The ethical theory of William James

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston UniversityThe problem for this thesis is primarily to determine if an ethical theory can be constructed for William James and, incidentally, to determine what relationship it bears to the rest of his philosophy. If the ethical theory is to be constructed, it must give some account for the place of reason in ethical decisions as well as some account of basic ethical principles. It is essential to deal with the problem of the place of reason in James's ethical theory before presenting the basic principles of his ethical theory because the solution of it makes the argument for the basic principles meaningful. James arrives at the conclusion that reason is limited. In criticizing the contrary position, which he calls intellectualism, James says that there are two epistemological maxims: know truth and avoid error. The latter, if strictly obeyed, might tend to turn one away from the truth needlessly, when it is within his grasp. James's final criticism of intellectualism is that it relies for its own foundation upon something more than reason. Intellectualism can only be asserted on the grounds of faith or volitional nature. Scepticism is criticized in the same manner by James. Scepticism is merely one act of the volitional nature laying down the law over all other acts of the volitional nature and saying that they are improper. Finally, James must exercise his own volitional nature in going beyond reason [TRUNCATED

Selection for individual recognition and the evolution of polymorphic identity signals in Polistes paper wasps

Individual recognition (IR) requires individuals to uniquely identify their social partners based on phenotypic variation. Because IR is so specific, distinctive phenotypes that stand out from the crowd facilitate efficient recognition. Over time, the benefits of unique appearances are predicted to produce a correlation between IR and phenotypic variation. Here, we test whether there is an association between elevated phenotypic polymorphism and IR in paper wasps. Previous work has shown that Polistes fuscatus use variable colour patterns for IR. We test whether two less variable wasp species, Polistes dominulus and Polistes metricus , are capable of IR. As predicted, neither species is capable of IR, suggesting that highly variable colour patterns are confined to Polistes species with IR. This association suggests that elevated phenotypic variation in taxa with IR may be the result of selection for identity signals rather than neutral processes. Given that IR is widespread among social taxa, selection for identity signalling may be an underappreciated mechanism for the origin and maintenance of polymorphism.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/79348/1/j.1420-9101.2009.01923.x.pd

Managerialism and "infinite human resourcefulness" : a commentary upon the "therapeutic habitus", "derecognition of finitude" and the modern sense of self.

This paper examines new managerial discourses and practices in which the dialectic of labour is reconstructed as a series of acts of self-understanding, self-examination and "self-work", and through which the "self qua self" is constituted as the central object of management technologies. We interrogate concepts such as "excellence", "total quality", "performance", "knowledge", "play at work" and "wellness" in order to decipher the ways in which managerialism deploys what we term therapeutic habitus, and projects a new horizon of "human resourcefulness" as a store of unlimited potentialities. We invoke management's wider historical-cultural context to situate managerialism within the framework of modernity as a cultural epoch whose main characteristic is what we term "derecognition of finitude". It is the modern synthesis "with the "self" at the centre of its system of values" that provides the ground for current elaborations of subjectivity by managerialism. The paper examines how current vocabularies and practices in organisations use "work" to rearticulate discursively the human subject as an endless source of performativity by configuring work as the site of complex and continuous self-expression. Management itself thus acquires a new discursive outline: instead of appearing as an authoritarian instance forcing upon workers a series of limitations, it now presents itself as a therapeutic formula mediating self-expression by empowering individuals to work upon themselves to release their fully realised identity

Brave New Cells

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Managerialism, the therapeutic habitus and the self in contemporary organising.

Over the last two decades, managerialism (Enteman, 1993) has become consolidated on multiple fronts. As a formula of governance, it has elaborated various vocabularies: the `audit society' (Power, 1997, 2007) has become entrenched in all types of organizations; surveillance methods (Lyon, 2001) have become increasingly dispersed and insidious; and — alongside —`new' concepts of subjectivity and the`self' are used to frame more intense regimes of self-discipline or what Tipton (1984) called `self-work'. These moves have been captured by Heelas (2002), Thrift (1997) and others in the term `soft capitalism'. In this article, we reflect upon this phenomenon by analysing some examples: `culture', `performativity', `knowledge' and `wellness'. Although they belong to a group often described as `fads' and `fashions' and dismissed as managerial `mumbo-jumbo', we suggest that their proliferation indicates a more stable cultural tendency of management discourses to capture subjectivity in its general agenda. We attempt to offer an historical-cultural interpretation from which this range of managerial concepts might be viewed. Our argument suggests that they have a certain cultural coherence that can be perhaps better glimpsed within a wider historical context. As a particular way in which managerialism frames its logic, analysing `soft capitalism' historically offers a reasonable basis for understanding the strength of its hard disciplinary edge as a regime of governance