Metaethics from a First Person Standpoint: An Introduction to Moral Philosophy (PDF)

Metaethics from a First Person Standpoint addresses in a novel format the major topics and themes of contemporary metaethics, the study of the analysis of moral thought and judgement. Metathetics is less concerned with what practices are right or wrong than with what we mean by ‘right’ and ‘wrong.’ Looking at a wide spectrum of topics including moral language, realism and anti-realism, reasons and motives, relativism, and moral progress, this book engages students and general readers in order to enhance their understanding of morality and moral discourse as cultural practices. Catherine Wilson innovatively employs a first-person narrator to report step-by-step an individual’s reflections, beginning from a position of radical scepticism, on the possibility of objective moral knowledge. The reader is invited to follow along with this reasoning, and to challenge or agree with each major point. Incrementally, the narrator is led to certain definite conclusions about ‘oughts’ and norms in connection with self-interest, prudence, social norms, and finally morality. Scepticism is overcome, and the narrator arrives at a good understanding of how moral knowledge and moral progress are possible, though frequently long in coming. Accessibly written, Metaethics from a First Person Standpoint presupposes no prior training in philosophy and is a must-read for philosophers, students and general readers interested in gaining a better understanding of morality as a personal philosophical quest

Metaethics from a First Person Standpoint: An Introduction to Moral Philosophy (XML)

Metaethics from a First Person Standpoint addresses in a novel format the major topics and themes of contemporary metaethics, the study of the analysis of moral thought and judgement. Metathetics is less concerned with what practices are right or wrong than with what we mean by ‘right’ and ‘wrong.’ Looking at a wide spectrum of topics including moral language, realism and anti-realism, reasons and motives, relativism, and moral progress, this book engages students and general readers in order to enhance their understanding of morality and moral discourse as cultural practices. Catherine Wilson innovatively employs a first-person narrator to report step-by-step an individual’s reflections, beginning from a position of radical scepticism, on the possibility of objective moral knowledge. The reader is invited to follow along with this reasoning, and to challenge or agree with each major point. Incrementally, the narrator is led to certain definite conclusions about ‘oughts’ and norms in connection with self-interest, prudence, social norms, and finally morality. Scepticism is overcome, and the narrator arrives at a good understanding of how moral knowledge and moral progress are possible, though frequently long in coming. Accessibly written, Metaethics from a First Person Standpoint presupposes no prior training in philosophy and is a must-read for philosophers, students and general readers interested in gaining a better understanding of morality as a personal philosophical quest

Additional file 5: Table S4. of Variations on a theme: Genomics of sex determination in the cichlid fish Astatotilapia burtoni

Loci with male-specific coverage and higher coverage in daughters of the A. burtoni Chipwa wild-caught cross with corresponding location in BLAST on O. niloticus genome. (XLSX 83 kb

Additional file 7: Figure S2. of Variations on a theme: Genomics of sex determination in the cichlid fish Astatotilapia burtoni

Gene expression of A. burtoni lab strain along the reference chromosomes of the Nile tilapia. Gene expression in male and female gonads of the A. burtoni lab strain along the reference chromosomes of the Nile tilapia as in Fig. 3c. (ZIP 329 kb

Additional file 4: Table S3. of Variations on a theme: Genomics of sex determination in the cichlid fish Astatotilapia burtoni

RAD loci differentiating males and females of the A. burtoni Chipwa wild-caught fish with corresponding BLAST results on the O. niloticus genome. SNPs in bold show inheritance of alleles from father to sons only, supporting an XX-XY system. (XLS 807 kb

Additional file 1: Figure S1. of Variations on a theme: Genomics of sex determination in the cichlid fish Astatotilapia burtoni

Sampling location of the “Chipwa wild-caught” fish parents used in this study. (PNG 2140 kb

Additional file 2: Table S1. of Variations on a theme: Genomics of sex determination in the cichlid fish Astatotilapia burtoni

Loci with male-specific coverage and higher coverage in daughters of the A. burtoni lab strain cross with corresponding location in BLAST on O. niloticus genome and PCR conditions and results for male specific loci. (XLSX 1227 kb

Additional file 3: Table S2. of Variations on a theme: Genomics of sex determination in the cichlid fish Astatotilapia burtoni

RAD SNPs differentiating males and females of the A. burtoni lab strain with corresponding BLAST results on the O. niloticus and A. burtoni genome. SNPs in bold show inheritance of alleles from father to sons only, supporting an XX-XY system. (XLS 56 kb

Effects of anti-metabolite agents upon the gene expression of CXCL8 receptors in prostate cancer cells.

<p>(<b>A</b>) Bar graph presenting the time-dependent change in CXCR1 transcript levels in PC3 cells (left panel) and LNCaP cells (right panel) as detected by qPCR analysis following treatment with 1 µM 5-FU (black bars) or 1 µM Pemetrexed (open bars – PC3 cells only). Expression is presented as a fold-change relative to gene expression levels detected in untreated cells. (<b>B</b>) As in A, except that data shows the gene expression level detected for CXCR2. Data shown is the mean ± S.E.M. of four independent experiments. Statistically significant differences were determined using a Students two-tailed t-test (*, p<0.05).</p

Repression of Bcl-2 potentiates 5-FU-induced apoptosis in metastatic prostate cancer cells.

<p>(<b>A</b>) Immunoblot presenting the expression level of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 in PC3 cells transfected with a non-targeting oligonucleotide (Sc) or a gene-targeted oligonucleotide (Bcl2-T). All oligonucleotides were used at a final concentration of 50 nM. Expression of Bcl-2 is presented in the absence or presence of 1 µM 5-FU. (<b>B</b>) Bar graph presenting the apoptotic cell population determined by flow cytometry analysis in PC3 cells transfected with a non-targeting oligonucleotide (Sc) or a gene-targeted oligonucleotide (Bcl2-T) at a final concentration of 50 nM, in the absence or presence of 1 µM 5-FU. Statistically-significant differences in the apoptosis levels were determined by conducting two-tailed Student's t-test analysis; *, P<0.05; **, p<0.01. (<b>C</b>) Immunoblot presenting the expression and cleavage product of PARP in PC3 cells transfected with a non-targeting oligonucleotide (Sc) or a gene-targeted oligonucleotide (Bcl2-T), used at a final concentration of 50 nM, in the absence or presence of 1 µM 5-FU. Equal protein loading in immunoblots shown in (A) and (C) was confirmed by re-probing the membranes for expression of GAPDH.</p