Principles Of Pluralism Research Articles

THE MANY-SIDED HUMANISM OF LATVIAN LATGALIAN AND BRASILIAN JESUIT PHILOSOPHER STAŅISLAVS LADUSĀNS

The famous Latvian born Brasilian philosopher Staņislavs Ladusāns (1913-1993) due to the Soviet occupation could not return to Latvia any more, – as it had been envisaged – to take up a post in the Catholic Faculty of Theology at the University of Latvia. Thus he started his mission in Brazil (1946), where he became a Christian philosopher, known all over the world, especially because of his work “Many-sided gnoseology”, in which he synthesizes phenomenology and Thomism. Specialists in the history of philosophy of Brazil point out that activities initiated by S. Ladusāns brought a profound change in the development of the intellectual culture in Brazil. During the seventies of the 20th century Ladusāns was tackling the philosophical problematics of many-sided humanism. This notion clearly indicates that human understanding is based on a plurality of principles. Thus, in order to describe a human being, one has to illuminate several dimensions, or to perform various types of measurements. Father Ladusāns distinguishes the following dimensions that are of importance for the investigation of the human being: first of all it is gnoseology or the theory of the human capacity for cognition. Above that a human being is to be considered as possessing of immortal soul that determines personal self-esteem. A human being obtains intrinsic value amidst all the other values of economic or technological character. A human being exists in the community; a human being is to be viewed through a vertical dimension revealing the existence of God as the highest being, and through a supra-natural dimension that connects philosophical humanism with the Christian faith, thus providing for spiritual renewal of people. Human beings obtain wishes that go beyond the possibilities offered by the material world; these may be realized only through intensive spiritual life. Such life praxes are accessible only in Christianity; these correspond to the existence of the soul as an immortal spiritual substance encompassed by space and time. The starting point of metaphysics is the thirst of the human being for happiness. The further argumentation of Ladusāns, based on the openness of reason towards Revelation, postulates that God as the Highest Good reveals Himself as love, thus providing our need for inner peace, as it is testified by our inner experience. A person reaches out for infinite Goodness, for the Highest Good, which is the Reality, transcending all other realities. The result of the question of happiness is a practical one – by following the voice of conscience the human being performs choices and acts to deepen the unity with the Highest Good. In doing good things a human being acquires peace. Ladusāns points out that the notion of culture is analogical – that “culture” is equivocally formed and subjectively experienced act of the inner spiritual culture of the person. Equivocal designation means that the inner culture, the spiritual life is attributively used with reference to various manifestations of spirit, forms of artistic expression, etc. – which bear the name of “culture”. By cultivating one’s inner life and the immortal life of the soul, a person reaches such a level of critical competency, which allows to evaluate and to produce new forms of culture. The many-sided spiritual culture provides for personal and national elevation to a much higher level of fullness – reaching the status of love. However, a person is incapable of reaching such a task on his own; one needs cooperation with God. The individual person and a nation has to open up within the spiritual self-identity in the culture of love, so as to reach an increasing pulsation of culture, in order to take a stand against the inhuman ideology – saturated philosophy of modernity and post-modernity.

La mascota bajo la perspectiva de la familia multiespecie y su inserción en el ordenamiento jurídico brasileño

The article deals with the new type of family, based on the principles of plurality and affection listed in the Federal Constitution of 1988, the multi-species family, which includes both human members and their pets. The Brazilian legal system classifies animals as goods to be shared in the event of marital dissolution. Currently there are numerous questions about pet custody, and the awareness that animals are sentient beings, taking into account their welfare. Through the dialectical method, the work aims to draw a comparison between the new type of family and the limits of current Brazilian law to protect and introduce pets into the family group and the possibility to pass a specific law, the Bill nº. 1.365/2015, which aims to be the normative basis for definitions of custody and responsible ownership of pets in the event of marital dissolution. For the selection of the bibliography we used the monographic method. The work was divided into two main chapters. The first will examine the evolution of the family, highlighting the multi-species family. The second analyses the Brazilian legislation and the protection given to the pet in case of marital dissolution.

