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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=42167069 | Peter Trawny
Peter Trawny (born December 17, 1964 in Gelsenkirchen) is a German philosopher and professor at the University of Wuppertal.
Peter Trawny studied philosophy, musicology and art history at the Ruhr University Bochum, where he, after a guest stay at the Albert Ludwigs University in Freiburg in Breisgau and at the University of Basel, the Magisterium graduated in 1992. In 1995, he received his doctorate at Klaus Held with a dissertation on Martin Heidegger's phenomenology of the world. With a doctoral scholarship from the Study Foundation of the German people, he was promoted and awarded in 1997 with the Second Prize of all faculties of the University of Wuppertal. This was followed by a two-month stay at the University of Kyoto in Japan with a grant from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Starting in 1997, Trawny was a research assistant at the University of Wuppertal in Klaus Held's department of phenomenology.
In 2000 he completed his habilitation at the University of Wuppertal about the time of the Trinity. Studies on the Trinity in Hegel and Schelling. Sponsored by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, after his habilitation he worked from 2001 to 2003 at the philosophy department of the Freiburg Albert Ludwigs University. In 2005, the German Literature Archive in Marbach on Neckar granted Trawny a full scholarship and honored him in 2006 with the Ernst Jünger grant from the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg. In the same year he was appointed associate professor of philosophy at the University of Wuppertal. 2009 brought Trawny a W3 professorship at the University of Wuppertal for aesthetics and philosophy of culture. In 2011 he assumed a deputy professor at the Södertörns Högskola in Stockholm at the Center for Baltic and East European Studies. In 2012 Trawny founded the Martin Heidegger Institut in German at the Bergische Universität in Wuppertal, for whose support he would win, among others, the legacy of Heidegger.
Trawny taught in addition to his international lecturing and research as a Visiting Professor at several international universities such as the University of Vienna, the Tongji University in Shanghai or Södertörns Högskola in Stockholm at the Center for Baltic and East European Studies.
Trawnys approach to philosophical problems uses a phenomenological-hermeneutic method. The focus of his work are questions of political philosophy, ethics, art and media philosophy, as well as questions of art and literature.
In his most recent works, Trawny dedicated to the elaboration of a philosophical understanding of globalization and cosmopolitanism, which in itself Adyton suggests, and especially in medium and Revolution clearly differentiated. Trawny tries to interpret the globalization of their strained relationship with the media and thus comes to a determination of the medium as "the immaterial unity of technology and capital". On the basis of Heidegger's event thinking tries Trawny the Marxist revolution discourse in the historical-contextual conditions of the 21st Century to translate, thus intertwined with those of its designation of the medium, the questions of political philosophy and media art philosophy.
In addition to his research and teaching, Trawny is consistently involved in the scholarly edition of Martin Heidegger's collected works.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=42246216 | Communicatio Socialis
Communicatio Socialis is a specialized communication and media sciences publication bearing the subtitle “Journal for Media Ethics and Communication in Church and Society”. It addresses communication and media ethical issues in addition to topics related to “Religion, Church and Communication”. Whereas media ethics is usually understood as a philosophical ethical field and thereby as a branch of philosophy, the publication applies a more broadly defined concept of media ethics and includes, in addition to philosophy, theoretical and empirical works as well as contributions from the social sciences.
The journal is published on a quarterly basis by the Matthias-Grünewald-Verlag (a part of the consortium Schwabenverlag AG). The individual issues are approximately 120 pages in length. In addition to the print editions the articles also appear as e-journals.
With the media ethical realignment as of issue 3/4 (2013) the publication also provides its content on-line. New issues are published there simultaneously with the appearance of the print issues. Within the first 12 months of publication texts appear subject to a charge. At the end of these 12 months all content of the publication is freely accessible.(Open access).
The journal understands the ongoing media transition as an ethical challenge. With the mediatization and digitalization of social communication the relevance of critical and ethical reflection in these fields increases. According to its self-understanding, the central theme of Communicatio Socialis should be an interdisciplinary and “defining site for media ethical discussion and research.".
The media ethical orientation of the periodical stands in keeping with a world-view characterized by the Christian faith. Media ethics is understood as a Christianly motivated contemporaneous service to society. The subject area “Religion, Church and Communication”, respectively Roman Catholic-related journalism, is the second thematic priority of the journal upon which, until 2013, the primary focus lay.
In 1968 Franz-Josef Eilers, in connection with Michael Schmolke and Karl R. Höller founded the professional journal for communication in religion, Church and society “Communicatio Socialis”. The title of the publication is derived from the title of the conciliar decree Decretum de instrumentis Communicationis socialis „Inter mirifica“". This was the first decree of the Catholic Church concerning means of communication.
From its theological orientation, the journal stands for the spirit of this Council and feels committed to its declarations and ecumenical perspective.
The founder, Franz-Josef Eilers SVD, saw a special task for the journal in the collection and summarization of news concerning events in the sphere of church-related journalism throughout the world. Communicatio Socialis should serve all those, who feel committed towards the journalistic tasks and responsibilities as a source of information and to stimulate discussion. Recently, Communicatio Socialis has developed in the direction of a general communications and media science publication with a media-ethical and ecclesiastic-religious focus.
From 1968 until 1993 the journal bore the subtitle “Publication for Journalism in the Church and World”. In the issue 26/1993 this changed to “International Publication for Communication in Religion, Church and Society”. With the double-issue 3/4 (2013) the journal underwent a media-ethical realignment and now bears the subtitle “Publication for Media Ethics and Communication in the Church and Society”.
Further information concerning the history of the journal can be found in volume 45/2012, Number 4.
List of previous and current publishers:
The members of the current editorial team are Renate Hackel-de Latour (Executive Editor), Annika Franzetti, Petra Hemmelmann, Christian Klenk and Christoph Sachs.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=42251515 | Jane Mansbridge
Jane Jebb Mansbridge (born November 19, 1939) is an American political scientist. She is the Charles F. Adams Professor of Political Leadership and Democratic Values in the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Mansbridge has made contributions to democratic theory, feminist scholarship, and the empirical study of social movements and direct democracy.
In April 2018, Mansbridge was announced to be the 24th laureate of the Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science.
Mansbridge received her B.A. from Wellesley College in 1961, her M.A. in history from Harvard in 1966, and her Ph.D. in government from Harvard in 1971.
Mansbridge previously taught at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University.
Mansbridge is particularly known for the distinction between unitary and adversary democracy (based on common and conflicting interests respectively), and for her concepts of gyroscopic representation (based on inner motivation), the selection model of representation, and surrogate representation (representation of others outside one's district). She is currently working on the necessity for legitimate coercion created by our need for "free use" (or "free access") goods.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=42266590 | YunoHost
YunoHost is a Debian GNU/Linux based distribution packaged with free software that automates the installation of a personal web server. The purpose of YunoHost is to allow users to easily host their own web services by enabling a simple point-and-click web interface for installing various web apps. Currently supported apps include an email server with webmail interface, a WordPress website, an instant messaging server, a news aggregator, a file sharing server, and a seedbox, among others. The name YunoHost is a play on words on the internet meme "Y U NO".
YunoHost development began in March 2012. And it is still actively maintained.
Version 1.0, based on Debian Squeeze, was released on August 5, 2012.
Version 2.0, based on Debian Wheezy, was released on .
Version 2.4, based on Debian Jessie, was released on .
Version 3.0, based on Debian Stretch, was released on .
Version 2.2 was released on . It is compatible with Debian Wheezy and Jessie. BIND has been replaced by Dnsmasq. A mailbox quota system has been set up.
YunoHost 2.4 was released on .
It includes a backup and recovery system, a system for fine management of service configuration, improvements in application management and packaging, and many other new features and bug fixes. MySQL has been replaced by MariaDB and the anti-spam amavis has been replaced by rspamd. This release is only compatible with Debian Jessie.
Yunohost 3.0 was released on June 17, 2018. It includes new features and is compatible with the new version of Debian released almost a year ago,[Debian] Stretch. This also marks the end of the cycle for Debian Jessie. It adds new security features to the program nginx, ssh... It also updates Metronome and[rspamd] in their most recent versions. Further improvements in translation have been made. Finally, the backup/restore system also switches to a stable version. The Occitan language is now available.
Released on July 5, 2019 it brings a new unified list of applications.
On 18 March 2019 Time4VPS have started to offer VPS servers with YunoHost template.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=42286356 | National Wilderness Conference
The 50th Anniversary National Wilderness Conference is the culminating commemorative event for the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act. The conference was held in Albuquerque, NM, from October 15-19, 2014.
This conference is a multi-day event including presentations, panel discussions, exhibits, field trips, and skill-development workshops. The conference will provide ample opportunity to network and share ideas, celebrate recent successes, share lessons learned, and discuss emerging challenges in wilderness stewardship. Conference tracks will include history, stewardship, education, experience, civic engagement, and science.
The conference is convened to provide a forum for discussing growing challenges to wilderness values while deepening and enabling participants’ engagement in wilderness stewardship in a time of unprecedented environmental and social change; meanwhile, it also aims to honor the achievement of a half-century of permanent protection for America’s wild places under the Wilderness Act.
The National Wilderness Conference was produced by the Wilderness50, a diverse coalition of non-profit organizations, government agencies, and academic institutions—including the Pew Charitable Trusts, Wilderness Society, Sierra Club, Back Country Horsemen of America, Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics, Conservation Lands Foundation, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, and National Park Service.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=42319895 | Peg Birmingham
Peg Birmingham is an American academic who serves as Professor of Philosophy at DePaul University. Much of Birmingham's work has focused on the work of Hannah Arendt, to whose thought she is considered to have made a profound contribution, although her interest has also ranged widely through other subjects, primarily in modern social and political philosophy, as well as feminist theory.
Birmingham received her bachelor's from the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay in 1978 before moving to Duquesne University where she received her master's and doctoral degrees in philosophy in 1980 and 1986, respectively. After receiving her doctoral degree, Birmingham accepted an appointment as Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Marist College, where she stayed until 1990. In 1990, she moved to the New York City campus of Pace University as Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Edward J. Mortola Scholar. In 1992, she accepted an appointment at DePaul University as full Professor of Philosophy.
Birmingham has published two books - "Hannah Arendt and the Right to Have Rights: The Predicament of Common Responsibility" in 2006, and "Dissensus Communis: Between Ethics and Politics" in 1995. She's also contributed a large number of book chapters, an encyclopedia entry, and a dozen peer-reviewed papers. Most of Birmingham's work has focused on or built on top of the work of Hannah Arendt (though despite Arendt's moral minimalism, Birmingham is a moral maximalist.)
In "Hannah Arendt and the Right to Have Rights: The Predicament of Common Responsibility", Birmingham rejects claims that Arendt's notion of a basic 'right to have rights' is fundamentally flawed, and argues that the right to have rights (that is, to belong to a state that respects rights) is something that should be guaranteed by humanity (though Birmingham acknowledges that she is not sure whether this is in fact practical.) Birmingham views Arendt as having constructed the notion of the 'right to have rights' in such a way as to be meaningful in a world that lacks universal humanity. Birmingham views Arendt's work as a whole as an effort to construct a 'right to have rights' absent the concepts of shared humanity, reason, individual autonomy, and other common justifications behind the idea of a 'right to have rights.'
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=42336203 | From Disgust to Humanity
From Disgust to Humanity: Sexual Orientation and Constitutional Law is a 2010 book about LGBT rights in the United States by the philosopher Martha Nussbaum.
Nussbaum analyzes the role that disgust plays in law and public debate in the United States. She primarily analyzes constitutional legal issues facing gay and lesbian Americans but also analyzes issues such as anti-miscegenation statutes, segregation, antisemitism and the caste system in India as part of her broader thesis regarding the "politics of disgust".
She posits that the fundamental motivations of those advocating legal restrictions against gay and lesbian Americans is a "politics of disgust". These legal restrictions include blocking sexual orientation being protected under anti-discrimination laws, sodomy laws against consenting adults, constitutional bans against same-sex marriage, over-strict regulation of gay bathhouses, and bans on sex in public parks and public restrooms. Nussbaum also argues that legal bans on polygamy and certain forms of incestuous (e.g. brother-sister) marriage partake of the politics of disgust and should be overturned.
Nussbaum identifies the "politics of disgust" closely with Lord Devlin and his famous opposition to the Wolfenden report that recommended decriminalizing private consensual homosexual acts on the basis that those things would "disgust the average man." To Devlin, the mere fact some people or act may produce popular emotional reactions of disgust provides an appropriate guide for legislating. She also identifies the 'wisdom of repugnance' as advocated by Leon Kass as another "politics of disgust" school of thought as it claims that disgust "in crucial cases...repugnance is the emotional expression of deep wisdom, beyond reason's power fully to articulate it."
Nussbaum goes on to explicitly oppose the concept of a disgust-based morality as an appropriate guide for legislating. Nussbaum notes that popular disgust has been used throughout history as a justification for persecution. Drawing upon her earlier work on the relationship between disgust and shame, Nussbaum notes that at various times, racism, antisemitism, and sexism, have all been driven by popular revulsion.
In place of this "politics of disgust," Nussbaum argues for the harm principle from John Stuart Mill as the proper basis for limiting individual liberties. Nussbaum argues the harm principle, which supports the legal ideas of consent, the age of majority, and privacy, protects citizens while the "politics of disgust" is merely an unreliable emotional reaction with no inherent wisdom. Furthermore, Nussbaum argues this "politics of disgust" has denied and continues to deny citizens humanity and equality before the law on no rational grounds and causes palpable social harms to the groups affected.
"From Disgust to Humanity" earned acclaim in the United States, and prompted interviews in "The New York Times" and other magazines. One conservative magazine, "The American Spectator", offered a dissenting view, writing, "[H]er account of the 'politics of disgust' lacks coherence, and 'the politics of humanity' betrays itself by not treating more sympathetically those opposed to the gay rights movement." The article also argues that book is marred by factual errors and inconsistencies.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=42386030 | Election Commission of India's Model Code of Conduct
Election Commission of India's Model Code of Conduct is a set of guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India for conduct of political parties and candidates during elections mainly with respect to speeches, polling day, polling booths, portfolios, election manifestos, processions and general conduct. These set of norms has been evolved with the consensus of political parties who have consented to abide by the principles embodied in the said code in its letter and spirit.The Model Code of Conduct comes into force immediately on announcement of the election schedule by the commission for the need of ensuring free and fair elections. Its main purpose is to ensure that ruling parties, at the Centre and in the States, do not misuse their position of advantage to gain an unfair edge. It is designed to avert practices which are deemed corrupt under model code of conduct . For example, politicians should not make hate speeches, putting one community against another or make promises about new projects that may sway a voter.
For the 2019 Indian general election the code came into force on 10 March 2019 when the Commission announced the dates and remains in force till the end of the electoral process.
The main points of the code of conduct are:
MODEL CODE OF CONDUCT FOR THE GUIDANCE OF POLITICAL PARTIES AND CANDIDATES
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=42420936 | Angie Epifano
Angie Epifano, a former student at Amherst College, gained widespread media attention and millions of page views after she wrote an essay on her personal experience of sexual assault that was published in the Amherst student newspaper, "The Amherst Student". After the publication of her essay, Amherst College began investigating its sexual assault procedures, and women from other college campuses in the United States came forward to file federal complaints under Title IX and to form groups to reduce sexual assault on college campuses.
In 2011, Epifano was a freshman at Amherst College majoring in African Art history. During her freshman year, she told "NPR" that she was invited to watch a movie by an acquaintance and fell asleep during the movie (she reported she had not been drinking). When she awoke, she reported that the acquaintance was sexually assaulting her; the next morning she left and tried not to think about the assault. Her alleged assailant was never legally prosecuted or sanctioned by Amherst college. Nine months later she went to one of Amherst College's sexual assault guidance counselors. After some time and after seeing a second guidance counselor, she admitted to thinking about suicide and was forcibly admitted by Amherst College into a psychiatric ward for five days. She returned to school just before the end of the spring semester after she placed a restraining order on the person she alleged committed the assault. She subsequently dropped out of Amherst College and started working on a dude ranch in Wyoming during the fall of 2012. It was during this time that she became frustrated that she had left Amherst College without attempting to improve the support system for victims of sexual assault. She decided to do something about it by writing an essay on her experiences of the assault, with other students, and with sexual assault support system at Amherst College.
On 10 October 2012, "The Amherst Student" published an essay by Epifano on her personal experience of a sexual assault at Amherst College. She reported that she was raped by a male acquaintance on May 25, 2011 in dormitory on the campus of Amherst College. Nine months after the alleged rape occurred, a friend suggested that she seek counseling. When she eventually did so, she reported in her essay that a campus sexual assault counselor told her "In short I was told: No you can't change dorms, there are too many students right now. Pressing charges would be useless, he's about to graduate, there's not much we can do. Are you SURE it was rape?" She described how the counseling center focused on her apparent psychological instability and placed her in a psychiatric hospital. Within the first week of publication of the essay, it received over 370,000 hits.
Immediately following the publication of Epifano's essay, Amherst College began reviewing its policies for handling sexual assault cases, brought in psychological experts, assigned new investigators, and started a "sexual respect" website. Amherst President Carolyn "Biddy" Martin stated "We need to do everything in our power to become a leader in encouraging victims to report sexual assault". Amherst College formed a Special Oversight Committee on Sexual Misconduct, which produced a critical report of the way sexual assault cases are handled at Amherst.
In November, 2013, Epifano and an anonymous former female former student filed a 113-page federal sexual assault complaint under Title IX. Subsequently, other complaints were filed under Title IX and the Clery Act. The complaints allege that Amherst and other schools violated Title IX by not providing a college environment that protects female students from discrimination and that the schools also violated the Clery Act by not keeping and making public information on campus crimes. After the publication of Epifano's essay, a group of activists formed "Know Your IX" website and group.
"NPR" contacted Amherst President Martin during the first week of April 2014 for comment and she replied:
Wendy Kaminer writing for "The Atlantic" questioned how accurately Epifano could recall all of the events she reported in her essay. She concludes that "I'm not criticizing or judging Epifano for being acutely frightened and depressed" but rather that "I'm simply suggesting that different women react differently, according to their different circumstances, strengths and vulnerabilities."
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=42477601 | Robert Stern (philosopher)
Robert A. Stern (born February 1962) is a professor of philosophy at the University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom. He is a British philosopher who is known for his work on the history of philosophy, particularly Hegel and Immanuel Kant. His current research is focused on the Danish ethicist Knud Ejler Løgstrup.
Stern graduated from St John's College, Cambridge, and then became a research fellow there. He has been a professor at the University of Sheffield since 2000, and was the head of the Department of Philosophy from 2004 to 2008.
He is on the editorial board of the "European Journal of Philosophy", and he is the current president of the British Philosophical Association.
He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2019.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=42481399 | Henry S. Richardson
Henry S. Richardson is an American philosopher, author, Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University, and Senior Research Scholar at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics.
Henry S. Richardson is the son of Anne Richardson, who was once the chair of Reading is Fundamental, and the politician and lawyer Elliot Richardson.
Richardson graduated "magna cum laude" from Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1977. He then received a J.D. from Harvard Law School and an M.P.P. from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, both in 1981. In 1986, Richardson received his Ph.D. in Philosophy, also from Harvard University.
Richardson's main work has centred on practical reasoning. His first book, "Practical Reasoning about Final Ends", focused on individual reasoning, whilst his second book, "Democratic Autonomy: Public Reasoning about the Ends of Policy", which won the Herbert A. Simon Best Book Award in Public Administration, and the David Easton Award in the Foundations of Political Theory, dealt with collective reasoning.
In addition to working on practical reasoning and moral and political philosophy, Richardson has written on bioethics. He has twice been a Visiting Scholar at the Department of Bioethics at the (U.S.) National Institutes of Health.
From 2008 to 2018, he was the Editor of the academic journal "Ethics". From 2010 to 2013, through his work as a member of the World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST), he has acted as an advisor to the Director General of UNESCO on ethical issues relating to science and technology.
In September 2014 Richardson began a two-year tenure as president of the Human Development and Capability Association (HDCA). He was succeeded by the economist Ravi Kanbur. From 2014 to 2017, he served as one of two "coordinating lead authors" on the orienting normative chapter of the three-volume report of the International Panel of Social Progress, "Rethinking Society for the 21st Century."
In 2019, Richardson was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=42481477 | Holly Martin Smith
Holly Martin Smith (also known as Holly S. Goldman) is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Her publications focus on questions in normative ethics, moral responsibility and structural questions common to normative theories.
A recipient of the Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Fellowship at the National Humanities Center (2013–14), she held an American Association of University Women Postgraduate Fellowship (1975–76) and a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for Independent Study (1982-83.)
Between 1985 and 2006 she held a series of increasingly responsible academic administrative positions, first at the University of Arizona, including Head, Department of Philosophy (1985–90), Vice Provost for Academic Affairs (1991-June 1993), and Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (1993-July 2001); and then at Rutgers University-New Brunswick from 2001 to 2006: Executive Dean Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Dean of the Graduate School-New Brunswick. Active in national academic administrative organizations, she served as President of the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences, a national organization of arts and sciences deans, during 2000-01.
Smith received her early education in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Attending Wellesley College on a National Merit Scholarship, she received her B.A. as First Trustee Fellow in 1966, followed by an M.A. (1970) and a Ph.D. (1972) in Philosophy from the University of Michigan. Smith taught at Tufts University (1970–71), The University of Michigan at Flint (1971–72), The University of Pittsburgh (1972–73), The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor (1973-80), The University of Illinois at Chicago Circle (1980–83), The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Visiting Associate Professor, 1981–82), and The University of Arizona (1983-2001). From 2001 she has served as Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.
Her husband Alvin I. Goldman is Board of Governors Professor of Philosophy and Cognitive Science at Rutgers. Her sister Sherri Smith, a prominent fiber artist, is Catherine B. Heller Collegiate Professor at the University of Michigan.
Smith's philosophical work falls into four main areas: biomedical ethics (with an emphasis on reproductive ethics); consequentialism (the theory that the moral status of our acts depends on their consequences alone); moral responsibility; and normative ethics concerns that transcend particular normative theories.
Smith defended a liberal perspective, arguing that the fetus has no natural right to the use of its mother's body during pregnancy, and that it has no right to “rescue” by the mother.
Smith focused on forms of rule utilitarianism, arguing, contra David Lyons, that act utilitarianism and full compliance forms of rule utilitarianism do not always prescribe the same actions, and maintaining that the project of finding an appropriate definition for “consequences” within rule utilitarianism had been misconceived and was doomed to failure.
Smith explored how to assess an agent's degree of credit or blameworthiness for an action when the agent acts from a mixture of good and bad motives. She worked on the question of whether an agent is blameworthy for a wrongful act done in culpable ignorance. Her most noted paper is “Culpable Ignorance,” which was named by "The Philosopher’s Annual" as one of the ten best articles in 1983. It analysed in detail the terms of the debate between those who argue that a person is blameworthy for an action performed in culpable ignorance, versus those who hold that while a person is blameworthy for the initial dereliction of failing to acquire information, that does not taint a subsequent action, done in culpable ignorance, that is itself done from acceptable motives.
Smith concluded that the only defense for the position—a controversial one in law and philosophy—is one that holds people blameworthy for the unlucky consequences of their actions.
Later she explored the implications of cognitive and social psychology for questions about moral responsibility, arguing that agents should not be held responsible for emotional reactions and behavior that issue from cognitive processes involving automatic (Kahneman/Tversky's System 1) responses to environmental stimuli.
Much of Smith's work focused on questions about right and wrong that are common to many distinct ethical theories, including both consequentialist theories and deontological ones (the moral status of an act depends on features of an act other than its consequences, such as whether or not it involves telling a lie or breaking a promise). Her paper “Dated Rightness and Moral Imperfection” helped launch a debate now known as the debate between Actualism and Possibilism by arguing for the first time in favor of Actualism. Possibilists believe that whether or not the agent ought to perform an immediate action depends on whether performing it would enable the ideal course of action in the future. Actualists believe that whether or not an agent ought to perform the action depends on what performing that action would actually lead her to do in the future.
The issue is illustrated by an example from Smith/Goldman's later paper “Doing the Best One Can”. A graduate student asks faculty member S for comments on a paper he plans to present at a job interview. If S agrees and comments on the paper, the student will improve the paper substantially, have a highly successful interview, and receive an offer for a three-year job. If S accepts the task but fails to comment on the paper in time, the student will make no revisions, have a dismal interview, and receive no job offer. If S declines to provide comments, the student will elicit comments from a less expert faculty member, make less helpful revisions on the paper, have a moderately successful interview, and receive a one-year job offer. Clearly S's accepting the task would enable her to follow the ideal course of action, namely reading and commenting on the paper in a timely way, resulting in the student's receiving a three-year job. However, in reality if S accepted the task, she would actually fail to comment on the paper in time, either because she would misunderstand the deadline, or because she of her time-consuming administrative chores. In this case the student would receive no job offer. Possibilism recommends that S agree to comment, that would support her intent to follow the best course of action. Actualism takes a more realistic stance: it recommends that S decline since that would lead to a better outcome. Smith argues this case requires the same reasoning as a prudential decision, such as deciding to drive carefully to avoid a crash.
Smith also considered the question of how to use moral theories in actual decision-making, especially given agent's lack of enough information about the world to ascertain accurately which action their favored moral theory implies. Thus the intent to avoid adultery may be thwarted by not knowing that a partner is actually married. And someone trying to follow W. D. Ross’s prima facie duty to keep promises may fail should she forget the promise. Smith repeatedly explored these “epistemic” problems and argued that the solution depends on recognizing that moral theories must be supplemented by a hierarchy of decision rules that prescribe acts as “subjectively right” to agents who are uncertain what the moral theory itself recommends. Smith was awarded a National Humanities Center Fellowship during 2013-14 to complete a book manuscript on this cluster of epistemic challenges to using morality to make decisions.
Smith's article "Culpable Ignorance" was selected by "The Philosopher's Annual" as one of the ten best articles to appear in print in 1983. Fellowships supporting her research included:
While dean she was elected to the Presidency of the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences (2000–01). She served as chair of the American Philosophical Association Pacific Division Program Committee, 1989–90, and is a member of the "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy" Editorial Board as subject co-editor for Normative Ethics (from August 2013).
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=42500813 | Steven P. Scalet
Steven P. Scalet is associate professor for the Division of Legal, Ethical and Historical Studies at the Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences, University of Baltimore.
Scalet gained his degree from the Franklin & Marshall College, he went on to the University of Arizona where he completed a masters in economics and, in 1999, his philosophy doctorate.
Scalet's teaching career began in 1999 when he became associate professor of philosophy and economics at Binghamton University, State University of New York (SUNY). As director of the Philosophy, Politics and Law (PPL), he helped to set up the PPL Institute which invites well known philosophers to the university's campus.
In 2009 Scalet took up his current position as associate professor for the Division of Legal, Ethical and Historical Studies at the Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences, University of Baltimore where he is also the director of interdisciplinary studies. He also delivers lectures for the New York Council for the Humanities on the subjects democracy and corporate responsibility.
Scalet is married, to Debby, and they have a daughter, Sophia.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=42515566 | Ingrid Robeyns
Ingrid A.M. Robeyns (born 1972) holds the Chair Ethics of Institutions at Utrecht University, Faculty of Humanities and the associated Ethics Institute.
Robeyns is also a Fellow of the Human Development and Capability Association (HDCA) and was elected the associations eighth president in April 2017. She is a notable advocate of economic limitarianism (ethical).
Robeyns is from Leuven, Belgium. She earned a Belgian licentiate qualification in economics from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven) in 1994. She went on to study social and political science in Germany at the Georg August Universität, Göttingen (University of Göttingen). Robeyns returned to the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven for her MSc in economics, which she completed in 1997.
Her doctorate in philosophy and economics came from the University of Cambridge in 2003. Her dissertation was on gender inequality and the capability approach. Robeyns also has an MA in philosophy from the Open University (2007).
In 2006 the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) awarded her a five-year Vidi grant for research on theories of justice. The research considers what the question of justice means within the welfare state for children, parents and non-parents. In 2018 Robeyns was elected member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Robeyns claimed dual Dutch / Belgium citizenship in 2013.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=42516466 | Sabina Alkire
Sabina Alkire is the director of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), an economic research centre within the Oxford Department of International Development at the University of Oxford, England, which was established in 2007. She is a fellow of the Human Development and Capability Association. She has worked with organizations such as the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, the United Nations Human Development Programme Human Development Report Office, the European Commission, and the UK's Department for International Development.
Alkire and fellow OPHI member economist James Foster developed the Alkire Foster Method, a method of measuring multidimensional poverty. It includes identifying ‘who is poor’ by considering the range of deprivations they suffer, and aggregating that information to reflect societal poverty.
Alkire studied at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, graduating in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts in sociology. Afterwards, Alkire moved to England and attended the University of Oxford, where she obtained a diploma of theology with a distinction in Islam in 1992. Furthering her postgraduate studies at the University of Oxford, Alkire went on to receive a Master of Philosophy in Christian political ethics and a Master of Science in economics for development in 1994 and 1995, respectively. For her Master of Science thesis, "The Full or Minimally Decent Life: Empiricization of Sen’s Capabilities Approach in Poverty Measurement", she was awarded the George Webb Medley Graduate Prize by the university. Later, she gained her doctorate in economics from Magdalen College, University of Oxford in 1999. Her doctoral thesis, which demonstrated how the work of Indian economist and philosopher Amartya Sen could be coherently and practically put to use in poverty reduction activities, was later published as a monograph with the title "Valuing Freedoms: Sen's Capability Approach and Poverty Reduction" (2002). From 1999 to 2001, Alkire worked as the coordinator for Culture and Poverty Learning-Research Program, World Bank, and PREM. Then, in 2001, she moved on to working for the Commission on Human Security as a research writer until 2003. Alkire later became a research associate at the Harvard Global Equity Initiative at Harvard University. During her time there she won the Thulin Scholar of Religion and Contemporary Culture award from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and was listed in Foreign Policy Magazine "100 global thinkers 2010".
She served as the "Oliver T. Carr, Jr. Professor in International Affairs" at the Elliott School at The George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. from 2015 until 2016. She currently holds positions as the director of OPHI, associate professor at the Department of International Development at the University of Oxford, and is a distinguished research affiliate of the Kellogg Institute for International studies at the University of Notre Dame.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6852 | Caligula
Caligula (; ; 31 August 12 – 24 January 41) was the third Roman emperor, ruling from 37 to 41. The son of the popular Roman general Germanicus and Augustus's granddaughter Agrippina the Elder, Caligula was born into the first ruling family of the Roman Empire, conventionally known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Germanicus' uncle and adoptive father, Tiberius, succeeded Augustus as emperor of Rome in 14.
Although he was born Gaius Caesar, after Julius Caesar, he acquired the nickname "Caligula" (meaning "little [soldier's] boot", the diminutive form of "caliga") from his father's soldiers during their campaign in Germania. When Germanicus died at Antioch in 19, Agrippina returned with her six children to Rome, where she became entangled in a bitter feud with Tiberius. The conflict eventually led to the destruction of her family, with Caligula as the sole male survivor. Untouched by the deadly intrigues, Caligula accepted an invitation in 31 to join the emperor on the island of Capri, where Tiberius had withdrawn five years earlier. Following the death of Tiberius, Caligula succeeded his adoptive grandfather as emperor in 37.
There are few surviving sources about the reign of Caligula, although he is described as a noble and moderate emperor during the first six months of his rule. After this, the sources focus upon his cruelty, sadism, extravagance, and sexual perversion, presenting him as an insane tyrant. While the reliability of these sources is questionable, it is known that during his brief reign, Caligula worked to increase the unconstrained personal power of the emperor, as opposed to countervailing powers within the principate. He directed much of his attention to ambitious construction projects and luxurious dwellings for himself, and initiated the construction of two aqueducts in Rome: the Aqua Claudia and the Anio Novus. During his reign, the empire annexed the client kingdom of Mauretania as a province.
In early 41, Caligula was assassinated as a result of a conspiracy by officers of the Praetorian Guard, senators, and courtiers. The conspirators' attempt to use the opportunity to restore the Roman Republic was thwarted, however. On the day of the assassination of Caligula, the Praetorians declared Caligula's uncle, Claudius, the next Roman emperor. Although the Julio-Claudian dynasty continued to rule the empire until the fall of his nephew Nero in 68, Caligula's death marked the official end of the Julii Caesares in the male line.
Gaius Julius Caesar (named in honor of his famous relative) was born in Antium (modern Anzio and Nettuno) on 31 August 12 AD, the third of six surviving children born to Germanicus and his second cousin Agrippina the Elder. Gaius had two older brothers, Nero and Drusus, as well as three younger sisters, Agrippina the Younger, Julia Drusilla and Julia Livilla. He was also a nephew of Claudius, Germanicus' younger brother and the future emperor.
Agrippina the Elder was the daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia the Elder. She was a granddaughter of Augustus and Scribonia on her mother's side. Through Agrippina, Augustus was the maternal great-grandfather of Gaius.
As a boy of just two or three, Gaius accompanied his father, Germanicus, on campaigns in the north of Germania. The soldiers were amused that Gaius was dressed in a miniature soldier's outfit, including boots and armour. He was soon given his nickname "Caligula", meaning "little (soldier's) boot" in Latin, after the small boots (caligae) he wore. Gaius, though, reportedly grew to dislike this nickname.
Suetonius claims that Germanicus was poisoned in Syria by an agent of Tiberius, who viewed Germanicus as a political rival.
After the death of his father, Caligula lived with his mother until her relations with Tiberius deteriorated. Tiberius would not allow Agrippina to remarry for fear her husband would be a rival. Agrippina and Caligula's brother, Nero, were banished in 29 on charges of treason.
The adolescent Caligula was then sent to live with his great-grandmother (and Tiberius's mother) Livia. After her death, he was sent to live with his grandmother Antonia Minor. In 30, his brother, Drusus Caesar, was imprisoned on charges of treason and his brother Nero died in exile from either starvation or suicide. Suetonius writes that after the banishment of his mother and brothers, Caligula and his sisters were nothing more than prisoners of Tiberius under the close watch of soldiers.
In 31, Caligula was remanded to the personal care of Tiberius on Capri, where he lived for six years. To the surprise of many, Caligula was spared by Tiberius. According to historians, Caligula was an excellent natural actor and, recognizing danger, hid all his resentment towards Tiberius. An observer said of Caligula, "Never was there a better servant or a worse master!"
Caligula claimed to have planned to kill Tiberius with a dagger to avenge his mother and brother: however, having brought the weapon into Tiberius's bedroom he did not kill the Emperor but instead threw the dagger down on the floor. Supposedly Tiberius knew of this but never dared to do anything about it. Suetonius claims that Caligula was already cruel and vicious: he writes that, when Tiberius brought Caligula to Capri, his purpose was to allow Caligula to live in order that he "prove the ruin of himself and of all men, and that he was rearing a viper for the Roman people and a Phaethon for the world."
In 33, Tiberius gave Caligula an honorary quaestorship, a position he held until his rise to emperor. Meanwhile, both Caligula's mother and his brother Drusus died in prison. Caligula was briefly married to Junia Claudilla, in 33, though she died in childbirth the following year. Caligula spent time befriending the Praetorian prefect, Naevius Sutorius Macro, an important ally. Macro spoke well of Caligula to Tiberius, attempting to quell any ill will or suspicion the Emperor felt towards Caligula.
In 35, Caligula was named joint heir to Tiberius's estate along with Tiberius Gemellus.
When Tiberius died on 16 March 37 AD, his estate and the titles of the principate were left to Caligula and Tiberius's own grandson, Gemellus, who were to serve as joint heirs. Although Tiberius was 77 and on his death bed, some ancient historians still conjecture that he was murdered. Tacitus writes that the Praetorian Prefect, Macro, smothered Tiberius with a pillow to hasten Caligula's accession, much to the joy of the Roman people, while Suetonius writes that Caligula may have carried out the killing, though this is not recorded by any other ancient historian. Seneca the Elder and Philo, who both wrote during Tiberius's reign, as well as Josephus, record Tiberius as dying a natural death. Backed by Macro, Caligula had Tiberius's will nullified with regard to Gemellus on grounds of insanity, but otherwise carried out Tiberius's wishes.
Caligula accepted the powers of the principate as conferred by the Senate and entered Rome on 28 March amid a crowd that hailed him as "our baby" and "our star", among other nicknames. Caligula is described as the first emperor who was admired by everyone in "all the world, from the rising to the setting sun." Caligula was loved by many for being the beloved son of the popular Germanicus, and because he was not Tiberius. Suetonius said that over 160,000 animals were sacrificed during three months of public rejoicing to usher in the new reign. Philo describes the first seven months of Caligula's reign as completely blissful.
Caligula's first acts were said to be generous in spirit, though many were political in nature. To gain support, he granted bonuses to the military, including the Praetorian Guard, city troops and the army outside Italy. He destroyed Tiberius's treason papers, declared that treason trials were a thing of the past, and recalled those who had been sent into exile. He helped those who had been harmed by the imperial tax system, banished certain sexual deviants, and put on lavish spectacles for the public, including gladiatorial games. Caligula collected and brought back the bones of his mother and of his brothers and deposited their remains in the tomb of Augustus.
In October 37, Caligula fell seriously ill, or perhaps was poisoned. He soon recovered from his illness, but many believed that the illness turned the young emperor toward the diabolical: he started to kill off or exile those who were close to him or whom he saw as a serious threat. Perhaps his illness reminded him of his mortality and of the desire of others to advance into his place. He had his cousin and adopted son Tiberius Gemellus executed – an act that outraged Caligula's and Gemellus's mutual grandmother Antonia Minor. She is said to have committed suicide, although Suetonius hints that Caligula actually poisoned her. He had his father-in-law Marcus Junius Silanus and his brother-in-law Marcus Lepidus executed as well. His uncle Claudius was spared only because Caligula preferred to keep him as a laughing stock. His favourite sister Julia Drusilla died in 38 of a fever: his other two sisters, Livilla and Agrippina the Younger, were exiled. He hated being the grandson of Agrippa and slandered Augustus by repeating a falsehood that his mother was actually conceived as the result of an incestuous relationship between Augustus and his daughter Julia the Elder.
In 38, Caligula focused his attention on political and public reform. He published the accounts of public funds, which had not been made public during the reign of Tiberius. He aided those who lost property in fires, abolished certain taxes, and gave out prizes to the public at gymnastic events. He allowed new members into the equestrian and senatorial orders.
Perhaps most significantly, he restored the practice of democratic elections. Cassius Dio said that this act "though delighting the rabble, grieved the sensible, who stopped to reflect, that if the offices should fall once more into the hands of the many ... many disasters would result".
During the same year, though, Caligula was criticized for executing people without full trials and for forcing the Praetorian prefect, Macro, to commit suicide. Macro had fallen out of favor with the emperor, probably due to an attempt to ally himself with Gemellus when it appeared that Caligula might die of fever.
According to Cassius Dio, a financial crisis emerged in 39. Suetonius places the beginning of this crisis in 38. Caligula's political payments for support, generosity and extravagance had exhausted the state's treasury. Ancient historians state that Caligula began falsely accusing, fining and even killing individuals for the purpose of seizing their estates.
Historians describe a number of Caligula's other desperate measures. To gain funds, Caligula asked the public to lend the state money. He levied taxes on lawsuits, weddings and prostitution. Caligula began auctioning the lives of the gladiators at shows. Wills that left items to Tiberius were reinterpreted to leave the items instead to Caligula. Centurions who had acquired property by plunder were forced to turn over spoils to the state.
The current and past highway commissioners were accused of incompetence and embezzlement and forced to repay money. According to Suetonius, in the first year of Caligula's reign he squandered 2.7 billion sesterces that Tiberius had amassed. His nephew Nero Caesar both envied and admired the fact that Gaius had run through the vast wealth Tiberius had left him in so short a time.
However, some historians have shown skepticism towards the large number of sesterces quoted by Suetonius and Dio. According to Wilkinson, Caligula's use of precious metals to mint coins throughout his principate indicates that the treasury most likely never fell into bankruptcy. He does point out, however, that it is difficult to ascertain whether the purported 'squandered wealth' was from the treasury alone due to the blurring of "the division between the private wealth of the emperor and his income as head of state." Furthermore, Alston points out that Caligula's successor, Claudius, was able to donate 15,000 sesterces to each member of the praetorian guard in 41, suggesting the Roman treasury was solvent.
A brief famine of unknown extent occurred, perhaps caused by this financial crisis, but Suetonius claims it resulted from Caligula's seizure of public carriages; according to Seneca, grain imports were disrupted because Caligula re-purposed grain boats for a pontoon bridge.
Despite financial difficulties, Caligula embarked on a number of construction projects during his reign. Some were for the public good, though others were for himself.
Josephus describes Caligula's improvements to the harbours at Rhegium and Sicily, allowing increased grain imports from Egypt, as his greatest contributions. These improvements may have been in response to the famine.
Caligula completed the temple of Augustus and the theatre of Pompey and began an amphitheatre beside the Saepta. He expanded the imperial palace. He began the aqueducts Aqua Claudia and Anio Novus, which Pliny the Elder considered engineering marvels. He built a large racetrack known as the "circus of Gaius and Nero" and had an Egyptian obelisk (now known as the "Vatican Obelisk") transported by sea and erected in the middle of Rome.
At Syracuse, he repaired the city walls and the temples of the gods. He had new roads built and pushed to keep roads in good condition. He had planned to rebuild the palace of Polycrates at Samos, to finish the temple of Didymaean Apollo at Ephesus and to found a city high up in the Alps. He planned to dig a canal through the Isthmus of Corinth in Greece and sent a chief centurion to survey the work.
In 39, Caligula performed a spectacular stunt by ordering a temporary floating bridge to be built using ships as pontoons, stretching for over two miles from the resort of Baiae to the neighbouring port of Puteoli. It was said that the bridge was to rival the Persian king Xerxes' pontoon bridge crossing of the Hellespont. Caligula, who could not swim, then proceeded to ride his favourite horse Incitatus across, wearing the breastplate of Alexander the Great. This act was in defiance of a prediction by Tiberius's soothsayer Thrasyllus of Mendes that Caligula had "no more chance of becoming emperor than of riding a horse across the Bay of Baiae".
Caligula had two large ships constructed for himself (which were recovered from the bottom of Lake Nemi around 1930). The ships were among the largest vessels in the ancient world. The smaller ship was designed as a temple dedicated to Diana. The larger ship was essentially an elaborate floating palace with marble floors and plumbing. The ships burned in 1944 after an attack in the Second World War; almost nothing remains of their hulls, though many archaeological treasures remain intact in the museum at Lake Nemi and in the Museo Nazionale Romano (Palazzo Massimo) at Rome.
In 39, relations between Caligula and the Roman Senate deteriorated. The subject of their disagreement is unknown. A number of factors, though, aggravated this feud. The Senate had become accustomed to ruling without an emperor between the departure of Tiberius for Capri in 26 and Caligula's accession. Additionally, Tiberius' treason trials had eliminated a number of pro-Julian senators such as Asinius Gallus.
Caligula reviewed Tiberius' records of treason trials and decided, based on their actions during these trials, that numerous senators were not trustworthy. He ordered a new set of investigations and trials. He replaced the consul and had several senators put to death. Suetonius reports that other senators were degraded by being forced to wait on him and run beside his chariot.
Soon after his break with the Senate, Caligula faced a number of additional conspiracies against him. A conspiracy involving his brother-in-law was foiled in late 39. Soon afterwards, the Governor of Germany, Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Gaetulicus, was executed for connections to a conspiracy.
In 40, Caligula expanded the Roman Empire into Mauretania and made a significant attempt at expanding into Britannia – even challenging Neptune in his campaign. The conquest of Britannia was later achieved during the reign of his successor, Claudius.
Mauretania was a client kingdom of Rome ruled by Ptolemy of Mauretania. Caligula invited Ptolemy to Rome and then suddenly had him executed. Mauretania was annexed by Caligula and subsequently divided into two provinces, Mauretania Tingitana and Mauretania Caesariensis, separated by the river Malua. Pliny claims that division was the work of Caligula, but Dio states that in 42 an uprising took place, which was subdued by Gaius Suetonius Paulinus and Gnaeus Hosidius Geta, and the division only took place after this. This confusion might mean that Caligula decided to divide the province, but the division was postponed because of the rebellion. The first known equestrian governor of the two provinces was Marcus Fadius Celer Flavianus, in office in 44.
Details on the Mauretanian events of 39–44 are unclear. Cassius Dio wrote an entire chapter on the annexation of Mauretania by Caligula, but it is now lost. Caligula's move seemingly had a strictly personal political motive – fear and jealousy of his cousin Ptolemy – and thus the expansion may not have been prompted by pressing military or economic needs. However, the rebellion of Tacfarinas had shown how exposed Africa Proconsularis was to its west and how the Mauretanian client kings were unable to provide protection to the province, and it is thus possible that Caligula's expansion was a prudent response to potential future threats.
There seems to have been a northern campaign to Britannia that was aborted. This campaign is derided by ancient historians with accounts of Gauls dressed up as Germanic tribesmen at his triumph and Roman troops ordered to collect seashells as "spoils of the sea". The few primary sources disagree on what precisely occurred. Modern historians have put forward numerous theories in an attempt to explain these actions. This trip to the English Channel could have merely been a training and scouting mission. The mission may have been to accept the surrender of the British chieftain Adminius. "Seashells", or "conchae" in Latin, may be a metaphor for something else such as female genitalia (perhaps the troops visited brothels) or boats (perhaps they captured several small British boats).
When several client kings came to Rome to pay their respects to him and argued about their nobility of descent, he allegedly cried out the Homeric line: "Let there be one lord, one king." In 40, Caligula began implementing very controversial policies that introduced religion into his political role. Caligula began appearing in public dressed as various gods and demigods such as Hercules, Mercury, Venus and Apollo. Reportedly, he began referring to himself as a god when meeting with politicians and he was referred to as "Jupiter" on occasion in public documents.
A sacred precinct was set apart for his worship at Miletus in the province of Asia and two temples were erected for worship of him in Rome. The Temple of Castor and Pollux on the forum was linked directly to the imperial residence on the Palatine and dedicated to Caligula. He would appear there on occasion and present himself as a god to the public. Caligula had the heads removed from various statues of gods located across Rome and replaced them with his own. It is said that he wished to be worshipped as "Neos Helios", the "New Sun". Indeed, he was represented as a sun god on Egyptian coins.
Caligula's religious policy was a departure from that of his predecessors. According to Cassius Dio, living emperors could be worshipped as divine in the east and dead emperors could be worshipped as divine in Rome. Augustus had the public worship his spirit on occasion, but Dio describes this as an extreme act that emperors generally shied away from. Caligula took things a step further and had those in Rome, including senators, worship him as a tangible, living god.
Caligula needed to quell several riots and conspiracies in the eastern territories during his reign. Aiding him in his actions was his good friend, Herod Agrippa, who became governor of the territories of Batanaea and Trachonitis after Caligula became emperor in 37.
The cause of tensions in the east was complicated, involving the spread of Greek culture, Roman Law and the rights of Jews in the empire.
Caligula did not trust the prefect of Egypt, Aulus Avilius Flaccus. Flaccus had been loyal to Tiberius, had conspired against Caligula's mother and had connections with Egyptian separatists. In 38, Caligula sent Agrippa to Alexandria unannounced to check on Flaccus. According to Philo, the visit was met with jeers from the Greek population who saw Agrippa as the king of the Jews. Flaccus tried to placate both the Greek population and Caligula by having statues of the emperor placed in Jewish synagogues. As a result, riots broke out in the city. Caligula responded by removing Flaccus from his position and executing him.
In 39, Agrippa accused Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, of planning a rebellion against Roman rule with the help of Parthia. Herod Antipas confessed and Caligula exiled him. Agrippa was rewarded with his territories.
Riots again erupted in Alexandria in 40 between Jews and Greeks. Jews were accused of not honouring the emperor. Disputes occurred in the city of Jamnia. Jews were angered by the erection of a clay altar and destroyed it. In response, Caligula ordered the erection of a statue of himself in the Jewish Temple of Jerusalem, a demand in conflict with Jewish monotheism. In this context, Philo wrote that Caligula "regarded the Jews with most especial suspicion, as if they were the only persons who cherished wishes opposed to his".
The Governor of Syria, Publius Petronius, fearing civil war if the order were carried out, delayed implementing it for nearly a year. Agrippa finally convinced Caligula to reverse the order. However, Caligula issued a second order to have his statue erected in the Temple of Jerusalem. In Rome, another statue of himself, of colossal size, was made of gilt brass for the purpose. The Temple of Jerusalem was then transformed into a temple for Caligula, and it was called the Temple of Illustrious Gaius the New Jupiter.
Philo of Alexandria and Seneca the Younger, contemporaries of Caligula, describe him as an insane emperor who was self-absorbed, short-tempered, killed on a whim, and indulged in too much spending and sex. He is accused of sleeping with other men's wives and bragging about it, killing for mere amusement, deliberately wasting money on his bridge, causing starvation, and wanting a statue of himself in the Temple of Jerusalem for his worship. Once, at some games at which he was presiding, he was said to have ordered his guards to throw an entire section of the audience into the arena during the intermission to be eaten by the wild beasts because there were no prisoners to be used and he was bored.
While repeating the earlier stories, the later sources of Suetonius and Cassius Dio provide additional tales of insanity. They accuse Caligula of incest with his sisters, Agrippina the Younger, Drusilla, and Livilla, and say he prostituted them to other men. They state he sent troops on illogical military exercises, turned the palace into a brothel, and, most famously, planned or promised to make his horse, Incitatus, a consul,
and actually appointed him a priest.
The validity of these accounts is debatable. In Roman political culture, insanity and sexual perversity were often presented hand-in-hand with poor government.
Caligula's actions as emperor were described as being especially harsh to the Senate, to the nobility and to the equestrian order. According to Josephus, these actions led to several failed conspiracies against Caligula. Eventually, officers within the Praetorian Guard led by Cassius Chaerea succeeded in murdering the emperor. The plot is described as having been planned by three men, but many in the senate, army and equestrian order were said to have been informed of it and involved in it.
The situation had escalated when, in 40, Caligula announced to the Senate that he planned to leave Rome permanently and to move to Alexandria in Egypt, where he hoped to be worshiped as a living god. The prospect of Rome losing its emperor and thus its political power was the final straw for many. Such a move would have left both the Senate and the Praetorian Guard powerless to stop Caligula's repression and debauchery. With this in mind Chaerea convinced his fellow conspirators, who included Marcus Vinicius and Lucius Annius Vinicianus, to put their plot into action quickly.
According to Josephus, Chaerea had political motivations for the assassination. Suetonius sees the motive in Caligula calling Chaerea derogatory names. Caligula considered Chaerea effeminate because of a weak voice and for not being firm with tax collection. Caligula would mock Chaerea with names like "Priapus" and "Venus".
On 22 January 41 (Suetonius gives the date as 24 January), Cassius Chaerea and other guardsmen accosted Caligula as he addressed an acting troupe of young men beneath the palace, during a series of games and dramatics being held for the Divine Augustus. Details recorded on the events vary somewhat from source to source, but they agree that Chaerea stabbed Caligula first, followed by a number of conspirators. Suetonius records that Caligula's death resembled that of Julius Caesar. He states that both the elder Gaius Julius Caesar (Julius Caesar) and the younger Gaius Julius Caesar (Caligula) were stabbed 30 times by conspirators led by a man named Cassius (Cassius Longinus and Cassius Chaerea). By the time Caligula's loyal Germanic guard responded, the Emperor was already dead. The Germanic guard, stricken with grief and rage, responded with a rampaging attack on the assassins, conspirators, innocent senators and bystanders alike. These wounded conspirators were treated by the physician Arcyon.
The "cryptoporticus" (underground corridor) beneath the imperial palaces on the Palatine Hill where this event took place was discovered by archaeologists in 2008.
The senate attempted to use Caligula's death as an opportunity to restore the Republic. Chaerea tried to persuade the military to support the Senate. The military, though, remained loyal to the idea of imperial monarchy. The grieving Roman people assembled and demanded that Caligula's murderers be brought to justice. Uncomfortable with lingering imperial support, the assassins sought out and killed Caligula's wife, Caesonia, and killed their young daughter, Julia Drusilla, by smashing her head against a wall. They were unable to reach Caligula's uncle, Claudius. After a soldier, Gratus, found Claudius hiding behind a palace curtain, he was spirited out of the city by a sympathetic faction of the Praetorian Guard to their nearby camp.
Claudius became emperor after procuring the support of the Praetorian Guard. He ordered the execution of Chaerea and of any other known conspirators involved in the death of Caligula.
According to Suetonius, Caligula's body was placed under turf until it was burned and entombed by his sisters. He was buried within the Mausoleum of Augustus; in 410, during the Sack of Rome, the ashes in the tomb were scattered.
The facts and circumstances of Caligula's reign are mostly lost to history. Only two sources contemporary with Caligula have survived – the works of Philo and Seneca. Philo's works, "On the Embassy to Gaius" and "Flaccus", give some details on Caligula's early reign, but mostly focus on events surrounding the Jewish population in Judea and Egypt with whom he sympathizes. Seneca's various works give mostly scattered anecdotes on Caligula's personality. Seneca was almost put to death by Caligula in AD 39 likely due to his associations with conspirators.
At one time, there were detailed contemporaneous histories on Caligula, but they are now lost. Additionally, the historians who wrote them are described as biased, either overly critical or praising of Caligula. Nonetheless, these lost primary sources, along with the works of Seneca and Philo, were the basis of surviving secondary and tertiary histories on Caligula written by the next generations of historians. A few of the contemporaneous historians are known by name. Fabius Rusticus and Cluvius Rufus both wrote condemning histories on Caligula that are now lost. Fabius Rusticus was a friend of Seneca who was known for historical embellishment and misrepresentation. Cluvius Rufus was a senator involved in the assassination of Caligula.
Caligula's sister, Agrippina the Younger, wrote an autobiography that certainly included a detailed explanation of Caligula's reign, but it too is lost. Agrippina was banished by Caligula for her connection to Marcus Lepidus, who conspired against him. The inheritance of Nero, Agrippina's son and the future emperor, was seized by Caligula. Gaetulicus, a poet, produced a number of flattering writings about Caligula, but they are lost.
The bulk of what is known of Caligula comes from Suetonius and Cassius Dio. Suetonius wrote his history on Caligula 80 years after his death, while Cassius Dio wrote his history over 180 years after Caligula's death. Cassius Dio's work is invaluable because it alone gives a loose chronology of Caligula's reign.
A handful of other sources add a limited perspective on Caligula. Josephus gives a detailed description of Caligula's assassination. Tacitus provides some information on Caligula's life under Tiberius. In a now lost portion of his "Annals", Tacitus gave a detailed history of Caligula. Pliny the Elder's "Natural History" has a few brief references to Caligula.
There are few surviving sources on Caligula and none of them paints Caligula in a favourable light. The paucity of sources has resulted in significant gaps in modern knowledge of the reign of Caligula. Little is written on the first two years of Caligula's reign. Additionally, there are only limited details on later significant events, such as the annexation of Mauretania, Caligula's military actions in Britannia, and his feud with the Roman Senate.
All surviving sources, except Pliny the Elder, characterize Caligula as insane. However, it is not known whether they are speaking figuratively or literally. Additionally, given Caligula's unpopularity among the surviving sources, it is difficult to separate fact from fiction. Recent sources are divided in attempting to ascribe a medical reason for his behavior, citing as possibilities encephalitis, epilepsy or meningitis. The question of whether or not Caligula was insane (especially after his illness early in his reign) remains unanswered.
Philo of Alexandria, Josephus and Seneca state that Caligula was insane, but describe this madness as a personality trait that came through experience. Seneca states that Caligula became arrogant, angry and insulting once he became emperor and uses his personality flaws as examples his readers can learn from. According to Josephus, power made Caligula incredibly conceited and led him to think he was a god. Philo of Alexandria reports that Caligula became ruthless after nearly dying of an illness in the eighth month of his reign in 37. Juvenal reports he was given a magic potion that drove him insane.
Suetonius said that Caligula suffered from "falling sickness", or epilepsy, when he was young. Modern historians have theorized that Caligula lived with a daily fear of seizures. Despite swimming being a part of imperial education, Caligula could not swim. Epileptics are discouraged from swimming in open waters because unexpected fits in such difficult rescue circumstances can be fatal. Caligula reportedly talked to the full moon: Epilepsy was long associated with the moon.
Suetonius described Caligula as sickly-looking, skinny and pale: "he was tall, very pale, ill-shaped, his neck and legs very slender, his eyes and temples hollow, his brows broad and knit, his hair thin, and the crown of the head bald. The other parts of his body were much covered with hair ... He was crazy both in body and mind, being subject, when a boy, to the falling sickness. When he arrived at the age of manhood he endured fatigue tolerably well. Occasionally he was liable to faintness, during which he remained incapable of any effort". Based on scientific reconstructions of his official painted busts, Caligula had brown hair, brown eyes, and fair skin.
Some modern historians think that Caligula suffered from hyperthyroidism. This diagnosis is mainly attributed to Caligula's irritability and his "stare" as described by Pliny the Elder.
On 17 January 2011, police in Nemi, Italy, announced that they believed they had discovered the site of Caligula's burial, after arresting a thief caught smuggling a statue which they believed to be of the emperor. The claim has been met with scepticism by Cambridge historian Mary Beard.
"Caligula", by French author Albert Camus, is a play in which Caligula returns after deserting the palace for three days and three nights following the death of his beloved sister, Drusilla. The young emperor then uses his unfettered power to "bring the impossible into the realm of the likely".
In the novel "I, Claudius" by English writer Robert Graves, Caligula is presented as being a murderous sociopath from his childhood, who became clinically insane early in his reign. At the age of only ten, he drove his father Germanicus to despair and death by secretly terrorising him. Graves's Caligula commits incest with all three of his sisters and is implied to have murdered Drusilla. In the 1976 BBC TV adaptation, Caligula was played by English actor John Hurt.
There is a song by Hip Hop rapper Ghostemane called Caligula.
Caligvla is the second album released by Canadian death metal band Ex Deo.
The Smiths' 1984 track Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now references the emperor with the following line: "What she asked of me at the end of the day, Caligula would have blushed".
Macy Gray released a track called Caligula on her 1999 album On How Life Is.
Tool (band) released a track called Invincible with the following line: "Tales told of battles won, of things we've done. Caligula would grin."
Sodom (band) released a track called Caligula on their 2016 released album Decision Day
Caligula (Lingua Ignota album) is the third studio album by Lingua Ignota (musician), released July 19, 2019.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6901 | Outline of critical theory
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to critical theory:
Critical theory – the examination and critique of society and culture, drawing from knowledge across the social sciences and humanities. The term has two different meanings with different origins and histories: one originating in sociology and the other in literary criticism. This has led to the very literal use of 'critical theory' as an umbrella term to describe any theory founded upon critique.
African-American Theory
Gender studies
Marxist philosophy
Postcolonialism
Structuralism
Deconstruction
Postmodernism
Reconstructivism
Psychoanalytic theory
Queer theory
Semiotics
Cultural anthropology
List of critical theorists
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7272 | Christianity and homosexuality
Within Christianity, there are a variety of views on sexual orientation and homosexuality. Even within a denomination, individuals and groups may hold different views, and not all members of a denomination necessarily support their church's views on homosexuality.
This article focuses on the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, covering how the extent to which the Bible mentions the subject, whether or not it is condemned, and whether the various passages apply today, have become contentious topics. Significant debate has arisen over the proper interpretation of the Levitical code; the story of Sodom and Gomorrah; and various Pauline passages, and whether these verses condemn same-sex sexual activities.
The Catholic Church views as sinful any sexual act not related to procreation by a couple joined under the Sacrament of Matrimony. The Church states that "homosexual tendencies" are "objectively disordered", but does not consider the tendency itself to be sinful but rather a temptation toward sin. The Church, however, considers "homosexual acts" to be "grave sins", "intrinsically disordered", and "contrary to the natural law", and "under no circumstances can they be approved".
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states "men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies ... must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity." "Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided." They oppose criminal penalties against homosexuality. The Catholic Church requires those who are attracted to people of the same (or opposite) sex to practice chastity, because it teaches that sexuality should only be practiced within marriage, which includes chaste sex as permanent, procreative, heterosexual, and monogamous. The Vatican distinguishes between "deep-seated homosexual tendencies" and the "expression of a transitory problem", in relation to ordination to the priesthood; saying in a 2005 document that homosexual tendencies "must be clearly overcome at least three years before ordination to the diaconate." A 2011 report based on telephone surveys of self-identified American Catholics conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute found that 56% believe that sexual relations between two people of the same sex are not sinful.
In January 2018 German bishop Franz-Josef Bode of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Osnabrück, and in February 2018 German Roman Catholic cardinal Reinhard Marx, chairman of the German Bishops' Conference said in interviews with German journalists that blessing of same-sex unions is possible in Roman Catholic churches in Germany. In Austria blessing of same sex unions is allowed in two churches located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Linz.
In December 2019, the Pontifical Biblical Commission published a document "Was ist der Mensch" by around 50 international Roman Catholic Bible experts, that homosexual partnerships are not against the Bible.
The Eastern Orthodox churches, like the Catholic Church, condemn homosexual acts.
The Orthodox Church shares a long history of Church teachings and canon law with the Catholic Church and has a similar conservative stance on homosexuality. Some Orthodox Church jurisdictions, such as the Orthodox Church in America, have taken the approach of welcoming people with "homosexual feelings and emotions," while encouraging them to work towards "overcoming its harmful effects in their lives," while not allowing the sacraments to people who seek to justify homosexual activity. Other Orthodox Churches, such as those in Eastern Europe and Greece, view homosexuality less favourably. The issue of gay marriage seems to be strongly rejected, even in Greece, where half of Orthodox Christians don't believe that homosexuality should be discouraged.
Certain other Christian denominations do not view monogamous same-sex relationships as sinful or immoral, and may bless such unions and consider them marriages. These include the United Church of Canada, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Church of Christ, all German Lutheran, reformed and united churches in EKD, all Swiss reformed churches, the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, the United Protestant Church in Belgium, the United Protestant Church of France, the Church of Denmark, the Church of Sweden, the Church of Iceland, the Church of Norway, and the Uniting Church in Australia. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland also allows prayer for same-sex couples. The Metropolitan Community Church was founded specifically to serve the Christian LGBT community. The Global Alliance of Affirming Apostolic Pentecostals (GAAAP), traces its roots back to 1980, making it the oldest LGBT-affirming Apostolic Pentecostal denomination in existence. Another such organization is the Affirming Pentecostal Church International, currently the largest affirming Pentecostal organization, with churches in the US, UK, Central and South America, Europe and Africa.
LGBT-affirming denominations regard homosexuality as a natural occurrence. The United Church of Christ celebrates gay marriage, and some parts of the Anglican and Lutheran churches allow for the blessing of gay unions. The United Church of Canada also allows same-sex marriage, and views sexual orientation as a gift from God. Within the Anglican Communion, there are openly gay clergy; for example, Gene Robinson is an openly gay Bishop in the US Episcopal Church. Within the Lutheran communion, there are openly gay clergy, too; for example, bishop Eva Brunne is an openly lesbian Bishop in the Church of Sweden. Such religious groups and denominations interpret scripture and doctrine in a way that leads them to accept that homosexuality is morally acceptable, and a natural occurrence. For example, in 1988 the United Church of Canada, that country's largest Protestant denomination, affirmed that "a) All persons, regardless of their sexual orientation, who profess Jesus Christ and obedience to Him, are welcome to be or become full members of the Church"; and "b) All members of the Church are eligible to be considered for the Ordered Ministry." In 2000, the Church's General Assembly further affirmed that "human sexual orientations, whether heterosexual or homosexual, are a gift from God and part of the marvelous diversity of creation."
In addition, some Christian denominations such as the Moravian Church, believe that the Bible speaks negatively of homosexual acts but, as research on the matter continues, the Moravian Church seeks to establish a policy on homosexuality and the ordination of homosexuals. In 2014, Moravian Church in Europe allowed blessings of same-sex unions.
Liberal Quakers, those in membership of Britain Yearly Meeting and Friends General Conference in the US approve of same-sex marriage and union. Quakers were the first Christian group in the United Kingdom to advocate for equal marriage and Quakers in Britain formally recognised same-sex relationships in 1963.
