The Age of Enlightenment
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Analysis Note: the Economic Case for Gender Equality
Analysis Note: the Economic Case for Gender Equality Mark SMITH and Francesca BETTIO August 2008 This analysis note was financed by and prepared for the use of the European Commission, Directorate- General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of the European Commission, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. Neither the Commission nor any person acting on its behalf is responsible for the use that might be made of the information contained in this publication. EGGE – European Commission's Network of Experts on Employment and Gender Equality issues – Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Although gender equality is widely regarded as a worthwhile goal it is also seen as having potential costs or even acting as a constraint on economic growth and while this view may not be evident in official policy it remains implicit in policy decisions. For example, where there is pressure to increase the quantity of work or promote growth, progress towards gender equality may be regarded as something that can be postponed. However, it is possible to make an Economic Case for gender equality, as an investment, such that it can be regarded as a means to promote growth and employment rather than act as a cost or constraint. As such equality policies need to be seen in a wider perspective with a potentially greater impact on individuals, firms, regions and nations. The Economic Case for gender equality can be regarded as going a step further than the so- called Business Case. While the Business Case emphasises the need for equal treatment to reflect the diversity among potential employees and an organisation’s customers the Economic Case stresses economic benefits at a macro level. -
The General Will: the Evolution of a Concept Edited by James Farr and David Lay Williams Frontmatter More Information
Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-05701-2 - The General Will: The Evolution of a Concept Edited by James Farr and David Lay Williams Frontmatter More information The General Will Although it originated in theological debates, the general will ultimately became one of the most celebrated and denigrated concepts emerging from early modern political thought. Jean-Jacques Rousseau made it the central element of his political theory, and it took on a life of its own during the French Revolution, before being subjected to generations of embrace or opprobrium. James Farr and David Lay Williams have collected for the first time a set of essays that track the evolving history of the general will from its origins to recent times. The General Will: The Evolution of a Concept discusses the general will’s theological, political, formal, and substantive dimensions with a careful eye toward the con- cept’s virtues and limitations as understood by its expositors and critics, among them Arnauld, Pascal, Malebranche, Leibniz, Locke, Spinoza, Montesquieu, Kant, Constant, Tocqueville, Adam Smith, and John Rawls. James Farr is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Chicago Field Studies Program at Northwestern University. He is the author of numerous essays on Locke and on the history of political thought. He is also the editor of, among other volumes, Political Innovation and Conceptual Change (Cambridge, 1989) and Political Science in History (Cambridge, 1995). David Lay Williams is Associate Professor of Political Science at DePaul University and the author of several essays on the history of political thought, as well as of Rousseau’s Platonic Enlightenment (2007) and Rousseau’s Social Contract: An Introduction (Cambridge, 2014). -
HUMANISM Religious Practices
HUMANISM Religious Practices . Required Daily Observances . Required Weekly Observances . Required Occasional Observances/Holy Days Religious Items . Personal Religious Items . Congregate Religious Items . Searches Requirements for Membership . Requirements (Includes Rites of Conversion) . Total Membership Medical Prohibitions Dietary Standards Burial Rituals . Death . Autopsies . Mourning Practices Sacred Writings Organizational Structure . Headquarters Location . Contact Office/Person History Theology 1 Religious Practices Required Daily Observance No required daily observances. Required Weekly Observance No required weekly observances, but many Humanists find fulfillment in congregating with other Humanists on a weekly basis (especially those who characterize themselves as Religious Humanists) or other regular basis for social and intellectual engagement, discussions, book talks, lectures, and similar activities. Required Occasional Observances No required occasional observances, but some Humanists (especially those who characterize themselves as Religious Humanists) celebrate life-cycle events with baby naming, coming of age, and marriage ceremonies as well as memorial services. Even though there are no required observances, there are several days throughout the calendar year that many Humanists consider holidays. They include (but are not limited to) the following: February 12. Darwin Day: This marks the birthday of Charles Darwin, whose research and findings in the field of biology, particularly his theory of evolution by natural selection, represent a breakthrough in human knowledge that Humanists celebrate. First Thursday in May. National Day of Reason: This day acknowledges the importance of reason, as opposed to blind faith, as the best method for determining valid conclusions. June 21 - Summer Solstice. This day is also known as World Humanist Day and is a celebration of the longest day of the year. -