THE MODERN LANGUAGE PERSONALITY IN THE ASPECT OF LINGUAL CONFLICTOLOGY

The article is devoted to the lingual-psychological analysis of conflict provoking, aggressive, destructive tendencies in the speech of the modern language personality. The scientific research’s hypothesis is the argumentation of the dominant behavior models of the modern Russian language speaker, which is characterized with categoricalness, disrespect towards the others’ opinion, non-recognition of the principles of pluralism in evaluations and opinions. In order to verify the basic statements of the article, an associative experiment has been carried out, and its results demonstrate a rather high level of potential aggression of the age group having been analyzed. Most of the respondents demonstrate an explicit aptitude towards reciprocal verbal aggression, readiness to react with brutality towards brutality, in spite of rational prejudice towards such a behavior. This is caused by internal factors (psychophysiological ones), as well as external ones (social ones).

Convivenza delle diversità, pluralismo religioso e universalità dei diritti. Modelli di approccio. Indicazioni metodologiche

SOMMARIO: 1. Esperienze storiche e modelli di approccio alle diversita culturali - 2. Elementi caratterizzanti l’esperienza italiana - 3. Convivenza delle diversita: indicazioni per una metodologia. In particolare, l’eredita della lezione maritainiana - 4. L’ambito scolastico come luogo specificamente vocato all’educazione alla convivenza interreligiosa. Abstract. The paper highlights the limits of the most well-known models of approach to cultural diversities, the assimilationist one and the communitarian one, which are typical, respectively, of France and England and of their colonial history. Italy has not remarkable colonial traditions and so it can be more free from the weight of the past in developing strategies able to face up to the problems of the multi-ethnic and multi-religious societies. Starting from the basic principles of pluralism and secularism (principio supremo di laicita, according to the words of Italian Constitutional Court), are examined the “Carta dei valori della cittadinanza e dell’integrazione” (15th June 2007) and the recent “Patto nazionale per un Islam italiano” (1st of February 2017). From a more general point of view, the paper describes and supports the thesis of Jacques Maritain about the foundation of human rights, the basis of a peaceful coexistence in a pluralistic society. Finally, it deals with the issue of teaching about religion and history of religions in Italian public schools. These kinds of courses should help students to get to know the religions present in our country - both the historical ones and the “new” ones, coming from the recent processes of immigration - in order to promote and increase the mutual respect and the inter-cultural dialogue.

Pluralisme Agama dan Implementasinya dalam Pendidikan Islam (Perspektif Al-Qur’an)

The reality of a nation that shows the existence of conditions of cultural diversity, defines the choice to adopt pluralist principles. In the principle of pluaralism there is an awareness that the nation is not single, but composed of many different components. Indonesia is one of the largest pluralist countries in the world. The various plurality that exist in Indonesia consists of diversity of social class, ethnicity, race, gender, religion, language, and age. This fact leads us to a concept that Indonesia is not formed from one tribe, one culture, one religion, one race and group but precisely Indonesia is formed from diversity. Pluralism very appreciated by the Qur'an society consists of various diverse communities and different. With such diversity and distinction emphasized the necessity of each competing in virtue. The Qur'an is very democratic towards religious pluralism as a phenomenon and does not want a clash between clashes. The Qur’an concept of religious pluralism that has been mentioned in Islamic education is in the form of curriculum, teaching method, delivery of subjects from kindergarten to university to achieve the desired goals. This study attempts to reveal its implementation pluralism in Islamic education, in literary approach.

Disaggregated pluralistic theories of global distributive justice – a critique

ABSTRACTPluralistic theories of global distributive justice aim at justifying a plurality of principles for various subglobal contexts of distributive justice. Helena de Bres has recently proposed the class of disaggregated pluralistic theories, according to which we should refrain from defending principles that apply to the shared background conditions of such subglobal contexts. This article argues that if one does not justify how these background conditions should be regulated by principles of a just global basic structure, then the (apparent) realization of the principles that are justified for the subglobal contexts of distributive justice can erode and undermine justice over time. For example, the realization of justice in international trade might undermine climate justice, at least if climate justice requires increasing tariffs (in order to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions) but justice in international trade calls for reducing tariffs (in order to create a level playing field). Principles of a just global basic structure would have to ensure that such justice-eroding spillover effects from one to another context of justice do not occur. Finally, the article responds critically to de Bres’ objections that an account of a just global basic structure is too idealistic, not action guiding, and superfluous.