The United Methodist Church elected a lesbian bishop in 2016, and on 7 May 2018, the Council of Bishops proposed the One Church Plan, which would allow individual pastors and regional church bodies to decide whether to ordain LGBT clergy and perform same-sex weddings. On 26 February 2019, a special session of the General Conference rejected the One Church Plan and voted to strengthen its official opposition to same-sex marriages and ordaining openly LGBT clergy.
Churches within Lutheranism hold stances on the issue ranging from labeling homosexual acts as sinful, to acceptance of homosexual relationships. For example, the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, the Lutheran Church of Australia, and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod recognize homosexual behavior as intrinsically sinful and seek to minister to those who are struggling with homosexual inclinations. However, the Church of Sweden, the Church of Denmark, the Church of Norway or lutheran churches of Evangelical Church in Germany conducts same-sex marriages, while the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada opens the ministry of the church to gay pastors and other professional workers living in committed relationships. The Ethiopian Mekane Yesus Lutheran Church, however, has taken a stand that marriage is inherently between a man and a woman, and has formally broken fellowship with the ELCA, a doctrinal stand that has cost the Ethiopian church ELCA financial support.
Some mainline Protestant denominations, such as the African Methodist churches, the Reformed Church in America, and the Presbyterian Church in America have a conservative position on the subject.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church "recognizes that every human being is valuable in the sight of God, and seeks to minister to all men and women [including homosexuals] in the spirit of Jesus," while maintaining that homosexual sex itself is forbidden in the Bible. "Jesus affirmed the dignity of all human beings and reached out compassionately to persons and families suffering the consequences of sin. He offered caring ministry and words of solace to struggling people, while differentiating His love for sinners from His clear teaching about sinful practices."
The Anglican Church reassures people with same sex attraction they are loved by God and are welcomed as full members of the Body of Christ. The Church leadership has a variety of views in regard to homosexual expression and ordination. Some expressions of sexuality are considered sinful including "promiscuity, prostitution, incest, pornography, paedophilia, predatory sexual behaviour, and sadomasochism (all of which may be heterosexual and homosexual). The Church is concerned with pressures on young people to engage sexually and encourages abstinence. Most of the Anglican Communion does not approve of homosexual activity, with the exception of the Episcopal Church, the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada, which is facing a possible exclusion from international Anglican bodies over the issue.
Conservative Quakers, those within Friends United Meeting and the Evangelical Friends International believe that sexual relations are condoned only in marriage, which they define to be between a man and a woman.
Confessional Lutheran churches teach that it is sinful to have homosexual desires, even if they do not lead to homosexual activity. The Doctrinal statement issued by the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod states that making a distinction between homosexual orientation and the act of homosexuality is confusing:
However, confessional Lutherans also warn against selective morality which harshly condemns homosexuality while treating other sins more lightly.
The positions of the evangelical churches are varied. They range from liberal to conservative, through moderate.
Many American Evangelical and Fundamentalist Christians regard homosexual acts as sinful and think they should not be accepted by society. They tend to interpret biblical verses on homosexual acts to mean that the heterosexual family was created by God to be the bedrock of civilization and that same-sex relationships contradict God’s design for marriage and violate his will. Christians who oppose homosexual relationships sometimes argue that same-gender sexual activity is unnatural.
Some evangelical churches in the United States have anti-gay activists who consider that homosexuality is at the root of many social problems. Some evangelical churches in Uganda strongly oppose homosexuality and homosexuals. They have campaigned for laws criminalizing homosexuality.
In opposing interpretations of the Bible that are supportive of homosexual relationships, conservative Christians have argued for the reliability of the Bible, and the meaning of texts related to homosexual acts, while often seeing what they call the diminishing of the authority of the Bible by many homosexual authors as being ideologically driven.
As an alternative to a school-sponsored Day of Silence opposing bullying of LGBT students, conservative Christians organized a Golden Rule Initiative, where they passed out cards saying "As a follower of Christ, I believe that all people are created in the image of God and therefore deserve love and respect." Others created a Day of Dialogue to oppose what they believe is the silencing of Christian students who make public their opposition to homosexuality.
On 29 August 2017, the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood released a manifesto on human sexuality known as the "Nashville Statement". The statement was signed by 150 evangelical leaders, and includes 14 points of belief.
Some evangelical pastors with antigay speeches have been outed.
There was Pastor Ted Haggard, founder of nondenominational charismatic megachurch New Life Church in Colorado Springs, USA. Married with five children, Ted was an anti-gay activist and said he wanted to ban homosexuality from the church. In 2006, he was dismissed from his position as senior pastor after a male prostitute claimed to have had sex with him for three years. After denying the relationship, the pastor admitted that the allegations were accurate.
There was also Baptist Pastor George Alan Rekers of the Southern Baptist Convention in the United States and psychologist member of the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality. Married and father of children, the antigay activist was recognized with a gay escort, hired for a trip to Europe, in 2010. According to him, he had hired the gay escort to carry his luggage.
There are some international evangelical denominations that are gay-friendly, such as the Alliance of Baptists and Affirming Pentecostal Church International.
A 2014 survey reported that 43% of white evangelical American Christians between the ages of 18 and 33 supported same-sex marriage. Some evangelical churches accept homosexuality and celebrate gay weddings. Pastors have also been involved in changing the traditional position of their church. In 2014, the New Heart Community Church of La Mirada, a Baptist church in the suburbs of Los Angeles was expelled from the Southern Baptist Convention for this purpose. In 2015, GracePointe Church in Franklin in the suburbs of Nashville made this decision. It lost over half of her weekly attendance (from 1,000 to 482).
Some churches have a moderate position. Although they do not approve homosexual practices, they show sympathy and respect for homosexuals.
Reflecting this position, some pastors, for example, showed moderation during public statements. For example, Pastor Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church in Houston said in 2013 he found it unfortunate that several Christian ministers focus on the homosexuality by forgetting the other sins described in the Bible. He said that Jesus did not come to condemn people, but to save them. Other pastors also share this view.
Pastor Carl Lentz of Hillsong Church New York City said in 2014 that gays were numerous in their church and he prayed that Hillsong was always welcoming.
Pastor Andy Stanley of North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, mentioned in 2015 that the church should be the safest place on the planet for students to talk about anything, including same-sex attraction.
There is also a movement of people who consider themselves "gay Evangelicals". Composed mainly of young people, the movement is positioned against liberals and conservatives. Recognizing themselves as gay or bisexual, these young people believe that their attraction to same-sex people, while present, does not allow them to have homosexual relationships. They say that their Christian conversion did not instantly change their sexual desires. They insist that the church should always reject homosexual practices, but that it should welcome gay people.
There are also believers gathered in Christian organizations of evangelical orientation, such as "Your Other Brothers" or "Voice of the Voiceless", who claim they have not been attracted to homosexuality since their new birth, without having recourse to a conversion therapy. They insist on the importance of welcoming and loving homosexuals, but believe that sexuality should be reserved for heterosexual marriage.
The French Evangelical Alliance, a member of the European Evangelical Alliance and the World Evangelical Alliance, adopted on 12 October 2002, through its National Council, a document entitled "Foi, espérance et homosexualité" ("Faith, Hope and Homosexuality "), in which homophobia, hatred and rejection of homosexuals are condemned, but which denies homosexual practices and full church membership of unrepentant homosexuals and those who approve of these practices. In 2015, the Conseil national des évangéliques de France (French National Council of Evangelicals) reaffirmed its position on the issue by opposing marriage of same-sex couples, while not rejecting homosexuals, but wanting to offer them more than a blessing; an accompaniment and a welcome.
The French evangelical pastor Philippe Auzenet, a chaplain of the association Oser en parler, regularly intervenes on the subject in the media. It promotes dialogue and respect, as well as sensitization in order to better understand homosexuals. He also said in 2012 that Jesus would go to a gay bar, because he was going to all people with love.
Philip Igbinijesu, a pastor of the Lagos Word Assembly, an Evangelical church, said in a message to his church that the Nigerian law on homosexuality (inciting denunciation) was hateful. He recalled that homosexuals are creatures of God and that they should be treated with respect.
Restorationist churches, like Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventist, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints generally teach that homosexuals are 'broken' and can be 'fixed'. The Community of Christ, a branch of Mormonism, fully accepts LGBT persons, performs weddings for gay and lesbian couples, and ordains LGBT members. Within the Stone-Campbell aligned restorationist churches the views are divergent. The churches of Christ (A Capella) and the Independent Christian Churches/Churches of Christ mostly adhere to a very conservative ideology; socially, politically, and religiously and are generally not accepting of openly LGBT members and will not perform weddings for gay and lesbian couples. The Disciples of Christ, is fully accepting of LGBT persons, often performs weddings for gay and lesbian couples, and ordains LGBT members. The United Church of Christ is an officially "open and affirming" church. Other Restorationist churches such as The Brethren (see Mennonite) and Millerite churches, have taken mixed positions but are increasingly accepting with some of their congregations fully accepting LGBT persons in all aspects of religious and political life.
In the 20th century, theologians like Jürgen Moltmann, Hans Küng, John Robinson, Bishop David Jenkins, Don Cupitt, and Bishop Jack Spong challenged traditional theological positions and understandings of the Bible; following these developments some have suggested that passages have been mistranslated or that they do not refer to what we understand as "homosexuality." Clay Witt, a minister in the Metropolitan Community Church, explains how theologians and commentators like John Shelby Spong, George Edwards and Michael England interpret injunctions against certain sexual acts as being originally intended as a means of distinguishing religious worship between Abrahamic and the surrounding pagan faiths, within which homosexual acts featured as part of idolatrous religious practices: "England argues that these prohibitions should be seen as being directed against sexual practices of fertility cult worship. As with the earlier reference from Strong’s, he notes that the word 'abomination' used here is directly related to idolatry and idolatrous practices throughout the Hebrew Testament. Edwards makes a similar suggestion, observing that 'the context of the two prohibitions in and suggest that what is opposed is not same-sex activity outside the cult, as in the modern secular sense, but within the cult identified as Canaanite'".
In 1986, the Evangelical and Ecumenical Women’s Caucus (EEWC), then known as the Evangelical Women's Caucus International, passed a resolution stating: "Whereas homosexual people are children of God, and because of the biblical mandate of Jesus Christ that we are all created equal in God's sight, and in recognition of the presence of the lesbian minority in EWCI, EWCI takes a firm stand in favor of civil rights protection for homosexual persons."
Some Christians believe that Biblical passages have been mistranslated or that these passages do not refer to LGBT orientation as currently understood. Liberal Christian scholars, like conservative Christian scholars, accept earlier versions of the texts that make up the Bible in Hebrew or Greek. However, within these early texts there are many terms that modern scholars have interpreted differently from previous generations of scholars. There are concerns with copying errors, forgery, and biases among the translators of later Bibles. They consider some verses such as those they say support slavery or the inferior treatment of women as not being valid today, and against the will of God present in the context of the Bible. They cite these issues when arguing for a change in theological views on sexual relationships to what they say is an earlier view. They differentiate among various sexual practices, treating rape, prostitution, or temple sex rituals as immoral and those within committed relationships as positive regardless of sexual orientation. They view certain verses, which they believe refer only to homosexual rape, as not relevant to consensual homosexual relationships.
Yale professor John Boswell has argued that a number of Early Christians entered into homosexual relationships, and that certain Biblical figures had homosexual relationships, such as Ruth and her mother-in-law Naomi, Daniel and the court official Ashpenaz, and David and King Saul's son Jonathan. Boswell has also argued that adelphopoiesis, a rite bonding two men, was akin to a religiously sanctioned same-sex union. Having partaken in such a rite, a person was prohibited from entering into marriage or taking monastic vows, and the choreography of the service itself closely parallelled that of the marriage rite. His views have not found wide acceptance, and opponents have argued that this rite sanctified a Platonic brotherly bond, not a homosexual union. He also argued that condemnation of homosexuality began only in the 12th century. Boswell's critics point out that many earlier doctrinal sources condemn homosexuality as a sin even if they do not prescribe a specific punishment, and that Boswell's arguments are based on sources which reflected a general trend towards harsher penalties, rather than a change in doctrine, from the 12th century onwards.
Desmond Tutu, the former Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has described homophobia as a "crime against humanity" and "every bit as unjust" as apartheid: "We struggled against apartheid in South Africa, supported by people the world over, because black people were being blamed and made to suffer for something we could do nothing about; our very skins. It is the same with sexual orientation. It is a given. ... We treat them [gays and lesbians] as pariahs and push them outside our communities. We make them doubt that they too are children of God – and this must be nearly the ultimate blasphemy. We blame them for what they are."
Modern gay Christian leader Justin R. Cannon promotes what he calls "Inclusive Orthodoxy" (not to be confused with the Eastern Orthodox Church). He explains on his ministry website: "Inclusive Orthodoxy is the belief that the Church can and must be inclusive of LGBT individuals without sacrificing the Gospel and the Apostolic teachings of the Christian faith." Cannon's ministry takes a unique and distinct approach from modern liberal Christians while still supporting homosexual relations. His ministry affirms the divine inspiration of the Bible, the authority of Tradition, and says "...that there is a place within the full life and ministry of the Christian Church for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Christians, both those who are called to lifelong celibacy and those who are partnered."
Today, many religious people are becoming more affirming of same-sex relationships, even in denominations with official stances against homosexuality. In the United States, people in denominations who are against same-sex relationships are liberalizing quickly, though not as quickly as those in more affirming groups. This social change is creating tension within many denominations, and even schisms and mass walk-outs among Mormons and other conservative groups.
George Barna, a conservative Christian author and researcher, conducted a survey in the United States in 2009 that found gay and lesbian people having a Christian affiliation were more numerous than had been presumed. He characterized some of his leading conclusions from the data as follows: "People who portray gay adults as godless, hedonistic, Christian bashers are not working with the facts. A substantial majority of gays cite their faith as a central facet of their life, consider themselves to be Christian, and claim to have some type of meaningful personal commitment to Jesus Christ active in their life today." Barna also found that LGBT people were more likely to interpret faith as an individual rather than a collective experience.
Candace Chellew-Hodge, liberal Christian lesbian founder of the online magazine "Whosoever", responded to the findings: "All in all, I'm grateful for Barna even wandering into the subject of gay and lesbian religious belief. I think his study is important and can go a long way to dispelling the old "gays vs. God" dichotomy that too often gets played out in the media. However, his overall message is still harmful: Gays and lesbians are Christians – they're just not as good as straight ones." She argued that Barna had formulated his report with undue irony and skepticism, and that he had failed to take into account the reasons for the data which enkindled his "arrière pensée." The reason why far fewer homosexuals attend church, she argued, is that there are far fewer churches who will accept them. Equally, gays and lesbians do not see the Bible as unequivocally true because they are forced by its use against them to read it more closely and with less credulity, leading them to note its myriad contradictions.
Organizations for homosexual Christians exist across a wide range of beliefs and traditions. The interdenominational Q Christian Fellowship (formerly Gay Christian Network) has some members who affirm same-sex relationships and others who commit themselves to celibacy, groups it refers to as "Side A" and "Side B", respectively. According to founder Justin Lee, "We're just trying to get people together who experience attraction to the same sex, however they have handled that, and who love Jesus and say, OK, you are welcome here, and then let's pray together and figure out where God wants us to take it."
Some organizations cater exclusively to homosexual Christians who do not want to have gay sex, or attraction; the goals of these organizations vary. Some Christian groups focus on simply refraining from gay sex, such as Courage International and North Star. Other groups additionally encourage gay members to reduce or eliminate same-sex attractions. Love Won Out and the now-defunct Exodus International are examples of such ministries. These groups are sometimes referred to as ex-gay organizations, though many no longer use the term. Alan Chambers, the president of Exodus, says the term incorrectly implies a complete change in sexual orientation, though the group Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays continues to use the term. In addition, individual Christians identifying as gay who want to subscribe to the conservative ethic are becoming more vocal themselves.
Gay Christian writer and actor Peterson Toscano argues that organizations promoting orientation change are a "ruse." An organization he co-founded, Beyond Ex-Gay, supports people who feel they have been wounded by such organizations.
Other groups support or advocate for gay Christians and their relationships. For example, in the United States, IntegrityUSA represents the interests of lesbian and gay Christians in the Episcopal Church, while United Methodists have the Reconciling Ministries Network and evangelical Christians have "Evangelicals Concerned". In 2014 the United Church of Christ filed a lawsuit challenging North Carolina’s ban on same-sex marriage, which is America’s first faith-based challenge to same-sex marriage bans; the Alliance of Baptists joined the lawsuit later that year.
In Europe, lesbian and gay evangelical Christians have a European forum. Working within the worldwide Anglican Communion on a range of discrimination issues, including those of LGBT clergy and people in the church, is "Inclusive Church". The longest standing group for lesbian and gay Christians in the UK, founded in 1976, is the non-denominational Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement; specifically aimed to meet the needs of lesbian and gay evangelicals, there is the "Evangelical Fellowship for Lesbian and Gay Christians"; specifically working within the Church of England is "Changing Attitude", which also takes an international focus in working for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender affirmation within the Anglican Communion.
Sociologist Richard N. Pitt argues that these organizations are only available to LGBT members of liberal denominations, as opposed to those in conservative denominations. His review of the literature on gay Christians suggests that these organizations not only represent the interests of Christians who attend their churches, but (like gay-friendly and gay-affirming churches) also give these members useful responses to homophobic and heterosexist rhetoric. His research shows that those LGBT Christians who stay at homophobic churches "kill the messenger" by attacking the minister's knowledge about homosexuality, personal morality, focus on sin instead of forgiveness, and motivations for preaching against homosexuality.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7366 | Chastity
Chastity is a virtue related to temperance, which is one of the seven Christian virtues, and it is defined as refraining from unreasonable sexual conduct or romantic relationships. Chastity is usually defined within the moral standards and guidelines of a culture, civilization or religion. The term is closely associated (and can be used interchangeably) with sexual abstinence, especially in the context of premarital and extramarital sex.
The words "chaste" and "chastity" stem from the Latin adjective ("pure"). The words entered the English language around the middle of the 13th century. At that time, they meant slightly different things. "Chaste" meant "virtuous or pure from unlawful sexual intercourse" (referring to extramarital sex),
while "chastity" meant "virginity". Not until the late 16th century did the two words come to have the same basic meaning as a related adjective and noun.
Thomas Aquinas links ("chastity") to the Latin verb ("chastise, reprimand, correct"), with a reference to Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics: "Chastity takes its name from the fact that reason "chastises" concupiscence, which, like a child, needs curbing, as the Philosopher states".
For many Jews, Muslims, and Christians, acts of sexual nature are restricted to marriage. For unmarried persons, chastity is identified with sexual abstinence. Sexual acts outside or apart from marriage, such as adultery, fornication, and prostitution, are considered immoral due to lust.
In many Christian traditions, chastity is synonymous with sexual purity. Chastity means not having any sexual relations outside marriage. It also means fidelity to husband or wife during marriage. In Catholic morality, chastity is placed opposite the deadly sin of lust, and is classified as one of seven virtues. The moderation of sexual desires is required to be virtuous. Reason, will, and desire can harmoniously work together to do what is good.
In marriage, the spouses commit to a lifelong relationship that excludes sexual intimacy with other persons. A third form of chastity, often called "vidual chastity", is expected of a woman for a period after her husband dies. For example, Anglican Bishop Jeremy Taylor defined 5 rules in "Holy Living" (1650), including abstaining from marrying "so long as she is with child by her former husband" and "within the year of mourning".
The particular ethical system may not prescribe each of these. For example, Roman Catholics view sex within marriage as chaste, but prohibit the use of artificial contraception as an offense against chastity, seeing contraception as unnatural, contrary to God's will and design of human sexuality. Many Anglican communities allow for artificial contraception, seeing the restriction of family size by artificial contraception as possibly not contrary to God's will. A stricter view is held by the Shakers, who prohibit marriage (and sexual intercourse under any circumstances) as a violation of chastity. The Catholic Church has set up various rules regarding clerical celibacy, while most Protestant communities allow clergy to marry.
Celibacy is required of monastics—monks, nuns and friars—even in a rare system of double cloisters, in which husbands could enter the (men's) monastery while their wives entered a (women's) sister monastery. Required celibacy among the clergy is a relatively recent practice: it became Church policy at the Second Lateran Council in 1139. It was not uniformly enforced among the clergy until 200 years later. Eastern Catholic priests are permitted to marry, provided they do so before ordination and outside monastic life.
"Vows of chastity" can also be taken by laypersons, either as part of an organised religious life (such as Roman Catholic Beguines and Beghards in the past) or on an individual basis: as a voluntary act of devotion, or as part of an ascetic lifestyle (often devoted to contemplation), or both. Some Protestant religious communities, such as the Bruderhof, take vows of chastity as part of the church membership process.
The voluntary aspect has led it to being included among the main counsels of perfection.
Chastity is a central and pivotal concept in Roman Catholic praxis. Chastity's importance in traditional Roman Catholic teaching stems from the fact that it is regarded as essential in maintaining and cultivating the unity of body with spirit and thus the integrity of the human being. It is also regarded as fundamental to the practise of the Catholic life because it involves an "apprenticeship in self-mastery". By attaining mastery over one's passions, reason, will, and desire can harmoniously work together to do what is good.
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS, not evangelical church), chastity is very important, quoting:
"Physical intimacy between husband and wife is a beautiful and sacred part of God's plan for His children. It is an expression of love within marriage and allows husband and wife to participate in the creation of life. God has commanded that this sacred power be expressed only between a man and a woman who are legally married. The law of chastity applies to both men and women. It includes strict abstinence from sexual relations before marriage and complete fidelity and loyalty to one's spouse after marriage.
"The law of chastity requires that sexual relations be reserved for marriage between a man and a woman.
"In addition to reserving sexual intimacy for marriage, we obey the law of chastity by controlling our thoughts, words, and actions. Jesus Christ taught,"Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: but I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart" (Matthew 5:27–28)."
LDS teaching also includes that sexual expression within marriage is an important dimension of spousal bonding apart from, but not necessarily avoiding its procreative result.
Chastity is mandatory in Islam. Sex outside legitimacy is prohibited, for both men and women whether married or unmarried.
The most famous personal example of chastity in the Quran is Virgin Mary (Mariam) :
"And [mention] the one who guarded her chastity, so We blew into her [garment] through Our angel [Gabriel], and We made her and her son a sign for the worlds." (21 :91)
"And she took, in seclusion from them, a screen. Then We sent to her Our Angel, and he represented himself to her as a well-proportioned man.She said, "Indeed, I seek refuge in the Most Merciful from you, [so leave me], if you should be fearing of Allah ."He said, "I am only the messenger of your Lord to give you [news of] a pure boy."She said, "How can I have a boy while no man has touched me and I have not been unchaste?"" (19:17-20)
Extramarital sex is forbidden and the Quran says:
"And do not approach unlawful sexual intercourse. Indeed, it is ever an immorality and is evil as a way." (17:32)
"And those who do not invoke with Allah another deity or kill the soul which Allah has forbidden [to be killed], except by right, and do not commit unlawful sexual intercourse. And whoever should do that will meet a penalty.Multiplied for him is the punishment on the Day of Resurrection, and he will abide therein humiliated -Except for those who repent, believe and do righteous work. For them Allah will replace their evil deeds with good. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful." (25:68-70)
The injunctions and forbiddings in Islam apply equally to men and women. The legal punishment for adultery is equal for men and women. Social hypocrisy in many societies over history had led to a double standard when considering sin committed by men versus sin committed by women. Society tended to be more lenient and permissive towards men forgiving men for sins not forgivable when women do them. In a list of commendable deeds the Quran says:
"Indeed, the Muslim men and Muslim women, the believing men and believing women, the obedient men and obedient women, the truthful men and truthful women, the patient men and patient women, the humble men and humble women, the charitable men and charitable women, the fasting men and fasting women, the men who guard their private parts and the women who do so, and the men who remember Allah often and the women who do so - for them Allah has prepared forgiveness and a great reward." (33:35)
Because the sex desire is usually attained before a man is financially capable of marriage, the love to God and mindfulness of Him should be sufficient motive for chastity:
"But let them who find not [the means for] marriage abstain [from sexual relations] until Allah enriches them from His bounty. And those who seek a contract [for eventual emancipation] from among whom your right hands possess - then make a contract with them if you know there is within them goodness and give them from the wealth of Allah which He has given you. And do not compel your slave girls to prostitution, if they desire chastity, to seek [thereby] the temporary interests of worldly life. And if someone should compel them, then indeed, Allah is [to them], after their compulsion, Forgiving and Merciful." (24:33) The prophet's prescription to the youth was:
Those of you who own the means should marry for this should keep their eyes uncraving and their chastity secure. Those who don't, may practise fasting for it curbs desire. " (Ibn Massoud)
Chastity is an attitude and a way of life. In Islam it is both a personal and a social value. A Muslim society should not condone relations entailing or conducive to sexual license. Social patterns and practices calculated to inflame sexual desire are frowned upon by Islam, such incitements to immorality including permissive ideologies, titillating works of art and the failure to inculcate sound moral principles in the young. At the heart of such a view of human sexuality lies the conviction that the notion of personal freedom should never be misconstrued as the freedom to flout God's laws by overstepping the bounds which, in His infinite wisdom, He has set upon the relations of the sexes.
Chastity is highly prized in the Bahá'í Faith. Similar to other Abrahamic religions, Bahá'í teachings call for the restriction of sexual activity to that between a wife and husband in Bahá'í marriage, and discourage members from using pornography or engaging in sexually explicit recreational activities. The concept of chastity is extended to include avoidance of alcohol and mind-altering drugs, profanity, and gaudy or immodest attire.
Hinduism's view on premarital sex is rooted in its concept of Ashrama (stage) or the stages of life. The first of these stages, known as "Brahmacharya," roughly translates as chastity. Celibacy and chastity are considered the appropriate behavior for both male and female students during this stage, which precedes the stage of the married householder (Grihastha). Sanyasis and Hindu monks or Sadhus are also celibate as part of their ascetic discipline.
In Sikhism, premarital or extra-marital sex is strictly forbidden. However, it is encouraged to marry and live as a family unit to provide and nurture children for the perpetual benefit of creation (as opposed to sannyasa or living as a monk, which was, and remains, a common spiritual practice in India). A Sikh is encouraged not to live as a recluse, beggar, monk, nun, celibate, or in any similar vein.
Celibacy is a must for all Jain monks and nuns. Chastity (Bhramacharya) is one of the five major vows of Jainism. The general Jain code of ethics requires that one do no harm to any living being in thought, action, or word. Adultery is clearly a violation of a moral agreement with one's spouse, and therefore forbidden, and fornication too is seen as a violation of the state of chastity.
The teachings of Buddhism include the Noble Eightfold Path, comprising a division called right action. Under the Five Precepts ethical code, Upāsaka and Upāsikā lay followers should abstain from sexual misconduct, while Bhikkhu and Bhikkhuni monastics should practice strict chastity.
The Five Precepts of the Daoist religion include No Sexual Misconduct, which is interpreted as prohibiting extramarital sex for lay practitioners and marriage or sexual intercourse for monks and nuns.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=8690 | Don't ask, don't tell
"Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) was the official United States policy on military service by gays, bisexuals, and lesbians, instituted by the Clinton Administration on February 28, 1994, when Department of Defense Directive 1304.26 issued on December 21, 1993, took effect, lasting until September 20, 2011. The policy prohibited military personnel from discriminating against or harassing closeted homosexual or bisexual service members or applicants, while barring openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual persons from military service. This relaxation of legal restrictions on service by gays and lesbians in the armed forces was mandated by United States federal law (), which was signed November 30, 1993. The policy prohibited people who "demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts" from serving in the armed forces of the United States, because their presence "would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability".
The act prohibited any homosexual or bisexual person from disclosing their sexual orientation or from speaking about any homosexual relationships, including marriages or other familial attributes, while serving in the United States armed forces. The act specified that service members who disclose that they are homosexual or engage in homosexual conduct should be separated (discharged) except when a service member's conduct was "for the purpose of avoiding or terminating military service" or when it "would not be in the best interest of the armed forces". Since DADT ended in 2011, persons who are openly homosexual and bisexual have been able to serve.
The "don't ask" part of the DADT policy specified that superiors should not initiate investigation of a service member's orientation without witnessing disallowed behaviors, though credible evidence of homosexual behavior could be used to initiate an investigation. Unauthorized investigations and harassment of suspected servicemen and women led to an expansion of the policy to "don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue, don't harass".
Beginning in the early 2000s, several legal challenges to DADT were filed, and legislation to repeal DADT was enacted in December 2010, specifying that the policy would remain in place until the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff certified that repeal would not harm military readiness, followed by a 60-day waiting period. A July 6, 2011, ruling from a federal appeals court barred further enforcement of the U.S. military's ban on openly gay service members. President Barack Obama, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen sent that certification to Congress on July 22, 2011, which set the end of DADT to September 20, 2011.
Engaging in homosexual activity has been grounds for discharge from the American military since the Revolutionary War. Policies based on sexual orientation appeared as the United States prepared to enter World War II. When the military added psychiatric screening to its induction process, it included homosexuality as a disqualifying trait, then seen as a form of psychopathology. When the army issued revised mobilization regulations in 1942, it distinguished "homosexual" recruits from "normal" recruits for the first time. Before the buildup to the war, gay service members were court-martialed, imprisoned, and dishonorably discharged; but in wartime, commanding officers found it difficult to convene court-martial boards of commissioned officers and the administrative blue discharge became the military's standard method for handling gay and lesbian personnel. In 1944, a new policy directive decreed that homosexuals were to be committed to military hospitals, examined by psychiatrists and discharged under Regulation 615-360, section 8.
In 1947, blue discharges were discontinued and two new classifications were created: "general" and "undesirable". Under such a system, a serviceman or woman found to be gay but who had not committed any sexual acts while in service would tend to receive an undesirable discharge. Those found guilty of engaging in sexual conduct were usually dishonorably discharged. A 1957 U.S. Navy study known as the Crittenden Report dismissed the charge that homosexuals constitute a security risk, but advocated stringent anti-homosexual policies because "Homosexuality is wrong, it is evil, and it is to be branded as such." It remained secret until 1976. Fannie Mae Clackum was the first service member to successfully appeal such a discharge, winning eight years of back pay from the US Court of Claims in 1960.
From the 1950s through the Vietnam War, some notable gay service members avoided discharges despite pre-screening efforts, and when personnel shortages occurred, homosexuals were allowed to serve.
The gay and lesbian rights movement in the 1970s and 1980s raised the issue by publicizing several noteworthy dismissals of gay service members. Sgt. Leonard Matlovich appeared on the cover of "Time" in 1975. In 1982 the Department of Defense issued a policy stating that, "Homosexuality is incompatible with military service." It cited the military's need "to maintain discipline, good order, and morale" and "to prevent breaches of security". In 1988, in response to a campaign against lesbians at the Marines' Parris Island Depot, activists launched the Gay and Lesbian Military Freedom Project (MFP) to advocate for an end to the exclusion of gays and lesbians from the armed forces. In 1989, reports commissioned by the Personnel Security Research and Education Center (PERSEREC), an arm of the Pentagon, were discovered in the process of Joseph Steffan's lawsuit fighting his forced resignation from the U.S. Naval Academy. One report said that "having a same-gender or an opposite-gender orientation is unrelated to job performance in the same way as is being left- or right-handed." Other lawsuits fighting discharges highlighted the service record of service members like Tracy Thorne and Margarethe (Grethe) Cammermeyer. The MFP began lobbying Congress in 1990, and in 1991 Senator Brock Adams (D-Washington) and Rep. Barbara Boxer introduced the Military Freedom Act, legislation to end the ban completely. Adams and Rep. Pat Schroeder (D-Colorado) re-introduced it the next year. In July 1991, Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, in the context of the outing of his press aide Pete Williams, dismissed the idea that gays posed a security risk as "a bit of an old chestnut" in testimony before the House Budget Committee. In response to his comment, several major newspapers endorsed ending the ban, including "USA Today", the "Los Angeles Times", and the "Detroit Free Press". In June 1992, the General Accounting Office released a report that members of Congress had requested two years earlier estimating the costs associated with the ban on gays and lesbians in the military at $27 million annually.
During the 1992 U.S. presidential election campaign, the civil rights of gays and lesbians, particularly their open service in the military, attracted some press attention, and all candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination supported ending the ban on military service by gays and lesbians, but the Republicans did not make a political issue of that position. In an August cover letter to all his senior officers, Gen. Carl Mundy, Jr., Commandant of the Marine Corps, praised a position paper authored by a Marine Corps chaplain that said that "In the unique, intensely close environment of the military, homosexual conduct can threaten the lives, including the physical (e.g. AIDS) and psychological well-being of others". Mundy called it "extremely insightful" and said it offered "a sound basis for discussion of the issue". The murder of gay U.S. Navy petty officer Allen R. Schindler, Jr. on October 27, 1992, brought calls from advocates of allowing open service by gays and lesbians for prompt action from the incoming Clinton administration.
The policy was introduced as a compromise measure in 1993 by President Bill Clinton who campaigned in 1992 on the promise to allow all citizens to serve in the military regardless of sexual orientation. Commander Craig Quigley, a Navy spokesman, expressed the opposition of many in the military at the time when he said, "Homosexuals are notoriously promiscuous" and that in shared shower situations, heterosexuals would have an "uncomfortable feeling of someone watching".
During the 1993 policy debate, the National Defense Research Institute prepared a study for the Office of the Secretary of Defense published as "Sexual Orientation and U.S. Military Personnel Policy: Options and Assessment". It concluded that "circumstances could exist under which the ban on homosexuals could be lifted with little or no adverse consequences for recruitment and retention" if the policy were implemented with care, principally because many factors contribute to individual enlistment and re-enlistment decisions. On May 5, 1993, Gregory M. Herek, associate research psychologist at the University of California at Davis and an authority on public attitudes toward lesbians and gay men, testified before the House Armed Services Committee on behalf of several professional associations. He stated, "The research data show that there is nothing about lesbians and gay men that makes them inherently unfit for military service, and there is nothing about heterosexuals that makes them inherently unable to work and live with gay people in close quarters." Herek added, "The assumption that heterosexuals cannot overcome their prejudices toward gay people is a mistaken one."
In Congress, Democratic Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia led the contingent that favored maintaining the absolute ban on gays. Reformers were led by Democratic Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts, who favored modification (but ultimately voted for the defense authorization bill with the gay ban language), and Barry Goldwater, a former Republican Senator and a retired Major General, who argued on behalf of allowing service by open gays and lesbians. In a June 1993 "Washington Post" opinion piece, Goldwater wrote: "You don't have to be straight to shoot straight".
Congress rushed to enact the existing gay ban policy into federal law, outflanking Clinton's planned repeal effort. Clinton called for legislation to overturn the ban, but encountered intense opposition from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, members of Congress, and portions of the public. DADT emerged as a compromise policy. Congress included text in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 (passed in 1993) requiring the military to abide by regulations essentially identical to the 1982 absolute ban policy. The Clinton Administration on December 21, 1993, issued Defense Directive 1304.26, which directed that military applicants were not to be asked about their sexual orientation. This policy is now known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". The phrase was coined by Charles Moskos, a military sociologist.
In accordance with the December 21, 1993, Department of Defense Directive 1332.14, it was legal policy (10 U.S.C. § 654) that homosexuality was incompatible with military service and that persons who engaged in homosexual acts or stated that they are homosexual or bisexual were to be discharged. The Uniform Code of Military Justice, passed by Congress in 1950 and signed by President Harry S Truman, established the policies and procedures for discharging service members.
The full name of the policy at the time was "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue". The "Don't Ask" provision mandated that military or appointed officials will not ask about or require members to reveal their sexual orientation. The "Don't Tell" stated that a member may be discharged for claiming to be a homosexual or bisexual or making a statement indicating a tendency towards or intent to engage in homosexual activities. The "Don’t Pursue" established what was minimally required for an investigation to be initiated. A "Don’t Harass" provision was added to the policy later. It ensured that the military would not allow harassment or violence against service members for any reason.
The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network was founded in 1993 to advocate an end to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the U.S. Armed Forces.
DADT was upheld by five federal Courts of Appeal. The Supreme Court, in "Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, Inc." (2006), unanimously held that the federal government could constitutionally withhold funding from universities, no matter what their nondiscrimination policies might be, for refusing to give military recruiters access to school resources. An association of law schools had argued that allowing military recruiting at their institutions compromised their ability to exercise their free speech rights in opposition to discrimination based on sexual orientation as represented by DADT.
In January 1998, Senior Chief Petty Officer Timothy R. McVeigh (not to be confused with convicted Oklahoma City bomber, Timothy J. McVeigh) won a preliminary injunction from a U.S. district court that prevented his discharge from the U.S. Navy for "homosexual conduct" after 17 years of service. His lawsuit did not challenge the DADT policy, but asked the court to hold the military accountable for adhering to the policy's particulars. The Navy had investigated McVeigh's sexual orientation based on his AOL email account name and user profile. District Judge Stanley Sporkin ruled in "McVeigh v. Cohen" that the Navy had violated its own DADT guidelines: "Suggestions of sexual orientation in a private, anonymous email account did not give the Navy a sufficient reason to investigate to determine whether to commence discharge proceedings." He called the Navy's investigation "a search and destroy mission" against McVeigh. The case also attracted attention because a navy paralegal had misrepresented himself when querying AOL for information about McVeigh's account. Frank Rich linked the two issues: "McVeigh is as clear-cut a victim of a witch hunt as could be imagined, and that witch hunt could expand exponentially if the military wants to add on-line fishing to its invasion of service members' privacy." AOL apologized to McVeigh and paid him damages. McVeigh reached a settlement with the Navy that paid his legal expenses and allowed him to retire with full benefits in July. "The New York Times" called Sporkin's ruling "a victory for gay rights, with implications for the millions of people who use computer on-line services".
In April 2006, Margaret Witt, a major in the United States Air Force who was being investigated for homosexuality, filed suit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington seeking declaratory and injunctive relief on the grounds that DADT violates substantive due process, the Equal Protection Clause, and procedural due process. In July 2007 the Secretary of the Air Force ordered her honorable discharge. Dismissed by the district court, the case was heard on appeal, and the Ninth Circuit issued its ruling on May 21, 2008. Its decision in "Witt v. Department of the Air Force" reinstated Witt's substantive-due-process and procedural-due-process claims and affirmed the dismissal of her Equal Protection claim. The Ninth Circuit, analyzing the Supreme Court decision in "Lawrence v. Texas" (2003), determined that DADT had to be subjected to heightened scrutiny, meaning that there must be an "important" governmental interest at issue, that DADT must "significantly" further the governmental interest, and that there can be no less intrusive way for the government to advance that interest.
The Obama administration declined to appeal, allowing a May 3, 2009, deadline to pass, leaving "Witt" as binding on the entire Ninth Circuit, and returning the case to the District Court. On September 24, 2010, District Judge Ronald B. Leighton ruled that Witt's constitutional rights had been violated by her discharge and that she must be reinstated to the Air Force.
The government filed an appeal with the Ninth Circuit on November 23, but made no attempt to have the trial court's ruling stayed pending the outcome. In a settlement announced on May 10, 2011, the Air Force agreed to drop its appeal and remove Witt's discharge from her military record. She will retire with full benefits.
In 2010, a lawsuit filed in 2004 by the Log Cabin Republicans (LCR), the nation's largest Republican gay organization, went to trial. Challenging the constitutionality of DADT, the plaintiffs stated that the policy violates the rights of gay military members to free speech, due process and open association. The government argued that DADT was necessary to advance a legitimate governmental interest. Plaintiffs introduced statements by President Barack Obama, from prepared remarks, that DADT "doesn't contribute to our national security", "weakens our national security", and that reversal is "essential for our national security". According to plaintiffs, these statements alone satisfied their burden of proof on the due process claims.
On September 9, 2010, Judge Virginia A. Phillips ruled in "Log Cabin Republicans v. United States of America" that the ban on service by openly gay service members was an unconstitutional violation of the First and Fifth Amendments. On October 12, 2010, she granted an immediate worldwide injunction prohibiting the Department of Defense from enforcing the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy and ordered the military to suspend and discontinue any investigation or discharge, separation, or other proceedings based on it. The Department of Justice appealed her decision and requested a stay of her injunction, which Phillips denied but which the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted on October 20
and stayed pending appeal on November 1. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to overrule the stay.
District Court neither anticipated questions of
constitutional law nor formulated a rule broader than is required by the facts. The
constitutional issues regarding DADT are well-defined, and the District Court
focused specifically on the relevant inquiry of whether the statute impermissibly
infringed upon substantive due process rights with regard to a protected area of
individual liberty. Engaging in a careful and detailed review of the facts presented
to it at trial, the District Court properly concluded that the Government put forward
no persuasive evidence to demonstrate that the statute is a valid exercise of
congressional authority to legislate in the realm of protected liberty interests. See
Log Cabin, 716 F. Supp. 2d at 923. Hypothetical questions were neither presented
nor answered in reaching this decision.
On October 19, 2010, military recruiters were told they could accept openly gay applicants. On October 20, 2010, Lt. Daniel Choi, an openly gay man honorably discharged under DADT, re-enlisted in the U.S. Army.
Following passage of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, the Justice Department asked the Ninth Circuit to suspend LCR's suit in light of the legislative repeal. LCR opposed the request, noting that gay personnel were still subject to discharge. On January 28, 2011, the Court denied the Justice Department's request. The Obama administration responded by requesting that the policy be allowed to stay in place while they completed the process of assuring that its end would not impact combat readiness. On March 28, the LCR filed a brief asking that the court deny the administration's request.
In 2011, while waiting for certification, several service members were discharged under DADT at their own insistence, until July 6 when a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals re-instated Judge Phillips' injunction barring further enforcement of the U.S. military's ban on openly gay service members. On July 11, the appeals court asked the DOJ to inform the court if it intended to proceed with its appeal. On July 14, the Justice Department filed a motion "to avoid short-circuiting the repeal process established by Congress during the final stages of the implementation of the repeal". and warning of "significant immediate harms on the government". On July 15, the Ninth Circuit restored most of the DADT policy, but continued to prohibit the government from discharging or investigating openly gay personnel. Following the implementation of DADT's repeal, a panel of three judges of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the Phillips ruling.
Following the July 1999 murder of Army Pfc. Barry Winchell, apparently motivated by anti-gay bias, President Clinton issued an executive order modifying the Uniform Code of Military Justice to permit evidence of a hate crime to be admitted during the sentencing phase of a trial. In December, Secretary of Defense William Cohen ordered a review of DADT to determine if the policy's anti-gay harassment component was being observed. When that review found anti-gay sentiments were widely expressed and tolerated in the military, the DOD adopted a new anti-harassment policy in July 2000, though its effectiveness was disputed. On December 7, 1999, Hillary Clinton told an audience of gay supporters that "Gays and lesbians already serve with distinction in our nation's armed forces and should not face discrimination. Fitness to serve should be based on an individual's conduct, not their sexual orientation." Later that month, retired Gen. Carl E. Mundy Jr. defended the implementation of DADT against what he called the "politicization" of the issue by both Clintons. He cited discharge statistics for the Marines for the past 5 years that showed 75% were based on "voluntary admission of homosexuality" and 49% occurred during the first 6 months of service, when new recruits were most likely to reevaluate their decision to enlist. He also argued against any change in the policy, writing in the "New York Times": "Conduct that is widely rejected by a majority of Americans can undermine the trust that is essential to creating and maintaining the sense of unity that is critical to the success of a military organization operating under the very different and difficult demands of combat." The conviction of Winchell's murderer, according to the "New York Times", "galvanized opposition" to DADT, an issue that had "largely vanished from public debate". Opponents of the policy focused on punishing harassment in the military rather than the policy itself, which Sen. Chuck Hagel defended on December 25: "The U.S. armed forces aren't some social experiment."
The principal candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2000, Al Gore and Bill Bradley, both endorsed military service by open gays and lesbians, provoking opposition from high-ranking retired military officers, notably the recently retired commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Charles C. Krulak. He and others objected to Gore's statement that he would use support for ending DADT as a "litmus test" when considering candidates for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The 2000 Democratic Party platform was silent on the issue, while the Republican Party platform that year said: "We affirm that homosexuality is incompatible with military service." Following the election of George W. Bush in 2000, observers expected him to avoid any changes to DADT, since his nominee for Secretary of State Colin Powell had participated in its creation.
In February 2004 members of the British Armed Forces, Lt Rolf Kurth and Lt Cdr Craig Jones along with Aaron Belkin, Director of the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military met with members of Congress and spoke at the National Defense University. They spoke about their experience of the current situation in the UK. The UK lifted the gay ban on members serving in their forces in 2000.
In July 2004, the American Psychological Association issued a statement that DADT "discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation" and that "Empirical evidence fails to show that sexual orientation is germane to any aspect of military effectiveness including unit cohesion, morale, recruitment and retention." It said that the U.S. military's track record overcoming past racial and gender discrimination demonstrated its ability to integrate groups previously excluded. The Republican Party platform that year reiterated its support for the policy—"We affirm traditional military culture, and we affirm that homosexuality is incompatible with military service."—while the Democratic Party maintained its silence.
In February 2005, the Government Accountability Office released estimates of the cost of DADT. It reported at least $95.4 million in recruiting costs and at least $95.1 million for training replacements for the 9,488 troops discharged from 1994 through 2003, while noting that the true figures might be higher. In September, as part of its campaign to demonstrate that the military allowed open homosexuals to serve when its manpower requirements were greatest, the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military (now the Palm Center) reported that army regulations allowed the active duty deployment of Army Reservists and National Guard troops who claim to be or who are accused of being gay. A U.S. Army Forces Command spokesperson said the regulation was intended to prevent Reservists and National Guard members from pretending to be gay to escape combat. Advocates of ending DADT repeatedly publicized discharges of highly trained gay and lesbian personnel, especially those in positions with critical shortages, including fifty-nine Arabic speakers and nine Persian speakers. Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, later argued that the military's failure to ask about sexual orientation at recruitment was the cause of the discharges: [Y]ou could reduce this number to zero
or near zero if the Department of Defense dropped Don't Ask, Don't Tell... We should not be training people who are not eligible to be in the Armed Forces."
In February 2006, a University of California Blue Ribbon Commission that included Lawrence Korb, a former assistant defense secretary during the Reagan administration, William Perry, Secretary of Defense in the Clinton administration, and professors from the United States Military Academy released their assessment of the GAO's analysis of the cost of DADT released a year earlier. The commission report stated that the GAO did not take into account the value the military lost from the departures. They said that that total cost was closer to $363 million, including $14.3 million for "separation travel" following a service member's discharge, $17.8 million for training officers, $252.4 million for training enlistees, and $79.3 million in recruiting costs.
In 2006, Soulforce, a national LGBT rights organization, organized its Right to Serve Campaign, in which gay men and lesbians in several cities attempted to enlist in the Armed Forces or National Guard. Donnelly of the Center for Military Readiness stated in September: "I think the people involved here do not have the best interests of the military at heart. They never have. They are promoting an agenda to normalize homosexuality in America using the military as a battering ram to promote that broader agenda." She said that "pro-homosexual activists ... are creating media events all over the country and even internationally."
In 2006, a speaking tour of gay former service members, organized by SLDN, Log Cabin Republicans, and Meehan, visited 18 colleges and universities. Patrick Guerriero, executive director of Log Cabin, thought the repeal movement was gaining "new traction" but "Ultimately", said, "we think it's going to take a Republican with strong military credentials to make a shift in the policy." Elaine Donnelly called such efforts "a big P.R. campaign" and said that "The law is there to protect good order and discipline in the military, and it's not going to change."
In December 2006, Zogby International released the results of a poll of military personnel conducted in October 2006 that found that 26% favored allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military, 37% were opposed, while 37% expressed no preference or were unsure. Of respondents who had experience with gay people in their unit, 6% said their presence had a positive impact on their personal morale, 66% said no impact, and 28% said negative impact. Regarding overall unit morale, 3% said positive impact, 64% no impact, and 27% negative impact.
Retired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General John Shalikashvili and former Senator and Secretary of Defense William Cohen opposed the policy in January 2007: "I now believe that if gay men and lesbians served openly in the United States military, they would not undermine the efficacy of the armed forces" Shalikashvili wrote. "Our military has been stretched thin by our deployments in the Middle East, and we must welcome the service of any American who is willing and able to do the job." Shalikashvili cited the recent "Zogby poll of more than 500 service members returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, three quarters of whom said they were comfortable interacting with gay people. The debate took a different turn in March when Gen. Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the editorial board of the "Chicago Tribune" he supported DADT because "homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral and ... we should not condone immoral acts." His remarks became, according to the "Tribune", "a huge news story on radio, television and the Internet during the day and showed how sensitive the Pentagon's policy has become." Sen. John Warner, who backed DADT, said "I respectfully, but strongly, disagree with the chairman's view that homosexuality is immoral", and Pace expressed regret for expressing his personal views and said that DADT "does not make a judgment about the morality of individual acts." Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, then in the early stages of his campaign for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, defended DADT:
That summer, after U.S. senator Larry Craig was arrested for lewd conduct in a men's restroom, conservative commentator Michael Medved argued that any liberalization of DADT would "compromise restroom integrity and security". He wrote: "The national shudder of discomfort and queasiness associated with any introduction of homosexual eroticism into public men's rooms should make us more determined than ever to resist the injection of those lurid attitudes into the even more explosive situation of the U.S. military."
In November 2007, 28 retired generals and admirals urged Congress to repeal the policy, citing evidence that 65,000 gay men and women were serving in the armed forces and that there were over a million gay veterans. On November 17, 2008, 104 retired generals and admirals signed a similar statement. In December, SLDN arranged for "60 Minutes" to interview Darren Manzella, an Army medic who served in Iraq after coming out to his unit.
On May 4, 2008, while Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen addressed the graduating cadets at West Point, a cadet asked what would happen if the next administration were supportive of legislation allowing gays to serve openly. Mullen responded, "Congress, and not the military, is responsible for DADT." Previously, during his Senate confirmation hearing in 2007, Mullen told lawmakers, "I really think it is for the American people to come forward, really through this body, to both debate that policy and make changes, if that's appropriate." He went on to say, "I'd love to have Congress make its own decisions" with respect to considering repeal.
In May 2009, when a committee of military law experts at the Palm Center, an anti-DADT research institute, concluded that the President could issue an Executive Order to suspend homosexual conduct discharges, Obama rejected that option and said he wanted Congress to change the law.
On July 5, 2009, Colin Powell told CNN said that the policy was "correct for the time" but that "sixteen years have now gone by, and I think a lot has changed with respect to attitudes within our country, and therefore I think this is a policy and a law that should be reviewed." Interviewed for the same broadcast, Mullen said the policy would continue to be implemented until the law was repealed, and that his advice was to "move in a measured way... At a time when we're fighting two conflicts there is a great deal of pressure on our forces and their families." In September, "Joint Force Quarterly" published an article by an Air Force colonel that disputed the argument that unit cohesion is compromised by the presence of openly gay personnel.
In October 2009, the Commission on Military Justice, known as the Cox Commission, repeated its 2001 recommendation that Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which bans sodomy, be repealed, noting that "most acts of consensual sodomy committed by consenting military personnel are not prosecuted, creating a perception that prosecution of this sexual behavior is arbitrary."
In January 2010, the White House and congressional officials started work on repealing the ban by inserting language into the 2011 defense authorization bill. During Obama's State of the Union Address on January 27, 2010, he said that he would work with Congress and the military to enact a repeal of the gay ban law and for the first time set a timetable for repeal.
At a February 2, 2010, congressional hearing, Senator John McCain read from a letter signed by "over one thousand former general and flag officers". It said: "We firmly believe that this law, which Congress passed to protect good order, discipline and morale in the unique environment of the armed forces, deserves continued support." The signature campaign had been organized by Elaine Donnelly of the Center for Military Readiness, a longtime supporter of a traditional all-male and all-heterosexual military. Servicemembers United, a veterans group opposed to DADT, issued a report critical of the letter's legitimacy. They said that among those signing the letter were officers who had no knowledge of their inclusion or who had refused to be included, and even one instance of a general's widow who signed her husband's name to the letter though he had died before the survey was published. The average age of the officers whose names were listed as signing the letter was 74, the oldest was 98, and Servicemembers United noted that "only a small fraction of these officers have even served in the military during the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' period, much less in the 21st century military."
The Center for American Progress issued a report in March 2010 that said a smooth implementation of an end to DADT required eight specified changes to the military's internal regulations. On March 25, 2010, Defense Secretary Gates announced new rules mandating that only flag officers could initiate discharge proceedings and imposing more stringent rules of evidence on discharge proceedings.
The underlying justifications for DADT have been subjected to increasing suspicion and outright rejection by the early 21st century. Mounting evidence obtained from the integration efforts of foreign militaries, surveys of U.S. military personnel, and studies conducted by the DoD gave credence to the view that the presence of open homosexuals within the military would not be detrimental at all to the armed forces. A DoD study conducted at the behest of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in 2010 supports this most.
The DoD working group conducting the study considered the impact that lifting the ban would have on unit cohesion and effectiveness, good order and discipline, and military morale. The study included a survey that revealed significant differences between respondents who believed they had served with homosexual troops and those who did not believe they had. In analyzing such data, the DoD working group concluded that it was actually generalized perceptions of homosexual troops that led to the perceived unrest that would occur without DADT. Ultimately, the study deemed the overall risk to military effectiveness of lifting the ban to be low. Citing the ability of the armed forces to adjust to the previous integration of African-Americans and women, the DoD study asserted that the United States military could adjust as had it before in history without an impending serious effect.
In March 2005, Rep. Martin T. Meehan introduced the Military Readiness Enhancement Act in the House. It aimed "to amend title 10, United States Code, to enhance the readiness of the Armed Forces by replacing the current policy concerning homosexuality in the Armed Forces, referred to as 'Don't ask, don't tell,' with a policy of nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation". As of 2006, it had 105 Democrats and 4 Republicans as co-sponsors. He introduced the bill again in 2007 and 2009.
During the 2008 U.S. presidential election campaign, Senator Barack Obama advocated a full repeal of the laws barring gays and lesbians from serving in the military. Nineteen days after his election, Obama's advisers announced that plans to repeal the policy might be delayed until 2010, because Obama "first wants to confer with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and his new political appointees at the Pentagon to reach a consensus, and then present legislation to Congress". As president he advocated a policy change to allow gay personnel to serve openly in the armed forces, stating that the U.S. government has spent millions of dollars replacing troops expelled from the military, including language experts fluent in Arabic, because of DADT. On the eve of the National Equality March in Washington, D.C., October 10, 2009, Obama stated in a speech before the Human Rights Campaign that he would end the ban, but he offered no timetable. Obama said in his 2010 State of the Union Address: "This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are." This statement was quickly followed up by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Michael Mullen voicing their support for a repeal of DADT.
Democrats in both houses of Congress first attempted to end DADT by amending the Defense Authorization Act. On May 27, 2010, on a 234–194 vote, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the Murphy amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011. It provided for repeal of the DADT policy and created a process for lifting the policy, including a U.S. Department of Defense study and certification by key officials that the change in policy would not harm military readiness followed by a waiting period of 60 days. The amended defense bill passed the House on May 28, 2010. On September 21, 2010, John McCain led a successful filibuster against the debate on the Defense Authorization Act, in which 56 Senators voted to end debate, four short of the 60 votes required. Some advocates for repeal, including the Palm Center, OutServe, and Knights Out, opposed any attempt to block the passage of NDAA if it failed to include DADT repeal language. The Human Rights Campaign, the Center for American Progress, Servicemembers United and SLDN refused to concede that possibility.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit, "Collins v. United States", against the Department of Defense in November 2010 seeking full compensation for those discharged under the policy.
On November 30, 2010, the Joint Chiefs of Staff released the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Comprehensive Review Working Group (CRWG) report authored by Jeh C. Johnson, General Counsel of the Department of Defense, and Army General Carter F. Ham. It outlined a path to the implementation of repeal of DADT. The report indicated that there was a low risk of service disruptions due to repealing the ban, provided time was provided for proper implementation and training. It included the results of a survey of 115,000 active-duty and reserve service members. Across all service branches, 30 percent thought that integrating gays into the military would have negative consequences. In the Marine Corps and combat specialties, the percentage with that negative assessment ranged from 40 to 60 percent. The CRWG also said that 69 percent of all those surveyed believed they had already worked with a gay or lesbian and of those, 92 percent reported that the impact of that person's presence was positive or neutral. The same day, in response to the CRWG, 30 professors and scholars, most from military institutions, issued a joint statement saying that the CRWG "echoes more than 20 studies, including studies by military researchers, all of which reach the same conclusion: allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly will not harm the military ... We hope that our collective statement underscores that the debate about the evidence is now officially over..." The Family Research Council's president, Tony Perkins, interpreted the CRWG data differently, writing that it "reveals that 40 percent of Marines and 25 percent of the Army could leave".
Gates encouraged Congress to act quickly to repeal the law so that the military could carefully adjust rather than face a court decision requiring it to lift the policy immediately. The United States Senate held two days of hearings on December 2 and 3, 2010, to consider the CRWG report. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Joint Chiefs Chairman Michael Mullen urged immediate repeal. The heads of the Marine Corps, Army, and Navy all advised against immediate repeal and expressed varied views on its eventual repeal. Oliver North, writing in "National Review" the next week, said that Gates' testimony showed "a deeply misguided commitment to political correctness". He interpreted the CRWG's data as indicating a high risk that large numbers of resignations would follow the repeal of DADT. Service members, especially combat troops, he wrote, "deserve better than to be treated like lab rats in Mr. Obama's radical social experiment".
On December 9, 2010, another filibuster prevented debate on the Defense Authorization Act. In response to that vote, Senators Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins introduced a bill that included the policy-related portions of the Defense Authorization Act that they considered more likely to pass as a stand-alone bill. It passed the House on a vote of 250 to 175 on December 15, 2010. On December 18, 2010, the Senate voted to end debate on its version of the bill by a cloture vote of 63–33. The final Senate vote was held later that same day, with the measure passing by a vote of 65–31.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates released a statement following the vote indicating that the planning for implementation of a policy repeal would begin right away and would continue until Gates certified that conditions were met for orderly repeal of the policy. President Obama signed the repeal into law on December 22, 2010.
The repeal act established a process for ending the DADT policy. The President, the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff were required to certify in writing that they had reviewed the Pentagon's report on the effects of DADT repeal, that the appropriate regulations had been reviewed and drafted, and that implementation of repeal regulations "is consistent with the standards of military readiness, military effectiveness, unit cohesion, and recruiting and retention of the Armed Forces". Once certification was given, DADT would be lifted after a 60-day waiting period.
Representative Duncan D. Hunter announced plans in January 2011 to introduce a bill designed to delay the end of DADT. His proposed legislation required all of the chiefs of the armed services to submit the certification at the time required only of the President, Defense Secretary and Joint Chiefs Chairman. In April, Perkins of the Family Research Council argued that the Pentagon was misrepresenting its own survey data and that hearings by the House Armed Services Committee, now under Republican control, could persuade Obama to withhold certification. Congressional efforts to prevent the change in policy from going into effect continued into May and June 2011.
On January 29, 2011, Pentagon officials stated that the training process to prepare troops for the end of DADT would begin in February and would proceed quickly, though they suggested that it might not be completed in 2011. On the same day, the DOD announced it would not offer any additional compensation to service members who had been discharged under DADT, who received half of the separation pay other honorably discharged service members received.
In May 2011, the U.S. Army reprimanded three colonels for performing a skit in March 2011 at a function at Yongsan Garrison, South Korea, that mocked the repeal.
In May 2011, revelations that an April Navy memo relating to its DADT training guidelines contemplated allowing same-sex weddings in base chapels and allowing chaplains to officiate if they so chose resulted in a letter of protest from 63 Republican congressman, citing the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) as controlling the use of federal property. Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council said the guidelines "make it even more uncomfortable for men and women of faith to perform their duties". A Pentagon spokesperson replied that DOMA "does not limit the type of religious ceremonies a chaplain may perform in a chapel on a military installation", and a Navy spokesperson said that "A chaplain can conduct a same-sex ceremony if it is in the tenets of his faith". A few days later the Navy rescinded its earlier instructions "pending additional legal and policy review and interdepartmental coordination".
While waiting for certification, several service members were discharged at their own insistence until a July 6 ruling from a federal appeals court barred further enforcement of the U.S. military's ban on openly gay service members, which the military promptly did.
Anticipating the lifting of DADT, some active duty service members wearing civilian clothes marched in San Diego's gay pride parade on July 16. The DOD noted that participation "does not constitute a declaration of sexual orientation".
President Obama, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, and Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sent the certification required by the Repeal Act to Congress on July 22, 2011, setting the end of DADT for September 20, 2011. A Pentagon spokesman said that service members discharged under DADT would be able to re-apply to rejoin the military then.
At the end of August 2011, the DOD approved the distribution of the magazine produced by OutServe, an organization of gay and lesbian service members, at Army and Air Force base exchanges beginning with the September 20 issue, coinciding with the end of DADT.
On September 20, Air force officials announced that 22 Air Force Instructions were "updated as a result of the repeal of DADT". On September 30, 2011, the Department of Defense modified regulations to reflect the repeal by deleting "homosexual conduct" as a ground for administrative separation.
On the eve of repeal, US Air Force 1st Lt. Josh Seefried, one of the founders of OutServe, an organization of LGBT troops, revealed his identity after two years of hiding behind a pseudonym. Senior Airman Randy Phillips, after conducting a social media campaign seeking encouragement coming out and already out to his military co-workers, came out to his father on the evening of September 19. When the video of their conversation he posted on YouTube went viral, it made him, in one journalist's estimation, "the poster boy for the DADT repeal". The moment the repeal took effect at midnight on September 19, US Navy Lt. Gary C. Ross married his same-sex partner of eleven and a half years, Dan Swezy, making them the first same-sex military couple to legally marry in the United States. Retired Rear Adm. Alan S. Steinman became the highest-ranking person to come out immediately following the end of DADT. HBO produced a World of Wonder documentary, "The Strange History of Don't Ask, Don't Tell", and premiered it on September 20. "Variety" called it "an unapologetic piece of liberal advocacy" and "a testament to what formidable opponents ignorance and prejudice can be". Discharge proceedings on the grounds of homosexuality, some begun years earlier, came to an end.
In the weeks that followed, a series of firsts attracted press attention to the impact of the repeal. The Marine Corps were the first branch of the armed services to recruit from the LGBTQ community. Reservist Jeremy Johnson became the first person discharged under DADT to re-enlist. Jase Daniels became the first to return to active duty, re-joining the Navy as a third class petty officer. On December 2, Air Force intelligence officer Ginger Wallace became the first open LGBT service member to have a same-sex partner participate in the "pinning-on" ceremony that marked her promotion to colonel. On December 23, after 80 days at sea, US Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta won the right to the traditional "first kiss" upon returning to port and shared it with her same-sex partner. On January 20, 2012, U.S. service members deployed to Bagram, Afghanistan, produced a video in support of the It Gets Better Project, which aims to support LGBT at-risk youth. Widespread news coverage continued even months after the repeal date, when a photograph of Marine Sgt. Brandon Morgan kissing his partner at a February 22, 2012, homecoming celebration on Marine Corps Base Hawaii went viral. When asked for her comment, a spokesperson for the Marine Corps said: "It's your typical homecoming photo."
On September 30, 2011, Under Secretary of Defense Clifford Stanley announced the DOD's policy that military chaplains are allowed to perform same-sex marriages "on or off a military installation" where local law permits them. His memo noted that "a chaplain is not required to participate in or officiate a private ceremony if doing so would be in variance with the tenets of his or her religion" and "a military chaplain's participation in a private ceremony does not constitute an endorsement of the ceremony by DoD". Some religious groups announced that their chaplains would not participate in such weddings, including an organization of evangelical Protestants, the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty and Roman Catholics led by Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA.
In late October 2011, speaking at the Air Force Academy, Col. Gary Packard, leader of the team that drafted the DOD's repeal implementation plan, said: "The best quote I've heard so far is, 'Well, some people's Facebook status changed, but that was about it.'" In late November, discussing the repeal of DADT and its implementation, Marine Gen. James F. Amos said "I'm very pleased with how it has gone" and called it a "non-event". He said his earlier public opposition was appropriate based on ongoing combat operations and the negative assessment of the policy given by 56% of combat troops under his command in the Department of Defense's November 2010 survey. A Defense Department spokesperson said implementation of repeal occurred without incident and added: "We attribute this success to our comprehensive pre-repeal training program, combined with the continued close monitoring and enforcement of standards by our military leaders at all levels."
