The Place of Religious Argument in a Free and Democratic Society

This Article provides an account of the notion of a religious argument, distinguishes several roles of religious arguments in a liberal democracy, and defends a set of principles for their proper use in such a society. The author argues that it is appropriate that citizens apply a kind of separation of church and state in their public use of religious arguments, especially in advocating laws or public policies that restrict liberty. More specifically, the author contends that whatever religious arguments one may have in such cases, one should also be willing to offer, and be to a certain extent motivated by, adequate secular arguments for the same conclusions. The author argues that this need place no unreasonable restrictions on the conduct of religious people

Ethical Leadership and Leadership in Ethics

This paper offers a conceptual portrait of leadership and a framework for exercising it in the realm of ethics. The paper provides an account of what constitutes leadership, a set of moral standards for its ethical exercise, and a distinction between leadership that meets these standards and leadership that not only meets them, but positively engages them. This engagement is central for leadership in ethics. The main context for analysis in the paper is organizational. Leadership is essential for the success of organizations and morally important in their daily operations. The paper also describes its nature and role in less structured realms. Leadership is not limited to chains of command, not separable from elements in a culture in which it is exercised, and not confined to any one sphere of endeavor or even to the realm of work

Philosophy Of Science On The Moral Neutrality Of Scientific Acceptance

This paper explores the question of whether scientific acceptance of hypotheses requires making moral or other non-epistemic judgments. Much of the paper discusses the controversy surrounding an influential argument proposed by Richard Rudner to show that scientists qua scientists must make value judgments. Isaac Levi\u27s well-known critique of Rudner\u27s argument is examined, and the argument is assessed both in the light of Levi\u27s distinction between accepting a hypothesis and acting on it, and in terms of a partial analysis of what constitutes scientific acceptance. On the basis of this analysis, the question whether scientists may properly accept hypotheses, rather than simply assess their degree of confirmation, is also briefly explored. The paper concludes that none of the arguments considered shows either that scientists should never accept hypotheses or that, when they do, moral considerations must form part of the basis of their decision

Lung Circulation Modeling: Status and Prospect

Mathematical modeling has been used to interpret anatomical and physiological data obtained from metabolic and hemodynamic studies aimed at investigating structure-function relationships in the vasculature of the lung, and how these relationships are affected by lung injury and disease. The indicator dilution method was used to study the activity of redox processes within the lung. A steady-state model of the data was constructed and used to show that pulmonary endothelial cells may play an important role in reducing redox active compounds and that those reduction rates can be altered with oxidative stress induced by exposure to high oxygen environments. In addition, a morphometric model of the pulmonary vasculature was described and used to detect, describe,and predict changes in vascular morphology that occur in response to chronic exposure to low-oxygen environments, a common model of pulmonary hypertension. Finally, the model was used to construct simulated circulatory networks designed to aid in evaluation of competing hypotheses regarding the relative contribution of various morphological and biomechanical changes observed with hypoxia. These examples illustrate the role of mathematical modeling in the integration of the emerging metabolic, hemodynamic, and morphometric databases

The Scope of Motivation and the Basis of Practical Reason

This paper explores the relationship between motivation, desire, pleasure and value. I argue that the motivational grounds of action are the kinds of desires that tend, in rational persons, to be produced both by experience of the good, and by beliefs that something one can do would be good