Psychological Eudaimonism and Interpretation in Greek Ethics

Plato extends a bold, confident, and surprising empirical challenge. It is implicitly a claim about the psychological — more specifically motivational — economies of human beings, asserting that within each such economy there is a desire to live well. Call this claim ‘psychological eudaimonism’ (‘PE’). Further, the context makes clear that Plato thinks that this desire dominates in those who have it. In other words, the desire to live well can reliably be counted on (when accompanied with correct beliefs about the role of morality or virtue in living well) to move people be virtuous. As we will argue, this general claim appears in not only Plato but Aristotle and the Stoics as well. But it is one we might wonder about, in three ways. First, we might wonder about its warrant. After all, the claim is universal in scope; yet it is about a highly contingent fact about the motivational propensities of individual human organisms, and there is abundant variability in the individual forms human nature takes. What grounds could the ancients have for their confidence that there are no outliers (assuming, as we do, that they do not merely misspeak in framing general claims as universal ones)? Second, we might wonder about its truth. For were it true, it would entail something remarkable about the nature of rationality that we (post-)moderns would be wise to heed. And third, we might wonder about its relationship with normative eudaimonism. By ‘normative eudaimonism’ (‘NE’) we mean the claim that we have conclusive reason to act in ways that conduce to our own eudaimonia. As we will show, the key to these three questions is the first. If we consider what justification the ancients have for their claim, we can see why that claim must be true. Moreover, as we will also show, it must be true because of the nature of practical rationality as the ancients understood it — that is, in terms of normative eudaimonism. We will show this by marshalling unexpected resources: Donald Davidson’s work in understanding how we interpret others and in so doing make sense of them as rational beings. If we couple Davidson’s account of interpretation with the eudaimonist structure of practical rationality essential to these ancient ethical theories, psychological eudaimonism is a consequence. The paper proceeds as follows. In Section I, we lay out the textual basis for ascribing PE to Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics. In Section II, we introduce Davidson’s account of interpretation. This allows us to appropriate that account in Section III to the particular purposes of normative eudaimonism, to support the claim that we must ascribe the desire to live well to those whom we would see as rational. Finally, in Section IV we consider challenges to this strategy

A mutant Escherichia coli that attaches peptidoglycan to lipopolysaccharide and displays cell wall on its surface

The lipopolysaccharide (LPS) forms the surface-exposed leaflet of the outer membrane (OM) of Gram-negative bacteria, an organelle that shields the underlying peptidoglycan (PG) cell wall. Both LPS and PG are essential cell envelope components that are synthesized independently and assembled by dedicated transenvelope multiprotein complexes. We have identified a point-mutation in the gene for O-antigen ligase (WaaL) in Escherichia coli that causes LPS to be modified with PG subunits, intersecting these two pathways. Synthesis of the PG-modified LPS (LPS*) requires ready access to the small PG precursor pool but does not weaken cell wall integrity, challenging models of precursor sequestration at PG assembly machinery. LPS* is efficiently transported to the cell surface without impairing OM function. Because LPS* contains the canonical vancomycin binding site, these surface-exposed molecules confer increased vancomycin-resistance by functioning as molecular decoys that titrate the antibiotic away from its intracellular target. This unexpected LPS glycosylation fuses two potent pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.05334.00

Virtue Ethics and the Interests of Others

In recent decades "virtue ethics" has become an accepted theoretical structure for thinking about normative ethical principles. However, few contemporary virtue ethicists endorse the commitments of the first virtue theorists---the ancient Greeks, who developed their virtue theories within a commitment to eudaimonism. Why? I believe the objections of modern theorists boil down to concerns that eudaimonist theories cannot properly account for two prominent moral requirements on our treatment of others. ;First, we think that the interests and welfare of at least some others ought to give us non-instrumental reason for acting---that is, reason independent of consideration of our own welfare. Second, we think others are entitled to what we might call respect, just in virtue of their being persons. Eudaimonist accounts either cannot account for these intuitions at all, or they give the wrong sort of account. ;My dissertation assesses the resources of eudaimonism to meet these lines of criticism. Chapter 2, 3, and 4 survey the views of Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics, to discover insights that are important for a successful response. In Chapters 5 and 6, I offer my own account, based on what I call empathic identification. This is the habit or disposition of seeing things, in effect, through the eyes of others. Empathic identification is a process through which the interpersonal transmission of reasons for actions between persons becomes possible. I argue first that our interest in our own eudaimonia justifies us in identifying empathically with others as a general habit or disposition. Second, I argue that empathic identification explains our intuitions about the respect others are due. So empathic identification generates the right sort of explanation of our intuitions about the constraints others and their interests impose upon us after all, and renders eudaimonist virtue ethics a viable form of ethical theor

Controllership Influences on the Restructuring of Slovenian Companies

Controllership, as an informational activity, is becoming a multidimensional function, about which numerous doubts exist as to whether to increase its independency and integrate it tightly with the decision-making process. Financial knowledge and business-analytical capabilities of carriers of controllership activity can offer support for operational, financial, and strategic restructuring. This is important when facing frequent business dynamics in order to enhance competitiveness and especially achieve short-term as well as strategic goals.Kontroling kot informacijska dejavnost postaja večdimenzionalna funkcija. Strateški menedžment se sprašuje, ali povečati neodvisnost kontrolinga in ga tesneje integrirati v proces sprejemanja odločitev ali ne. Finančno znanje in poslovnoanalitične sposobnosti nosilcev dejavnosti kontrolinga lahko deloma podpirajo operativno, finančno in strateško prestrukturiranje. To je pomembno pri soočanju z izzivi hitre poslovne dinamike, dvigu konkurenčnosti ter doseganju kratkoročnih in strateških ciljev

Возможности спиральной рентгеновской компьютерной томографии в дооперационной диагностике рака верхнего отдела желудка

Представлены данные о возможностях дооперационной диагностики распространенности опухолевого процесса при раке верхнего отдела желудка с помощью спирального рентгеновского компьютерного томографа, детально показаны методика выполнения исследования, ее достоинства и недостатки.Подано дані про можливості доопераційної діагностики розповсюдженості пухлинного процесу при раку верхнього відділу шлунка за допомогою спірального рентгенівського комп'ютерного томографа, детально показано методику виконання дослідження, її переваги й недоліки.The data about the capabilities of pre−operative diagnosis of tumor process generalization at cancer of the upper portion of the stomach using helical x−ray computed tomography are presented. The technique of the investigation as well as its advantages and disadvantages are described in detail

TWO-STEP BUCKETING TO ACHIEVE HIGH PERFORMANCE DATA STRUCTURES

A variety of techniques and strategies are presented for protecting a data structure, e.g., a hash table, from an attacker who wishes to force worst-case performance. Many data structures are designed with fast and efficient insertion and lookup functionality under normal use-case scenarios. However, when forced into a worst-case context, the performance of the data structure is undermined and services relying on the data structure are impacted. The techniques presented maintain the high performance under normal use-case while protecting the data structure from malicious use