In December 2011, Congress considered two DADT-related amendments in the course of work on the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012. The Senate approved 97-3, an amendment removing the prohibition on sodomy found in Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice as recommended by the Comprehensive Review Working Group (CRWG) a year earlier. The House approved an amendment banning same-sex marriages from being performed at military bases or by military employees, including chaplains and other employees of the military when "acting in an official capacity". Neither amendment appeared in the final legislation.
In July 2012, the Department of Defense granted permission for military personnel to wear their uniforms while participating in the San Diego Pride Parade. This was the first time that U.S. military personnel were permitted to wear their service uniforms in such a parade.
Marking the first anniversary of the passage of the Repeal Act, television news networks reported no incidents in the three months since DADT ended. One aired video of a social gathering for gay service members at a base in Afghanistan. Another reported on the experience of lesbian and gay troops, including some rejection after coming out to colleagues.
The Palm Center, a think tank that studies issues of sexuality and the military, released a study in September 2012 that found no negative consequences, nor any effect on military effectiveness from DADT repeal. This study began six months following repeal and concluded at the one year mark. The study included surveys of 553 generals and admirals who had opposed repeal, experts who supported DADT, and more than 60 heterosexual, gay, lesbian and bisexual active duty service personnel.
On January 7, 2013, the ACLU reached a settlement with the federal government in "Collins v. United States". It provided for the payment of full separation pay to service members discharged under DADT since November 10, 2004, who had previously been granted only half that.
Several candidates for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination called for the restoration of DADT, including Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, and Rick Santorum. Newt Gingrich called for an extensive review of DADT's repeal.
Ron Paul, having voted for the Repeal Act, maintained his support for allowing military service by open homosexuals. Herman Cain called the issue "a distraction" and opposed reinstating DADT. Mitt Romney said that the winding down of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan obviated his opposition to the repeal and said he was not proposing any change to policy.
On September 22, 2011, the audience at a Republican candidates' debate booed a U.S. soldier posted in Iraq who asked a question via video about the repeal of DADT, and none of the candidates noticed or responded to the crowd's behavior. Two days later, Obama commented on the incident while addressing a dinner of the Human Rights Campaign: "You want to be commander in chief? You can start by standing up for the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States, even when it's not politically convenient".
In June 2012, Rep. Howard McKeon, Republican chair of the House Armed Services Committee, said he considered the repeal of DADT a settled issue and if Romney became president would not advocate its reinstatement, though others in his party might.
In 1993, "Time" reported that 44% of those polled supported openly gay servicemembers, and in 1994, a CNN poll indicated 53% of Americans believed gays and lesbians should be permitted to serve openly.
According to a December 2010 "The Washington Post"-ABC News poll 77% of Americans said gays and lesbians who publicly disclose their sexual orientation should be able to serve in the military. That number showed little change from polls over the previous two years, but represented the highest level of support in a Post-ABC poll. The support also cut across partisan and ideological lines, with majorities of Democrats (86%), Republicans (74%), independents (74%), liberals (92%), conservatives (67%), white evangelical Protestants (70%) and non-religious (84%) in favor of homosexuals serving openly.
A November 2010 survey by the Pew Research Center found that 58% of the U.S. public favored allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military, while less than half as many (27%) were opposed. According to a November 2010 CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, 72% of adult Americans favored permitting people who are openly gay or lesbian to serve in the military, while 23% opposed it. "The main difference between the CNN poll and the Pew poll is in the number of respondents who told pollsters that they didn't have an opinion on this topic – 16 percent in the Pew poll compared to only five percent in the CNN survey", said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "The two polls report virtually the same number who say they oppose gays serving openly in the military, which suggests that there are some people who favor that change in policy but for some reason were reluctant to admit that to the Pew interviewers. That happens occasionally on topics where moral issues and equal-treatment issues intersect."
A February 2010 Quinnipiac University Polling Institute national poll showed 57% of American voters favored gays serving openly, compared to 36% opposed, while 66% said not allowing openly gay personnel to serve is discrimination, compared to 31% who did not see it as discrimination. A CBS News/"The New York Times" national poll done at the same time showed 58% of Americans favored gays serving openly, compared to 28% opposed.
Chaplain groups and religious organizations took various positions on DADT. Some felt that the policy needed to be withdrawn to make the military more inclusive. The Southern Baptist Convention battled the repeal of DADT, warning that their endorsements for chaplains might be withdrawn if the repeal took place. They took the position that allowing gay men and women to serve in the military without restriction would have a negative impact on the ability of chaplains who think homosexuality is a sin to speak freely regarding their religious beliefs. The Roman Catholic Church called for the retention of the policy, but had no plans to withdraw its priests from serving as military chaplains. Sixty-five retired chaplains signed a letter opposing repeal, stating that repeal would make it impossible for chaplains whose faith teaches that same-sex behavior is immoral to minister to military service members. Other religious organizations and agencies called the repeal of the policy a "non-event" or "non-issue" for chaplains, claiming that chaplains have always supported military service personnel, whether or not they agree with all their actions or beliefs.
After the policy was introduced in 1993, the military discharged over 13,000 troops from the military under DADT. The number of discharges per fiscal year under DADT dropped sharply after the September 11 attacks and remained comparatively low through to the repeal. Discharges exceeded 600 every year until 2009.
In November 2019, both Rhode Island and New York State signed into law and implemented restoring military benefits to gay and lesbian military veterans. An estimated or approximately 100,000 individuals were affected by the "don't ask don't tell policy" (since it was repealed in September 2011).
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=9553 | Empedocles
Empedocles (; , "Empedoklēs"; , fl. 444-443 BC) was a Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a native citizen of Akragas, a Greek city in Sicily. Empedocles' philosophy is best known for originating the cosmogonic theory of the four classical elements. He also proposed forces he called Love and Strife which would mix and separate the elements, respectively.
Influenced by Pythagoras (died c. 495 BC) and the Pythagoreans, Empedocles challenged the practice of animal sacrifice and killing animals for food. He developed a distinctive doctrine of reincarnation. He is generally considered the last Greek philosopher to have recorded his ideas in verse. Some of his work survives, more than is the case for any other pre-Socratic philosopher. Empedocles' death was mythologized by ancient writers, and has been the subject of a number of literary treatments.
Empedocles (Empedokles) was a native citizen of Akragas in Sicily. "He came from a rich and noble family." Very little is known about his life. "His grandfather, also called Empedokles, had won a victory in the horse-race at Olympia in [the 71st Olympiad] OL. LXXI (496-95 BC)." "His father’s name, according to the best accounts, was Meton."
"All, therefore, we can be said to know [about the dates of Empedocles] is, that his grandfather was still alive in 496 BC.; that he himself was active at Akragas after 472 BC, the date of Theron’s death; and that he died later than 444 BC."
Empedocles "broke up the assembly of the Thousand. perhaps some oligarchical association or club." He is said to have been magnanimous in his support of the poor; severe in persecuting the overbearing conduct of the oligarchs; and he even declined the sovereignty of the city when it was offered to him.
"But there is another side to his public character...He claimed to be a god, and to receive the homage of his fellow-citizens in that capacity. The truth is, Empedokles was not a mere statesman; he had a good deal of the 'medicine-man' about him. According to Satyros, Gorgias affirmed that he had been present when his master was performing sorceries. We can see what this means from the fragments of the "Purifications". Empedokles was a preacher of the new religion which sought to secure release from the 'wheel of birth' by purity and abstinence. Orphicism seems to have been strong at Akragas in the days of Theron, and there are even some verbal coincidences between the poems of Empedokles and the Orphicsing Odes which Pindar addressed to that prince. On the other hand, there is no reason to doubt the statement of Ammonios that fr. 134 refers to Apollo; and, if that is so, it points to his having been an adherent of the Ionic form of the mystic doctrine, as we have seen Pythagoras was.
[fr. 134. For he is not furnished with a human head on his body, two branches do not sprout from his shoulders, he has no feet, no swift knees, nor hairy parts; but he is only a sacred and unutterable mind flashing through the whole world with rapid thoughts.]
Further, Timaios already knew the story that Empedokles had been expelled from the Pythagorean Order for 'stealing discourses' and it is probable on the whole that fr. 129 refers to Pythagoras.
[fr. 129. And there was among them a man of rare knowledge, most skilled in all manner of wise works, a man who had won the utmost wealth of wisdom; for whensoever he strained with all his mind, he easily saw everything of all the things that are, in ten, yea, twenty lifetimes of men.]"
His brilliant oratory, his penetrating knowledge of nature, and the reputation of his marvellous powers, including the curing of diseases, and averting epidemics, produced many myths and stories surrounding his name. In his poem "Purifications" he claimed miraculous powers, including the destruction of evil, the curing of old age, and the controlling of wind and rain.
Empedocles was acquainted or connected by friendship with the physicians Pausanias (his eromenos) and Acron; with various Pythagoreans; and even, it is said, with Parmenides and Anaxagoras. The only pupil of Empedocles who is mentioned is the sophist and rhetorician Gorgias.
Timaeus and Dicaearchus spoke of the journey of Empedocles to the Peloponnese, and of the admiration, which was paid to him there; others mentioned his stay at Athens, and in the newly founded colony of Thurii, 446 BC; there are also fanciful reports of him travelling far to the east to the lands of the Magi.
The contemporary "Life of Empedocles" by Xanthus has been lost.
According to Aristotle, he died at the age of sixty (), even though other writers have him living up to the age of one hundred and nine. Likewise, there are myths concerning his death: a tradition, which is traced to Heraclides Ponticus, represented him as having been removed from the Earth; whereas others had him perishing in the flames of Mount Etna.
"We are told that Empedokles leapt into the crater of Etna that he might be deemed a god. This appears to be a malicious version of a tale set on foot by his adherents that he had been snatched up to heaven in the night. Both stories would easily get accepted; for there was no local tradition. Empedokles did not die in Sicily, but in the Peloponnese, or, perhaps, at Thourioi. It is not at all unlikely that he visited Athens."
"Timaios refuted the common stories [about Empedokles] at some length. (Diog. viii. 71 sqq.; Ritter and. Preller [162].). He was quite positive that Empedokles never returned to Sicily after he went to Olympia to have his poem recited to the Hellenes. The plan for the colonisation of Thourioi would, of course, be discussed at Olympia, and we know that Greeks from the Peloponnese and elsewhere joined it. He may very well have gone to Athens in connexion with this."
Empedocles is considered the last Greek philosopher to write in verse. There is a debate about whether the surviving fragments of his teaching should be attributed to two separate poems, "Purifications" and "On Nature", with different subject matter, or whether they may all derive from one poem with two titles, or whether one title refers to part of the whole poem. Some scholars argue that the title "Purifications" refers to the first part of a larger work called (as a whole) "On Nature". There is also a debate about which fragments should be attributed to each of the poems, if there are two poems, or if part of it is called "Purifications"; because ancient writers rarely mentioned which poem they were quoting.
Empedocles was undoubtedly acquainted with the didactic poems of Xenophanes and Parmenides—allusions to the latter can be found in the fragments—but he seems to have surpassed them in the animation and richness of his style, and in the clearness of his descriptions and diction. Aristotle called him the father of rhetoric, and, although he acknowledged only the meter as a point of comparison between the poems of Empedocles and the epics of Homer, he described Empedocles as Homeric and powerful in his diction. Lucretius speaks of him with enthusiasm, and evidently viewed him as his model. The two poems together comprised 5000 lines. About 550 lines of his poetry survive.
In the old editions of Empedocles, only about 100 lines were typically ascribed to his "Purifications", which was taken to be a poem about ritual purification, or the poem that contained all his religious and ethical thought. Early editors supposed that it was a poem that offered a mythical account of the world which may, nevertheless, have been part of Empedocles' philosophical system. According to Diogenes Laërtius it began with the following verses:
<poem>
Friends who inhabit the mighty town by tawny Acragas
which crowns the citadel, caring for good deeds,
greetings; I, an immortal God, no longer mortal,
wander among you, honoured by all,
adorned with holy diadems and blooming garlands.
To whatever illustrious towns I go,
I am praised by men and women, and accompanied
by thousands, who thirst for deliverance,
some ask for prophecies, and some entreat,
for remedies against all kinds of disease.
</poem>
In the older editions, it is to this work that editors attributed the story about souls, where we are told that there were once spirits who lived in a state of bliss, but having committed a crime (the nature of which is unknown) they were punished by being forced to become mortal beings, reincarnated from body to body. Humans, animals, and even plants are such spirits. The moral conduct recommended in the poem may allow us to become like gods again. If, as is now widely held, this title "Purifications" refers to the poem "On Nature", or to a part of that poem, this story will have been at the beginning of the main work on nature and the cosmic cycle. The relevant verses are also sometimes attributed to the proem of "On Nature", even by those who think that there was a separate poem called "Purifications".
There are about 450 lines of his poem "On Nature" extant, including 70 lines which have been reconstructed from some papyrus scraps known as the "Strasbourg Papyrus". The poem originally consisted of 2000 lines of hexameter verse, and was addressed to Pausanias. It was this poem which outlined his philosophical system. In it, Empedocles explains not only the nature and history of the universe, including his theory of the four classical elements, but he describes theories on causation, perception, and thought, as well as explanations of terrestrial phenomena and biological processes.
Although acquainted with the theories of the Eleatics and the Pythagoreans, Empedocles did not belong to any one definite school. An eclectic in his thinking, he combined much that had been suggested by Parmenides, Pythagoras and the Ionian schools. He was a firm believer in Orphic mysteries, as well as a scientific thinker and a precursor of physics. Aristotle mentions Empedocles among the Ionic philosophers, and he places him in very close relation to the atomist philosophers and to Anaxagoras.
According to House (1956)
Empedocles, like the Ionian philosophers and the atomists, continued the tradition of tragic thought which tried to find the basis of the relationship of the one and many. Each of the various philosophers, following Parmenides, derived from the Eleatics, the conviction that an existence could not pass into non-existence, and vice versa. Yet, each one had his peculiar way of describing this relation of Divine and mortal thought and thus of the relation of the One and the Many. In order to account for change in the world, in accordance with the ontological requirements of the Eleatics, they viewed changes as the result of mixture and separation of unalterable fundamental realities. Empedocles held that the four elements (Water, Air, Earth, and Fire) were those unchangeable fundamental realities, which were themselves transfigured into successive worlds by the powers of Love and Strife (Heraclitus had explicated the Logos or the "unity of opposites").
Empedocles established four ultimate elements which make all the structures in the world—fire, air, water, earth. Empedocles called these four elements "roots", which he also identified with the mythical names of Zeus, Hera, Nestis, and Aidoneus (e.g., "Now hear the fourfold roots of everything: enlivening Hera, Hades, shining Zeus. And Nestis, moistening mortal springs with tears.") Empedocles never used the term "element" (, "stoicheion"), which seems to have been first used by Plato. According to the different proportions in which these four indestructible and unchangeable elements are combined with each other the difference of the structure is produced. It is in the aggregation and segregation of elements thus arising, that Empedocles, like the atomists, found the real process which corresponds to what is popularly termed growth, increase or decrease. Nothing new comes or can come into being; the only change that can occur is a change in the juxtaposition of element with element. This theory of the four elements became the standard dogma for the next two thousand years.
The four elements, however, are simple, eternal, and unalterable, and as change is the consequence of their mixture and separation, it was also necessary to suppose the existence of moving powers that bring about mixture and separation. The four elements are both eternally brought into union and parted from one another by two divine powers, Love and or Hatred. Love () is responsible for the attraction of different forms of matter, and Strife () is the cause of their separation. If the four elements make up the universe, then Love and Strife explain their variation and harmony. Love and Strife are attractive and repulsive forces, respectively, which are plainly observable in human behavior, but also pervade the universe. The two forces wax and wane in their dominance, but neither force ever wholly escapes the imposition of the other.
"Empedokles sometimes gave an efficient power to Love and Strife, and sometimes put them on a level with the other four. The fragments leave no room for doubt that they were thought of as spatial and corporeal. All the six are called "equal". Love is said to be "equal in length and breadth" to the others, and Strife is described as equal to each of them in weight (fr. 17). These physical speculations were part of a history of the universe which also dealt with the origin and development of life."
As the best and original state, there was a time when the pure elements and the two powers co-existed in a condition of rest and inertness in the form of a sphere. The elements existed together in their purity, without mixture and separation, and the uniting power of Love predominated in the sphere: the separating power of Strife guarded the extreme edges of the sphere. Since that time, strife gained more sway and the bond which kept the pure elementary substances together in the sphere was dissolved. The elements became the world of phenomena we see today, full of contrasts and oppositions, operated on by both Love and Strife. The sphere being the embodiment of pure existence is the embodiment or representative of God. Empedocles assumed a cyclical universe whereby the elements return and prepare the formation of the sphere for the next period of the universe.
Empedocles attempted to explain the separation of elements, the formation of earth and sea, of Sun and Moon, of atmosphere. He also dealt with the first origin of plants and animals, and with the physiology of humans. As the elements entered into combinations, there appeared strange results—heads without necks, arms without shoulders. Then as these fragmentary structures met, there were seen horned heads on human bodies, bodies of oxen with human heads, and figures of double sex. But most of these products of natural forces disappeared as suddenly as they arose; only in those rare cases where the parts were found to be adapted to each other did the complex structures last. Thus the organic universe sprang from spontaneous aggregations that suited each other as if this had been intended. Soon various influences reduced creatures of double sex to a male and a female, and the world was replenished with organic life. It is possible to see this theory as an anticipation of Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection, although Empedocles was not trying to explain evolution.
Empedocles is credited with the first comprehensive theory of light and vision. He put forward the idea that we see objects because light streams out of our eyes and touches them. While flawed, this became the fundamental basis on which later Greek philosophers and mathematicians like Euclid would construct some of the most important theories of light, vision, and optics.
Knowledge is explained by the principle that elements in the things outside us are perceived by the corresponding elements in ourselves. Like is known by like. The whole body is full of pores and hence respiration takes place over the whole frame. In the organs of sense these pores are specially adapted to receive the effluences which are continually rising from bodies around us; thus perception occurs. In vision, certain particles go forth from the eye to meet similar particles given forth from the object, and the resultant contact constitutes vision. Perception is not merely a passive reflection of external objects.
Empedocles noted the limitation and narrowness of human perceptions. We see only a part but fancy that we have grasped the whole. But the senses cannot lead to truth; thought and reflection must look at the thing from every side. It is the business of a philosopher, while laying bare the fundamental difference of elements, to show the identity that exists between what seem unconnected parts of the universe.
In a famous fragment, Empedocles attempted to explain the phenomena of respiration by means of an elaborate analogy with the clepsydra, an ancient device for conveying liquids from one vessel to another. This fragment has sometimes been connected to a passage in Aristotle's "Physics" where Aristotle refers to people who twisted wineskins and captured air in clepsydras to demonstrate that void does not exist. There is however, no evidence that Empedocles performed any experiment with clepsydras. The fragment certainly implies that Empedocles knew about the corporeality of air, but he says nothing whatever about the void. The clepsydra was a common utensil and everyone who used it must have known, in some sense, that the invisible air could resist liquid.
Like Pythagoras, Empedocles believed in the transmigration of the soul/metempsychosis, that souls can be reincarnated between humans, animals and even plants. For Empedocles, all living things were on the same spiritual plane; plants and animals are links in a chain where humans are a link too. Empedocles was a vegetarian and advocated vegetarianism, since the bodies of animals are the dwelling places of punished souls. Wise people, who have learned the secret of life, are next to the divine, and their souls, free from the cycle of reincarnations, are able to rest in happiness for eternity.
Diogenes Laërtius records the legend that Empedocles died by throwing himself into Mount Etna in Sicily, so that the people would believe his body had vanished and he had turned into an immortal god; the volcano, however, threw back one of his bronze sandals, revealing the deceit. Another legend maintains that he threw himself into the volcano to prove to his disciples that he was immortal; he believed he would come back as a god after being consumed by the fire. Horace also refers to the death of Empedocles in his work "Ars Poetica" and admits poets the right to destroy themselves.
In "Icaro-Menippus", a comedic dialogue written by the second century satirist Lucian of Samosata, Empedocles' final fate is re-evaluated. Rather than being incinerated in the fires of Mount Etna, he was carried up into the heavens by a volcanic eruption. Although a bit singed by the ordeal, Empedocles survives and continues his life on the Moon, surviving by feeding on dew.
Empedocles' death has inspired two major modern literary treatments. Empedocles' death is the subject of Friedrich Hölderlin's play "Tod des Empedokles" ("The Death of Empedocles"), two versions of which were written between the years 1798 and 1800. A third version was made public in 1826. In Matthew Arnold's poem "Empedocles on Etna", a narrative of the philosopher's last hours before he jumps to his death in the crater first published in 1852, Empedocles predicts:
<poem>
To the elements it came from
Everything will return.
Our bodies to earth,
Our blood to water,
Heat to fire,
Breath to air.
</poem>
In his "History of Western Philosophy", Bertrand Russell humorously quotes an unnamed poet on the subject – "Great Empedocles, that ardent soul, Leapt into Etna, and was roasted whole."
In "J R" by William Gaddis, Karl Marx's famous dictum ("From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs") is misattributed to Empedocles.
In 2006, a massive underwater volcano off the coast of Sicily was named Empedocles.
In 2016, Scottish musician Momus wrote and sang the song "The Death of Empedokles" for his album "Scobberlotchers".
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=9574 | Eric Hoffer
Eric Hoffer (July 25, 1898 – May 21, 1983) was an American moral and social philosopher. He was the author of ten books and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in February 1983. His first book, "The True Believer" (1951), was widely recognized as a classic, receiving critical acclaim from both scholars and laymen, although Hoffer believed that "The Ordeal of Change" (1963) was his finest work.
Hoffer was born in 1898 in The Bronx, New York, to Knut and Elsa (Goebel) Hoffer. His parents were immigrants from Alsace, then part of Imperial Germany. By age five, Hoffer could already read in both English and his parents' native German. When he was five, his mother fell down the stairs with him in her arms. He later recalled, "I lost my sight at the age of seven. Two years before, my mother and I fell down a flight of stairs. She did not recover and died in that second year after the fall. I lost my sight and, for a time, my memory." Hoffer spoke with a pronounced German accent all his life, and spoke the language fluently. He was raised by a live-in relative or servant, a German immigrant named Martha. His eyesight inexplicably returned when he was 15. Fearing he might lose it again, he seized on the opportunity to read as much as he could. His recovery proved permanent, but Hoffer never abandoned his reading habit.
Hoffer was a young man when he also lost his father. The cabinetmaker's union paid for Knut Hoffer's funeral and gave Hoffer about $300 insurance money. He took a bus to Los Angeles and spent the next 10 years wandering, as he remembered, “up and down the land, dodging hunger and grieving over the world.” Hoffer eventually landed on Skid Row, reading, occasionally writing, and working at odd jobs.
In 1931, he considered suicide by drinking a solution of oxalic acid, but he could not bring himself to do it. He left Skid Row and became a migrant worker, following the harvests in California. He acquired a library card where he worked, dividing his time "between the books and the brothels." He also prospected for gold in the mountains. Snowed in for the winter, he read the "Essays" by Michel de Montaigne. Montaigne impressed Hoffer deeply, and Hoffer often made reference to him. He also developed a respect for America's underclass, which he said was "lumpy with talent."
He wrote a novel, "Four Years in Young Hank's Life," and a novella, "Chance and Mr. Kunze," both partly autobiographical. He also penned a long article based on his experiences in a federal work camp, "Tramps and Pioneers." It was never published, but a truncated version appeared in "Harper's Magazine" after he became well known.
Hoffer tried to enlist in the US Army at age 40 during World War II, but he was rejected due to a hernia. Instead, he began work as a longshoreman on the docks of San Francisco in 1943. At the same time, he began to write seriously.
Hoffer left the docks in 1964, and shortly after became an adjunct professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He later retired from public life in 1970. “I'm going to crawl back into my hole where I started,” he said. “I don't want to be a public person or anybody's spokesman... Any man can ride a train. Only a wise man knows when to get off.”In 1970, he endowed the Lili Fabilli and Eric Hoffer Laconic Essay Prize for students, faculty, and staff at the University of California, Berkeley.
Hoffer called himself an atheist but had sympathetic views of religion and described it as a positive force.
He died at his home in San Francisco in 1983 at the age of 84.
Hoffer was influenced by his modest roots and working-class surroundings, seeing in it vast human potential. In a letter to Margaret Anderson in 1941, he wrote:
He once remarked, "my writing grows out of my life just as a branch from a tree." When he was called an intellectual, he insisted that he simply was a longshoreman. Hoffer has been dubbed by some authors a "longshoreman philosopher."
Hoffer, who was an only child, never married. He fathered a child with Lili Fabilli Osborne, named Eric Osborne, who was born in 1955 and raised by Lili Osborne and her husband, Selden Osborne. Lili Fabilli Osborne had become acquainted with Hoffer through her husband, a fellow longshoreman and acquaintance of Hoffer's. Despite the affair and Lili Osborne later co-habitating with Hoffer, Selden Osborne and Hoffer remained on good terms.
Hoffer referred to Eric Osborne as his son or godson. Lili Fabilli Osborne died in 2010 at the age of 93. Prior to her death, Osborne was the executor of Hoffer's estate, and vigorously controlled the rights to his intellectual property.
In his 2012 book "Eric Hoffer: The Longshoreman Philosopher," journalist Tom Bethell revealed doubts about Hoffer's account of his early life. Although Hoffer claimed his parents were from Alsace-Lorraine, Hoffer himself spoke with a pronounced Bavarian accent. He claimed to have been born and raised in the Bronx but had no Bronx accent. His lover and executor Lili Fabilli stated that she always thought Hoffer was an immigrant. Her son, Eric Fabilli, said that Hoffer's life may have been comparable to that of B. Traven and considered hiring a genealogist to investigate Hoffer's early life, to which Hoffer reportedly replied, "Are you "sure" you want to know?" Pescadero land-owner Joe Gladstone, a family friend of the Fabilli's who also knew Hoffer, said of Hoffer's account of his early life: "I don't believe a word of it." To this day, no one ever has claimed to have known Hoffer in his youth, and no records apparently exist of his parents, nor indeed of Hoffer himself until he was about forty, when his name appeared in a census.
Hoffer came to public attention with the 1951 publication of his first book, "The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements", which consists of a preface and 125 sections, which are divided into 18 chapters. Hoffer analyzes the phenomenon of "mass movements," a general term that he applies to revolutionary parties, nationalistic movements, and religious movements. He summarizes his thesis in §113: "A movement is pioneered by men of words, materialized by fanatics and consolidated by men of actions."
Hoffer argues that fanatical and extremist cultural movements, whether religious, social, or national, arise when large numbers of frustrated people, believing their own individual lives to be worthless or spoiled, join a movement demanding radical change. But the real attraction for this population is an escape from the self, not a realization of individual hopes: "A mass movement attracts and holds a following not because it can satisfy the desire for self-advancement, but because it can satisfy the passion for self-renunciation."
Hoffer consequently argues that the appeal of mass movements is interchangeable: in the Germany of the 1920s and the 1930s, for example, the Communists and National Socialists were ostensibly enemies, but sometimes enlisted each other's members, since they competed for the same kind of marginalized, angry, frustrated people. For the "true believer," Hoffer argues that particular beliefs are less important than escaping from the burden of the autonomous self.
Harvard historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. said of "The True Believer": "This brilliant and original inquiry into the nature of mass movements is a genuine contribution to our social thought."
Subsequent to the publication of "The True Believer" (1951), Eric Hoffer touched upon Asia and American interventionism in several of his essays. In "The Awakening of Asia" (1954), published in "The Reporter" and later his book "The Ordeal of Change" (1963), Hoffer discusses the reasons for unrest on the continent. In particular, he argues that the root cause of social discontent in Asia was not government corruption, "communist agitation," or the legacy of European colonial "oppression and exploitation," but rather that a "craving for pride" was the central problem in Asia, suggesting a problem that could not be relieved through typical American intervention.
For centuries, Hoffer notes, Asia had "submitted to one conqueror after another." Throughout these centuries, Asia had "been misruled, looted, and bled by both foreign and native oppressors without" so much as "a peep" from the general population. Though not without negative effect, corrupt governments and the legacy of European imperialism represented nothing new under the sun. Indeed, the European colonial authorities had been "fairly beneficent" in Asia.
To be sure, Communism exerted an appeal of sorts. For the Asian "pseudo-intellectual," it promised elite status and the phony complexities of "doctrinaire double talk." For the ordinary Asian, it promised partnership with the seemingly emergent Soviet Union in a "tremendous, unprecedented undertaking" to build a better tomorrow.
According to Hoffer, however, Communism in Asia was dwarfed by the desire for pride. To satisfy such desire, Asians would willingly and irrationally sacrifice their economic well-being and their lives as well.
Unintentionally, the West had created this appetite, causing "revolutionary unrest" in Asia. The West had done so by eroding the traditional communal bonds that once had woven the individual to the patriarchal family, clan, tribe, "cohesive rural or urban unit," and "religious or political body."
Without the security and spiritual meaning produced by such bonds, Asians had been liberated from tradition only to find themselves now atomized, isolated, exposed, and abandoned, "left orphaned and empty in a cold world."
Certainly, Europe had undergone a similar destruction of tradition, but it had occurred centuries earlier at the end of the medieval period and produced better results thanks to different circumstances.
For the Asians of the 1950s, the circumstances differed markedly. Most were illiterate and impoverished, living in a world that included no expansive physical or intellectual vistas. Dangerously, the "articulate minority" of the Asian population inevitably disconnected themselves from the ordinary people, thereby failing to acquire "a sense of usefulness and of worth" that came by "taking part in the world's work." As a result, they were "condemned to the life of chattering posturing pseudo-intellectuals" and coveted "the illusion of weight and importance."
Most significantly, Hoffer asserts that the disruptive awakening of Asia came about as a result of an unbearable sense of weakness. Indeed, Hoffer discusses the problem of weakness, asserting that while "power corrupts the few... weakness corrupts the many."
Hoffer notes that " the resentment of the weak does not spring from any injustice done them but from the sense of their inadequacy and impotence." In short, the weak "hate not wickedness" but themselves for being weak. Consequently, self-loathing produces explosive effects that cannot be mitigated through social engineering schemes, such as programs of wealth redistribution. In fact, American "generosity" is counterproductive, perceived in Asia simply as an example of Western "oppression."
In the wake of the Korean War, Hoffer does not recommend exporting at gunpoint either American political institutions or mass democracy. In fact, Hoffer advances the possibility that winning over the multitudes of Asia may not even be desirable. If on the other hand, necessity truly dictates that for "survival" the United States must persuade the "weak" of Asia to "our side," Hoffer suggests the wisest course of action would be to master "the art or technique of sharing hope, pride, and as a last resort, hatred with others."
During the Vietnam War, despite his objections to the antiwar movement and acceptance of the notion that the war was somehow necessary to prevent a third world war, Hoffer remained skeptical concerning American interventionism, specifically the intelligence with which the war was being conducted in Southeast Asia. After the United States became involved in the war, Hoffer wished to avoid defeat in Vietnam because of his fear that such a defeat would transform American society for ill, opening the door to those who would preach a stab-in-the-back myth and allow for the rise of an American version of Hitler.
In "The Temper of Our Time" (1967), Hoffer implies that the United States as a rule should avoid interventions in the first place: "the better part of statesmanship might be to know clearly and precisely what not to do, and leave action to the improvisation of chance." In fact, Hoffer indicates that "it might be wise to wait for enemies to defeat themselves," as they might fall upon each other with the United States out of the picture. The view was somewhat borne out with the Cambodian-Vietnamese War and Chinese-Vietnamese War of the late 1970s.
In May 1968, about a year after the Six-Day War, he wrote an article for the "Los Angeles Times" titled "Israel's Peculiar Position:"
Hoffer asks why "everyone expects the Jews to be the only real Christians in this world" and why Israel should sue for peace after its victory.
Hoffer believed that rapid change is not necessarily a positive thing for a society and that too rapid change can cause a regression in maturity for those who were brought up in a different society. He noted that in America in the 1960s, many young adults were still living in extended adolescence. Seeking to explain the attraction of the New Left protest movements, he characterized them as the result of widespread affluence, which "is robbing a modern society of whatever it has left of puberty rites to routinize the attainment of manhood." He saw the puberty rites as essential for self-esteem and noted that mass movements and juvenile mindsets tend to go together, to the point that anyone, no matter what age, who joins a mass movement immediately begins to exhibit juvenile behavior.
Hoffer further noted that working-class Americans rarely joined protest movements and subcultures since they had entry into meaningful labor as an effective rite of passage out of adolescence while both the very poor who lived on welfare and the affluent were, in his words, "prevented from having a share in the world's work, and of proving their manhood by doing a man's work and getting a man's pay" and thus remained in a state of extended adolescence. Lacking in necessary self-esteem, they were prone to joining mass movements as a form of compensation. Hoffer suggested that the need for meaningful work as a rite of passage into adulthood could be fulfilled with a two-year civilian national service program (like programs during the Great Depression such as the Civilian Conservation Corps): "The routinization of the passage from boyhood to manhood would contribute to the solution of many of our pressing problems. I cannot think of any other undertaking that would dovetail so many of our present difficulties into opportunities for growth."
Hoffer appeared on public television in 1964 and then in two one-hour conversations on CBS with Eric Sevareid in the late 1960s.
Hoffer's papers, including 131 of the notebooks he carried in his pockets, were acquired in 2000 by the Hoover Institution Archives. The papers fill of shelf space. Because Hoffer cultivated an aphoristic style, the unpublished notebooks (dated from 1949 to 1977) contain very significant work. Although available for scholarly study since at least 2003, little of their contents has been published. A selection of fifty aphorisms, focusing on the development of unrealized human talents through the creative process, appeared in the July 2005 issue of "Harper's Magazine".
On 1 January 2001, the Eric Hoffer Award for books and prose was launched internationally in his honor. In 2005, the Eric Hoffer Estate granted its permission for the award, and Christopher Klim became the award's Chairperson.
Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop extensively referred to Hoffer's book "The True Believer" when in a 2015 speech she closely compared the psychological underpinnings of ISIS with that of Nazism.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=9979204 | J. L. Ackrill
John Lloyd Ackrill, (30 December 1921 – 30 November 2007) was an English philosopher and classicist who specialized in Ancient Greek philosophy, especially the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. Ackrill has been said to be, along with Gregory Vlastos and G. E. L. Owen, "one of the most important figures responsible for the upsurge of interest in ancient Greek philosophy among Anglo-American philosophers of the second half of this century".
Ackrill was born, to Frederick William Ackrill and Jessie Anne Ackril, in Reading, Berkshire where he attended Reading School.
In 1940 he entered St. John's College, Oxford, as a scholar in Classics where his philosophy tutors were Paul Grice and John Mabbott.The next year he left for war service in the Royal Berkshire Regiment and General Staff, reaching the rank of captain. He returned to Oxford in 1945 to read "Literae Humaniore", graduating in 1948. He then accepted a teaching position as assistant lecturer in Logic at Glasgow before being appointed university lecturer at Oxford in Ancient Philosophy in 1949. Granted two years of study-leave, Ackrill was a visiting scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study in 1950-51 (as he was again in 1961-62) before becoming, in 1953, a tutorial fellow at Brasenose College. In 1966, Oxford university created a statutory chair in the History of Philosophy, to which Ackrill was elected as the first holder. He retained that Chair, whilst remaining a fellow of Brasenose, until he retired in 1989 as an Emeritus Professor. In 1981 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy and, in 1996, an Honorary Fellow of St John's.
In 1953 he married Margaret Kerr with whom he had four children.
John Lloyd Ackrill died in Oxford on 30 November 2007.
In 2009, Brasenose College inaugurated The John Ackrill Memorial Lecture which is held annually "in honour of the outstanding contribution he made to the study of ancient philosophy".
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10035514 | Intimate partner violence
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is domestic violence by a current or former spouse or partner in an intimate relationship against the other spouse or partner. IPV can take a number of forms, including physical, verbal, emotional, economic and sexual abuse. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines IPV as "... any behaviour within an intimate relationship that causes physical, psychological or sexual harm to those in the relationship, including acts of physical aggression, sexual coercion, psychological abuse and controlling behaviors."
The most extreme form of such violence may be termed "battering", "intimate terrorism", "coercive controlling violence", or simply "coercive control", in which one person is violent and controlling; this is generally perpetrated by men against women, and is the most likely of the types to require medical services and the use of a women's shelter. Subsequently, resistance to intimate terrorism, which is a form of self-defense and may be termed "violent resistance", is usually conducted by women. Studies on domestic violence against men suggest that men are less likely to report domestic violence perpetrated by their female intimate partners.
The most common but less injurious form of intimate partner violence is "situational couple violence" (also known as "situational violence"), which is conducted by individuals of both genders nearly equally, and is more likely to occur among younger couples, including adolescents (see teen dating violence) and those of college age. A last form of violence, in which both partners in the relationship engage in controlling and violent behavior, is called "mutual violent control".
Intimate partner violence occurs between two people in an intimate relationship. It may occur between heterosexual or homosexual couples and victims can be male or female. Couples may be dating, cohabiting or married and violence can occur in or outside of the home.
Studies in the 1990s showed that both men and women could be abusers or victims of domestic violence. Women are more likely to act violently in retaliation or self-defense and tend to engage in less severe forms of violence than men whereas men are more likely to commit long-term cycles of abuse than women.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines intimate partner violence as "any behaviour within an intimate relationship that causes physical, psychological or sexual harm to those in the relationship". The WHO also adds controlling behaviors as a form of abuse.
According to a study conducted in 2010, 30% of women globally aged 15 and older have experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence.
The WHO reported in 2013 that the incidence of women who had experienced physical or sexual abuse from an intimate partner in their lifetime was:
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) as of 2018 recommends screening women of reproductive age.
Some of the most studied IPV screening tools were the Hurt, Insult, Threaten, and Scream (HITS), the Woman Abuse Screening Tool/Woman Abuse Screening Tool-Short Form (WAST/WAST-SF), the Partner Violence Screen (PVS), and the Abuse Assessment Screen (AAS).
The HITS is a four-item scale rated on a 5-point Likert scale from 1 (never) to 5 (frequently). This tool was Initially developed and tested among family physicians and family practice offices, and since then has been evaluated in diverse outpatient settings. Internal reliability and concurrent validity are acceptable. Generally, sensitivity of this measure has found to be lower among men than among women.
The WAST is an eight-item measure (there is a short form of the WAST that consists of the first two items only). It was originally developed for family physicians, but subsequently has been tested in the emergency department. It has been found to have good internal reliability and acceptable concurrent validity.
The PVS is a three-item measure scored on a yes/no scale, with positive responses to any question denoting abuse. It was developed as a brief instrument for the emergency department.
The AAS is a five-item measure scored on a yes/no scale, with positive responses to any question denoting abuse. It was created to detect abuse perpetrated against pregnant women. The screening tool has been tested predominantly with young, poor women. It has acceptable test retest reliability.
The probably most widely used instrument in research on family violence is the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS). Two versions have been developed from the original CTS: the CTS2 (an expanded and modified version of the original CTS) and the CTSPC (CTS Parent-Child).
Another assessment used in research to measure IPV is the Severity of Violence Against Women Scales (SVAWS). This scale measures how often a woman experiences violent behaviors by her partner.
Michael P. Johnson argues for four major types of intimate partner violence (also known as "Johnson's typology"), which is supported by subsequent research and evaluation, as well as independent researchers. Distinctions are made among the types of violence, motives of perpetrators, and the social and cultural context based upon patterns across numerous incidents and motives of the perpetrator. The United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) also divides domestic violence into types.<ref name="10.2105/AJPH.2005.079020"></ref> Elaine Storkey in her comprehensive analysis, Scars Across Humanity IVP Academic 2018, argues that intimate partner violence is one aspect of a global manifestation of violence against women. Other examples she cites are selective abortion, female genital mutilation, early, enforced marriage, honour killings, rape, trafficking, prostitution and sexual violence in war.
Intimate terrorism, or coercive controlling violence (CCV), occurs when one partner in a relationship, typically a man, uses coercive control and power over the other partner, using threats, intimidation, and isolation. CCV relies on severe psychological abuse for controlling purposes; when physical abuse occurs it too is severe. In such cases, "[o]ne partner, usually a man, controls virtually every aspect of the victim's, usually a woman's, life." Johnson reported in 2001 that 97% of the perpetrators of intimate terrorism were men.
Intimate partner violence may involve sexual, sadistic control, economic, physical, emotional and psychological abuse. Intimate terrorism is more likely to escalate over time, not as likely to be mutual, and more likely to involve serious injury. The victims of one type of abuse are often the victims of other types of abuse. Severity tends to increase with multiple incidents, especially if the abuse comes in many forms. If the abuse is more severe, it is more likely to have chronic effects on victims because the long-term effects of abuse tend to be cumulative. Because this type of violence is most likely to be extreme, survivors of intimate terrorism are most likely to require medical services and the safety of shelters. Consequences of physical or sexual intimate terrorism include chronic pain, gastrointestinal and gynecological problems, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and death. Other mental health consequences are anxiety, substance abuse, and low-self esteem.
Abusers are more likely to have witnessed abuse as children than those who engage in situational couple violence.
Intimate terrorism batterers include two types: "Generally-violent-antisocial" and "dysphoric-borderline". The first type includes people with general psychopathic and violent tendencies. The second type includes people who are emotionally dependent on the relationship. Violence by an individual against their intimate partner is often done as a way for controlling the partner, even if this kind of violence is not the most frequent.
Violent resistance (VR), a form of self-defense, is violence perpetrated by victims against their partners who have exerted intimate terrorism against them. Within relationships of intimate terrorism and violent resistance, 96% of the violent resisters are women. VR can occur as an instinctive reaction in response to an initial attack or a defense mechanism after prolonged instances of violence. This form of resistance can sometimes become fatal if the victim feels as though their only way out is to kill their partner.
Situational couple violence, also called common couple violence, is not connected to general control behavior, but arises in a single argument where one or both partners physically lash out at the other. This is the most common form of intimate partner violence, particularly in the western world and among young couples, and involves members of both sexes nearly equally. Among college students, Johnson found it to be perpetrated about 44% of the time by women and 56% of the time by men.
Johnson states that situational couple violence involves a relationship dynamic "in which conflict occasionally gets 'out of hand,' leading usually to 'minor' forms of violence, and rarely escalating into serious or life-threatening forms of violence."
In situational couple violence, acts of violence by men and women occur at fairly equal rates, with rare occurrences of injury, and are not committed in an attempt to control a partner. It is estimated that approximately 50% of couples experience situational couple violence in their relationships.
Situational couple violence involves:
Mutual violent control (MVC) is rare type of intimate partner violence occurring when both partners act in a violent manner, battling for control.
The CDC divides domestic violence into two types: reciprocal, in which both partners are violent, and non-reciprocal violence, in which one partner is violent. Of the four types, situational couple violence and mutual violent control are reciprocal, while intimate terrorism is non-reciprocal. Violent resistance on its own is non-reciprocal, but is reciprocal when in response to intimate terrorism.
In the 1970s and 1980s, studies using large, nationally representative samples resulted in findings indicating that women were as violent as men in intimate relationships. This information diverged significantly from shelter, hospital, and police data, initiating a long-standing debate, termed "the gender symmetry debate". One side of this debate argues that mainly men perpetrate IPV (the gender asymmetry perspective), whereas the other side maintains that both genders perpetrate IPV at about equal rates (gender symmetry perspective). However, research on gender symmetry acknowledges asymmetrical aspects of IPV, which show that men use more violent and often deadly means of IPV. Older conflict tactics scale (CTS) methodology was criticized for excluding two important facets in gender violence: conflict-motivated aggression and control-motivated aggression. For example, women commonly engage in IPV as a form of self-defense or retaliation. Research has shown that the nature of the abuse inflicted by women upon male partners is different from the abuse inflicted by men, in that it is generally not used as a form of control and does not cause the same levels of injury or fear of the abusive partner. Scholars state these cases should not be generalized and each couple's specificities must be assessed. A 2016 meta-analysis indicated that the only risk factors for the perpetration of intimate partner violence that differ by gender are witnessing intimate partner violence as a child, alcohol use, male demand, and female withdrawal communication patterns.
While both women and men can be victims and perpetrators of IPV, the majority of such violence is inflicted upon women, who are also much more likely to suffer injuries as a result, in both heterosexual and same-sex relationships. Although men and women commit equivalent rates of unreported minor violence via situational altercation, more severe perpetration and domestic battery tends to be committed by men. This is based on newer CTS methodology as opposed to older versions that did not take into account the contexts in which violence takes place. A 2008 systematic review published in journal of "Violence and Victims" found that despite less serious altercation or violence being equal among both genders, more serious and violent abuse was perpetrated by men. It was also found that women's use of physical violence was more likely motivated by self-defense or fear whereas men's use of violence was motivated by control. A 2010 systematic review published in the journal of "Trauma Violence Abuse" found that the common motives for female on male IPV were anger, a need for attention, or as a response to their partner's violence. A 2011 review published in the journal of "Aggression and Violent behavior" found differences in the methods of abuse employed by men and women, suggesting that men were more likely to "beat up, choke or strangle" their partners, whereas women were more likely to "throw something at their partner, slap, kick, bite, punch, or hit with an object".
Researchers such as Michael S Kimmel have criticized CTS methodology in assessing relations between gender and domestic violence. Kimmel argued that the CTS excluded two important facets in gender violence: conflict-motivated aggression and control motivated aggression. The first facet is a form of family conflict (such as an argument) while the latter is using violence as a tool for control. Kimmel also argued that the CTS failed to assess for the severity of the injury, sexual assaults and abuse from ex-partners or spouses.
Women generally suffer more severe and long-lasting forms of partner abuse than men, and men generally have more opportunities to leave an abusive partner than women do. Researchers have found different outcomes in men and women in response to such abuse. A 2012 review from the journal "Psychology of Violence" found that women suffered from over-proportionate numbers of injuries, fear, and posttraumatic stress as a result of partner violence. The review also found that 70% of female victims felt frightened as a result of violence perpetrated by their partners whereas 85% of male victims expressed "no fear" in response to such violence. Lastly, IPV correlated with relationship satisfaction for women but it did not do so for men.
According to government statistics from the US Department of Justice, male perpetrators constituted 96% of federal prosecution on domestic violence. Another report by the US department of Justice on non-fatal domestic violence from 2003–2012 found that 76% of domestic violence was committed against women and 24% was committed against men. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the percentage of victims killed by their spouses or ex-spouses was 77.4% for women and 22.6% for men in selected countries across Europe.
Globally, men's perpetration of intimate partner violence against women often stems from conceptions of masculinity and patriarchy. Studies done in the United States, Nigeria, and Guatemala all support the idea of men reacting violently towards their partners when their masculinity is threatened by changing gender roles.
The theory that women perpetrate intimate partner violence (IPV) at roughly the same rate as men has been termed "gender symmetry." The earliest empirical evidence of gender symmetry was presented in the 1975 U.S. National Family Violence Survey carried out by Murray A. Straus and Richard J. Gelles on a nationally representative sample of 2,146 "intact families." The survey found 11.6% of men and 12% of women had experienced some kind of IPV in the last twelve months, while 4.6% of men and 3.8% of women had experienced "severe" IPV.
These unexpected results led Suzanne K. Steinmetz to coin the controversial term "battered husband syndrome" in 1977. Ever since the publication of Straus and Gelles' findings, other researchers into domestic violence have disputed whether gender symmetry really exists. Sociologist Michael Flood writes, "there is no 'gender symmetry' in domestic violence; there are important differences between men's and women's typical patterns of victimization; and domestic violence represents only a small proportion of the violence to which men are subject".
Other empirical studies since 1975 suggest gender symmetry in IPV. Empirical studies suggest rates of perpetration remain symmetrical for both minor and severe abuse. This result may be due to a bi-directional or reciprocal pattern of abuse, with one study concluding that 70% of assaults involve mutual acts of violence. A 2011 review by Straus found that men and women commit IPV against each other at the same rate. One reason that data may appear to reflect that men and women equally commit intimate partner violence is that women frequently engage in violent resistance as a means of self-defense against their violent male partners. A 2010 systematic review of the literature on women's perpetration of IPV, however, found that distinguishing between self-defense and retaliation was difficult.
A 2013 review of evidence from five continents found that when partner abuse is defined broadly (emotional abuse, any kind of hitting, who hits first), it is relatively even. However, when the review examined who is physically harmed and how seriously, expresses more fear, and experiences subsequent psychological problems, domestic violence primarily affects women. A sample from Botswana demonstrated higher levels of mental health consequences among females experiencing IPV, contrasting the results with males and females who experience IPV in Pakistan for which similar levels of mental health consequences were found.
Sexual violence by intimate partners varies by country and can reach as high as 25% of the women having been subject to forced sex. In some countries forced sex, or marital rape, often occurs with other forms of domestic violence, particularly physical abuse.
Due to the high prevalence and devastating consequences of IPV, approaches to decrease and prevent violence from re-occurring is of upmost importance. Initial police response and arrest is not always enough to protect victims from recurrence of abuse; thus, many states have mandated participation in batterer intervention programs (BIPs) for men who have been charged with assault against an intimate partner. Most of these BIPs are based on the Duluth Model and incorporate some cognitive behavioral techniques.
The Duluth model is one of the most common current interventions for IPV. It represents a psycho-educational approach that was developed by paraprofessionals from information gathered from interviewing battered women in shelters and using principles from feminist and sociological frameworks. One of the main components used in the Duluth Model is the 'power and control wheel,' which conceptualizes IPV as one form of abuse to maintain male privilege. Using the 'power and control wheel,' the goal of treatment is to achieve behaviors that fall on the 'equality wheel' by re-educate men and by replacing maladaptive attitudes held by men.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) techniques focus on modifying faulty or problematic cognitions, beliefs, and emotions to prevent future violent behavior and include skills training such as anger management, assertiveness, and relaxation techniques.
Overall, the addition of Duluth and CBT approaches results in a 5% reduction in IPV. This low reduction rate might be explained, at least in part, by the high prevalence of bidirectional violence as well as client-treatment matching versus “one-size-fits-all” approaches.
Achieving change through values-based behavior (ACTV) is a newly developed Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)-based program. Developed by domestic violence researcher Amie Zarling and colleagues at Iowa State University, the aim of ACTV is teach abusers "situational awareness"—to recognize and tolerate uncomfortable feelings – so that they can stop themselves from exploding into rage.
Initial evidence of the ACTV program has shown high promise: Using a sample 3,474 men who were arrested for domestic assault and court-mandated to a BIP (either ACTV or Duluth/CBT), Zarling and colleagues showed that compared with Duluth/CBT participants, significantly fewer ACTV participants acquired any new charges, domestic assault charges, or violent charges. ACTV participants also acquired significantly fewer charges on average in the 1 year after treatment than Duluth/CBT participants.
Some estimates show that as many as 50% of couples who experience IPV engage in some form of reciprocal violence. Nevertheless, most services address offenders and survivors separately. In addition, many couples who have experienced IPV decide to stay together. These couples may present to couples or family therapy. In fact, 37-58% of couples who seek regular outpatient treatment have experienced physical assault in the past year. In these cases, clinicians are faced with the decision as to whether they should accept or refuse to treat these couples. Although the use of conjoint treatment for IPV is controversial as it may present a danger to victims and potentially escalate abuse, it may be useful to others, such as couples experiencing situational couple violence. Scholars and practitioners in the field call for tailoring of interventions to various sub-types of violence and individuals served.
Behavioral couple's therapy (BCT) is cognitive-behavioral approach, typically delivered to outpatients in 15-20 sessions over several months. Research suggests that BCT can be effective in reducing IPV when used to treat co-occurring addictions, which is important work because IPV and substance abuse and misuse frequently co-occur.
Domestic conflict containment program (DCCP) is a highly structured skills-based program whose goal is to teach couples conflict containment skills.
Physical aggression couples treatment (PACT) is a modification of DCCP, which includes additional psychoeducational components designed to improve relationship quality, including such things as communication skills, fair fighting tactics, and dealing with gender differences, sex, and jealousy.
The primary goal of domestic violence focused couples treatment (DVFCT) is to end violence with the additional goal of helping couples improve the quality of their relationships. It is designed to be conducted over 18 weeks and can be delivered in either individual or multi-couple group format.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10042834 | Famine events
Famine events are localized events of voluntary fasting for 30 or 40 hours depending on the region to raise money and awareness for world hunger. These events are usually coordinated by one of various World Vision organizations and are done by youth in church organizations. They have spread internationally, notably the international 30 Hour Famine, also the regional 40 Hour Famine in Australia and New Zealand and the 24 Hour Famine in the United Kingdom. The 30 Hour Famine is the most popular amongst all, spreading across 21 countries.
The 30 Hour Famine is a World Vision event in 21 countries. It started in 1971 when 17-year-old Ruth Roberts and 14 friends in Calgary, Alberta staged an event in a church basement to see what it was like to be hungry and raise money and awareness for children suffering during a famine. The funds raised went to World Vision.
David L. Wylie, a nondenominational youth leader, jump-started the movement in the United States about seventeen years ago as a youth director of Millen Baptist Church in South Georgia. He was looking for a way to stimulate the interest of his 25-member youth group in world hunger issues when he heard the idea of a voluntary hunger strike from World Vision. His group raised $3,000 that year, $5,000 the next and was featured on CNN Headline News and Wylie was nominated by Congressman Lindsey Thomas for a Presidential Point of Light Award.
Wylie was also recognized by the Georgia House of Representatives, the Georgia Senate, and numerous Georgia governors for his efforts to get youth involved in hunger causes by using the 30-Hour Famine program.
Thousands of teenagers across the U.S., Canada, and several other countries (including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, UK, Singapore and Australia and New Zealand) participate to raise money and then fast for 30 hours. However, individuals can raise money and fast by themselves.
During the event, for 30 hours, participants must abstain from eating food, and instead they typically drink water, fruit juices, or other liquids Games, fund raisers, and other events may also take place to help teach and educate the participants and others about world hunger all over the world. It is also a time for education and awareness of world hunger, and an understanding of how people go without food for long periods of time. This, however, does not exclude those unable to fast.
The 40 Hour Famine is an annual charitable event held by World Vision Australia. The event aims for young Australians to feel empathy for the lack of food which children in third world countries struggle with, and to raise money to help children in these countries. It was started in 1975 in response to the famine in Ethiopia.
Participants must first raise money through sponsorship from other people. Participants must then abstain from a particular group of items or do/not do something for 40 hours. Some of the famines include not eating food, not using first world technology such as television, refraining from talking, and not using furniture. Some participants create their own famines, such as living in a cardboard box or being blindfolded. The event officially runs from 8pm on Friday to noon on Sunday, usually over a weekend in August. Participants may choose another time to fast if the official famine dates do not suit them.
Children who attend primary school (usually between the ages of 4 - 12) are encouraged to participate in the 8 hour famine for safety reasons, instead of the usual 40 hour famine.
The 40 Hour Famine, New Zealand's largest youth fundraiser, is an annual World Vision New Zealand campaign aimed at providing New Zealanders with a unique experience, as a catalyst for fundraising.
The 40 Hour Famine was launched in 1975 by World Vision. This first 40 Hour Famine, on 15–17 August 1975, had 10,000 participants and raised NZ$265,000.
Since then, the 40 Hour Famine has continued to grow, raising over $2.5 million through 118,000 participants. The 40 Hour Famine, in many New Zealand schools and communities, has become an annual tradition.
24 Hour Famine is also an annual charity event held by World Vision UK which started in 1986. The aim is to raise awareness and money for people stricken by famine around the world. Participants can choose to go without food for the duration, or other activities such as computer games or talking. In 2008, the official Cause was the 'nowhere children' in Chennai. Age restrictions apply: 0–13 years are only allowed to fast for 20 hours whilst 14+ years can fast for up to 40 hours.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10058679 | John A. Leslie
John Andrew Leslie (born 2 August 1940) is a Canadian philosopher. He was educated at Wadham College, Oxford, earning his B.A. in English Literature in 1962 and his M.Litt. in Classics in 1968. He is currently Professor emeritus at the University of Guelph, in Ontario, Canada.
In his book "Universes", Leslie describes a philosophical parable in which an individual survives a firing squad of fifty expert marksmen unscathed. He offers two explanations for this remarkable event: either it is a fortuitous outcome, to be expected occasionally by pure chance among many thousands of attempted executions by firing squad; or it is intentional. Francis Collins references this parable in his book "The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief" as part of his argument that the Anthropic Principle strongly suggests a Creator with intent.
Leslie has spoken as follows about his life's work: What I have to contribute is some technical defense of the idea that if you had an infinitely rich [universe], it could be explained by reference to its value. Its goodness could be the creative force which had produced it. I think if I would like to be remembered as a philosopher for any one thing, that would be the thing I'd most like to be remembered for.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10125582 | Nuclear peace
Nuclear peace is a theory of international relations that argues that under some circumstances nuclear weapons can induce stability and decrease the chances of crisis escalation. In particular, nuclear weapons are said to have induced stability during the Cold War, when both the US and the USSR possessed mutual second strike retaliation capability, eliminating the possibility of nuclear victory for either side. Proponents of nuclear peace argue that controlled nuclear proliferation may be beneficial for inducing stability. Critics of nuclear peace argue that nuclear proliferation not only increases the chance of interstate nuclear conflict, but increases the chances of nuclear material falling into the hands of violent non-state groups who are free from the threat of nuclear retaliation.
The major debate on this issue has been between Kenneth Waltz, the founder of neorealist theory in international relations, and Scott Sagan, a leading proponent of organizational theories in international politics. Waltz generally argues that "more may be better," contending that new nuclear states will use their acquired nuclear capabilities to deter threats and preserve peace. Sagan argues that "more will be worse", since new nuclear states often lack adequate organizational controls over their new weapons, which makes for a high risk of either deliberate or accidental nuclear war, or theft of nuclear material by terrorists to perpetrate nuclear terrorism.
A nuclear peace results when the costs of war are unacceptably high for both sides. In a two-sided conflict where both sides have mutual second strike capability, defense becomes impossible so it is the very prospect of fighting the war, rather than the possibility of losing it, that induces restraint.
In a condition of mutually assured destruction, there are civilian "hostages" on both sides, which facilitates cooperation by acting as an informal mechanism of contract enforcement between states. There are economic equivalents of such informal mechanisms used to effect credible commitment; for example, corporations use "hostages" (in the form of initial setup costs that act as collateral) to deter subsidiaries and franchisees from cheating.
Nuclear weapons may also lessen a state's reliance on allies for security, thus preventing allies from dragging each other into wars (a phenomenon known as chain ganging, frequently said to be a major cause of World War I).
Since the death of civilians is an essential part of mutually assured destruction, one normative consequence of nuclear weapons is that war loses its historical function as a symbol of glory and measure of national strength.
As a method of preventing a destabilizing arms race, the concept of minimal deterrence represents one way of solving the security dilemma and avoiding an arms race.
A study published in the "Journal of Conflict Resolution" in 2009 quantitatively evaluated the nuclear peace hypothesis and found support for the existence of the stability-instability paradox. The study determined that while nuclear weapons promote strategic stability and prevent largescale wars, they simultaneously allow for more lower intensity conflicts. When a nuclear monopoly exists between two states, and one state has nuclear weapons and its opponent does not, there is a greater chance of war. In contrast, when there is mutual nuclear weapon ownership with both states possessing nuclear weapons, the odds of war drop precipitously.
Critics argue that war can occur even under conditions of mutually assured destruction:
Actors are not always rational, as bureaucratic procedure and internal intrigue may cause subrational outcomes. Related to and reinforcing that point is that there is always an element of uncertainty. One cannot always control emotions, subordinates, and equipment, especially when one has limited information and is faced with high stakes and fast timetables. There are unintended consequences, unwanted escalation, irrationality, misperception, and the security dilemma.
Another reason is that deterrence has an inherent instability. As Kenneth Boulding said: "If deterrence were really stable… it would cease to deter." If decisionmakers were perfectly rational, they would never order the largescale use of nuclear weapons, and the credibility of the nuclear threat would be low.
However, that apparent perfect rationality criticism is countered and so not inconsistent with current deterrence policy. In "Essentials of Post-Cold War Deterrence", the authors detail an explicit advocation of ambiguity regarding "what is permitted" for other nations and its endorsement of "irrationality" or, more precisely, the perception thereof as an important tool in deterrence and foreign policy. The document claims that the capacity of the United States, in exercising deterrence, would be hurt by portraying US leaders as fully rational and cool-headed:
Some commentators critical of the concept of nuclear peace further make the argument that nonstate actors and rogue states could supply nuclear weapons to terrorist organizations and thereby undermine conventional deterrence and therefore nuclear peace, especially with the existence of international terrorist networks seeking access to nuclear sources.
However Robert Gallucci, president of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, argues that although traditional deterrence is not an effective approach toward terrorist groups bent on causing a nuclear catastrophe, "the United States should instead consider a policy of expanded deterrence, which focuses not solely on the would-be nuclear terrorists but on those states that may deliberately transfer or inadvertently lead nuclear weapons and materials to them. By threatening retaliation against those states, the United States may be able to deter that which it cannot physically prevent."
Graham Allison makes a similar case and argues that the key to expanded deterrence is coming up with ways of tracing nuclear material to the country that forged the fissile material: "After a nuclear bomb detonates, nuclear forensic cops would collect debris samples and send them to a laboratory for radiological analysis. By identifying unique attributes of the fissile material, including its impurities and contaminants, one could trace the path back to its origin." The process is analogous to identifying a criminal by fingerprints: "The goal would be twofold: first, to deter leaders of nuclear states from selling weapons to terrorists by holding them accountable for any use of their own weapons; second, to give leaders every incentive to tightly secure their nuclear weapons and materials."
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10152161 | R. Edward Freeman
R. Edward Freeman (born December 18, 1951) is an American philosopher and professor of business administration at the Darden School of the University of Virginia, particularly known for his work on stakeholder theory (1984) and on business ethics.
Born in Columbus, Georgia, Freeman received a B.A. in mathematics and philosophy from Duke University in 1973 and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Washington University in 1978.
He taught at the University of Minnesota and the Wharton School, and is now Elis and Signe Olsson Professor of Business Administration at the Darden School of the University of Virginia. He is also academic director of the Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics, and director of the Darden's Olsson Center for Applied Ethics. In 1994 Freeman served as president of the Society for Business Ethics. He is one of the executive editors of the journal Philosophy of Management and he serves as the editor for the Ruffin Series in Business Ethics from Oxford University Press.
In 2001 Freeman was awarded the Pioneer Award for Lifetime Achievement by the World Resources Institute and by the Aspen Institute, and in 2005 the Virginia State Council on Higher Education honored him with the Outstanding Faculty Award.
Freeman is particularly known for his work on stakeholder theory originally published in his 1984 book "Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach". He has (co)authored other books on corporate strategy and business ethics. Also recently he co-edited standard business textbooks such as "The Portable MBA" and the "Blackwell's Handbook of Strategic Management." His latest book, "Managing for Stakeholders", was published 2007.
Stakeholder theory is a theory of organizational management and business ethics that addresses morals and values in managing an organization. It was originally detailed by Freeman in the book "Strategic Management: a Stakeholder Approach", and identifies and models the groups which are stakeholders of a corporation, and both describes and recommends methods by which management can give due regard to the interests of those groups. In short, it attempts to address the "Principle of Who or What Really Counts."
In the traditional view of the firm, the shareholder view, the shareholders or stockholders are the owners of the company, and the firm has a binding fiduciary duty to put their needs first, to increase value for them. However, stakeholder theory argues that there are other parties involved, including governmental bodies, political groups, trade associations, trade unions, communities, financiers, suppliers, employees, and customers. Sometimes even competitors are counted as stakeholders - their status being derived from their capacity to affect the firm and its other morally legitimate stakeholders. The nature of what is a stakeholder is highly contested (Miles, 2012), with several definitions existing in the academic literature (Miles, 2011).
