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Trade Wars: Past and Present
by Nils Ole Oermann Hans-Jürgen WolffThis book explores the causes and instruments of 500 years of armed and non-armed international trade conflicts. Nils Ole Oermann and Hans-Jürgen Wolff draw on decades of experience to examine trade wars, economic sanctions, and different types of economic warfare, investigating their history, ethics, economic driving forces, and legality under current rules. They provide a clear and accessible account of the economics of trade, of trade and financial policy since the nineteenth century, and of the effectiveness of sanctions and the 'winnability' of trade wars. The book also describes the transformation of economic warfare since 1989, namely in cyberspace and in the world financial system, and shows how China's rise challenges the Western model of democracy and free market economies. The authors conclude with a plea for improved economic statecraft and an overhaul of the current trading regime.
The Woman President: Leadership, law and legacy for Women Based on Experiences from South and Southeast Asia
by Ramona VijeyarasaToo much attention is paid to the absence of women leaders around the world rather than their presence, leaving a gap in our understanding of the difference women leaders make on the lives of fellow women. The Woman President presents a unique comparative study of women's leadership and the law, offering new ways for understanding the impact of female presidential leadership on women's everyday lives by analysing the legal legacies of four women presidents: Corazon Aquino (1986-1992), Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (2001-2010), Megawati Sukarnoputri (2001-2004), and Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (1994-2005). It uses a new and innovative methodology, the Gender Legislative Index, to score laws enacted during these four tenures from a women's rights perspective. The findings challenge and expand our understanding of what constitutes a woman's issue, bringing within its gendered analysis labour law reform, democracy, anti-corruption, poverty-alleviation, and pro-peace interventions, alongside more oft-considered terrain such as gender-based violence, reproductive rights, gender equality quotas, and women's rights at work. This book also offers important insights into the institutional and social mechanisms that enable women leaders to lead for women, including women's movements and global networks of women presidents and prime ministers. The words of women leaders themselves-both from personal interviews and speeches-bring depth to the assessments and conclusions drawn. The Woman President offers new tools and sharpens old ones to provide an essential comparative contribution to our knowledge about the dynamics and impact of female presidencies, drawing from the realities of the Asia region.
The Woman President: Leadership, law and legacy for Women Based on Experiences from South and Southeast Asia
by Ramona VijeyarasaToo much attention is paid to the absence of women leaders around the world rather than their presence, leaving a gap in our understanding of the difference women leaders make on the lives of fellow women. The Woman President presents a unique comparative study of women's leadership and the law, offering new ways for understanding the impact of female presidential leadership on women's everyday lives by analysing the legal legacies of four women presidents: Corazon Aquino (1986-1992), Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (2001-2010), Megawati Sukarnoputri (2001-2004), and Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (1994-2005). It uses a new and innovative methodology, the Gender Legislative Index, to score laws enacted during these four tenures from a women's rights perspective. The findings challenge and expand our understanding of what constitutes a woman's issue, bringing within its gendered analysis labour law reform, democracy, anti-corruption, poverty-alleviation, and pro-peace interventions, alongside more oft-considered terrain such as gender-based violence, reproductive rights, gender equality quotas, and women's rights at work. This book also offers important insights into the institutional and social mechanisms that enable women leaders to lead for women, including women's movements and global networks of women presidents and prime ministers. The words of women leaders themselves-both from personal interviews and speeches-bring depth to the assessments and conclusions drawn. The Woman President offers new tools and sharpens old ones to provide an essential comparative contribution to our knowledge about the dynamics and impact of female presidencies, drawing from the realities of the Asia region.
Research Methods in Deliberative Democracy
This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Deliberative democracy is a diverse and rapidly growing field of research. But how can deliberative democracy be studied? Research Methods in Deliberative Democracy provides a unique collection of over 30 methods to study deliberative democracy. Written in an accessible style, it provides guidance for scholars and students on how to conduct rigorous and creative research on the public sphere, structured forums, and political institutions. Each chapter introduces a particular method, elaborates its utility in deliberative democracy research, and provides guidance on its application, as well as illustrations from previous studies. This book celebrates the methodological pluralism in the field, and hopes to inspire scholars to undertake methodologically robust, intellectually creative, and politically relevant empirical research.
