scholarly journals Prima facie duties and the structure of ethical explanations

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 53-64
Author(s):  
Monika Jovanovic
Keyword(s):  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Prima Facie ◽  
Moral Reasons ◽  
Ethical Theories ◽  
Problematic Case ◽  
Normative Implications

I begin with the thesis that the most appropriate classification of ethical theories pertains to their structural characteristics and give the advantage to the particularism/ generalism dichotomy over the deontological/teleological and act-centered/agent-centered classifications. Subsequently I use the example of Ross?s ethics of prima facie duties to illustrate how this distinction can be properly applied to a seemingly problematic case. In the first part of the paper I aim to show that Ross?s view is, in spite of its use of deontological terminology, essentially particularist. I then examine the specificities of Ross?s pluralism and explore the connection between prima facie duties and normative moral reasons. In the second part of the paper I criticize Audi?s interpretation of Ross?s ethics and show that Ross?s view doesn?t have the normative implications that Audi ascribes to it.

Flash translation layer: a review and bibliometric analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuhan Luo ◽  
Mingwei Lin
Keyword(s):  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Development Trend ◽  
Comprehensive Analysis ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Fundamental Information ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
The Development Trend ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Research Hotspots

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to make an overview of 474 publications and 512 patents of FTL from 1987 to 2020 in order to provide a conclusive and comprehensive analysis for researchers in this field, as well as a preliminary knowledge of FTL for interested researchers.Design/methodology/approachFirstly, the FTL algorithms are classified and its functions are introduced in detail. Secondly, the structures of the publications are analyzed in terms of the fundamental information and the publication of the most productive countries/regions, institutions and authors. After that, co-citation networks of institutions, authors and papers illustrated by VOS Viewer are given to show the relationship among those and the most influential of them is further analyzed. Then, the characteristics of the patent are analyzed based on the basic information and classification of the patent and the most productive inventors. In order to obtain research hotspots and trends in this field, the time-line review and citation burst detection of keywords carried out by Cite Space are made to be visual. Finally, based on the above analysis, it draws some other important conclusions and the development trend of this field.FindingsThe research on FTL algorithm is still the top priority in the future, and how to improve the performance of SSD in the era of big data is one of the research hotspots.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper makes a comprehensive analysis of FTL with the method of bibliometrics, and it is valuable for researchers can quickly grasp the hotspots in this area.Originality/valueThis article draws the structural characteristics of the publications in this field and summarizes the research hotspots and trends in this field in recent years, aiming to inspire new ideas for researchers.

Ethical Particularism and Morally Relevant Properties

2021 ◽  
pp. 37-50
Author(s):  
Jonathan Dancy
Keyword(s):  
Prima Facie ◽  
Moral Reasons ◽  
Moral Particularism ◽  
The Real ◽  
Context Sensitive ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
Prima Facie Duty ◽  
Principle Theory

This paper follows a path that takes us from utilitarianism to particularism. Utilitarianism is the leading one-principle theory; its falsehood is here simply asserted. W. D. Ross’s theory of prima facie duty is offered as the strongest many-principle theory. Ross’s two accounts of his notion of a prima facie duty are considered and criticized. But the real criticism of his view is that being a prima facie duty is a context-sensitive notion, since a feature that is a prima facie duty-making feature in one case may be prevented from playing that role in another. Since the strongest many-principle theory is therefore false, the only conclusion is a no-principle theory: a theory that allows moral reasons but does not suppose that they behave in the regular way required for there to be moral principles—namely, moral particularism.

scholarly journals Topology and Broken Symmetry in Floquet Systems

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 345-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fenner Harper ◽  
Rahul Roy ◽  
Mark S. Rudner ◽  
S.L. Sondhi
Keyword(s):  
Prima Facie ◽  
Particle Systems ◽  
Many Body ◽  
Nontrivial Behavior ◽  
Interacting Systems ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Main Ideas ◽  
Nontrivial Topology ◽  
Infinite Temperature

Floquet systems are governed by periodic, time-dependent Hamiltonians. Prima facie they should absorb energy from the external drives involved in modulating their couplings and heat up to infinite temperature. However, this unhappy state of affairs can be avoided in many ways. Instead, as has become clear from much recent work, Floquet systems can exhibit a variety of nontrivial behavior—some of which is impossible in undriven systems. In this review, we describe the main ideas and themes of this work: novel Floquet drives that exhibit nontrivial topology in single-particle systems, the existence and classification of exotic Floquet drives in interacting systems, and the attendant notion of many-body Floquet phases and arguments for their stability to heating.