Bedsides healthcare rationing dilemmas: A survey from Bulgaria and comparison with Portugal

We investigate the views of Bulgarian citizens on the principles that should guide microallocation healthcare resources and compare them directly with those of Portuguese citizens. A self-administered online questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 298 Bulgarian citizens, using methods from a matching previous study in Portugal. Respondents faced a hypothetical rationing exercise where they had to choose and order four patients (differentiated by personal and health characteristics) and a set of statements that embodied: (i) distributive criteria for prioritizing patients, (ii) who should prioritize patients, and (iii) the likelihood of these prioritization decisions being real. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and non-parametric test were used. Findings suggest that Bulgarian respondents: (i) support a plurality of distributive principles to underpin healthcare priority setting with an incident on the severity of health conditions, on utilitarianism and on reducing health inequalities; (ii) trust in the health professional to make prioritization decisions and (iii) do not seem to believe that patients' prioritization will ever become real. While Bulgarian and Portuguese respondents support a number of shared ethical principles they place a different level of importance to each. Bulgarians value mainly the age criterion in prioritizing patients, whereas Portuguese revealed a greater concern about efficiency.

Indeterminacy and the principle of need

The principle of need—the idea that resources should be allocated according to need—is often invoked in priority setting in the health care sector. In this article, I argue that a reasonable principle of need must be indeterminate, and examine three different ways that this can be dealt with: appendicizing the principle with further principles, imposing determinacy, or empowering decision makers. I argue that need must be conceptualized as a composite property composed of at least two factors: health shortfall and capacity to benefit. When one examines how the different factors relate to each other, one discovers that this is sometimes indeterminate. I illustrate this indeterminacy in this article by applying the small improvement argument. If the relation between the factors are always determinate, the comparative relation changes by a small adjustment. Yet, if two needs are dissimilar but of seemingly equal magnitude, the comparative relation does not change by a small adjustment of one of the factors. I then outline arguments in favor of each of the three strategies for dealing with indeterminacy, but also point out that all strategies have significant shortcomings. More research is needed concerning how to deal with this indeterminacy, and the most promising path seems to be to scrutinize the position of the principle of need among a plurality of relevant principles for priority setting in the health care sector.

On the Theoretical Significance of G. A. Cohen’s Fact-Insensitivity Thesis

G. A. Cohen’s claim that fundamental principles are ‘fact-insensitive’ has not received an especially warm welcome from the philosophical community. While some philosophers have expressed doubts about the plausibility of his claim, others have complained that even if his thesis is true, it is also relatively insignificant. In my paper, I argue that the fact-insensitivity thesis, if true, provides considerable support for value pluralism, and is thus of interest for that reason. Though Cohen himself assumes a plurality of fundamental principles, he never argues that the fact-insensitivity thesis supports this assumption. One of my paper’s aims, then, is to fill an argumentative gap in Cohen’s meta-ethical framework.

