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I maintain that intrinsic value is the fundamental concept of axiology. Many contemporary philosophers disagree; they say the proper object of value theory is final value. I examine three accounts of the nature of final value: the first claims that final value is non‐instrumental value; the second claims that final value is the value a thing has as an end; the third claims that final value is ultimate or non‐derivative value. In each case, I argue that the concept of final value described is either identical with the classical notion of intrinsic value or is not a plausible candidate for the primary concept of axiology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critical attention directed to John Rawls's ideal theory has in particular leveled three charges against it: first, its infeasibility; second, its inadequacy for providing normative guidance on actual injustices; and third, its insensitivity to the justice concerns of marginalized groups. Recently, advocates for Rawls's ideal theory have replied that problems arising at the stage of ideal theory can be addressed at the later stage of his nonideal theory. This article disputes that claim by arguing that although Rawls's nonideal theory provides a good answer to the infeasibility charge, it does not do so for the second and third charges. To argue for this thesis, I illustrate that nonideal theory in Rawls's Law of Peoples is unable to identify crucial injustices that emerge in the nonideal conditions of real world globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Translated by Phillip Griffith [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author offers his opinion on moral dilemmas and analyzes its implications for the structure of normative moral systems. He examines two criteria of consistency that can be used to evaluate a given moral system. The first criterion assumes that a satisfactory moral system will not allow irresolvable moral conflicts to occur and the second criterion allows irresolvable moral conflicts to occur, but also holds that there are possible worlds in which no such conflicts occur. He believes that the second criterion is more plausible, however the respective roles that the criterions assign to moral dilemmas appear similar. He also discusses several concepts related to the issue.

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In this article, the author ponders on the impact of art on life and education. She relates such topic to the essay of professor Paul C. Taylor titled "Art, Education, and Witness: Or, How to Make Our Ideals Clear," which was published in the December 2009 issue of the journal "Philosophy of Education." The author shares her observation that Taylor focuses on liabilities instead of assets as he explains the relation of art to life and education. The author also expounds on the topic of work of self-excavation.

The concepts of "appearance" and "reality" (in the title of the book) is a safe-conduct permitting the author to carry out a true X-ray analysis of a thought--that we commonly call "Greek philosophy"--which acknowledges that we live in a world that could be better, which assumes that anyone who wants to improve his life must aspire to certain ideals. This eminently ethical perspective appears in the section about Socratism and Plato. And perhaps unwillingly the author states the necessity to weaken, and even suppress, the so commented "separation" (khôrismós) between the intelligible and the sensible word, between epistéme and aísthesis. A detailed analysis of Plato's Sophist would enrich Boeri's thesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to lay the ground for the construction of a philosophy of culture the origin, meaning and some of the implications of the word „culture" are examined and discussed in light of a working definition of the anthropological concept of culture taken from C. Dawson. In Section II another concept of culture is examined, based on the idea of culture as human perfection. Then in Section III the concept of cultural levels is introduced, that is, the differing levels at which the central concept of a culture can be understood or embodied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the psychological phenomena of "endurance" and "non-endurance," and the ethical implications of a Confucian approach, which regards non-endurance as an impulse of primary virtue. It states that human beings have indefinite desires and intentions, thus a contradiction emerged between limited resources and boundless desires. In order to achieve a balance development, various civilizations have laid down different visible and invisible rules so as to enforce restraints on people's desire with different social status. These rules are actually application of the skill of endurance, which could be a choice made due to fear of punishment. However, from Confucius' perspective, one achieves the greatest virtue-benevolence through a process of exercising self-restraint.

Se presenta una reflexión filosófica del autor acerca de la racionalidad y las metas ideales. El autor presenta una serie de críticas a las propuestas de los filósofos Robert Nozick y Larry Laudan acerca de la irracionalidad y las metas no alcanzables y utópicas. Cuestiona la descalificación de las metas ideales y comenta sobre la resignación y el conformismo en la perspectiva de Nozick y Laudan.

The article presents the author's argument stating that Rossian duties match the moral convictions better than the rule-consequentialist principles. The author claims that the view of rule-consequentialists on whether the wrongness of acts is determined by the ideal principles for the earlier circumstances or by the ideal ones for the new circumstances is in conflict with the moral intuitions. The author further states that rule-consequentialism fails in the reflective equilibrium test of the rule-consequentialists.

