scholarly journals Persson’s Merely Possible Persons

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krister Bykvist ◽  
Timothy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Good Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
The World ◽  
Happy Person ◽  
In Virtue Of

In many cases, it seems, one possible outcome is worse than another in virtue of the well-being of people who do not exist in both. For example, it seems, creating a very unhappy person makes the world worse, other things being equal. And some would say that we make the world better, other things being equal, by creating a very happy person. It would be easy to justify such claims if it can be better, or worse, for a person to exist than not to exist. But that seems to require that things can be better, or worse, for a person even in a world in which she does not exist, which sounds paradoxical. This paradoxical sounding claim has been defended by Ingmar Person. He argues that in a world in which a person does not exist, she is a merely possible being – a being that has never existed and never will – and that for such beings it is worse not to exist than to exist with a good life. Furthermore, he argues for this claim from what he claims are “incontestable” premises. We argue that the premises are far from incontestable. The argument, as stated by Persson, has false premises and is invalid. We can reconstruct the argument to make it valid, but this still leaves us with some clearly contestable premises. Finally, we will argue that it is possible to make sense of our obligations to future generations without letting merely possible beings into the moral club.

Ecocritique and Anecdote

2020 ◽  
pp. 11-48
Author(s):  
Sean Cubitt
Keyword(s):  
Good Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
The Past ◽  
Living Well ◽  
The World ◽  
Central Notion

Section 1 starts by considering the central notion of this book: a “ecocritique”. The ecocritique recognises that the good life for all includes the well-being of the world we are involved in at every level from the cellular to the cosmic. It is all encompassing. Section 1 then considers how the term “anecdote” relates to ecocritique. Anecdotes provide a peculiarly powerful tool for finding out the meaning of living well, as well as the answering the oft-asked question: who is this “we”? The beauty of anecdotes is that they operate in a non-contemporaneous time. They operate equally well in the past, present, and future. A primary political and ecocritical task of anecdotal method, therefore, is to recognise this hybrid temporality, and to free and maintain its capacity to generate new futures and new pasts.

Tetsuro Watsuji’s Milieu and Intergenerational Environmental Ethics

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laÿna Droz ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Ethics ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Temporal Distance ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Future People ◽  
The World ◽  
The Way ◽  
What Matters

The concept of humans as relational individuals living in a milieu can provide some solutions to various obstacles of theorization that are standing in the way of an ethics of sustainability. The idea of a milieu was developed by Tetsuro Watsuji as a web of signification and symbols. It refers to the environment as lived by a subjective relational human being and not as artificially objectified. The milieu can neither be separated from its temporal—or historical—dimension as it is directly related to the “now” of perceptions and actions in the world. In other words, elements of the natural milieu can be said to have a constitutive value as they contribute to our well-being by helping us make sense of our life and our world. In their temporal and relational dimensions, Watsuji’s notions of the milieu and human being are thus directly related to the notion of sustainability. This concept offers some convincing solutions to overcoming the problem of temporal distance, by shifting the center of argumentation from unknown, passive, and biologically dependent not-yet- born people to the transmission of a meaningful historical milieu. The turning point here is that if what matters is the survival of ideal and material projects that people live (and sometimes die) for, then future generations have tremendous power over them, as the actions of those future people will determine the success or failure of the projects started by present generations.

Well-Being: Reality's Role

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 456-468
Author(s):  
ANDREW T. FORCEHIMES ◽  
LUKE SEMRAU
Keyword(s):  
Mental State ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The World

ABSTRACT:A familiar objection to mental state theories of well-being proceeds as follows: Describe a good life. Contrast it with one identical in mental respects, but lacking a connection to reality. Then observe that mental state theories of well-being implausibly hold both lives in equal esteem. Conclude that such views are false. Here we argue this objection fails. There are two ways reality may be thought to matter for well-being. We want to contribute to reality, and we want our experience of the world to be veridical. Yet, if one accepts that reality matters in either of these ways, one must posit differences in well-being where no such differences exist.

