Natural and artificial impartiality

Under the influence of social contract theory, political philosophers typically assume that it is the job of participants in, and only participants in, a given scheme of social cooperation to determine how it is to be run. Yet since participants in a given scheme are always biased, the formulation of fair principles or policies requires that they adopt an imagined impartial perspective—which I term artificial impartiality. John Rawls’s appeal to the original position is the classic example of such artificial impartiality; Adam Smith’s appeal to an impartial spectator has recently been interpreted along similar lines. Smith’s impartial spectators, however, are real more often than they are imaginary; Smith believes that with regard to most conflicts in which we are not participants most of us are naturally impartial. This essay argues that an easy way to improve theorizing about justice is to shift the focus from participant perspectives (including their imagined, artificial constructs of impartiality) to the perspective of naturally impartial spectators. While artificial impartiality must continue to play an important role in political philosophizing, it will work more effectively in conjunction with greater use of natural impartiality

Anonymous

A dust-off pilot in Vietnam recalls the tragedy of the war seen through his eyes, his rescue missions. Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit

What Was He Thinking

A law enforcement negotiator tries to make sense of the aftermath of a failed negotiation. Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit

Apparatus for endoscopic examination

An endoscope is having a propulsion mechanism and at least one transmitter at the distal end transmitting bursts of energy waves (radio frequency or ultrasonic) for tracking the position of the distal end through the use of two or more transducers on the anterior or lateral surfaces of a patient is described. The propulsion mechanism which consists of two radially expandable bladders separated by an axially expandable bellows with only the forward bladder attached to the distal end is discussed. Alternate mechanisms are reported. A sheath on the endoscope which includes material having a sharp melting point slightly above body temperature so that the sheath is made flexible at selected sections by applying current to separate heating wires in the sections of the sheath is described

Vacuum evaporator with electromagnetic ion steering Patent

Device for high vacuum film deposition with electromagnetic ion steerin

Coupling apparatus for ultrasonic medical diagnostic system

An apparatus for the ultrasonic scanning of a breast or other tissue is reported that contains a cavity for receiving the breast, a vacuum for drawing the breast into intimate contact with the walls of the cavity, and transducers coupled through a fluid to the cavity to transmit sound waves through the breast. Each transducer lies at the end of a tapered chamber which has flexible walls and which is filled with fluid, so that the transducer can be moved in a raster pattern while the chamber walls flex accordingly, with sound transmission always occurring through the fluid