INCENTIVE-COMPATIBILITY AND COASEAN INVARIANCE IN PROPERTY AFFAIRS

1. IntroductionLegal rules about bundles of rights (or property law) are answers to questions such as those raised by Cooter and Ulen (p. 71): How are ownership rights established? What can be privately owned? What may owners do with their property? What are remedies for violation of property rights? Answers (legal rules) are drafted subject to, primarily, various philosophical constraints as well as security and economic pragmatism.Property law is influenced by philosophical views. According to liberal philosopher John Rawls, as explained by Sen (p. 12), we ought to desire to establish institutions, firmly chosen for basic structure of society (which) would demand one specific resolution of principles of but he does not explain the difficulties in arriving at a unique set of principles to guide institutional choice. Sen questions this Rawlsian notion of transcendental institutionalism and he doubts that it is either possible or essential; in turn, he states that there is simply a plurality of philosophical principles (not only Rawls's liberal principles) that justify conflicting property claims.1 As stated by Cooter and Ulen (pp. 107-110), property has capability to advance, among other, utilitarianism, justice, liberty and selfexpression. More specifically,On utilitarian grounds, it can be taken from (a person) in principle if beneficiaries of expropriation gain more in utility than owner loses.On distributive justice grounds, in Aristotle's conception, aristocrats use (wealth) for more worthy ends than do others. (Therefore), redistribution of property would favor rich and penalize poor. ... Another school of philosophical thought ... emphasizes a just process for defining and enforcing property rights rather than a just outcome.On liberty grounds, private property has ... been viewed by some philosophers as a bulwark against dictatorial authority of governments ... The U.S. Constitution was probably drafted with this idea in mind.On self-expression grounds, artist transforms natural objects and makes them artist's own. ... Creators' rights of ownership ... (extend) beyond art to most of works of humans.On natural selection grounds, Eswaran and Neary (2014, p.206), demonstrate that, given evolutionarily stable preferences, producers value output more than interlopers do. In this way, natural selection hardwires attachment to fruits of one's own labor more than attachment to fruits of someone else's labor. The asymmetry in valuation arises because of asymmetric role of contesting individuals in production of output. Asymmetric valuation generates an innate enforcement mechanism whereby a producer would spend more effort in defense of his output than would an interloper in its attempted appropriation. As same authors state (p. 221), their setting provides an evolutionary basis for both doctrine of first possession and Locke's labor theory of property rights, which are crucial ingredients of philosophical and legal approaches to property rights.Property law violations (dubbed negative externalities) are present whenever well-being of consumers or production possibilities of firms are negatively affected by actions of other agents in society. Negative externalities give rise to market failure (which may be corrected through imposition of standards, taxation and bargaining between parties involved) and they may range from, among other, bilateral to multilateral and from intellectual to pollution (e.g., environmental, noise, and aesthetic) or from positional to those that involve informational asymmetry. Several specific case examples are instructive.The often-cited case of Pierson v. Post, 2 Am. Dec. 264 (N.Y. 1805) illustrates an archetypal bilateral dispute. There, Supreme Court of New York resolved that in order to own an animal, you must physically possess it. …

Pluralism in the regional political process (by the example of the legislatures elections in Western Siberia. The late 20th - beginning of the 21st centuries)

Pluralism in a democratic society is a key principle of providing active political members. Its introduction into the Russian political process, of both federal and regional levels, began during a period of radical change in the system of state power and the mechanism of its formation (the 90s of the 20 th century). Legislatures of the subjects of the Russian Federation became the first government, created on the basis of alternative democratic elections (1994). They presented the variety of parties, public associations and movements, which, thanks to the principle of pluralism declared their political interests. However, the modern list of political members - bearers of different ideologies - is much inferior in diversity. The study of political experience of legislatures in Western Siberia in historical retrospective reveals the role of pluralism as a condition of the transition from an emerging system to its sustainable development. The findings reflect the specifics of the Russian multi-party system within the boundaries of regional political process.

Accumulation as eternal recurrence: theology of the bad infinity

The paper re-evaluates Schmitt’s (Political theology: four chapters on the concept of sovereignty, trans. George Schwab. Chicago University Press, Chicago, 2005: 36, 48, 65) claim that although all “significant concepts of the modern theory of the state are secularized theological concepts”; the theological was replaced in the nineteenth century by “exclusively scientific thinking”; leading in the twentieth, to “the onslaught against the political,” in which it “vanishes into the economic or technical-organizational”. Some modern political concepts, especially sovereignty, have theological origins; and economics claims to be pure positive science. Nonetheless, the political is necessarily worldly, whereas economics is theological in its origins and remains so. The political is worldly in accepting the principle of plurality as “the law of the earth,” taking worldly freedom as its aim (Arendt 1968: 146–50, Arendt in The life of the mind. Harcourt Brace and Company, New York, 1978: 19). Economics is theological first, because, like the one god, it is essentially singular and postulates an order beyond human knowledge and agency. Three stages of economic theology are sketched: the primitive theology of Adam Smith; the pseudo-theology of neoclassical economics; and the true theology of Marx’s account of capitalist accumulation. The paper uses Eliade’s (The myth of the eternal return or, cosmos and history, trans. Willard R. Trask, Bollingen Series XLVI. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1965) account of the “archaic ontology” of pre-modern societies in which order is beyond human knowledge and agency; realizes itself through the eternal recurrence of archetypal agents and acts; and abolishes history. It also uses Agamben’s (The kingdom and the glory: for a theological genealogy of economy and government, trans. Lorenzo Chiesa. Stanford University Press, Stanford, 2011) description of the development of the word oikonomia. It argues that the line of modern political thought based on sovereignty and regarded as central by Schmitt, is a politics that has been colonized by economics, and must be a form of domination. Liberation from economic theology can only come from a revival of a true politics that aims at freedom. It is true that such a politics has never yet succeeded in separating itself from domination (Clastres in Society against the state, trans. Robert Hurley. Urizen Books, New York, 1977); but that is the subject of another discussion.