Research Methods in Deliberative Democracy
by Selen A. ErcanThis is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Deliberative democracy is a diverse and rapidly growing field of research. But how can deliberative democracy be studied? Research Methods in Deliberative Democracy provides a unique collection of over 30 methods to study deliberative democracy. Written in an accessible style, it provides guidance for scholars and students on how to conduct rigorous and creative research on the public sphere, structured forums, and political institutions. Each chapter introduces a particular method, elaborates its utility in deliberative democracy research, and provides guidance on its application, as well as illustrations from previous studies. This book celebrates the methodological pluralism in the field, and hopes to inspire scholars to undertake methodologically robust, intellectually creative, and politically relevant empirical research.
Political Settlements and Development: Theory, Evidence, Implications
by Tim Kelsall Nicolai Schulz William D. Ferguson Matthias vom Hau Sam Hickey Brian LevyFew concepts have captured the imagination of the conflict and development community in recent years as powerfully as the idea of a 'political settlement'. At its most ambitious, 'political settlements analysis' (PSA) promises to explain why conflicts occur and states collapse, the conditions for their successful rehabilitation, different developmental pathways from peace, and how to better fit development policy to country context. Yet not all is well in the world of PSA. Rival definitions of the term abound, there are disagreements about its scope and the way it should be used, a growing schism between conflict specialists and economists, basic concepts are ambiguous and little progress has been made on measurement. Political Settlements and Development consequently has three main aims: to argue for a revised definition of a political settlement, capable of unifying its diverse strands, and opening new opportunities for the analysis of conflict and development; to put the concept on a more solid theoretical and scientific footing, providing a method for measuring and categorising political settlements, while using new data to analyse the relationship between political settlements and development; and finally, to examine the implications for policymakers. This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.
Political Settlements and Development: Theory, Evidence, Implications
by Tim Kelsall William D. Ferguson Sam Hickey Brian Levy Nicolai Schulz Matthias vom HauFew concepts have captured the imagination of the conflict and development community in recent years as powerfully as the idea of a 'political settlement'. At its most ambitious, 'political settlements analysis' (PSA) promises to explain why conflicts occur and states collapse, the conditions for their successful rehabilitation, different developmental pathways from peace, and how to better fit development policy to country context. Yet not all is well in the world of PSA. Rival definitions of the term abound, there are disagreements about its scope and the way it should be used, a growing schism between conflict specialists and economists, basic concepts are ambiguous and little progress has been made on measurement. Political Settlements and Development consequently has three main aims: to argue for a revised definition of a political settlement, capable of unifying its diverse strands, and opening new opportunities for the analysis of conflict and development; to put the concept on a more solid theoretical and scientific footing, providing a method for measuring and categorising political settlements, while using new data to analyse the relationship between political settlements and development; and finally, to examine the implications for policymakers. This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.
Regret: A Study in Ancient Moral Psychology
by James WarrenThis book provides a study of regret (metameleia) in the moral psychology of Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics. It was important for all these philosophers to insist that regret is a characteristic of neither fully virtuous nor wholly irredeemable characters. Rather, they took regret to be something that affects people who retrospectively feel pain at realising an earlier mistaken action. Regret sets out in full the accounts of the nature of this emotion found in the works of these philosophers, viewing them in the context of their respective accounts of virtuous and non-virtuous agents, ethical progress, the role of knowledge in producing good actions, and compares it with modern philosophical notions of 'agent regret'.
Handbook of Medical Leadership and Management (Oxford Professional Practice)
The Handbook of Medical Leadership and Management couples the essentials of clinical leadership with a practical approach to help healthcare professionals be effective clinical leaders and managers. Beginning with a theoretical analysis it then focuses on practical ways of being a good manager and leader and the day-to-day requirements of a consultant working within a multi-professional clinical team. This is an essential resource for all those leading and managing a clinical team and those who aspire to lead, covering a broad understanding of the requirements of effective leadership. This includes quality care, patient safety, how to ensure good outcomes, using data for improvement, commissioning services and developing business cases, as well as the development of person-centred care and the education of the next generation of leaders.
Handbook of Medical Leadership and Management (Oxford Professional Practice)
by Paula Murphy, Peter Lachman and Bradley HillierThe Handbook of Medical Leadership and Management couples the essentials of clinical leadership with a practical approach to help readers be effective clinical leaders and managers. Beginning with a theoretical analysis it then focuses on practical ways of being a good manager and leader and the day-to-day requirements of a consultant working within a multi-professional clinical team. This is an essential resource for all those leading and managing a clinical team, which covers a broad understanding of the requirements of effective leadership. This includes quality care, patient safety, ensuring good outcomes, using data for improvement, commissioning services and developing business cases, as well as the development of person-centred care as well as the education of the next generation of leaders.
