Essays on Ethics, Social Behaviour, and Scientific Explanation

Essays on Ethics, Social Behaviour, and Scientific Explanation

Author: J.C. Harsanyi

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 940109327X

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When John Harsanyi came to Stanford University as a candidate for the Ph.D., I asked him why he was bothering, since it was most un likely that he had anything to learn from us. He was already a known scho lar; in addition to some papers in economics, the first two papers in this vol ume had already been published and had dazzled me by their originality and their combination of philosophical insight and technical competence. However, I am very glad I did not discourage him; whether he learned any thing worthwhile I don't know, but we all learned much from him on the foundations of the theory of games and specifically on the outcome of bar gaining. The central focus of Harsanyi's work has continued to be in the theory of games, but especially on the foundations and conceptual problems. The theory of games, properly understood, is a very broad approach to social interaction based on individually rational behavior, and it connects closely with fundamental methodological and substantive issues in social science and in ethics. An indication of the range of Harsanyi's interest in game the ory can be found in the first paper of Part B -though in fact his owncontri butions are much broader-and in the second paper the applications to the methodology of social science. The remaining papers in that section show more specifically the richness of game theory in specific applications.


Ethics As Social Science

Ethics As Social Science

Author: Leland B. Yeager

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2002-01-01

Total Pages: 342

ISBN-13: 1843761475

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. . . this is a very ambitious book ranging over a great deal of territory and a great number of issues . . . the general perspectives offered are certainly engaging. Alan Hamlin, Journal of Economic Methodology . . . an illuminating book, informed by careful thought and wide-ranging scholarship. David Gordon, The Mises Review Economics claims to be a science of choice and its unintended consequences, but economists sneak moral judgments in through the back door. Ethics, on the other hand, often falters on the stilts of weak economic theories and assumptions. The result economics without ethics is often sterile, and ethics without economics is often incoherent. Severed from one another, each can be dangerously misleading, and each misses the opportunity to better understand the economic and moral complexity behind social cooperation. Ethics as Social Science helps reconcile the two disciplines, and represents years of seasoned, careful thinking on the topic. Using clear, straightforward language, Yeager argues that economists should be alert to their ethical positions, rather than preach tacitly behind the mask of social welfare analysis and the like. Calling for a comparative institutional analysis, Yeager himself advances an argument in favor of an indirect or rule utilitarianism, one that is sure to unleash debate among libertarians, classical liberals, and defenders of mainstream welfare economics, and among moral philosophers who follow the present state of economic theory. David L. Prychitko, Northern Michigan University, US With this important book, esteemed economist Leland B. Yeager grounds moral and political philosophy in the requirements of a well-functioning society, one whose members reap the gains from peaceful cooperation while pursuing their own diverse goals. This book explores the reasons an individual may have for helping to uphold such a society rather than seeking a free ride on the moral behavior of others. A work in the tradition of Hume, Smith, Mill, von Mises, Hayek and Hazlitt, it expounds a rules or indirect version of utilitarianism. It reviews criticisms of utilitarianism in detail, as well as alternative grounds of ethics including contractarianism, rights-based doctrines, and appeals to specific intuitions. Yeager brings the insights of economics to bear on a field usually dominated by philosophers and theologians. Ethics comes across as a subject amply open to the findings of economics and the other social and natural sciences. Economists, philosophers and other students and scholars of the social sciences will welcome this book. It will also appeal to any reader interested in exploring the ideas of ethics.


Ethics, Morality and Business: The Development of Modern Economic Systems, Volume II

Ethics, Morality and Business: The Development of Modern Economic Systems, Volume II

Author: Dipak Basu

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-04-17

Total Pages: 205

ISBN-13: 3030680673

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This book, the second of two volumes, is inspired by the famous philosopher of India, Kautilya, author of the first book on economics in the world, Arthashashtra. It analyzes the influence of ethical values from ancient societies on modern systems of management and economics. While this book deals with the “global sages” like Aristotle, Buddha, Jesus, the scope is also expanded to incorporate other notable modern thinkers like Karl Marx, Adam Smith, and Rabindranath Tagore. This book aims to highlight the interrelationships between ethics and management, both from a micro and macroeconomics, as well as organizational and national, perspective. It will be useful for those interested in history, economics, development studies, international relations, and global politics.