Plausibility of the “General Will” ______1
Plausibility of the “General Will” By: Nemanja Todorovic Submitted to: Central European University, Department of Philosophy In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Philosophy Supervisor: Andres Moles CEU eTD Collection Hungary, Budapest, 2011 1 Abstract: Rousseau’s influence on social and political philosophy has been formidable, and yet throughout his life and to this day his theoretical effort was constantly re-evaluated. Due to lack of clarity in his writings, his commitment to democratic ideals that seemed obscure and outdated for much of the 20 th century, and especially due to misunderstandings that accompanied his concept of the general will, Rousseau’s conception of legitimate society has received some serious and seemingly devastated criticisms. In this paper I will address myself with the most important question that seems to underline all those criticisms, namely : is the idea of the society regulated by a general ill a consistent political ideal, or does it necessarily conflate with the ‘will of all’ (will of the majority)? I address this concern, first by providing a conceptual background to Rousseau’s ideal society, specifying normative constraints that determine its subsequent framework. Second, I test the plausibility of the idea of the general will, in principle, by questioning its role in as a solution to the ‘fundamental problem’ – the possibility of reconciliation of political authority and personal autonomy. Although, I recognize that this idea has some plausibility, I conclude that it rests on some contentious epistemic considerations that need to be accounted for. I introduce these epistemic considerations in the last chapter, and I argue that Rousseau’s ideal society can in fact generate appropriate epistemic support, under the assumptions that a set of normative constraints has been satisfied. -
The Star of the Age of Reason. Voltaire 1694-1778
Camilla Kolstad Danielsen The Star of The Age of Reason. Voltaire 1694-1778 During the 18th century, the French writers, philosophers and scientists were determined to improve the world through reason. Voltaire was the most famous of them all. No other writer was as frequently read and discussed. He was successful with his tragedies and poetry, he disseminated Newton’s philosophy to Europe and he was engaged in individual fates. For us, Voltaire is a symbolic figure, a socially engaged 2013 intellectual writer who fought for freedom of speech and other human rights. Such a Original title: Opplysningens stjerne. Voltaire notion is tinted by our modern viewpoint. But the important position Voltaire NORLA Selection acquired in his time was a result of the independent manner with which he handled his role as writer. FOREIGN RIGHTS This book provides an insight into Voltaire’s extensive and comprehensive authorship HAGEN AGENCY by Eirin Hagen within fiction, history, philosophy and various socially engaged essays. We meet Lindemans gate 3 D Voltaire as both controversial and moderate, radical and conservative, a contentious NO-0267 Oslo Tel: +47 22 46 52 54 man who won many battles, but far from all, and he did his best to fashion his star Mob: +47 93 41 10 56 status within his contemporaries and for future generations. [email protected] www.hagenagency.no English sample translation available Humanist Forlag 2014 231 Pages Praise: “This is a great book, scholastically solid and an exemplary dissemination of research. It is captivating and funny, and at the same time so convincing that I don’t think I have ever read anything better about Voltaire” Ellen Krefting, associate professor at the University of Oslo Camilla Kolstad Danielsen Camilla Kolstad Danielsenhas written articles on the French enlightenment and her PhD thesis about Voltaire’s philosophical narratives, potpourri, as a genre practice in Voltaire’s later philosophical works (2006). -
Newton and Leibniz: the Development of Calculus Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
Newton and Leibniz: The development of calculus Isaac Newton (1642-1727) Isaac Newton was born on Christmas day in 1642, the same year that Galileo died. This coincidence seemed to be symbolic and in many ways, Newton developed both mathematics and physics from where Galileo had left off. A few months before his birth, his father died and his mother had remarried and Isaac was raised by his grandmother. His uncle recognized Newton’s mathematical abilities and suggested he enroll in Trinity College in Cambridge. Newton at Trinity College At Trinity, Newton keenly studied Euclid, Descartes, Kepler, Galileo, Viete and Wallis. He wrote later to Robert Hooke, “If I have seen farther, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.” Shortly after he received his Bachelor’s degree in 1665, Cambridge University was closed due to the bubonic plague and so he went to his grandmother’s house where he dived deep into his mathematics and physics without interruption. During this time, he made four major discoveries: (a) the binomial theorem; (b) calculus ; (c) the law of universal gravitation and (d) the nature of light. The binomial theorem, as we discussed, was of course known to the Chinese, the Indians, and was re-discovered by Blaise Pascal. But Newton’s innovation is to discuss it for fractional powers. The binomial theorem Newton’s notation in many places is a bit clumsy and he would write his version of the binomial theorem as: In modern notation, the left hand side is (P+PQ)m/n and the first term on the right hand side is Pm/n and the other terms are: The binomial theorem as a Taylor series What we see here is the Taylor series expansion of the function (1+Q)m/n. -