Causes and Consequences of the Economic Crisis in Croatia

In analyzing the causes of the crisis, it is necessary to take into account certain specific features characteristic for Croatia, compared with the most of other post-communist countries. This is primarily related to the peculiarities of an inherited socialist system, and the circumstances in which the process of political and economic transformation of the Croatian society was begun. Thus, the process of multiple transition of socio-political system based on a unique model of self-management of social ownership was carried out while struggling to preserve the independence and territorial integrity of the newly established state. These factors, according to the author, are the key to understanding the present economic and social crisis in Croatia, which is generated by the current system of values. Built in the early 90’s of the last century, this system is a direct consequence of the war and a badly managed transition. The imposed system of values led to a rapid disintegration of society and became an obstacle in the further process of democratization. Instead of the development of society in the direction of the rule of law and justice, “distorted” system of values paved the way for the development of systemic corruption. The cause of this problem, according to the author, is in the anomalies that occurred during the process of political transformation from the one-party system to a society based on democratic principles of pluralism and the rule of law. The result of this political transformation was the creation of a political system, which was marked by the rule of one strong political party and the weak opposition during the last decade of the 20th century. Another problem the author points to is the organizational model of the majority of newly established political parties, which is characterized by a strict hierarchical structure, with a strong leader in charge of a narrow elitist circle of people within which this program of political action was created. The end result of the implemented political transformation of the society was politocracy—an established model of the rule of political parties that functions in today’s conditions. Also, the process of economic transition has enabled the emergence of plutocracy, which has in a strong symbiosis with politocracy paved the way for the practice of ruling in favor of the individual, to the detriment of the common good. According to the author’s opinion, the basic requirement for Croatia to exit the economic crisis is the change in the system of values, and the prerequisite for this is the implementation of structural reforms in all fields of society—above all, the reform of the political system.

Плюрализм, толерантность и свободомыслие в решениях Европейского суда по правам человека

The author analyzes the democratic model based on the principles of pluralism, tolerance and freedom of thought through the prism of decisions taken by the European Court of Human Rights. Nonconflict interaction between individuals and groups with different views on self-identification stands as a prerequisite for social cohesion and civil society. It is claimed that freedom of expression is not absolute due to state-driven containing factors – “implied limitations”. Ideals and values of a democratic society should be based on dialogue and compromise of both the state and the citizens. Mission of the state consists in determination of “game rules” which allow it to act as a guarantor of principles of pluralism and tolerance towards the parties to the conflict.

Pluralism and its Perils: Navigating the Tension between Gay Rights and Religious Expression

The conflict between gay equality claims and religious liberty claims permeates debates over marriage equality and LGBT civil rights. Using as its centerpiece a decision that forced Georgetown University to provide benefits for a gay student organization, this article examines both the doctrinal underpinnings of how courts resolve the tension between gay rights and religion and the principles of pluralism that are at stake. The Georgetown case is rightly understood as an exemplar of judicial minimalism. This article argues that the values of learning things undecided, while real, may be outweighed by lost opportunities for advancing principles that also foster respect for competing norms and promote affirmative values rather than simple suppression of conflict. In particular, the article argues for adoption of three premises, all of which contribute new insights to this continuing debate: that obedience to antidiscrimination law is not inherently expressive; that disagreement with antidiscrimination law must be fully protected; and that the framing of antidiscrimination norms should be de-moralized. Some scholars believe that pluralism requires treating religious authority as equivalent to law. This article argues that, in situations such as the Georgetown case, when seemingly irreconcilable value systems collide, the proper role of courts in a pluralistic democracy is to provide the secular authority that ultimately resolves such a case, if not the volatile cultural dispute underlying it.