John Stuart Mill and the Ethic of Human Growth

John Stuart Mill and the Ethic of Human Growth

Author: D.A. Habibi

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-03-14

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 940172010X

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In this well-researched, comprehensive study of J.S. Mill, Professor Habibi argues that the persistent, dominant theme of Mill's life and work was his passionate belief in human improvement and progress. Several Mill scholars recognize this; however, numerous writers overlook his 'growth ethic', and this has led to misunderstandings about his value system. This study defines and establishes the importance of Mill's growth ethic and clears up misinterpretations surrounding his notions of higher and lower pleasures, positive and negative freedom, the status of children, the legitimacy of authority, and support for British colonialism. Drawing from the entire corpus of Mill's writings, as well as the extensive secondary literature, Habibi has written the most focused, sustained analysis of Mill's grand, leading principle. This book will be useful to college students in philosophy and intellectual history as well as specialists in these fields.


Dictionary Of Modern American Philosophers

Dictionary Of Modern American Philosophers

Author: John R. Shook

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2005-05-15

Total Pages: 2759

ISBN-13: 1847144705

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The Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers includes both academic and non-academic philosophers, and a large number of female and minority thinkers whose work has been neglected. It includes those intellectuals involved in the development of psychology, pedagogy, sociology, anthropology, education, theology, political science, and several other fields, before these disciplines came to be considered distinct from philosophy in the late nineteenth century. Each entry contains a short biography of the writer, an exposition and analysis of his or her doctrines and ideas, a bibliography of writings, and suggestions for further reading. While all the major post-Civil War philosophers are present, the most valuable feature of this dictionary is its coverage of a huge range of less well-known writers, including hundreds of presently obscure thinkers. In many cases, the Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers offers the first scholarly treatment of the life and work of certain writers. This book will be an indispensable reference work for scholars working on almost any aspect of modern American thought.


Instrumental Data for Drug Analysis, Second Edition

Instrumental Data for Drug Analysis, Second Edition

Author: Terry Mills, III

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 1992-09-17

Total Pages: 1860

ISBN-13: 9780849395222

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Compiled with the most sophisticated chromatographic and spectrometric instruments available, this complete and self-contained seven-volume reference provides forensic, toxicology, and clinical laboratories with up-to-date information on 1,600 drugs and drug-related compounds-one of the largest collections of analytical data generated from a single source. Instrumental Data for Drug Analysis contains timely, quality data presented in a large, easily usable format. It is an essential reference in the libraries of all toxicology, analytical chemistry, and forensic specialists and laboratories.


The New Science of Cities

The New Science of Cities

Author: Michael Batty

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2013-11-01

Total Pages: 519

ISBN-13: 0262318245

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A proposal for a new way to understand cities and their design not as artifacts but as systems composed of flows and networks. In The New Science of Cities, Michael Batty suggests that to understand cities we must view them not simply as places in space but as systems of networks and flows. To understand space, he argues, we must understand flows, and to understand flows, we must understand networks—the relations between objects that compose the system of the city. Drawing on the complexity sciences, social physics, urban economics, transportation theory, regional science, and urban geography, and building on his own previous work, Batty introduces theories and methods that reveal the deep structure of how cities function. Batty presents the foundations of a new science of cities, defining flows and their networks and introducing tools that can be applied to understanding different aspects of city structure. He examines the size of cities, their internal order, the transport routes that define them, and the locations that fix these networks. He introduces methods of simulation that range from simple stochastic models to bottom-up evolutionary models to aggregate land-use transportation models. Then, using largely the same tools, he presents design and decision-making models that predict interactions and flows in future cities. These networks emphasize a notion with relevance for future research and planning: that design of cities is collective action.