Aristotle famously held that there is a crucial difference between the person who merely acts rightly and the person who is wholehearted in what she does. He captures this contrast by insisting on a distinction between continence and full virtue. One way of accounting for the important difference here is to suppose that, for the genuinely virtuous person, the requirements of virtue “silence” competing reasons for action. I argue that the silencing interpretation is not compelling. As Aristotle rightly saw, virtue can have a cost, and a mark of the wise person is that she recognizes it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the three kinds of idealization that include Galilean idealization, minimalist idealization, and representational idealization. According to the author, Galilean idealization is the practice of introducing distortions into theories with the goal of simplifying theories. Minimalist idealization is believed as the practice of constructing and studying theoretical models that only include core casual factors. Meanwhile, representational idealization demands the construction of a sole model for a particular target.

The paper rejects a post-modernistic view of philosophy as a genre of literature, which has no cognitive or historical significance. Though it accepts the notion of philosophy that views philosophy more as a world-view than as a science, it argues that philosophy always performs an important social task of creating ideals. The notion of the ideal in its present sense, as a name for the highest perfection of anything, came into being only during the 18th and 19th centuries, but the concept of the ideal is ancient. It combines two meanings: perfection and aim, and expresses people's striving for the highest perfection and for the Absolute. People speak about social, political and national ideals; the male and female ideal, the ideal state and government; ideals in sport, art, science, etc. I believe that the concept of the ideal lies at the very root of philosophical thinking and, to a great degree, shapes the world outlook of common people. The philosophical significance of the notion of the ideal should be located in the connection between the definition of the human essence and the possibility of its realization in a perfect society, which would correspond to it. The achievement of such a society is regarded as the supreme aim of human progress — a social ideal. Every conscious attempt to improve human conditions and to create a better society requires some philosophical ground because it needs to explain the connection between Man and World, between human aims and social reality, and between freedom and necessity. The creation of ideals, the search and striving for ideals, is an essential part of human nature. The confrontation with "ideals" is an important part of human history. All political, social and cultural movements are guided by some "philosophy of ideal", so philosophy should play a major role in creating and examining of ideals, in order to help to turn the ideals of today into the norms of tomorrow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the prominence of the concept of virtue in contemporary ethical theory, accounts of virtue have often left readers with the impression that the virtuous person is an unattainable ideal or is just psychologically implausible. This article argues that reviving the ancient Greek idea that virtues are like practical skills can help provide a more plausible account of virtue and the virtuous person. The moral knowledge of the virtuous person is analogous to the practical knowledge of the expert in a skill. Instead of relying on a reconstruction of an ancient account of skills for the comparison to virtue, this paper adapts a modem account of skill acquisition developed by Hubert and Stuart Dreyfus in their research on artificial intelligence and human expertise. The skill model of virtue offers a promising direction for virtue theory, by using the research on skills to illuminate the otherwise murky concept of virtue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the interpretation of Stanley Cavell and John Rawls on Friedrich Nietzsche's moral and political perfectionism as depicted in his book "Schopenhauer as Educator." Cavell defends Nietzsche's moral perfectionism because he believes that it is important in fashioning an internal critique of democracy. Meanwhile, Rawls criticizes Nietzsche's political perfectionism as both undemocratic and elitist. The author argues that Cavell is right when he claims that Nietzsche is not a political perfectionist.

The article discusses the argument given by philosopher Immanuel Kant to support his view that it is a duty of right to exit the state of nature and to enter a civil state. Also, the paper presents a contemporary discussion on the relationship between this duty of right and the duty of virtue. The discussion is full of implications particularly the view of the Kantian. It challenges the conventional account instead of a state designed to protect individual property rights that are existing.

Traditionally Kant's theory of punishment has been seen as wholly retributive. Recent Kantian scholarship has interpreted the theory as more moderately retributive: punishment is deterrent in aim, and retributive only in so far as the amount and type of penalty is to be determined by retributive considerations (the ius talionis). But it is arguable that a more coherent Kantian theory of punishment can be developed which makes no appeal to retribution at all: hypothetical contractors would have no good reason to endorse punishment distributed retributively. This position is first sketched behind Rawls's neo-Kantian ‘veil of ignorance’, and it is suggested that the same theory will emerge from Scanlon's more relaxed neo-Kantian position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In any realm, perfection designates the highest possible satisfaction of a standard of value. Moral perfection essentially consists of a person's practicing his moral principles as fully as he is able. This paper defends moral perfection as a proper ideal. Perfection must be understood contextually, however, as relative to the capacities of a particular individual. The tendency to dismiss perfection as unattainable is problematic for three primary reasons: it undercuts morality's ability to perform its function; the corresponding failure to abide by one's principles exacts a severe psychological toll; by excusing immorality, it undermines the gravity of morality. The paper suggests two general sources of skepticism toward perfection's possibility and addresses several specific objections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article traces the development of the ideals of Henry Odera Oruka, founder of Sage Philosophy in relation to African philosophy in Africa. According to the author, Osaka's idea of sagacity can be delimited into three stages: pre-1978, 1978-1984 and 1984-1995. The author assesses that a careful reading of Oruka's work reveals an interesting and fundamental shift from philosophic sagacity to sage philosophy. Details about the three stages of Oruka's philosophy are presented.