General Will Richard Dagger University of Richmond, [email protected]
University of Richmond UR Scholarship Repository Political Science Faculty Publications Political Science 2001 General Will Richard Dagger University of Richmond, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.richmond.edu/polisci-faculty-publications Part of the Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Dagger, Richard. "General Will." In Reader's Guide to the Social Sciences, edited by Jonathan Michie, 647-48. Vol. 1. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2001. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Political Science at UR Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Political Science Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of UR Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. GENERAL WILL 647 Copyright 2001 From Reader's Guide to the Social Sciences by Jonathan Michie. Reproduced by permission of Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, a divison of Informa plc. General will Barry, Brian, "The Public Interest" in Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, supplementary vol. 3 8 ( 1964): l-18 Bosanquet, Bernard, The Philosophical Theory of the State, 4th edition, London and New York: Macmillan, 19 51 (1st edition 1899) Dent, N.J.H., Rousseau: An Introduction to His Psychological, Social, and Political Theory, Oxford and New York: Blackwell, 1988 Held, Virginia, The Public Interest and Individual Interests, New York and London: Basic Books, 1970 Jones, W.T., "Rousseau's General Will and the Problem of Consent", Journal of the History of Philosophy, 25/r ( 1987): IO 5-30 Masters, Roger D., The Political Philosophy of Rousseau, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1968 Riley, Patrick, The General Will before Rousseau: The Transformation of the Divine into the Civic, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1986 Runciman, W.G. -
Descartes' Influence in Shaping the Modern World-View
R ené Descartes (1596-1650) is generally regarded as the “father of modern philosophy.” He stands as one of the most important figures in Western intellectual history. His work in mathematics and his writings on science proved to be foundational for further development in these fields. Our understanding of “scientific method” can be traced back to the work of Francis Bacon and to Descartes’ Discourse on Method. His groundbreaking approach to philosophy in his Meditations on First Philosophy determine the course of subsequent philosophy. The very problems with which much of modern philosophy has been primarily concerned arise only as a consequence of Descartes’thought. Descartes’ philosophy must be understood in the context of his times. The Medieval world was in the process of disintegration. The authoritarianism that had dominated the Medieval period was called into question by the rise of the Protestant revolt and advances in the development of science. Martin Luther’s emphasis that salvation was a matter of “faith” and not “works” undermined papal authority in asserting that each individual has a channel to God. The Copernican revolution undermined the authority of the Catholic Church in directly contradicting the established church doctrine of a geocentric universe. The rise of the sciences directly challenged the Church and seemed to put science and religion in opposition. A mathematician and scientist as well as a devout Catholic, Descartes was concerned primarily with establishing certain foundations for science and philosophy, and yet also with bridging the gap between the “new science” and religion. Descartes’ Influence in Shaping the Modern World-View 1) Descartes’ disbelief in authoritarianism: Descartes’ belief that all individuals possess the “natural light of reason,” the belief that each individual has the capacity for the discovery of truth, undermined Roman Catholic authoritarianism. -
25 Mill on Justice and Rights DAVID O
25 Mill on Justice and Rights DAVID O. BRINK Mill develops his account of the juridical concepts of justice and rights in several d ifferent contexts and works. He discusses both the logic of these juridical concepts – what rights and justice are and how they are related to each other and to utility – and their substance – what rights we have and what justice demands. Though the logic and substance of these juridical concepts are distinct, they are related. An account of the logic of rights and justice should constrain how one justifies claims about their substance, and ways of defending what rights we have and what justice demands pre- suppose claims about the logic of these concepts. We would do well to examine Mill’s central claims about the substance of justice and rights before turning to his views about their logic. Mill links demands of justice and individual rights. He defends rights to basic liberties in On Liberty (1859), women’s rights to sexual equality as a matter of justice in The Subjection of Women (1869), and rights to fair equality opportunity in Principles of Political Economy (1848) and The Subjection of Women. While these are Mill’s central claims about the substance of rights and justice, he is attracted to three different conceptions of the logic of rights and justice. His most explicit discussion occurs in Chapter V of Utilitarianism (1861) in response to the worry that justice is a moral con- cept independent of considerations of utility. There, Mill develops claims about justice and rights that treat them as related parts of an indirect utilitarian conception of duty that explains fundamental moral notions in terms of expedient sanctioning responses. -