Classification of decayed Abiesamabilis logs

1987 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 559-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. Hope
Keyword(s):  
Wood Density ◽  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Silver Fir ◽  
Class System ◽  
Unit System ◽  
Class Discrimination ◽  
Individual Variables ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Laboratory Measures

Pacific silver fir (Abiesamabilis (Dougl.) Forbes) fallen logs near Snoqualmie Pass, Washington, U.S.A., were classified according to visual, chemical, and physical characteristics. The purpose of the study was (i) to test differences in log classification according to three- and five-unit decay classes, and (ii) to determine which variables appeared to be successful descriptors of decay for Pacific silver fir. Discriminant analysis was used to select variables to describe decay levels. According to analyses, wood density and lignin and cellulose percentages were acceptable criteria for describing decay levels using either a three- or five-unit classification system. Using a three-unit system defined by field characteristics and laboratory measures, cellulose discriminated among the classes 67% of the time. The variable wood density could be successfully classified 60% of the time. With a five-unit decay class system, individual variables placed logs within classes with less than 50% accuracy. Combinations of variables such as cellulose, wood density, and wood failure level improved class discrimination. Combined field measures were less successful in discriminating decay classes than variables measured under laboratory conditions. Results showed that (i) selection of structural characteristics can change the allocation of logs to particular classes, and (ii) three decay classes could be defined more clearly than five decay classes.

Business Ethics and Extant Social Contracts

1991 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas W. Dunfee
Keyword(s):  
Business Ethics ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Prima Facie ◽  
Theoretical Research ◽  
Priority Rules ◽  
Ethical Theories ◽  
Social Contracts ◽  
The Social ◽  
Ethical Norms

Extant social contracts, deriving from communities of individuals, constitute a significant source of ethical norms in business. When found consistent with general ethical theories through the application of a filtering test, these real social contracts generate prima facie duties of compliance on the part of those who expressly or impliedly consent to the terms of the social contract, and also on the part of those who take advantage of the instrumental value of the social contracts. Businesspeople typically participate in multiple communities and, as a consequence, encounter conflicting ethical norms. Priority rules can be devised to resolve such conflicts. The framework of extant social contracts merges normative and theoretical research in business ethics and specifies a domain for empirical studies.

The Classification of Ethical Theories

Ethics ◽  
1910 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 408
Author(s):  
Jay William Hudson
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Theories

Individuals' Interest in the Preservation of their Culture

2007 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-16
Author(s):  
Chaim Gans
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Preservation ◽  
Immigration Policies ◽  
Language Rights ◽  
The Right ◽  
Normative Implications

The interest individuals have in the preservation of their culture raises various difficulties pertaining to the meaning of this interest, its justification, and its normative implications. In this Paper, I wish to make several comments on these issues and the relationships between them. I will discuss the meaning of the interest individuals have in the preservation of their culture and the justification of this interest by referring to Margalit and Halbertal’s article “Liberalism and the Right to Culture.” I will then comment on the classification of cultural preservation rights by referring to Kymlicka’s notions of poly-ethnic rights, self-government rights and representation rights. I will conclude with questions concerning the justification of some particular rights to cultural preservation by resorting to Brian Barry’s discussion of Québec language rights and some examples of Israel’s immigration policies.

scholarly journals A Synergetic Theory of Information

Information ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Viktor Vyatkin
Keyword(s):  
Average Length ◽  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Discrete Systems ◽  
Information Law ◽  
Finite Set ◽  
The Law ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Synergetic Theory ◽  
First Time

A new approach is presented to defining the amount of information, in which information is understood as the data about a finite set as a whole, whereas the average length of an integrative code of elements serves as a measure of information. In the framework of this approach, the formula for the syntropy of a reflection was obtained for the first time, that is, the information which two intersecting finite sets reflect (reproduce) about each other. Features of a reflection of discrete systems through a set of their parts are considered and it is shown that reproducible information about the system (the additive syntropy of reflection) and non-reproducible information (the entropy of reflection) are, respectively, measures of the structural order and the chaos. At that, the general classification of discrete systems is given by the ratio of the order and the chaos. Three information laws have been established: The law of conservation of the sum of chaos and order; the information law of reflection; and the law of conservation and transformation of information. An assessment of the structural organization and the level of development of discrete systems is presented. It is shown that various measures of information are structural characteristics of integrative codes of elements of discrete systems. A conclusion is made that, from the information-genetic positions, the synergetic approach to the definition of the quantity of information is primary in relation to the approaches of Hartley and Shannon.

scholarly journals The Prokaryote-Eukaryote Dichotomy: Meanings and Mythology

2005 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 292-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Sapp
Keyword(s):  
16S Rrna ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Natural Classification ◽  
Physiological Properties ◽  
The 1960S

SUMMARY Drawing on documents both published and archival, this paper explains how the prokaryote-eukaryote dichotomy of the 1960s was constructed, the purposes it served, and what it implied in terms of classification and phylogeny. In doing so, I first show how the concept was attributed to Edouard Chatton and the context in which he introduced the terms. Following, I examine the context in which the terms were reintroduced into biology in 1962 by Roger Stanier and C. B. van Niel. I study the discourse over the subsequent decade to understand how the organizational dichotomy took on the form of a natural classification as the kingdom Monera or superkingdom Procaryotae. Stanier and van Niel admitted that, in regard to constructing a natural classification of bacteria, structural characteristics were no more useful than physiological properties. They repeatedly denied that bacterial phylogenetics was possible. I thus examine the great historical irony that the “prokaryote,” in both its organizational and phylogenetic senses, was defined (negatively) on the basis of structure. Finally, we see how phylogenetic research based on 16S rRNA led by Carl Woese and his collaborators confronted the prokaryote concept while moving microbiology to the center of evolutionary biology.

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