MacIntyre and Kovesi on the Nature of Moral Concepts

Julius Kovesi was a moral philosopher contemporary with Alasdair MacIntyre, and dealing with many of the same questions as MacIntyre. In our view, Kovesi’s moral philosophy is rich in ideas and worth revisiting. MacIntyre agrees: Kovesi’s Moral Notions, he has said, is ‘a minor classic in moral philosophy that has not yet received its due’. Kovesi was not a thinker whose work fits readily into any one tradition. Unlike the later MacIntyre, he was not a Thomistic Aristotelian, nor even an Aristotelian. He saw his viewpoint as Platonic, or perhaps more accurately as Socratic. His writings, unlike MacIntyre’s, have little to say about justice. However, Kovesi did offfer a theory of practical reason. His main contention was that all human social life embodies a set of concepts that govern and guide that life, concepts without which that life would be impossible. These include our moral concepts. For Kovesi, moral concepts are not external to, but constitutive of social life in any of its possible forms. But in the course of his argument he also developed a way of thinking about how concepts work, which we term ‘conceptual functionalism’, and which we will elucidate

Moral Notions, with Three Papers on Plato

Morality is often thought of as non-rational or sub-rational. In Moral Notions, first published in 1967, Julius Kovesi argues that the rationality of morality is built into the way we construct moral concepts. In showing this he also resolves the old Humean conundrum of the relation between 'facts' and 'values'. And he puts forward a method of reasoning that might make 'applied ethics' (at present largely a hodge-podge of opinions) into a constructive discipline. Kovesi's general theory of concepts - important in its own right - is indebted to his interpretation of Plato, and his three papers on Plato, first published here, explain this debt. This new edition of Moral Notions also includes a foreward by Philippa Foot, a biography of the author, and a substantial afterword in which the editors, Robert Ewin and Alan Tapper, explain the signficance of Kovesi's work

Increased affective influence: situational complexity or deliberation time?

The affect infusion model (AIM) is a prominent theory of when current emotional state is expected to influence the interpretation of a social stimulus (situation). We discuss the assumptions in AIM and conclude that its current specification predicts that both deliberation time and situational complexity should lead to affect infusion. The aim of this research was to clarify the relative importance of these factors in determining affect infusion and hence promote the development of AIM. We present an experimental design in which situational complexity and deliberation time can be manipulated orthogonally as independent factors. Our results show that the latter factor, but not the former, can influence the degree of affect infusion

The Air-temperature Response to Green/blue-infrastructure Evaluation Tool (TARGET v1.0) : an efficient and user-friendly model of city cooling

The adverse impacts of urban heat and global climate change are leading policymakers to consider green and blue infrastructure (GBI) for heat mitigation benefits. Though many models exist to evaluate the cooling impacts of GBI, their complexity and computational demand leaves most of them largely inaccessible to those without specialist expertise and computing facilities. Here a new model called The Air-temperature Response to Green/blue-infrastructure Evaluation Tool (TARGET) is presented. TARGET is designed to be efficient and easy to use, with fewer user-defined parameters and less model input data required than other urban climate models. TARGET can be used to model average street-level air temperature at canyon-to-block scales (e.g. 100 m resolution), meaning it can be used to assess temperature impacts of suburb-to-city-scale GBI proposals. The model aims to balance realistic representation of physical processes and computation efficiency. An evaluation against two different datasets shows that TARGET can reproduce the magnitude and patterns of both air temperature and surface temperature within suburban environments. To demonstrate the utility of the model for planners and policymakers, the results from two precinct-scale heat mitigation scenarios are presented. TARGET is available to the public, and ongoing development, including a graphical user interface, is planned for future work

Demographic, seasonal, and spatial differences in acute myocardial infarction admissions to hospital in Melbourne Australia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Seasonal patterns in cardiac disease in the northern hemisphere are well described in the literature. More recently age and gender differences in cardiac mortality and to a lesser extent morbidity have been presented. To date spatial differences between the seasonal patterns of cardiac disease has not been presented. Literature relating to seasonal patterns in cardiac disease in the southern hemisphere and in Australia in particular is scarce. The aim of this paper is to describe the seasonal, age, gender, and spatial patterns of cardiac disease in Melbourne Australia by using acute myocardial infarction admissions to hospital as a marker of cardiac disease.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There were 33,165 Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) admissions over 2186 consecutive days. There is a seasonal pattern in AMI admissions with increased rates during the colder months. The peak month is July. The admissions rate is greater for males than for females, although this difference decreases with advancing age. The maximal AMI season for males extends from April to November. The difference between months of peak and minimum admissions was 33.7%. Increased female AMI admissions occur from May to November, with a variation between peak and minimum of 23.1%. Maps of seasonal AMI admissions demonstrate spatial differences. Analysis using Global and Local Moran's I showed increased spatial clustering during the warmer months. The Bivariate Moran's I statistic indicated a weaker relationship between AMI and age during the warmer months.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>There are two distinct seasons with increased admissions during the colder part of the year. Males present a stronger seasonal pattern than females. There are spatial differences in AMI admissions throughout the year that cannot be explained by the age structure of the population. The seasonal difference in AMI admissions warrants further investigation. This includes detailing the prevalence of cardiac disease in the community and examining issues of social and environmental justice.</p