Grassroots Stewardship

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
F Stuart Chapin
Keyword(s):  
Human Impacts ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
Social Commitment ◽  
The World ◽  
Multiple Groups ◽  
Individual Actions ◽  
Novel Strategy

The book presents a novel strategy for addressing the major environmental and social problems of our time. It emphasizes transformative actions by individual citizens, both ordinary and extraordinary, rather than by government and other groups. It empowers a spectrum of solutions appropriate to people with varying interests, skills, political persuasions, and level of environmental and social commitment. The book draws on social and ecological theory to formulate a four-tiered stewardship strategy to transform communities, nations, and the planet. Key elements of this strategy are (1) individual actions that link people with nature and reduce human impacts on the planet, (2) effective communication to reduce political polarization and share solutions, (3) collaborations that integrate actions of multiple groups, and (4) political engagement to trigger needed transformations. The book builds on diverse visions and goals for the future of ecosystems and society: concern for future generations, a spiritual commitment to care for Creation and vulnerable people, a desire to sustain the best of nature and of cultures, and a concern about the security and well-being of communities, nations, and the world. This is not a book about what should be done. It is a book about what has been and can be done and a pragmatic strategy for tangible progress.

Opportunities Across Every Sector to Advance a Well-Being Framework

2020 ◽  
pp. 155-170
Keyword(s):  
Health Education ◽  
Education Technology ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Policy Action ◽  
The Public ◽  
The World ◽  
The Right

This chapter discusses how establishing well-being as a guiding construct for society ultimately requires a commitment across every sector and many fields, including health, education, technology, and environment. There are opportunities for exploration, programmatic and policy action, and leadership in the public, private, academic, and nonprofit environments, and opportunities for leaders and actors across these sectors to champion—through words and actions—this new way of looking at the world and making decisions. The well-being framework may facilitate cross-sector collaboration by resetting the goals—not around individual issues or functions, but around the much broader idea of creating the right conditions for current and future generations to thrive. That said, there are also distinct roles and starting points within each sector, and the strategy for change may look different in every case. The chapter then outlines some potential actions within each sector and examples of learnings underway. It also explains that specific considerations and opportunities exist at local, regional, and national levels of government to advance a well-being agenda.

Russian Citizens' Representations of the Country's Position in the Geopolitical Space of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Europe, and the World

2003 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 238-251
Author(s):  
Victor F. Petrenko ◽  
Olga V. Mitina ◽  
Kirill A. Bertnikov
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Multidimensional Space ◽  
Commonwealth Of Independent States ◽  
Repertory Grids ◽  
Implicit Model ◽  
The World ◽  
Public Consciousness ◽  
Independent States ◽  
Invariant Factors

The aim of this research was the reconstruction of the system of categories through which Russians perceive the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Europe, and the world as a whole; to study the implicit model of the geopolitical space; to analyze the stereotypes in the perception of different countries and the superposition of mental geopolitical representations onto the geographic map. The techniques of psychosemantics by Petrenko, originating in the semantic differential of Osgood and Kelly's “repertory grids,” were used as working tools. Multidimensional semantic spaces act as operational models of the structures of consciousness, and the positions of countries in multidimensional space reflect the geopolitical stereotypes of respondents about these countries. Because of the transformation of geopolitical reality representations in mass consciousness, the commonly used classification of countries as socialist, capitalist, and developing is being replaced by other structures. Four invariant factors of the countries' descriptions were identified. They are connected with Economic and Political Well-being, Military Might, Friendliness toward Russia, and Spirituality and the Level of Culture. It seems that the structure has not been explained in adequate detail and is not clearly realized by the individuals. There is an interrelationship between the democratic political structure of a country and its prosperity in the political mentality of Russian respondents. Russian public consciousness painfully strives for a new geopolitical identity and place in the commonwealth of states. It also signifies the country's interest and orientation toward the East in the search for geopolitical partners. The construct system of geopolitical perception also depends on the region of perception.