Basic Statistics for Risk Management in Banks and Financial Institutions
by Arindam BandyopadhyayThe book provides an engaging account of theoretical, empirical, and practical aspects of various statistical methods in measuring risks of financial institutions, especially banks. In this book, the author demonstrates how banks can apply many simple but effective statistical techniques to analyze risks they face in business and safeguard themselves from potential vulnerability. It covers three primary areas of banking; risks-credit, market, and operational risk and in a uniquely intuitive, step-by-step manner the author provides hands-on details on the primary statistical tools that can be applied for financial risk measurement and management. The book lucidly introduces concepts of various well-known statistical methods such as correlations, regression, matrix approach, probability and distribution theorem, hypothesis testing, value at risk, and Monte Carlo simulation techniques and provides a hands-on estimation and interpretation of these tests in measuring risks of the financial institutions. The book strikes a fine balance between concepts and mathematics to tell a rich story of thoughtful use of statistical methods.
Basic Statistics for Risk Management in Banks and Financial Institutions
by Arindam BandyopadhyayThe book provides an engaging account of theoretical, empirical, and practical aspects of various statistical methods in measuring risks of financial institutions, especially banks. In this book, the author demonstrates how banks can apply many simple but effective statistical techniques to analyze risks they face in business and safeguard themselves from potential vulnerability. It covers three primary areas of banking; risks-credit, market, and operational risk and in a uniquely intuitive, step-by-step manner the author provides hands-on details on the primary statistical tools that can be applied for financial risk measurement and management. The book lucidly introduces concepts of various well-known statistical methods such as correlations, regression, matrix approach, probability and distribution theorem, hypothesis testing, value at risk, and Monte Carlo simulation techniques and provides a hands-on estimation and interpretation of these tests in measuring risks of the financial institutions. The book strikes a fine balance between concepts and mathematics to tell a rich story of thoughtful use of statistical methods.
Observational Astronomy: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
by Geoff CottrellVery Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring Almost everything we know about the Universe has come from studying the messages carried by light from outer space. Until only a handful of decades ago, this meant observing optical photons in the narrow visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum. However, recent technological developments have now enabled us to extend this range and explore the Universe at radio, infrared, ultraviolet, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths. The observations reveal a plethora of exotic phenomena such as young galaxies at the edge of the visible Universe, quasars, pulsars, colliding galaxies, and exploding stars, often at great distances. We have discovered that the Universe is expanding and that the expansion itself is accelerating. Closer to our home planet, we track killer asteroids and comets. Working closely together, observational astronomy and astrophysics have shown us how stars produce their energy, where the chemical elements come from, how black holes form, and how the giant supermassive black holes lurking in the hearts of galaxies spew immensely powerful jets of particles and energy thousands of light years out into space. And we now have new ways beyond light to probe the mysteries of the Universe. This Very Short Introduction describes how neutrinos and gravitational waves are revolutionizing our knowledge. How do we know all this? Advances in telescope technologies offer a partial explanation, but technology alone is not enough. Unlocking the secrets of the Universe also involves the critical application of the laws of physics to the observations. Cottrell describes how we are turning observations into knowledge and how theory, in turn, is inspiring new observations. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Observational Astronomy: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
by Geoff CottrellVery Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring Almost everything we know about the Universe has come from studying the messages carried by light from outer space. Until only a handful of decades ago, this meant observing optical photons in the narrow visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum. However, recent technological developments have now enabled us to extend this range and explore the Universe at radio, infrared, ultraviolet, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths. The observations reveal a plethora of exotic phenomena such as young galaxies at the edge of the visible Universe, quasars, pulsars, colliding galaxies, and exploding stars, often at great distances. We have discovered that the Universe is expanding and that the expansion itself is accelerating. Closer to our home planet, we track killer asteroids and comets. Working closely together, observational astronomy and astrophysics have shown us how stars produce their energy, where the chemical elements come from, how black holes form, and how the giant supermassive black holes lurking in the hearts of galaxies spew immensely powerful jets of particles and energy thousands of light years out into space. And we now have new ways beyond light to probe the mysteries of the Universe. This Very Short Introduction describes how neutrinos and gravitational waves are revolutionizing our knowledge. How do we know all this? Advances in telescope technologies offer a partial explanation, but technology alone is not enough. Unlocking the secrets of the Universe also involves the critical application of the laws of physics to the observations. Cottrell describes how we are turning observations into knowledge and how theory, in turn, is inspiring new observations. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
The Limits of Structuralism: Forgotten Texts in the History of Modern Linguistics
Based around seven primary texts spanning 130 years, this volume explores the conceptual boundaries of structuralism, a scholarly movement and associated body of doctrines foundational to modern linguistics and many other humanities and social sciences. Each chapter in the volume presents a classic — and yet today underappreciated — text that addresses questions crucial to the evolution of structuralism. The texts are made accessible to present-day English-speaking readers through translation and extensive critical notes; each text is also accompanied by a detailed introduction that places it in its intellectual and historical context and outlines the insights that it contains. The volume reveals the complex genealogy of our ideas and enriches our understanding of their contemporary form and use.
