Hume’s Peculiar Definition of Justice

Author(s):  
James A. Harris

This chapter situates Hume’s treatment of justice in the modern natural law tradition in order to bring out what is, in that tradition’s terms, both unsurprising and peculiar in the definition of justice that Hume works with. For Hume justice is the essential element of an analysis of the minimal conditions of human sociability. But Hume defines justice exceedingly narrowly, as respect for rights of property. His definition has been severely criticised, both by his contemporaries and in recent Hume scholarship. The chapter argues that it was Hume’s particular version of the argument against Hutchesonian moral sense theory that led him to define justice as he did.

Author(s):  
Knud Haakonssen

Richard Cumberland developed his ideas in response to Hobbes’ Leviathan. He introduced concepts of aggregate goodness (later used in utilitarianism), of benevolence (used in moral-sense theory), of moral self-obligation, of empirical proofs of providence and of the moral importance of tradition à la Burke. The philosophical basis for Cumberland’s views was a theory of natural law which was strongly anti-voluntarist and committed to objective moral values, but recognizing institutions such as governments of state and church as conventional or traditional. Cumberland was often seen as the third co-founder, with Pufendorf and Grotius, of modern natural law.


2014 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 414-435 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer A. Herdt

AbstractRecent scholarship has done much to uncover a continuous tradition of distinctively Reformed natural law reflection, according to which knowledge of the natural moral law, though not saving knowledge, is universally available to humanity in its fallen state and makes a stable secular order possible. A close look at Calvin's understanding of natural law, and in particular of conscience and natural human instincts, shows that Calvin himself did not expect the natural law to serve as a source of substantive action-guiding moral norms. First, Calvin held that conscience delivers information concerning the moral quality even of individual actions. But he also thought that we often blind ourselves to the deliverances of conscience. Second, he argued that our natural instincts predispose us to civic order and fair dealing insofar as these are necessary for the natural well-being or advantage of creatures such as ourselves. But he also carefully distinguished the good of advantage from the good of justice or virtue. The modern natural lawyers eroded Calvin's careful distinction between conscience as revealing our duty as duty, and instinct as guiding us towards natural advantage. They also turned away from Calvin's insistence on the moral incapacity of unredeemed humanity. The modern natural lawyers saw their task as one of developing an empirical science of human nature to guide legislation and shape international law, bracketing questions of whether this nature was fallen and in need of redemption. When Scottish Presbyterian Reformed thinkers, such as Gershom Carmichael and John Witherspoon, tried in diverse ways to restore eroded Reformed commitments to the science of human nature, about which they were otherwise so enthusiastic, they were not particularly successful. A science which could derive moral norms from an examination of human instincts, and a conscience which could deliver universal moral knowledge, proved too attractive to decline simply because of the transcendence of God or the fallenness of humankind. Those who wished to preserve an account of natural law which remained faithful to a fully robust set of Reformed theological commitments could do so only by refusing to regard the natural law as a positive source of moral knowledge.


1985 ◽  
Vol 5 (11) ◽  
pp. 2975-2983 ◽  
Author(s):  
R P Hart ◽  
M A McDevitt ◽  
H Ali ◽  
J R Nevins