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. CSR policy functions as a built-in, self-regulating mechanism whereby a business monitors and ensures its active compliance within the spirit of the law, ethical standards, and international norms. CSR is a process with the aim to embrace responsibility for the company's actions and encourage a positive impact through its activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public sphere who may also be considered as stakeholders.
The term "corporate social responsibility" came into common use in the late 1960s and early 1970s after many multinational corporations formed the term stakeholder, meaning those on whom an organization's activities have an impact. It was used to describe corporate owners beyond shareholders as a result of an influential book by Freeman, "Strategic management: a stakeholder approach" in 1984. Proponents argue that corporations make more long term profits by operating with a perspective, while critics argue that CSR distracts from the economic role of businesses. Others argue CSR is merely window-dressing, or an attempt to pre-empt the role of governments as a watchdog over powerful multinational corporations. Anticipation of such concepts appear in a publication that appeared in 1968 by Italian economist Giancarlo Pallavicini, creator of the "Method of the decomposition of the parameters" for the calculation of the results does not directly cost of business, regarding ethical issues, moral, social, cultural and environmental.
Books:
Articles, a selection:
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10155907 | Rebecca Alpert
Rabbi Rebecca Trachtenberg Alpert (born April 12, 1950) is an American professor of Jewish American religious history, and was one of the first congregational women rabbis. Her chief speciality is sexuality in Judaism, and she says that her beliefs were transformed by a Sabbath prayer book ("Siddur Nashim") that refers to God as 'She'.
Rebecca Alpert was born in Brooklyn, New York to Sylvia and Irving Trachtenberg. She attended Erasmus Hall High School and Barnard College before getting her Ph.D. in religion at Temple University and her rabbinical training at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) in Wyncote, Pennsylvania, outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her specialization is in American and especially Jewish American religious history, and she focuses on issues related to gender, sexuality and race. Her thinking about many of these issues was shaped by her teachers, who included Elaine Pagels and Mordecai Kaplan, the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism.
After completing her Ph.D. and receiving her rabbinic ordination, Alpert worked on a contractual basis with a number of synagogues in the U.S. and Canada. In this capacity she was among a handful of the first generation of congregational women rabbis. She came out as a lesbian in 1986. She divorced her husband Joel Alpert (with whom she has two children: Lynn and Avi) and became partners with Christie Balka. During this time she also taught courses in Holocaust Studies at Rutgers University, and she was the Dean of Students at the RRC until 1987. Thereafter she served in several capacities at Temple University: as Director of Adult Programs, Director of the Program in Women's Studies, and finally a faculty member in the departments of religion and women's studies.
Alpert's research has focused on explaining and expounding the Reconstructionist tradition, the place of gays and lesbians in Jewish religious history, and the relationships between Jews, blacks, and sports during the years 1930-1950. Her book on that topic, "Out of Left Field: Jews and Black Baseball", was published by Oxford University Press. She has also edited several volumes and published articles on a wide range of topics including sexuality in Judaism, the definition of who is Jewish and who is not, gay liberation theology, Alvin Dark, and Jackie Robinson. Her book "Like Bread on the Seder Plate: Jewish Lesbians and the Transformation of Tradition" from Columbia University Press received the 1998 Lambda Literary Award for best LGBT book on religion. She also wrote "Finding Our Past: A Lesbian Interpretation of the Book of Ruth," which was included in "Reading Ruth: Contemporary Women Reclaim a Sacred Story", edited by J. A. Kates and G.T. Reimer (1994).
She has lectured at a number of colleges and universities, including Columbia, UPenn, Princeton and Swarthmore and is an active public intellectual who writes for mainstream publications and frequently speaks at rallies and on panels in the Philadelphia region and beyond. Alpert is a recipient of a Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award. She has recently taught courses on religion in American public life, Jews, America and sports, and sexuality in world religions.
Alpert is currently a Professor in the Departments of Religion and Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies at Temple University, and Senior Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. She has mentored several graduate students, including Marie Dallam, author of "Cowboy Christians" and Brett Krutzsch, author of "Dying to Be Normal: Gay Martyrs and the Transformation of American Sexual Politics", both from Oxford University Press. According to her faculty website: "In the past several years her research has focused on religion and sports". Out of Left Field: Jews and Black Baseball", was published by Oxford University Press in June 2011. "Religion and Sports: An Introduction and Case Studies" was published by Columbia University Press in May 2015." An anthology, co-edited with Arthur Remillard, "Gods, Games, and Globalization: New Perspectives on Religion and Sport "was published by Mercer University Press in 2019.
Alongside Katherine Franke, a Columbia Law School professor, Alpert publicly canceled her scheduled appearance at the Equality Forum's 2012 Global LGBT Summit in Philadelphia to protest Israel's policies toward the Palestinians, accusing the organizers of the forum of becoming "cheerleaders for Israel."
She commented ("Reform Judaism", Winter 1991):
She is a lesbian.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10204330 | Disaster risk reduction
Disaster risk reduction (DRR) is a systematic approach to identifying, assessing and reducing the risks of disaster. It aims to reduce socio-economic vulnerabilities to disaster as well as dealing with the environmental and other hazards that trigger them. Here it has been strongly influenced by the mass of research on vulnerability that has appeared in print since the mid-1970s. It is the responsibility of development and relief agencies alike. It should be an integral part of the way such organizations do their work, not an add-on or one-off action. DRR is very wide-ranging: Its scope is much broader and deeper than conventional emergency management. There is potential for DRR initiatives in just about every sector of development and humanitarian work.
The most commonly cited definition of DRR is one used by UN agencies such as UNISDR, also known as the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, and UNDP: "The conceptual framework of elements considered with the possibilities to minimize vulnerabilities and disaster risks throughout a society, to avoid (prevention) or to limit (mitigation and preparedness) the adverse impacts of hazards, within the broad context of sustainable development."
The evolution of disaster thinking and practice since the 1970s has seen a progressively wider and deeper understanding of why disasters happen, accompanied by more integrated, holistic approaches to reduce their impact on society through reducing risk before it occurs (disaster risk reduction, or disaster risk management) as well as managing impacts when disasters occur (disaster management). It is being widely embraced by international agencies, governments, disaster planners and civil society organisations.
DRR is such an all-embracing concept that it has proved difficult to define or explain in detail, although the broad idea is clear enough. Inevitably, there are different definitions in the technical literature, but it is generally understood to mean the broad development and application of policies, strategies and practices to minimise vulnerabilities and disaster risks throughout society. The term 'disaster risk management' (DRM) is often used in the same context and to mean much the same thing: a systematic approach to identifying, assessing and reducing risks of all kinds associated with hazards and human activities. It is more properly applied to the operational aspects of DRR: the practical implementation of DRR initiatives.
Climate change, through rising temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, and changing sea levels, will affect the nature of hydrometeorological disasters, such as droughts, floods, and cyclones. The IPCC issued a special report in 2012 "Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation" stating that a changing climate leads to changes in the frequency, intensity, spatial extent, duration, and timing of extreme weather and climate events, and can result in unprecedented extreme weather and climate events. Similarly there has been an increase in the economic losses from weather- and climate-related disasters, which contributed to $165 billion of economic losses worldwide in 2018 according to estimates from insurance giant Swiss Re. There are growing efforts to closely link DRR and climate change adaptation, both in policy and practice.
Disaster risk is not gender-neutral. Studies have shown that women and girls are disproportionately impacted by disasters. Following the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, 77% and 72% of the deaths in the districts of North Aceh and Aceh Besar, Indonesia, were female. And in India 62% of people who died were female. This is due to socially-constructed gender roles that determine what norms and behaviors are acceptable for women and men, and girls and boys. In particular, women tend to take responsibility for home-based tasks and can be reluctant to leave their assets in the case of hazard warning; and often do not learn survival skills that can help in disasters, such as learning to swim or climb.
A gender-sensitive approach would identify how disasters affect men, women, boys and girls differently and shape policy that addresses people's specific vulnerabilities, concerns and needs.
There have been growing calls for greater clarity about the components of DRR and about indicators of progress toward resilience — a challenge that the international community took up at the UN's World Conference on Disaster Reduction (WCDR) in Kobe, Japan, in 2005, only days after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. The WCDR began the process of pushing international agencies and national governments beyond the vague rhetoric of most policy statements and toward setting clear targets and commitments for DRR.
The first step in this process was the formal approval at the WCDR of the Hyogo Framework for Action (2005–2015) (HFA). This was the first internationally accepted framework for DRR. It set out an ordered sequence of objectives (outcome – strategic goals – priorities), with five priorities for action attempting to 'capture' the main areas of DRR intervention. The UN's biennial Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction provided an opportunity for the UN and its member states to review progress against the Hyogo Framework. It held its first session 5–7 June 2007 in Geneva, Switzerland, where UNISDR is based. The subsequent Global Platforms were held in June 2009, May 2011 and May 2013, all in Geneva.
In March 2015, the 10-year-old Hyogo Framework came to an end and was replaced by the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015–2030, adopted at the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction held on March 14–18, 2015 in the Japanese city of Sendai. It sets out four priorities:
1) understanding disaster risk;
2) strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk;
3) investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience; and
4) enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response, and to "Build Back Better" in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction.
To support the assessment of global progress in achieving the outcome and goal of the Sendai Framework, seven global targets have been agreed: substantially reduce global disaster mortality by 2030, aiming to lower average per 100,000 global mortality between 2020–2030 compared to 2005–2015; substantially reduce the number of affected people globally by 2030,
aiming to lower the average global figure per 100,000 between 2020–2030 compared to 2005–2015; reduce direct disaster economic loss in relation to global gross domestic product by 2030; substantially reduce disaster damage to critical infrastructure and disruption of basic services, among them health and educational facilities, including through developing their resilience by 2030; substantially increase the number of countries with national and local disaster risk reduction strategies by 2020; substantially enhance international cooperation to developing countries through adequate and sustainable
support to complement their national actions for implementation of the framework by 2030; substantially increase the availability of and access to multi-hazard early warning systems and disaster risk information and assessments to the people by 2030.
The Sendai document emerged from three years' of talks, during which UN member states, NGOs and other stakeholders made calls for an improved version of the existing HFA, with a set of common standards, a comprehensive framework with achievable targets, and a legally-based instrument for disaster risk reduction. Member states also emphasised the need to tackle disaster risk reduction and climate change adaption when setting the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly in light of an insufficient focus on risk reduction and resilience in the original Millennium Development Goals.
UN initiatives have helped to refine and promote the concept at international level, stimulated initially by the UN's designation of the 1990s as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction. In 1999, UN member states approved the International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction, which reflected a shift from the traditional emphasis on disaster response to disaster reduction, by seeking to promote a "culture of prevention".
Several African Regional Economic Communities have drafted gender-responsive DRR strategies. This includes the Southern African Development Community's Gender-Responsive Disaster Risk Reduction Strategic Plan and Plan of Action 2020-30; the Economic Commission of Central Africa States' Gender-Responsive Disaster Risk Reduction Strategy and Action Plan 2020-30; the Economic Commission of West African States' Disaster Risk Reduction Gender Strategy and Action Plan 2020-2030 and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development's Regional Strategy and Action Plan for Mainstreaming Gender in Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation.
Disaster research deals with conducting field and survey research on group, organizational and community preparation for, response to, and recovery from natural and technological disasters and other community-wide crises.
Related field such as anthropology study human populations, environments, and events that create utter chaos. They research long-lasting effects on multiple areas of society including: social organization, political organization and empowerment, economic consequences, environmental degradation, human and environmental adaptation and interactions, oral history, traditional knowledge, psychological consequences, public health and the broader historical record of the affected region.
Public health preparedness requires cultural awareness, respect and preparation; different parties acting during a relief period are driven by cultural and religious beliefs, including taboos. If these are not acknowledged or known by emergency and medical personnel, treatment can become compromised by both a patient refusing to be treated and by personnel refusing to treat victims because of a violation of values.
The Disaster Research Center (DRC), was the first social science research center in the world devoted to the study of disasters. It was established at Ohio State University in 1963 and moved to the University of Delaware in 1985.
The Center conducts field and survey research on group, organizational and community preparation for, response to, and recovery from natural and technological disasters and other community-wide crises. DRC researchers have carried out systematic studies on a broad range of disaster types, including hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hazardous chemical incidents, and plane crashes. DRC has also done research on civil disturbances and riots, including the 1992 Los Angeles unrest. Staff have conducted nearly 600 field studies since the Center's inception, traveling to communities throughout the United States and to a number of foreign countries, including Mexico, Canada, Japan, Italy, and Turkey. Faculty members from the University's Sociology and Criminal Justice Department and Engineering Department direct DRC's projects. The staff also includes postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, undergraduates and research support personnel.
DRC not only maintains its own databases but also serves as a repository for materials collected by other agencies and researchers, and it contains over 50,000 items, making it the most complete collection on the social and behavioral aspects of disasters in the world.
Studies in the field of Disaster Research are supported by many diverse sources, such as:
Additionally, there are numerous academic and national policy boards in the realm of disaster research:
According to Mluver 1996 it is unrealistic to expect progress in every aspect of DRR : capacities and resources are insufficient. Governments and other organisations have to make what are in effect 'investment decisions', choosing which aspects of DRR to invest in, when, and in what sequence. This is made more complicated by the fact that many of the interventions advocated are developmental rather than directly related to disaster management. Most existing DRR guidance sidesteps this issue. One way of focusing is to consider only actions that are intended specifically to reduce disaster risk. This would at least distinguish from more general efforts toward sustainable development. The concept of 'invulnerable development' attempts this: In this formulation, invulnerable development is development directed toward reducing vulnerability to disaster, comprising 'decisions and activities that are intentionally designed and implemented to reduce risk and susceptibility, and also raise resistance and resilience to disaster'.
No single group or organisation can address every aspect of DRR. DRR thinking sees disasters as complex problems demanding a collective response. Co-ordination even in conventional emergency management is difficult, for many, organisations may converge on a disaster area to assist. Across the broader spectrum of DRR, the relationships between types of organisation and between sectors (public, private and non-profit, as well as communities) become much more extensive and complex. DRR requires strong vertical and horizontal linkages (central-local relations become important). In terms of involving civil society organisations, it should mean thinking broadly about which types of organisation to involve (i.e., conventional NGOs and such organisations as trades unions, religious institutions, amateur radio operators (as in the US and India), universities and research institutions).
Traditional emergency management/civil defense thinking makes two misleading assumptions about communities. First, it sees other forms of social organisation (voluntary and community-based organisations, informal social groupings and families) as irrelevant to emergency action. Spontaneous actions by affected communities or groups (e.g., search and rescue) are viewed as irrelevant or disruptive, because they are not controlled by the authorities. The second assumption is that disasters produce passive 'victims' who are overwhelmed by crisis or dysfunctional behavior (panic, looting, self-seeking activities). They therefore need to be told what to do, and their behavior must be controlled — in extreme cases, through the imposition of martial law. There is plenty of sociological research to refute such 'myths'.
An alternative viewpoint, informed by a considerable volume of research, emphasises the importance of communities and local organisations in disaster risk management. The rationale for community-based disaster risk management that it responds to local problems and needs, capitalises on local knowledge and expertise, is cost-effective, improves the likelihood of sustainability through genuine 'ownership' of projects, strengthens community technical and organisational capacities, and empowers people by enabling them to tackle these and other challenges. Local people and organisations are the main actors in risk reduction and disaster response in any case. Consequently, it has been seen that understanding the social capital already existent in the community can greatly help reducing the risk at the community level.
Widespread flooding affected most of Colombia's 32 regions between 2010 and 2012. Some 3.6 million people were affected. On 24 April 2012, President Juan Manuel Santos enacted a law, which aimed at improving natural disaster response and prevention at both national and local level. The Universidad Del Norte, based in Barranquilla, has investigated how one community reacted to the destruction caused by the floods, in an effort to try to make Colombian communities more resilient to similar events occurring in the future. With funding from the Climate & Development Knowledge Network, the project team spent 18 months working with women from the municipality of Manatí, in the Department of Atlántico.
Here, 5,733 women were affected by the floods. They had to reconstruct their entire lives in a Manatí they could no longer recognise. The project team worked with the women to find out how they coped with the effects of the floods, and to articulate the networks of reciprocity and solidarity that developed in the community. Their findings highlighted resilience strategies that the community used to respond to the extreme event. The researchers suggested that similar strategies could be used to inform government actions to reduce or manage risk from disasters. They also concluded that it is important to consider gender when planning for disasters as women and men often play very different roles and because, on average, disasters kill more women than men.
The DRR approach requires redefining the role of government disaster reduction. It is generally agreed that national governments should be main actors in DRR: They have a duty to ensure the safety of citizens, the resources and capacity to implement large-scale DRR, a mandate to direct or co-ordinate the work of others, and they create the necessary policy and legislative frameworks. These policies and programmes have to be coherent. More research is needed into why some governments are more successful than others in disaster management. There is still no general consensus on what drives changes in policy and practice. The shifting relationship between central government and other actors is another area requiring research.
The principle of accountability lies at the heart of genuine partnership and participation in DRR. It applies to state institutions that are expected to be accountable through the democratic process and to private sector and non-profit organizations that are not subject to democratic control. Accountability is an emerging issue in disaster reduction work. Accountability should be primarily toward those who are vulnerable to hazards and affected by them.
Many organisations working in international aid and development are now committing themselves to a 'rights-based' approach. This tends to encompass human rights (i.e., those that are generally accepted through international agreements) and other rights that an agency believes should be accepted as human rights. In such contexts, the language of rights may be used vaguely, with a risk of causing confusion. Security against disasters is not generally regarded as a right although it is addressed in some international codes, usually indirectly. The idea of a 'right to safety' is being discussed in some circles.
Economic costs of disasters are on the rise, but most humanitarian investment is currently spent on responding to disasters, rather than managing their future risks. Only 4% of the estimated $10 billion in annual humanitarian assistance is devoted to prevention (source), and yet every dollar spent on risk reduction saves between $5 and $10 in economic losses from disasters. A case study of Niger showed positive cost and benefit results for preparedness spending across 3 different scenarios (from the absolute level of disaster loss, to the potential reduction in disaster loss and the discount rate), estimating that every $1 spent results in $3.25 to $5.31 of benefit.
With the growth of interest in disasters and disaster management, there are many conferences and workshops held on the topic, from local to global levels. Regular international conferences include:
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10222097 | Carl Elliott (philosopher)
Carl Elliott (born July 25, 1961) is a professor in the Center for Bioethics and the Departments of Pediatrics and Philosophy at The University of Minnesota. A native South Carolinian, Elliott was educated at Davidson College in North Carolina and at Glasgow University in Scotland, where he received his PhD in philosophy. He received his MD from the Medical University of South Carolina. Prior to his appointment at the University of Minnesota in 1997 he was on the faculty of McGill University in Montreal. He has held postdoctoral or visiting appointments at the University of Chicago, East Carolina University, the University of Otago in New Zealand and the University of Natal Medical School (now the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine), the first medical school in South Africa for non-white students. He is a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, where he led a faculty seminar on bioethics in 2003–2004, and an honorary faculty member of the University of Otago Bioethics Centre in New Zealand. He is a fellow of the Hastings Center, an independent bioethics research institution.
Elliott's scholarly interests include the influence of market forces on medicine, the ethics of enhancement technologies, research ethics, the philosophy of psychiatry, and the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein and Walker Percy. His articles have appeared in "The New Yorker", "Mother Jones", "The Atlantic Monthly", "The London Review of Books", "The Believer", "The American Prospect" and ""Dissent" magazine". He is known for often taking darkly comic approaches to serious or offbeat topics. His "New Yorker" article, Guinea Pigging, covered professional research subjects, while an article in the December 2000 "Atlantic Monthly" discussed the phenomenon of apotemnophilia, the desire for amputation of a healthy limb. He has also written several satirical pieces, including an article for the "American Prospect" on Extreme Psychiatry as a reality TV show, and a piece for the "Ruminator Review" on "how to become an academic failure."
Elliott has authored or edited seven books, including "A Philosophical Disease: Bioethics, Culture and Identity" (Routledge, 1999), and "Better than Well: American Medicine Meets the American Dream" (W.W. Norton, 2003.). His most recent book is "White Coat, Black Hat: Adventures on the Dark Side of Medicine" (Beacon Press, 2010). In 2011, Elliott won the Erikson Institute Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media.
Elliott became well known for his advocacy around the death of Dan Markingson, a mentally ill young man under a civil commitment order who committed suicide after being pressured into an industry-funded antipsychotic study at the University of Minnesota. Elliott wrote critically about the way the university handled the case in a Mother Jones magazine article in 2010. Although the University of Minnesota denied any wrongdoing for years, it was forced to suspend recruitment into psychiatric drug studies after a scathing investigation by the Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10228970 | Living High and Letting Die
Living High and Letting Die: Our Illusion of Innocence is a philosophical book by Peter K. Unger, published in 1996.
Inspired by Peter Singer's 1971 essay "Famine, Affluence, and Morality," Unger argues that for people in the developed world to live morally, they are morally obliged to make sacrifices to help mitigate human suffering and premature death in the third world, and further that it is acceptable (and morally right) to lie, cheat, and steal to mitigate suffering.
Unger argues that the intuitive moral judgments most people have of several hypothetical moral scenarios, "The Shallow Pond", "The Vintage Sedan", and "The Envelope", are inconsistent.
Unger presents the hypothetical case of "The Vintage Sedan":
Not truly rich, your one luxury in life is a vintage Mercedes sedan that, with much time, attention, and money, you've restored to mint condition... One day, you stop at the intersection of two small country roads, both lightly traveled. Hearing a voice screaming for help, you get out and see a man who's wounded and covered with a lot of his blood. Assuring you that his wound is confined to one of his legs, the man also informs you that he was a medical student for two full years. And, despite his expulsion for cheating on his second year final exams, which explains his indigent status since, he's knowledgeably tied his shirt near the wound as to stop the flow. So, there's no urgent danger of losing his life, you're informed, but there's great danger of losing his limb. This can be prevented, however, if you drive him to a rural hospital fifty miles away. "How did the wound occur?" you ask. An avid bird-watcher, he admits that he trespassed on a nearby field and, in carelessly leaving, cut himself on rusty barbed wire. Now, if you'd aid this trespasser, you must lay him across your fine back seat. But, then, your fine upholstery will be soaked through with blood, and restoring the car will cost over five thousand dollars. So, you drive away. Picked up the next day by another driver, he survives but loses the wounded leg.
Unger reports that most people respond strongly that abandoning the hitchhiker is abominable behavior, and he contrasts this near-universal harsh judgment with the lenient judgments most people give to "The Envelope":
In your mailbox, there's something from (the U.S. Committee for) UNICEF. After reading it through, you correctly believe that, unless you soon send in a check for $100, then, instead of each living many more years, over thirty more children will die soon.
Unger argues that the factors that distinguish The Envelope from The Vintage Sedan, in which morality compels us to make a sacrifice, are not morally significant, using thought experiments such as variations on the trolley problem to illustrate his point. Unger contends that psychological factors obscure the moral questions, and that our moral intuitions about problems such as these provide an inconsistent window into our true moral values.
Unger conspicuously indicates that the author's royalties from the sales of this book go to UNICEF and to Oxfam America.
Barry Smith and Berit Brogaard (writing under the pseudonym of Nicola Bourbaki) argue in their "Living High and Letting Die", that Unger's argument undermines one central approach to the defense of abortion advanced by Judith Jarvis Thomson in her famous Violinist (thought experiment):
Imagine that your body has become attached, without your permission, to that of a sick violinist. The violinist is a human being. He will die if you detach him. Such detachment seems, nonetheless, to be morally permissible. Thomson argues that an unwantedly pregnant woman is in an analogous situation. Her argument is considered by many to have established the moral permissibility of abortion even under the assumption that the foetus is a human being.
Following the strategy adopted by Unger, Smith and Brogaard point to a number of scenarios in which a woman's right to decide what happens in and to her body seems to be outweighed by the right to life of the violinist.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10321866 | Etienne Vermeersch
Etienne Vermeersch (2 May 1934, Sint-Michiels, Bruges – 18 January 2019, Ghent) was a Belgian moral philosopher, skeptic, opinion maker and debater. He is one of the founding fathers of the abortion and euthanasia law in Belgium. He is also former Vice-Rector of Ghent University.
Vermeersch became an atheist after five years with the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). Later he became a philosophical materialist. In the 1990s there was some commotion in the Belgian media when Vermeersch wrote a rational-scientific article entitled "Why the Christian God cannot exist".
In January 2008, Vermeersch was chosen by hundred prominent Flemings as the most influential intellectual of Flanders.
He died in a hospital in Ghent on 18 January 2019 by euthanasia after a long illness.
Etienne Vermeersch had an MA in classical philology and in philosophy. In 1965 he obtained his PhD on the philosophical implications of information theory and cybernetics at Ghent University, Belgium. He became a professor at Ghent University in 1967 and taught introductory courses in philosophy and in the philosophy of science, as well as courses in 20th-century philosophy and in philosophical anthropology.
He worked on the foundations of the social sciences, on the philosophical aspects of research into informatics, on artificial intelligence, and on general social and ethical problems, mainly with regard to bioethics, environmental philosophy, and cultural philosophy.
He was a vice-rector at Ghent University from 1993 until 1997. He was, among others, a member of the Flemish Board for Scientific Policy, of the governmental board of the Flemish Institute for Biotechnology, of the Environmental Board of Flanders, and of the Federal Board for Scientific Policy. He was also president of the Advisory Committee of Bioethics.
Etienne Vermeersch published about 80 articles, about 10 lemmas in the (Flemish) Encyclopaedia of World Literature, many op-ed articles in newspapers and journals, three syllabi, and six books, among which "An Epistemological Introduction to the Science of Man" (1967), "Current Philosophy" (1970), and the bestseller "The Panda's Eyes: An Environmentally Philosophical Essay" (1988). At his retirement the book "From Antigone to Dolly" (1997) was published, an edited volume containing articles spanning his entire career.
Professor Vermeersch was also a major Belgian skeptic. He was a founding member of SKEPP ('Research Society for Critical Evaluation of Pseudoscience and the Paranormal'). He lectured and publishing on this topic for more than 40 years.
Vermeersch considered the overpopulation of the earth as the most profound problem in the world and related it to the problem of overconsumption. He supported the human birth control of Taiwan since 1967 and later Thailand.
In the beginning of January 2005 he survived a second heart attack. He remained active as a prominent intellectual in Belgium and the Netherlands.
When he died he was widely seen as one of Belgium's most influential philosophers.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10328771 | George E. McCarthy
George E. McCarthy (born February 16, 1946) is a professor of sociology at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio.
George E. McCarthy became National Endowment for the Humanities Distinguished Teaching Professor of Sociology in 2000. He has been a research fellow at the University of Frankfurt am Main, a guest professor at the Institute for Political Science at the University of Munich, and a Senior Fulbright Research Fellow in philosophy and sociology at the University of Kassel. He has received a Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD), Fulbright Research Fellowship, and an NEH Research Fellowship. McCarthy's courses at Kenyon College focus on ethics and social justice, political and social theory, philosophy and sociology of science, German social thought and Greek philosophy/literature, and American political economy. His major area of concentration is nineteenth- and twentieth-century German social theory: Karl Marx, Max Weber, Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, Martin Heidegger, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Max Horkheimer, Herbert Marcuse, and Jürgen Habermas.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10330448 | Kathekon
Kathēkon () (plural: "kathēkonta" ) is a Greek concept, forged by the founder of Stoicism, Zeno of Citium. It may be translated as "appropriate behaviour", "befitting actions", or "convenient action for nature", or also "proper function". "Kathekon" was translated in Latin by Cicero as "officium", and by Seneca as "convenentia". "Kathēkonta" are contrasted, in Stoic ethics, with "katorthōma" (κατόρθωμα; plural: "katorthōmata"), roughly "perfect action". According to Stoic philosophy, humans (and all living beings) must act in accordance with Nature, which is the primary sense of "kathēkon".
According to Stoic philosophy, each being, whether animate or inanimate (plant, animal or human), carries on fitting actions corresponding to its own nature. They distinguished between "kathēkonta" and "katorthōmata," a perfect action derived from the "orthos logos" (reason) (also ""teleion kathēkon"": a perfect, achieved "kathēkon"). They said that the wise person, or sage, necessarily carried out "katorthōmata", that is, virtuous "kathēkon", and that what distinguished both was not the nature of the act, but the way it was done. Thus, in exceptional circumstances, a sage (a state of being which in Stoic philosophy is nearly impossible to achieve) could carry out a katorthōma which, according to ordinary standards, would be deemed monstruous (for example, having sexual intercourse with one's daughter, if the destiny of humanity is at stake, or mutilating oneself.)
Stoic morality is complex, and has various hierarchical levels. On the first, layman level, one must carry out the action corresponding to one's own nature. But, according to the Stoic strict moral ideas, the acts of a layperson are always insane (ἁμαρτήματα "hamartēmata" "mistakes," or "peccata"), while the acts of the rare sage are always "katorthōmata", perfect actions. The sage acts in view of the good, while the ordinary being (layperson, animal or plant) acts only in view of its survival. However, both act according to their own nature.
Stoic philosophers distinguished another, intermediary level between "kathēkonta" and "katorthōmata": "mesa kathēkonta", or indifferent actions (which are neither appropriate, nor good). A list of "kathēkonta" would include: to stay in good health, to respect one's parents, etc. "Para to kathēkon", or actions contrary to befitting actions, would be the reverse of this type of actions (to insult one's parents, etc.) Intermediary actions refers to "indifferent things" (ἀδιάφορα — "adiaphora"), which are in themselves neither good nor bad, but may be used in a convenient way or not. Such "indifferent things" include wealth, health, etc. These are not excluded from the domain of morality as one might expect: Cicero thus underlined, in "De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum" (About the Ends of Goods and Evils, III, 58-59), that when the wise person acts in the sphere of "indifferent things," he still acts conveniently, according to his own nature.
Intentionality is crucial in Stoic ethics: the morality of the act resides not in the act itself, but in the intentionality and the way in which it is realized, in other words, in the moral agent itself. Stobaeus defined "kathēkonta" as probable actions ("probabilis ratio" in Latin), or everything done for one reason ("eulogos apologia" in Greek). Cicero wrote: ""quod autem ratione est, id officium appellamus; est igitur officium eius generis, quod nec in bonis ponatur nec in contrariis", in "De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum", III, 58.
Another distinction between "kathēkon" and "katorthōmata" has been to say that "katorthōmata" were "kathēkonta" which "possessed all the numbers" ("pantas apechon tous arithmous"), a Stoic expression meaning perfection. Such a "katorthōmata" is done in harmony with all virtues, while the layperson may only act in accordance with one virtue, but not all of them. Stoics believe that all virtues are intertwined and that the perfect act encompasses all of them.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10385565 | Consolidated Appeals Process
The Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) is an advocacy tool for humanitarian financing, in which projects managed by the United Nations, NGOs and other stakeholders come together to approach the donor community funding international development activities. The target of the CAP is long term development, whereas the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), started in 2006, targets sudden onset humanitarian crisis such as natural disasters. The 2011 CAP seeks USD 7.4 billion to help 50 million people in 28 countries. The 2006 CAP was covered by the donor community to 63%.
As of 2006 the CAP is divided into ‘clusters’, representing the various groups of implementing agencies in humanitarian aid. The humanitarian principles drive the formulation of the CAP. The humanitarian need on the ground is assessed by the stakeholders, to ensure that appeals’ funding requests are grounded in solid evidence.
In 2006 the United Nations and its partner humanitarian agencies fed 97 million people in 82 countries, including 6.5 million people in the Sudan; vaccinated over 30 million children against measles in emergency situations, including 51% of the under-five children in the Central African Republic; supported hundreds of emergency health facilities, including 210 health centres in Burundi; created hundreds of emergency education facilities; supplied safe drinking water to millions of crisis-affected people, for example 214 new boreholes drilled for displaced people’s camps in Uganda; provided protection and assistance to some 20 million refugees and displaced persons; and supported child protection activities in some 150 countries.
In August 2007 the UN, under the leadership of acting Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sudan David Gressly, launched a "flash appeal" for the response to the 2007 Sudan floods for just over US$ 20 million.
As of January 2008, the Appeal for Chad appears to be the best-funded worldwide, at 97%
See link below for the Humanitarian Appeal 2009
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10416796 | Pharmaceutical lobby
The pharmaceutical lobby refers to the representatives of pharmaceutical drug and biomedicine companies who engage in lobbying in favour of the pharmaceutical industry and its products.
The largest pharmaceutical companies and their two trade groups, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and Biotechnology Innovation Organization, lobbied on at least 1,600 pieces of legislation between 1998 and 2004. According to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics, pharmaceutical companies spent $900 million on lobbying between 1998 and 2005, more than any other industry. During the same period, they donated $89.9 million to federal candidates and political parties, giving approximately three times as much to Republicans as to Democrats. According to the Center for Public Integrity, from January 2005 through June 2006 alone, the pharmaceutical industry spent approximately $182 million on Federal lobbying. The industry has 1,274 registered lobbyists in Washington D.C.
Critics of the pharmaceutical lobby argue that the drug industry's influence allows it to promote legislation friendly to drug manufacturers at the expense of patients. The lobby's influence in securing the passage of the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 was considered a major and controversial victory for the industry, as it prevents the government from directly negotiating prices with drug companies who provide those prescription drugs covered by Medicare. Price negotiations are instead conducted between manufacturers and the pharmacy benefit managers providing Medicare Part D benefits under contract with Medicare. In 2010 the Congressional Budget Office estimated the average discount negotiated by pharmacy benefit managers at 14%.
The high price of U.S. prescription drugs has been a source of ongoing controversy. Corporations state that the high costs are the result of pricey research and development programs. Critics point to the development of drugs having only small incremental benefit. According to Marcia Angell, the former head of the New England Journal of Medicine, "The United States is the only advanced country that permits the pharmaceutical industry to charge exactly what the market will bear." In contrast, the RAND Corporation and authors from the National Bureau of Economic Research have argued that price controls stifle innovation and are economically counterproductive in the long term.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10438077 | Robin Hood effect
The Robin Hood effect is an economic occurrence where income is redistributed so that economic inequality is reduced. The effect is named after Robin Hood, said to have stolen from the rich to give to the poor.
A Robin Hood effect can be caused by a large number of different policies or economic decisions, not all of which are specifically aimed at reducing inequality. This article lists only some of these.
Simon Kuznets argued that one major factor behind levels of economic inequality is the stage of economic development of a country. Kuznets described a curve-like relationship between level of income and inequality, as shown. That theory prescribes that countries with very low levels of development will have relatively equal distributions of wealth.
As a country develops, it necessarily acquires more capital, and the owners of this capital will then have more wealth and income, which introduces inequality. However, eventually various possible redistribution mechanisms such as trickle down effects and social welfare programs will lead to a Robin Hood effect, with wealth redistributed to the poor. Therefore, more developed countries move back to lower levels of inequality.
Many countries have an income tax system where the first part of a worker's salary is taxed very little or not at all, while those on higher salaries must pay a higher tax rate on earnings over a certain threshold, known as progressive taxation. This has the effect of the better-off population paying a higher proportion of their salary in tax, effectively subsidising the less-well off, leading to a Robin Hood effect.
Specifically, a progressive tax is a tax by which the tax rate increases as the taxable base amount increases. "Progressive" describes a distribution effect on income or expenditure, referring to the way the rate progresses from low to high, where the average tax rate is less than the marginal tax rate. It can be applied to individual taxes or to a tax system as a whole; a year, multi-year, or lifetime. Progressive taxes attempt to reduce the tax incidence of people with a lower ability-to-pay, as they shift the incidence increasingly to those with a higher ability-to-pay.
In many developing countries, mobile communications networks tend to experience a large network externality, which regulators and operators seek to correct by subsidising subscriptions through increased prices for call termination. That then allows the less-well off in that country to gain access to communications services, often for free (on a prepay tariff). The additional cost is then levied on subscribers who make calls to these new subscribers; the call originators tend to be better-off. Therefore, despite there being no direct transfer of money, there is a strong Robin Hood effect, with the better-off subsidising the less well-off.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10458263 | The AIRE Centre
The AIRE Centre (Advice on Individual Rights in Europe) is an English registered charity, with offices located in London. It provides free legal advice on human rights and EU law issues in Europe, and seeks to promote the dissemination of information about international human rights law throughout Europe.
The charity states its mission as:
Founded in 1993 by human rights lawyer Nuala Mole, it has provided advice and information to more than 8000 individuals on their rights under the two European legal orders (European Union Law and the European Convention on Human Rights). They develop their function by:
The charity gains funding from various sources, including the Equality and Human Rights Commission (April 2009 to April 2012, £185,906), the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund and Comic Relief.
The charity has backed a number of controversial test cases at the European Court of Human Rights:
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10504258 | Free union
A free union is a romantic union between two or more persons without legal or religious recognition or regulation.
The term has been used since the late 19th century to describe a relationship into which all parties enter, remain, and depart freely. The free union is an alternative to, or rejection or criticism of marriage, viewing it as a form of slavery and human ownership, particularly for women. According to this concept, the free union of adults is a legitimate relationship that should be respected. A free union is made between two individuals, but each individual may have several unions of their own.
Much of the contemporary tradition of free union under natural law or common law comes from anarchist rejection of marriage, seeking non-interference of either church or state in human relations.
Leaving behind what was seen as law imposed by man in favor of natural law began during the late Enlightenment, when many sought to rethink the laws of property, family, and the status of women. Utopian socialist Robert Owen (1771–1858), who decried marriage as principally linked to the principle of ownership, offers a foretaste of the free union by use of the term "marriage contract in front of nature." Philosopher and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797) stated, "Marriage is an affirmation of the supremacy of man over woman [...] if I love a man, I want to love him while keeping my freedom." In the 1882, Élisée Reclus initiated the Anti-Marriage Movement, in accordance with which he and his partner allowed their two daughters to marry without any civil or religious ceremony, despite public and legal condemnation. Reclus had four partners throughout his lifetime, each with a different social contract.
In more modern times, free unions were common among members of the Spanish anarchist CNT political party during the popular revolution that ran alongside the Spanish Civil War. The couple desiring contractual validation of their relationship would simple go to the Party Headquarters and request the forms, which would be destroyed if the relationship were to not work out. The couple however, were strongly encouraged to make it work, as separation created administrative work for the party.
Additionally, many leading 20th Century intellectuals, including James Joyce, Pablo Picasso and their partners, and Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir never chose to marry, or delayed it until the end of life for legal reasons. De Beauvoir said of the institution, "When we abolish the slavery of half of humanity, together with the whole system of hypocrisy that it implies, then the 'division' of humanity will reveal its genuine significance and the human couple will find its true form."
In French law, the "union libre" is an agreement between adults which grants rights between parents and potential children, but holds no obligation of sexual fidelity, nor does it grant reciprocal duties and rights between partners.
A free union can be between individuals of any gender, and an individual may have several concurrently, therefore making free union an option for LGBTQ or polyamorous relationships, as well as heterosexual and/or monogamous ones that do not wish to enter the contract of marriage for historical, social, or financial reasons.
United States law has no exact legal equivalent of a free union, although comparisons are often made to common law marriage. In the United States, partners wishing to have legal rights without entering into a marriage contract may choose to complete documents such as a healthcare proxy, domestic partnership agreement, will, and power of attorney. Members of a free union may refer to each other as partners, spouses, or any other title, but may find themselves subject to the laws of common law marriage if they consistently refer to themselves as husband and wife according to their local jurisdiction.
According to Catholicism, the expression "free union" includes situations such as concubinage, rejection of marriage as such, or inability to make long-term commitments. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, being in a "free union" is a grave offense against the dignity of marriage, which it sees as a Sacrament. However, proponents maintain that the free union acts as a public recognition of a relationship without the obligations of church or state.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10506133 | An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (EPM) is a book by Scottish enlightenment philosopher David Hume. In it, Hume argues (among other things) that the foundations of morals lie with sentiment, not reason.
"An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals" is the enquiry subsequent to the "Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding" ("EHU"). Thus, it is often referred to as "the second Enquiry". It was originally published in 1751, three years after the first Enquiry. Hume first discusses ethics in "A Treatise of Human Nature" (in Book 3 - "Of Morals"). He later extracted and expounded upon the ideas he proposed there in his second Enquiry. In his short autobiographical work, "My Own Life" (1776), Hume states that his second Enquiry is "of all my writings, historical, philosophical, or literary, incomparably the best."
Hume's approach in the second Enquiry is largely an empirical one. Instead of beginning his moral inquiry with questions of how morality ought to operate, he purports to investigate primarily how we actually do make moral judgments. As Hume puts it:
As this is a question of fact, not of abstract science, we can only expect success, by following the experimental method, and deducing general maxims from a comparison of particular instances. ("EPM", §1, ¶10)
Furthermore, Hume purports to provide a naturalistic account of morality, at least to the extent that it is something that is common among the human species. He writes:
The final sentence, it is probable, which pronounces characters and actions amiable or odious, praise-worthy or blameable... depends on some internal sense or feeling, which nature has made universal in the whole species. ("EPM", §1, ¶8)
But, whether in the end Hume purports to provide a normative ethical theory, rather than a merely descriptive theory of moral psychology, is a contentious issue among Hume scholars.
Hume defends his sympathy-based moral sentimentalism by claiming that, contrary to moral rationalism, we can never make moral judgments based on reason alone. Reason deals with facts and draws conclusions from them, but, all else being equal, it could not lead us to choose one option over the other; only our sentiments can do this, according to Hume. Hume writes that:
...morality is determined by sentiment. It defines virtue to be "whatever mental action or quality gives to a spectator the pleasing sentiment of approbation"; and vice the contrary. ("EPM", Appendix 1, ¶10)
Hume puts forward sentimentalism as a foundation for ethics primarily as a meta-ethical theory about the epistemology of morality. Hume's sentimentalism is akin to the moral epistemology of intuitionism (although, of course, different in many respects). According to such a theory, one's epistemological access to moral truths is not primarily via an evidentially mediated faculty, such as reason. Rather, one's epistemological access is more direct. According to Hume, we know moral truths via our sentiments—our feelings of approval and disapproval.
Hume's arguments against founding morality on reason are often now included in the category of moral anti-realist arguments. As Humean-inspired philosopher John Mackie suggests, for there to exist moral facts about the world, recognizable by reason and intrinsically motivating, they would have to be very queer facts. However, there is considerable debate among scholars as to Hume's status as a realist versus anti-realist.
According to Hume, our sympathy-based sentiments can motivate us towards the pursuit of non-selfish ends, like the utility of others. For Hume, and for fellow sympathy-theorist Adam Smith, the term "sympathy" is meant to capture much more than concern for the suffering of others. Sympathy, for Hume, is a principle for the communication and sharing of sentiments, both positive and negative. In this sense, it is akin to what contemporary psychologists and philosophers call empathy. In developing this sympathy-based moral sentimentalism, Hume surpasses the divinely-implanted moral sense theory of his predecessor, Francis Hutcheson, by elaborating a naturalistic, moral psychological basis for the moral sense, in terms of the operation of sympathy.
After providing various examples, Hume comes to the conclusion that most, though not all, of the behaviors we approve of increase public utility. Does this then mean that we make moral judgments on self-interest alone? Unlike his fellow empiricist Thomas Hobbes, Hume argues that this is not in fact the case, rejecting psychological egoism—the view that all intentional actions are ultimately self-interested.
In addition to considerations of self-interest, Hume maintains that we can be moved by our sympathy for others, which can provide a person with thoroughly non-selfish concerns and motivations, indeed, what contemporary theorists would call, altruistic concern.
The first-order moral theory that emerges from the second Enquiry is a form of virtue ethics. According to Hume, the kinds of things that our moral sentiments apply to—the things of which we approve and disapprove—are not particular actions or events. Rather, we ultimately judge the "character" of a person—whether they are a virtuous or vicious person.
Hume ultimately defends a theory according to which the fundamental feature of virtues is "...the possession of mental qualities, 'useful' or 'agreeable' to the 'person himself' or to 'others'" ("EPM", §10, ¶1). As a result, certain character traits commonly deemed virtues by the major religions of the time are deemed vices on Hume's theory. Hume calls these so-called "virtues", such as self-denial and humility, "monkish virtues". Rather vehemently, he writes:
Celibacy, fasting, penance, mortification, self-denial, humility, silence, solitude, and the whole train of monkish virtues; for what reason are they everywhere rejected by men of sense, but because they serve to no manner of purpose; neither advance a man's fortune in the world, nor render him a more valuable member of society; neither qualify him for the entertainment of company, nor increase his power of self-enjoyment? We observe, on the contrary, that they cross all these desirable ends; stupify the understanding and harden the heart, obscure the fancy and sour the temper. We justly, therefore, transfer them to the opposite column, and place them in the catalogue of vices... ("EPM", §9, ¶3)
Clearly, Hume thought that there were grave misunderstandings at the time as to what counts as virtue versus vice. For example, Hume attempts to defend, contrary to many religious teachings, that a certain amount of luxury, even pride, is virtuous.
Hume makes important distinctions in his classifications of virtues. They are classified as being either "artificial" or "natural". The key distinction between these virtue classes is their origin. Artificial virtues originate from and depend on social structures such as courts and parliaments. This category of virtues include fidelity, justice, chastity and adherence to law. Natural virtues are not created but are automatically present in humans since birth. The following quote highlights this:
Hence, the second major distinction between natural and artificial virtues is that the former type are universal whereas the latter can vary from society to society. Hume then proceeds to delineate the nature of these virtues in detail. The following quote highlights Hume's description of an "artificial" virtue—that of fidelity:
The following quote highlights the origin of this virtue - the notion that this virtue was "created" is particularly evident:
Clearly then, the virtue of fidelity was "created", and therefore it is distinctly artificial.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10511963 | Mary Anne Warren
Mary Anne Warren (August 23, 1946 – August 9, 2010) was an American writer and philosophy professor, noted for her writings on the issue of abortion.
Her essays have sometimes been required readings in academic courses dealing with the abortion debate and they are frequently cited in major publications like Peter Singer's "The Moral of the Story: An Anthology of Ethics Through Literature" and Bernard Gert's "Bioethics: A Systematic Approach". She was sometimes described as a feminist, largely due to her pro-choice writings.
Warren also wrote on the implications of sex selection and about animal treatment. She was a professor of philosophy at San Francisco State University for many years.
Mary Anne Warren died on August 9, 2010 from cancer, aged 64.
In response to whether a thing can be said to be a person, and so have moral standing, Warren suggested the following criteria:
She stated that at least some of these are necessary, if not sufficient, criteria for personhood (which is necessary and sufficient for moral standing). She argued that fetuses do not meet any of these criteria, therefore they cannot be persons, and cannot have moral standing, and so abortion is acceptable.
Books
Essays
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10515219 | Perverted Thomas
It was later adapted into a single original video animation episode released on September 25, 2004. It was created by the Japanese company Xuse, and is distributed by the English company Hot Storm and has been licensed by Adult Source Media.
One day, the protagonist of the story, Thomas, was out looking for a job. As he travels in a subway train, he noticed a girl standing close by him. He started to comment on how cute she was and think about perverted acts. However, he decided not to do anything to avoid a scene so he retreated. As luck would have it, it seems that the bag he held on his right hand is stuck in between him and the girl. He struggled to pull it away and accidentally touched the girl's buttocks, alerting her. Thankfully, he managed to move away his right arm and escape. During the time, an old man witnessed his perversion and started to tutor Thomas, providing him hints and tips to pleasuring women. As the story progresses, Thomas was able to use the abilities he possess to pleasure sexy strangers he encounters.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10558205 | R v Neil
R v Neil, [2002] 3 S.C.R. 631, 2002 SCC 70, is a leading decision of the Supreme Court of Canada on conflict of interests among lawyers. The Court held that both firms and lawyers have a fiduciary duty of loyalty to their clients and so lawyer or firm cannot represent a client whose interests may be adverse to the interests of another client unless there is consent and a reasonable belief that the interests will not be adverse. This greatly expanded the old rules of conflict of interest which required actual knowledge of confidential information before a lawyer was in conflict.
David Lloyd Neil was accused of a series of criminal charges. In his prior job he retained the legal services of a solicitor from an Edmonton law firm. Neil's assistant, Helen Lambert, had hired Gregory Lazin from the same firm to represent her in the relation to the charges. Lazin sat in on an interview with Neil's lawyer in order to gain advantage for his client. In a second incident, Lazin was approached by an old client of Neil named Doblanko who believed that Neil had fabricated a divorce document. Lazin referred him to the same police officer who was investigating Neil's other charges.
The issue was whether Lazin created a conflict of interest by assisting in establishing the charges against Neil, when he was a past client.
Justice Binnie, writing for the Court, dismissed the appeal. He held that the firm owed a duty of loyalty to Neil and should not have communicated with the other parties.
Binnie used the case as an opportunity to survey the meaning of a lawyer's duty of loyalty. He takes a strong stance, arguing that the duty is an essential to the integrity of the profession and the administration of justice. Loyalty promotes effective legal representation.
While the "bright-line rule" stated in "Neil" was "obiter" to the case at hand, in 2007 it became the "ratio" for determining the later SCC case of "Strother v. 3464920 Canada Inc." Although "Strother" was decided in part by a divided Court, the later case of "Canadian National Railway Co. v. McKercher LLP" in 2013, decided by a unanimous Court, clarified Canadian jurisprudence in this field.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10576536 | Celebrancy
Celebrancy is a movement to provide agents to officiate at ceremonies often reserved in law to clergy or officers of the courts. These agents, generally referred to as "celebrants", perform weddings, funerals, and other life ceremonies for those who do not want a traditional religious ceremony.
Civil Celebrancy for independent community based officiants with ideals of meaningful ceremonies started in Australia due to the initiative of the Australian statesman and Attorney-General Lionel Murphy in 1973. He had very clear ideas on how secular people were entitled to ceremonies of equal dignity and substance as those enjoyed by religious people.
In many countries, there is a division between the civil and religious aspects of marriages, and often one realm does not recognize the acts of the other. In Australia and New Zealand, there has been a long tradition of recognising civil and religious marriages as equal before the law. The same legal procedures were (and are) required by clergy, state officials and independent civil celebrants.
In the United States, however, clergy (and in some jurisdictions, the couple themselves, in a self-uniting marriage) perform legally binding weddings. However, in most states weddings not performed by such clergy must be performed by an officer of the court, such as a judge or a justice of the peace. These civil ceremonies typically are simple legal transactions. Such merely "legal transactions", except in exceptional cases, are totally rejected by civil marriage celebrants. The Murphy ideal for civil celebrants includes skill in combining, poetry, prose, music, choreography and movement, storytelling and symbolism into ceremonies of substance and power.
In either case many couples felt the lack of the kind of ceremony more typically associated with religious services. In the same manner, funerals and rites of passage have been traditionally the province of the church or synagogue in western culture; those of a secular or unconventionally religious bent had felt the need for authentic and honest ceremonies - especially for Funerals.
To meet these needs, various groups arose to sponsor secular "ministers" to formulate and officiate at such rites. Existing humanist bodies (e.g. the Unitarian Universalist Association) provide ministers who act as clergy under the law and are thus empowered to perform legally binding marriages. The Celebrant USA Foundation and Institute also sponsors and coordinates celebrants separately from religious or ethical societies. The movement spread to the United States, where in 2005 Richard Pryor was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in a non-religious service led by Pam Vetter, a secular celebrant trained at the Celebrant Institute.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10637301 | De Cive
De Cive ("On the citizen") is one of Thomas Hobbes's major works. "The book was published originally in Latin from Paris in 1642, followed by two further Latin editions in 1647 from Amsterdam. The English translation of the work made its first appearance four years later (London 1651) under the title 'Philosophicall rudiments concerning government and society'."
It anticipates themes of the better-known "Leviathan". The famous phrase "bellum omnium contra omnes" ("war of all against all") appeared first in "De Cive".
"De Cive" is the first of a trilogy of works written by Hobbes dealing with human knowledge, the other two works in the trilogy being "De Corpore" ("On the body"), published in 1655 and "De Homine" ("On man"), published in 1658. Because of the political turmoil of the time, namely the unrest leading up to the Civil War of 1642, Hobbes hastily "ripened and plucked" the work which would systematically come last: "De Cive". This work comprises three parts: Libertas (liberty), Imperium (dominion), and Religio (religion). In the first part, he describes man's natural condition, dealing with the natural laws; in the second, the necessity of establishing a stable government is indicated. Finally, in the third part, he writes about religion.
"De Cive" was finished in November 1641 — before the English Civil War (thus arguments repeated a decade later in "Leviathan" cannot exclusively be influenced by that war). The book was published in Latin in 1642; a revised edition appeared in 1647. It was translated into English, entitled "Philosophicall Rudiments Concerning Government and Society" (published in 1651). John Aubrey testifies that Hobbes translated part of the work into English himself with such success that an intended translator would rather leave Hobbes to do the job; it is not certain whether this was indeed the case.
The edition of the work by H. Warrender (Latin and English versions; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983) is at present standard.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10648668 | Pornosonic
Pornosonic is a project by Don Argott inspired by the style of music in adult films. Two albums have been released.
The albums claim to be soundtracks from non-existent unreleased porn movies, but they are modern creations. Famous adult film actor Ron Jeremy was to hired by Mini Mace Pro Records to perform voice overs.
Reissued in 2000 and 2004.
Hal Horowitz from AllMusic valued it as "an enjoyable disc to play spot the influences with", and described it as "expertly played, engaging music that succeeds in spite of its nudge-wink approach". CMJ New Music Report described it as an "elaborate fake".
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10679950 | Peaceworker
A peaceworker is an individual or member of an organization that undertakes to resolve violent conflict, prevent the rise of new violent conflicts, and rebuild societies damaged by war.
The term peaceworker is usually reserved for civilian, unarmed members of non-governmental organizations. Peacework is also carried out by many armed organizations such as the UN, but armed personnel are seldom called peaceworkers.
Peaceworker duties include the following:
Peaceworker training and guidance is provided by organizations such as International Alert. University-provided Peace and conflict studies courses also provide valuable and relevant knowledge. As peace work can utilize a very wide variety of skills, it allows those with established, unrelated careers to take up peace work without having to abandon what they have already learned.
Any organization dedicated to human rights, humanitarian aid and conflict management could be said to employ peace workers. The following is just a small sample of the dozens of organizations worldwide that provide these services.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10728972 | Philanthropreneur
A philanthropreneur is an entrepreneurial philanthropist. The term is claimed to be coined by Internet entrepreneur Mark Desvaux in 2004; however, "The Wall Street Journal" used the term in a 1999 article, and a publication entitled "The Philanthropreneur Newsletter" existed as far back as 1997. Philanthropreneurship is often considered the start of a new era in philanthropy, characterized by the development of the philanthropist’s role and the integration of business practices.
The core objective of philanthropreneurship is to increase the philanthropic impact of non-profit organizations. Traditionally non-profit organization solely depended on donations, grants, or other forms of charitable-giving. However, this new generation of entrepreneurs prefers to invest rather than donate. Philanthropreneurs are active donors whose role surpasses that of check writers. They leverage their resources to achieve social change that is both scalable and sustainable. As a result, their contribution is meant to go beyond providing temporary "band-aid" solutions. Instead of directing efforts toward the purchase of medicine for the sick and the supply of food for the hungry, philanthropreneurs seek to eradicate the problem.
Philanthropreneurs are people who bring a creative or entrepreneurial approach to philanthropy. They are interested in effecting positive changes in the world and alleviating suffering, and do so in new and creative ways. Philanthropreneurs are often "driven to do good and have their profit, too", as Stephanie Strom wrote in a "New York Times" article.
As an emerging field there is no defined operating model or strategic approach. Still, philanthropreneurship marks the transitions from a grant-distributing model to a business-based model with predefined objectives and constant focus on quantifiable results. This form of “commercial giving” demands measurable return, which is why opportunities are assessed and evaluated according to different criteria. Factors such as profitability and quantifiable performance are fixed requirements for granting support. The shift in professional management has also resulted in a greater focus on long-term goals.
The application of entrepreneurial practices in philanthropy drives the impact of connected non-profit organizations through strategic funding. Traditional philanthropy encouraged the promotion of social welfare exclusively through charitable giving. However, many well-intentioned projects fell through because of their disregard to set up revenue-generating strategies. In philanthropreneurship, prosperous ventures require the establishment of recurring income as a means of avoiding depletion of funds and ultimately preventing the social mission's dissolution.
Philanthropic buying has a limited reach, which is why philanthropreneurs do not simply dispose of surplus funds, but strategically tailor investments by actively leveraging their resources (i.e. wealth, time, business expertise, networks, reputation, and prestige). For example, Pierre Omidyar, chairman of eBay, started Omidyar Network because of his dissatisfaction with the level of impact his donations had through conventional charities. Omidyar is an exemplar of how today’s philanthropists have taken on a greater role than their charitable predecessors. Apart from bringing their checkbook, affluent philanthropists are also expected to bring in their entrepreneurial know-how.
Philanthropreneurship has been described as the emerging practice of driving social change in new and creative ways. The term has been in use since 2014. Practitioners — also known as philanthropreneurs or micro-preneurs — are entrepreneurial philanthropists. Philanthropreneurship is measured in impact, sustainability and scalability.
Some practitioners — like Amr Al-Dabbagh in the "Fortune" article "How to Run Your Non-Profit Like a Startup" — are deploying entrepreneurial business practices to help drive maximum impact, sustainability and scale. Additional examples of practitioners — featured in "The Guardian" article by Rajesh Chandy ("Welcome to the New Age of Philanthropy: PHILANTHROPRENEURSHIP")—include Bill and Melinda Gates, Steve Case, Pierre Omidyar and Bill Clinton. Stephanie Strom featured these practitioners and more in her "New York Times" article "What's Wrong With Profit?" Philanthropreneurship is now supported by emerging new business models and legislation including low-profit limited liability companies (L3Cs), pioneered by tax attorney and entrepreneurial finance expert Marc J. Lane.
Non-profit organizations have historically found it challenging to trust and accept the concept of "philanthro-capitalism". Critics note that many metrics of the commercial sectors, such as return on investment and other ratios, lack applicability to non-profit organizations. Moreover, the inclusion of commercial and enterprise strategies has generated concerns in maintaining the institution's culture and ideology. A particular concern is the risk that the organization's focus will shift away from the social mission.
Nonetheless, its success has piqued the interest of an increasing number of non-profit organizations, but the performance assessment of philanthropreneurial ventures remains an area of concern for many, as there is no precise measurement for social impact. For example, in "impact investing", a core practice of philanthropreneurship, project selection for funding is based on estimated social impact and financial return. From an ethical context, many critics argue that the incorporation of a business model commercializes the nonprofit sector and further increases the risk of distorting the organization's mission and principles.
Conversely, many supporters point out that traditional philanthropy alone cannot sustain social initiatives because of the shortage in sources of funding. In philanthropreneurship, a dependency in traditional fundraising is a strong predictor of failure, which is why historically the implementation of business practices enables philanthropreneurship to outperform age-old practices of philanthropy.
Playpumps International is a nongovernmental organization (NGO) founded by Trevor Field. Today the Playpump-initiative is made up of two for-profit entities and one nonprofit. Playpump International is a nonprofit in the U.S. that is partnered with Roundabout Water Solutions, a manufacturing company in South Africa.
The organization's mission is to promote public health in South Africa by providing easy access to clean, potable water in rural communities. Field designed a self-sustainable system that enabled water to be pumped into a storage tower. This model resulted in a mechanical water extraction process designed after a playground merry-go-round, which is attached to a water pump. Rotational energy generated by children playing is then used to fill the water storage tower. The system enhances living conditions and offers playing equipment for the young population. Since its invention, hundreds of water pump systems have been installed, particularly through the aid of monetary donations and governmental approvals.
Before Playpumps attained global recognition, the organization had to be self-financed in order to ensure its continuity. Because of the infrequent number of charitable donations received and lack of fundraising sources, Field sought to generate an alternative flow of income. Income was generated by marketing contracts. Four-paneled billboards concealed the Playpump water storage towers and were used to display printed ads. The purpose of generating revenue was to recapitalize on the cost of the equipment (i.e. manufacturing and installation costs). With time, monetary donations increased significantly, and thus allowed for half of each tower's panels to be dedicated to promoting social messages, specifically HIV and AIDS awareness.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10793548 | Duke Yansheng
The Duke of Yansheng, literally "Duke Overflowing with Sagacity", sometimes translated as Holy Duke of Yen, was a Chinese title of nobility. It was originally created as a marquis title in the Western Han dynasty (206 BC – AD 9) for a direct descendant of Confucius.
From the Western Han dynasty to the mid-Northern Song dynasty (960–1127), the title underwent several changes in its name, before it was finally settled as "Duke Yansheng" in 1005 by Emperor Renzong of the Northern Song dynasty. Kong Zongyuan, a 46th-generation descendant of Confucius, became the first person to hold the title "Duke Yansheng". The dukes enjoyed privileges that other nobles were denied, such as the right to tax their domain in Qufu while being exempt from imperial taxes. Their dukedom had its own judicial system and the legal capacity to mete out capital punishment, although such sentences had to be ratified by the imperial court.
In 1935, the Nationalist government of the Republic of China converted the Duke Yansheng title to a political office, "Dacheng Zhisheng Xianshi Fengsi Guan" (大成至聖先師奉祀官), which simply means "Sacrificial Official to Confucius". This political office is not only hereditary, but also had the same ranking and remuneration as that of a cabinet minister in the government of the Republic of China. In 2008, with permission from the Kong family, the political office became an unpaid one which is purely ceremonial in nature. It is currently held by Kung Tsui-chang, a 79th-generation descendant of Confucius.
There are also similar political offices for the descendants of the other notable members of the Confucian school (the Four Sages), such as "Sacrificial Official to Mencius", "Sacrificial Official to Zengzi", and "Sacrificial Official to Yan Hui". In the reformation of the law in 2009, "Sacrificial Official to Mencius" and "Sacrificial Official to Zengzi" would become unpaid honorable titles as well once the incumbent officials decease.
The tombs of the Dukes Yansheng of the Ming and Qing dynasties are located at the Cemetery of Confucius in Qufu, Shandong.
Kong Qiu (551–479 BC), better known as Confucius, was a teacher, politician and philosopher of the State of Lu in the Spring and Autumn period of ancient China. He was a descendant of the royal family of the Shang dynasty (c. 1558–1046 BC) through the dukes of the State of Song (11th century – 286 BC).
During the reign of Qin Shi Huang (r. 247–210 BC), the First Emperor of the Qin dynasty, Kong Fu (孔鮒), a ninth-generation descendant of Confucius, was awarded the title "Lord Wentong of Lu" (魯國文通君) and the appointment of "shaofu" (少傅).
In 190 BC, Emperor Gao of the Han dynasty awarded the title "Lord Fengsi" (奉祀君; "Lord Who Offers Sacrifices") to Kong Teng (孔騰), Kong Fu's younger brother.
During the reign of Emperor Yuan (r. 48–33 BC), Kong Ba (孔霸), a 13th-generation descendant of Confucius, was granted the title "Lord Baocheng" (褒成君). In addition, the income gained from the 800 taxable households in Kong Ba's fief were used to finance the worshipping of Confucius. Kong Ba also instructed his eldest son, Kong Fu (孔福), to return to their ancestral home to serve as a sacrificial official to their ancestor.
The title "Marquis Yinshaojia" (殷紹嘉侯) was conferred on Kong Ji (孔吉), a 14th-generation "di" descendant of Confucius, by
Emperor Cheng (r. 33–7 BC). The emperor also allowed Kong Ji to perform ritual sacrifices to Cheng Tang, the first king of the Shang dynasty, and granted him the "er wang san ke" (二王三恪) ceremonial privilege.
During the reign of Emperor Ping (r. 1 BC – 6 AD), granted the title "Marquis Baocheng" (褒成侯) to Kong Jun (孔均), a 16th-generation descendant of Confucius.
Emperor Ming (r. 58–75 AD) awarded Kong Juan (孔損), an 18th-generation descendant of Confucius, the title "Marquis of Bao Village" (褒亭侯).
Emperor An (r. 106–125 AD) gave the title "Marquis of Fengsheng Village" (奉聖亭侯) to Kong Yao (孔曜), a 19th-generation descendant of Confucius.
