live our lives and the manner in which we structure our collective moral institutions."

The Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, the Abominable Snowman these are the names of the elusive beasts that have caught the eye and captured the imaginations of people around the world for centuries. Recently, tales of these "monsters" have been corroborated by an increase in sightings, and out of these legends a new science has been born: cryptozoology the study of hidden animals. Cryptozoology A to Z, the first encyclopedia of its kind, contains nearly two hundred entries, including cryptids (the name given to these unusual beasts), new animal finds, and the explorers and scientists who search for them. Loren Coleman, one of the world's leading cryptozoologists, teams up with Jerome Clark, editor and author of several encyclopedias, to provide these definitive descriptions and many never-before-published drawings and photographs from eyewitnesses' detailed accounts. Full of insights into the methods of these scientists, exciting tales of discovery, and the history and evolution of this field, Cryptozoology A to Z is the most complete reference ever of the newest zoological science.

На основі широкої джерельної бази розкриваються шляхи еволюції та форми прояву державотворчих процесів у Правобережній Україні в другі половині ХVІІ-ХVІІІ ст. Значні хронологічні рамки праці дали можливість показати динаміку розвитку та виявити якісні грані змін, які відбувалися у політичному житті Укранської держави. Переосмислюється й дається нова оцінка багатьом фактам, явищам та людям тогочасної доби. Звернута увага на політичні уроки подій, які відбувалися в Україні у період формування, розвитку та втрати нею власної державності.

Latin is alive and well. Beginning in Rome around 600 BC Latin became the language of the civilized world and remained so for over two millennia. French, Spanish, Italian, and Romanian are among its progeny and it still provides the international vocabulary of law and life science. No known language, including English - itself enriched by Latin words and phrases - has achieved such success and longevity. Tore Janson tells its history from origins to the present. Brilliantly conceived and written with the same light touch as Speak, his bestselling history of languages, A Natural History of Latin is a masterpiece of adroit synthesis. The author charts the expansion in the classical world, its renewed importance in the Middle Ages, and its survival into modern times. He shows its central role in European history and culture and, by judicious quotation of phrases and texts, describes how spoken and written Latin changed and evolved differently in different places. He ends with a summary of Latin grammar and lists of Latin words and of phrases still in common use. Considered elitist and irrelevant in the second half of the twentieth century and often banned from schools, Latin is now enjoying a huge revival of interest and a renaissance in schools across Europe, the UK, and the USA. Tore Janson offers persuasive arguments for its value and direct access to its fascinating worlds, past and present.

  Текст у форматі PDF 3.01 Мб

Natural language parsing was one of the main motivations from which Prolog was developed Metamorphosis grammars, designed by Alain Colmerauer at GIA Marseille, was the first logic-based formalism for natural language parsing These grammars have inspired a number of other logic-based grammar formalisms and implementations which are now commonly used and some of which are still under intense research. These formalisms are very close per se to Metamorphosis grammar, some of them were motivated by the need to enhance the ease of writing grammar rules, others support deeper linguistic motivations and concepts. Natural language semantics and pragmatics are now two major fields in linguistics, philosophy as well as artificial intelligence and, obviously, computational linguistics. Surprisingly enough, up to now, this area was somewhat neglected, except by a small number of researchers among us. With the development of large and efficient Prolog interpreters and compilers and with the expansion of the theoretical aspects of Logic Programming, the study of natural language semantics and related pragmatic aspects is now becoming a very attractive topic.

Natural law theory is enjoying a revival of interest in a variety of scholarly disciplines including law, philosophy, political science, and theology and religious studies. This volume presents twelve original essays by leading natural law theorists and their critics. The contributors discuss natural law theories of morality, law and legal reasoning, politics, and the rule of law. Readers get a clear sense of the wide diversity of viewpoints represented among contemporary theorists, and an opportunity to evaluate the arguments and counterarguments exchanged in the current debates between natural law theorists and their critics. Contributors include Hadley Arkes, Joseph M. Boyle, Jr., John Finnis, Robert P. George, Russell Hittinger, Neil MacCormick, Michael Moore, Jeffrey Stout, Joseph Raz, Jeremy Waldron, Lloyd Weinreb, and Ernest Weinrib.

The purpose of this Outline is to serve as a supplement to a basic astronomy text. Much of the material here is abbreviated, and students should use this book as a guide to the key concepts in modern astronomy, but not as an all-inclusive resource. Topics covered range from planetary astronomy to cosmology, in the modern context. The first chapter covers most of the phsyics required to obtain a basic understanding of astronomical phenomena. The student will most likely come back to this chapter again and again as they progress through the book. The order of the topics has been set by the most common order of these topics in textbooks (near objects to far objects), but many of the chapters are quite independent, with few references to previous chapters, and may be studied out of order. The text includes many worked mathematical problems to support the efforts of students who struggle particularly in this area. These detailed problems will help even mathematically adept students to see how to solve astronomical problems involving several steps.

Contemporary accounts of what’s “natural” for human society still cite the thirteenth-century system of Thomas Aquinas – even on the Supreme Court. But those accounts ignore his biblical commentaries, which reveal something much stranger. Against the reigning impression, the commentaries embed all law, even the law of nature, in a sexually charged story of decline by specific ethnic groups – Jews and Gentiles – gendered in changing ways and redeemed by the reinsemination of divine grace. This book uses accounts of ethnicity and gender, nature and grace in Aquinas’s biblical commentaries to reframe the systematic works (especially his Summa theologiae) still quoted in court. The whole advantage of natural law is supposed to lie in its independence from any particular group, history, or religion. That is why rival views of gender and sexuality both appeal to “nature” and cite Aquinas. But Aquinas’s Summa ties natural law to specific biblical passages, where his commentary describes a nature that differs by ethnicity, varies over time, and changes sexuality by God’s decree. This destabilizes turn-of-the-twenty-first-century uses, liberal or conservative.

A New Yorker cartoon depicts a pair of Puritans in stiff collars, doublets, and cloaks leaning over the rail of the Arbella as it made landfall in the New World. One says, “My immediate goal is to worship God and celebrate His Creation, but long-term, I plan to get into real estate.”

Vol. 3. - 524 p.

For a hundred years, scholars and government officials understood, or thought they did, the electric power industry. Electric power, based on a single, large service provider, connected by wires to all of its customers, was thought to be an industry that could only operate efficiently as a monopoly; indeed it was something called a "natural monopoly." Since it had to be a monopoly, with all the attendant inefficiencies and potential market abuses monopoly entails, government regulation was necessary.

The most practical book that all gardeners have been waiting for, this fun and informative guide shows how to make the best compost using ingredients that are easily found around the house.