In addition to the highly conserved AATAAA sequence, there is a requirement for specific sequences downstream of polyadenylic acid [poly(A)] cleavage sites to generate correct mRNA 3' termini. Previous experiments demonstrated that 35 nucleotides downstream of the E2A poly(A) site were sufficient but 20 nucleotides were not. The construction and assay of bidirectional deletion mutants in the adenovirus E2A poly(A) site indicates that there may be redundant multiple sequence elements that affect poly(A) site usage. Sequences between the poly(A) site and 31 nucleotides downstream were not essential for efficient cleavage. Further deletion downstream (3' to +31) abolished efficient cleavage in certain constructions but not all. Between +20 and +38 the sequence T(A/G)TTTTT was duplicated. Function was retained when one copy of the sequence was present, suggesting that this sequence represents an essential element. There may also be additional sequences distal to +43 that can function. To establish common features of poly(A) sites, we also analyzed the early simian virus 40 (SV40) poly(A) site for essential sequences. An SV40 poly(A) site deletion that retained 18 nucleotides downstream of the cleavage site was fully functional while one that retained 5 nucleotides downstream was not, thus defining sequences required for cleavage. Comparison of the SV40 sequences with those from E2A did not reveal significant homologies. Nevertheless, normal cleavage and polyadenylation could be restored at the early SV40 poly(A) site by the addition of downstream sequences from the adenovirus E2A poly(A) site to the SV40 +5 mutant. The same sequences that were required in the E2A site for efficient cleavage also restored activity to the SV40 poly(A) site.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Tamayo ◽  
Ernesto Rodriguez-Camino ◽  
Sara Covaleda

<p>The intersectoral workshop held in December 2016 among the Ibero-American networks on water (CODIA), climate change (RIOCC) and meteorology (CIMHET) identified the need to dispose of downscaled climate change scenarios for Central America. Such scenarios would be developed by National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS) in the region, based on a common methodology, allowing the assessment of climate change impacts on water resources and extreme hydro-meteorological events.</p><p>One final outcome of the project has been a freely accessible web viewer, installed on the Centro Clima webpage (https://centroclima.org/escenarios-cambio-climatico/), managed by CRRH-SICA, where all information generated during the project is available for consultation and data downloading by the different sectors of users.</p><p>A key element in this project has been to integrate many downscaled projections based on different methods (dynamical and statistical), totalizing 45 different projections, and aiming at estimating the uncertainty coming from different sources in the best possible way.</p><p>Another essential element has been the strong involvement of the different user sectors through national workshops, first, at the beginning of the project for the identification and definition of viewer features the project, and then for the presentation of results and planning of its use by prioritized sectors.</p><p>In a second phase of the project, a regional working group made up of experts from the NMHSs will be in charge of viewer maintenance and upgrade, including new sectoral parameters, developed in collaboration with interested users, and computation and addition of new downscaled projections from CMIP 6 in collaboration with AEMET.</p><p>Finally, following the request of CIMHET, the possibility of replicating this project for other areas of Ibero-America is being evaluated.</p>


Lex Russica ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 123-135
Author(s):  
A. S. Tumanova ◽  
A. A. Safonov

. The paper analyzes the legal views of Nikolay I. Palienko, a prominent philosopher of law and a state historian of the beginning of the last century. The authors pay significant attention to the integrative concept of legal understanding that is followed by Prof. Nikolay Palienko. They also substantiate originality and significance of the concept in the light of modernization of the political and legal order in late imperial Russia. It seems that under certain conditions it could serve as a bridge between positivist jurisprudence and the doctrine of “reborn natural law” developed in pre-revolutionary Russia. It was intended to smooth out the contradictions in both doctrines and contribute to the development of a new methodology for law understanding in the context of transformation of the Russian legal system towards establishing institutions of constitutional order.On the basis of published sources, the authors show the evolution of the scholar’s views from the positivist theory of law to idealism that is not properly estimated in the legal literature and is quite typical for the legal scholars of the interrevolutionary period.The authors conclude that Prof. Nikolay I. Palienko scholarship and knowledge allowed him to substantiate his own concept of legal understanding that can be considered integrative on the basis of achievements of the positivist theory of law, philosophy of natural law, psychological and sociological concepts of legal understanding. Prof. Palienko proclaimed the normative nature of law and at the same time expressed ideas of the supremacy of law over the state and the coherence of the state provided by law. An essential element of his legal concept was the legal consciousness of the society, acknowledgement of its role in the course of law education, as well as its establishment as a source of law. Palienko’s idea of legal coherence of the state represents a synthesis of positivism with idealism and leads to a new stage of development of legal methodology and ideology, namely: integrative jurisprudence. Scholar’s political and legal ideas contributed to the development of ideas about the rule of law, which were very popular in Russia during the period of development of representative institutions and constitutionalism.


