American Naturalism and the Future of Philosophy

Philosophy as a discipline is facing new challenges that will determine its future. The challenges include the historic ones relating to economic conditions and administrative leadership that focuses on preparation for employment in a way that lessens the intellectual development of students. But the new challenges occur in a worldwide democratic recession and in political leadership that seems to be moving toward greater censorship and less academic freedom. In America, this is also occurring with a decline in student enrollment that negatively impacts the liberal arts and particularly philosophy. This article examines the way two forms of American naturalism may respond. John Dewey’s cultural naturalism and George Santayana’s thorough, non-reductive naturalism provide an array of alternatives. I explore alternatives open to philosophers that include abandoning philosophy by leaving the university or becoming an administrator as well as alternatives available if one remains in the university. Finally, I offer four criteria for judging the viability of choosing any of the alternatives.Philosophy as a discipline is facing new challenges that will determine its future. The challenges include the historic ones relating to economic conditions and administrative leadership that focuses on preparation for employment in a way that lessens the intellectual development of students. But the new challenges occur in a worldwide democratic recession and in political leadership that seems to be moving toward greater censorship and less academic freedom. In America, this is also occurring with a decline in student enrollment that negatively impacts the liberal arts and particularly philosophy. This article examines the way two forms of American naturalism may respond. John Dewey’s cultural naturalism and George Santayana’s thorough, non-reductive naturalism provide an array of alternatives. I explore alternatives open to philosophers that include abandoning philosophy by leaving the university or becoming an administrator, as well as alternatives available if one remains in the university. Finally, I offer four criteria for judging the viability of choosing any of the alternatives

Is prevention better than cure? An empirical investigation for the case of avian influenza

The new EU Animal Health Strategy suggests a shift in emphasis away from control towards prevention and surveillance activities for the management of threats to animal health. The optimal combination of these actions will differ among diseases and depend on largely unknown and uncertain costs and benefits. This paper reports an empirical investigation of this issue for the case of Avian Influenza. The results suggest that the optimal combination of actions will be dependent on the objective of the decision maker and that conflict exists between an optimal strategy which minimises costs to the government and one which maximises producer profits or minimises negative effects on human health. From the perspective of minimising the effects on human health, prevention appears preferable to cure but the case is less clear for other objectives

O Marketing Interno/Endomarketing como ferramenta nas organizações

Este trabalho tem como objetivo verificar como e quais são as ações de Marketing Interno/Endomarketing promovidas nas organizações estudadas e quais são os setores envolvidos na gestão desta ferramenta. A intenção desta pesquisa é fazer uma observação sobre a importância do endomarketing nas organizações e verificar o quanto as mesmas sentem os impactos das ações promovidas. Para tanto, foram aplicadas entrevistas em profundidade, semiestruturadas e abertas, com gestoras de duas empresas, uma de médio e outra de grande porte. Após feita a análise, foi possível notar que as duas organizações trabalham com ações promocionais e as identificam como importantes para a integração dos colaboradores. A organização que faz pesquisa de clima sente-se mais satisfeita com os resultados das ações e percebe mais fortemente a importância delas. Também destaca-se a importância da comunicação interna nas duas empresas, e, por último, nota-se que não há nenhum profissional de Relações Públicas ligado à gestão desta área nas organizações.The main objective of this paper is to investigate which Internal Marketing actions are promoted by the organizations researched, how they are conducted and which departments are involved in the management of this tool. This research intends to observe the significance of Internal Marketing to organizations and to assess how they perceive the impact of the promoted actions. In order to do so, open-ended semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with managers from a medium and a large company. After data analysis, it was possible to note that both businesses make use of promotional actions and acknowledge their importance to the promotion of integration among employees. The company that conducts organizational climate surveys is more satisfied with the actions they promote and perceives them as force to be reckoned with. Furthermore, attention is drawn to how relevant internal communication is to both businesses and, at last, the absence of a Public Relations professional connected to the management of this area

Cross border Classical Swine Fever control: Improving Dutch and German crisis management systems by an integrated public-private approach

The objective of this research approach is to analyse in which ways crisis management measures against Classical Swine Fever (CSF) can be improved by a public private cross border model. A core activity contains the analysis of information and communication systems: In a case study it has been empirically analysed if a sufficient supply of public and private information enables crisis managers at both sides of the Dutch-German border area to take decisions about CSF control more efficient. At the end of this approach a new crisis management model had been developed. One of the most important aspects thereby is the assessment of data: (1) within private quality management systems in normal times according to the benefit for public management tasks in times of crisis and (2) within public crisis management systems according to the benefit for cross-border CSF-control activities. To this effect two different methodological approaches have been combined within the model: (1) a method to identify and illustrate public actors and their options in crisis management decision making and (2) a system of communication and information exchange between public and private as well as Dutch and German actors (engage& exchange model) which permit to collect and to evaluate data in addition for a predefined time period are activated

Is prevention better than cure? An empirical investigation for the case of Avian Influenza

The new EU Animal Health Strategy suggests a shift in emphasis away from control towards prevention and surveillance activities for the management of threats to animal health. The optimal combination of these actions will differ among diseases and depend on largely unknown and uncertain costs and benefits. This paper reports an empirical investigation of this issue for the case of Avian Influenza. The results suggest that the optimal combination of actions will be dependent on the objective of the decision maker and that conflict exists between an optimal strategy which minimises costs to the government and one which maximises producer profits or minimises negative effects on human health. From the perspective of minimising the effects on human health, prevention appears preferable to cure but the case is less clear for other objectives.avian influenza, prevention, control, Livestock Production/Industries,

Genotypes, Phenotypes, and Complex Human Behavior Including Scholarly Editing

For quite some time I have been puzzled by the role of genetics in explaining both human characteristics and behavior. This curiosity led to several odd occupations for a philosopher/ editor. With a biochemist, I team-teach an honors course in genetics, and recently I became a faculty member and administrator in a college of medicine as well as a professor of pediatrics in a hospital-clinic research institution. These are not positions usually open to editors or philosophers, and one might wonder how they came about. Intellectually, George Santayana\u27s naturalism is the springboard for my interest. Although he maintains that all human behavior may be explained adequately through the sciences, Santayana is not a reductive naturalist. Aesthetic and imaginative qualities make life worthwhile, and these always will be missing from any consistent scientific account of our behavior. Our lives are determined by heritable traits, environment, and culture, but this is no reason for despair or drab resignation. Santayana\u27s point is that knowledge of the determinant structures of human life should lead us to cherish the creative, artistic, and spiritual side of human life. His is a festive outlook that accepts the determinant status of all life