The article contends the philosophic sagacity of Henry Odera Oruka in African philosophy. According to the author, philosophic sages endorse only those aspects of the cultural system that satisfy their rational scrutiny. He assesses that if his contentions on the two lines of criticism are plausible, then, Oruka is mistaken in thinking that philosophic sagacity caters a decisive blow to the presuppositions of ethnophilosophy. Details about the two lines of criticism are discussed.

This article focuses on the concept of justice and its relationship to desert and the ideal theory in philosophy. Justice requires that a person get what he or she deserves. It is a widely accepted claim, although the exact nature of the relationship between justice and desert becomes controversial as these concepts are specified in greater detail. John Rawls's rejection of desert as a basis for the just distribution of social resources is well known. According to Rawls, there is a tendency for common sense to suppose that the good things in life should be distributed according to moral desert. According to virtue, justice is happiness and justice as fairness rejects this conception. It is also crucial to remember that Rawls is interested in the principles of justice with which the basic structure of society can be evaluated. This structure consists of a society's political, social and economic institutions. It also considers how the social institutions fit together into one unified system of social cooperation. Therefore, when he asserts that the concept of moral worth does not provide a first principle of distributive justice, implicit is the addendum, for the purpose of evaluating the basic structure.

The article offers information on the fundamental concept of fact and value perspectives of philosopher Peter Winch. According to the author, the study on the linguistic analysis and philosophical belief of Winch provides an opportunity to interpret the resemblance of his works as well as evaluate the relevance of his ideals on realism and metaphysical issues. Moreover, the author states that Winch believed on the importance of philosophy for social scientific understandings to overcome the difference between fundamental distinction of subject and object approach. It also offers information on arguments of Winch, fact-value dichotomy and formal analogies which infer the unfamiliar form of life and community.

The author reflects on the tension between ideals and reality. She asserts that a tension is generated out of the struggle to live an ethical life in a world characterized by the depersonalization of large-scale bureaucracies and the attendant breakdown in communication and irresponsibility of actions. She discusses the steps that must be taken to eradicate poverty. She believes that the problem of poverty must be addressed in a way that is consistent with one's ideals.

Abstract. Alan Singer makes a case for the relevance of dialectical reasoning and understanding in business strategy, politics and especially in ecology. He argues that dialectics is the optimal way to handle conceptually tensions, paradoxes, dilemmas and contradictions, and that dialectics has been ignored mainly as a result of "guilt by association", i.e., because of its linkages to totalitarianism and anti-capitalism. He also makes a case for philosophy informing strategy, and this is what I will attempt to do in the following comments, first, by focusing on the concept of dialectics as seen from a philosophical point of view, second, by trying to show some of the tensions in the concept as employed by Singer, and finally by sketching some implications in relation to politics and strategy. In doing this, I will distinguish between various types of dialectics, which differ in relation to method and theory, epistemology and ontology, nature and culture, and theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers the author's comments on the article "Luck and Desert," by N. Richards that was published in a previous issue of the journal. As stated, the fundamental difficulty with Richards's account is his failure to appreciate that desert would be radically different under his construal. As stated, Richards misses the issue of imperfect alignment of ideals for attributing desert and the practices in which those attributions are rooted in the generation of the problem of moral luck.

The article relates the author's view on philosophy as it is considered unidealistic and is less important to the field of education as it is connected to Theology. Critics believe that if philosophical principles will be applied to education it is like turning one's back on reality and facts. Other group of people including the physical scientists realize that their field is too far from philosophy thus, not paying attention to it.

The article examines the social conditions in the U.S. It has been predicted that what security, in all aspects, the country has at present is only temporary, and may soon be claimed. One should be remembered that the ideals people hope for in the future are beyond and better than any present reality.

The article presents an address by superintendent W. C. McGinnis delivered at the dedication of a schoolhouse in Revere, Massachusetts. He discusses man's journey in search of an ideal, and offers personal reflections and insights relating to ideal. He tells various forms of ideals in the beauty of art and literature, religion and justice as with the ancient Hebrews, and on constitutional government based on the rights of men as with the English.

The article discusses the philosophy of common people in their life activities. If one asks about philosophy, the academically minded students would give vague terms and phrases. The life activities of almost everyone is making solutions to problems, from this, experience and training has made them solve the problems which led to the creation of definite ideals of thought and action which constitute philosophy.