2006 ◽  
Vol 105 (5) ◽  
pp. 885-891 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sachin Kheterpal ◽  
Richard Han ◽  
Kevin K. Tremper ◽  
Amy Shanks ◽  
Alan R. Tait ◽  
...  

Background Mask ventilation is an essential element of airway management that has rarely been studied as the primary outcome. The authors sought to determine the incidence and predictors of difficult and impossible mask ventilation. Methods A four-point scale to grade difficulty in performing mask ventilation (MV) is used at the authors' institution. They used a prospective, observational study to identify cases of grade 3 MV (inadequate, unstable, or requiring two providers), grade 4 MV (impossible to ventilate), and difficult intubation. Univariate and multivariate analyses of a variety of patient history and physical examination characteristics were used to establish risk factors for grade 3 and 4 MV. Results During a 24-month period, 22,660 attempts at MV were recorded. 313 cases (1.4%) of grade 3 MV, 37 cases (0.16%) of grade 4 MV, and 84 cases (0.37%) of grade 3 or 4 MV and difficult intubation were observed. Body mass index of 30 kg/m or greater, a beard, Mallampati classification III or IV, age of 57 yr or older, severely limited jaw protrusion, and snoring were identified as independent predictors for grade 3 MV. Snoring and thyromental distance of less than 6 cm were independent predictors for grade 4 MV. Limited or severely limited mandibular protrusion, abnormal neck anatomy, sleep apnea, snoring, and body mass index of 30 kg/m or greater were independent predictors of grade 3 or 4 MV and difficult intubation. Conclusions The authors observed the incidence of grade 3 MV to be 1.4%, similar to studies with the same definition of difficult MV. Presence of a beard is the only easily modifiable independent risk factor for difficult MV. The mandibular protrusion test may be an essential element of the airway examination.


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-127
Author(s):  
Dmitry Shustrov

The idea of supra-constitutionality was formulated in the science of constitutional law in the second quarter of the 20th century and associated with the names of M.Hauriou and K.Schmitt, who for the first time noticed the possibility of the existence of norms that are higher than the constitution. This article is an attempt to give the doctrine of supra-constitutionality an actual theoretical and dogmatic meaning in the context of the study of the material limits of constitutional changes. The doctrine of supra-constitutionality claims to play an important role in explaining that unchangeable norms can exist in constitutional law and that they cannot be excluded, changed, limited, overcome, affected by the other sources of constitutional law, including the constitution itself. Supra-constitutionality is viewed as a characteristic of unchangeable constitutional norms that constitute the material limits of constitutional changes. Supra-constitutionality presupposes the existence of norms that surpass the rest of the constitutional norms and predetermine their content through the definition of what can, should and should not be included in the constitution or excluded from it. The basis of constitutional supra-constitutionality is the argument of hierarchical differentiation. In addition to recognizing unchangeable constitutional norms as supra-constitutional, the article raises the question of the existence of natural law and international law supra-constitutional norms. Natural law supra-constitutional norms have an external and non-positive character. They are not enshrined in the constitution, but stem from a reasonably understood concept of what is due in the most civilized societies, which is determined by the constitutional court. International law supra-constitutionality is understood as the superiority of the norms of international law over the constitution. It has an external and positive character. International law supra-constitutionality can cause political objections from opponents of the absolute rule of international law. Supra-constitutional constitutional, natural and international law norms can come into conflict with each other. The paradox of the doctrine of supra-constitutionality lies in the fact that it creates a hierarchy of norms within the constitution itself, distinguishing between simple and supra-constitutional constitutional norms, or distinguishes certain non-positive norms that are outside the constitution, as having priority over the constitution, or puts some norms of international law over all norms of national law, including the constitution. The purpose of the doctrine of supra-constitutionality is to preserve the inviolable fundamental (natural or generally recognized) values, which justifies its logical flaws and paradoxicality.


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