The title of Duke of Song and ""Duke Who Continues and Honours the Yin"" (殷紹嘉公) were bestowed upon Kong An (孔安 (東漢) by the Eastern Han dynasty because he was part of the Shang dynasty's legacy. This branch of the Confucius family was a separate branch from the line that held the title of Marquis of Fengsheng village and later Duke Yansheng. This practice was referred to as 二王三恪.
During the Three Kingdoms period, the state of Cao Wei (220–265) renamed the title "Marquis Baocheng" (褒成侯) to "Marquis Zongsheng" (宗聖侯).
The Jin (265–420) and Liu Song (420–479) dynasties changed the title to "Marquis of Fengsheng Village" (奉聖亭侯).
The Northern Wei dynasty (386–535) changed the title to "Marquis Chongsheng" (崇聖侯) while the Northern Qi dynasty (550–577) called it "Marquis Gongsheng" (恭聖侯). Under the Northern Zhou dynasty (557–581), the title was promoted from a marquis title to a ducal title, "Duke of Zou" (鄒國公).
A fief of 100 households and the rank of 崇聖侯 "Marquis who worships the sage" was bestowed upon a Confucius descendant, Yan Hui's lineage had 2 of its scions and Confucius's lineage had 4 of its scions who had ranks bestowed on them in Shandong in 495 and a fief of ten households and rank of 崇聖大夫 "Grandee who venerates the sage" was bestowed on 孔乘 Kong Sheng who was Confucius's scion in the 28th generation in 472 by Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei.
In the Sui dynasty, Emperor Wen (r. 581–604) awarded the title "Duke of Zou" (鄒國公) to Confucius's descendants, but Emperor Yang (r. 604–618) downgraded and renamed the title to "Marquis Shaosheng" (紹聖侯).
During the early Tang dynasty, the title was renamed to "Marquis Baosheng" (褒聖侯). In the Kaiyuan era (713–741) of the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, the emperor posthumously honoured Confucius as "Prince Wenxuan" (文宣王) and promoted the "Marquis Baosheng" title to "Duke Wenxuan" (文宣公).
Duke Wenxuan Kong Renyu lived during the Later Tang dynasty.
A line in the Book of Rites had an interpretation written by Kong Yingda. Kong Yingda wrote some interpretations on the Record of Music. 禮記正義 was compiled by Kong Yingda. Kong Yingda wrote a new edition of the Shijing. Confucius' scion in the 32nd generation Kong Yingda wrote interpretations of the Confucian 5 Classics called the 五經正義 Wujing zhengyi. A description was written by Kong Yingda on the Di sacrifice. Zhaomu were also mentioned by Kong.
In 1055, Emperor Renzong, changed the "Duke Wenxuan" title to "Duke Yansheng" (孔宗願) to avoid naming taboo associated with the posthumous names of the earlier emperors. The title "Duke Yansheng" was then awarded to Kong Zongyuan (孔宗願), a 46th-generation descendant of Confucius. It was later changed to "Duke Fengsheng" (奉聖公) but was quickly restored back to "Duke Yansheng", and has since then been known as "Duke Yansheng".
During the wars between the Song dynasty and Jurchen-led Jin dynasty (1115–1234), the Song capital, Kaifeng, was conquered by Jin forces in 1127. Remnants of the Song dynasty retreated south and established the Southern Song dynasty, with Emperor Gaozong (r. 1127–1162) as their ruler. Kong Duanyou (孔端友), who then held the Duke Yansheng title, also moved to the south and settled in Quzhou, Zhejiang, where the southern branch of Confucius's descendants was created. Kong Duancao (孔端操), Kong Duanyou's brother, remained in Qufu, Shandong, where he called himself the "acting Duke Yansheng". Later on, the Jin dynasty recognised Kong Duancao's legitimacy. This resulted in a north-south split among the descendants of Confucius. Historians regarded the southern branch as the "di" (legitimate) successor to Confucius's line, while the northern branch is seen as a "shu" (offshoot) branch.
The Kongs in Qufu had a genealogy compiled during the Northern Song which described disciples with Confucius images. A pavilion was built by the Jin in the 1190s in the Confucius temple of Qufu over a Song dynasty era dais constructed in 1022. The dias built by the Song and modified by the Jin was depicted in the 1242 Kongshi zuting guangji genealogy written by Kong Yuancuo. The genealogy written by Kong Yuancuo contains Kong Chuan's 祖庭廣記 Zuting zaji with 孔瓌 Kong Gui's (scion in the 49th generation) introduction. Kongshi zuting guangji shows pictures of the Song and Jin dynasty era temple of Confucius.
Quzhou was where the Gaozong followers from the Kong family evacuated to.
The Quzhou temple is home to a rubbed Confucius portrait while the Qufu one has a tablet amade out of stone with a rubbed portrait of Yan Hui and Confcuius while the Qufu temple has another Confucius icon.
孔清覺 Kong Qingjue led a White Cloud 白雲宗 group.
In 1134 東家雜記 Dongjia zaji was written by 孔傳 Kong Chuan.
In the temple in Qufu an image on a stele was set up by the scion in the 48th generation Kong Duanyou. The temple contained the smalle portrait of Yan Hui and Confucius as recorded by Kong Zonghan. A cadet branch scion in the 49th generation 孔瑀 Kong Yu in 118 patronized the construction of the portrait on a second stele.
孔宗壽 Kong Zong scio, a scion in the 46th generation in 1096 in the temple in Qufu installed a tablet depicting a portrait of 10 disciples with Confucius which Kong Zonghan mentioned. The portrait was included in the genealogy Kongshi zuting guangji of Kong Yuancuo. Another image was not redrawn by Kong Yuancuo by was mentioned by Kong Zongyuan, which showed all 72 disciples with Confucius.
In the Quzhou temple Kong Chuan and Kong Duanyou patronized the creation of a Confucius image.
46th generation descendant 孔宗翰 Kong Zonghan wrote in 1085 a new genealogy. Confucius portraits were spread around in Qufu by Confucius's scions. A genealogy was written in 1085 by Kong Zonghan which described disciples and Confucius images. The genealogy of Kong Yuancuo contained one of the images which also appeared in the temple in Qufu and according to Kong Chuan it was drawn by Qu Daozi.
孔氏祖庭廣記 Kongshi zuting guangji was compiled by 孔元措 Kong Yuancuo.
Kong Chuan's genealogy was succeeded in 1242 the publishing of the 1227 genealogy written by the Jin dynasty Duke Yansheng of the 51st generation 孔元措 Kong Yuancuo.
The Quzhou-based scion in the 53rd generation during the Yuan dynasty 孔濂 Kong Lian wrote commentary on a stele at Quzhou which said that Kong Chuan and his nephew Kong Duanyou created a stone carved image of Confucius.
From 1127 up to the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty, there were two Duke Yanshengs – one in Quzhou, Zhejiang (in the south) and the other in Qufu, Shandong (in the north). In 1233, Ögedei Khan (r. 1229–1241) granted the Duke Yansheng title to Kong Yuancuo (孔元措), a 51st-generation descendant of Confucius from the northern branch.
Kublai Khan (r. 1260–1294) originally wanted to merge the two Duke Yanshengs under the southern one by making Kong Zhu (孔洙), the southern branch's leader, the legitimate successor to the Duke Yansheng line. However, since Kong Zhu declined the offer, Kublai Khan abolished the southern Duke Yansheng title and appointed Kong Zhu as the "jijiu" (祭酒) of the Imperial Academy. Since then, the northern branch has remained as the "legitimate" heir to the Duke Yansheng line.
In 1307, shortly after his enthronement, Külüg Khan (r. 1307–1311) awarded the posthumous honorary title "Prince Dacheng Zhisheng Wenxuan" (大成至聖文宣王) to Confucius.
Kong Ruogu 孔若古 aka Kong Chuan(孔傳) 47th generation was claimed to be the ancestor of the Southern branch after Kong Zhu died by Northern branch member Kong Guanghuang.
The Southern Branch of the Confucius family at Quzhou
During the Yuan dynasty, one of Confucius' descendants, who claimed to be one of the Duke Yansheng Kong Huan's 孔浣 sons, named Kong Shao 孔紹, moved from China to Goryeo era Korea and established a branch of the family there after wedding a Korean woman (Jo Jin-gyeong's 曹晉慶 daughter) during Toghon Temür's rule. This branch of the family called the Gong clan of Qufu received aristocratic rank in Joseon era Korea. 曲阜孔氏 (朝鲜半岛) 곡부 공씨
The Liyang Kongs were descendants of Confucius who lived in southern China during the Yuan dynasty's final years. 孔克齊 Kong Keqi or 孔齊 Kong Qi was a scion of the 55th generation. An account was written by Kong Qi on this era.
In 1506, the Zhengde Emperor (r. 1505–1521) appointed Kong Yansheng (孔彥繩), a member of the southern branch, as a ""Wujing Boshi"" (五經博士; "Professor of the Five Classics") in the Hanlin Academy. The appointment was equivalent to that of an eighth-grade official in the Ming imperial administration. Kong Yansheng's descendants were allowed to inherit the title "Wujing Boshi".
(1592-1647) 孔胤植 Kong Yinzhi 孔貞叢 in 1609 Kong Zhencong in 1552 孔弘干 Kong Honggan 闕里誌 all edited the Queli zhi genealogy.
On 31 October 1644, the Shunzhi Emperor (r. 1643–1661) of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty confirmed and recognised the legitimacies of the Duke Yansheng and Wujing Boshi titles after the Qing capital was established in Beijing following the Qing conquest of China.
毕沅 Bi Yuan's, 李长森 Li Changsen's and 方受畴 Fang Shouchou's (nephew of Fang Guancheng) female progeny married 孔繁灏 Kong Fanhao.
Kong Luhua (relative of the Duke Yansheng) was the second wife of Ruan Yuan.
Headgear was worn by Kong Lingyi in an official portrait.
After the 1911 Xinhai Revolution which overthrew the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, most of the nobility titles used in the imperial era were abolished. The Duke Yansheng title, however, was an exception along with the Marquis of Extended Grace and the descendants of Mencius, Zengzi, and Yan Hui. During the revolution, some Westerners were told that a Han Chinese would be installed as the emperor. The candidate was either the bearer of the Duke Yansheng title, or the holder of the title "Marquis of Extended Grace", a title granted to descendants of the imperial family of the Ming dynasty. The Duke Yansheng was proposed for replacing the Qing dynasty as Emperor by Liang Qichao.
In 1913, the Beiyang government, led by Yuan Shikai, passed a law allowing the Duke Yansheng title to be retained and held by Kong Lingyi (孔令貽), a member of the northern branch. The Wujing Boshi title, on the other hand, was renamed to "Dacheng Zhisheng Xianshi Nanzong Fengsi Guan" (大成至聖先師南宗奉祀官) and held by Kong Qingyi (孔慶儀), a member of the southern branch.
Yuan Shikai conferred the title of Prince on the Duke immediately before declaring the Empire of China (1915–16).
The regent for the underage Duke Kong Te-cheng was Kong Lingjun 孔令儁. He was the Kong Family Mansion steward.
In 1935, the Nationalist government abolished the hereditary peerage systems of the imperial era and converted the Duke Yansheng title into a political office, "Dacheng Zhisheng Xianshi Fengsi Guan" (大成至聖先師奉祀官), which simply means "Sacrificial Official to Confucius".
During the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), Kung Te-cheng (Kong Decheng), the Sacrificial Official to Confucius, evacuated to Hankou, Wuhan, where he was received by Kung Hsiang-hsi (Kong Xiangxi), a fellow descendant of Confucius. They moved to Chongqing later, where the Nationalist government was based during the war.
After the victory of the Communists in the Chinese Civil War, Kung Te-cheng evacuated with the Nationalist government to Taiwan where the current Sacrificial Official to Confucius is based. Until 2008, the office of "Sacrificial Official to Confucius" had the same ranking and remuneration as that of a cabinet minister in the government of the Republic of China in Taiwan. On the other hand, Yan Shiyung (顏世鏞, the last Sacrificial Official to Yan Hui, 1903-1975) and Kung Xiangkai (孔祥楷, the last Dacheng Zhisheng Xianshi Nanzong Fengsi Guan, 1938-) didn't move to Taiwan, so their title was abolished after the establishment of People's Republic of China.
In 1998, the Taiwanese government demolished the office building of the sacrificial official but retained the appointment. The hostel of National Chung Hsing University along Guoguang Road in South District, Taichung is situated at the former location of the office building.
In 2008, with approval from the Kong family, Taiwan's Ministry of the Interior converted the sacrificial official appointment into an unpaid one. The office is currently held by Kung Tsui-chang (Kong Chuichang), a 79th-generation descendant of Confucius who was appointed in September 2009 after the death of his grandfather, Kung Te-cheng. The Ministry of Interior also declared that female descendants of Confucius are eligible for future appointment.
The southern branch still remained in Quzhou where they lived to this day, and the title of Confucius's descendants in Quzhou alone number 30,000. The leader of the southern branch is 孔祥楷 (Kong Xiangkai), a 75th-generation descendant of Confucius.
Traditionally, the descendants of Confucius use generation poems for their names given to them by the Ming and Qing Emperors along with the descendants of the other Four Sages 四氏. However, Yan family, one of the Four Sages and descendants of Yanyuan, didn't use the poem eventually because Yanyuan is considered to be a possible maternal cousin of Confucius, so Emperor Yingzong of Ming made another generation poem for Yan family.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10813325 | Elephant polo
Elephant polo is a variant of polo played while riding elephants. It is played in Nepal, Rajasthan (India), and Thailand. England and Scotland regularly field teams. Equipment consists of a standard polo ball and six to ten foot cane (similar to bamboo) sticks with a polo mallet head on the end. The pitch is three-quarters of the length of a standard polo pitch, due to the lower speed of the elephants. Two people ride each elephant; the elephants are steered by mahouts, while the player tells the mahout which way to go and hits the ball.
Elephant polo originated in Meghauli, Nepal. Tiger Tops in Nepal remains the headquarters of elephant polo and the site of the World Elephant Polo Championships.
Elephant Polo in Nepal and Thailand is played under the auspices of the World Elephant Polo Association. WEPA enforces strict rules regarding elephant welfare and game play. Other tournaments, such as those played in India and Sri Lanka, are managed independently of each other and the World Elephant Polo Association. Sri Lanka held an annual tournament in Galle under the auspices of the Ceylon Elephant Polo Association. In 2007 an elephant went on a rampage during a game, injuring two players and destroying the Spanish team's minibus.
Allegations of cruel treatment of polo elephants, made by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, have led to match cancellation, sponsorship withdrawal and the removal of references to elephant polo records in the Guinness Book of World Records.
The Thailand Elephant Polo Association announced in October 2018 that it will end polo matches in Thailand. A polo tournament had been held annually at Anantara Hotel Bangkok owned by Minor Hotels.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10847522 | Two-level utilitarianism
Two-level utilitarianism is a utilitarian theory of ethics developed by R. M. Hare. According to the theory, a person's moral decisions should be based on a set of 'intuitive' moral rules, except in certain rare situations where it is more appropriate to engage in a 'critical' level of moral reasoning.
Utilitarians believe that an action is right if it produces the best possible state of affairs. Traditional utilitarianism treats this as a claim that people should try to ensure that their actions maximize overall happiness or pleasure.
Two-level utilitarianism is virtually a synthesis of the opposing doctrines of act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism. Act utilitarianism states that in all cases the morally right action is the one which produces the most happiness, whereas rule utilitarianism states that the morally right action is the one that is in accordance with a moral rule whose general observance would create the most happiness. In terms of two-level utilitarianism, act utilitarianism can be likened to the 'critical' level of moral thinking, and rule utilitarianism to the 'intuitive' level.
Utilitarianism is a type of consequentialist ethical theory. According to such theories, only the outcome of an action is morally relevant (this contrasts with deontology, according to which moral actions flow from duties or motives). Utilitarianism is "a combination of consequentialism and the" philosophical position hedonism, which states that pleasure, or happiness, is the only good worth pursuing. Therefore, since only the consequences of an action matter, and only happiness matters, "only happiness that is the consequence of an action is morally relevant". There are similarities with preference utilitarianism, where utility is defined as individual preference rather than pleasure.
The two predecessor theories to two-level utilitarianism, act and rule utilitarianism, were beset by various objections. For example, rule utilitarianism was criticized for implying that in some cases an individual should pursue a course of action that would obviously not maximise utility. Conversely, act utilitarianism was criticized for not allowing for a 'human element' in its calculations, i.e. it is sometimes too difficult (or impossible) for an ordinary person.
As a descriptive model of the two levels, Hare posited two extreme cases of people, one of whom would "only" use critical moral thinking and the other of whom would "only" use intuitive moral thinking. The former he called the 'archangel' and the latter the 'prole'. It is worth noting that it is not Hare's intention to divide up the entire human race into either archangels or proles; according to his theory each person shares the traits of both to limited and varying extents at different times. The archangel has superhuman powers of thought, superhuman knowledge and no weaknesses. This unbiased 'ideal observer', when presented with an unfamiliar situation, would be able to immediately scan all potential consequences of all possible actions in order to frame a universal principle from which he/she could decide an appropriate action for the situation. Such a person would not need a set of intuitive moral rules, as he/she would be able to decide the correct response to any possible situation by reason alone. By contrast, the prole has these human weaknesses to an extreme degree. He/she must rely upon intuitions and sound prima facie principles all of the time, as he is incapable of critical thought. The set of intuitive moral rules that the prole follows must be simple and general enough that they can be easily understood and memorised, and also quick and easy to use.
Once one has identified the different types of moral thinking, the next step is to identify when one ought to think like an archangel, and when like a prole. Hare identifies three types of situation where critical thinking is necessary. The first is when the intuitive general principles conflict in particular cases. The second is when, "though there is no conflict between principles, there is something highly unusual about the case which prompts the question whether the general principles are really fitted to deal with it." Thirdly, and most importantly, critical thinking is necessary in order to "select" the intuitive prima facie principles that will be used.
Apart from the criticisms that are commonly made of utilitarianism in general, there are several criticisms made specifically against two-level utilitarianism.
One objection is that two-level utilitarianism undermines an agent's commitment to act in accordance with his or her moral principles. For example, a theist will comply with his/her moral code because he/she sees it as based upon God's will. However, a two-level utilitarian knows that his everyday set of moral rules is merely a guideline, and as such any breach of these rules is unlikely to accompany the same degree of guilt as would someone who believed that it was wrong in principle to act in that way.
David McNaughton argues that, even if the agent's commitment to his/her principles is not undermined, two-level utilitarianism does not succeed in its goal of showing, "how, on utilitarian principles, it is a good idea to think and reason in a pluralist and non-consequentialist manner." It is impossible, he claims, to compartmentalise one's thinking in the way the two-level account requires—to simultaneously think like a utilitarian and act in a non-utilitarian way. Hare's response to this type of criticism is that he does his own moral thinking in this way, therefore the challenge that this type of moral thinking is impossible must be false.
A third variety of objection somewhat related to the problem of 'weakness of will' is that difficulties arise when we try to keep critical thinking separate from intuitive thinking.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10847747 | Gilbert Hottois
Gilbert Hottois (29 March 1946 – 16 March 2019) was a Belgian professor of Philosophy at the Université Libre de Bruxelles who specialised in Bioethics.
Hottois was born in Brussels. His positions included:
He was chair of the programme committee of the 2008 World Congress of Philosophy
He published over 25 sole-authored books and numerous co-authored books and papers.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10977181 | Jeffersonville Ethics Commission
The Jeffersonville Ethics Commission is a commission formed in 2006 by an ordinance compiled by the City Council of Jeffersonville, Indiana that was passed unanimously on June 30, 2006. Then it was signed by Mayor Rob Waiz on July 13, 2006. The Commission reviews complaints and subjects of interests in the financing and campaigning of political campaigns in the city of Jeffersonville. The basis for the local ordinance was a model document from the National League of Cities and campaign-finance codes from a variety of U.S. cities, including Chicago and San Antonio.
The Municipal Campaign Finance Code also known as the Jeffersonville Ethics Ordinance is what the Jeffersonville Ethics Commission use to enforce political campaigns. It is ordinance 2006-OR-36 in the city records and contains eighteen pages and seven articles. The ordinance introduces its intent and then goes into Article I of the ordinance giving definitions of terms used in the ordinance. Article II - Code of Conduct and explains things in fifteen sections from fiduciary duty all the way to prohibition of excepting donations from people with pending litigations against the city. Article III - Financial Disclosure refers to 94-OR-17 Section three of a previous ordinance regulating ethics for city officials and employees. Article IV - Board of Ethics which explains how members of the ethics commission are nominated to the position and how they will function and contains two sections. The composition of powers of the board and a Confidentiality clause. Article V - Sanctions for Violation contains three sections explaining the penalties and process of them. Article VI - Miscellaneous Provisions which covers severability. Article VII - Effective Date.
The Municipal Campaign Finance Code would become amended with an ordinance numbering 2007-OR-56 in city records. In this amendment to the Municipal Campaign Finance Code it begins with an introduction, Article I definitions, and then into Article II "Section 2.4 Receiving and Collecting Gifts and Favors". Section 2.4 restricts the context in which gifts or favors are given and what can be given. It also explains who can give gifts or favors and what amounts in certain situations can be given. "Section 2.5 City Owned Property" addressed that use of property of the city is for official use only and all uses must be authorized prior to usage by city officials or employees. Then "Section 2.6 Use or Disclosure of Confidential Information" explains that officials, candidates, and city employees shall not disclose confidential information other than what required by law, performing his or her official duties, and as permitted in section 2.13. The Municipal Finance Code continues explanations in conflicts of interest regulating business conducted with people like family members of an official, representations of other people regulating how officials and employees represent the city or other persons in situations, post employment restrictions regulating how business is conducted after leaving a job with the city or official position, interests in city business regulating the interaction of business conducted with officials or employees for contracts, services, or other work. After those sections this amendment addresses the employment of Relative in which input is prohibited in the decision process of hiring someone of relation to an official or employee of the city. The hiring of relatives has been controversial for several mayor administrations in the past. The amendment then continues with political activity regulating officials, candidates, or employees interactions with other officials or employees political interests. As well as the limitations thus far the amendment addresses a Whistleblower Protection clause for people making reports with the Ethics Commission as long as they aren't knowingly making a false report. The rest of the amendment clarifies limitations of contributions to elected officials and candidates and the prohibition of accepting donations from individuals, entities, or corporations that have pending litigation against the city. Article III is the "Financial Disclosure" referencing an old ordinance numbered 94-OR-17 in the city records. Article IV "Board of Ethics" regulates the composition and powers of the board and confidentiality. Article V "Sanctions for Violations" explains employment sanctions, fines, and validity of contract. Article VI "Miscellaneous Provisions" regulating severability. Article VIII "Effective Date" which was passed by the Council on November 5, 2007 and then signed by mayor Rob Waiz on November 9.
The Jeffersonville Ethics Commission members consist of five positions and a secretary to log the meetings.
"The lawyer is the only paid position of the commission and doesn't get a vote"
A point of concern has been adding to the law to include prohibiting members from being on the commission while actively pursuing an elected position. Elected officials are prohibited from being on the council. This was addressed in the amended law to prohibit candidates from participating.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10999304 | Richard A. McCormick
Richard A. McCormick (1922 – February 12, 2000) was a leading liberal Catholic moral theologian who reshaped Catholic thought in the United States. He wrote many journal articles on Catholic social teachings and moral theory. He was an expert in Catholic medical ethics and for many years wrote the "Notes on Moral Theology" column in "Theological Studies." He was "particularly articulate" among the five moral theologians who in 1964 at the Kennedy Compound crafted a political position for the Kennedy clan that would permit abortion in law.
Joining the Jesuits in 1940, he was ordained a priest in 1953. During his career, he served as a professor of Christian ethics at the University of Notre Dame and Georgetown.
In an article in "America" magazine (July 17, 1993), McCormick wrote that the prohibition of any serious discussion of "Humanae Vitae" had led to "a debilitating malaise that has undermined the credibility of the magisterium in other areas."
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11006469 | The Lord protects the simple
The Lord protects the simple is a phrase from a verse in the Hebrew Bible. In Judaism, the phrase has both a plain meaning and another meaning due to rabbinic exegesis.
states: "The Lord protects the simple, I was brought low and he saved me." According to the plain meaning of this verse, the Psalmist is expressing confidence and gratitude to the divine.
This verse (and Psalm) are recited by Jews in the liturgical thanksgiving prayer, the Hallel.
In the rabbinic tradition, this verse takes on an entirely different and quite important meaning. The verse represents a principle of Jewish law (halakha) that permits people to assume various low-level risks and dangers. Risk may be taken because, as the verse states, the deity protects people who are "simple" (). In Jewish ethics and law, the principle of "The Lord protects the simple" has been applied at times to permit cigarette smoking, circumcision at inauspicious moments, bloodletting, unprotected intercourse for women perceived to be at risk, and such superstitions as the marriage of a woman whose previous two husbands had died ("isha katlanit").
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11014645 | Jenny Teichman
Jenny Teichman (1930 – 12 September 2018) was an Australian/British philosopher, writing mostly on ethics. She was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1930 and lived as a child in the artists' colony of Montsalvat. She married the lecturer and political commentator Max Teichmann. She taught mostly at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge, formerly known as New Hall, where she became an Emeritus Fellow. She taught for shorter periods in Australia, Canada and the USA. She was research fellow at Somerville College, Oxford from 1957 until 1960.
She died on 12 September 2018.
J. Teichman, Review of Aurel Kolnai's "Sexual Ethics"
J. Teichman, 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' (on Peter Singer)
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11030320 | Conspiracy of silence (expression)
A conspiracy of silence, or culture of silence, describes the behavior of a group of people of some size, as large as an entire national group or profession or as small as a group of colleagues, that by unspoken consensus does not mention, discuss, or acknowledge a given subject. The practice may be motivated by positive interest in group solidarity or by such negative impulses as fear of political repercussion or social ostracism. It differs from avoiding a taboo subject in that the term is applied to more limited social and political contexts rather than to an entire culture. As a descriptor, "conspiracy of silence" implies dishonesty, sometimes cowardice, sometimes privileging loyalty to one social group over another. As a social practice, it is rather more extensive than the use of euphemisms to avoid addressing a topic directly.
Some instances of such a practice are sufficiently well-known or enduring to become known by their own specific terms, including Code of silence for the refusal of law enforcement officers to speak out against crimes committed by fellow officers and omertà, cultural code of organized crime in Sicily.
Examples of the use of the term vary widely and include:
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11054720 | Sudanese goat marriage incident
The Sudanese goat marriage incident was a 2006 event and publicity surrounding the 2006 event in which a South Sudanese man named Charles Tombe was forced to "marry" a goat with which he was caught engaging in sexual activity (bestiality) in the Hai Malakal suburb of Juba, South Sudan. The owner of the goat subdued the perpetrator and asked village elders to consider the matter. One elder noted that he and the other elders found the perpetrator, tied up by the owner, at the door of the goat shed. The goat's owner reported that, "They said I should not take him to the police, but rather let him pay a dowry for my goat because he used it as his wife." The perpetrator was thus ordered to "marry" the goat, pay the cost of the goat and pay a dowry of 15,000 dinar (equating to US$50 in 2006, the GDP per capita was US$1,522 for 2008), with half of the dowry up front. The goat apparently acquired the name "Rose" during the elders' deliberations as part of a joke.
The story, first published on 24 February 2006 on the BBC website, attracted massive attention and was republished on numerous newspapers, blogs and other websites. Even a year after publication, the story was consistently among the BBC's 10 most emailed articles, with many visitors to the BBC news site passing the tale on to friends. The story received over 100,000 hits on five successive days long after its original publication, and was read by millions of people. The BBC, astonished at this popularity, wondered if there was a campaign to keep the tale at the top of its rankings; however, an investigation by its senior software engineer, Gareth Owen, determined that the demand was genuine.
On 3 May 2007, it was reported that the goat had died, having choked on a plastic bag. The goat was survived by a four-month-old male kid. The BBC honoured the animal with a mock obituary. The death was also reported in many other news outlets, including "The Times", the "Daily Mail", and Fox News. In November 2013, the South Sudan Law Society called for a review of all South Sudan's laws to abolish bizarre or cruel practices under customary law, such as "a man being forced to marry a goat called "Rose" after deflowering her."
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11055676 | Christian views on environmentalism
Christian views on environmentalism vary among different Christians and Christian denominations.
Major Christian denominations endorse the Biblical calling of our stewardship of God's creation and our responsibility for its care. Some of this church policy is relatively recent and may not be followed by some parishioners. According to some social science research, conservative Christians and members of the Christian right are typically less concerned about issues of environmentalism than the general public.
Green Christianity is a broad field that encompasses Christian theological reflection on nature, Christian liturgical and spiritual practices centered on environmental issues, as well as Christian-based activism in the environmental movement. Within the activism arena, green Christianity refers to a diverse group of Christians who emphasize the biblical or theological basis for protecting and celebrating the environment. The term indicates not a particular denomination, but a shared territory of concern.
Christianity has a long historical tradition of reflection on nature and human responsibility. Christianity has a strong tendency toward anthropocentrism, as emphasized in the early environmentalist critique of Lynn Townsend White, Jr.. While some Christians favor a more biocentric approach, Catholic officials and others seek to retain an emphasis on humanity while incorporating environmental concerns within a framework of Creation Care. Christian environmentalists emphasize the ecological responsibilities of all Christians as stewards of God's earth.
Beginning with the Genesis 1:26-28, God instructs humanity to manage the creation in particular ways.
Adam's early purpose was to give care to the Garden of Eden:
Green Christians point out that the biblical emphasis is on stewardship, not ownership—that the earth remains the Lord's (Psalms 24:1) and does not belong to its human inhabitants. Leviticus 25:23 states:
As a result of the doctrine of stewardship, Christian environmentalists oppose policies and practices that threaten the health or survival of the planet. Of particular concern to such Christians are the current widespread reliance on non-renewable resources, habitat destruction, pollution, and all other factors that contribute to climate change or otherwise threaten the health of the ecosystem. Many Christian environmentalists have broken with conservative political leaders as a result of these positions.
The Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church have strong beliefs about the need for environmental awareness and actions. Reducing carbon footprints and moving toward sustainable living are priorities.
Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, the "first among equals" in the Eastern Orthodox Communion, has voiced support for aspects of the environmentalist movement, as has Pope John Paul II of Rome. Fr. John Chryssavgis serves as advisor to the Ecumenical Patriarch, currently Bartholomew I, on environmental issues such as global warming. Orthodox Christian theology is generally more mystical and panentheistic than the traditions which developed in the Christian West, emphasizing the renewal and transfiguration of the whole creation through Christ's redemptive work. Many Eastern Christian monastics are known for having cultivated unusually close relationships with wild animals.
In the nineteenth century, Catholicos Nerses V of All Armenians planted a forest stretching 100 hectares. Much of it was destroyed during the Communist era but replanting efforts have begun in the twenty-first century.
The late Catholicos Karekin I stated that the Armenian Apostolic Church is committed to the defence of creation because harming the gift of God is a sin when man has a duty to care for it.
Under Catholicos Karekin II, the Armenian Church produced a seven-year ecological action plan
Traditionally, Ethiopian Orthodox monasteries and some churches have preserved small sacred forests around their buildings in memory of the Garden of Eden. This has allowed many endangered species to survive in areas where their habitat has otherwise been lost.
As the scientific community has presented evidence of climate change, some members of the evangelical community and other Christian groups have emphasized the need for Christian ecology, often employing the phrase "creation care" to indicate the religious basis of their project. Some of these groups are now interdenominational, having begun from an evangelical background and then gained international and interdenominational prominence with the increase in public awareness of environmental issues. Organizations with an evangelical genesis include A Rocha, the Evangelical Climate Initiative and the Evangelical Environmental Network.
Some prominent members of the so-called Christian right have broken with the Bush administration and other conservative politicians over the issue of climate change. "Christianity Today" endorsed the McCain-Lieberman Bill, which was eventually defeated by the Republican Congress and opposed by Bush. According to the magazine, "Christians should make it clear to governments and businesses that we are willing to adapt our lifestyles and support steps towards changes that protect our environment." The increasing Christian support for strong positions on climate change and related issues has been referred to as "The Greening of Evangelicals." Many Christians have expressed dissatisfaction with a leadership they feel places the interests of big businesses over Christian doctrine.
However, many conservative evangelical Christians have embraced climate change denialism or maintain a neutral stance due to the lack of internal consensus on such issues. The Cornwall Alliance is an organization which takes an opposing view on the issue to the Evangelical Climate Initiative. The National Association of Evangelicals has stated that "global warming is not a consensus issue", and is internally divided on the Christian response to climate change.
The Latter Day Saint movement has a complex relationship with environmental concerns, involving not only the religion but politics and economics. Mormon environmentalists find theological reasons for stewardship and conservationism through biblical and additional scriptural references including a passage from the Doctrine and Covenants: "And it pleaseth God that he hath given all these things unto man; for unto this end were they made to be used, with judgment, not to excess, neither by extortion". In terms of environmentally friendly policies, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has some history of conservationist policies for their meetinghouses and other buildings. The church first placed solar panels on a church meetinghouse in the Tuamotu Islands in 2007. In 2010, the church unveiled five LEED certified meetinghouse prototypes that are being used for future meetinghouse designs around the world, the first one having been completed in 2010 in Farmington, Utah.
Major Lutheran Synods acknowledge that the Bible calls us to care for God's creation. The dominion that God gave His human creatures has often been abused, carried out to the detriment of creation: loss of biodiversity, resource depletion, environmental damage, etc. We are called to live according to God’s wisdom in Creation with his other creatures. Sustainable living is needed.
Catholic environmental activists have found support in teachings by Pope Paul VI ("Octogesima adveniens", #21) and Pope John Paul II (e.g., the encyclical "Centesimus annus", #37-38).
Pope Francis has published an encyclical, named "Laudato si' (Be Praised), On the Care of Our Common Home", which aims to inspire everyone - not just Roman Catholics - to protect the Earth.
He endorses climate action and has made cases on Christian environmentalism on several occasions.
"Take good care of creation. St. Francis wanted that. People occasionally forgive, but nature never does. If we don’t take care of the environment, there’s no way of getting around it."
The Seventh-day Adventist church is committed to environmental stewardship as well as taking action to avoid the dangers of climate change.
According to its official statement, the church "advocates a simple, wholesome lifestyle, where people do not step on the treadmill of unbridled over-consumption, accumulation of goods, and production of waste. A reformation of lifestyle is called for, based on respect for nature, restraint in the use of the world's resources, reevaluation of one's needs, and reaffirmation of the dignity of created life."
In 2010, Loma Linda University, one of the church's largest universities, introduced the Loma Linda University Center for Biodiversity and Conservation Studies. The goal of the center is to address the comparative lack of environmental concern among Christians by increasing awareness of environmental issues. The center features animal displays representing global biodiversity hotspots of special concern and also introduces visitors to original scientific research being conducted in the school's biology, geology and natural sciences departments.
The Southern Baptist Environment and Climate Initiative is an independent coalition of Southern Baptist pastors, leaders, and laypersons who believe in stewardship that is both biblically rooted and intellectually informed.
The United Methodist Church believes in the need for environmental stewardship. For Christians, the idea of sustainability flows directly from the biblical call to human beings to be stewards of God's creation.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11147934 | Operation Provide Hope
Operation Provide Hope was a humanitarian operation conducted by the U.S. Air Force to provide medical equipment to former Soviet republics during their transition to capitalism. The operation was announced by Secretary of State James A. Baker, III on January 22–23, 1992 and the initial shipment of supplies was sent on February 10, 1992. Sixty-five C-5 and C-141 missions flew of food and medical supplies to 24 locations in the Commonwealth of Independent States during the initial launch. Much of these supplies was left over from the buildup to the Persian Gulf War.
For nearly two weeks, US Air Force C-5A’s and C-141’s delivered several hundred tons of emergency food, medicines, and medical supplies to all twelve new independent states of the former Soviet Union, not only to each capital city but also to several outlying cities, especially across Russia. Small teams of US personnel from various government agencies (On-Site Inspection Agency, USAID, and USDA) had been placed in each destination shortly before the deliveries, to coordinate with local officials and to monitor to the best extent possible that the deliveries reached the intended recipients (i.e., orphanages, hospitals, soup kitchens, and needy families).
Following the initial shipment, Phase II of the operation began, consisting of continuing support of the former Soviet republics. Food and medical supplies were shipped by sea, land, and air from Europe. In all, 25,000 short tons of food and medicine were sent to 33 cities in the former Soviet Union. The final stage of the operation was to build, staff, and train hospitals throughout the former Soviet Union.
The operation concluded in September 1994.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11150793 | Moral sense theory
Moral sense theory (also known as moral sentimentalism) is a theory in moral epistemology and meta-ethics concerning the discovery of moral truths. Moral sense theory typically holds that distinctions between morality and immorality are discovered by emotional responses to experience. Some take it to be primarily a view about the nature of moral facts or moral beliefs (a primarily metaphysical view)—this form of the view more often goes by the name "sentimentalism". Others take the view to be primarily about the nature of justifying moral beliefs (a primarily epistemological view)—this form of the view more often goes by the name "moral sense theory". However, some theorists take the view to be one which claims that both moral facts and how one comes to be justified in believing them are necessarily bound up with human emotions.
Popular historical advocates of some version of the moral sense theory or sentimentalism include the 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury (1671–1713), Francis Hutcheson (1694–1746), David Hume (1711–1776), and Adam Smith (1723–1790). Some contemporary advocates include Michael Slote, Justin D'Arms, Daniel Jacobson, Jesse Prinz, and perhaps John McDowell. Simon Blackburn and Allan Gibbard endorse a non-cognitivist form of sentimentalism.
Some use the term "ethical intuitionism" in moral philosophy to refer to the general position that we have some non-inferential moral knowledge (that is, basic moral knowledge that is not inferred from or based on any proposition). On this definition, moral sense theory is a form of ethical intuitionism.
However, it is important to distinguish between empiricist versus rationalist models of this. One may thus distinguish between rationalist ethical intuitionism for the rationalist version and "moral sense theory" for the empiricist version. (This will be the use of the terms here. However, the terminology is not ultimately important, so long as one keeps in mind the relevant differences between these two models of non-inferential moral knowledge.)
The first prominent moral sense theory (especially using the term "sense") is found in Mencius (372–289 BCE). The eponymous text deals with an innate moral sense possessed by all human beings. All orthodox interpretations of Confucianism accept this view, several unorthodox groups make a point of refuting it (see: Xunzi). This line of thinking reached its most extreme iteration in xinxue, a form of Neo-Confucianism associated with the Ming Dynasty and Wang Yangming.
In the west, the first prominent moral sense theory is found in Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury (1671–1713). His major work espousing a form of moral sense theory is "An Inquiry Concerning Virtue, or Merit" (first published in an unauthorized edition in 1699).
Subsequently, Francis Hutcheson (1694–1746) developed a version of moral sense theory. The chief statements of his theory occur in "An Inquiry Concerning the Original of Our Ideas of Virtue or Moral Good" (1725; Treatise II of "An Inquiry Into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue") and "An Essay On the Nature and Conduct of the Passions and Affections, With Illustrations Upon the Moral Sense" (1728).
Arguably the most prominent defender of moral sense theory in the history of philosophy is David Hume (1711–1776). While he discusses morality in Book 3 of his "Treatise of Human Nature" (1739–40), Hume's most mature, positive account of the moral sense is found in "An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals" (1751).
Adam Smith also advanced a form of moral sense theory in his "The Theory of Moral Sentiments" (1759). Smith focused less on a single faculty of the moral sense and more on the various sentiments that make up the moral feelings that ground moral judgments.
Thomas Reid (1710–1796) defends moral sense theory in his "Essays on the Active Powers of the Human Mind". He compares the moral sense to sight and hearing, and defends its veridicality on the same ground as those.
The introduction of Herbert Spencer's "Social Statics" argued on behalf of moral sense theory.
The moral sense is often described as providing information in a way analogous to other sensory modalities, such as sight in the perception of colors. It is contrasted with the way in which one acquires "a priori", non-empirical knowledge, such as mathematical knowledge for example.
One way to understand the moral sense is to draw an analogy between it and other kinds of senses. Beauty is something we see in some faces, artworks and landscapes. We can also hear it in some pieces of music. We clearly do not need an independent aesthetic sense faculty to perceive beauty in the world. Our ordinary five senses are quite enough to observe it, though merely observing something beautiful is not by itself enough to appreciate its beauty. Suppose we give a name to this ability to appreciate the beauty in things we see: let's call it the aesthetic sense.
This aesthetic sense does not come automatically to all people with perfect vision and hearing, so it is fair to describe it as something extra, something not wholly reducible to vision and hearing. As the aesthetic sense informs us about what is beautiful, we can analogically understand the "moral sense" as informing us of what is good. People with a functioning moral sense get a clear impression of wrongness when they see (or perhaps even imagine) someone being mugged, for example.
However, though the wrongness is obvious, we may find it very difficult to list the features of the scene which account for the wrongness. We discover wrongness through observing natural properties with our five senses. Can we list the necessary and sufficient conditions such that any action which satisfies these conditions is wrong?
The Ethical Naturalist thinks that in principle, we can. For naturalists, rightness and wrongness are nothing more than certain combinations of natural, non-evaluative properties. Since we can in principle build mechanical detectors for all these natural properties, the Ethical Naturalist thinks wrongness is something that a machine could eventually detect.
The ethical intuitionist typically disagrees (although, it is not essential to the view): they see a wide conceptual gap between natural facts and evaluations. There seem to be no valid arguments in which purely descriptive/factual premises entail a prescriptive/evaluative conclusion.
Ethical intuitionists claim that only an agent with a moral sense can observe natural properties and through them discover the moral properties of the situation. Without the moral sense, you might see and hear all the colors and yelps, but the moral properties would remain hidden, and there would be in principle no way to ever discover them (except, of course, via testimony from someone else with a moral sense).
The key opponents of moral sense theory (as a primarily epistemological view) are rationalist ethical intuitionists—such as G.E. Moore (1903), W.D. Ross (1930), and Michael Huemer (2005), and other moral rationalists, such as Immanuel Kant and Samuel Clarke.
For a recent criticism of sentimentalism (as a primarily metaphysical thesis), see François Schroeter (2006). D'Arms and Jacobson (2000) also provide a recent critique; however, they criticize "simple sentimentalism" and defend a more "sophisticated sentimentalism".
Joshua Greene criticizes the epistemic basis of moral sentimentalism because of beliefs formed in response to morally irrelevant factors. These factors change our moral decisions, but they should not because they do not have a bearing on the morality of the decision. The example he uses is the trolley problem and compares it to the fat man rendition of it. Empirical data shows that people chose differently between the two scenarios, despite them being the same moral dilemma, the only difference being pulling a switch in the former and pushing the man in the latter.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11208444 | United Givers Fund
United Givers Fund is the name used by several current or historical joint charitable appeals in the United States. Many of these appeals later adopted the United Way name, sometimes in conjunction with a merger with another charitable appeal.
Fundraising groups currently operating in the United States (primarily in the southeastern United States) under the United Givers Fund name include Cochran-Bleckley United Givers Fund Inc. of Cochran, Georgia and United Givers Fund of Marshall County Inc. of Lewisburg, Tennessee.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11221159 | Charity badge
A charity badge is a widget used on websites, blogs, social networks or e-mail for promotion of some humanitarian initiative, mainly gathering donations for charity projects.
The idea was initiated by the Yahoo! search engine and the Network for Good charity aggregator.
Some companies allow website owners or bloggers to make a personalized badge for setting up a link to a favourite charity, creating the possibility of wide social involvement for donations.
Surveys suggest 61% of people give to a charity because a personal connection has asked them to make a contribution.
The charity badge method of giving has gained popularity among communities of online users. Yahoo! promote a contest for gathering the biggest quantity of one-time donations.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11224741 | Right to equal protection
The Right to Equal Protection is a concept that was introduced into the Constitution of the United States during the American Civil War. It is intended to protect the rights provided by the United States Constitution for all individuals regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, etc. It is fundamentally based on the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, intended to secure rights for former slaves. The Constitution is claimed to uphold racial and gender equality, but until the 1950s, enforcing slavery, segregation, and gender inequality were major aspects of the history of the American federal government.
In 1896, the United States Supreme Court determined that the "separate but equal" doctrine was constitutional in the case "Plessy v. Ferguson." Although the Fourteenth Amendment abolished slavery, and intended to end racial segregation, the Southern States initiated Jim Crow Laws, which segregated people of color in public schools, public transportation, restaurants, etc. The ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson meant that as long as facilities for both colored and white individuals were equal, it was constitutional. In 1954, the ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson was overturned in the Supreme Court case "Brown v. Board of Education. "The Supreme Court determined that the establishment of separate schools for whites and blacks inherently unequal, and as a result unconstitutional. This ruling put an end to segregation on the basis of equal rights of protection.
These court cases however had no bearing on women's suffrage or equality. The Nineteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution legislates that neither the individual states of the United States nor its federal government may deny a citizen the right to vote because of the citizen's sex.
In recent years equal protection of citizens within the workplace has become a major issue. As a result of various amendments, citizens can not be discriminated against in work places based on terms of gender, ethnicity, race, height, or other similar differences. For example, a potential employee who is unusually short and weak can not be denied a job in a police force based upon his size.
An Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which would grant equal rights to women, has been a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution since 1972. Having failed to meet the deadline requirements for passage incorporated into the original proposed amendment, efforts to reintroduce and ratify similar amendments have come before Congress every year since 1982.
The very existence of equal rights, however, is controversial because it sets boundaries and makes clear the differences among citizens. In order to declare something as equal, there must exist a comparison to something that is unequal. In doing this, people are forced to compare equality in terms of education, wage, and many other controversial considerations.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11239314 | Cyphonism
Cyphonism (, from , "bent, crooked") was a form of punishment using a (), a kind of wooden pillory in which the neck of a malefactor would be fastened. Formerly, this term was widely believed to refer to scaphism, a form of punishment or torture in which a person's naked body was smeared with honey, and exposed to flies, wasps, and other pests.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11244549 | Michael Reiss
Michael J. Reiss, FRSB FRSA (born 1960) is a British bioethicist, educator, and journalist. He is also an Anglican priest. Reiss is professor of science education at the Institute of Education, University College London, where he is assistant director, research and development.
Reiss's father was an obstetrician; his mother, a midwife. His father was Jewish; his mother, an agnostic. Reiss had a secular upbringing in north London.
He began his career as a schoolteacher at Hills Road Sixth Form College, Cambridge in 1983. In 1989, he became a lecturer and tutor in the Department of Education at the University of Cambridge. At the age of 29, Reiss began training to be a priest in the Church of England and was ordained in 1991. For many years, he led the Sunday service in his local village near Cambridge. He was a senior lecturer at Cambridge until 1998, then reader in education and bioethics until 2000. From 2003, he was chief executive of the Science Learning Centre in London.
From 2006 to 2008, he was director of education at the Royal Society, a position he resigned on 16 September 2008, following protests about his views on tackling creationism when teaching evolution in schools, which the Royal Society said were "open to misinterpretation".
Reiss works in the fields of science education, bioethics, and sex education. He has a special interest in the ethical implications of genetic engineering. He was formerly head of the School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology at the Institute of Education, University College London. In science education, he currently directs projects funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, including a longitudinal, ethnographic study of pupils' learning, currently in its eleventh year.
Reiss is a frequent consultant to the Royal Society, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, the Training and Development Agency for Schools (formerly known as the Teacher Training Agency or the TTA) and other organisations. He serves on the editorial board of the "International Journal of Science Education". He was a specialist adviser to the House of Lords Select Committee on Animals in Scientific Procedures, 2001–02, and is a member of the Farm Animal Welfare Council.
As early as November 2006, Reiss suggested that, rather than dismissing creationism as a "misconception," teachers should take the time to explain why creationism had no scientific basis. In September 2008, his views were presented in some media reports as lending support to teaching creationism as a legitimate point of view; however both he and the Royal Society later stated that this was a misrepresentation. Reiss stressed that the topic should not be taught as science, but rather should be construed as a cultural "Worldview." Reiss argued that it was more effective to engage with pupils' ideas about creationism, rather than to obstruct discussion with those who do not accept the scientific version of the evolution of species.
In July 2009, he led a number of the UK's most senior scientists in writing to the Schools Secretary Ed Balls to complain that Ofsted's proposed new curriculum for primary schools did not mention evolution.
In 2010 Reiss debated Michael Behe on the topic of Intelligent Design.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11267046 | Adrian Raine
Adrian Raine (born 27 January 1954) is a British psychologist. He currently holds the chair of Richard Perry University Professor of Criminology & Psychiatry in the Department of Criminology of the School of Arts and Sciences and in the Department of Psychiatry of the School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He is noted for his research on the neurobiological and biosocial causes of antisocial and violent behavior in children and adults. He was the first scientist to use neuroimaging to study the brains of murderers. His 2013 book "The Anatomy of Violence" won that year's Athenaeum Literary Award.
Raine received his bachelor's degree in experimental psychology from Oxford University in 1977. He received his D.Phil. in psychology from the University of York in 1982.
Raine spent four years in two high-security prisons in England working as a prison psychologist. He was appointed lecturer in Behavioural Sciences in the Department of Psychiatry at Nottingham University in 1984 and in 1986 became director of the Mauritius Child Health Project, a continuing longitudinal study of child mental health following a group of 1795 people form Mauritius from the age of three onward. Raine moved to the United States in 1987 to become assistant professor in psychology at the University of Southern California (USC). His motives in moving from Britain to the United States were twofold: first, he thought that American scientists were more open-minded regarding the potential role of genetics in crime than their British counterparts, and second, there were more murderers in the United States for him to study. He was promoted to tenured associate professor there in 1990. In 1999, he was given the endowed chair of Robert G. Wright Professor of Psychology at USC. In 2007, he made the move to serve as Richard Perry University Professor of Criminology & Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. He also serves as the University's fourth Penn Integrates Knowledge professor.
Raine has received the Young Psychologist of the Year Award from the British Psychological Society (1980), a Research Scientist Development Award from the National Institute of Mental Health (1993), an Independent Scientist Award from the National Institute of Mental Health (1999), the Joseph Zubin Memorial Award (1999), and USC's Associate's Award for Creativity in Research (2003). He has been a fellow of the Academy of Experimental Criminology since 2007 and of the American Psychological Society since 2011.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11267562 | Conjugal Lewdness
The full original title of this 1727 essay by Daniel Defoe was "Conjugal Lewdness or, Matrimonial Whoredom", though he was later asked to rename it for the sake of propriety. The modified title became "A Treatise Concerning the Use and Abuse of the Marriage Bed".
The essay dealt primarily with contraception, comparing it directly with infanticide. Defoe accomplished this through anecdotes, such as a conversation between two women in which the right-minded chides the other for asking for "recipes" that might prevent pregnancy. In the essay, he further referred to contraception as "the diabolical practice of attempting to prevent childbearing by physical preparations."
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11275060 | Solomon Joseph Solomon
Solomon Joseph Solomon (16 September 1860 – 27 July 1927) was a British painter, a founding member of the New English Art Club and member of the Royal Academy.
Solomon's family was Jewish, and his sister, Lily Delissa Joseph (née Solomon), was also a painter. He made an important contribution to the development of camouflage in the First World War, working in particular on tree observation posts and arguing tirelessly for camouflage netting.
Born in London in 1860, Solomon studied at various art schools, sequentially, Heatherley School of Fine Art, the Royal Academy Schools, the Munich Academy, and École des Beaux-Arts (under Alexandre Cabanel). Solomon also studied separately under Rev. S. Singer. He exhibited his first works as early as 1881, and showed at the Royal Academy, the New Gallery, and the Society of British Artists. In 1886, he became one of the founding members of the New English Art Club. In 1896, he became an associate of the Royal Academy, with full membership following in 1906, one of the few Jewish painters to do so. He joined, and became president of, the Royal Society of British Artists in 1919. In 1921 "Col. S.J. Solomon, R.A., P.R.B.A." was listed as one of the early members of the newly-formed Society of Graphic Art.
Solomon's painting was grounded in his influence from his teacher Alexandre Cabanel, but was also influenced by Frederic Leighton and Lawrence Alma-Tadema. Solomon painted mainly portraits to earn a living, but also painted dramatic, theatrical scenes from mythology and the bible on large canvasses. These scenes include some of his more popular paintings. In 1897 he painted a mural for the Royal Exchange, London "Charles I demanding the Five Members at the Guildhall, 1641–42". One of Solomon's most popular works was "Samson" (1887), depicting a scene from the biblical story of Samson and Delilah. This painting was praised for its use of multiple male nudes in active poses. "Samson" is one of few Solomon paintings on regular display, at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. Some other Solomon paintings that have received significant attention include "Ajax and Cassandra" (1886, "illustration, right") and "The Birth of Love" (1896).
Solomon became well known as an innovative portrait artist by the time he painted "Mrs Patrick Campbell as 'Paula Tanqueray"' (1894), her role in Arthur Wing Pinero's "The Second Mrs Tanqueray", and went on to paint a number of portraits of well-known people, including the architect Sir Aston Webb, and later in life, the royals King George V, Queen Mary, and Prince Edward (later King Edward VIII). Solomon was also in demand as a book illustrator, particularly adventure books. In 1914, Solomon authored "The Practice of Oil Painting and Drawing".
During World War I, Solomon was a pioneer of camouflage techniques. Having originally signed-up at the start of the war as a private in The Artists Rifles, a home defence corps, he promoted his ideas on camouflage, initially in the press and then directly to senior army officers.
In December 1915, General Herbert Plumer arranged for Solomon to visit the front lines and investigate techniques in use by the French. His ideas were accepted, and he was asked to set up a team to start the production of camouflage materials in France. On 31 December 1915, General Haig, Commander-in-chief of the British forces in France, instructed that Solomon be given the temporary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel to enable him to carry out his new duties.
The new unit's first task was the design of armoured observation posts disguised as trees, following the pioneering work of the French Section de Camouflage led by Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scévola. The first British tree observation post was put up on 22 March 1916. Solomon was effective at the artistic and technical tasks of designing trees and nets, but not as a commander. He was replaced in March 1916, instead becoming a technical advisor, a role that suited him better. In May 1916, he was sent to England to help develop tank camouflage. Solomon doubted that tanks could be effectively camouflaged since they cast a large shadow. Instead, he argued for the use of camouflage netting, with which he gradually became obsessed, claiming that the Germans were hiding huge armies under immense nets. Camouflage netting was at first considered unimportant by the army; it was not manufactured in large quantities until 1917. Eventually, in 1920, he published a book, "Strategic Camouflage", arguing this case, to critical derision in England but with some support from German newspapers.
In December 1916, Solomon established a camouflage school in Hyde Park which was eventually taken over by the army.
Solomon's daughter, Iris, was married to Ewen Montagu, one of the "brains" behind Operation Mincemeat in World War Two. Solomon was an uncle of the American playwright Moss Hart.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11335565 | Richard Arneson
Richard J. Arneson is an American philosopher specializing in political philosophy who has taught at the University of California, San Diego since 1973. He chaired the department during 1992–1996 and served as graduate adviser. In 1996, he also served as visiting professor in the ethics, politics, and economics program at Yale University. Arneson earned his PhD in philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1975. His work has largely focused on utilitarianism and on luck egalitarianism. He is also a proponent of prioritarianism.
Richard Arneson has also critiqued Marxism in great depth; he argued that capitalism was exploitative for more complex reasons than the labour theory of value accounted for. He argued that surplus transfer was only wrong when it was the result of an unequal distribution of social goods. Therefore, under capitalism, the majority of exchanges are inherently exploitative because the benefits end up in the hands of those who do not need it. Nonetheless, surplus transfer is legitimate when it arises independently or when it is used to compensate the unequal distribution of natural endowments and wealth.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11348580 | Arne Johan Vetlesen
Arne Johan Vetlesen (born 10 September 1960) is a Norwegian professor of philosophy at the University of Oslo, who concentrates on the topic of ethics and social philosophy.
He took the cand.mag. (similar to BA) degree in sociology and anthropology, before studying at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main from 1985 to 1990. He took the dr.philos. degree at the University of Oslo in 1993. Before becoming a full professor at the University of Oslo in 1998, Vetlesen worked as a research fellow and associate professor. He is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.
His books in English include "The Denial of Nature" (2015), "A Philosophy of Pain" (2009), "Evil and Human Agency" (2005), "Perception, Empathy, and Judgment" (1994), and "Closeness" (1997).
Evil and Human Agency is a 2005 book written by Arne Johan Vetlesen. Vetlesen combines philosophical, sociological, and psychological approaches in order to contend that evil is defined by its intentionality and harmfulness and to investigate why people commit acts of organized evil. He uses Hannah Arendt and Zygmunt Bauman as his main sources.
Vetlesen focuses on large-scale acts of evil such as the Holocaust and former Yugoslavia's “ethnic cleansing” in order to investigate how human agency allows an individual to cause harm to another intentionally and how personal intention turns into a collective evil. He argues that collective evil stems from a combination of “character, situation, and structure.” Vetlesen poses an important distinction between immorality and evil. While many acts may be considered immoral, only acts that harm another with intentionality are considered acts of evil. He aims to push away what he considers to be the current “shallow” understanding of evil that observes an immoral action's bad effects or consequences by instead focusing on what causes someone to deliberately inflict harm or pain. In the first three chapters, Vetlesen analyzes Bauman's Modernity and the Holocaust, Hannah Arendt's ideas on “the banality of evil” and Adolf Eichmann, and C. Fred Alford's theories on the individual desire to commit evil. He focuses on theories of collective evil by detailing former Yugoslavia's “ethnic cleansing.”
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11388640 | Zona Norte, Tijuana
Zona Norte (officially "Colonia Zona Norte", "North Zone (neighborhood)") is an official neighborhood, as well as a red light district located in Tijuana, Mexico. It is among the largest red-light districts in North America known for its brothels, which present themselves in public as strip clubs and bars, similar to gentlemen's clubs in the United States.
Many bars and strip clubs in Tijuana's red light district in which women are the feature entertainment also operate as brothels, which offer attached hotel rooms for short intervals of time. Many other bars, styled "lady bars", function as less explicit social clubs where prostitutes and nude sex shows are not accommodated on site, but "fichas" (drinks for the working ladies) are offered at elevated prices, and freelance prostitutes look for clients.
These compare in most respects to the hostess bars in Japan. The red light district in Tijuana is also known for street prostitution, particularly behind the main strip clubs on Calle Coahuila, in a large high-traffic alley named "Primer Callejón Coahuila".
Illicit drug sales are also common to the red light district, but they occur largely out of the public eye. Heroin use and theft, not common elsewhere in Mexico, are rampant here.
Due to its proximity to San Diego, California, it is frequented by US citizens, as well as locals. The district is also known as La Coahuila for the name of the primary avenue that runs through it.
Zona Norte is bordered by Downtown Tijuana (Zona Centro) on the south, Zona Río on the east, San Diego and the Mexico–United States border on the north, and colonia Castillo on the west. Politically, the Zona Norte neighborhood is part of the Delegación Centro (Central Borough). Tijuana's red light district itself encompasses just a couple of blocks within Zona Norte.
The unofficial boundaries of the red light district extend from Avenida Revolución to Av. Miguel F. Martinez, east to west, and from Baja California to Calle Primera, north to south. The focal point of the red light district, however, is the core block bordered by Calle Coahuila on the north and Primer Callejón Coahuila on the south between Constitucion and Niños Heroes.
Prostitution is permitted in Tijuana's red light district, designated a "zona de tolerancia", or "tolerance zone." Legal prostitution within the city requires sex workers to obtain a permit and be subjected to monthly health checkups. Brothels in Tijuana, many of them modeled on strip clubs and hostess clubs, must also conform to certain health regulations, such as standards of cleanliness, fixed operating hours, and be placed a regulated distance from schools or day care centers.
In addition to established brothels, there are prostitutes who work outside on the "callejones" or alleys and are referred to as "paraditas", Spanish for "the standing girls", for their practice of standing on the street to advertise their services. Paraditas have been regarded as part of Tijuana's cultural history, and attempts to force the women off the streets to curb such public advertising have proven unpopular and unsuccessful. These street workers are legal prostitutes who simply prefer the relatively quiet environment of the street to the loud music and smoky atmosphere of the bars.
Illegal drug sales occur in Zona Norte. Substance abuse is not uncommon. 10% of hospitalizations in Tijuana are for alcoholism.
Prostitution of children is a problem in Tijuana's Zona Norte, both in the form of voluntary acts as well as illegal child trafficking. Voluntary prostitution by children, often referred to as survival sex in order to obtain a warm meal or a place to sleep for the night is prevalent in the area. Often these children are smuggled across the border into San Diego and other nearby areas.
Michael Hemmingson's ethnographic study, "Zona Norte: The Post-Structural Body of Erotic Dancers and Sex Workers in Tijuana, San Diego, and Los Angeles", found that many of these girls lie about their age, saying they are 19–22, and do not work the streets, but special brothels. The study suggests much of trafficking claims are exaggerated by organizations with political, moral, and religious agendas.
Young boys are also often recruited as prostitutes, sometimes as early as age 8. This forced prostitution tends to cater more to pedophiles from the United States.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11466053 | Incest in folklore and mythology
Incest in folklore is found in many countries and cultures in the world.
In Greek mythology, Zeus and Hera were brother and sister as well as husband and wife. They were the children of Cronus and Rhea (also married siblings). Cronus and Rhea, in turn, were children of Uranus and Gaia (a son who took his mother as consort, in some versions of the myth). Cronus and Rhea's siblings, the other Titans, were all also married siblings like Nyx and Erebus. Sea god Phorcys fathered many offspring by his sister Ceto. Myrrha committed incest with her father, Theias, and bore Adonis.
Sophocles' tragic play "Oedipus Rex" features the ancient Greek king Oedipus inadvertently consummating an incestuous relationship with his mother Jocasta. When the truth is revealed, Jocasta hangs herself and Oedipus blinds himself.
Persephone is the daughter of Demeter and her brother Zeus, and becomes the consort of her uncle Hades. Some legends indicate that her father impregnated her and begat Dionysus Zagreus.
Byblis changed into a spring in her grief over her unrequited love for her brother Caunus. In some versions of the story of Auge and her son by Heracles, Telephus, the two were nearly married before Heracles revealed the truth of their relation.
Nyctimene was seduced or raped by her father, King Epopeus of Lesbos. In her shame, she avoided showing herself by day, and Athena turned her into an owl.
Orestes married his uncle Menelaus' daughter Hermione.
In Norse mythology, Loki accuses Freyr and Freyja of committing incest, in "Lokasenna". He also says that Njörðr had Freyr with his sister. This is also indicated in the "Ynglinga saga", which says that incest was traditional among the Vanir.
In Norse legends, the hero Sigmund and his sister Signy murdered her children and begot a son, Sinfjötli. When Sinfjötli had grown up, he and Sigmund murdered Signy's husband Siggeir. The element of incest also appears in the version of the story used in Wagner's opera-cycle "Der Ring des Nibelungen", in which Siegfried is the offspring of Siegmund and his sister Sieglinde.
The legendary Danish king Hrólfr kraki was born from an incestuous union of Halgi and Yrsa.
In Egyptian mythology, the gods frequently married their siblings. For example, Shu and Tefnut are brother and sister and they produced another pair of gods, Geb and Nut. Their children were Isis, Osiris, Set and Nephthys; Isis married Osiris, and Set with Nephthys.
In Chinese mythology, Fu Xi was a god-king who took his sister Nüwa as his bride.
In Japanese mythology, the divine siblings Izanagi and Izanami were married, along with Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi in some versions.
In Icelandic folklore a common plot involves a brother and sister (illegally) conceiving a child. They subsequently escape justice by moving to a remote valley. There they proceed to have several more children. The man has some magical abilities which he uses to direct travelers to or away from the valley as he chooses. The siblings always have exactly one daughter but any number of sons. Eventually the magician allows a young man (usually searching for sheep) into the valley and asks him to marry the daughter and give himself and his sister a civilized burial upon their deaths. This is subsequently done.
