It feels good to immerse in the working culture of ISR

After three years of immersing myself in the working culture of ISR, I admit that it has completely changed my worldviews, attitudes, and behaviors. At the moment, I have a much greater awareness of cost and am much more proactive in pursuing science with high intellectual honesty than myself before. Given the modest international status of Vietnamese science, joining ISR is one of the best choices I have made in my career because it has given me a valuable chance to feel the true scientific culture.

Polish army soldier and scientist – Stanisław Ossowski

The article reminds Stanisław Ossowski, an outstanding sociologist and political scientist, a representative of the Lviv-Warsaw school, and a brave soldier. The author focuses her attention on two problems selected from his work: on man as an ethical subject and on opportunities and threats in shaping individual and collective social personalities. Stanisław Ossowski regarded disobedience in thinking, faithfulness to the truth, and intellectual honesty as the professional duty of a scientist, especially a humanist, who studies ideas and value systems. He justified the theory of mutual conditioning of the social structure-personality. He studied the impact of decisions of senior government officials on the dynamics of human behaviour and the development of human polymorphism.

3. The intellectual virtues

This chapter examines the intellectual virtues. The belief that there are specific intellectual virtues goes back as far as ancient Greece. Intellectual virtues are habits of the mind that facilitate the pursuit of truth, the avoidance of error, or other epistemic goods. Conversely, intellectual vices are habits of the mind that frustrate these goals. And it is possible that a person with intellectual virtue might not necessarily possess moral virtue. The chapter then considers different intellectual virtues: intellectual honesty; intellectual curiosity; intellectual open-mindedness; intellectual courage and perseverance; and intellectual charity.

Honesty

This chapter explores the nature of intellectual honesty. Honesty is the first virtue in the book that does not clearly fit into the vice-virtue-vice schema discussed in earlier chapters. This chapter attempts to home in on honesty by exploring its opposites: cheating (plagiarism), lying, bluffing, bullshit, and self-deception. The common feature of these instances of dishonesty is that they all involve an effort to distort the truth. Thus, it is argued, honesty is a virtue centrally involving a disposition not to distort the truth, but rather to represent it accurately (as one sees it). This notion of honesty (and the corresponding notion of dishonesty) suggests that truth itself depends on the way things are, rather than on some sort of “social construction.”

Weinstein on Sentencing

Over more than half a century of service on the federal bench Judge Weinstein has produced reams of articles, speeches, and opinions, attempting to convince higher courts and Congress to recast sentencing law on the basis of fairness. Like any great jurist, Judge Weinstein did not win every battle, but he pursued the ideal of individualized justice with unflagging dedication. In the process, he transformed sentencing law. He brought due process to sentencing by conceiving of and instituting Fatico hearings, and later became among the most powerful voices against mandatory sentencing regimes. Judge Weinstein’s ingenuity always withstood public controversy and criticism. He refused to mete out unduly harsh or unduly lenient sentences, relying instead on a commitment to reasonableness and simple fairness. While Judge Weinstein enjoyed a reputation for compassion and social consciousness, he applied the law faithfully, without disguising the difficulties inherent in the art of judging. He leaves a legacy of intellectual honesty, integrity, and faith in the promise of the law to do justice.

Philosophy and Theology Together: Karl Rahner’s Way of Thinking

Karl Rahner’s thinking can be understood by looking at several of its coordinates. First, it unfolds in close connection with the fundamental dynamics of human existence (thinking with a reference). Second, it is prompted by a personal and immediate experience of God, namely, the one of the author himself (thinking with a motivation). Third, it is influenced by the spirituality of Saint Ignatius of Loyola (thinking with an inspiration). Fourth, it aims to show the reasonableness and, therefore, the credibility of the Christian faith (thinking with a purpose). Fifth, it is guided by intellectual honesty that leads to facing reality without reduction or concealment (thinking with an attitude). Finally, it combines philosophy and theology, more precisely, treats philosophy as a necessary moment in theology (thinking with a method). Karl Rahner is remembered for operating the “anthropological turn” in theology. This means that, in his view, one should not reflect on God without reflecting on the human being as well. Rahner is particularly interested in examining the human’s ability to receive what comes from God’s self-revelation. It is an aspect that gives occasion to the discussion that Hans Urs von Balthasar has with him. At the heart of Rahner’s anthropology is the “transcendental experience”. It is originated by the absolute mystery that is present in human existence, precisely that mystery that Christians call God. It is such a fundamental experience that it must be taken into account when leading one’s own existence.

Nilai-Nilai Ilahiah dalam Hukum di Indonesia

Intellectual honesty represent significant spiritual value that has been reserved by the people in Indonesia. Mean while, there are many religions and some societies exploit the variety of those interpretations.

The Uneasy Case for Parsimony in (Law and) Economics: Conceptual, Empirical and Normative Arguments

Taking Guido Calabresi’s discussion of preferences and value judgements in The Future of Law and Economics as a starting point, this paper analyses some conceptual difficulties, epistemic benefits and normative uses of parsimonious economic analyses of “tastes and values.” First, the paper shows that it is not only possible to analyse and model all the richness of “tastes and values” in terms of rational choice theory with intellectual honesty and epistemic benefit. In fact, economists and economically inspired legal scholars have been doing this for a while. Second, it discusses three arguments that economists can mount in support of parsimonious models. Third, it shows that in spite of these benefits the merits of such an exercise in parsimony do not always clearly outweigh its drawbacks. In doing so, the paper distinguishes three types of limits of such parsimonious modelling.