The Dualism of the Practical Reason: Some Interpretations and Responses

Sidgwick’s dualism of the practical reason is the idea that since egoism and utilitarianism aim both to have rational supremacy in our practical decisions, whenever they conflict there is no stronger reason to follow the dictates of either view. The dualism leaves us with a practical problem: in conflict cases, we cannot be guided by practical reason to decide what all things considered we ought to do. There is an epistemic problem as well: the conflict of egoism and utilitarianism shows that they cannot be both self-evident principles. Only the existence of a just God could, for Sidgwick, prevent the conflict and thus solve the dualism. The paper first explores in detail and rejects some reconstructions of the dualism: a purely logical account, and accounts whereby egoism and utilitarianism are principles of pro tanto reasons or of sufficient reasons. Then it proposes a better account, in which egoism and utilitarianism are logically compatible and yet conflicting principles of all things considered reason. The account is shown to fit with Sidgwick’s view of the dualism and of its practical and epistemic pitfalls. Finally, some views are discussed as to the wider positive significance of the dualism, regarded as a challenge to the rational authority of morality, or as indicating the structural opposition of agentrelative and agent-neutral reasons, or again as the imperfect yet amendable attempt at a comprehensive pluralist theory of practical reasons

Moral Judgment, Sensitivity To Reasons, and the Multi-system View

In this paper I attempt a critical examination of the multi-system or dual-process view of moral judgment. This view aims to provide a psychological explanation of moral sensitivity, and in particular an explanation of conflicting moral sensitivities in dilemma cases such as the crying baby scenario. I argue that proponents of the multi-system view owe us a satisfactory account of the mechanisms underlying “consequentialist” responses to such scenarios. For one thing, the “cognitive” processes involved in consequentialist reasoning only seem to play a subserving role with respect to the final judgment (providing non-moral inputs to judgment, or exerting additional strength to override the immediate “deontological” response). In this sense, Greene and colleagues fail to identify a peculiar system of moral judgment specularly opposed to the affective “deontological” one. For another, Greene and colleagues’ work on the emotion-cognition dichotomy and the distinction between alarm-bell and currency emotions, though promising, still falls short of providing an adequate and consistent picture of the psychological mechanisms underlying “cognitive” evaluations and verdicts in dilemma scenarios. It is suggested that alongside further experimental work, proponents of this view should pay more attention to the conceptual underpinnings of their distinctions

The ethics of sex and power asymmetries

The recent #metoo movement has turned public attention to the problem of sex under conditions of power inequality. Is consent impaired, when you have plenty to lose (e.g. a great professional opportunity) from saying “no” to a sexual advance? And even if consent is valid, is this a morally acceptable situation, especially if one party is aware that their position of relative power will influence the other’s decision to have sex? Such situations bring to the fore not only the issues of coerced sex and quid pro quo harassment (asking for sex in exchange for benefits), but the much more controversial question of whether sex between unequal but otherwise competent consenting adult partners is in principle OK—and whether institutions such as companies, universities, or the state itself should be in the business of regulating such relations. In what follows, I will outline the central concept of power asymmetry and its ethical relevance (section 2). I will then distinguish two main views about the ethics of sexual interaction under conditions of power asymmetry: a Kantian view, which categorically condemns such interactions, and a Millian view, which justifies at least some such interactions (section 3). I then briefly consider three contexts, which raise difficult questions about sex between unequals: the workplace, the university (section 4), and voluntary prostitution (section 5). Section 6 provides a short conclusion

The last fifteen years of stagnation in Italy: A Business Cycle Accounting Perspective

In this paper, we investigate possible sources of declining economic growth performance in Italy starting around the middle of the ’90s. A long-run data analysis suggests that the poor performance of the Italian economy cannot be ascribed to an unfortunate business cycle contingency. The rest of the euro area countries have shown better performance, and the macroeconomic data show that the Italian economy has not grown as rapidly as these other European economies. We investigate the sources of economic fluctuations in Italy by applying the Business Cycle Accounting procedure introduced by Chari, Kehoe and McGrattan (2007). We analyze the relative importance of efficiency, labor, investment and government wedges for business cycles in Italy over the 1982-2008 period. We find that different wedges have played different roles during the period, but the efficiency wedge is revealed to be the main factor responsible for the stagnation phase beginning around 1995. Our findings also show that the improvement in labor market distortions that occurred in Italy during the ’90s provided an alleviating effect, preventing an even stronger slowdown in per capita output growth

Size, trend, and policy implications of the underground economy

We study the underground economy within a dynamic and stochastic general equilibrium framework. Our model combines limited tax enforcement with an otherwise standard two-sector neoclassical stochastic growth model. The Bayesian estimation of the model based on Italian data provides evidence in favor of an important underground sector in Italy, with a size that has increased steadily over the whole sample period. We show that this pattern is due to a steady increase in taxation. Fiscal policy experiments suggest that a moderate tax cut, along with a stronger effort in the monitoring process, causes a sizeable reduction in the size of the underground economy and provides a positive stimulus for the regular economy. Both of these effects jointly increase total fiscal revenues.Francesco Turino is grateful for the financial support provided by the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia and FEDER funds (project SEJ-2007-62656/ECON)