Disrupted Development in the Congo: The Fragile Foundations of the African Mining Consensus (Critical Frontiers of Theory, Research, and Policy in International Development Studies)
by Ben RadleySince the turn of the century, low-income African countries have undergone a process of mining industrialization led by transnational corporations. The process has been sustained by an African Mining Consensus uniting international financial institutions, African governments, development agencies, and various strands of the academic literature. The Consensus position is that mining industrialization can drive transformative processes of social and economic development in low-income African settings. For this, state-owned enterprises and local forms of labour-intensive mining are deemed unsuitable. The former is characterized as corrupt and mismanaged, and the latter as an inefficient, subsistence activity with links to conflict financing. The Consensus holds, instead, that mining industrialization should be led by the superior expertise and efficiency of transnational corporations. Disrupted Development in the Congo reveals the fragile foundations on which this Consensus rests. Through an in-depth case study of mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ben Radley details how foreign corporations have been prone to mismanagement, inefficiencies, and rent-seeking, and implicated in fuelling conflict and violence. He also documents how structural impediments to the transformative effects of mining industrialization in low-income African countries occur irrespective of ownership and management structures. Based on the findings presented, Radley urges a move away from the market-led logics underpinning the Consensus. In the mining sector itself, he argues that efforts to mechanize labour-intensive forms of local mining better meet the needs of low-income African economies for rising productivity, labour absorption, and the domestic retention of the value generated by productive activity than the currently dominant but disruptive foreign corporate-led model. Part of this title is published open access. This part is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International licence. It is available to read and download as a PDF on the Oxford Academic platform.
Disrupted Development in the Congo: The Fragile Foundations of the African Mining Consensus (Critical Frontiers of Theory, Research, and Policy in International Development Studies)
by Ben RadleySince the turn of the century, low-income African countries have undergone a process of mining industrialization led by transnational corporations. The process has been sustained by an African Mining Consensus uniting international financial institutions, African governments, development agencies, and various strands of the academic literature. The Consensus position is that mining industrialization can drive transformative processes of social and economic development in low-income African settings. For this, state-owned enterprises and local forms of labour-intensive mining are deemed unsuitable. The former is characterized as corrupt and mismanaged, and the latter as an inefficient, subsistence activity with links to conflict financing. The Consensus holds, instead, that mining industrialization should be led by the superior expertise and efficiency of transnational corporations. Disrupted Development in the Congo reveals the fragile foundations on which this Consensus rests. Through an in-depth case study of mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ben Radley details how foreign corporations have been prone to mismanagement, inefficiencies, and rent-seeking, and implicated in fuelling conflict and violence. He also documents how structural impediments to the transformative effects of mining industrialization in low-income African countries occur irrespective of ownership and management structures. Based on the findings presented, Radley urges a move away from the market-led logics underpinning the Consensus. In the mining sector itself, he argues that efforts to mechanize labour-intensive forms of local mining better meet the needs of low-income African economies for rising productivity, labour absorption, and the domestic retention of the value generated by productive activity than the currently dominant but disruptive foreign corporate-led model. Part of this title is published open access. This part is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International licence. It is available to read and download as a PDF on the Oxford Academic platform.
Memory in Science for Society: There is nothing as practical as a good theory
Memory is essential for every day life. The understanding and study of memory has continued to grow over the years, thanks to well controlled laboratory studies and theory development. However, major challenges arise when attempting to apply theories of memory function to practical problems in society. A theory might be robust in explaining experimental data but fail to capture all that is important when taken out of the lab. The good news is that the application of memory in science to challenges in society is rapidly expanding, and Memory in Science for Society bridges that gap. Inspired by the synergy between theory and application in memory research, leading international researchers share their passion for combining memory in science with applications of that science to a wide range of challenges in society. Chapters demonstrate how that scientific passion has addressed challenges in education, life attainment, second language learning, remembering life events and faces of strangers, future planning and decision making, lifespan cognitive development and age-related cognitive decline, following instructions, and assessment and rehabilitation of cognitive impairment following brain damage. Written and edited by the leading researchers in the field, the book will be an important and influential addition to the memory literature, providing a new and comprehensive focus on the connection between theory and practice in memory and society.