The essence and causes of the spiritual and moral decline of mankind in the XX century

1998 ◽  
pp. 124-127
Author(s):  
V. Tolkachenko
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
Social Force ◽  
The World ◽  
Role Of Religion

One of the most important reasons for such a clearly distressed state of society was the decline of religion as a social force, the external manifestation of which is the weakening of religious institutions. "Religion," Baha'u'llah writes, "is the greatest of all means of establishing order in the world to the universal satisfaction of those who live in it." The weakening of the foundations of religion strengthened the ranks of ignoramuses, gave them impudence and arrogance. "I truly say that everything that belittles the supreme role of religion opens way for the revelry of maliciousness, inevitably leading to anarchy. " In another Tablet, He says: "Religion is a radiant light and an impregnable fortress that ensures the safety and well-being of the peoples of the world, for God-fearing induces man to adhere to the good and to reject all evil." Blink the light of religion, and chaos and distemper will set in, the radiance of justice, justice, tranquility and peace. "

The Instruments of the Stabilization Fund: The Experience and Prospects

2004 ◽  
pp. 65-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mst. Afanasiev
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Oil Prices ◽  
Federal Budget ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
The World

Сreation of the stabilization fund has become the main feature of the Russian federal budget for 2004. This instrument provides the opportunity to reduce the dependence of budget incomes on the fluctuations of oil prices. The accepted model does not consider the world experience in building of such funds as the "funds for future generations", and the increase of other revenues from the growing oil prices as well. That can lead to shortening and immobilization of the financial basis of economic growth.

Beyond GDP: The Quest for a Measure of Social Welfare. Part I

2012 ◽  
pp. 67-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Fleurbaey
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Well Being ◽  
National Product ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Modern Economic ◽  
Aggregate Wealth ◽  
Net National Product ◽  
Sustainability Policy ◽  
Beyond Gdp

The first part of the paper is devoted to the monetary indicators of social welfare. It is shown which methods of quantitative estimating the aggregate wealth and well-being are available in the modern economic theory apart from the traditional GDP measure. The limitations of the methods are also discussed. The author shows which measures of welfare are adequate in the dynamic context: he considers the problems of intertemporal welfare analysis using the Net National Product (NNP) for the sustainability policy and in the context of concern for well-being of the future generations.

Policy Review: Dubai Health Authority’s COVID-19 Rapid Response

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (Special) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Rapid Response ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
World Health ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Services Delivery ◽  
First Case ◽  
The World

Dubai Health Authority (DHA) is the entity regulating the healthcare sector in the Emirate of Dubai, ensuring high quality and safe healthcare services delivery to the population. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on the 11th of March 2020, indicating to the world that further infection spread is very likely, and alerting countries that they should be ready for possible widespread community transmission. The first case of COVID-19 in the United Arab Emirates was confirmed on 29th of January 2020; since then, the number of cases has continued to grow exponentially. As of 8th of July 2020 (end of the day), 53,045 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed with a death toll of 327 cases. The UAE has conducted over 3,720,000 COVID-19 tests among UAE citizens and residents over the past four months, in line with the government’s plans to strengthen virus screening to contain the spread of COVID-19. There were vital UAE policies, laws, regulations, and decrees that have been announced for immediate implementation to limit the spread of COVID- 19, to prevent panic and to ensure the overall food, nutrition, and well-being are provided. The UAE is amongst the World’s Top 10 for COVID-19 Treatment Efficiency and in the World’s Top 20 for the implementation of COVID-19 Safety measures. The UAE’s mission is to work towards resuming life after COVID-19 and enter into the recovery phases. This policy research paper will discuss the Dubai Health Authority’s rapid response initiatives towards combating the control and spread of COVID-19 and future policy implications and recommendations. The underlying factors and policy options will be discussed in terms of governance, finance, and delivery.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document