In the ancient Indonesian folklore of Tangkuban Perahu, Dayang Sumbi expelled her son, Sangkuriang, for his disobedience. After many years of expulsion, Sangkuriang came home and he saw Dayang Sumbi, who had long been granted the power of eternal youth by the gods. Sangkuriang fell in love with Dayang Sumbi. Sangkuriang intended on marrying Dayang Sumbi without realising she was his mother. However, Dayang Sumbi recognised Sangkuriang's birthmark. In order to prevent the marriage from taking place, Dayang Sumbi asked Sangkuriang to build a dam on the river Citarum and to build a large boat to cross the river, both before the sunrise. Sangkuriang meditated and summoned mythical ogre-like creatures – buto ijo or green giant(s) – to do his bidding. Dayang Sumbi saw that the tasks were almost completed and called on her workers to spread red silk cloths east of the city, to give the impression of impending sunrise. Sangkuriang was fooled, and upon believing that he had failed, kicked the dam and the unfinished boat, resulting in severe flooding and the creation of Tangkuban Perahu from the hull of the boat.
In the Old Irish saga "Tochmarc Étaíne" ("The Wooing of Étaín"), Eochaid Airem, the high king of Ireland is tricked into sleeping with his daughter, whom he mistakes for her mother Étaín. The child of their union becomes the mother of the legendary king Conaire Mor.
In some versions of the medieval British legend of King Arthur, Arthur accidentally begets a son by his half sister Morgause in a night of blind lust, then seeks to have the child killed when he hears of a prophecy that it will bring about the undoing of the Round Table. The child survives and later becomes Mordred, his ultimate nemesis.
In ancient Vietnamese folklore, there is a tale of a brother and a sister. As children, the brother and sister fought over a toy. The brother smashes a stone over his sister's head, and the girl falls down unconscious. The boy thinks he has killed his sister, and afraid of punishment, he flees. Years later, by coincidence, they meet again, fall in love, and marry without knowing they are siblings. They build a house along a seashore, and the brother becomes a fisherman while his sister tends to the house. Together they have a son. One day, the brother discovers a scar on his wife's head. She tells him about the childhood fight with her brother, and the brother realizes that he has married his own sister. Overwhelmed with guilt over his incest, the brother goes out on the sea. Every day, the sister climbs to the top of the hill to look for her brother, but he never comes back. She died in waiting and became "Hon Vong Phu" ("the stone waiting for her husband").
In fairy tales of Aarne-Thompson folktale type 510B, the persecuted heroine, the heroine is persecuted by her father, and most usually, the persecution is an attempt to marry her, as in "Allerleirauh" or "Donkeyskin". This was taken up into the legend of Saint Dymphna.
Several child ballads have the motif of incest between brothers and sisters who are raised apart. This is usually unwitting (as in "The Bonny Hind" and "Sheath and Knife", for example), but always brings about a tragic end.
"'The Scripture of the Holy Bible: The Old Testament: The Book of Genesis: The Seven Days of Creation, The Creation of Adam, Cain's Fate: A Wife, A Descendent Line Inheriting Cain's Established Authority, and, a Final Dwelling, in the Land Nod"
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11482495 | Antonio Millán-Puelles
Antonio Millán-Puelles (February 11, 1921 – March 22, 2005) was a Spanish philosopher interested in phenomenology and metaphysics, who published many books and articles. He discovered his vocation to philosophy when he read Husserl’s "Logical Investigations" and abandoned the medical studies he had just begun.
His preferred topics were the relationship between conscience and subjectivity, the value of freedom, the ideal and the unreal being, and the rapport between metaphysics and logic. "The properly and refreshing philosophical attitude of the author is precisely made evident by the fact that he is open to the truth regardless of who stayed it. He is close to the phenomena and data of experience and analyzes them carefully and without a trace of reductionism and constructivism".
Among his most important books there are:
His books could be divided in three main groups: those devoted to the theory of knowledge and metaphysics, those devoted to ethics and society, and educational handbooks. In all these works he studies and comments Brentano, Aristotle, Aquinas, Husserl, Kant, Hartmann, Meinong, Sartre, Heidegger, and many other ancient, medieval, and modern philosophers.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11520964 | David Fordyce
David Fordyce (1711, Broadford, Aberdeenshire – 1751) was a Scottish philosopher, a contributor to the Scottish Enlightenment.
Fordyce was educated at Marischal College, Aberdeen (MA, 1728). He entered the ministry and returned to Marischal as regent in 1742, teaching Moral Philosophy there until 1751, when he died by drowning at sea. His popular "Elements of Moral Philosophy" was first published in Robert Dodsley's "Preceptor", vol. 2 (1748).
He was born at Broadford, near Aberdeen, and baptised 1 April 1711, the second son of George Fordyce (1663–1733) of Broadford, provost of Aberdeen; he was brother to the physician William Fordyce and the minister James Fordyce. After attending Aberdeen grammar school he was entered Marischal College in 1724, where he went through a course of philosophy under Daniel Garden, and took mathematics under John Stewart. He took his M.A. degree in 1728. Being intended for the church he next studied divinity under James Chalmers (Teacher), and obtained a licence as a preacher; but he never received a call.
There followed an itinerant period, of nearly a decade. He was in Glasgow, taking part in some intellectual debates as a protégé of Thomas Blackwell, in 1735. He had preoccupations with family business, and then travelled to England, where he associated with Philip Doddridge, whose dissenting academy was then in Northampton; he served briefly as a minister in Newport Pagnell, in 1739. Via France he returned to Edinburgh as an assistant at the Tron Kirk.
In 1742 he was appointed professor of moral philosophy in Marischal College. By Dodsley he was employed to write the article "Moral Philosophy" for the "'Modern Preceptor", which was afterwards published separately as "The Elements of Moral Philosophy", London, 1754. It reached a fourth edition in 1769, and was translated into German, Zurich, 1757. Fordyce had already attracted some notice for his anonymous "Dialogues concerning Education", 2 vols. London, 1745-8.
In 1750 he made a tour through France, Italy, and other countries, and was returning home in September 1751 when he lost his life in a storm off the coast of Holland. His death was noticed by his brother James Fordyce in one of his "Addresses to the Deity".
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11521384 | George Turnbull (theologian)
George Turnbull (11 July 1698 – 31 Jan 1748) was a Scottish philosopher, theologian, teacher, writer on education and an early but little-known figure in the Scottish Enlightenment. He taught at Marischal College, Aberdeen, worked as a tutor and became an Anglican clergyman. Aside from his published writings on moral philosophy, he is also known for the influence he exerted on Thomas Reid and as the first member of the Scottish Enlightenment to publish a formal treatise on the theory and practice of education.
George Turnbull was born on 11 July 1698 in Alloa, Clackmannanshire. He was the son of George Turnbull, a minister, and his wife Elizabeth, and the third of their nine children. Turnbull began his studies at the University of Edinburgh in 1711 and started studying for a degree in divinity in 1717, graduating MA in 1721. During his years of study in Edinburgh, he became involved with the Rankenian Club, a circle of intellectuals, which included those who would become his closest associates: George Young, the surgeon and William Wishart, a preacher. At this time, Turnbull was interested in creating a rational form of Christianity, which led to his correspondence with John Toland, and the writing of an essay in defence of religious toleration which was never published.
Turnbull was made regent at Marischal College, Aberdeen, on 14 April 1721. His two graduation theses were "De scientiae naturalis cum philosophia morali conjunctione" from 1723 and "De pulcherrima mundi cum materialis tum rationalis constitutione" from 1726. These two works indicate that he was the first Scottish thinker to publish writings that argued for the use of the so-called Newtonian method in constructing a moral philosophy. Turnbull also drew heavily on the ideas of Lord Shaftesbury. Although this might be taken to indicate a preoccupation with the scholarship of his time, Turnbull showed great fondness for the classical moralists of antiquity.
Although Turnbull was a popular teacher and exerted lasting influence on pupils such as Thomas Reid, he nevertheless decided to leave Marischal. He sought a position elsewhere and had disputes with the principal of the college, Thomas Blackwell. Turnbull left the college without prior leave and went to serve as tutor to the Udney family. In 1727 he formally resigned. After his resignation, he took on tutoring jobs and travelled on the Continent of Europe. He then received a degree from the University of Edinburgh. At this point, Turnbull decided that he might seek employment in the Anglican church, and matriculated at Exeter College, Oxford, in 1733 and received a BCL degree.
Financial difficulties forced Turnbull to resume tutoring, and with some misgivings he spent 2 years in Italy, tutoring the son of Lord Rockingham. In 1737 he used his connections with Thomas Birch to secure his ordination by the bishop of Winchester. This precipitated his entry into court circles and in 1741 he was made chaplain to the Prince of Wales. A year later, Turnbull was granted the position of rector of Drumachose by the bishop of Derry and became the tutor of Horace Walpole in 1744.
Over the course of the 1730s and 1740s, Turnbull published a series of pamphlets and books which drew heavily on his theological concerns. He published a small tract in 1731 which was inspired by a passage in Lord Shaftesbury's writings: "A philosophical enquiry concerning the connexion betwixt the doctrines and miracles of Jesus Christ", where he maintains that just as experiments confirm scientific theories, so the miracles of Jesus Christ confirm Christian doctrine. Turnbull then wrote a critique of Matthew Tindal in "Christianity neither False nor Useless, Tho' not as Old as the Creation" in 1732, which dwelled on the relationship between natural religion and revealed religion.
In 1740, Turnbull published "A Treatise on Ancient Painting", where he argued for the educational usefulness of the finer arts, based on the idea that painting was a kind of language, conveying ideas and truths about life, philosophy and nature, with drawings by Camillo Paderni. Later that year, he published a brief religious work, "An Impartial Enquiry into the Moral Character of Jesus Christ". In this work, Turnbull expounded Christ as the greatest of moral philosophers. He also published the greatest statements of his philosophy in "The Principles of Moral and Christian Philosophy", which drew on his old Aberdeen lectures as well as his discussions with philosophers on the Continent. Turnbull's last significant work was published in 1742: "Observations upon Liberal Education", where he suggested a new categorisation and breakdown of knowledge, and a revision of university curriculum.
Turnbull died in The Hague on 31 January 1748 for reasons unknown.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11525202 | William Lee Bradley
The Reverend Doctor William Lee Bradley (September 6, 1918 – April 29, 2007, born in Oakland, California), was a scholar of comparative religion, ethics, and theology, as well as a philanthropist.
Bradley was born in Oakland to Kathryn Lee Culver, an author and artist, and Dwight Jaques Bradley, author and Congregational Church leader. He was raised in El Paso, Texas, Webster Groves, Missouri, and Newton Centre, Massachusetts. In 1947, he married Paula Anne Elliott, later a New Hampshire State Representative (1992–98; 2000–02). He received his B.A. from Oberlin College (1941), B.D. from Andover Newton Theological School (1950), and Ph.D. from University of Edinburgh, Scotland (1949). He was a Sergeant in the United States Army Air Corps in World War II (1942–45), serving in the South Pacific.
A fifth-generation ordained minister in the Congregational Christian Churches (later merging to become the United Church of Christ), he served as a Professor at Hartford Seminary from 1950-1966. He was a visiting Professor at Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand for the last three years of his tenure at Hartford. In Bangkok, he served on the field staff of The Rockefeller Foundation and researched his ancestor, the Dr. Dan Beach Bradley, the first medical missionary to Siam and court physician to Siam's King Mongkut and his son, King Chulalongkorn.
After his time at Hartford, Bradley took a position at the Rockefeller Foundation as Associate Director for the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, from 1966–1971, and was then President of the Edward W. Hazen Foundation in New Haven, Connecticut from 1971-1984. At The Rockefeller Foundation, he was particularly proud of his work assisting emerging playwrights and theatres in the heydey of the Off-Off-Broadway theatre movement in New York City in the late 1960s and early 1970s, assisting such emerging talents as playwrights Julie Bovasso, Maria Irene Fornes, John Guare, Sam Shepard, Ron Whyte, and Lanford Wilson, as well as theatres such as the artistic leadership of producers such as Ellen Stewart (La MaMa Experimental Theatre Company or LaMaMa, E.T.C.), Joseph Papp (New York Shakespeare Festival - The Public Theater), Wyn Handman (The American Place Theatre), Joe Cino (Caffe Cino), and the theatre at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery. His theatre involvement continued in the 1980s when he served as Chair of the Board of Circle Repertory Company in New York City. As President of the Hazen Foundation, he was known for taking creative philanthropic risks by providing crucial seed funding for innovative programs and organizations that often later attracted substantial funding from larger foundations. The reach and influence of the Hazen Foundation under his leadership therefore was amplified well beyond the value of the grants awarded.
While in Connecticut, Bradley also served on the Governor's Commissions on Human Services; Libraries; and Equity and Excellence in Education. Following his retirement from the Hazen Foundation, which he continued to serve as President Emeritus, William and Paula moved to Randolph, New Hampshire, where both became active in that community. Bradley co-founded and served as the first editor of the "Mountain View", a quarterly news magazine in Randolph, served as President of the Randolph Foundation from 1991–1996, and continued his lifelong activity in Democratic Party politics on the local and statewide level.
Bradley was the author of many articles and several books, including "P.T. Forsyth: The Man and His Work", "The Meaning of Christian Values Today", "Introduction to Comparative Religion", and "Siam Then: The Foreign Colony in Bangkok Before and After Anna". He was the coauthor of "Thailand: Domino By Default?" He remained active in ministry throughout his career, performing weddings and funerals for several generations of friends and family in the several communities he and Paula called home.
Bradley died in Concord, New Hampshire at Havenwood-Heritage Heights Health Services Center on April 29, 2007, of complications from Alzheimer's Disease.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11556364 | He who does not work, neither shall he eat
He who does not work, neither shall he eat is a New Testament aphorism originally by Paul the Apostle, later cited by John Smith in the early 1600s colony of Jamestown, Virginia, and by communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin during the early 1900s Russian Revolution.
The aphorism is found in the Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle (with Silvanus and Timothy) to the Thessalonians (3:10), in which Paul writes:
that is,
The Greek phrase means "is not willing to work". Other English translations render this as "would" or "will not work", which may confuse readers unaccustomed to this use of the verb "will" in the archaic sense of "want to, desire to".
In the spring of 1609, John Smith cited the aphorism to the colonists of Jamestown:
Countrymen, the long experience of our late miseries I hope is sufficient to persuade everyone to a present correction of himself, And think not that either my pains nor the adventurers' purses will ever maintain you in idleness and sloth...
...the greater part must be more industrious, or starve...
You must obey this now for a law, that he that will not work shall not eat (except by sickness he be disabled). For the labors of thirty or forty honest and industrious men shall not be consumed to maintain a hundred and fifty idle loiterers.
According to Vladimir Lenin, "He who does not work shall not eat" is a necessary principle under socialism, the preliminary phase of the evolution towards communist society. The phrase appears in his 1917 work, "The State and Revolution". Through this slogan Lenin explains that in socialist states only productive individuals could be allowed access to the articles of consumption.
In Lenin’s writing, this was directed at the bourgeoisie, as well as "those who shirk their work".
The principle was enunciated in the Russian Constitution of 1918, and also article twelve of the 1936 Soviet Constitution:
Criticizing Stalin, Leon Trotsky wrote that: "The old principle: who does not work shall not eat, has been replaced with a new one: who does not obey shall not eat."
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11556950 | Swords of Truth
The Swords of Truth is a Palestinian Islamist group based in the Gaza Strip.
In 2007, the group threatened to behead female TV broadcasters who don't wear strict Islamic dress. The threat was sent by e-mail to news organizations: "We will cut throats, and from vein to vein, if needed to protect the spirit and moral of this nation."
The group has previously claimed responsibility for bombing Internet cafes and music shops. The assailants used to detonate small bombs outside businesses at night, causing damage but no injuries.
According to a senior Palestinian security official The Swords of Truth has fewer than 100 members and was formed in 2006.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11679320 | Millennium Seed Bank Partnership
The Millennium Seed Bank Partnership (MSBP or MSB), formerly known as the Millennium Seed Bank Project, is the largest "ex situ" plant conservation programme in the world coordinated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. After being awarded a Millennium Commission grant in 1995, the project commenced in 1996, and is now housed in the Wellcome Trust Millennium Building situated in the grounds of Wakehurst Place, West Sussex. Its purpose is to provide an "insurance policy" against the extinction of plants in the wild by storing seeds for future use. The storage facilities consist of large underground frozen vaults preserving the world's largest wild-plant seedbank or collection of seeds from wild species. The project had been started by Dr Peter Thompson and run by Paul Smith after the departure of Roger Smith. Roger Smith was awarded the OBE in 2000 in the Queen's New Year Honours for services to the Project.
In collaboration with other biodiversity projects around the world, expeditions are sent to collect seeds from dryland plants. Where possible, collections are kept in the country of origin with duplicates being sent to the Millennium Seed Bank Project for storage. Major partnerships exist on all the continents, enabling the countries involved to meet international objectives such as the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation and the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations Environment Programme.
The seed bank at Kew has gone through many iterations. The Kew Seed Bank facility, set up by Peter Thompson in 1980, preceded the MSBP and was headed by Roger Smith from 1980 to 2005. From 2005, Paul Smith took over as head of the MSBP. The Wellcome Trust Millennium Seed Bank building was designed by the firm Stanton WIlliams and opened by Prince Charles in 2000. The laboratories and offices are in two wings flanking a wide space open to visitors housing an exhibition, and also allowing them to watch the work of cleaning and preparing seeds for storage through the large windows of the work areas. There is also a view down to the entrance to the underground vaults where the seeds are stored at . In 2001, the international programme of the MSBP was launched.
In April 2007, it banked its billionth seed, the "Oxytenanthera abyssinica", a type of African bamboo.
In October 2009, it reached its 10% goal of banking all the world's wild plant species by adding "Musa itinerans", a wild banana, to its seed vault. As estimates for the number of seed bearing plant species have increased, 34,088 wild plant species and 1,980,405,036 seeds in storage as of June 2015 represent over 13% of the world's wild plant species.
The main aims of the project are to:
There are over 100 partnerships worldwide, including Australia, Mexico, Chile, Kenya, China, United States, Jordan, Mali, Malawi, Madagascar, Burkina Faso, Botswana, Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and South Africa. Australia is particularly significant as its flora constitutes 15% of the world's total of species, with 22% of them identified as under threat of extinction.
Seed collections arrive at the MSBP in varying states, sometimes attached to fruits, sometimes clean. The collections usually also include a voucher specimen that can be used to identify the plant. The collections are immediately moved to a dry room until processing can be conducted where the seeds are cleaned of debris and other plant material, X-rayed, counted, and banked at . Seeds are banked in hermetically sealed glass containers along with Silica gel packets impregnated with indicator compounds that change colour if moisture seeps into the collection. Seeds are tested for viability with a germination test shortly after banking and then at regular 10 year intervals. If seed collections are low, re-harvesting from the wild is always the preferred option.
When seeds are required for research purposes, they can be requested from the MSBP's seedlist. If it has the legal permission to do so, the MSB can then provide up to 60 seeds for free, to bona fide, non-commercial organisations for the purposes of research, restoration, and reintroduction. All seeds provided to institutions are on a non-profit mutual benefit basis. The MSB also operates the UK Native Seed Hub which aims to improve the resilience of the UK's ecological networks by providing high-quality UK native seeds to conservation and restoration groups.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11714262 | Ecosharing
Ecosharing is an environmental ethic for people to live by: that their own impact on the Earth’s biosphere be limited to no more than their own fair ecoshare. The term seems to have been first used by G. Tyler Miller, Jr. in the 1975 edition of his "Living in the Environment" text. The 1990 book "Coming of Age in the Global Village" sought to quantify an "ecoshare" by linking it to average world per capita income and energy use. A more modern approach might extend this by also including one's carbon footprint. However it is gauged, an ecoshare is determined by overall assessment of the human impact on the biosphere, computer models of its future condition, and necessary limits imposed by sustainability criteria.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11714761 | Avaaz
Avaaz, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization launched in January 2007, promotes global activism on issues such as climate change, human rights, animal rights, corruption, poverty, and conflict. The UK-based newspaper "The Guardian" considers it "the globe's largest and most powerful online activist network".
The name chosen for the community is a Romanization of a word meaning "voice" in various languages, such as
Hindi आवाज़ and Urdu آواز.
Avaaz.org was co-founded by Res Publica, a "community of public sector professionals dedicated to promoting good governance, civic virtue and deliberative democracy," and MoveOn.org, an American non-profit progressive public policy advocacy group. It was also supported by Service Employees International Union, a founding partner.
Avaaz's individual co-founders include Ricken Patel, Tom Pravda, former Virginia congressman Tom Perriello, MoveOn Executive Director Eli Pariser, Australian progressive entrepreneur David Madden, Jeremy Heimans (co-founders of Purpose.com), and Andrea Woodhouse. The board consists of Ricken Patel (president), Ian Bassin, and Sam Barratt.
Avaaz's founding President and CEO is the Canadian-British Ricken Patel. He studied PPE (politics, philosophy, economics) at Balliol College, Oxford University. He received a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University. He worked for the International Crisis Group around the world, including in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Sudan and Afghanistan, where he says "he learnt how to bring rebel forces to the negotiation table, to monitor elections (covertly), to restore public faith in once corrupt political systems and to spot when foreign forces were being manipulated." He returned to the US and volunteered for MoveOn.org, where he learned how to use online tools for activism.
"Since 2009, Avaaz has not taken donations from foundations or corporations, nor has it accepted payments of more than $5,000 (£3,100)," "The Guardian" reported. "Instead, it relies simply on the generosity of individual members, who have now raised over $20m (£12.4m)." Prior to 2009 various foundations had funded Avaaz's staff and start-up costs.
Avaaz global campaigns are managed by a team of campaigners working from over 30 countries, including the UK, India, Lebanon and Brazil. They communicate with members via email, and employ campaigning tactics including online public petitions, videos, and email-your-leader tools. In some cases Avaaz also uses advertisements and commissions legal advice to clarify how best to take a campaign forward, and stages "sit-ins, rallies, phone-ins and media friendly stunts". Examples of stunts include "taking a herd of cardboard pigs to the doors of the World Health Organisation to demand an investigation into the link between swine flu and giant pig farms and creating a three-mile human chain handshake from the Dalai Lama to the doors of the Chinese Embassy in London to request dialogue between the parties".
Suggestions for campaigns come from members, supplemented by guidance from teams of specialists. Once a suggestion has been taken up as having potential, tester email are polled to 10,000 Avaaz members; if the emails receive a sufficient response, the campaign is opened up to all Avaaz members. In 2010 "The Economist" suggested that "the way Avaaz bunches unlikely causes together may be an asset in a world where campaigns, like race and class, can still segregate people, not reconcile them."
Avaaz claims to unite practical idealists from around the world. Director Ricken Patel said in 2011, "We have no ideology per se. Our mission is to close the gap between the world we have and the world most people everywhere want. Idealists of the world unite!"
In practice, Avaaz often supports causes considered progressive, such as calling for global action on climate change, challenging Monsanto, and building greater global support for refugees.
During the 2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Avaaz set up Internet proxy servers to allow protesters to upload videos onto public websites.
Avaaz supported the establishment of a no-fly zone over Libya, which led to the military intervention in the country in 2011. It was criticized for its pro-intervention stance in the media and blogs.
Avaaz supported the civil uprising preceding the Syrian Civil War. This included sending $1.5 million of Internet communications equipment to protesters, and training activists. Later it used smuggling routes to send over $2 million of medical equipment into rebel-held areas of Syria. It also smuggled 34 international journalists into Syria. Avaaz coordinated the evacuation of wounded British photographer Paul Conroy from Homs. Thirteen Syrian activists died during the evacuation operation. Some senior members of other non-governmental organizations working in the Middle East have criticized Avaaz for taking sides in a civil war. As of November 2016, Avaaz continues campaigning for no-fly zones over Syria in general and specifically Aleppo. (Gen. Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States, has said that establishing a no-fly zone means going to war against Syria and Russia.) It has received criticism from parts of the political blogosphere and has a single digit percentage of its users opposing the petitions, with a number of users ultimately leaving the network. The Avaaz team responded to this criticism by issuing two statements defending their decision to campaign.
In the 2016 United States presidential election, Avaaz campaigned against Donald Trump with the slogan "Defeat Donald Trump", and produced a software tool to simplify overseas voter registration.
In September 2017, Avaaz took legal action in the British High Court of Justice to oppose 21st Century Fox's bid to take over the pan-European broadcasting company Sky plc, by seeking a judicial review of the regulator Ofcom's decision not to recommend rejection of the takeover.
In January 2018, Monsanto requested Avaaz hand over all documents the organization held in relation to glyphosate. Lawyers for the company said they planned to use the documentation in their defense during an upcoming court case involving two plaintiffs in Missouri who say their cancer was caused by exposure to Monsanto's "Roundup" herbicide. Avaaz argued that a successful subpoena would result in a "chilling effect" on the group's work.
On September 5, 2018 a New York judge sided with Avaaz. The judge stated that the subpoena "risked 'chilling' free speech and political activity", and argued that Monsanto's request was "anti-democratic".
Some question whether Avaaz's focus on online petitions and email campaigns may encourage laziness, transforming potential activism into clicktivism. Malcolm Gladwell says that petition tools do not create "close-knit, disciplined and tenacious" networks of activists. In February 2012, Avaaz raised money for the evacuation of Paul Conroy from Syria, a mission that led to the deaths of 13 activists in Syria. A "New Republic" article accused Avaaz of making false claims about their own role in the evacuation. Jillian York has accused Avaaz of lack of transparency and arrogance. The "Defensor Da Natureza" blog has accused Avaaz of taking credit for the success of the Ficha Limpa anti-corruption bill in Brazil, which Luis Nassif reposted.
In 2008, Canadian conservative minister John Baird labeled Avaaz a "shadowy foreign organization" tied to billionaire George Soros.
Another Canadian, conservative media personality Ezra Levant, tried to make a link between Soros and Avaaz.org as an indirect supporter through MoveOn, but the article was later retracted as baseless and an apology was offered to Soros.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11715643 | Spectacle (critical theory)
The spectacle is a central notion in the Situationist theory, developed by Guy Debord in his 1967 book, "The Society of the Spectacle". In the general sense, the spectacle refers to "the autocratic reign of the market economy which had acceded to an irresponsible sovereignty, and the totality of new techniques of government which accompanied this reign." It also exists in its limited sense, where "spectacle" means the mass media, which are "its most glaring superficial manifestation." Debord said that the society of the spectacle came to existence in the late 1920s.
The critique of the "spectacle" is a development and application of Karl Marx's concept of fetishism of commodities, reification and alienation, and the way it was reprised by György Lukács in 1923. In the society of the spectacle, the commodities rule the workers and the consumers, instead of being ruled by them, are passive subjects that contemplate the reified spectacle.
Debord claims that in its limited sense, "spectacle" means the mass media, which are "its most glaring superficial manifestation.". However T. J. Clark regards this as a journalistic cliché. Clark argues that the spectacle came to dominate Paris during the Second Empire thanks to Haussmann's renovation of Paris. Debord, however, said that the society of the spectacle came to existence in the late 1920s. This is the period in which modern advertising and public relations were introduced, most significantly with the innovative techniques developed by Edward Bernays in his campaigns for the tobacco industry. In his 1928 book "Propaganda", Bernays theorized the "conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses." The critique of the society of the spectacle shares many assumptions and arguments with the critique of the "culture industry" made by Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer in 1944.
With "The Society of the Spectacle", Debord attempted to provide the Situationist International (SI) with a Marxian critical theory. The concept of "the spectacle" expanded to all society the Marxist concept of reification drawn from the first section of Karl Marx's "Capital", entitled "The Fetishism of Commodities and the Secret thereof" and developed by György Lukács in his work, "History and Class Consciousness". This was an analysis of the logic of commodities whereby they achieve an ideological autonomy from the process of their production, so that "social action takes the form of the action of objects, which rule the producers instead of being ruled by them."
Developing this analysis of the logic of the commodity, "The Society of the Spectacle" generally understood society as divided between the passive subject who consumes the spectacle and the reified spectacle itself. In a spectacular society, the system of commodity production generates a continual stream of images, for consumption by people who lack the experiences represented therein. The spectacle represents people solely in terms of their subordination to commodities, and experience itself becomes commodified.
In the opening of "Das Kapital", Marx makes the observation that within the capitalist mode of production we evaluate materials not by what purpose they serve or what they're actually useful for, but we instead recognize them based on their value in the market. In capitalist society, virtually identical products often have vastly different values simply because one has a more recognizable or prestigious brand name. The value of a commodity is abstract and not tied to its actual characteristics. Much in the same way capitalism commodifies the material world, the situationists assert that advanced capitalism commodifies experience and perception.
As early as 1958, in the situationist manifesto, Debord described official culture as a "rigged game", where conservative powers forbid subversive ideas to have direct access to the public discourse. Such ideas get first trivialized and sterilized, and then they are safely incorporated back within mainstream society, where they can be exploited to add new flavors to old dominant ideas. This technique of the spectacle is sometimes called "recuperation".
To survive, the spectacle must maintain social control and effectively handle all threats to the social order. Recuperation, a concept first proposed by Guy Debord, is the process by which the spectacle intercepts socially and politically radical ideas and images, commodifies them, and safely incorporates them back within mainstream society. More broadly, it may refer to the appropriation or co-opting of any subversive works or ideas by mainstream media. It is the opposite of détournement, in which conventional ideas and images are reorganized and recontextualized with radical intentions.
Debord discusses the close link between revolution and culture and everyday life, and the reason why conservative powers are interested in forbidding them "any direct access to the rigged game of official culture." Debord recalls that worldwide revolutionary movements that emerged during the 1920s were followed by "an ebbing of the movements that had tried to advance a liberatory new attitude in culture and everyday life," and that such movements were brought to a "complete social isolation."
In "Comments on the Society of the Spectacle" (1988), Debord modified his argument, and claimed that the spectacle manifests itself in three different forms:
The spectacle associated with concentrated bureaucracy. Debord associated this spectacular form mostly with the Eastern Bloc and Fascism, although today mixed backward economies import it, and even advanced capitalist countries in times of crisis. Every aspect of life, like property, music, and communication is concentrated and is identified with the bureaucratic class. The concentrated spectacle generally identifies itself with a powerful political leader. The concentrated spectacle is made effective through a state of permanent violence and police terror.
The diffuse spectacle is the spectacle associated with advanced capitalism and commodity abundance. In the diffuse spectacle, different commodities conflict with each other, preventing the consumer from consuming the whole. Each commodity claims itself as the only existent one, and tries to impose itself over the other commodities:
The diffuse spectacle is more effective than the concentrated spectacle. The diffuse spectacle operates mostly through seduction, while the concentrated spectacle operates mostly through violence. Because of this, Debord argues that the diffuse spectacle is more effective at suppressing non-spectacular opinions than the concentrated spectacle.
The spectacle associated with modern capitalist countries. The integrated spectacle borrows traits from the diffuse and concentrated spectacle to form a new synthesis. Debord argues that this is a very recent form of spectacular manifestation, and that it was pioneered in France and Italy. According to Debord, the integrated spectacle goes by the label of liberal democracy. This spectacle introduces a state of permanent general secrecy, where experts and specialists dictate the morality, statistics, and opinions of the spectacle. Terrorism is the invented enemy of the spectacle, which specialists compare with their "liberal democracy", pointing out the superiority of the latter one. Debord argues that without terrorism, the integrated spectacle wouldn't survive, for it needs to be compared to something in order to show its "obvious" perfection and superiority.
A long tradition of work exists in political science on the "political spectacle" started with Debord; many literary critics and philosophers in the 20th century contributed to this analysis. According to anthropologist Meg McLagan, "Debord analyzes the penetration of the commodity form into mass communication, which he argues results in the spectacle". Andrew Hussey claims in his biography of Debord that the term spectacle began life not in a Marxist context, but was first borrowed from Nietzsche and his concept of the mass secret. The critic Sadie Plant argues that later theories of postmodernism, particularly those of Baudrillard and Lyotard, owe much to Debord's theory, and represent an apolitical appropriation of its criticism of the unreality of life under late capitalism. Debord was a rebel to his core and despised academic commodification of his ideas and their integration into the diffuse spectacle. Throughout his life he fought to make his ideas truly revolutionary.
In "Green Illusions", Ozzie Zehner draws largely on Debord to argue that the spectacles of solar cells, wind turbines, and other technologies have organized environmental thinking around energy-production at the expense of energy-reduction strategies.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11759970 | Trail ethics
Trail ethics deals with ethics as it applies to the use of trails. It is similar to both environmental ethics and human rights in that it deals with the shared interaction of humans and nature. There are multiple agencies and groups that support and encourage ethical behavior on trails.
Trail ethics applies to the use of trails, by pedestrians, dog walkers, hikers, backpackers, mountain bikers, equestrians, hunters, and off-road vehicles.
Sometimes conflicts can develop between different types of users of a trail or pathway. Etiquette has developed to minimize such interference. Examples include:
Some cities have worked to add pathways for pedestrians and cyclists. This can reduce the amount of vehicle traffic in busy urban areas, and make visiting downtown areas more pleasant, There can be difficulties when a path is used by people travelling at different speeds, such as pedestrians, joggers, and cyclists, and the appropriate etiquette is not observed.
In the US off-road vehicle use on public land has been criticized by some members of the government and environmental organizations including the Sierra Club and The Wilderness Society. They have noted several consequences of illegal ORV use such as pollution, trail damage, erosion, land degradation, possible species extinction, and habitat destruction which can leave hiking trails impassable. ORV proponents argue that legal use taking place under planned access along with the multiple environment and trail conservation efforts by ORV groups will mitigate these issues. Groups such as the Blueribbon Coalition advocate Treadlightly, which is the responsible use of public lands used for off-road activities.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11781793 | Sandra Laugier
Sandra Laugier is a French philosopher, working on moral philosophy, political philosophy, philosophy of language, philosophy of action and philosophy of science. She is currently a full professor of philosophy at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, a Senior member of the Institut Universitaire de France, and a scientific deputy director at the Institute for Humanities & Social Sciences (INSHS, "Institut des sciences humaines et sociales") at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, after being a professor at the University of Picardie Jules Verne in Amiens until 2010.
She has studied at Ecole Normale Supérieure and at Harvard University. She is director of the Center for Contemporary Philosophy, Institut des sciences juridique et philosophique de la Sorbonne (UMR 8103, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne/CNRS).
She has extensively published on ordinary language philosophy (Ludwig Wittgenstein, John L. Austin), moral philosophy (moral perfectionism, ethics of care), American philosophy (Stanley Cavell, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson), gender studies, popular culture (TV series), and more recently about democracy and civil disobedience. She is the French translator of most of Stanley Cavell’s work.
She has been Visiting Researcher at the Max Planck Institute (Berlin), Distinguished Visiting Professor at Johns Hopkins University, Visiting Professor at Pontifical University (Lima), and Visiting Professor “Chaire invitée” at the Facultés Saint-Louis (Bruxelles).
She was also a columnist at the French journal "Libération".
Articles available online
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11798752 | International Day of Non-Violence
The International Day of Non-Violence is observed on 2 October, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi.
In January 2004, Iranian Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi had taken a proposal for an International Day of Non-Violence from a Hindi teacher in Paris teaching international students to the World Social Forum in Mumbai. The idea gradually attracted the interest of some leaders of India's Congress Party ("Ahimsa Finds Teen Voice", The Telegraph, Calcutta) until a Satyagraha Conference resolution in New Delhi in January 2007, initiated by Indian National Congress President and Chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance Sonia Gandhi and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, called upon the United Nations to adopt the idea.
On 15 June 2007 the United Nations General Assembly voted to establish 2 October as the International Day of Non-Violence. The resolution by the General Assembly asks all members of the UN system to commemorate 2 October in "an appropriate manner and disseminate the message of non-violence, including through education and public awareness."
The United Nations Postal Administration (UNPA) in New York City prepared a special cachet to commemorate this event, following a request from the Indian Ambassador at the Permanent Mission of India to the UN. The boxed pictorial cachet design was prepared by the UNPA and was limited to cancellation at UNPA's NY location (not Geneva and Vienna). The UNPA has indicated that all outgoing UNPA mail between 2 and 31 October carried the cachet.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11832902 | Douglas Kinsella
Thomas Douglas Kinsella, CM (15 February 1932 – 15 June 2004) was a Canadian medical doctor and expert on medical ethics and founder of Canada's National Council on Ethics in Human Research.
Kinsella is particularly noted for his research on ethical, legal and medical issues surrounding assisted suicide, euthanasia and genetics research. He is well known for championing research ethics, particularly as these apply to human experimentation, and was a founding member of the Tri-Council Working Group on Ethics.
Kinsella studied medicine at McGill University in Montreal in the 1950s and became Professor at Queen's University in 1968. After two years at McGill, he moved to the University of Calgary, where he spend the rest of his career. In 1984, the University of Calgary appointed Kinsella as associate dean for medical bioethics. He practiced as a rheumatologist.
In 1995, he was awarded the Order of Canada for his contributions to the field of bioethics.
He was president of the Canadian Bioethics Society and a prominent witness during hearings on euthanasia held by the Canadian senate in 1995.
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research supply an annual research grant in Kinsella's name to "the highest ranking CIHR Doctoral Research Award or Canada Graduate Scholarships Doctoral Award applicant whose research focuses on ethical issues related to health and/or health research." The "CIHR Douglas Kinsella Doctoral Award for Research in Bioethics" was first awarded in 2005.
Kinsella married his wife Lorna in Montreal in 1955. They had three sons: Warren, Kevin, and Lorne.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11855905 | Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights
The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights is the name of non-governmental organizations in a number of countries established under the now defunct International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights.
The organizations include:
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11865308 | Ten Commandments for Drivers
On June 19, 2007, the Vatican, under the direction of Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Renato Martino, issued a 36-page document entitled Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road, created by the curial Pontifical Council for Migrants and Itinerant People, under the leadership of Renato Raffaele Cardinal Martino, and intended for bishop conferences around the world. The document specifically states that it is aimed at bishops, priests, religious and other pastoral workers in hopes of pastoral caregivers paying greater attention to expressions of human mobility. The document derived some of its material from the Old Testament, the New Testament, the American Automobile Association, and statements by Popes Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI and John Paul II.
On its issue this document received a lot of media attention due to its listing of Ten Commandments for Drivers. In essence, the Vatican is pointing out that the act of driving has a moral and ethical component. The Guidelines make note of both the benefits of the use of automobiles as well as its dangerous and negative consequences. The problem is not as pervasive in the Vatican City itself, which has a speed limit of 30 km/h (18-19 mph) and approximately only 1000 cars; but there were over 35 million deaths resulting from car accidents in the 20th century, and the Vatican is responding. In the same section of the document as the Drivers' Ten Commandments are the so-called Christian virtues of drivers, which include prudence, justice and hope.
The Guidelines not only deal with problems on the road, but also address prostitution, caring for street children and the homeless, found in Parts Two, Three and Four of the Guidelines.
The Guidelines state that driving can bring out primitive behavior in drivers, which leads to road rage, rude gestures, speeding, drinking behind the wheel, cursing, blasphemy, impoliteness, and intentional violation of the highway code. The Guidelines encourage drivers to obey the highway code, pray behind the wheel and recite the rosary, which the Guidelines insist would not distract the driver's attention.
The following are the ten commandments for drivers.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11871665 | Ken Kirkwood
Kenneth William Kirkwood (born April 27, 1969 in Kingston, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian bioethicist. He is Professor of Applied Health Ethics at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. He specializes in questions of professional ethical standards, enhancement of human physiological and neurological traits, and sociological-philosophical questions of health research.
He is a teacher of some renown, having been declared amongst the top 30 lecturers in Ontario universities by public broadcaster TVOntario in 2007.
His most notable contribution to public debate have been on bioethical questions of doping in sport, specifically in the Olympics and the Tour de France.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26040 | Homosexuality and religion
The relationship between religion and homosexuality has varied greatly across time and place, within and between different religions and denominations, with regard to different forms of homosexuality and bisexuality. Generally speaking as well as by denomination, the present-day doctrines of the world's major religions vary vastly in their attitudes toward these sexual orientations.
Among the religious denominations which generally oppose these orientations, there are many different types of actions which they may take: this can range from quietly discouraging homosexual activity, explicitly forbidding same-sex sexual practices among adherents and actively opposing social acceptance of homosexuality, to execution. Religious fundamentalism has been found to correlate positively with anti-homosexual bias. This is the case with common religiosity too, which typically predicts homophobic attitudes but has also been found to lead to physical antigay hostility, in a lab experiment. Religious opposition to gay adoption was found to be explained by collectivistic values (loyalty, authority, purity) and low flexibility in existential issues, and not by high prosocial inclinations for the weak. Attitudes toward homosexuality have been found to be determined not only by personal religious beliefs, but by the interaction of those beliefs with the predominant national religious context—even for people who are less religious or who do not share their local dominant religious context. Many argue that it is homosexual actions which are sinful, rather than same-sex attraction itself. To this end, some discourage labeling individuals according to sexual orientation. Several organizations exist that assert that conversion therapy can help diminish same-sex attraction.
However, some adherents of many religions view the two sexual orientations positively, and some religious denominations may bless same-sex marriages and support LGBT rights, and the amount of those that do are continuously increasing around the world as much of the developed world enacts laws supporting LGBT rights.
Historically, some cultures and religions accommodated, institutionalized, or revered, same-sex love and sexuality; such mythologies and traditions can be found around the world. The status on homosexuality in Hinduism is ambiguous. Hindu texts contain few specific references to same-sex relations, though some punish it. Ayoni sex which includes oral and anal sex never came to be viewed as much of a sin like in Christianity nor a serious crime and could be practiced in some cases. In 2009, the Hindu Council UK released the statement "Hinduism does not condemn homosexuality". Sikh wedding ceremonies are non-gender specific, and so same-sex marriage is possible within Sikhism.
Regardless of their position on homosexuality, many people of faith look to both sacred texts and tradition for guidance on this issue. However, the authority of various traditions or scriptural passages and the correctness of translations and interpretations are continually disputed.
The Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, have traditionally forbidden sodomy, believing and teaching that such behavior is sinful. Today some denominations within these religions are accepting of homosexuality and inclusive of homosexual people, such as Reform Judaism, the United Church of Christ and the Metropolitan Community Church. Some Presbyterian and Anglican churches welcome members regardless of same-sex sexual practices, with some provinces allowing for the ordination and inclusion of gay and lesbian clerics, and affirmation of same-sex unions. Reform Judaism incorporates lesbian and gay rabbis and same-sex marriage liturgies, while Reconstructionist Judaism and Conservative Judaism in the US allows for lesbian and gay rabbis and same-sex unions.
The Torah (first five books of the Hebrew Bible) is the primary source for Jewish views on homosexuality. It states that: "[A man] shall not lie with another man as [he would] with a woman, it is a תועבה "toeba" ("abomination")" (Leviticus 18:22). (Like many similar commandments, the stated punishment for willful violation is the death penalty, although in practice rabbinic Judaism no longer believes it has the authority to implement death penalties.)
Orthodox Judaism views homosexual acts as sinful. In recent years, there has been approaches claiming only the sexual anal act is forbidden and considered abomination by the Torah, while the sexual orientation and even other sexual activities are not considered a sin. Conservative Judaism has engaged in an in-depth study of homosexuality since the 1990s with various rabbis presenting a wide array of responsa (papers with legal arguments) for communal consideration. The official position of the movement is to welcome homosexual Jews into their synagogues, and also campaign against any discrimination in civil law and public society, but also to uphold a ban on anal sex as a religious requirement.
Reform Judaism and Reconstructionist Judaism in North America and Liberal Judaism in the United Kingdom view homosexuality to be acceptable on the same basis as heterosexuality. Progressive Jewish authorities believe either that traditional laws against homosexuality are no longer binding or that they are subject to changes that reflect a new understanding of human sexuality. Some of these authorities rely on modern biblical scholarship suggesting that the prohibition in the Torah was intended to ban coercive or ritualized homosexual sex, such as those practices ascribed to Egyptian and Canaanite fertility cults and temple prostitution.
Christian denominations hold a variety of views on the issue of homosexual activity, ranging from outright condemnation to complete acceptance. Most Christian denominations welcome people attracted to the same sex, but teach that homosexual acts are sinful. These denominations include the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox church, the Oriental Orthodox churches, Confessional Lutheran denominations such as the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, the United Methodist Church, and some other mainline denominations, such as the Reformed Church in America and the American Baptist Church, as well as Conservative Evangelical organizations and churches, such as the Evangelical Alliance, and fundamentalist groups and churches, such as the Southern Baptist Convention. Pentecostal churches such as the Assemblies of God, as well as Restorationist churches, like Jehovah's Witnesses and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also take the position that homosexual sexual activity is sinful.
Liberal Christians are supportive of homosexuals. Some Christian denominations do not view monogamous same sex relationships as bad or evil. These include the United Church of Canada, the United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the churches of the Old Catholic Union of Utrecht, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, the Church of Sweden, the Lutheran, reformed and united churches in Evangelical Church of Germany, the Church of Denmark, the Icelandic Church, the Church of Norway and the Protestant Church of the Netherlands. In particular, the Metropolitan Community Church, a denomination of 40,000 members, was founded specifically to serve the Christian LGBT community, and is devoted to being open and affirming to LGBT people. The United Church of Christ and the Alliance of Baptists also condone gay marriage, and some parts of the Anglican and Lutheran churches allow for the blessing of gay unions. Within the Anglican communion there are openly gay clergy; for example, Gene Robinson and Mary Glasspool are openly homosexual bishops in the US Episcopal Church and Eva Brunne in Lutheran Church of Sweden. The Episcopal Church's recent actions vis-a-vis homosexuality have brought about increased ethical debate and tension within the Church of England and worldwide Anglican churches. In the United States and many other nations, the religious people are becoming more affirming of same-sex relationships. Even those in denominations with official stances are liberalizing, though not as quickly as those in more affirming religious groups.
Passages from the Mosaic Covenant and its broader Old Testament context have been interpreted to mean that anyone who is engaging in homosexual practices should be punished with death (Leviticus ; cf. Genesis ; Judges ; 2 Peter ; Jude ). HIV/AIDS has also been portrayed by some Christian fundamentalists such as Fred Phelps and Jerry Falwell as a punishment by God against homosexuals. In the 20th century, theologians like Karl Barth, Jürgen Moltmann, Hans Küng, John Robinson, Bishop David Jenkins, Don Cupitt, Bishop Jack Spong challenged traditional theological positions and understandings of the Bible; following these developments some have suggested that passages have been mistranslated, are taken out of context, or that they do not refer to what we understand as "homosexuality."
Conservative denominations generally oppose same-sex sexual relations based on Old Testament and New Testament texts that describe human sexual relations as strictly heterosexual by God's design (Genesis ; ; Matthew ; 1 Corinthians ; Ephesians ), which God declared "very good" (Genesis ). As such, it is argued that sexual desires and actions that contradict God's design are deemed sinful and are condemned by God (e.g. "and with a male you [singular masculine] shall not lie [sexually] as with a female, that is an abomination," Leviticus ; cf. Leviticus ). Since love does not rejoice in unrighteousness or iniquity (cf. 1 Corinthians ), and since homosexual desires and actions are believed to remain contrary to God's design and condemned by God as sinful / iniquity (e.g. "in general", Romans ; "passively", 1 Corinthians ; "actively", including but not limited to "pederasty," 1 Corinthians ; 1 Timothy ; considered sexually "immoral", Galatians ; Colossians ; Ephesians ), adherents of conservative denominations believe that genuine love for God and humanity is best expressed by following God rather than the world (Acts ; cf. Jeremiah ; Romans ).
Where the Catholic view is founded on a natural law argument informed by scripture and proposed by Thomas Aquinas, the traditional conservative Protestant view is based on an interpretation of scripture alone. Protestant conservatives also see homosexual relationships as an impediment to heterosexual relationships. They interpret some Biblical passages to be commandments to be heterosexually married. Catholics, on the other hand, have accommodated unmarried people as priests, monks, nuns and single lay people for over a thousand years. A number of self-described gay and 'ex-gay' Christians have reported satisfaction in mixed-orientation marriages.
The Catholic Church teaches that those who are attracted to persons of the same sex are called to practice chastity, just like everyone else has to before they get married. The Catholic Church does not regard homosexual activity as an expression of the marital sacrament, which it teaches is only possible within a lifelong commitment of a marriage between a man and a woman. According to the Church's sexual ethics, homosexual activity falls short in the complementarity (male and female organs complement each other) and fecundity (openness to new life) of the sexual act.
The views of the Catholic Church, which discourages individuals from acting on sexual desires that they believe to be sinful, and harmful to themselves and others, both physically and mentally. As yet there is no evidence the church is willing to bend on this issue, until then the evidence cited here demonstrates the Catholic Church is unaccepting of homosexual behavior, regardless of what pew studies of parishioners individual views may suggest. Whilst these suggest a growing trend of LGBT acceptance in some Catholic churches, it does however hide a darker picture. There are currently active Ministries which teach the doctrine and interpret the scripture, also point out the majority of the sex abuse in the church have been propagated by homosexuals, upon children of the same sex.
The teachings of the Catholic Church on same-sex attraction are summarized in the "Catechism":
2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that 'homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.' They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.
2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.
2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.
Despite the beliefs of the Catholic Church and homosexuality, there have been thousands of cases of priests who have sexually assaulted both boy and girl minors, mostly the young boys. These cases didn't start to get media awareness until the 1990s. The cases spread from former Popes, Priests, and Clergymen. In the year 2002 media coverage of sexual assault within the church from Europe, Australia, Chile, and the United States. The current Pope, Pope Francis, is starting to address the assault in the church, rather than keeping it a secret as it has been done in the past.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that no one should arouse sexual feelings outside of marriage, including those towards members of the same sex. The LDS church recognizes that feelings of same-sex attraction may not change or be overcome in this earth life, and expect all un-married members, gay or straight, to abstain from any and all sexual relations outside of heterosexual marriage. The LDS church maintains that feelings and inclinations toward the same sex (i.e., homosexual feelings or "temptations") are not inherently sinful, but engaging in homosexual behavior is in conflict with the "doctrinal principle, based on sacred scripture … that marriage between a man and a woman is essential to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children." Those who experience same-sex attraction should continually exercise self-control and reliance on the atonement of Jesus Christ in order to refrain from acting on such feelings. The LDS church strongly opposes same-sex marriage and teaches that marriage is only to be between a man and a woman, and that this is essential to God's eternal plan.
Such issues are addressed on the LDS church website "Love One Another: A Discussion on Same-Sex Attraction".
All major Islamic schools disapprove of homosexuality, Islam views same-sex desires as an unnatural temptation; and sexual relations are seen as a transgression of the natural role and aim of sexual activity. Islamic teachings (in the "hadith" tradition) presume same-sex attraction, extol abstention and (in the Qur'an) condemn consummation.
The discourse on homosexuality in Islam is primarily concerned with activities between men. There are, however, a few hadith which mention homosexual behavior among women; The fuqaha’ are agreed that "there is no hadd punishment for lesbianism, because it is not zina. Rather a ta’zeer punishment must be imposed, because it is a sin…'" Although punishment for lesbianism is rarely mentioned in the histories, al-Tabari records an example of the casual execution of a pair of lesbian slavegirls in the harem of al-Hadi, in a collection of highly critical anecdotes pertaining to that Caliph's actions as ruler.
Bahá'í law limits permissible sexual relations to those between a man and a woman in marriage. Believers are expected to abstain from sex outside matrimony. Bahá'ís do not, however, attempt to impose their moral standards on those who have not accepted the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh. The Bahá'í Faith takes no position on the sexual practices of those who are not adherents. While requiring uprightness in all matters of morality, whether sexual or otherwise, the Bahá’í teachings also take account of human frailty and call for tolerance and understanding in regard to human failings. In this context, to regard homosexuals with prejudice would be contrary to the spirit of the Bahá’í teachings.
Among the religions that originated in ancient and medieval India, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, teachings regarding homosexuality are less clear than among the Abrahamic traditions, and religious authorities voice diverse opinions. In 2005, an authority figure of Sikhism condemned same-sex marriage and the practice of homosexuality. However, many people in Sikhism do not oppose gay marriage. Hinduism is diverse, with no supreme governing body, but the majority of swamis opposed same-sex relationships in a 2004 survey, and a minority supported them. Ancient religious texts such as the Vedas often refer to people of a third gender known as hijra, who are neither female nor male. Some see this third gender as an ancient parallel to modern western lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex identities.
Hinduism has taken various positions, ranging from positive to neutral or antagonistic. Referring to the nature of Samsara, the Rigveda, one of the four canonical sacred texts of Hinduism says 'Vikruti Evam Prakriti' (perversity/diversity is what nature is all about, or, "what seems unnatural is also natural"). A "third gender" has been acknowledged within Hinduism since Vedic times. Several Hindu texts, such as Manu Smriti and Sushruta Samhita, assert that some people are born with either mixed male and female natures, or sexually neuter, as a matter of natural biology. However, Hindu texts like the Manusmirti do treat Homosexuality as a sin legally punishable. In addition, each Hindu denomination had developed distinct rules regarding sexuality, as Hinduism is not unified and is decentralized in essence.
Several Hindu religious laws contain injunctions against homosexual activity, while some Hindu theories do not condemn lesbian relations and some third-gendered individuals were highly regarded. Hindu groups are historically not unified regarding the issue of homosexuality, each one having a distinct doctrinal view.
The Indian Kama Sutra, written around 150 BC, contains passages describing eunuchs or "third-sex" males performing oral sex on men. The text describes Kama as one of the three objectives to be achieved in life. Though it forbids the educated Brahmins, bureaucrats and wisemen from practicing Auparishtaka (oral sex).
Similarly, some medieval Hindu temples and artifacts openly depict both male homosexuality and lesbianism within their carvings, such as the temple walls at Khajuraho. Some infer from these images that at least part of the Hindu society and religion were previously more open to variations in human sexuality than they are at present.
Ayoni sex, which includes oral and anal sex, never came to be viewed as much of a sin like in Christianity nor a serious crime and could be practiced in some cases. Close friendship between people of same genders has also been seen as permissible in Hindu texts.
In some Hindu sects (specifically among the hijras), many divinities are androgynous. There are Hindu deities who are intersex (both male and female); who manifest in all three genders; who switch from male to female or from female to male; male deities with female moods and female deities with male moods; deities born from two males or from two females; deities born from a single male or single female; deities who avoid the opposite sex; deities with principal companions of the same sex, and so on.
Several Hindu priests have performed same-sex marriages, arguing that love is the result of attachments from previous births and that marriage, as a union of spirit, is transcendental to gender.
The Hindu Council UK stated in 2009 that Hinduism does not condemn homosexuality.
The most common formulation of Buddhist ethics are the Five Precepts and the Eightfold Path, one should neither be attached to nor crave sensual pleasure. The third of the Five Precepts is "To refrain from committing sexual misconduct." However, "sexual misconduct" is a broad term, and is subjected to interpretation relative to the social norms of the followers.
The determination of whether or not same-gender relations is appropriate for a layperson is not considered a religious matter by many Buddhists.
According to the Pāli Canon & Āgama (the Early Buddhist scriptures), there is not any saying that same or opposite gender relations have anything to do with sexual misconduct, and some Theravada monks express that same-gender relations do not violate the rule to avoid sexual misconduct, which means not having sex with someone under age (thus protected by their parents or guardians), someone betrothed or married and who have taken vows of religious celibacy.
Some later traditions gradually began to add new restrictions on sexual misconduct, like non-vagina sex, though its situations seem involving coerced sex. This non-vagina sex as sexual misconduct view is not based on what Buddha's said, but from some later Abhidharma texts.
Buddhism is often characterized as distrustful of sensual enjoyment and sexuality in general. Traditionally, sex and lust are seen as hindering to spiritual progress in most schools of Buddhism; as such monks are expected to refrain from all sexual activity, and the Vinaya (the first book of the Tripitaka) specifically prohibits sexual intercourse, then further explain that anal, oral, and vaginal intercourse amount to sexual intercourse, which will result in permanent exclusion from Sangha. A notable exception in the history of Buddhism occurred in Japan during the Edo period, in which male homosexuality, or more specifically, love between young novices and older monks, was celebrated.
References to pandaka, a eunuch/impotence category that is sometimes interpreted to include homosexual males, can be found throughout the Pali canon as well as other Sanskrit scriptures. In the Chinese version of Sarvastivada Vinaya, the pandaka is mentioned as also trying to have sex with women, not just men. Leonard Zwilling refers extensively to Buddhaghosa's Samantapasadika, where "pandaka" are described as being filled with defiled passions and insatiable lusts, and are dominated by their libido. Some texts of the Abhidharma state that a "pandaka" cannot achieve enlightenment in their own lifetime, (but must wait for rebirth) and Asanga and Vasubandhu discussed if a pandaka was able to be enlightened or not. According to one scriptural story, Ananda—Buddha's cousin and disciple—was a "pandaka" in one of his many previous lives.
Some later classic Buddhist masters and texts disallow contact between monks/Bodhisattva and "pandakas"/women and classify non-vagina sex as sexual misconduct, including for lay followers.
The third of the five precepts of Buddhism states that one is to refrain from sexual misconduct; this precept has sometimes been interpreted to include homosexuality. The Dalai Lama of Tibetan Buddhism interprets sexual misconduct to include lesbian and gay sex, and indeed any sex other than penis-vagina intercourse, including oral sex, anal sex, and masturbation or other sexual activity with the hand; the only time sex is acceptable is when it performed for its purpose of procreation. When interviewed by Canadian TV news anchor Evan Solomon on about whether or not homosexuality is acceptable in Buddhism, the Dalai Lama responded that "it is sexual misconduct." However, the Dalai Lama supports human rights for all, "regardless of sexual orientation."
In Thailand, some accounts propose that "homosexuality arises as a karmic consequence of violating Buddhist proscriptions against heterosexual misconduct. These karmic accounts describe homosexuality as a congenital condition which cannot be altered, at least in a homosexual person's current lifetime, and have been linked with calls for compassion and understanding from the non-homosexual populace." However, Buddhist leaders in Thailand have also condemned homosexuality, ousted monks accused of homosexual acts, and banned kathoey from ordination. In 2009, Senior monk Phra Maha Wudhijaya Vajiramedh introduced a "good manners" curriculum for novices in the monkhood, stating to the BBC that he was concerned by "the flamboyant behaviour of gay and transgender monks, who can often be seen wearing revealingly tight robes, carrying pink purses and having effeminately-shaped eyebrows."
A later popular Japanese legend attributed the introduction of monastic homosexuality to Japan to Shingon founder Kukai, although scholars now dismiss the veracity of this assertion, pointing out his strict adherence to the Vinaya. Nonetheless, the legend served to "affirm same sex relation between men and boys in seventeenth century Japan." However, Japanese Buddhist scholar and author of "Wild Azaleas" Kitamura Kigin argued that there was a tendency in monasteries to avoid heterosexuality and to encourage homosexuality.
Although Mahayana Buddhism has some texts against homosexuality (from later Abhidharma texts & Buddhist apocrypha), the majority of its teachings assert that all beings who correctly practice the dharma may reach enlightenment, since all possess an innate Buddha nature. Enlightenment being achievable even in a single life.
The capacity of Buddhism to reform itself and its great variety of distinct beliefs and schools, provide many liberal streams of Buddhism, which are accepting of all sexual orientations. Reformist Buddhism is predominant in the west and in some eastern cosmopolitan cities.
Sikhism has no written view on the matter, but in 2005, a Sikh religious authority described homosexuality as "against the Sikh religion and the Sikh code of conduct and totally against the laws of nature," and called on Sikhs to support laws against gay marriage. Many Sikhs are against this view, however, and state that the Sikh Scriptures promote equality and do not condemn homosexuality.
Marriage in Sikhism is seen as a union of souls. In Sikhism, the soul is seen as genderless, and the outward appearance of human beings (man, woman) is a temporary state. Same-sex marriage advocates refer to this fact.
In Sikh Scripture
The Sikh holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib, is the highest authority in the Sikhism, it is seen as the 11th and eternal Guru. It serves as a guide to Sikhs on how to live positive lives, and details what behavior is expected of all Sikhs. It is seemingly silent on the subject of homosexuality; however, married life is encouraged time and again in Guru Granth Sahib Ji. Whenever marriage is mentioned, it is always in reference to a man and a woman. Some Sikhs believe that Guru Granth Sahib Ji is the complete guide to life, and if a marriage between two of the same sexes is not mentioned, it is therefore not right. The counterargument to this is that man and woman are only mentioned in this way to give light to the relationship of the soul and the soul force as being one. This denies gender and sex as an issue. Thus, Sikhism is more concerned with ones attainment of enlightenment rather than habitual desires such as sexuality. True love is attained through the Guru and no man speaks on behalf of the Guru as the Granth is open to interpretation and misrepresentation.
There are five vices (habitual desires) outlined in the Guru Granth Sahib that one should try to control. One of these vices is lust, and some Sikhs believe that homosexual thoughts and behaviour are just manifestations of lust. However, Sikhs that are more accepting of homosexuality claim that this is equally applicable to heterosexuals. These same Sikhs believe that Guru Nanak's emphasis on universal equality and brotherhood is fundamentally in support of the human rights of homosexuals.
Views on homosexuality tend not to be a primary concern in Sikh teachings, as the universal goal of a Sikh is to have no hate or animosity to any person, regardless of race, caste, color, creed, gender, or sex
The Guru's silence on homosexuality has led to a history of ambivalence on the topic.
The Vendidad, one of the later Zoroastrian texts composed in the Artificial Young Avestan language, has not been dated precisely. It is thought that some concepts of law, uncleanliness, dualism, and salvation were shared between the religions, and subsequent interactions between the religions are documented by events such as the release of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity by Zoroastrian Cyrus the Great in 537 BC, and the Biblical account of the Magi visiting the infant Jesus.
The Vendidad generally promotes procreation: "the man who has a wife is far above him who lives in continence; he who keeps a house is far above him who has none; he who has children is far above the childless man; he who has riches is far above him who has none." It details the penance for a worshipper who submits to sodomy under force as "Eight hundred stripes with the Aspahe-astra, eight hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana." (equal to the penalty for breaking a contract with the value of an ox), and declares that for those participating voluntarily "For that deed there is nothing that can pay, nothing that can atone, nothing that can cleanse from it; it is a trespass for which there is no atonement, for ever and ever". However, those not practicing the Religion of Mazda were pardoned for past actions upon conversion. It has been argued that, in ancient times, those prohibitions against sodomy didn't apply to eunuchs.
However, many Zoroastrians, termed "reformists", eschew the teachings of the Vendidad as corruptions of Zoroaster's original message, claiming the rules do not conform with 'Good Words, Good Thoughts and Good Deeds', and therefore have no spiritual significance. Hence, many of these reformist Zoroastrians are openly accepting and supportive of the LGBT community and same-sex marriage.
Among the Taoic religions of East Asia, such as Taoism, passionate homosexual expression is usually discouraged because it is believed to not lead to human fulfillment.
Confucianism, being primarily a social and political philosophy, focused little on sexuality; whether homosexual or heterosexual. However, the ideology did emphasize male friendships, and Louis Crompton has argued that the "closeness of the master-disciple bond it fostered may have subtly facilitated homosexuality". Homosexuality is not mentioned in the Analects of Confucius.
There is no single official position on homosexuality in Taoism, as the term Taoism is used to describe a number of disparate religious traditions.
In a similar way to Buddhism, Taoist schools sought throughout history to define what would be sexual misconduct. The precept against Sexual Misconduct is sex outside your marriage. The married spouses () usually in Chinese suggest male with female, though the scripture itself does not explicitly say anything against same-gender relations. Many sorts of precepts mentioned in the Yunji Qiqian (), The Mini Daoist Canon, does not explicitly say anything against same-gender relations as well.
Homosexuality is not unknown in Taoist history, such as during the Tang dynasty when Taoist nuns exchanged love poems. Attitudes about homosexuality within Taoism often reflect the values and sexual norms of broader Chinese society (see Homosexuality in China).
The Radical Faeries are a worldwide queer spiritual movement, founded in 1979 in the United States.
The Wiccan "Charge of the Goddess", one of the most famous texts in Neopaganism, states in the words of the Goddess, "all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals". In traditional forms of Wicca, such as Gardnerian and Alexandrian Wicca, magic is often performed between a man and a woman, and the "Great Rite" is a sex ritual performed between a Priest and Priestess representing the God and Goddess; however, this is not generally seen as excluding homosexuals or magic between same-sex couples. Most groups still insist, however, that initiations be conferred from man to woman or woman to man.