Size, Trend, and Policy Implications of the Underground Economy

We study the underground economy in a dynamic and stochastic general equilibrium framework. Our model combines limited tax enforcement with an otherwise standard two-sector neoclassical stochastic growth model. The Bayesian estimation of the model based on Italian data provides evidence in favor of an important underground sector in Italy, with a size that has steadily increased over the whole sample period. We show that this pattern is due to a persistent increase in taxation. Fiscal policy experiments suggest that a moderate tax cut, along with a stronger effort in the monitoring process, causes a sensitive reduction in the size of the underground economy and positive stimulus to the regular sector that jointly increase the total fiscal revenues

From territorial capital to regional design: A multidimensional model for territorial analysis and scenario evaluation

Territorial capital is a policy concept that emphasizes the endogenous development and regional competitiveness of particular territories, calling for place-based territorial approaches and greater convergence between spatial planning and regional development policies. However, spatial thinking and imaging are still missing when this concept is applied. This paper introduces a multidimensional assessment model that foregrounds the spatial dimension of territorial capital and enables integration and visualisation of decision-supporting data in planning processes. Taking Sintra’s region, Portugal, as a case study, the model helps to consider regional development in spatial planning’s strategic visioning as it sets the ground for regional design approaches

Development strategies of re-urbanization for sustainable extensive towns

Tese de Doutoramento em Arquitetura, com a especialização em Desenho e Computação apresentada na Faculdade de Arquitetura da Universidade de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Doutor.O território português apresenta uma dispersão urbana generalizada que incentiva práticas de consumo do solo, causa altos custos infraestruturais e coloca novos problemas nas políticas urbanas e regionais. O tema da presente pesquisa é a mitigação dos efeitos negativos da urbanização extensiva do território português, propondo ferramentas para processos de reurbanização / intensificação para tais territórios dispersos. A esse respeito, este trabalho traz uma nova contribuição ao processo de conceição e implementação de planos de desenvolvimento territorial capazes de incorporar estratégias de desenvolvimento sustentável para diferentes tipos de territórios dispersos, integrando as ferramentas tradicionais de planeamento em uso em contextos de planeamento local. Para isso, o presente trabalho desenvolveu uma ferramenta metodológica que reúne análises de rede, ferramentas de estudo de densidade / dispersão e análises de capital territorial e que constitui um sistema válido de apoio à tomada de decisão capaz de ajudar planeadores e stakeholders a abordar questões econômicas, desafios sociais e de governança colocados pelos territórios dispersos. Para isso, foi desenvolvido um conjunto de métodos quantitativos para avaliar o capital territorial de diferentes territórios (compactos e dispersos) identificando a suas características, vocações e potenciais no que respeita ao desenvolvimento territórial, medindo e monitorando as suas flutuações em uma lista selecionada de indicadores territoriais afetada pela introdução de diferentes cenários de desenvolvimento. Ao analisar o território de uma perspectiva configuracional e econômico-espacial, e não apenas de uma perspectiva morfológica, a presente investigação tenta trazer uma contribuição original ao processo de elaboração de um novo framework operacional capaz de lidar com os territórios dispersos, com o intuito de constituir um instrumento de surporte para planeadores e administrações publicas no âmbito da tomada de decisões informadas sobre vários tópicos, do planejamento à governança. Um case study, o concelho de Sintra, altamente representativo da questão atual da dispersão territorial em Portugal, foi analisado e discutido. O desenvolvimento de um novo framework para a avaliação de diferentes cenários de desenvolvimento, que incorpora o conceito de capital territorial, guia na busca de estratégias e ferramentas para reurbanização estratégica ou desenvolvimento setorial desconcentrado do território em análise, produzindo, esperançosamente, ambientes urbanos mais sustentáveis com mais potencial para uma interação humana vital, ou seja, uma melhor “urbanidade”.ABSTRACT:The Portuguese territory displays a wide-spread urban dispersion that encouraged land-consuming practices, causes high infrastructural costs and poses new issues to urban and regional policies. The subject of the present research is the mitigation of the negative effects of extensive urbanization of the Portuguese territory focusing on processes of re-urbanization / intensification for such dispersed territories. In this respect, this work brings a novel contribution to the process of concealing and implementing territorial development plans capable of incorporating sustainable development strategies for different kinds of dispersed territories, integrating the traditional planning tool in use in local planning. In order to do so, the present work developed a methodological tool – bringing together network analyses, density/dispersion assessment tools and a territorial capital analyses – that constitutes a valid decision-making support system capable of helping planners and stakeholders to address the economic, social and governance challenges posed by dispersed territories. In order to do so a set of quantitative methods was developed to assess the territorial capital of different territories (both compact and dispersed) to identify their inherent characteristics, vocations and potentials for development, measuring and monitoring the fluctuations in a selected list of territorial indicators as affected by the introduction of different development scenarios. By analyzing the territory from a configurational and spatial-economic perspective rather than just from a morphological perspective, the present research tries to bring an original contribution to the process of crafting a new operative framework capable of dealing with the dispersed territories assisting planners and administrations to take informed decision on various topics, from planning to governance. A case study, the municipality of Sintra, highly representative of the current issue of the territorial dispersion in Portugal, has been analyzed and discussed. The development of a novel framework for the assessment of different development scenarios that will incorporate the concept of territorial capital will guide in finding strategies and tools for strategic re-urbanization or deconcentrated sectorial development of the territory in analysis, hopefully producing more sustainable urban environments with potential for vital human interaction, i.e. a better “urbanity”.N/