The World from Neo-Liberal Globalization to Neo-Populist Ethno-Nationalism: from the Law of Nature to the Law of Nurture
Journal of International Politics Volume 2, Issue 3, 2020, PP 30-38 ISSN 2642-8245 The World from Neo-Liberal Globalization to Neo-Populist Ethno-Nationalism: From the Law of Nature to the Law of Nurture Sibuh Gebeyaw Tareke* Department of Political Science and International Studies, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia *Corresponding Author: Sibuh Gebeyaw Tareke, Department of Political Science and International Studies, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. ABSTRACT Neoliberalism arose from classical liberalism, which was believed in individual liberty, equal opportunity, and private property should administer by individual ‘law of nature’ while the ‘law of state’ regarded as a ‘necessary evil’. When neoliberalism had emerged in 1970s, it replaced the theories of Keynesianism, which targeted state regulation on the economic policy; towards a more ‘monetarist’ individual self-regulating and ‘market law’ approach. This “Individual against all” approach of neoliberalism led the mass to live like slaves in slavery age and peasants in feudalism. Then economic crises aggravated and the ‘law of identity’ emerged or neoliberalism shifted towards all against all approaches of neo-populism. This paper explores the neoliberal law of the individual over the mass and its practical failure; next it discusses all against all laws of neo-populism and its threats. In the end, it provides the missing laws of both the ‘neo-neo’ approaches as a solution anda concluding remark. Keywords: Neo-liberalism; Neo-populism; Law-of-Nature; Law-of-market; Law-of-State; Law-of-Nurture INTRODUCTION revolutionary to modern liberalism-the trend towards big government and state intervention The private ownership of the means of production (law of the state) that had characterized much of was introduced as a distinct movement in the the twentieth century. -
What Was 'The Enlightenment'? We Hear About It All the Time. It Was A
What Was ‘The Enlightenment’? We hear about it all the time. It was a pivotal point in European history, paving the way for centuries of history afterward, but what was ‘The Enlightenment’? Why is it called ‘The Enlightenment’? Why did the period end? The Enlightenment Period is also referred to as the Age of Reason and the “long 18th century”. It stretched from 1685 to 1815. The period is characterized by thinkers and philosophers throughout Europe and the United States that believed that humanity could be changed and improved through science and reason. Thinkers looked back to the Classical period, and forward to the future, to try and create a trajectory for Europe and America during the 18th century. It was a volatile time marked by art, scientific discoveries, reformation, essays, and poetry. It begun with the American War for Independence and ended with a bang when the French Revolution shook the world, causing many to question whether ideas of egalitarianism and pure reason were at all safe or beneficial for society. Opposing schools of thought, new doctrines and scientific theories, and a belief in the good of humankind would eventually give way the Romantic Period in the 19th century. What is Enlightenment? Philosopher Immanuel Kant asked the self-same question in his essay of the same name. In the end, he came to the conclusion: “Dare to know! Have courage to use your own reason!” This was an immensely radical statement for this time period. Previously, ideas like philosophy, reason, and science – these belonged to the higher social classes, to kings and princes and clergymen. -
Some Worries About the Coherence of Left-Libertarianism Mathias Risse
John F. Kennedy School of Government Harvard University Faculty Research Working Papers Series Can There be “Libertarianism without Inequality”? Some Worries About the Coherence of Left-Libertarianism Mathias Risse Nov 2003 RWP03-044 The views expressed in the KSG Faculty Research Working Paper Series are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the John F. Kennedy School of Government or Harvard University. All works posted here are owned and copyrighted by the author(s). Papers may be downloaded for personal use only. Can There be “Libertarianism without Inequality”? Some Worries About the Coherence of Left-Libertarianism1 Mathias Risse John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University October 25, 2003 1. Left-libertarianism is not a new star on the sky of political philosophy, but it was through the recent publication of Peter Vallentyne and Hillel Steiner’s anthologies that it became clearly visible as a contemporary movement with distinct historical roots. “Left- libertarian theories of justice,” says Vallentyne, “hold that agents are full self-owners and that natural resources are owned in some egalitarian manner. Unlike most versions of egalitarianism, left-libertarianism endorses full self-ownership, and thus places specific limits on what others may do to one’s person without one’s permission. Unlike right- libertarianism, it holds that natural resources may be privately appropriated only with the permission of, or with a significant payment to, the members of society. Like right- libertarianism, left-libertarianism holds that the basic rights of individuals are ownership rights. Left-libertarianism is promising because it coherently underwrites both some demands of material equality and some limits on the permissible means of promoting this equality” (Vallentyne and Steiner (2000a), p 1; emphasis added).