Satanism, in both the theistic and the LaVey tradition, is open to all forms of sexual expression, and does not preclude homosexuality.
The first ordained minister of a major religious sect in the U.S. or Canada to come out as gay was the UU Minister James Stoll in 1969. There have been UUA resolutions supporting people regardless of sexual orientation since 1970. Unitarian Universalism was the first denomination to accept openly transgender people as full members with eligibility to become clergy; in 1988 the first openly transgender person was ordained by the Unitarian Universalist Association.
The Unitarian Universalist Association has supported the marriage equality since 1996 and compared those who resisted such equality to the resistance to the abolition of slavery, women's suffrage, and the end of anti-miscegenation laws. Several congregations have undertaken a series of organizational, procedural and practical steps to become acknowledged as a "Welcoming Congregation": a congregation which has taken specific steps to welcome and integrate gay, lesbian, bisexual & transgender (GLBT) members. UU ministers perform same-sex unions and now same-sex marriages where legal (and sometimes when not, as a form of civil protest). On 29 June 1984, the Unitarian Universalists became the first major church "to approve religious blessings on homosexual unions." Unitarian Universalists have been in the forefront of the work to make same-sex marriages legal in their local states and provinces, as well as on the national level. Gay men and lesbians are also regularly ordained as ministers, and a number of gay and lesbian ministers have, themselves, now become legally married to their partners. In May 2004, Arlington Street Church, Boston was the site of the first state-sanctioned same-sex marriage in the United States. The official stance of the UUA is for the legalization of same-sex marriage—"Standing on the Side of Love." In 2004 UU Minister Rev. Debra Haffner of The Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing published An Open Letter on Religious Leaders on Marriage Equality to affirm same-sex marriage from a multi-faith perspective.
Humanism is a non-religious, non-theistic approach to life that supports full equality for LGBTQ individuals, including the right to marry. "Humanism and Its Aspirations", a statement of humanist principles from the American Humanist Association, states that "humanists are concerned for the well being of all, are committed to diversity, and respect those of differing yet humane views...work to uphold the equal enjoyment of human rights and civil liberties in an open, secular society and maintain it is a civic duty to participate in the democratic process and a planetary duty to protect nature's integrity, diversity, and beauty in a secure, sustainable manner." The American Humanist Association provides a LGBT Humanist Pride award and has funded a LGBT-inclusive prom for Itawamba County Agricultural High School in Mississippi. The organisation LGBT Humanists UK "is a United Kingdom-based not-for-profit that campaigns for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality and human rights and promotes Humanism as an ethical worldview." It was formerly an independent group, but since 2012 has been a part of the charity Humanists UK. In 2009 they gave Stephen Fry an award "for his services to humanism and gay rights."
Humanists UK Chief Executive Andrew Copson, who is gay, once wrote that "humanists have always been champions of LGBT rights" and cited his organisation's many years campaigning for decriminalisation and LGBT equality in the UK, including legal same-sex marriages. He pointed out the large number of LGBT people in the movement, including Stephen Fry, Christian Jessen, and Peter Tatchell, as well as historical associations with humanism like the writer Virginia Woolf and E M Forster. In a statement following the Orlando nightclub shooting for the International Humanist and Ethical Union, of which Copson is also President, he went further, saying "Humanism is the ultimate, long-standing and unfaltering ally of LGBTI people everywhere".
In Candomblé, homosexuality is usually accepted and explained by the sex of one's orisha. Homosexuality would be more probable in a man with a female orisha, a woman with a male orisha, or any of them with an androgynous orisha (such as Olokun).
Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon opposed homosexuality and compared gay people to "dirty dung-eating dogs". He prophesied that "gays will be eliminated" in a "purge on God's orders".
Opposition to same-sex marriage and LGBT rights is often associated with conservative religious views. The American Family Association and other religious groups have promoted boycotts of corporations whose policies support the LGBT community.
In conservative Islamic nations, laws generally prohibit same-sex sexual behaviour, and interpretation of Sharia Law on male homosexuality carries the death penalty. This has been condemned as a violation of human rights by human rights organisation Amnesty International and by the writers of the Yogyakarta principles. With the signature of the US in 2009, the proposed UN declaration on LGBT rights has now been signed by every European secular state and all western nations, as well as other countries—67 members of the UN in total. An opposing statement put forward by Muslim nations was signed by 57 member states, mostly in Africa and Asia. 68 out of the total 192 countries have not yet signed either statement. In 2011 the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a landmark resolution initiated by South Africa supporting LBGT rights ("See Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity at the United Nations")
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27165 | Sexism
Sexism or Gender bias is prejudice or discrimination based on a person's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls. It has been linked to stereotypes and gender roles, and may include the belief that one sex or gender is intrinsically superior to another. Extreme sexism may foster sexual harassment, rape, and other forms of sexual violence. Gender discrimination may encompass sexism, and is discrimination toward people based on their gender identity or their gender or sex differences. Gender discrimination is especially defined in terms of workplace inequality. It may arise from social or cultural customs and norms.
According to Fred R. Shapiro, the term "sexism" was most likely coined on November 18, 1965, by Pauline M. Leet during a "Student-Faculty Forum" at Franklin and Marshall College. Specifically, the word sexism appears in Leet's forum contribution "Women and the Undergraduate", and she defines it by comparing it to racism, stating in part (on page 3): "When you argue ... that since fewer women write good poetry this justifies their total exclusion, you are taking a position analogous to that of the racist—I might call you in this case a 'sexist' ... Both the racist and the sexist are acting as if all that has happened had never happened, and both of them are making decisions and coming to conclusions about someone's value by referring to factors which are in both cases irrelevant."
Also according to Shapiro, the first time the term "sexism" appeared in print was in Caroline Bird's speech "On Being Born Female", which was published on November 15, 1968, in "Vital Speeches of the Day" (p. 6). In this speech she said in part: "There is recognition abroad that we are in many ways a sexist country. Sexism is judging people by their sex when sex doesn't matter. Sexism is intended to rhyme with racism."
Sexism may be defined as an ideology based on the belief that one sex is superior to another. It is discrimination, prejudice, or stereotyping on the basis of gender, and is most often expressed toward girls and women. It has been characterized as the "hatred of women" and "entrenched prejudice against women".
Sociology has examined sexism as manifesting at both the individual and the institutional level. According to Schaefer, sexism is perpetuated by all major social institutions. Sociologists describe parallels among other ideological systems of oppression such as racism, which also operates at both the individual and institutional level. Early female sociologists Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Ida B. Wells, and Harriet Martineau described systems of gender inequality, but did not use the term "sexism", which was coined later. Sociologists who adopted the functionalist paradigm, e.g. Talcott Parsons, understood gender inequality as the natural outcome of a dimorphic model of gender.
Psychologists Mary Crawford and Rhoda Unger define sexism as a form of prejudice held by individuals that encompasses "negative attitudes and values about women as a group." Peter Glick and Susan Fiske coined the term "ambivalent sexism" to describe how stereotypes about women can be both positive and negative, and that individuals compartmentalize the stereotypes they hold into hostile sexism or benevolent sexism.
Feminist author bell hooks defines sexism as a system of oppression that results in disadvantages for women. Feminist philosopher Marilyn Frye defines sexism as an "attitudinal-conceptual-cognitive-orientational complex" of male supremacy, male chauvinism, and misogyny.
The status of women in ancient Egypt depended on their fathers or husbands, but they had property rights and were allowed to attend court, including as plaintiffs. Women of the Anglo-Saxon era were commonly afforded equal status. Evidence, however, is lacking to support the idea that many pre-agricultural societies afforded women a higher status than women today. After the adoption of agriculture and sedentary cultures, the concept that one gender was inferior to the other was established; most often this was imposed upon women and girls. Examples of sexism in the ancient world include written laws preventing women from participating in the political process; women in ancient Rome could not vote or hold political office. Another example is scholarly texts that indoctrinate children in female inferiority; women in ancient China were taught the Confucian principles that a woman should obey her father in childhood, husband in marriage, and son in widowhood.
Sexism may have been the impetus that fueled the witch trials between the 15th and 18th centuries. In early modern Europe, and in the European colonies in North America, claims were made that witches were a threat to Christendom. The misogyny of that period played a role in the persecution of these women.
In "Malleus Malificarum", the book which played a major role in the witch hunts and trials, the authors argue that women are more likely to practice witchcraft than men, and write that:
Witchcraft remains illegal in several countries, including Saudi Arabia, where it is punishable by death. In 2011, a woman was beheaded in that country for 'witchcraft and sorcery'. Murders of women after being accused of witchcraft remain common in some parts of the world; for example, in Tanzania, about 500 elderly women are murdered each year following such accusations.
When women are targeted for accusations of witchcraft and subsequent violence, it is often the case that several forms of discrimination interact - for example, discrimination based on gender with discrimination based on caste, as is the case in India and Nepal, where such crimes are relatively common.
Until the 20th century, U.S. and English law observed the system of coverture, where "by marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law; that is the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage". U.S. women were not legally defined as "persons" until 1875 ("Minor v. Happersett", 88 U.S. 162). A similar legal doctrine, called marital power, existed under Roman Dutch law (and is still partially in force in present-day Eswatini).
Restrictions on married women's rights were common in Western countries until a few decades ago: for instance, French married women obtained the right to work without their husband's permission in 1965, and in West Germany women obtained this right in 1977. During the Franco era, in Spain, a married woman required her husband's consent (called "permiso marital") for employment, ownership of property and traveling away from home; the "permiso marital" was abolished in 1975. In Australia, until 1983, the passport application of a married woman had to be authorized by her husband.
Women in parts of the world continue to lose their legal rights in marriage. For example, Yemeni marriage regulations state that a wife must obey her husband and must not leave home without his permission. In Iraq, the law allows husbands to legally "punish" their wives. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Family Code states that the husband is the head of the household; the wife owes her obedience to her husband; a wife has to live with her husband wherever he chooses to live; and wives must have their husbands' authorization to bring a case in court or to initiate other legal proceedings.
Abuses and discriminatory practices against women in marriage are often rooted in financial payments such as dowry, bride price, and dower. These transactions often serve as legitimizing coercive control of the wife by her husband and in giving him authority over her; for instance Article 13 of the Code of Personal Status (Tunisia) states that "The husband shall not, in default of payment of the dower, force the woman to consummate the marriage", implying that, if the dower is paid, marital rape is permitted (in this regard, critics have questioned the alleged gains of women in Tunisia, and its image as a progressive country in the region, arguing that discrimination against women remains very strong in that country).
The OMCT has recognized the "independence and ability to leave an abusive husband" as crucial in stopping mistreatment of women. However, in some parts of the world, once married, women have very little chance of leaving a violent husband: obtaining a divorce is very difficult in many jurisdictions because of the need to prove fault in court; while attempting a "de facto" separation (moving away from the marital home) is also not possible due to laws preventing this. For instance, in Afghanistan, a wife who leaves her marital home risks being imprisoned for "running away". In addition, many former British colonies, including India, maintain the concept of restitution of conjugal rights, under which a wife may be ordered by court to return to her husband; if she fails to do so she may be held in contempt of court. Other problems have to do with the payment of the bride price: if the wife wants to leave, her husband may demand back the bride price that he had paid to the woman's family; and the woman's family often cannot or does not want to pay it back.
Laws, regulations, and traditions related to marriage continue to discriminate against women in many parts of the world, and to contribute to the mistreatment of women, in particular in areas related to sexual violence and to self-determination in regard to sexuality, the violation of the latter now being acknowledged as a violation of women's rights; in 2012, Navi Pillay, then High Commissioner for Human Rights, has stated that:
Gender has been used, at times, as a tool for discrimination against women in the political sphere. Women's suffrage was not achieved until 1893, when New Zealand was the first country to grant women the right to vote. Saudi Arabia was the most recent country, as of August 2015, to extend the right to vote to women in 2011. Some Western countries allowed women the right to vote only relatively recently: Swiss women gained the right to vote in federal elections in 1971, and Appenzell Innerrhoden became the last canton to grant women the right to vote on local issues (in 1991, when it was forced to do so by the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland). French women were granted the right to vote in 1944. In Greece, women obtained the right to vote in 1952. In Liechtenstein, women obtained the right to vote in 1984, through the women's suffrage referendum of 1984.
While almost every woman today has the right to vote, there is still progress to be made for women in politics. Studies have shown that in several democracies including Australia, Canada, and the United States, women are still represented using gender stereotypes in the press. Multiple authors have shown that gender differences in the media are less evident today than they used to be in the 1980s, but are nonetheless still present. Certain issues (e.g., education) are likely to be linked with female candidates, while other issues (e.g., taxes) are likely to be linked with male candidates. In addition, there is more emphasis on female candidates' personal qualities, such as their appearance and their personality, as females are portrayed as emotional and dependent.
Sexism in politics can also be shown in the imbalance of lawmaking power between men and women. Lanyan Chen stated that men hold more political power than women, serving as the gatekeepers of policymaking. It is possible that this leads to women's needs not being properly represented. In this sense, the inequality of lawmaking power also causes gender discrimination in politics. The ratio of women to men in legislatures is used as a measure of gender equality in the UN created Gender Empowerment Measure and its newer incarnation the Gender Inequality Index.
Until the early 1980s, some high-end restaurants had two menus: a regular menu with the prices listed for men and a second menu for women, which did not have the prices listed (it was called the "ladies' menu"), so that the female diner would not know the prices of the items. In 1980, Kathleen Bick took a male business partner out to dinner at L'Orangerie in West Hollywood; after Bick got a women's menu without prices and her guest got the menu with prices, Bick hired lawyer Gloria Allred to file a discrimination lawsuit, on the grounds that the women's menu went against the California Civil Rights Act. Bick stated that getting a women's menu without prices left her feeling "humiliated and incensed". The owners of the restaurant defended the practice, saying it was done as a courtesy, like the way men would stand up when a woman enters the room. Even though the lawsuit was dropped, the restaurant ended its gender-based menu policy.
Gender stereotypes are widely held beliefs about the characteristics and behavior of women and men. Empirical studies have found widely shared cultural beliefs that men are more socially valued and more competent than women in a number of activities. Dustin B. Thoman and others (2008) hypothesize that "[t]he socio-cultural salience of ability versus other components of the gender-math stereotype may impact women pursuing math". Through the experiment comparing the math outcomes of women under two various gender-math stereotype components, which are the ability of math and the effort on math respectively, Thoman and others found that women’s math performance is more likely to be affected by the negative ability stereotype, which is influenced by sociocultural beliefs in the United States, rather than the effort component. As a result of this experiment and the sociocultural beliefs in the United States, Thoman and others concluded that individuals' academic outcomes can be affected by the gender-math stereotype component that is influenced by the sociocultural beliefs.
Sexism in language exists when language devalues members of a certain gender. Sexist language, in many instances, promotes male superiority. Sexism in language affects consciousness, perceptions of reality, encoding and transmitting cultural meanings and socialization. Researchers have pointed to the semantic rule in operation in language of the male-as-norm. This results in sexism as the male becomes the standard and those who are not male are relegated to the inferior. Sexism in language is considered a form of indirect sexism, in that it is not always overt.
Examples include:
Various feminist movements in the 20th century, from liberal feminism and radical feminism to standpoint feminism, postmodern feminism and queer theory have all considered language in their theorizing. Most of these theories have maintained a critical stance on language that calls for a change in the way speakers use their language.
One of the most common calls is for gender-neutral language. Many have called attention, however, to the fact that the English language isn't inherently sexist in its linguistic system, but rather the way it is used becomes sexist and gender-neutral language could thus be employed. At the same time, other opposed critiques of sexism in language with explanations that language is a descriptive, rather than prescriptive, and attempts to control it can be fruitless.
Romanic languages such as French and Spanish may be seen as reinforcing sexism, in that the masculine form is the default form. The word "mademoiselle", meaning "miss", was declared banished from French administrative forms in 2012 by Prime Minister François Fillon. Current pressure calls for the use of the masculine plural pronoun as the default in a mixed-sex group to change. As to Spanish, Mexico's Ministry of the Interior published a guide on how to reduce the use of sexist language.
German speakers have also raised questions about how sexism intersects with grammar. The German language is heavily inflected for gender, number, and case; nearly all nouns denoting the occupations or statuses of human beings are gender-differentiated. For more gender-neutral constructions, gerund nouns are sometimes used instead, as this completely eliminates the grammatical gender distinction in the plural, and significantly reduces it in the singular. For example, instead of "die Studenten" ("the men students") or "die Studentinnen" ("the women students"), one writes "die Studierenden" ("the [people who are] studying"). However, this approach introduces an element of ambiguity, because gerund nouns more precisely denote one currently engaged in the activity, rather than one who routinely engages in it as their primary occupation.
In Chinese, some writers have pointed to sexism inherent in the structure of written characters. For example, the character for man is linked to those for positive qualities like courage and effect while the character for wife is composed of a female part and a broom, considered of low worth.
Gender-specific pejorative terms intimidate or harm another person because of their gender. Sexism can be expressed in language with negative gender-oriented implications, such as condescension. For example, one may refer to a female as a "girl" rather than a "woman", implying that they are subordinate or not fully mature. Other examples include obscene language. Some words are offensive to transgender people, including "tranny", "she-male", or "he-she". Intentional misgendering (assigning the wrong gender to someone) and the pronoun "it" are also considered pejorative.
Occupational sexism refers to discriminatory practices, statements or actions, based on a person's sex, occurring in the workplace. One form of occupational sexism is wage discrimination. In 2008, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found that while female employment rates have expanded and gender employment and wage gaps have narrowed nearly everywhere, on average women still have 20% less chance to have a job and are paid 17% less than men. The report stated: [In] many countries, labour market discrimination—i.e. the unequal treatment of equally productive individuals only because they belong to a specific group—is still a crucial factor inflating disparities in employment and the quality of job opportunities [...] Evidence presented in this edition of the "Employment Outlook" suggests that about 8 percent of the variation in gender employment gaps and 30 percent of the variation in gender wage gaps across OECD countries can be explained by discriminatory practices in the labor market.
It also found that despite the fact that almost all OECD countries, including the U.S., have established anti-discrimination laws, these laws are difficult to enforce.
Women who enter predominantly male work groups can experience the negative consequences of tokenism: performance pressures, social isolation, and role encapsulation. Tokenism could be used to camouflage sexism, to preserve male worker's advantage in the workplace. No link exists between the proportion of women working in an organization/company and the improvement of their working conditions. Ignoring sexist issues may exacerbate women’s occupational problems.
In the "World Values Survey" of 2005, responders were asked if they thought that wage work should be restricted only to men. In Iceland, the percentage that agreed was 3.6%, whereas in Egypt it was 94.9%.
Research has repeatedly shown that mothers in the United States are less likely to be hired than equally-qualified fathers and, if hired, receive a lower salary than male applicants with children.
One study found that female applicants were favored; however, its results have been met with skepticism from other researchers, since it contradicts most other studies on the issue. Joan C. Williams, a distinguished professor at the University of California's Hastings College of Law, raised issues with its methodology, pointing out that the fictional female candidates it used were unusually well-qualified. Studies using more moderately-qualified graduate students have found that male students are much more likely to be hired, offered better salaries, and offered mentorship.
In Europe, studies based on field experiments in the labour market, provide evidence for no severe levels of discrimination based on female gender. However, unequal treatment is still measured in particular situations, for instance when candidates apply for positions at a higher functional level in Belgium, when they apply at their fertiles ages in France, and when they apply for male-dominated occupations in Austria.
Studies have concluded that on average women earn lower wages than men worldwide. Some people argue that this is the result of widespread gender discrimination in the workplace. Others argue that the wage gap is a result of different choices by men and women, such as women placing more value than men on having children, and men being more likely than women to choose careers in high paying fields such as business, engineering, and technology.
Eurostat found a persistent, average gender pay gap of 27.5% in the 27 EU member states in 2008. Similarly, the OECD found that female full-time employees earned 27% less than their male counterparts in OECD countries in 2009.
In the United States, the female-to-male earnings ratio was 0.77 in 2009; female full-time, year-round (FTYR) workers earned 77% as much as male FTYR workers. Women's earnings relative to men's fell from 1960 to 1980 (56.7–54.2%), rose rapidly from 1980 to 1990 (54.2–67.6%), leveled off from 1990 to 2000 (67.6–71.2%) and rose from 2000 to 2009 (71.2–77.0%). When the first Equal Pay Act was passed in 1963, female full-time workers earned 48.9% as much as male full-time workers.
Research conducted in the Czech and Slovak Republics shows that, even after the governments passed anti-discrimination legislation, two thirds of the gender gap in wages remained unexplained and segregation continued to "represent a major source of the gap".
The gender gap can also vary across-occupation and within occupation. In Taiwan, for example, studies show how the bulk of gender wage discrepancies occur within-occupation. In Russia, research shows that the gender wage gap is distributed unevenly across income levels, and that it mainly occurs at the lower end of income distribution. The research also found that "wage arrears and payment in-kind attenuated wage discrimination, particularly amongst the lowest paid workers, suggesting that Russian enterprise managers assigned lowest importance to equity considerations when allocating these forms of payment".
The gender pay gap has been attributed to differences in personal and workplace characteristics between men and women (such as education, hours worked and occupation), innate behavioral and biological differences between men and women and discrimination in the labor market (such as gender stereotypes and customer and employer bias). Women currently take significantly more time off to raise children than men. In certain countries such as South Korea, it has also been a long-established practice to lay-off female employees upon marriage. A study by professor Linda Babcock in her book "Women Don't Ask" shows that men are eight times more likely to ask for a pay raise, suggesting that pay inequality may be partly a result of behavioral differences between the sexes. However, studies generally find that a portion of the gender pay gap remains unexplained after accounting for factors assumed to influence earnings; the unexplained portion of the wage gap is attributed to gender discrimination.
Estimates of the discriminatory component of the gender pay gap vary. The OECD estimated that approximately 30% of the gender pay gap across OECD countries is due to discrimination. Australian research shows that discrimination accounts for approximately 60% of the wage differential between men and women. Studies examining the gender pay gap in the United States show that a large portion of the wage differential remains unexplained, after controlling for factors affecting pay. One study of college graduates found that the portion of the pay gap unexplained after all other factors are taken into account is 5% one year after graduating and 12% a decade after graduation. A study by the American Association of University Women found that women graduates in the United States are paid less than men doing the same work and majoring in the same field.
Wage discrimination is theorized as contradicting the economic concept of supply and demand, which states that if a good or service (in this case, labor) is in demand and has value it will find its price in the market. If a worker offered equal value for less pay, supply and demand would indicate a greater demand for lower-paid workers. If a business hired lower-wage workers for the same work, it would lower its costs and enjoy a competitive advantage. According to supply and demand, if women offered equal value demand (and wages) should rise since they offer a better price (lower wages) for their service than men do.
Research at Cornell University and elsewhere indicates that mothers in the United States are less likely to be hired than equally-qualified fathers and, if hired, receive a lower salary than male applicants with children. The OECD found that "a significant impact of children on women’s pay is generally found in the United Kingdom and the United States". Fathers earn $7,500 more, on average, than men without children do.
There is research to suggest that the gender wage gap leads to big losses for the economy as a whole.
According to Denise Venable at the National Center for Policy Analysis, the "wage gap" in the United States is not the result of discrimination but of differences in lifestyle choices. Venable's report found that women are less likely than men to sacrifice personal happiness for increases in income or to choose full-time work. She found that among American adults working between one and thirty-five hours a week and part-time workers who have never been married, women earn more than men. Venable also found that among people aged 27 to 33 who have never had a child, women's earnings approach 98% of men's and "women who hold positions and have skills and experience similar to those of men face wage disparities of less than 10 percent, and many are within a couple of points". Venable concluded that women and men with equal skills and opportunities in the same positions face little or no wage discrimination: "Claims of unequal pay almost always involve comparing apples and oranges".
There is considerable agreement that gender wage discrimination exists, however, when it comes to estimating its magnitude, significant discrepancies are visible. A meta-regression analysis concludes that "the estimated gender gap has been steadily declining" and that the wage rate calculation is proven to be crucial in estimating the wage gap. The analysis further notes that excluding experience and failing to correct for selection bias from analysis might also lead to incorrect conclusions.
"The popular notion of glass ceiling effects implies that gender (or other) disadvantages are stronger at the top of the hierarchy than at lower levels and that these disadvantages become worse later in a person's career."
In the United States, women account for 52% of the overall labor force, but only make up 3% of corporate CEOs and top executives. Some researchers see the root cause of this situation in the tacit discrimination based on gender, conducted by current top executives and corporate directors (primarily male), as well as "the historic absence of women in top positions", which "may lead to hysteresis, preventing women from accessing powerful, male-dominated professional networks, or same-sex mentors". The glass ceiling effect is noted as being especially persistent for women of color (according to a report, "women of colour perceive a 'concrete ceiling' and not simply a glass ceiling").
In the economics profession, it has been observed that women are more inclined than men to dedicate their time to teaching and service. Since continuous research work is crucial for promotion, "the cumulative effect of small, contemporaneous differences in research orientation could generate the observed significant gender difference in promotion". In the high-tech industry, research shows that, regardless of the intra-firm changes, "extra-organizational pressures will likely contribute to continued gender stratification as firms upgrade, leading to the potential masculinization of skilled high-tech work".
The United Nations asserts that "progress in bringing women into leadership and decision making positions around the world remains far too slow".
Research by David Matsa and Amalia Miller suggests that a possible remedy to the glass ceiling could be increasing the number of women on corporate boards, which could subsequently lead to increases in the number of women working in top management positions. The same research suggests that this could also result in a "feedback cycle in which the presence of more female managers increases the qualified pool of potential female board members (for the companies they manage, as well as other companies), leading to greater female board membership and then further increases in female executives".
A 2009 study found that being overweight harms women's career advancement, but presents no barrier for men. Overweight women were significantly underrepresented among company bosses, making up between 5% and 22% of female CEOs. However, the proportion of overweight male CEOs was between 45% and 61%, over-representing overweight men. On the other hand, approximately 5% of CEOs were obese among both genders. The author of the study stated that the results suggest that "the 'glass ceiling effect' on women's advancement may reflect not only general negative stereotypes about the competencies of women, but also weight bias that results in the application of stricter appearance standards to women".
Transgender people also experience significant workplace discrimination and harassment. Unlike sex-based discrimination, refusing to hire (or firing) a worker for their gender identity or expression is not explicitly illegal in most U.S. states.
In August 1995, Kimberly Nixon filed a complaint with the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal against Vancouver Rape Relief & Women's Shelter. Nixon, a trans woman, had been interested in volunteering as a counselor with the shelter. When the shelter learned that she was transsexual, they told Nixon that she would not be allowed to volunteer with the organization. Nixon argued that this constituted illegal discrimination under Section 41 of the British Columbia Human Rights Code. Vancouver Rape Relief countered that individuals are shaped by the socialization and experiences of their formative years, and that Nixon had been socialized as a male growing up, and that, therefore, Nixon would not be able to provide sufficiently effective counseling to the female born women that the shelter served.
In social philosophy, objectification is the act of treating a person as an object or thing. Objectification plays a central role in feminist theory, especially sexual objectification. Feminist writer and gender equality activist Joy Goh-Mah argues that by being objectified, a person is denied agency. According to the philosopher Martha Nussbaum, a person might be objectified if one or more of the following properties are applied to them:
Rae Helen Langton, in "Sexual Solipsism: Philosophical Essays on Pornography and Objectification", proposed three more properties to be added to Nussbaum's list:
According to objectification theory, objectification can have important repercussions on women, particularly young women, as it can negatively impact their psychological health and lead to the development of mental disorders, such as unipolar depression, sexual dysfunction, and eating disorders.
While advertising used to portray women and men in obviously stereotypical roles (e.g., as a housewife, breadwinner), in modern advertisements, they are no longer solely confined to their traditional roles. However, advertising today nonetheless still stereotypes men and women, albeit in more subtle ways, including by sexually objectifying them. Women are most often targets of sexism in advertising. When in advertisements with men they are often shorter and put in the background of images, shown in more 'feminine' poses, and generally present a higher degree of 'body display'.
Today, some countries (for example Norway and Denmark) have laws against sexual objectification in advertising. Nudity is not banned, and nude people can be used to advertise a product if they are relevant to the product advertised. Sol Olving, head of Norway's Kreativt Forum (an association of the country's top advertising agencies) explained, "You could have a naked person advertising shower gel or a cream, but not a woman in a bikini draped across a car".
Other countries continue to ban nudity (on traditional obscenity grounds), but also make explicit reference to sexual objectification, such as Israel's ban of billboards that "depicts sexual humiliation or abasement, or presents a
human being as an object available for sexual use".
Anti-pornography feminist Catharine MacKinnon argues that pornography contributes to sexism by objectifying women and portraying them in submissive roles. MacKinnon, along with Andrea Dworkin, argues that pornography reduces women to mere tools, and is a form of sex discrimination. The two scholars highlight the link between objectification and pornography by stating:
"We define pornography as the graphic sexually explicit subordination of women through pictures and words that also includes (i) women are presented dehumanized as sexual objects, things, or commodities; or (ii) women are presented as sexual objects who enjoy humiliation or pain; or (iii) women are presented as sexual objects experiencing sexual pleasure in rape, incest or other sexual assault; or (iv) women are presented as sexual objects tied up, cut up or mutilated or bruised or physically hurt; or (v) women are presented in postures or positions of sexual submission, servility, or display; or (vi) women's body parts—including but not limited to vaginas, breasts, or buttocks—are exhibited such that women are reduced to those parts; or (vii) women are presented being penetrated by objects or animals; or (viii) women are presented in scenarios of degradation, humiliation, injury, torture, shown as filthy or inferior, bleeding, bruised, or hurt in a context that makes these conditions sexual."
Robin Morgan and Catharine MacKinnon suggest that certain types of pornography also contribute to violence against women by eroticizing scenes in which women are dominated, coerced, humiliated or sexually assaulted.
Some people opposed to pornography, including MacKinnon, charge that the production of pornography entails physical, psychological, and economic coercion of the women who perform and model in it. Opponents of pornography charge that it presents a distorted image of sexual relations and reinforces sexual myths; it shows women as continually available and willing to engage in sex at any time, with any person, on their terms, responding positively to any requests.
MacKinnon writes:
Defenders of pornography and anti-censorship activists (including sex-positive feminists) argue that pornography does not seriously impact a mentally healthy individual, since the viewer can distinguish between fantasy and reality. They contend that men and women are objectified in pornography (particularly sadistic or masochistic pornography, in which men are objectified and sexually used by women).
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual relations in exchange for payment. Sex workers are often objectified and are seen as existing only to serve clients, thus calling their sense of agency into question. There is a prevailing notion that because they sell sex professionally, prostitutes automatically consent to all sexual contact. As a result, sex workers face higher rates of violence and sexual assault. This is often dismissed, ignored and not taken seriously by authorities.
In many countries, prostitution is dominated by brothels or pimps, who often claim ownership over sex workers. This sense of ownership furthers the concept that sex workers are void of agency. This is literally the case in instances of sexual slavery.
Various authors have argued that female prostitution is based on male sexism that condones the idea that unwanted sex with a woman is acceptable, that men's desires must be satisfied, and that women are coerced into and exist to serve men sexually. The European Women's Lobby condemned prostitution as "an intolerable form of male violence".
Carole Pateman writes that:
Some scholars believe that media portrayals of demographic groups can both maintain and disrupt attitudes and behaviors toward those groups. According to Susan Douglas: "Since the early 1990s, much of the media have come to overrepresent women as having made it-completely-in the professions, as having gained sexual equality with men, and having achieved a level of financial success and comfort enjoyed primarily by Tiffany's-encrusted doyennes of Laguna Beach." These images may be harmful, particularly to women and racial and ethnic minority groups. For example, a study of African American women found they feel that media portrayals of African American women often reinforce stereotypes of this group as overly sexual and idealize images of lighter-skinned, thinner African American women (images African American women describe as objectifying). In a recent analysis of images of Haitian women in the Associated Press photo archive from 1994 to 2009, several themes emerged emphasizing the "otherness" of Haitian women and characterizing them as victims in need of rescue.
In an attempt to study the effect of media consumption on males, Samantha and Bridges found an effect on body shame, though not through self-objectification as it was found in comparable studies of women. The authors conclude that the current measures of objectification were designed for women and do not measure men accurately. Another study also found a negative effect on eating attitudes and body satisfaction of consumption of beauty and fitness magazines for women and men respectively, but again with different mechanisms, namely self-objectification for women and internalization for men.
Frederick Attenborough argues that sexist jokes can be a form of sexual objectification, which reduce the butt of the joke to an object. They not only objectify women, but can also condone violence or prejudice against women. "Sexist humor—the denigration of women through humor—for instance, trivializes sex discrimination under the veil of benign amusement, thus precluding challenges or opposition that nonhumorous sexist communication would likely incur." A study of 73 male undergraduate students by Ford found that "sexist humor can promote the behavioral expression of prejudice against women amongst sexist men". According to the study, when sexism is presented in a humorous manner it is viewed as tolerable and socially acceptable: "Disparagement of women through humor 'freed' sexist participants from having to conform to the more general and more restrictive norms regarding discrimination against women."
Gender discrimination is discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived gender identity. Gender identity is "the gender-related identity, appearance, or mannerisms or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, with or without regard to the individual's designated sex at birth". Gender discrimination is theoretically different from sexism. Whereas sexism is prejudice based on biological sex, gender discrimination specifically addresses discrimination towards gender identities, including third gender, genderqueer, and other non-binary identified people. It is especially attributed to how people are treated in the workplace, and banning discrimination on the basis of gender identity and expression has emerged as a subject of contention in the American legal system.
According to a recent report by the Congressional Research Service, "although the majority of federal courts to consider the issue have concluded that discrimination on the basis of gender identity is not sex discrimination, there have been several courts that have reached the opposite conclusion". Hurst states that "[c]ourts often confuse sex, gender and sexual orientation, and confuse them in a way that results in denying the rights not only of gays and lesbians, but also of those who do not present themselves or act in a manner traditionally expected of their sex".
Oppositional sexism is a term coined by transfeminist author Julia Serano, who defined oppositional sexism as "the belief that male and female are rigid, mutually exclusive categories". Oppositional sexism plays a vital role in a number of social norms, such as cissexism, heteronormativity, and traditional sexism.
Oppositional sexism normalizes masculine expression in males and feminine expression in females while simultaneously demonizing femininity in males and masculinity in females. This concept plays a crucial role in supporting cissexism, the social norm that views cisgender people as both natural and privileged as opposed to transgender people.
The idea of having two, totally opposite genders is tied to sexuality through what gender theorist Judith Butler calls a "compulsory practice of heterosexuality". Because oppositional sexism is tied to heteronormativity in this way, non-heterosexuals are seen as breaking gender norms.
The concept of opposite genders sets a "dangerous precedent", according to Serano, where "if men are big then women must be small; and if men are strong then women must be weak". The gender binary and oppositional norms work together to support "traditional sexism", the belief that femininity is inferior to and serves masculinity.
Serano states that oppositional sexism works in tandem with "traditional sexism". This ensures that "those who are masculine have power over those who are feminine, and that only those that are born male will be seen as authentically masculine".
Transgender discrimination is discrimination towards peoples whose gender identity differs from the social expectations of the biological sex they were born with. Forms of discrimination include but are not limited to identity documents not reflecting one's gender, sex-segregated public restrooms and other facilities, dress codes according to binary gender codes, and lack of access to and existence of appropriate health care services. In a recent adjudication, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) concluded that discrimination against a transgender person is sex discrimination.
The 2008-09 National Transgender Discrimination Survey (NTDS)—a U.S. study by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in collaboration with the National Black Justice Coalition that was, at its time, the most extensive survey of transgender discrimination—showed that Black transgender people in the United States suffer "the combination of anti-transgender bias and persistent, structural and individual racism" and that "black transgender people live in extreme poverty that is more than twice the rate for transgender people of all races (15%), four times the general Black population rate 9% and over eight times the general US population rate (4%)". Further discrimination is faced by gender nonconforming individuals, whether transitioning or not, due to displacement from societally acceptable gender binaries and visible stigmatization. According to the NTDS, transgender gender nonconforming (TGNC) individuals face between 8% and 15% high rates of self and social discrimination and violence than binary transgender individuals. Lisa R. Miller and Eric Anthony Grollman found in their 2015 study that "gender nonconformity may heighten trans people's exposure to discrimination and health-harming behaviors. Gender nonconforming trans adults reported more events of major and everyday transphobic discrimination than their gender conforming counterparts."
In another study conducted in collaboration with the League of United Latin American Citizens, Latino/a transgender people who were non-citizens were most vulnerable to harassment, abuse and violence.
An updated version of the NTDS survey, called the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, was published in December 2016.
Although the exact rates are widely disputed, there is a large body of cross-cultural evidence that women are subjected to domestic violence mostly committed by men. In addition, there is broad consensus that women are more often subjected to severe forms of abuse and are more likely to be injured by an abusive partner. The United Nations recognizes domestic violence as a form of gender-based violence, which it describes as a human rights violation, and the result of sexism.
Domestic violence is tolerated and even legally accepted in many parts of the world. For instance, in 2010, the United Arab Emirates (UAE)'s Supreme Court ruled that a man has the right to physically discipline his wife and children if he does not leave visible marks. In 2015, Equality Now drew attention a section of the Penal Code of Northern Nigeria, titled "Correction of Child, Pupil, Servant or Wife" which reads: "(1) Nothing is an offence which does not amount to the infliction of grievous hurt upon any persons which is done: (...) (d) by a husband for the purpose of correcting his wife, such husband and wife being subject to any native law or custom in which such correction is recognized as lawful."
Honor killings are another form of domestic violence practiced in several parts of the world, and their victims are predominantly women. Honor killings can occur because of refusal to enter into an arranged marriage, maintaining a relationship relatives disapprove of, extramarital sex, becoming the victim of rape, dress seen as inappropriate, or homosexuality. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime states that, "[h]onour crimes, including killing, are one of history's oldest forms of gender-based violence".
According to a report of the Special Rapporteur submitted to the 58th session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights concerning cultural practices in the family that reflect violence against women:
Practices such as honor killings and stoning continue to be supported by mainstream politicians and other officials in some countries. In Pakistan, after the 2008 Balochistan honour killings in which five women were killed by tribesmen of the Umrani Tribe of Balochistan, Pakistani Federal Minister for Postal Services Israr Ullah Zehri defended the practice: "These are centuries-old traditions, and I will continue to defend them. Only those who indulge in immoral acts should be afraid." Following the 2006 case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani (which has placed Iran under international pressure for its stoning sentences), Mohammad-Javad Larijani (a senior envoy and chief of Iran’s Human Rights Council) defended the practice of stoning; he claimed it was a "lesser punishment" than execution, because it allowed those convicted a chance at survival.
Dowry deaths are the result of the killing women who are unable to pay the high dowry price for their marriage. According to Amnesty International, "the ongoing reality of dowry-related violence is an example of what can happen when women are treated as property".
Female infanticide is the killing of newborn female children, while female selective abortion is the terminating of a pregnancy based upon the female sex of the fetus. Gendercide is the systematic killing of members of a specific gender and it is an extreme form of gender-based violence. Female infanticide is more common than male infanticide, and is especially prevalent in South Asia, in countries such as China, India and Pakistan. Recent studies suggest that over 90 million girls and women are missing in China and India as a result of infanticide.
Sex-selective abortion involves terminating a pregnancy based upon the predicted sex of the baby. The abortion of female fetuses is most common in areas where the culture values male children over females, such as parts of East Asia and South Asia (China, India, Korea), the Caucasus (Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia), and Western Balkans (Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo).
Forced sterilization and forced abortion are also forms of gender-based violence. Forced sterilization was practiced during the first half of the 20th century by many Western countries and there are reports of this practice being currently employed in some countries, such as Uzbekistan and China.
In China, the one child policy interacting with the low status of women has been deemed responsible for many abuses, such female infanticide, sex-selective abortion, abandonment of baby girls, forced abortion, and forced sterilization.
In India the custom of dowry is strongly related to female infanticide, sex-selective abortion, abandonment and mistreatment of girls. Such practices are especially present in the northwestern part of the country (Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Delhi); see Female foeticide in India and Female infanticide in India).
Female genital mutilation is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as "all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons". WHO further state that, "the procedure has no health benefits for girls and women" and "[p]rocedures can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later cysts, infections, infertility as well as complications in childbirth increased risk of newborn death," and "is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women" and "constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women". The European Parliament stated in a resolution that the practice "clearly goes against the European founding value of equality between women and men and maintains traditional values according to which women are seen as the objects and properties of men".
Research by Lisak and Roth into factors motivating perpetrators of sexual assault, including rape, against women revealed a pattern of hatred towards women and pleasure in inflicting psychological and physical trauma, rather than sexual interest. Mary Odem and Peggy Reeves Sanday posit that rape is the result not of pathology but of systems of male dominance, cultural practices and beliefs.
Mary Odem, Jody Clay-Warner, and Susan Brownmiller argue that sexist attitudes are propagated by a series of myths about rape and rapists. They state that in contrast to those myths, rapists often plan a rape before they choose a victim and acquaintance rape (not assault by a stranger) is the most common form of rape. Odem also asserts that these rape myths propagate sexist attitudes about men, by perpetuating the belief that men cannot control their sexuality.
Sexism can promote the stigmatization of women and girls who have been raped and inhibit recovery. In many parts of the world, women who have been raped are ostracized, rejected by their families, subjected to violence, and—in extreme cases—may become victims of honor killings because they are deemed to have brought shame upon their families.
The criminalization of marital rape is very recent, having occurred during the past few decades; and in many countries it is still legal. Several countries in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia made spousal rape illegal before 1970; other European countries and some of the English-speaking countries outside Europe outlawed it later, mostly in the 1980s and 1990s; some countries outlawed it in the 2000s. The WHO wrote that: "Marriage is often used to legitimize a range of forms of sexual violence against women. The custom of marrying off young children, particularly girls, is found in many parts of the world. This practice—legal in many countries—is a form of sexual violence, since the children involved are unable to give or withhold their consent".
In countries where fornication or adultery are illegal, victims of rape can be charged criminally.
Sexism is manifested by the crime of rape targeting women civilians and soldiers, committed by soldiers, combatants or civilians during armed conflict, war or military occupation. This arises from the long tradition of women being seen as sexual booty and from the misogynistic culture of military training.
The United Nations Population Fund writes that "Family planning is central to gender equality and women's empowerment". Women in many countries around the world are denied medical and informational services related to reproductive health, including access to pregnancy care, family planning, and contraception. In countries with very strict abortion laws (particularly in Latin America) women who suffer miscarriages are often investigated by the police under suspicion of having deliberately provoked the miscarriage, and are sometimes jailed, a practice which Amnesty International called a "ruthless campaign against women's rights". Doctors may be reluctant to treat pregnant women who are very ill, because they are afraid the treatment may result in fetal loss. According to Amnesty Intentional, "Discriminatory attitudes towards women and girls also means access to sex education and contraceptives are near impossible [in El Salvador]". The organization has also criticized laws and policies which require the husband's consent for a woman to use reproductive health services as being discriminatory and dangerous to women's health and life: "[F]or the woman who needs her husband's consent to get contraception, the consequences of discrimination can be serious – even fatal".
A child marriage is a marriage where one or both spouses are under 18, a practice that disproportionately affects women. Child marriages are most common in South Asia, the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa, but occur in other parts of the world, too. The practice of marrying young girls is rooted in patriarchal ideologies of control of female behavior, and is also sustained by traditional practices such as dowry and bride price. Child marriage is strongly connected with the protection of female virginity. UNICEF states that:
Consequences of child marriage include restricted education and employment prospects, increased risk of domestic violence, child sexual abuse, pregnancy and birth complications, and social isolation. Early and forced marriage are defined as forms of modern-day slavery by the International Labour Organisation. In some cases a woman or girl who has been raped may be forced to marry her rapist, in order to restore the honor of her family; or marriage by abduction, a practice in which a man abducts the woman or girl whom he wishes to marry and rapes her, in order to force the marriage (common in Ethiopia).
In several OIC countries the legal testimony of a woman is worth legally half of that of a man (see Status of women's testimony in Islam). Such countries include: Algeria (in criminal cases), Bahrain (in Sharia courts), Egypt (in family courts), Iran (in most cases), Iraq (in some cases), Jordan (in Sharia courts), Kuwait (in family courts), Libya (in some cases), Morocco (in family cases), Palestine (in cases related to marriage, divorce and child custody), Qatar (in family law matters), Syria (in Sharia courts), United Arab Emirates (in some civil matters), Yemen (not allowed to testify at all in cases of adultery and retribution), and Saudi Arabia. Such laws have been criticized by Human Rights Watch and Equality Now as being discriminatory towards women.
The criminal justice system in many common law countries has also been accused of discriminating against women. Provocation is, in many common law countries, a partial defense to murder, which converts what would have been murder into manslaughter. It is meant to be applied when a person kills in the "heat of passion" upon being "provoked" by the behavior of the victim. This defense has been criticized as being gendered, favoring men, due to it being used disproportionately in cases of adultery, and other domestic disputes when women are killed by their partners. As a result of the defense exhibiting a strong gender bias, and being a form of legitimization of male violence against women and minimization of the harm caused by violence against women, it has been abolished or restricted in several jurisdictions.
The traditional leniently towards crimes of passion in Latin American countries has been deemed to have its origin in the view that women are property. In 2002, Widney Brown, advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, stated that, "[S]o-called crimes of passion have a similar dynamic [to honor killings] in that the women are killed by male family members and the crimes are perceived as excusable or understandable." The OHCHR has called for "the elimination of discriminatory provisions in the legislation, including mitigating factors for 'crimes of passion.
In the United States, some studies have shown that for identical crimes, men are given harsher sentences than women. Controlling for arrest offense, criminal history, and other pre-charge variables, sentences are over 60% heavier for men. Women are more likely to avoid charges entirely, and to avoid imprisonment if convicted. The gender disparity varies according to the nature of the case. For example, the gender gap is less pronounced in fraud cases than in drug trafficking and firearms. This disparity occurs in US federal courts, despite guidelines designed to avoid differential sentencing. The death penalty in may also suffer from gender bias. According to Shatz and Shatz, "[t]he present study confirms what earlier studies have shown: that the death penalty is imposed on women relatively infrequently and that it is disproportionately imposed for the killing of women".
There have been several reasons postulated for the gender criminal justice disparity in the United States. One of the most common is expectation that women are predominantly care-givers. Other possible reasons include the "girlfriend theory" (whereby women are seen as tools of their boyfriends), the theory that female defendants are more likely to cooperate with authorities, and that women are often successful at turning their violent crime into victimhood by citing defenses such as postpartum depression or battered wife syndrome. However, none of these theories account for the total disparity, and sexism has also been suggested as an underlying cause.
Gender discrimination also helps explain the differences between trial outcomes in which some female defendants are sentenced to death and other female defendants are sentenced to lesser punishments. Phillip Barron argues that female defendants are more likely to be sentenced to death for crimes that violate gender norms, such as killing children or killing strangers.
Transgender people face widespread discrimination while incarcerated. They are generally housed according to their legal birth sex, rather than their gender identity. Studies have shown that transgender people are at an increased risk for harassment and sexual assault in this environment. They may also be denied access to medical procedures related to their reassignment.
Some countries use stoning as a form of capital punishment. According to Amnesty International, the majority of those stoned are women and women are disproportionately affected by stoning because of sexism in the legal system.
One study found that "on average, women receive lighter sentences in comparison with men... roughly 30% of the gender differences in incarceration cannot be explained by the observed criminal characteristics of offense and offender. We also find evidence of considerable heterogeneity across judges in their treatment of female and male offenders. There is little evidence, however, that tastes for gender discrimination are driving the mean gender disparity or the variance in treatment between judges."
A 2017 study by Knepper found that "female plaintiffs filing workplace sex discrimination claims are substantially more likely to settle and win compensation whenever a female judge is assigned to the case. Additionally, female judges are 15 percentage points less likely than male judges to grant motions filed by defendants, which suggests that final negotiations are shaped by the emergence of the bias."
Women have traditionally had limited access to higher education. In the past, when women were admitted to higher education, they were encouraged to major in less-scientific subjects; the study of English literature in American and British colleges and universities was instituted as a field considered suitable to women's "lesser intellects".
Educational specialties in higher education produce and perpetuate inequality between men and women. Disparity persists particularly in computer and information science, where in the US women received only 21% of the undergraduate degrees, and in engineering, where women obtained only 19% of the degrees in 2008. Only one out of five of physics doctorates in the US are awarded to women, and only about half of those women are American. Of all the physics professors in the country, only 14% are women.
World literacy is lower for females than for males. Data from "The World Factbook" shows that 79.7% of women are literate, compared to 88.6% of men (aged 15 and over). In some parts of the world, girls continue to be excluded from proper public or private education. In parts of Afghanistan, girls who go to school face serious violence from some local community members and religious groups.
According to 2010 UN estimates, only Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen had less than 90 girls per 100 boys at school. Jayachandran and Lleras-Muney's study of Sri Lankan economic development has suggested that increases in the life expectancy for women encourages educational investment because a longer time horizon increases the value of investments that pay out over time.
Educational opportunities and outcomes for women have greatly improved in the West. Since 1991, the proportion of women enrolled in college in the United States has exceeded the enrollment rate for men, and the gap has widened over time. , women made up the majority—54%—of the 10.8 million college students enrolled in the United States. However, research by Diane Halpern has indicated that boys receive more attention, praise, blame and punishment in the grammar-school classroom, and "this pattern of more active teacher attention directed at male students continues at the postsecondary level". Over time, female students speak less in a classroom setting.
Writer Gerry Garibaldi has argued that the educational system has become "feminized", allowing girls more of a chance at success with a more "girl-friendly" environment in the classroom; this is seen to hinder boys by punishing "masculine" behavior and diagnosing boys with behavioral disorders. A recent study by the OECD in over 60 countries found that teachers give boys lower grades for the same work. The researchers attribute this to stereotypical ideas about boys and recommend teachers to be aware of this gender bias. One study found that students give female professors worse evaluation scores than male professors, even though the students appear to do as well under female professors as male professors.
Gender bias and gender-based discrimination still permeate the education process in many settings. For example, in the teaching and learning process, including differential engagement, expectations and interactions by teachers with their male and female students, as well as gender stereotypes in textbooks and learning materials. There has been a lack in adequate resources and infrastructure to ensure safe and enabling learning environments, and insufficient policy, legal and planning frameworks, that respect, protect and fulfil the right to education.
Feminists argue that clothing and footwear fashion has been oppressive to women, restricting their movements, increasing their vulnerability, and endangering their health. The use of thin models within the fashion industry has encouraged the development of bulimia and anorexia nervosa, as well as locking female consumers into false feminine identities.
The assignment of gender-specific baby clothes can instill in children a belief in negative gender stereotypes. One example is the assignment in some countries of the color pink to girls and blue to boys. The fashion is a recent one; at the beginning of the 20th century the trend was the opposite: blue for girls and pink for boys. In the early 1900s, "The Women's Journal" wrote that "pink being a more decided and stronger colour, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl". "DressMaker" magazine also explained that "[t]he preferred colour to dress young boys in is pink. Blue is reserved for girls as it is considered paler, and the more dainty of the two colours, and pink is thought to be stronger (akin to red)". Today, in many countries, it is considered inappropriate for boys to wear dresses and skirts, but this is also a relatively recent view. From the mid-16th century until the late 19th or early 20th century, young boys in the Western world were unbreeched and wore gowns or dresses until an age that varied between two and eight.
Laws that dictate how women must dress are seen by many international human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International, as a form of gender discrimination. In many countries, women are faced with violence for failing to adhere to certain dress codes, whether by the authorities (such as the religious police), family members, or the community. Amnesty International states:
The production process also faces criticism for sexist practices. In the garment industry, approximately 80 percent of workers are female. Much garment production is located in Asia because of the low labor cost. Women who work in these factories are sexually harassed by managers and male workers, paid low wages, and discriminated against when pregnant.
Conscription, or compulsory military service, has been criticized as sexist. Prior to the late 20th century, only men were subjected to conscription, and most countries still require only men to serve in the military.
In his book "The Second Sexism: Discrimination Against Men and Boys" (2012), philosopher David Benatar states that "[t]he prevailing assumption is that where conscription is necessary, it is only men who should be conscripted and, similarly, that only males should be forced into combat". This, he believes, "is a sexist assumption". Anthropologist Ayse Gül Altinay has commented that "given equal suffrage rights, there is no other citizenship practice that differentiates as radically between men and women as compulsory male conscription".
Currently, only nine countries conscript women into their armed forces: China, Eritrea, Israel, Libya, Malaysia, North Korea, Norway, Peru, and Taiwan. Other countries—such as Finland, Turkey, and Singapore—still use a system of conscription which requires military service from only men, although women are permitted to serve voluntarily. In 2014, Norway became the first NATO country to introduce obligatory military service for women as an act of gender equality and in 2015, the Dutch government started preparing a gender-neutral draft law. The gender selective draft has been challenged in the United States.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29408 | Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He also shared volumes and collaborated with Charles Lamb, Robert Southey, and Charles Lloyd. He wrote the poems "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and "Kubla Khan", as well as the major prose work "Biographia Literaria". His critical work, especially on William Shakespeare, was highly influential, and he helped introduce German idealist philosophy to English-speaking culture. Coleridge coined many familiar words and phrases, including suspension of disbelief. He had a major influence on Ralph Waldo Emerson and American transcendentalism.
Throughout his adult life Coleridge had crippling bouts of anxiety and depression; it has been speculated that he had bipolar disorder, which had not been defined during his lifetime. He was physically unhealthy, which may have stemmed from a bout of rheumatic fever and other childhood illnesses. He was treated for these conditions with laudanum, which fostered a lifelong opium addiction.
Coleridge was born on 21 October 1772 in the Town of Ottery St Mary in Devon, England. Samuel's father was the Reverend John Coleridge (1718–1781), the well-respected vicar of St Mary's Church, Ottery St Mary and was headmaster of the King's School, a free grammar school established by King Henry VIII (1509–1547) in the town. He had previously been master of Hugh Squier's School in South Molton, Devon, and lecturer of nearby Molland.
John Coleridge had three children by his first wife. Samuel was the youngest of ten by the Reverend Mr. Coleridge's second wife, Anne Bowden (1726–1809), probably the daughter of John Bowden, Mayor of South Molton, Devon, in 1726. Coleridge suggests that he "took no pleasure in boyish sports" but instead read "incessantly" and played by himself. After John Coleridge died in 1781, 8-year-old Samuel was sent to Christ's Hospital, a charity school which was founded in the 16th century in Greyfriars, London, where he remained throughout his childhood, studying and writing poetry. At that school Coleridge became friends with Charles Lamb, a schoolmate, and studied the works of Virgil and William Lisle Bowles.
In one of a series of autobiographical letters written to Thomas Poole, Coleridge wrote: "At six years old I remember to have read "Belisarius", "Robinson Crusoe", and "Philip Quarll" – and then I found the "Arabian Nights' Entertainments" – one tale of which (the tale of a man who was compelled to seek for a pure virgin) made so deep an impression on me (I had read it in the evening while my mother was mending stockings) that I was haunted by spectres whenever I was in the dark – and I distinctly remember the anxious and fearful eagerness with which I used to watch the window in which the books lay – and whenever the sun lay upon them, I would seize it, carry it by the wall, and bask, and read."
Coleridge seems to have appreciated his teacher, as he wrote in recollections of his school days in "Biographia Literaria":
I enjoyed the inestimable advantage of a very sensible, though at the same time, a very severe master [...] At the same time that we were studying the Greek Tragic Poets, he made us read Shakespeare and Milton as lessons: and they were the lessons too, which required most time and trouble to bring up, so as to escape his censure. I learnt from him, that Poetry, even that of the loftiest, and, seemingly, that of the wildest odes, had a logic of its own, as severe as that of science; and more difficult, because more subtle, more complex, and dependent on more, and more fugitive causes. [...] In our own English compositions (at least for the last three years of our school education) he showed no mercy to phrase, metaphor, or image, unsupported by a sound sense, or where the same sense might have been conveyed with equal force and dignity in plainer words... In fancy I can almost hear him now, exclaiming "Harp? Harp? Lyre? Pen and ink, boy, you mean! Muse, boy, Muse? your Nurse's daughter, you mean! Pierian spring? Oh aye! the cloister-pump, I suppose!" [...] Be this as it may, there was one custom of our master's, which I cannot pass over in silence, because I think it ... worthy of imitation. He would often permit our theme exercises, ... to accumulate, till each lad had four or five to be looked over. Then placing the whole number abreast on his desk, he would ask the writer, why this or that sentence might not have found as appropriate a place under this or that other thesis: and if no satisfying answer could be returned, and two faults of the same kind were found in one exercise, the irrevocable verdict followed, the exercise was torn up, and another on the same subject to be produced, in addition to the tasks of the day.
He later wrote of his loneliness at school in the poem "Frost at Midnight":
"With unclosed lids, already had I dreamt/Of my sweet birthplace."
From 1791 until 1794, Coleridge attended Jesus College, Cambridge. In 1792, he won the Browne Gold Medal for an ode that he wrote on the slave trade. In December 1793, he left the college and enlisted in the 15th (The King's) Light Dragoons using the false name "Silas Tomkyn Comberbache", perhaps because of debt or because the girl that he loved, Mary Evans, had rejected him. His brothers arranged for his discharge a few months later under the reason of "insanity" and he was readmitted to Jesus College, though he would never receive a degree from the university.
At Jesus College, Coleridge was introduced to political and theological ideas then considered radical, including those of the poet Robert Southey with whom he collaborated on the play "The Fall of Robespierre". Coleridge joined Southey in a plan, later abandoned, to found a utopian commune-like society, called Pantisocracy, in the wilderness of Pennsylvania. In 1795, the two friends married sisters Sara and Edith Fricker, in St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, but Coleridge's marriage with Sara proved unhappy. He grew to detest his wife, whom he married mainly because of social constraints. Following the birth of their fourth child, he eventually separated from her.
A third sister, Mary, had already married a third poet Robert Lovell and both became partners in Pantisocracy. Lovell also introduced Coleridge and Southey to their future patron Joseph Cottle but died of a fever in April 1796. Coleridge was with him at his death.
In 1796 he released his first volume of poems entitled "Poems on various subjects", which also included four poems by Charles Lamb as well as a collaboration with Robert Southey and a work suggested by his and Lamb's schoolfriend Robert Favell. Among the poems were "Religious Musings", "Monody on the Death of Chatterton" and an early version of "The Eolian Harp" entitled "Effusion 35". A second edition was printed in 1797, this time including an appendix of works by Lamb and Charles Lloyd, a young poet to whom Coleridge had become a private tutor.
In 1796 he also privately printed "Sonnets from Various Authors", including sonnets by Lamb, Lloyd, Southey and himself as well as older poets such as William Lisle Bowles.
Coleridge made plans to establish a journal, "The Watchman", to be printed every eight days to avoid a weekly newspaper tax. The first issue of the short-lived journal was published in March 1796. It had ceased publication by May of that year.
The years 1797 and 1798, during which he lived in what is now known as Coleridge Cottage, in Nether Stowey, Somerset, were among the most fruitful of Coleridge's life. In 1795, Coleridge met poet William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy. (Wordsworth, having visited him and being enchanted by the surroundings, rented Alfoxton Park, a little over three miles [5 km] away.) Besides "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", Coleridge composed the symbolic poem "Kubla Khan", written—Coleridge himself claimed—as a result of an opium dream, in "a kind of a reverie"; and the first part of the narrative poem "Christabel". The writing of "Kubla Khan", written about the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan and his legendary palace at Xanadu, was said to have been interrupted by the arrival of a "Person from Porlock" – an event that has been embellished upon in such varied contexts as science fiction and Nabokov's "Lolita". During this period, he also produced his much-praised "conversation poems" "This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison", "Frost at Midnight", and "".
In 1798, Coleridge and Wordsworth published a joint volume of poetry, "Lyrical Ballads", which proved to be the starting point for the English romantic age. Wordsworth may have contributed more poems, but the real star of the collection was Coleridge's first version of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner". It was the longest work and drew more praise and attention than anything else in the volume. In the spring Coleridge temporarily took over for Rev. Joshua Toulmin at Taunton's Mary Street Unitarian Chapel while Rev. Toulmin grieved over the drowning death of his daughter Jane. Poetically commenting on Toulmin's strength, Coleridge wrote in a 1798 letter to John Prior Estlin, "I walked into Taunton (eleven miles) and back again, and performed the divine services for Dr. Toulmin. I suppose you must have heard that his daughter, (Jane, on 15 April 1798) in a melancholy derangement, suffered herself to be swallowed up by the tide on the sea-coast between Sidmouth and Bere (Beer). These events cut cruelly into the hearts of old men: but the good Dr. Toulmin bears it like the true practical Christian, – there is indeed a tear in his eye, but that eye is lifted up to the Heavenly Father."
Coleridge also worked briefly in Shropshire, where he came in December 1797 as locum to its local Unitarian minister, Dr Rowe, in their church in the High Street at Shrewsbury. He is said to have read his "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" at a literary evening in Mardol. He was then contemplating a career in the ministry, and gave a probationary sermon in High Street church on Sunday, 14 January 1798. William Hazlitt, a Unitarian minister's son, was in the congregation, having walked from Wem to hear him. Coleridge later visited Hazlitt and his father at Wem but within a day or two of preaching he received a letter from Josiah Wedgwood II, who had offered to help him out of financial difficulties with an annuity of £150 (approximately £13,000 in today's money) per year on condition he give up his ministerial career. Coleridge accepted this, to the disappointment of Hazlitt who hoped to have him as a neighbour in Shropshire.
From 16 September 1798, Coleridge and the Wordsworths left for a stay in Germany; Coleridge soon went his own way and spent much of his time in university towns. In February 1799 he enrolled at the University of Göttingen, where he attended lectures by Johann Friedrich Blumenbach and Johann Gottfried Eichhorn. During this period, he became interested in German philosophy, especially the transcendental idealism and critical philosophy of Immanuel Kant, and in the literary criticism of the 18th-century dramatist Gotthold Lessing. Coleridge studied German and, after his return to England, translated the dramatic trilogy "Wallenstein" by the German Classical poet Friedrich Schiller into English. He continued to pioneer these ideas through his own critical writings for the rest of his life (sometimes without attribution), although they were unfamiliar and difficult for a culture dominated by empiricism.
In 1799, Coleridge and the Wordsworths stayed at Thomas Hutchinson's farm on the River Tees at Sockburn, near Darlington.
It was at Sockburn that Coleridge wrote his ballad-poem "Love", addressed to Sara Hutchinson. The knight mentioned is the mailed figure on the Conyers tomb in ruined Sockburn church. The figure has a wyvern at his feet, a reference to the Sockburn Worm slain by Sir John Conyers (and a possible source for Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky"). The worm was supposedly buried under the rock in the nearby pasture; this was the 'greystone' of Coleridge's first draft, later transformed into a 'mount'. The poem was a direct inspiration for John Keats' famous poem "La Belle Dame Sans Merci".
Coleridge's early intellectual debts, besides German idealists like Kant and critics like Lessing, were first to William Godwin's "Political Justice", especially during his Pantisocratic period, and to David Hartley's "Observations on Man", which is the source of the psychology which is found in "Frost at Midnight". Hartley argued that one becomes aware of sensory events as impressions, and that "ideas" are derived by noticing similarities and differences between impressions and then by naming them. Connections resulting from the coincidence of impressions create linkages, so that the occurrence of one impression triggers those links and calls up the memory of those ideas with which it is associated (See Dorothy Emmet, "Coleridge and Philosophy").
Coleridge was critical of the literary taste of his contemporaries, and a literary conservative insofar as he was afraid that the lack of taste in the ever growing masses of literate people would mean a continued desecration of literature itself.
In 1800, he returned to England and shortly thereafter settled with his family and friends in Greta Hall at Keswick in the Lake District of Cumberland to be near Grasmere, where Wordsworth had moved. He was a houseguest of the Wordsworths' for eighteen months, but was a difficult houseguest, as his dependency on laudanum grew and his frequent nightmares would wake the children. He was also a fussy eater, to Dorothy Wordsworth's frustration, who had to cook. For example, not content with salt, Coleridge sprinkled cayenne pepper on his eggs, which he ate from a teacup. His marital problems, nightmares, illnesses, increased opium dependency, tensions with Wordsworth, and a lack of confidence in his poetic powers fuelled the composition of "Dejection: An Ode" and an intensification of his philosophical studies.