A pragmatic contribution for a more reflexive institution-based trust

This paper presents a philosophical reflection on the concept of trust in order to promote a pragmatic reflexivity in institutionalist theory. The objective of this article is to indicate why the best way to deal with trust issues is to reflexively balance their rational and routine origins. Understood as an individualist effort for the rational action theory, such reflexive requirement nevertheless asks for a complex interrogation of the nature of the intersubjectivity at stake. To fully understand the sources and the mechanisms of institution-based trust requires taking into account the peculiar bond that actors have with their own institutional framing as a condition of stability of their common-sense world. People rely on institutions to interact on daily basis and reflexivity is the mechanism that operates the equilibrium between individual reason and institutional routine. Neoinstitutionalist approaches in organisational theory are often understood as having integrated such modality. We believe on the contrary that they have not sufficiently taken into account the reflexive requirement where a pragmatic understanding of institutional trust does. Our contribution calls then for a research methodology based on scientific humility and for the definition of pluralist and experimental collective action principles.

Rethinking Development Management Methodology: Towards a “Process Freedoms Approach”

Despite the change in development thinking towards a multidimensional concept of human development, the fact is that this paradigm shift has not found its parallel evolution in the practice of development planning, monitoring and evaluation. Logic model-based methods, such as results-based management and project-cycle management, are still prevalent independently of the scale or instruments used on development. This paper critically assesses how the capability approach challenges current development management methodologies, based on the results of three case studies constructed as a participant observer under an action-research perspective. Building on Sen's concepts of principles and process freedoms, and on Alkire's core objectives of human development—real freedoms, process freedoms, plural principles and sustainability—we present the possible foundations of an alternative methodology for development interventions, a “Process Freedoms Approach”, aimed at better mainstreaming the capability approach within development policies, programmes and projects.

La secolarizzazione inconsapevole. Laicità e dimensione pubblica nell'Italia contemporanea

Even Italy, like much of the Western world, has been affected in recent decades by an intense process of secularization. This secularization of private costumes and the desacralization of religion, however, did not produced a decrease in the power of ecclesiastical institutions and in social, cultural and political influence that they have in the public sphere. Indeed, while secular organizations face increasing difficulty in making their voices heard (for example, there are no more political parties that explicitly recognize the secular tradition, both liberal and socialist), the Catholic Church has regained a new centrality. This is demonstrated by the measures approved in recent years on public funding to private schools, on the living will, on the legal recognition of unmarried couples and homosexual couples, on the use of stem cells for scientific research, on artificial insemination, on the removal of symbols religious from public buildings, on the legalization of RU486 (the so called morning after pill). In many cases, the Constitutional Court has been forced to intervene. Through various judgments the Court has defended the principle of pluralism in religious matters and has been a mainstay of the secular state and of In many cases, the Constitutional Court has been forced to intervene. Through various judgments the Court has defended the principle of pluralism in religious matters and has been a mainstay of the secular state and the fundamental rights enshrined in the Charter of 1948.

Global legal pluralism as fact and norm

AbstractThis article interrogates the intellectual foundations of global legal pluralism as a descriptive and normative position, and assesses its core claims with reference to the changing status of individuals in the postnational realm. In order to uncover the normative core of the pluralist position, the article turns to the rich tradition of value pluralism in political philosophy, particularly as articulated by Isaiah Berlin. It argues that as a normative position, pluralism – whether applied to the abstract sphere of values or the concrete realm of legal regimes – is normatively underdetermined, offering too little guidance as to how the conflicts endemic to a pluralistic world ought to be resolved. Unless it is supplemented by other, more substantive principles of political legitimacy such as democracy, freedom, equality, or justice, the principle of pluralism applied to the global legal realm is poised to reproduce, even exacerbate, existing inequalities of power and resources among those whom it affects.

The problem with brain GUTs: Conflation of different senses of “prediction” threatens metaphysical disaster

Clark appears to be moving toward epistemic internalism, which he once rightly rejected. This results from a double over-interpretation of predictive coding's significance. First, Clark argues that predictive coding offers a Grand Unified Theory (GUT) of brain function. Second, he over-reads its epistemic import, perhaps even conflating causal and epistemic mediators. We argue instead for a plurality of neurofunctional principles.