The effects of summer temperature, age and socioeconomic circumstance on Acute Myocardial Infarction admissions in Melbourne, Australia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Published literature detailing the effects of heatwaves on human health is readily available. However literature describing the effects of heat on morbidity is less plentiful, as is research describing events in the southern hemisphere and Australia in particular. To identify susceptible populations and direct public health responses research must move beyond description of the temperature morbidity relationship to include social and spatial risk factors. This paper presents a spatial and socio-demographic picture of the effects of hot weather on persons admitted to hospital with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in Melbourne.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, the use of a spatial and socio-economic perspective has identified two groups within the population that have an increased 'risk' of AMI admissions to hospital during hot weather. AMI increases during hot weather were only identified in the most disadvantaged and the least disadvantaged areas. Districts with higher AMI admissions rates during hot weather also had larger proportions of older residents. Age provided some explanation for the spatial distribution of AMI admissions on single hot days whereas socio-economic circumstance did not. During short periods (3-days) of hot weather, age explained the spatial distribution of AMI admissions slightly better than socioeconomic circumstance.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study has demonstrated that both age and socioeconomic inequality contribute to AMI admissions to hospital in Melbourne during hot weather. By using socioeconomic circumstance to define quintiles, differences in AMI admissions were quantified and demographic differences in AMI admissions were described. Including disease specificity into climate-health research methods is necessary to identify climate-sensitive diseases and highlight the burden of climate-sensitive disease in the community. Cardiac disease is a major cause of death and disability and identifying cardiac-specific climate thresholds and the spatio-demographic characteristics of vulnerable groups within populations is an important step towards preventative health care by informing public health officials and providing a guide for an early heat-health warning system. This information is especially important under current climatic conditions and for assessing the future impact of climate change.</p

Acceptance and use of a smartphone application in cirrhosis

Background and AimsThe development of cirrhosis‐related smartphone applications for remote monitoring is increasing. Whether patients with cirrhosis will welcome such new technology, however, is uncertain.MethodsWe prospectively enrolled patients with cirrhosis (N = 102) to determine predictors of acceptance and utilization of a smartphone application for cirrhosis management using a 12‐item Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) survey. Patients were then shown the EncephalApp© and evaluated for their willingness to download and use the application.ResultsPatients had a median age of 61.3 years and 63.7% had a history of hepatic decompensation. Intention to use the hypothetical application was associated with perceived usefulness (β: 0.4, 95% CI: 0.3‐0.5) and the presence of a caregiver (β: 1.1, 95% CI: 0.2‐2.0). Of the eligible participants, 71% agreed to download the EncephalApp© and the decision was influenced by computer anxiety, behavioural intent, caregiver presence and disease state factors. Actual usage was 32% and not associated with baseline characteristics or the technology acceptance model.ConclusionsPatient acceptance of smartphone applications for the management of cirrhosis is high and related to their attitudes towards technology and the presence of a caregiver. However, usage was low. Future research must employ behavioural interventions to optimize uptake and utilization of remote monitoring technology.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/155977/1/liv14494_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/155977/2/liv14494.pd

Estimating everyday portion size using a 'method of constant stimuli': in a student sample, portion size is predicted by gender, dietary behaviour, and hunger, but not BMI

This paper (i) explores the proposition that body weight is associated with large portion sizes and (ii) introduces a new technique for measuring everyday portion size. In our paradigm, the participant is shown a picture of a food portion and is asked to indicate whether it is larger or smaller than their usual portion. After responding to a range of different portions an estimate of everyday portion size is calculated using probit analysis. Importantly, this estimate is likely to be robust because it is based on many responses. First-year undergraduate students (N=151) completed our procedure for 12 commonly consumed foods. As expected, portion sizes were predicted by gender and by a measure of dieting and dietary restraint. Furthermore, consistent with reports of hungry supermarket shoppers, portion-size estimates tended to be higher in hungry individuals. However, we found no evidence for a relationship between BMI and portion size in any of the test foods. We consider reasons why this finding should be anticipated. In particular, we suggest that the difference in total energy expenditure of individuals with a higher and lower BMI is too small to be detected as a concomitant difference in portion size (at least in our sample)

Review article: the diagnostic approach and current management of chylous ascites

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138889/1/apt14284.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138889/2/apt14284_am.pd