In 1802, Coleridge took a nine-day walking holiday in the fells of the Lake District. Coleridge is credited with the first recorded descent of Scafell to Mickledore via Broad Stand, although this was more due to his getting lost than a keenness for mountaineering.
In 1804, he travelled to Sicily and Malta, working for a time as Acting Public Secretary of Malta under the Civil Commissioner, Alexander Ball, a task he performed quite successfully. He lived in San Anton Palace in the village of Attard. He gave this up and returned to England in 1806. Dorothy Wordsworth was shocked at his condition upon his return. From 1807 to 1808, Coleridge returned to Malta and then travelled in Sicily and Italy, in the hope that leaving Britain's damp climate would improve his health and thus enable him to reduce his consumption of opium. Thomas De Quincey alleges in his "Recollections of the Lakes and the Lake Poets" that it was during this period that Coleridge became a full-blown opium addict, using the drug as a substitute for the lost vigour and creativity of his youth. It has been suggested that this reflects De Quincey's own experiences more than Coleridge's.
His opium addiction (he was using as much as two quarts of laudanum a week) now began to take over his life: he separated from his wife Sara in 1808, quarrelled with Wordsworth in 1810, lost part of his annuity in 1811, and put himself under the care of Dr. Daniel in 1814. His addiction caused severe constipation, which required regular and humiliating enemas.
In 1809, Coleridge made his second attempt to become a newspaper publisher with the publication of the journal entitled "The Friend". It was a weekly publication that, in Coleridge's typically ambitious style, was written, edited, and published almost entirely single-handedly. Given that Coleridge tended to be highly disorganised and had no head for business, the publication was probably doomed from the start. Coleridge financed the journal by selling over five hundred subscriptions, over two dozen of which were sold to members of Parliament, but in late 1809, publication was crippled by a financial crisis and Coleridge was obliged to approach "Conversation Sharp", Tom Poole and one or two other wealthy friends for an emergency loan to continue. "The Friend" was an eclectic publication that drew upon every corner of Coleridge's remarkably diverse knowledge of law, philosophy, morals, politics, history, and literary criticism. Although it was often turgid, rambling, and inaccessible to most readers, it ran for 25 issues and was republished in book form a number of times. Years after its initial publication, "The Friend" became a highly influential work and its effect was felt on writers and philosophers from John Stuart Mill to Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Between 1810 and 1820, Coleridge gave a series of lectures in London and Bristol – those on Shakespeare renewed interest in the playwright as a model for contemporary writers. Much of Coleridge's reputation as a literary critic is founded on the lectures that he undertook in the winter of 1810–11, which were sponsored by the Philosophical Institution and given at Scot's Corporation Hall off Fetter Lane, Fleet Street. These lectures were heralded in the prospectus as "A Course of Lectures on Shakespeare and Milton, in Illustration of the Principles of Poetry." Coleridge's ill-health, opium-addiction problems, and somewhat unstable personality meant that all his lectures were plagued with problems of delays and a general irregularity of quality from one lecture to the next. As a result of these factors, Coleridge often failed to prepare anything but the loosest set of notes for his lectures and regularly entered into extremely long digressions which his audiences found difficult to follow. However, it was the lecture on "Hamlet" given on 2 January 1812 that was considered the best and has influenced "Hamlet" studies ever since. Before Coleridge, "Hamlet" was often denigrated and belittled by critics from Voltaire to Dr. Johnson. Coleridge rescued the play's reputation, and his thoughts on it are often still published as supplements to the text.
In 1812 he allowed Robert Southey to make use of extracts from his vast number of private notebooks in their collaboration "Omniana; Or, Horae Otiosiores".
In August 1814, Coleridge was approached by Lord Byron's publisher, John Murray, about the possibility of translating Goethe's classic "Faust" (1808). Coleridge was regarded by many as the greatest living writer on the demonic and he accepted the commission, only to abandon work on it after six weeks. Until recently, scholars were in agreement that Coleridge never returned to the project, despite Goethe's own belief in the 1820s that he had in fact completed a long translation of the work. In September 2007, Oxford University Press sparked a heated scholarly controversy by publishing an English translation of Goethe's work that purported to be Coleridge's long-lost masterpiece (the text in question first appeared anonymously in 1821).
Between 1814 and 1816, Coleridge lived in Calne, Wiltshire and seemed able to focus on his work and manage his addiction, drafting "Biographia Literaria". He rented rooms from a local surgeon, Mr Page, on Church Street, just opposite the entrance to the churchyard. A blue plaque marks the property today.
In April 1816, Coleridge, with his addiction worsening, his spirits depressed, and his family alienated, took residence in the Highgate homes, then just north of London, of the physician James Gillman, first at South Grove and later at the nearby 3 The Grove. It is unclear whether his growing use of opium (and the brandy in which it was dissolved) was a symptom or a cause of his growing depression. Gillman was partially successful in controlling the poet's addiction. Coleridge remained in Highgate for the rest of his life, and the house became a place of literary pilgrimage for writers including Carlyle and Emerson.
In Gillman's home, Coleridge finished his major prose work, the "Biographia Literaria" (mostly drafted in 1815, and finished in 1817), a volume composed of 23 chapters of autobiographical notes and dissertations on various subjects, including some incisive literary theory and criticism. He composed a considerable amount of poetry, of variable quality. He published other writings while he was living at the Gillman homes, notably the "Lay Sermons" of 1816 and 1817, "Sibylline Leaves" (1817), "Hush" (1820), "Aids to Reflection" (1825), and "On the Constitution of the Church and State" (1830). He also produced essays published shortly after his death, such as "Essay on Faith" (1838) and "Confessions of an Inquiring Spirit" (1840). A number of his followers were central to the Oxford Movement, and his religious writings profoundly shaped Anglicanism in the mid-nineteenth century.
Coleridge also worked extensively on the various manuscripts which form his "Opus Maximum", a work which was in part intended as a post-Kantian work of philosophical synthesis. The work was never published in his lifetime, and has frequently been seen as evidence for his tendency to conceive grand projects which he then had difficulty in carrying through to completion. But while he frequently berated himself for his "indolence", the long list of his published works calls this myth into question. Critics are divided on whether the "Opus Maximum", first published in 2002, successfully resolved the philosophical issues he had been exploring for most of his adult life.
Coleridge died in Highgate, London on 25 July 1834 as a result of heart failure compounded by an unknown lung disorder, possibly linked to his use of opium. Coleridge had spent 18 years under the roof of the Gillman family, who built an addition onto their home to accommodate the poet.Faith may be defined as fidelity to our own being, so far as such being is not and cannot become an object of the senses; and hence, by clear inference or implication to being generally, as far as the same is not the object of the senses; and again to whatever is affirmed or understood as the condition, or concomitant, or consequence of the same. This will be best explained by an instance or example. That I am conscious of something within me peremptorily commanding me to do unto others as I would they should do unto me; in other words a categorical (that is, primary and unconditional) imperative; that the maxim ("regula maxima", or supreme rule) of my actions, both inward and outward, should be such as I could, without any contradiction arising therefrom, will to be the law of all moral and rational beings. "Essay on Faith"
Carlyle described him at Highgate: "Coleridge sat on the brow of Highgate Hill, in those years, looking down on London and its smoke-tumult, like a sage escaped from the inanity of life's battle ... The practical intellects of the world did not much heed him, or carelessly reckoned him a metaphysical dreamer: but to the rising spirits of the young generation he had this dusky sublime character; and sat there as a kind of "Magus", girt in mystery and enigma; his Dodona oak-grove (Mr. Gilman's house at Highgate) whispering strange things, uncertain whether oracles or jargon."
Coleridge is buried in the aisle of St. Michael's Parish Church in Highgate, London. He was originally buried at Old Highgate Chapel but was re-interred in St. Michael's in 1961. Coleridge could see the red door of the then new church from his last residence across the green, where he lived with a doctor he had hoped might cure him (in a house owned today by Kate Moss). When it was discovered Coleridge's vault had become derelict, the coffins – Coleridge's and those of his wife, daughter, son-in-law, and grandson – were moved to St. Michael's after an international fundraising appeal.
Drew Clode, a member of St. Michael's stewardship committee states, "they put the coffins in a convenient space which was dry and secure, and quite suitable, bricked them up and forgot about them". A recent excavation revealed the coffins were not in the location most believed, the far corner of the crypt, but actually below a memorial slab in the nave inscribed with: “Beneath this stone lies the body of Samuel Taylor Coleridge”.
St. Michael's plans to restore the crypt and allow public access. Says vicar Kunle Ayodeji of the plans: “. . we hope that the whole crypt can be cleared as a space for meetings and other uses, which would also allow access to Coleridge’s cellar.”
Coleridge is one of the most important figures in English poetry. His poems directly and deeply influenced all the major poets of the age. He was known by his contemporaries as a meticulous craftsman who was more rigorous in his careful reworking of his poems than any other poet, and Southey and Wordsworth were dependent on his professional advice. His influence on Wordsworth is particularly important because many critics have credited Coleridge with the very idea of "Conversational Poetry". The idea of utilising common, everyday language to express profound poetic images and ideas for which Wordsworth became so famous may have originated almost entirely in Coleridge’s mind. It is difficult to imagine Wordsworth’s great poems, "The Excursion" or "The Prelude", ever having been written without the direct influence of Coleridge’s originality.
As important as Coleridge was to poetry as a poet, he was equally important to poetry as a critic. His philosophy of poetry, which he developed over many years, has been deeply influential in the field of literary criticism. This influence can be seen in such critics as A. O. Lovejoy and I. A. Richards.
Coleridge is arguably best known for his longer poems, particuarly "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and "Christabel". Even those who have never read the "Rime" have come under its influence: its words have given the English language the metaphor of an albatross around one's neck, the quotation of "water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink" (almost always rendered as "but not a drop to drink"), and the phrase "a sadder and a wiser man" (usually rendered as "a sadder but wiser man"). The phrase "All creatures great and small" may have been inspired by "The Rime": "He prayeth best, who loveth best;/ All things both great and small;/ For the dear God who loveth us;/ He made and loveth all." "Christabel" is known for its musical rhythm, language, and its Gothic tale.
"Kubla Khan", or, "A Vision in a Dream, A Fragment", although shorter, is also widely known. Both "Kubla Khan" and "Christabel" have an additional "Romantic" aura because they were never finished. Stopford Brooke characterised both poems as having no rival due to their "exquisite metrical movement" and "imaginative phrasing."
The eight of Coleridge's poems listed above are now often discussed as a group entitled "Conversation poems". The term itself was coined in 1928 by George McLean Harper, who borrowed the subtitle of "The Nightingale: A Conversation Poem" (1798) to describe the seven other poems as well. The poems are considered by many critics to be among Coleridge's finest verses; thus Harold Bloom has written, "With "Dejection", "The Ancient Mariner", and "Kubla Khan", "Frost at Midnight" shows Coleridge at his most impressive." They are also among his most influential poems, as discussed further below.
Harper himself considered that the eight poems represented a form of blank verse that is "...more fluent and easy than Milton's, or any that had been written since Milton". In 2006 Robert Koelzer wrote about another aspect of this apparent "easiness", noting that Conversation poems such as "... Coleridge's "The Eolian Harp" and "The Nightingale" maintain a middle register of speech, employing an idiomatic language that is capable of being construed as un-symbolic and un-musical: language that lets itself be taken as 'merely talk' rather than rapturous 'song'."
The last ten lines of "Frost at Midnight" were chosen by Harper as the "best example of the peculiar kind of blank verse Coleridge had evolved, as natural-seeming as prose, but as exquisitely artistic as the most complicated sonnet." The speaker of the poem is addressing his infant son, asleep by his side:
<poem>
Therefore all seasons shall be sweet to thee,
Whether the summer clothe the general earth
With greenness, or the redbreast sit and sing
Betwixt the tufts of snow on the bare branch
Of mossy apple-tree, while the nigh thatch
Smokes in the sun-thaw; whether the eave-drops fall
Heard only in the trances of the blast,
Or if the secret ministry of frost
Shall hang them up in silent icicles,
Quietly shining to the quiet Moon.
</poem>
In 1965, M. H. Abrams wrote a broad description that applies to the Conversation poems: "The speaker begins with a description of the landscape; an aspect or change of aspect in the landscape evokes a varied by integral process of memory, thought, anticipation, and feeling which remains closely intervolved with the outer scene. In the course of this meditation the lyric speaker achieves an insight, faces up to a tragic loss, comes to a moral decision, or resolves an emotional problem. Often the poem rounds itself to end where it began, at the outer scene, but with an altered mood and deepened understanding which is the result of the intervening meditation." In fact, Abrams was describing both the Conversation poems and later poems influenced by them. Abrams' essay has been called a "touchstone of literary criticism". As Paul Magnuson described it in 2002, "Abrams credited Coleridge with originating what Abrams called the 'greater Romantic lyric', a genre that began with Coleridge's 'Conversation' poems, and included Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey", Shelley's "Stanzas Written in Dejection" and Keats's "Ode to a Nightingale", and was a major influence on more modern lyrics by Matthew Arnold, Walt Whitman, Wallace Stevens, and W. H. Auden."
In addition to his poetry, Coleridge also wrote influential pieces of literary criticism including "Biographia Literaria", a collection of his thoughts and opinions on literature which he published in 1817. The work delivered both biographical explanations of the author's life as well as his impressions on literature. The collection also contained an analysis of a broad range of philosophical principles of literature ranging from Aristotle to Immanuel Kant and Schelling and applied them to the poetry of peers such as William Wordsworth. Coleridge's explanation of metaphysical principles were popular topics of discourse in academic communities throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, and T.S. Eliot stated that he believed that Coleridge was "perhaps the greatest of English critics, and in a sense the last." Eliot suggests that Coleridge displayed "natural abilities" far greater than his contemporaries, dissecting literature and applying philosophical principles of metaphysics in a way that brought the subject of his criticisms away from the text and into a world of logical analysis that mixed logical analysis and emotion. However, Eliot also criticises Coleridge for allowing his emotion to play a role in the metaphysical process, believing that critics should not have emotions that are not provoked by the work being studied. Hugh Kenner in "Historical Fictions", discusses Norman Fruman's "Coleridge, the Damaged Archangel" and suggests that the term "criticism" is too often applied to "Biographia Literaria", which both he and Fruman describe as having failed to explain or help the reader understand works of art. To Kenner, Coleridge's attempt to discuss complex philosophical concepts without describing the rational process behind them displays a lack of critical thinking that makes the volume more of a biography than a work of criticism.
In "Biographia Literaria" and his poetry, symbols are not merely "objective correlatives" to Coleridge, but instruments for making the universe and personal experience intelligible and spiritually covalent. To Coleridge, the "cinque spotted spider," making its way upstream "by fits and starts," [Biographia Literaria] is not merely a comment on the intermittent nature of creativity, imagination, or spiritual progress, but the journey and destination of his life. The spider's five legs represent the central problem that Coleridge lived to resolve, the conflict between Aristotelian logic and Christian philosophy. Two legs of the spider represent the "me-not me" of thesis and antithesis, the idea that a thing cannot be itself and its opposite simultaneously, the basis of the clockwork Newtonian world view that Coleridge rejected. The remaining three legs—exothesis, mesothesis and synthesis or the Holy trinity—represent the idea that things can diverge without being contradictory. Taken together, the five legs—with synthesis in the center, form the Holy Cross of Ramist logic. The cinque-spotted spider is Coleridge's emblem of holism, the quest and substance of Coleridge's thought and spiritual life.
Coleridge wrote reviews of Ann Radcliffe's books and "The Mad Monk", among others. He comments in his reviews: "Situations of torment, and images of naked horror, are easily conceived; and a writer in whose works they abound, deserves our gratitude almost equally with him who should drag us by way of sport through a military hospital, or force us to sit at the dissecting-table of a natural philosopher. To trace the nice boundaries, beyond which terror and sympathy are deserted by the pleasurable emotions, – to reach those limits, yet never to pass them, hic labor, hic opus est." and "The horrible and the preternatural have usually seized on the popular taste, at the rise and decline of literature. Most powerful stimulants, they can never be required except by the torpor of an unawakened, or the languor of an exhausted, appetite... We trust, however, that satiety will banish what good sense should have prevented; and that, wearied with fiends, incomprehensible characters, with shrieks, murders, and subterraneous dungeons, the public will learn, by the multitude of the manufacturers, with how little expense of thought or imagination this species of composition is manufactured."
However, Coleridge used these elements in poems such as "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798), "Christabel" and "Kubla Khan" (published in 1816, but known in manuscript form before then) and certainly influenced other poets and writers of the time. Poems like these both drew inspiration from and helped to inflame the craze for Gothic romance. Coleridge also made considerable use of Gothic elements in his commercially successful play "Remorse".
Mary Shelley, who knew Coleridge well, mentions "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" twice directly in "Frankenstein", and some of the descriptions in the novel echo it indirectly. Although William Godwin, her father, disagreed with Coleridge on some important issues, he respected his opinions and Coleridge often visited the Godwins. Mary Shelley later recalled hiding behind the sofa and hearing his voice chanting "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner".
C. S. Lewis also makes mention of his name in "The Screwtape Letters" (as a poor example of prayer, in which the devils should encourage).
Although his father was an Anglican vicar, Coleridge worked as a Unitarian preacher between 1796 and 1797. He eventually returned to the Church of England in 1814. His most noteworthy writings on religion are "Lay Sermons" (1817), "Aids to Reflection" (1825) and "The Constitution of Church and State" (1830).
Despite being mostly remembered today for his poetry and literary criticism, Coleridge was also (perhaps in his own eyes primarily) a theologian. His writings include discussions of the status of scripture, the doctrines of the Fall, justification and sanctification, and the personality and infinity of God. A key figure in the Anglican theology of his day, his writings are still regularly referred to by contemporary Anglican theologians. F. D. Maurice, F. J. A. Hort, F. W. Robertson, B. F. Westcott, John Oman and Thomas Erskine (once called the "Scottish Coleridge") were all influenced by him.
Coleridge was also a profound political thinker. While he began his life as a political radical, and an enthusiast for the French Revolution; over the years Coleridge developed a more conservative view of society, somewhat in the manner of Burke. Although seen as cowardly treachery by the next generation of Romantic poets, Coleridge's later thought became a fruitful source for the evolving radicalism of J. S. Mill. Mill found three aspects of Coleridge's thought especially illuminating:
The current standard edition is "The Collected Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge," edited by Kathleen Coburn and many others from 1969 to 2002. This collection appeared across 16 volumes as Bollingen Series 75, published variously by Princeton University Press and Routledge & Kegan Paul. The set is broken down as follows into further parts, resulting in a total of 34 separate printed volumes:
In addition, Coleridge's letters are available in: "The Collected Letters of Samuel Taylor Coleridge" (1956–71), ed. Earl Leslie Griggs, 6 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press).
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2475810 | Lordship salvation controversy
The "lordship salvation" controversy (also "Lordship Controversy") is a theological dispute regarding key soteriological questions within Evangelical Christianity, involving some non-denominational and Evangelical churches in North America at least since the 1980s. The dispute spawned several books, pamphlets, and conferences. According to one website advocating Lordship Salvation, "the doctrine of Lordship salvation teaches that submitting to Christ as Lord goes hand-in-hand with trusting in Christ as Savior. Lordship salvation is the opposite of what is sometimes called easy-believism or the teaching that salvation comes through an acknowledgement of a certain set of facts." Another website critical of it, defines it similarly, however: "As defined by its own advocates, Lordship Salvation could more properly be called "Commitment Salvation," "Surrender Salvation," "Slaveship Salvation," "Servantship Salvation," or "Submission Salvation" since in actuality the debate is not over the Lordship of Christ, but the response of a person to the gospel and the conditions which must be met for salvation."
"By grace alone" and "through faith alone" are two of the five solae of the Protestant Reformation. Many Protestants affirm these phrases as distinctively Protestant, whereas the Lordship Salvation controversy concerns what grace and faith must include, and what they must exclude, for a person to "have salvation" in the evangelical Protestant sense. The language of what must be included permeates the whole debate and is often transferred from the meaning of the concepts to the status of someone's experience; thus, "As a part of his saving work, God will produce repentance, faith, sanctification, yieldedness, obedience, and ultimately glorification. Since he is not dependent on human effort in producing these elements, an experience that lacks any of them cannot be the saving work of God."
Related to the issue of what must be included or not, the debate also looks at conversion using language which refers to concepts on "accepting Christ as ..." This is how the term Lordship became associated with the debate, by discussions of various ways to accept Christ; sometimes "accepting Christ as Savior" or "accepting Christ as Lord" were distinguished, and a debate ensued. This is reflected in various modern translations, taking a cue from Colossians 2:6 in the Good News Bible, which has "accept" for what is to be done about Christ. In the New International Version of the same verse, the word "receive" is used. Thus, a common question was "do (or did) you accept (or receive) Christ as Lord?" The controversy became defined by the question of whether or not this part is included.
Given the accepting-as phraseology of the popular GNB of Colossians 2:6, and the receiving-as phraseology in the widely popular NIV of Colossians 2:6, an exegesis based on the NIV, for example, offered an explanation of what "manner" of receiving this was. John F. MacArthur Jr, in turn, taught that such a receiving was both non-passive toward Christ and actively submissive to Christ, offering this as a way of understanding the English idiom, of what receiving a person "as" Lord, really means.
Yet the "as Lord" language was not the only metaphor of the controversy. In 1959, Eternity Magazine featured a twin set of articles which ignited the debate and the use of the idiom from the titles: what Christ must "be." This asked what Christ must "be" to the one accepting Christ: must he "be Lord" in order to "be Savior," both, etc. Ten years later (1969), Charles Ryrie used this idiom in a chapter title, verbatim, quoting exactly the title of the articles in Eternity Magazine, September, 1959. This idiom, what Christ must "be", was used to derive and discuss the implications for salvation associated with what Christ is. One author, Arthur W. Pink (1886–1952), had already associated Christ's Lordship with surrendering to it as a sine qua non at the initial point. Therefore, the controversy dates back to before 1959, to at least before 1953 in the case of Pink, and shows the subject's connection to evangelism. Baptist theologian John Gill in his 18th-century work in exposition of Colossians 2:6 deals with an emphasis on Lordship.
In 1988, John F. MacArthur Jr published the first edition of "The Gospel According to Jesus". By defining salvation by what it produces and what salvation will not fail to produce, (not only glorification, but good works, repentance, faith, sanctification, yieldedness, and obedience) the book not only heavily spread the extent of the debate, but the debate expanded in scope, from questions about conversion issues, to questions about what is also necessary, and who it is who does what, throughout the Christian life. Using surrender language in the gospel became another issue.
Free Grace theology became an umbrella term for a variety of opposing or contrasting positions, sometimes arguing that Lordship salvation was legalistic, sometimes more opposed to it than that, for example, faulting it for not being specific about what degree, quality, and current visibility there must be to the necessary obedience. The controversy continues to be debated not only in discussions about all the gospels, but also in discussions about almost any of the Pauline epistles and the relationship of Paul the Apostle and Judaism, and the rest of the New Testament, as well as much material about salvation in topical studies, and in systematic theology.
Figures of the Reformed tradition and their historical dispute with Arminian Protestants over a person's participatory role in salvation, a debate which many Calvinists identify with the original sin issue Augustine wrote of in his polemics against the British monk Pelagius, gave Reformed scholars and church leaders an intellectual tradition from which to oppose what they considered a false gospel.
An early discussion about the initial conversion aspect of the Lordship salvation issue was in the 1948 systematic theology of Lewis Sperry Chafer, using (and criticizing) the phrase "believe and surrender to God". AW Pink (d. 1952), also used this language, but anticipated (and advocated) key terms in the later debate, speaking of both 'surrender' and 'Lordship'. Connection of the word "Lordship" and salvation existed in a Ph.D dissertation at Wheaton College in 1958. Therefore, the use of the term 'Lordship salvation' came before the first edition of MacArthur's 1988 book, possibly after the 1959 debate in "Eternity" magazine, Sep 1959, between Presbyterian Everett F. Harrison, a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary, and John Stott, an Anglican theologian.
The controversy moved to the forefront of the evangelical world in the late 1980s when John F. MacArthur argued that the one-third of all Americans who claimed to be born again according to a 1980 Gallup poll reflected millions who are deceived, possessing a false, soul-destroying assurance.
There was lots of published response, particularly from seminary faculty. For example, an early review of the 1988 edition of "The Gospel According to Jesus" appeared in a Jan–Mar 1989 "Bibliotheca Sacra" article by Darrell L Bock. Also in 1989, Charles Ryrie published "So Great Salvation" and Zane C. Hodges published "Absolutely Free! A Biblical Reply to Lordship Salvation". The two 1989 book publications confined the direct debate largely to their authors' footnotes, but the Bock article, in addition to specifically giving points of disagreement and agreement with MacArthur's book, added definitional discussion of terms such as "disciple" and "Lordship," and introduced the consideration of rhetorical devices such as overstatement, into the discussion. However, the debate was on. Since both MacArthur's and Hodges' books were published by Zondervan, some bookstores displayed them together under the banner, "Which One is Right?".
Yet very soon on their heels, in 1992 before the revised edition of MacArthur's work, an anthology of responses from various faculty of reformed seminaries appeared on the subject and include criticisms of both MacArthur and Hodges, especially in Michael Horton's contribution, "Don't Judge a Book by its Cover."
MacArthur later published "Faith Works" (1993) and Hodges published the second edition of his earlier title, "The Gospel Under Siege", in 1992. Two ministries, The Grace Evangelical Society, founded in 1986, and the Free Grace Alliance, founded in 2004, arose with the purpose of advancing free grace soteriological views which opposed some concepts introduced by proponents of Lordship salvation. Each group contributed numerous books, journal articles and pamphlets detailing the problems of Lordship salvation or its alternatives.
"Free Grace" became the popular term for the opposing camp in the Lordship salvation debate, and for the ideas against Lordship salvation by authors such as Charles Ryrie, Chuck Swindoll, Charles Stanley, Norman Geisler, and Bill Bright. While free grace was traditionally largely affirmed in Protestantism, and the "Free Grace view" affirms good works are a proper response to salvation, the Free Grace view argues they should not be taken as the only or sine qua non evidence of one's salvation or righteous standing before God.
Proponents of Lordship salvation (Calvinists), on the other hand, criticize opponents as advocating an acquiescence in sin by allowing greatly sinful behavior to exist together with the same assurance of salvation as someone who does not currently allow greatly sinful behavior, but is to some degree subduing sin.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2490422 | Joseph Fins
Joseph J. Fins, M.A.C.P., F.R.C.P. (born 1959) is an American physician and medical ethicist. He is chief of the Division of Medical Ethics at New York Presbyterian Hospital and Weill Cornell Medical College, where he serves as The E. William Davis Jr., M.D. Professor of Medical Ethics, and Professor of Medicine, Professor of Public Health, and Professor of Medicine in Psychiatry. Fins is also Director of Medical Ethics and an attending physician at New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center. Fins is also a member of the adjunct faculty of Rockefeller University and has served as Associate for Medicine at The Hastings Center. He was appointed by President Bill Clinton to "The White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy" and currently serves on "The New York State Task Force on Life and the Law" by gubernatorial appointment.
In October 2010, Fins was elected a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the United States National Academies. In 2012, he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In December 2013 he was elected an Academico de Honor de la Real Academia Nacional de Medicina de Espana (Honored Academic of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Spain).
Fins' scholarship in medical ethics and health policy has focused on palliative care, rational approaches to ethical dilemmas and the development of "clinical pragmatism" as a method of moral problem-solving drawing upon the American pragmatic tradition of William James and John Dewey. His more recent work has been in neuroethics and disorders of consciousness following severe brain injury. He was a co-author of the landmark "Nature" paper describing the first use of deep brain stimulation in the minimally conscious state.
Fins has been a visiting professor in Medical Ethics at The Complutense University in Madrid and Philipps University in Marburg, Germany. He is a recipient of a Soros Open Society Institute Project on Death in America Faculty Scholars Award, a Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation Visiting Fellowship and a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Investigator Award in Health Policy Research.
Fins received a B.A. (College of Letters with Honors) from Wesleyan University in 1982 and an M.D. from Cornell University Medical College in 1986. After an internship at the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic, he completed his internal medicine residency training and fellowship in general internal medicine at The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. He is the author of "A Palliative Ethic of Care: Clinical Wisdom at Life's End" published by Jones and Bartlett (2006) and "Rights Come to Mind: Brain Injury, Ethics, and the Struggle for Consciousness" published by Cambridge University Press (2015).
A board certified internist, Fins has served as a governor of the American College of Physicians and vice chair of the College's Committee on Professionalism and Human Rights. He is a recipient of the College's Laureate Award and is a Master (MACP) of the College.
He has served on the boards of the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities, the Fund for Modern Courts and Wesleyan University, where he is now a trustee emeritus. He is also a member of the Governing Board of the International Neuroethics Society. Fins also served as a member of "New York's Attorney General's Commission on Quality Care at the End of Life" and sits on a number of editorial boards, including the "Journal of Pain and Symptom Management", "The Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics", "The Oncologist", "BioMed Central Medical Ethics", "Neuroethics" and the Basic Bioethics Series of MIT Press.
In October 2009, Fins was elected president of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities. He served his two-year term from 2011 to 2013. He is a member of the Hastings Center Board of Trustees and chair of its Fellow's Council.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2496233 | COYOTE
COYOTE is an American sex workers' rights organization. Its name is a backronym for "C"all "O"ff "Y"our "O"ld "T"ired "E"thics, a reflection of the fact that sex work tends to be stigmatized primarily because of society-imposed standards of ethics. COYOTE's goals include the decriminalization (as opposed to the legalization) of prostitution, pimping and pandering, as well as the elimination of social stigma concerning sex work as an occupation.
COYOTE provides counseling and legal referrals for sex workers, and assistance in leaving sex work for different careers.
COYOTE provides expert advice and sensitivity training for social service and law enforcement agencies that deal with sex workers. COYOTE members have testified as expert witnesses during trials. The organization works to educate the general public about sex work, and promotes education about safe sex, AIDS and sexually transmitted disease among sex workers, their clients and the general public.
COYOTE was founded in San Francisco in 1973 by Margo St. James, a feminist and former sex worker, along with Jennifer James, a Seattle-based professor of anthropology. Margo St. James had previously been arrested and convicted of a prostitution offense at age 25, but overturned the conviction after studying law for a year at Lincoln University San Francisco. She chose the name COYOTE because novelist Tom Robbins called her a "coyote trickster" and came up with "Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics" to fit the chosen backronym. St. James believed that sex work should be considered labor equivalent to any other career, writing in 1977 that "to make a great distinction between being paid for an hour's sexual services, or an hour's typing, or an hour's acting on a stage is to make a distinction that is not there."
The group's purpose was "to provide a loose union of women—both prostitutes and feminists—to fight for legal change."
COYOTE provided safe spaces for sex workers to meet to talk about their experiences and find support. They had "rap sessions" which used feminist consciousness raising methods, and let the women know that they were not alone in their experiences. They gathered stories and facts about the injustices sex workers faced and launched a public education drive to highlight the racist and sexist biases of prostitution arrests. Meetings and events were advertised through underground newspapers. COYOTE organized educational programs and cultural events to raise money for other projects and held public demonstrations to protest entrapment. They also organized "whore conventions" in San Francisco (1974), Washington, DC (1976), and in Brussels and Amsterdam (1985 and 1986).
COYOTE offered a variety of services to sex workers. They offered a hotline for prostitutes called SLIP (Survival Line for Independent Prostitutes), immediate legal assistance for prostitutes who had been arrested, suitable clothing for court appearances, and classes on survival skills for prostitutes in jail. COYOTE won policy changes in the 1970s that gradually diminished prostitution laws. They abolished mandatory penicillin therapy and multi-day jail quarantines and pressured public defenders to provide better representation for people accused of soliciting and prostitution, misdemeanor offenses.
They instigated and sponsored at least 26 lawsuits on behalf of prostitutes and lifted a mandatory three-day venereal disease quarantine imposed by the San Francisco Police Department on prostitutes. They won by claiming that the incidence of VD disease is at least as high among people 20 to 40 years old as among whores and "only women are arrested and forced to have regular checks for VD." COYOTE got a judge to dismiss prostitution charges against 37 women whose male customers were not arrested and they organized protests against police harassment, which they believed was one of the most critical issues affecting prostitutes.
COYOTE threw annual Hookers' Balls from 1973–1979 in San Francisco, which served to destigmatize sex work, celebrate sex workers, and raise funds. From these events, COYOTE raised a bail fund to free women from exploitative pimps and created special welfare programs and assistance services.
As public concern about the AIDS epidemic grew, sex workers were increasingly blamed for spreading the disease. COYOTE immediately sought to address this, stating that the organization was "working to prevent the scapegoating of prostitutes for AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, and to educate prostitutes, their clients, and the general public about prevention of these disease". The organization spoke out against mandatory testing for sex workers for AIDS, deeming it a violation of civil rights. Various members of COYOTE joined together in 1988 to form the California Prostitutes Education Project (CAL-PEP), aiming to provide education about sex work from sex workers themselves. CAL-PEP published "Prostitutes Prevent AIDS: A Manual for Health Education" in 1988 with federal and state funding.
Shortly after the founding of COYOTE, Association of Seattle Prostitutes (ASP) and Prostitutes of New York (PONY) were founded. There were roughly 20 other "sister organizations" founded by 1979. As COYOTE gained credibility as a national movement, it gained affiliations with more liberal and mainstream feminist organizations such as the National Organization for Women (NOW), Wages for Housework, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the American Bar Association. These affiliations were possible in part due to COYOTE's wide support base, which at one point consisted of 270,000 members.
In 1976, COYOTE, led by St. James, filed a lawsuit against Rhode Island. In the case, "COYOTE v. Roberts", the argument was based on how much power the state should have to control the sexual activity of its citizens. The lawsuit also alleged discrimination on how the law was being applied. Data was submitted that demonstrated selective prosecution: the Providence police were arresting female sex workers far more often than the male customers. St. James testified in the case. Although the case eventually was dismissed when Rhode Island General Assembly changed the prostitution statute in 1980, COYOTE and St. James are given credit as one of the reasons prostitution in Rhode Island was decriminalized, although prostitution was outlawed again in 2009 (see Prostitution in Rhode Island). "Samantha" and Gloria Lockett were co-directors of COYOTE in the early 1990s. They had been critical of the group for focusing on "higher class" prostitutes (such as call girls and escorts) and white sex workers, while ignoring the concerns of streetwalkers and ethnic minorities.
, Norma Jean Almodovar serves as the executive director of the Los Angeles branch of COYOTE.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2497260 | Pāṭimokkha
In Theravada Buddhism, the Patimokkha is the basic code of monastic discipline, consisting of 227 rules for fully ordained monks (bhikkhus) and 311 for nuns (bhikkhunis). It is contained in the Suttavibhanga, a division of the Vinaya Pitaka.
The four parajikas (defeats) are rules entailing expulsion from the sangha for life. If a monk breaks any one of the rules he is automatically "defeated" in the holy life and falls from monkhood immediately. He is not allowed to become a monk again in his lifetime. Intention is necessary in all these four cases to constitute an offence. The four parajikas for bhikkus are:
The parajikas are more specific definitions of the first four of the Five Precepts.
The thirteen sanghadisesas are rules requiring an initial and subsequent meeting of the sangha (communal meetings). If the monk breaks any rule here he has to undergo a period of probation or discipline after which, if he shows himself to be repentant, he may be reinstated by a sangha of not less than twenty monks. Like the parajikas, the sanghadisesas can only come about through the monk's own intention and cannot be accidentally invoked. The thirteen sanghadisesas for bhikkus are:
The aniyata are two indefinite rules where a monk is accused of having committed an offence with a woman in a screened (enclosed) or private place by a lay person. It is indefinite because the final outcome depends on whether the monk acknowledges the offence. Benefit of the doubt is given to the monk unless there is over-riding evidence.
Thus it is not proper for a monk to be alone with a woman, especially in screened or private places.
The nissaggiya pacittiya are rules entailing "confession with forfeiture." They are mostly concerned with the possessing of items which are disallowed or obtained in disallowable ways. The monk must forfeit the item and then confess his offense to another monk. The thirty nissaggiya pacittiya for bhikkhu are:
92 pacittiya are rules entailing confession. There are ninety two Pacittiya and they are minor violations which do not entail expulsion or any probationary periods.
1. A deliberate lie is to be confessed.
2. An insult is to be confessed.
3. Malicious tale-bearing among bhikkhus is to be confessed.
4. Should any bhikkhu have an unordained person recite Dhamma line by line (with him), it is to be confessed.
5. Should any bhikkhu lie down together (in the same dwelling) with an unordained person for more than two or three consecutive nights, it is to be confessed.
6. Should any bhikkhu lie down together (in the same dwelling) with a woman, it is to be confessed.
7. Should any bhikkhu teach more than five or six sentences of Dhamma to a woman, unless a knowledgeable man is present, it is to be confessed.
8. Should any bhikkhu report (his own) superior human state, when it is factual, to an unordained person, it is to be confessed.
9. Should any bhikkhu report (another) bhikkhu's serious offense to an unordained person, unless authorized by the bhikkhus, it is to be confessed.
10. Should any bhikkhu dig soil or have it dug, it is to be confessed.
11. The damaging of a living plant is to be confessed.
12. Evasive speech and causing frustration are to be confessed.
13. Criticizing or complaining (about a Community official) is to be confessed.
14. Should any bhikkhu set a bed, bench, mattress, or stool belonging to the Community out in the open, or have it set out, and then on departing neither put it away nor have it put away, or should he go without taking leave, it is to be confessed.
15. Should any bhikkhu set out bedding in a dwelling belonging to the Community, or have it set out, and then on departing neither put it away nor have it put away, or should he go without taking leave, it is to be confessed.
16. Should any bhikkhu knowingly lie down in a dwelling belonging to the Community so as to intrude on a bhikkhu who arrived there first, (thinking), "Whoever finds it confining will go away," doing it for just that reason and no other, it is to be confessed.
17. Should any bhikkhu, angered and displeased, evict a bhikkhu from a dwelling belonging to the Community, or have him evicted, it is to be confessed.
18. Should any bhikkhu sit or lie down on a bed or bench with detachable legs on an (unplanked) loft in a dwelling belonging to the Community, it is to be confessed.
19. When a bhikkhu is having a large dwelling built, he may supervise two or three layers of facing to plaster the area around the window frame and reinforce the area around the door frame the width of the door opening, while standing where there are no crops to speak of. Should he supervise more than that, even if standing where there are no crops to speak of, it is to be confessed.
20. Should any bhikkhu knowingly pour water containing living beings, or have it poured, on grass or on clay, it is to be confessed.
21. Should any bhikkhu, unauthorized, exhort the bhikkhunīs, it is to be confessed.
22. Should any bhikkhu, even if authorized, exhort the bhikkhunīs after sunset, it is to be confessed.
23. Should any bhikkhu, having gone to the bhikkhunīs' quarters, exhort the bhikkhunīs, except at the proper occasion, it is to be confessed. Here the proper occasion is this: A bhikkhunī is ill. This is the proper occasion here.
24. Should any bhikkhu say that the bhikkhus exhort the bhikkhunīs for the sake of worldly gain, it is to be confessed.
25. Should any bhikkhu give robe-cloth to a bhikkhunī unrelated to him, except in exchange, it is to be confessed.
26. Should any bhikkhu sew robe-cloth or have it sewn for a bhikkhunī unrelated to him, it is to be confessed.
27. Should any bhikkhu, by arrangement, travel together with a bhikkhunī even for the interval between one village and the next, except at the proper occasion, it is to be confessed. Here the proper occasion is this: The road is to be traveled by caravan and is considered dubious and risky. This is the proper occasion here.
28. Should any bhikkhu, by arrangement, get in the same boat with a bhikkhunī going upstream or downstream, except to cross over to the other bank, it is to be confessed.
29. Should any bhikkhu knowingly eat almsfood donated through the prompting of a bhikkhunī, except for food that householders had already intended for him prior (to her prompting), it is to be confessed.
30. Should any bhikkhu sit in private, alone with a bhikkhunī, it is to be confessed.
31. A bhikkhu who is not ill may eat one meal at a public alms center. Should he eat more than that, it is to be confessed.
32. A group meal, except on the proper occasions, is to be confessed. Here the proper occasions are these: a time of illness, a time of giving cloth, a time of making robes, a time of going on a journey, a time of embarking on a boat, an extraordinary occasion, a time when the meal is supplied by contemplatives. These are the proper occasions here.
33. An out-of-turn meal, except on the proper occasions, is to be confessed. Here the proper occasions are these: a time of illness, a time of giving cloth (the robe season), a time of making robes. These are the proper occasions here.
34. In case a bhikkhu arriving at a family residence is presented with cakes or cooked grain-meal, he may accept two or three bowlfuls if he so desires. If he should accept more than that, it is to be confessed. Having accepted the two-or-three bowlfuls and having taken them from there, he is to share them among the bhikkhus. This is the proper course here.
35. Should any bhikkhu, having eaten and turned down an offer (of further food), chew or consume staple or non-staple food that is not left over, it is to be confessed.
36. Should any bhikkhu, knowingly and wishing to find fault, present staple or non-staple food to a bhikkhu who has eaten and turned down an offer (for further food), saying, "Here, bhikkhu, chew or consume this" — when it has been eaten, it is to be confessed.
37. Should any bhikkhu chew or consume staple or non-staple food at the wrong time, it is to be confessed.
38. Should any bhikkhu chew or consume stored-up staple or non-staple food, it is to be confessed.
39. There are these finer staple foods, i.e., ghee, fresh butter, oil, honey, sugar/molasses, fish, meat, milk, and curds. Should any bhikkhu who is not ill, having asked for finer staple foods such as these for his own sake, then eat them, it is to be confessed.
40. Should any bhikkhu take into his mouth an edible that has not been given, except for water and tooth-cleaning sticks, it is to be confessed.
41. Should any bhikkhu give staple or non-staple food with his own hand to a naked ascetic, a male wanderer, or a female wanderer, it is to be confessed.
42. Should any bhikkhu say to a bhikkhu, "Come, my friend, let's enter the village or town for alms," and then — whether or not he has had (food) given to him — dismiss him, saying, "Go away, my friend. I don't like sitting or talking with you. I prefer sitting or talking alone," if doing it for that reason and no other, it is to be confessed.
43. Should a bhikkhu sit intruding on a family "with its meal," it is to be confessed.
44. Should any bhikkhu sit in private on a secluded seat with a woman, it is to be confessed.
45. Should any bhikkhu sit in private, alone with a woman, it is to be confessed.
46. Should any bhikkhu, being invited for a meal and without taking leave of an available bhikkhu, go calling on families before or after the meal, except at the proper times, it is to be confessed. Here the proper times are these: the time of giving cloth, the time of making robes. These are the proper times here.
47. A bhikkhu who is not ill may accept (make use of) a four-month invitation to ask for requisites. If he should accept (make use of) it for longer than that; unless the invitation is renewed or is permanent; it is to be confessed.
48. Should any bhikkhu go to see an army on active duty, unless there is a suitable reason, it is to be confessed.
49. There being some reason or another for a bhikkhu to go to an army, he may stay two or three (consecutive) nights with the army. If he should stay longer than that, it is to be confessed.
50. If a bhikkhu staying two or three nights with an army should go to a battlefield, a roll call, the troops in battle formation, or to see a review of the (battle) units, it is to be confessed.
51. The drinking of alcohol or fermented liquor is to be confessed.
52. Tickling with the fingers is to be confessed.
53. The act of playing in the water is to be confessed.
54. Disrespect is to be confessed.
55. Should any bhikkhu try to frighten another bhikkhu, it is to be confessed.
56. Should any bhikkhu who is not ill, seeking to warm himself, kindle a fire or have one kindled, unless there is a suitable reason, it is to be confessed.
57. Should any bhikkhu bathe at intervals of less than half a month, except at the proper occasions, it is to be confessed. Here the proper occasions are these: the last month and a half of the hot season, the first month of the rains, these two and a half months being a time of heat, a time of fever; (also) a time of illness; a time of work; a time of going on a journey; a time of wind or rain. These are the proper times here.
58. When a bhikkhu receives a new robe, any one of three means of discoloring it is to be applied: green, brown, or black. If a bhikkhu should make use of a new robe without applying any of the three means of discoloring it, it is to be confessed.
59. Should any bhikkhu, himself having placed robe-cloth under shared ownership (vikappana) with a bhikkhu, a bhikkhuni, a female probationer, a male novice, or a female novice, then make use of the cloth without the shared ownership's being rescinded, it is to be confessed.
60. Should any bhikkhu hide (another) bhikkhu's bowl, robe, sitting cloth, needle case, or belt, or have it hidden, even as a joke, it is to be confessed.
61. Should any bhikkhu knowingly deprive an animal of life, it is to be confessed.
62. Should any bhikkhu knowingly make use of water with living beings in it, it is to be confessed.
63. Should any bhikkhu knowingly agitate for the reviving of an issue that has been rightfully dealt with, it is to be confessed.
64. Should any bhikkhu knowingly conceal another bhikkhu's serious offense, it is to be confessed.
65. Should any bhikkhu knowingly give full ordination to an individual less than twenty years of age, the individual is not ordained and the bhikkhus are blameworthy; and as for him (the preceptor), it is to be confessed.
66. Should any bhikkhu knowingly and by arrangement travel together with a caravan of thieves, even for the interval between one village and the next, it is to be confessed.
67. Should any bhikkhu, by arrangement, travel together with a woman, even for the interval between one village and the next, it is to be confessed.
68. Should any bhikkhu say the following: "As I understand the Dhamma taught by the Blessed One, those acts the Blessed One says are obstructive, when indulged in are not genuine obstructions," the bhikkhus should admonish him thus: "Do not say that, venerable sir. Do not misrepresent the Blessed One, for it is not good to misrepresent the Blessed One. The Blessed One would not say anything like that. In many ways, friend, the Blessed One has described obstructive acts, and when indulged in they are genuine obstructions."
And should the bhikkhu, thus admonished by the bhikkhus, persist as before, the bhikkhus are to rebuke him up to three times so as to desist. If while being rebuked up to three times he desists, that is good. If he does not desist, it is to be confessed.
69. Should any bhikkhu knowingly consort, join in communion, or lie down in the same lodging with a bhikkhu professing such a view who has not acted in compliance with the rule, who has not abandoned that view, it is to be confessed.
70. And if a novice should say the following: "As I understand the Dhamma taught by the Blessed One, those acts the Blessed One says are obstructive when indulged in, are not genuine obstructions," the bhikkhus should admonish him thus: "Do not say that, friend novice. Do not misrepresent the Blessed One, for it is not good to misrepresent the Blessed One. The Blessed One would not say anything like that. In many ways, friend, the Blessed One has described obstructive acts, and when indulged in they are genuine obstructions."
And should that novice, thus admonished by the bhikkhus, persist as before, the bhikkhus should admonish him as follows: "From this day forth, friend novice, you are not to claim the Blessed One as your teacher, nor are you even to have the opportunity the other novices get — that of sharing lodgings two or three nights with the bhikkhus. Away with you! Out of our sight! (literally, 'Get lost!')"
Should any bhikkhu knowingly support, receive services from, consort with, or lie down in the same lodging with a novice thus expelled, it is to be confessed.
71. Should any bhikkhu, admonished by the bhikkhus in accordance with a rule, say, "Friends, I will not train myself under this training rule until I have put questions about it to another bhikkhu, experienced and learned in the discipline," it is to be confessed. Bhikkhus, (a training rule) is to be understood, is to be asked about, is to be pondered. This is the proper course here.
72. Should any bhikkhu, when the Patimokkha is being repeated, say, "Why are these lesser and minor training rules repeated when they lead only to anxiety, bother and confusion?" the criticism of the training rules is to be confessed.
73. Should any bhikkhu, when the Patimokkha is being recited every half-month, say, "Just now have I heard that this case, too, is handed down in the Patimokkha, is included in the Patimokkha, and comes up for recitation every half-month;" and if other bhikkhus should know, "That bhikkhu has already sat through two or three recitations of the Patimokkha, if not more," the bhikkhu is not exempted for being ignorant. Whatever the offense he has committed, he is to be dealt with in accordance with the rule; and in addition, his deception is to be exposed: "It is no gain for you, friend, it is ill-done, that when the Patimokkha is being recited, you do not pay proper attention and take it to heart." Here the deception is to be confessed.
74. Should any bhikkhu, angered and displeased, give a blow to (another) bhikkhu, it is to be confessed.
75. Should any bhikkhu, angered and displeased, raise his hand against (another) bhikkhu, it is to be confessed.
76. Should any bhikkhu charge a bhikkhu with an unfounded sanghadisesa (offense), it is to be confessed.
77. Should any bhikkhu purposefully provoke anxiety in (another) bhikkhu, (thinking,) "This way, even for just a moment, he will have no peace," if doing it for just this reason and no other, it is to be confessed.
78. Should any bhikkhu stand eavesdropping on bhikkhus when they are arguing, quarreling, and disputing, thinking, "I will overhear what they say" if doing it for just this reason and no other, it is to be confessed.
79. Should any bhikkhu, having given consent (by proxy) to a formal act carried out in accordance with the rule, later complain (about the act), it is to be confessed.
80. Should any bhikkhu, when deliberation is being carried on in the Community, get up from his seat and leave without having given consent, it is to be confessed.
81. Should any bhikkhu, (acting as part of) a Community in concord, give robe-cloth (to an individual bhikkhu) and later complain, "The bhikkhus apportion the Community's gains according to friendship," it is to be confessed.
82. Should any bhikkhu knowingly divert to an individual gains that had been allocated for the Community, it is to be confessed.
83. Should any bhikkhu, without being previously announced, cross the threshold of a consecrated noble king's (sleeping chamber) from which the king has not left, from which the treasure (the queen) has not withdrawn, it is to be confessed.
84. Should any bhikkhu pick up or have (someone) pick up a valuable or what is considered a valuable, except within a monastery or within a dwelling, it is to be confessed. But when a bhikkhu has picked up or had (someone) pick up a valuable or what is considered a valuable (left) in a monastery or in a dwelling, he is to keep it, (thinking,) "Whoever it belongs to will (come and) fetch it." This is the proper course here.
85. Should any bhikkhu, without taking leave of an available bhikkhu, enter a village at the wrong time, unless there is a suitable emergency, it is to be confessed.
86. Should any bhikkhu have a needle case made of bone, ivory, or horn, it is to be broken and confessed.
87. When a bhikkhu is making a new bed or bench, it is to have legs (at most) eight fingerbreadths long, using Sugata fingerbreadths, not counting the lower edge of the frame. In excess of that it is to be cut down and confessed.
88. Should any bhikkhu have a bed or bench upholstered, it (the upholstery) is to be torn off and confessed.
89. When a bhikkhu is making a sitting cloth, it is to be made to the standard measurement. Here the standard is this: two spans, using the Sugata span, in length, 1 1/2 in width, the border a span. In excess of that, it is to be cut down and confessed.
90. When a bhikkhu is making a skin-eruption covering cloth, it is to be made to the standard measurement. Here the standard is this: four spans, using the Sugata span, in length, two spans in width. In excess of that, it is to be cut down and confessed.
91. When a bhikkhu is making a rains-bathing cloth, it is to be made to the standard measurement. Here the standard is this: six spans, using the Sugata span, in length, 2 1/2 in width. In excess of that, it is to be cut down and confessed.
92. Should any bhikkhu have a robe made the size of the Sugata robe or larger, it is to be cut down and confessed. Here, the size of the Sugata robe is this: nine spans, using the Sugata span, in length, six spans in width. This is the size of the Sugata's Sugata robe.
Patidesaniya are violations which must be verbally acknowledged.
There are seventy five sekhiya or rules of training, which are mainly about the deportment of a monk. In many countries, it is also standard for novice monks (samanera) to follow the Sekhiyavatta rules in addition to the Ten Precepts.
A bhikku should train himself thus: I will not teach Dhamma to someone who is not sick and...
A bhikku should train himself thus: If I am not sick...
Adhikarana-samatha are seven rules for settlement of legal processes that concern monks only.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2514283 | International Day of Peace
The International Day of Peace, sometimes unofficially known as World Peace Day, is a United Nations-sanctioned holiday observed annually on 21 September. It is dedicated to world peace, and specifically the absence of war and violence, such as might be occasioned by a temporary ceasefire in a combat zone for humanitarian aid access. The day was first celebrated in 1981, and is kept by many nations, political groups, military groups, and people. In 2013 the day was dedicated by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to peace education, the key preventive means to reduce war sustainably.
To inaugurate the day, the United Nations Peace Bell is rung at UN Headquarters (in New York City). The bell is cast from coins donated by children from all continents except Africa, and was a gift from the United Nations Association of Japan, as "a reminder of the human cost of war"; the inscription on its side reads, "Long live absolute world peace".
In recent years, a searchable map of events has been published at un.org.
The United Nations General Assembly declared, in a resolution sponsored by the United Kingdom and Costa Rica, the International Day of Peace, to be devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace. The date initially chosen was the regular opening day of the annual sessions of the General Assembly, the third Tuesday of September. (This was changed in 2001 to the current annual celebration on 21 September each year — see 2001 below.)
Tuesday 21 September 1982 was the first occurrence of the International Day of Peace.
The theme of the first International Day of Peace was the Right to peace of people.
Since 1983, at the request of the Office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Pathways To Peace (PTP) submitted a “We the Peoples” Initiative Annual Report to the UN, summarizing the Peace Day activities. The reports from 2005 and 2009 are available as archives as cited below. For its initiatives for the International Year of Peace in 1987, PTP was granted “Peace Messenger” status by UN Secretary-General Perez de Cuellar .
In 2006 the name was changed from “We the Peoples” Initiative to "Culture of Peace Initiative."
A proposal for expanding the International Day of Peace to include Reconciliation, in which a massive number of emblems (White Doves) would be distributed after a formal presentation at the United Nations, was put forward by Vincent Coyle, of Derry, Northern Ireland, and was debated at Seanad Éireann. It was accepted that it would be impractical for one member state to ask for a particular slot at a general UN ceremony. However, events have been held at the United Nations in New York, with the support of Kofi Annan, in April.
In 2001 the opening day of the General Assembly was scheduled for 11 September, and Secretary General Kofi Annan drafted a message recognising the observance of International Peace Day on 21 September. That year the day was changed from the third Tuesday to specifically the twenty-first day of September, to take effect in 2002. A new resolution was passed by the General Assembly, sponsored by the United Kingdom (giving credit to Peace One Day) and Costa Rica (the original sponsors of the day), to give the International Day of Peace a fixed calendar date, 21 September, and declare it also as a day of global ceasefire and non-violence.
A diplomatic stir occurred when Lions Clubs International sponsored a competition for six posters to be used for International Day of Peace commemorative stamps issued by the UN Postal Administration. A poster by 15-year-old Taiwanese school student Yang Chih-Yuan was announced as one of the winners, but the announcement was withdrawn. Taiwan media reports, Taiwan Lions Club and the government of Taiwan claimed the decision not to use the poster resulted from pressure from China; the rejection of the student's painting on political grounds did not reflect the ideals of the International Day of Peace. The UN issued a statement that, although in the short list of eight designs, "due to an internal misunderstanding and miscommunication, Mr. Yang's proof got publicized in error as one of the six stamps intended to be issued." The government of Taiwan (Republic of China) later issued a stamp containing the image.
In 2005, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for the worldwide observance of a 22-hour cease-fire and day of nonviolence to mark the Day.
The Culture of Peace Initiative published an annual report for the International Day of Peace in 2005 describing events in 46 countries: Africa 11; East Asia and Pacific 12; Latin America and Caribbean 4; Europe 14; Middle East 3; North America 2 (22 states, provinces).
In 2006, then Secretary-General Kofi Annan rang the Peace Bell for the last time during his Term in office. That year the UN asserted the "many ways it works for peace and to encourage individuals, Groups and communities around the world to contemplate and communicate thoughts and activities on how to achieve peace."
The United Kingdom held the primary public and official observation of the United Nations International Day of Peace and Non-Violence in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. This was organized by Peace Parade UK.
In 2007, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon rang the Peace Bell at United Nations Headquarters in New York calling for a 24-hour cessation of hostilities on 21 September, and for a minute of silence to be observed around the world.
In 2009 – International Year of Reconciliation – the day was marked by a massive number of white doves being distributed after a formal presentation at the United Nations, bearing in mind the Charter of the United Nations, including the purposes and principles contained therein, and in particular those of saving succeeding generations from the scourge of war, bringing about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace, and practising tolerance and living together in peace with one another as good neighbours, thus developing friendly relations among nations and promoting international cooperation to resolve international economic, social, cultural and humanitarian issues. Vincent Coyle of Derry, Northern Ireland gave his full support.
"Take Action for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons ... Disarmament and non-proliferation ... to raise awareness of the dangers and costs of nuclear weapons, and on why nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation are so crucial."
The Culture of Peace Initiative published an annual report for the International Day of Peace in 2009 describing events in 77 countries: Africa 14; East Asia and Pacific 20; Latin America and Caribbean 11; Europe 23; Middle East 7; North America 2 countries (48 states, provinces).
"The United Nations is looking for stories from young people around the world who are working for peace. The campaign slogan this year is "Peace=Future, The math is easy"."
In 2011 the UN Peace Day's theme was "Peace and Democracy: Make Your Voice Heard". Many organizations held Peace Day events worldwide in 2011. There were school activities, music concerts, global comedy clubs (www.thinkPEACE.net), peace doves, prayer vigils, peace conferences, and UN activities. Organizations like Peace One Day, Wiser and Culture of Peace have been active participants in Peace Day activities for years.
The United Nations set the theme for this year's observance as Sustainable Peace for a Sustainable Future, commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples.
In 2011, Peace One Day announced at their O2 Arena concert, a new international campaign called "Global Truce 2012", a grassroots initiative and international coalition with non-governmental organisations and Students' unions in every continent, which increased participation and action on Peace Day 2012, the day of "Global Truce". Particular focus in this campaign included a cessation of hostilities on the day and a reduction of domestic violence and bullying in society. The "Peace One Day Celebration" concert on Peace Day in 2012 was held at Wembley Arena to celebrate "Global Truce 2012". The "Global Truce" campaign will continue and be named with each year it leads up to, involving more partners and coalitions for mass participation and life-saving practical action on Peace Day.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has dedicated the World Peace Day 2013 to Peace education in an effort to refocus minds and financing on the preeminence of peace education as the means to bring about a culture of peace. Animator and children's book author, Sue DiCicco announced in May 2013 a global campaign to increase awareness of Peace Day and promote peace education within schools and community groups through the Peace Crane Project. Gorey Community School in Co. Wexford, Ireland, has been chosen to be School of Peace for 2013.
Peace One Day launched a new theme for Global Truce 2013: "Who Will You Make Peace With"?
To bring awareness to Peace Day, thinkPEACE promoted a Peace Day Comedy program, "Stand-Up For International Peace," held in over 50 global comedy clubs in 2013.
The theme of the 2014 International Day of Peace is the Right of Peoples to Peace, reaffirming the United Nations commitment to the UN "Declaration on the Right of Peoples to Peace", which recognizes that the promotion of peace is vital for the full enjoyment of all human rights.
To bring awareness to Peace Day 2014, the thinkPEACE Network will promote a Peace Day Comedy program, "Stand-Up For International Peace," to be held in over 50 global comedy clubs.
The "Waves Of Kindness Global Initiative" celebrates the United Nations International Day Of Peace though global meditation events.
Director of UNESCO to Vietnam, Katherine Müller, said in Global Education Magazine: "I personally identify with UNESCO’s values in the sense that I truly believe Education, Culture, Social and Natural Sciences, and Communication and Information are some of the most powerful drivers for sustainable development and peace, as a sustainable future cannot exist without sustainable peace. Raising awareness, capacity building, promoting understanding and respect for diversity, and fostering opportunities for interaction to find ways to ensure a culture of peace are all actions that will motivate people to become interested in setting peace as a priority for sustainable development."
The theme of the 2015 International Day of Peace was "Partnerships for Peace – Dignity for All".
The theme of the 2016 International Day of Peace was "The Sustainable Development Goals: Building Blocks for Peace".
This theme is based on the TOGETHER global campaign that promotes respect, safety and dignity for everyone forced to flee their homes in search of a better life.
In 2017, The Peace Crane Project announced the goal of collecting 1,000 cranes from students around the world to display in various venues to celebrate.
A survey by the Culture of Peace News Network found internet reports about 562 celebrations of the International Day of Peace from 127 countries around the world this year. These included 128 events coming from most of the provinces and states in Canada and the USA. Next were the countries formerly part of the Soviet Union with 104. There were 96 events cited in 27 European countries, 81 from 29 African countries, 67 from 20 Asian countries, 58 from 16 Latin American and Caribbean countries, and 28 from 21 Arab and Middle Eastern countries.
The 2018 U.N. Peace Day Theme is "The Right to Peace – The Universal Declaration of Human Rights at 70."
A survey by the Culture of Peace News Network found internet reports about 764 celebrations of the International Day of Peace from 129 countries around the world this year. These included 233 events coming from most of the provinces and states in Canada and the USA. Next were 177 events from Europe and 158 events from Asia. There were 95 events from Latin America and the Caribbean, 71 events from countries formerly part of the Soviet Union, 71 from Africa, and 15 from Arab and Middle Eastern countries.
The United Nations has selected the theme "Climate Action for Peace" for the 2019 International Day of Peace.
According to the UN website, "The United Nations calls upon all to take action to tackle climate change."
"On 23 September [2019], the United Nations is convening a Climate Action Summit with concrete and realistic plans to accelerate action to implement the Paris Agreement."
The International Day of Peace Student Observance on 20 September 2019 at United Nations Headquarters will feature young people presenting their projects to fight climate change and promote peace.
A survey by the Culture of Peace News Network found internet reports concerning more than 655 celebrations of the International Day of Peace from 103 countries around the world this year.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2518034 | Carthaginian peace
A Carthaginian peace is the imposition of a very brutal "peace" achieved by completely crushing the enemy. The term derives from the peace imposed on Carthage by Rome. After the Second Punic War, Carthage lost all its colonies, was forced to demilitarize and pay a constant tribute to Rome and could enter war only with Rome's permission. At the end of the Third Punic War, the Romans systematically burned Carthage to the ground and enslaved its population.
The term refers to the outcome of a series of wars between Rome and the Phoenician city of Carthage, known as the Punic Wars. The two empires fought three separate wars against each other, beginning in 264 BC and ending in 146 BC.
At the end of the Third Punic War, the Romans laid siege to Carthage. When they took the city, they killed most of the inhabitants, sold the rest into slavery, and destroyed the entire city. There is no ancient evidence for modern accounts that the Romans sowed the ground with salt.
By extension, a Carthaginian peace can refer to any brutal peace treaty demanding total subjugation of the defeated side.
Modern use of the term is often extended to any peace settlement in which the peace terms are overly harsh and designed to accentuate and perpetuate the inferiority of the loser. Thus, after World War I, many (the economist John Maynard Keynes among them) described the Treaty of Versailles as a "Carthaginian Peace."
The Morgenthau Plan put forward after World War II has also been described as a Carthaginian peace, as it advocated the deindustrialization of Germany. It was intended to severely curb the influence of German power in the region and to prevent its remilitarization, as had occurred after World War I (Remilitarization of the Rhineland). The Morgenthau Plan was dropped in favor of the Marshall Plan (1948–1952), which entailed the rebuilding of Western European infrastructure, particularly in West Germany.
General Lucius D. Clay, a deputy to general Dwight D. Eisenhower and, in 1945, Military Governor of the U.S. Occupation Zone in Germany, would later remark that "there was no doubt that JCS 1067 contemplated the Carthaginian peace which dominated our operations in Germany during the early months of occupation. This is while the US was following the Morgenthau Plan." Clay would later replace Eisenhower as governor and as commander-in-chief in Europe. The Marshall Plan was favored as a revival of the West German economy was considered to be necessary for the recovery of the economy of Europe. West Germany was regarded as a key bulwark against the Eastern Bloc.
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