Leibniz on Time, Space, and Relativity
by Richard T. ArthurIn this book, Arthur gives fresh interpretations of Gottfried Leibniz's theories of time, space, and the relativity of motion, based on a thorough examination of Leibniz's manuscripts as well as his published papers. These are analysed in historical context, but also with an eye to their contemporary relevance. Leibniz's views on relativity have been extremely influential, first on Mach, and then on Einstein, while his novel approach to geometry in his analysis situs inspired many later developments in geometry. Arthur expounds the latter in some detail, explaining its relationship to Leibniz's metaphysics of space and the grounding of motion, and defending Leibniz's views on the relativity of motion against charges of inconsistency. The brilliance of his work on time, though, has not been so well appreciated, and Arthur attempts to remedy this through a detailed discussion of Leibniz's relational theory of time, showing how it underpins his theory of possible worlds, his complex account of contingency, and his highly original treatment of the continuity of time, providing formal treatments in an appendix. In other appendices, Arthur provides translations of previously untranslated writings by Leibniz on analysis situs and on Copernicanism, as well as an essay on Leibniz's philosophy of relations. In his introductory chapter he explains how the framework for the book is provided by the interpretation of Leibniz's metaphysics he defended in his earlier Monads, Composition, and Force (OUP 2018, winner of the 2019 annual JHP Book Prize for best book in the history of philosophy published in 2018).
Leibniz on Time, Space, and Relativity
by Richard T. ArthurIn this book, Arthur gives fresh interpretations of Gottfried Leibniz's theories of time, space, and the relativity of motion, based on a thorough examination of Leibniz's manuscripts as well as his published papers. These are analysed in historical context, but also with an eye to their contemporary relevance. Leibniz's views on relativity have been extremely influential, first on Mach, and then on Einstein, while his novel approach to geometry in his analysis situs inspired many later developments in geometry. Arthur expounds the latter in some detail, explaining its relationship to Leibniz's metaphysics of space and the grounding of motion, and defending Leibniz's views on the relativity of motion against charges of inconsistency. The brilliance of his work on time, though, has not been so well appreciated, and Arthur attempts to remedy this through a detailed discussion of Leibniz's relational theory of time, showing how it underpins his theory of possible worlds, his complex account of contingency, and his highly original treatment of the continuity of time, providing formal treatments in an appendix. In other appendices, Arthur provides translations of previously untranslated writings by Leibniz on analysis situs and on Copernicanism, as well as an essay on Leibniz's philosophy of relations. In his introductory chapter he explains how the framework for the book is provided by the interpretation of Leibniz's metaphysics he defended in his earlier Monads, Composition, and Force (OUP 2018, winner of the 2019 annual JHP Book Prize for best book in the history of philosophy published in 2018).
Learning Legal Rules: A Students' Guide to Legal Method and Reasoning
by James Holland Julian WebbWritten by leading authors with extensive experience in both teaching and practice, this established and trusted title equips the student with all the techniques of legal research, analysis, and argument they will need for their law course and beyond. Holland & Webb take an engaging and practical approach with examples and exercises throughout which allow students to develop their knowledge and their reasoning skills making this an ideal text for first year students. Digital formats and resources The eleventh edition is available for students and institutions to purchase in a variety of formats, and is supported by online resources. - The ebook offers a mobile experience and convenient access along with functionality tools, navigation features and links that extra learning support: www.oxfordtextbooks.co.uk/ebooks - The accompanying online resources include multiple choice questions for each chapter, links to useful websites and a guide to using Halsbury's Laws. For futher insight into legal skills, visit legaleducation.wordpress.com.
Learning Legal Rules: A Students' Guide to Legal Method and Reasoning
by James Holland Julian WebbWritten by leading authors with extensive experience in both teaching and practice, this established and trusted title equips the student with all the techniques of legal research, analysis, and argument they will need for their law course and beyond. Holland & Webb take an engaging and practical approach with examples and exercises throughout which allow students to develop their knowledge and their reasoning skills making this an ideal text for first year students. Digital formats and resources The eleventh edition is available for students and institutions to purchase in a variety of formats, and is supported by online resources. - The ebook offers a mobile experience and convenient access along with functionality tools, navigation features and links that extra learning support: www.oxfordtextbooks.co.uk/ebooks - The accompanying online resources include multiple choice questions for each chapter, links to useful websites and a guide to using Halsbury's Laws. For futher insight into legal skills, visit legaleducation.wordpress.com.
