Can Memory Erasure Contribute to a Virtuous Tempering of Emotions?

The paper deals with a perspective of Christian philosophy on artificial memory erasuse for psychotherapeutic purposes. Its central question is whether a safe and reliable technology of memory erasure, once it is available, would be acceptable from a Christian ethics point of view. The main facet of this question is related to the Christian ethics requirement of contrition for the past wrongs, which in the case of memory erasure of particulary troubling experiences and personal choices would not be possible. The paper argues that there are limits to the ethical significance of contrition in the writings of the leading Christian fathers on the theme (e.g. St. Thomas Aquinas), where excessive suffering and inability to forgive oneself for one’s actions is an impediment to the achivement of tranquility of mind and spiritual redemption, rather than a prerequisite for it. The paper thus concludes that there is no hindrance in principle from the Christian ethics point of view to pursuing a voluntary and selective memory erasure as a psychotherapeutic technique once a fully adequate technology is available.Tekst se bavi perspektivom hrišćanske filozofije na pitanje o veštačkom brisanju pamćenja u psihoterapeutske svrhe. Centralno pitanje oko koje se konstituiše argumentacija teksta je da li bi bezbedna i pouzdana tehnologija brisanja sećanja, onda kada bude raspoloživa, bila prihvatljiva sa tačke gledišta hrišćanske etike. Osnovna dimenzija ovog pitanja odnosi se na-glašavanje pokajanja u hrišćanskoj etici. Kada je reč o brisanju sećanja na posebno mučna iskustva i lične izbore, takvo brisanje sećanja bi onemogućilo pokajanje. U tekstu se argu-mentiše da postoje granice etičkog značaja pokajanja u spisima vodećih hrišćanskih očeva o ovoj temi (npr. Sv. Tome Akvinskog), te da oni preteranu patnju i nesposobnost da se oprosti sebi samo za sopstvene radnje opisuju kao prepreku za postizanje duševnog mira i duhov-nog spasenja, a ne kao uslove za to spasenje. Tekst stoga zaključuje da nema u principu pre-preke, sa hrišćanske tačke gledišta, za dobrovoljno i selektivno brisanje sećanja u svrhu psi-hoterapije onda kada bude na raspolaganju potpuno adekvatna tehnologija za to

Economics and Morality: How to Reconcile Economic Thinking with Broader Social Thinking

In contrast to the neo-liberal ideology which dominates much of modern economic discourse, virtue ethics embraces the same set of morality for both private and public sphere. In this paper we argue that virtue ethics need nevertheless not at all be in clash with contemporary economic theory. Linking the preferences represented by utility functions in neoclassical economics and the system of values which inspires them can in our view align economic thinking with broader social thinking. Using this novel approach, we demonstrate that many economic and social problems can be solved so as to arrive at efficient outcomes and a higher expected level of utility compared to a case with separate public and private moralities. For addressing the problems characteristic of small open economies, our virtue ethics perspective on economics supports some government intervention as well as cooperation and solidarity between societies in a similar situation

Political violence as a value problem for security policy

The author argues that the moral dimensions of political violence play a crucial role in the conceptualization of effective ways to combat such violence. It goes on to argue that the ability to empathize with the politically violent is a difficult precondition for the development of effective control strategies, and guilds its interpretation on the philosophical perspectives on the legitimacy of grievances and illegitimacy of methods used to address them by terrorists and the other perpetrators of political violence. The author draws parallels between key controversies in politically violent campaigns and conventional wars, and concludes that despite the alarming in palatability of political violence, the experiential record so far suggests that a de-escalation of mutual perceptions between the politically violent and the mainstream society appears to be a necessary precondition for the resolution of the underlying conflicts

ОГРАНИЧЕЊА ПРАВНОГ РЕГУЛИСАЊА ЕКСТРЕМИЗАЦИЈЕ ДЕСНИЦЕ У ВЕЛИКОЈ БРИТАНИЈИ

The paper addresses the rise in extreme-right sentiments in Great Britain that, phenomenologically, reached its climax in the August 2011 street riots across the country, and discusses briefly the political climate that has led to such outbursts of intolerance on the one hand, and the limited tools available to the British law-makers to counter the trend, on the other. The key thesis of this short paper is that the British parliamentarians have no feasible way to legislate against the demonstrations of the extreme right, not just because this would be a chancy approach with regard to the delimitations of civil rights, including the collective right to publicly articulate political opinions, but also because of the deep-seated features of the British law. Namely, the British legal system is much more subject to creative interpretation by the judges than is the case with European law, and especially more so than is the case with the Soviet legacy of strictly positivistic legal systems such as those across Eastern Europe. This means that legislating so as to curb the public manifestations of extreme right sentiments could backfire through court proceedings that could turn into discussions of civil liberties and where judges might refuse to tow the positivistic normative line of the law in favour of a broader interpretation of rights and liberties. While, on the surface, such a limitation of legal regulation might seem disappointing to those fond of social control, it reflects a deep-running democratic trait in the British legal system that does not allow legal regulation to move beyond its proper place in society, and that is to be the articulation of the existing values and principles that the community shares with a sufficient degree of consensus.Текст се бави односом између политички изражене воље британског друштва у вези са порастом популарности екстремне деснице и могућности које стоје на располагању британском законодавцу да нормира испољавање екстремно десничарских сентимената. Иако је пораст десничарског расположења у Великој Британији забрињавајући, и довео је до низа нереда и насиља на улицама лета 2011. године, у овој земљи не постоје никакве иницијативе да се законодавно одговара на ту врсту промене друштвеног расположења. Недостатак тог репресивно-регулативног законодавног рефлекса показује суштинске разлике између неких методолошких и структурних димензија британског и европског, а посебно британског и права земаља са совјетским, позитивистичким правним наслеђен, о чему текст пружа извесне коментаре у свом завршном делу

Etika u ratu dronovima

The paper investigates the compatibility of the modern technologies of warfare, specifically the use of offensive drones, with traditional military ethics and suggests that the new technologies radically change the value system of the military in ways which make large parts of the traditional military ethics inapplicable. The author suggests that Agamben’s concept of ‘effectivity’ through ‘special actions’ which mark one’s belonging to a particular community or profession is a useful conceptual strategy to explore the compatibility of drone warfare with traditional military ethics; this strategy shows mixed results at best

The value narrative in the moral justification of international intervention

The presentation deals with the narratives as a value background of waging a war