Paradoxes of Freedom

Author(s):  
Aaron Stalnaker

This chapter examines modern Western objections to both authority and dependence, in both cases on the grounds that they threaten human autonomy, which implies that we should minimize both authority and dependence whenever possible. The chapter includes historical overviews of the modern Western “flight from authority” as well as the gradual fragmentation and transformation of notions of dependence on others. It examines Maine on status and contract, Berlin on liberty, and Mill and others on the dangers of paternalism. The chapter analyzes the concepts of authority and autonomy through an engagement with Raz’s “service conception of authority,” arguing that early Confucians have a generally similar approach to the nature and value of authority, albeit with some important differences, which avoid some common objections to Raz’s views. The chapter closes with an overview of the rest of the book.

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 75-92
Author(s):  
Christian Schröer

An act-theoretical view on the profile of responsibility discourse shows in what sense not only all kinds of technical, pragmatic and moral reason, but also all kinds of religious motivation cannot justify a human action sufficiently without acknowledgment to three basic principles of human autonomy as supreme limiting conditions that are human dignity, sense, and justifiability. According to Thomas Aquinas human beings ultimately owe their moral autonomy to a divine creator. So this autonomy can be considered as an expression of secondary-cause autonomy and as the voice of God in the enlightened conscience.


2021 ◽  
pp. 074873042098363
Author(s):  
Alejandro A. Aguirre ◽  
Roberto A. Palomares ◽  
Aitor D. De Ondiz ◽  
Eleazar R. Soto ◽  
Mariana S. Perea ◽  
...  

Evidence has accumulated over the years indicating that the moon influences some aspects of the reproductive activity in animals and humans. However, little is known about the influence of the lunar cycle on the reproductive performance of cows under tropical conditions, where the environment strongly affects reproduction. This retrospective study was conducted with the aim of assessing the influence of the lunar cycle on some reproductive traits of tropical crossbred cows managed in a pasture-based system. Data from 5869 reproductive records from two commercial farms localized in the Maracaibo Lake Basin of Zulia State, Venezuela, were analyzed. Variables studied were first service conception rate, calving frequency, first postpartum estrous frequency, and pregnancy frequency. In addition to the lunar cycle, the effects of farm, season, and predominant breed were also considered. Data were analyzed using logistic regression and general linear model from SAS. First service conception was affected by lunar phases and predominant breed, but not by farm or season. For frequencies of calving, first postpartum estrus, and pregnancy, there was no main effect of farm, season, and predominant breed, whereas the effect of lunar phases was highly significant. First service conception was significantly greater in waning than in crescent phase of the lunar cycle. Frequencies of calving, first estrus, and pregnancy were highly correlated and showed greater figures around full moon and new moon. In conclusion, lunar cycle influenced first service conception, attaining greater values in the waning phase of the moon cycle. Frequencies of calving, first postpartum estrus, and pregnancy in crossbred cows showed a clear bimodal rhythm, whose greatest values coincided with new moon and full moon.


2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-72
Author(s):  
Nathan J. McNeese ◽  
Mustafa Demir ◽  
Erin K. Chiou ◽  
Nancy J. Cooke

AI & Society ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simona Chiodo

AbstractWe continuously talk about autonomous technologies. But how can words qualifying technologies be the very same words chosen by Kant to define what is essentially human, i.e. being autonomous? The article focuses on a possible answer by reflecting upon both etymological and philosophical issues, as well as upon the case of autonomous vehicles. Most interestingly, on the one hand, we have the notion of (human) “autonomy”, meaning that there is a “law” that is “self-given”, and, on the other hand, we have the notion of (technological) “automation”, meaning that there is something “offhand” that is “self-given”. Yet, we are experiencing a kind of twofold shift: on the one hand, the shift from defining technologies in terms of automation to defining technologies in terms of autonomy and, on the other hand, the shift from defining humans in terms of autonomy to defining humans in terms of automation. From a philosophical perspective, the shift may mean that we are trying to escape precisely from what autonomy founds, i.e. individual responsibility of humans that, in the Western culture, have been defined for millennia as rational and moral decision-makers, even when their decisions have been the toughest. More precisely, the shift may mean that we are using technologies, and in particular emerging algorithmic technologies, as scapegoats that bear responsibility for us by making decisions for us. Moreover, if we consider the kind of emerging algorithmic technologies that increasingly surround us, starting from autonomous vehicles, then we may argue that we also seem to create a kind of technological divine that, by being always with us through its immanent omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence and inscrutability, can always be our technological scapegoat freeing us from the most unbearable burden of individual responsibility resulting from individual autonomy.


2019 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Cammack

The meaning of dēmokratia is widely agreed: ‘rule by the people’ (less often ‘people-power’), where dēmos, ‘people’, implies ‘entire citizen body’, synonymous with polis, ‘city-state’, or πάντες πολίται, ‘all citizens’. Dēmos, on this understanding, comprised rich and poor, leaders and followers, mass and elite alike. As such, dēmokratia is interpreted as constituting a sharp rupture from previous political regimes. Rule by one man or by a few had meant the domination of one part of the community over the rest, but dēmokratia, it is said, implied self-rule, and with it the dissolution of the very distinction between ruler and ruled. Its governing principle was the formal political equality of all citizens. In the words of W.G. Forrest, between 750 and 450 b.c. there had developed ‘the idea of individual human autonomy … the idea that all members of a political society are free and equal, that everyone had the right to an equal say in determining the structure and the activities of his society’.


2020 ◽  
Vol 168 ◽  
pp. 195-201
Author(s):  
Mustafa Demir ◽  
Polemnia G. Amazeen ◽  
Nancy J. Cooke

2020 ◽  
Vol 98 (Supplement_4) ◽  
pp. 197-198
Author(s):  
Miguel A Sánchez-Castro ◽  
Milt Thomas ◽  
Mark Enns ◽  
Scott Speidel

Abstract First-service conception rate (FSCR) can be defined as the probability of a heifer conceiving in response to her first artificial insemination (AI). Given the binary nature of its phenotypes, FSCR has been typically evaluated using animal threshold models (ATM). However, susceptibility of these models to the extreme-category problem (ECP) limits their ability to use all available information to calculate Expected Progeny Differences (EPD). Random regression models (RRM) represent an alternative method to evaluate binary traits, and they are not affected by ECP. Nevertheless, RRM were originally developed to analyze longitudinal traits, so their usefulness to evaluate traits with singly observed phenotypes remains unclear. Therefore, objectives herein were to evaluate the feasibility of a RRM genetic prediction for heifer FSCR by comparing its resulting EPD and genetic parameters to those obtained with a traditional ATM. Breeding and ultrasound records of 4,334 Angus heifers (progeny of 354 sires and 1,626 dams) collected between 1992 to 2019 at the Colorado State University Beef Improvement Center were utilized. Observations for FSCR (1, successful; 0, unsuccessful) were defined by fetal age at pregnancy inspections performed approximately 130 d post-AI. Traditional FSCR evaluation was performed using a univariate BLUP threshold animal model, whereas an alternative evaluation was performed by regressing FSCR on age at AI using a linear RRM with Legendre Polynomials as the base function. Heritability estimates were 0.03 ± 0.02 for the ATM and 0.005 ± 0.001 for the average age at AI with the RRM, respectively. Pearson and rank correlations between EPD obtained with each method were 0.63 and 0.60, respectively. The regression coefficient of RRM predictions on those obtained with the ATM was 0.095. In conclusion, these results suggested that although a RRM genetic prediction for FSCR was feasible, a considerable degree of re-ranking occurred between the two methodologies.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document