Assuming Responsibility: Ecstatic Eudaimonism and the Call to Live Well (Oxford Studies in Theological Ethics)
by Jennifer A. HerdtRecent decades have witnessed an enthusiastic retrieval of eudaimonism, according to which the virtuous life is the happy life. But the critique launched by Kant - that eudaimonism is egoistic and distorts the character of duty or obligation - has persisted. Should I develop the virtues because these are the traits I need in order to flourish? Is it facts about my own happiness that determine my obligations to others? In this book, Jennifer Herdt deftly sifts through these debates, showing why we should embrace 'ecstatic' or 'goodness-prior' eudaimonism while rejecting 'welfare-prior' forms of eudaimonism. Grasping the character of ecstatic eudaimonism, she argues, has major implications, overcoming the common assumption of a sharp break between pagan and Christian eudaimonism, as well as of a late medieval or Protestant repudiation of eudaimonism in favor of divine command theory. Agents cannot rightly respond to the goods they encounter unless they respond to them precisely as good, and not merely as a means to promoting their own welfare; in responding well, their agency is thereby necessarily perfected. In conversation with vital strands of contemporary moral philosophy, Herdt goes on to articulate the distinctive character of obligation as a feature of accountability relations among agents. Assuming Responsibility offers a fresh point of departure for theological and philosophical approaches to virtue ethics, moral agency, and the contested relationship between the good and the right.
Assuming Responsibility: Ecstatic Eudaimonism and the Call to Live Well (Oxford Studies in Theological Ethics)
by Jennifer A. HerdtRecent decades have witnessed an enthusiastic retrieval of eudaimonism, according to which the virtuous life is the happy life. But the critique launched by Kant - that eudaimonism is egoistic and distorts the character of duty or obligation - has persisted. Should I develop the virtues because these are the traits I need in order to flourish? Is it facts about my own happiness that determine my obligations to others? In this book, Jennifer Herdt deftly sifts through these debates, showing why we should embrace 'ecstatic' or 'goodness-prior' eudaimonism while rejecting 'welfare-prior' forms of eudaimonism. Grasping the character of ecstatic eudaimonism, she argues, has major implications, overcoming the common assumption of a sharp break between pagan and Christian eudaimonism, as well as of a late medieval or Protestant repudiation of eudaimonism in favor of divine command theory. Agents cannot rightly respond to the goods they encounter unless they respond to them precisely as good, and not merely as a means to promoting their own welfare; in responding well, their agency is thereby necessarily perfected. In conversation with vital strands of contemporary moral philosophy, Herdt goes on to articulate the distinctive character of obligation as a feature of accountability relations among agents. Assuming Responsibility offers a fresh point of departure for theological and philosophical approaches to virtue ethics, moral agency, and the contested relationship between the good and the right.
Medieval Allegory as Epistemology: Dream-Vision Poetry on Language, Cognition, and Experience (Oxford Studies in Medieval Literature and Culture)
by Marco NievergeltIn Medieval Allegory as Epistemology, Marco Nievergelt argues that late medieval dream-poetry was able to use the tools of allegorical fiction to explore a set of complex philosophical questions regarding the nature of human knowledge. The focus is on three of the most widely read and influential poems of the later Middle Ages: Jean de Meun's Roman de la Rose; the Pélerinages trilogy of Guillaume de Deguileville; and William Langland's vision of Piers Plowman in its various versions. All three poets grapple with a collection of shared, closely related epistemological problems that emerged in Western Europe during the thirteenth century, in the wake of the reception of the complete body of Aristotle's works on logic and the natural sciences. This study therefore not only examines the intertextual and literary-historical relations linking the work of the three poets, but takes their shared interest in cognition and epistemology as a starting point to assess their wider cultural and intellectual significance in the context of broader developments in late medieval philosophy of mind, knowledge, and language. Vernacular literature more broadly played an extremely important role in lending an enlarged cultural resonance to philosophical ideas developed by scholastic thinkers, but it is also shown that allegorical narrative could prompt philosophical speculation on its own terms, deliberately interrogating the dominance and authority of scholastic discourses and institutions by using first-person fictional narrative as a tool for intellectual speculation.