Emotional affectivity and the question of appraisal, viewed in the light of a phenomenological account of pre-reflective affective consciousness

The paper considers the problem of various different forms of precognitive affective appraisal and their role in the process of gaining self-knowledge. We tend to assume that knowledge is propositional (I know that p), and so we focus on reflective consciousness as the proper domain for acquiring self-knowledge (self-understanding). However, the propositional approach to knowledge, which involves the adoption of beliefs and judgments (overtly expressed as linguistic statements) as the fundamental structures for describing ourselves and the world, has been challenged within the framework of embodiment introduced by phenomenology. According to the phenomenological approach, if we are to understand our inner states (our emotional experiences), these cannot be extracted from the context within which they arise. Emotions not only refer to the inner states of the subject, but also to the outer world to which they are a form of response. Brentano, Husserl and Scheler claimed that emotions are directed towards values. It is to this essential feature of emotional experience that I would like to turn. I shall therefore re-examine Sartre’s views concerning affectivity (i.e. the capacity to reveal evaluatively significant qualities of one’s environment), as well as the dual-aspect theory of (reflective and non-reflective) consciousness. The main argument of this paper is that a plausible account of the essential role of affectivity in the emotions may be provided on the basis of a phenomenological theory of pre-reflective consciousness and its relation to reflexivity. I will focus on three different claims about pre-reflective (affective) consciousness. According to the first of these, a large part of cognition is of a prelinguistic (pre-reflective) nature; I argue that the evaluative content of emotion is not only conceptually determined, but may also take a non-conceptual form (as affective appraisal). The second claim refers to the notion of affect, which ought to be distinguished from (unintentional) bodily sensations. The third conceives of the relation between pre-reflective (affective) consciousness and reflective consciousness (propositional attitudes) as normative (rather than causal). I aim to demonstrate that a plausible view of emotional affectivity must appeal to a phenomenological account of the pre-reflective aspect of consciousness

Moral Perfection and the Demand for Human Enhancement

In this article I discuss one of the most significant areas of bioethical interest, which is the problem of moral enhancement. Since I claim that the crucial issue in the current debate on human bioenhancement is the problem of agency, I bring out and examine the conditions of possibility of self-understanding, acting subjects attributing responsible authorship for their actions to themselves. I shall argue that the very idea of moral enhancement, properly understood, fails to justify the claims that enhancing the “biological” factor that plays a part in the process of making moral choices, whether through biomedical or genetic interventions, will actually increase the probability of having “morally better future motives”

Defining Serious Impairment of Body Function: The Aftermath of Kreiner and the Need for Change

Article published in the Michigan State University School of Law Student Scholarship Collection

The social construction of meaningful work

Extant research shows that the meaningfulness of work (MW), as experienced by organizational members, contributes to productivity and other organizational goals in significant ways. However, extant MW research relies on one-dimensional functionalist psychological and sociological perspectives, understanding MW as inherent in mental states that are experienced when work satisfies the needs of employees, or as inherent in the structure of social systems. But meaning is not inherent in phenomena, it is socially constructed. Accordingly, extant MW literature is ontologically and epistemologically incomplete because a one-dimensional functionalist, and therewith reductionist perspective, disregards the social interaction (intersubjective) dimension of MW, and it does not take into account what can be known about MW. This qualitative case study investigates empirically the social construction of Meaningful Work (MW) in organizations, applying an inductive approach. Using a constructionist perspective, a mid-size publishing house in Germany was examined. Data was collected with the help of open-ended and semi-structured interview questions and organizational texts. The insights from the study allowed to explain how the participants reconstructed meaningful work by drawing from the institutional order of their society, associating corresponding teleologies, assigning functions for the implementation of such teleologies, and acting accordingly. As a result, meaningful work can be understood as a social construction, which emerges in multi-faceted contexts through institutional cognitions in social interaction. The contribution of the study consists in a comprehensive understanding of the nature of MW, and it provides an innovative methodology for the investigation of the social construction of MW

Moral Perfection and the Demand for Human Enhancement

In this article I discuss one of the most significant areas of bioethical interest, which is the problem of moral enhancement. Since I claim that the crucial issue in the current debate on human bioenhancement is the problem of agency, I bring out and examine the conditions of possibility of selfunderstanding, acting subjects attributing responsible authorship for their actions to themselves. I shall argue that the very idea of moral enhancement, properly understood, fails to justify the claims that enhancing the “biological” factor that plays a part in the process of making moral choices, whether through biomedical or genetic interventions, will actually increase the probability of having “morally better future motives”

A Correlational Study of Factors That Contribute to Private School Enrollment: School Culture and Physical Facilities

Private schools all over the country are declining and closing whereas many schools are growing and flourishing (Gilmore & Rush, 2013). Since competition is so strong, it is important to understand the key factors that contribute to enrollment (Frost, 2014). This study explored two factors in particular: the condition of the physical facilities and the culture and climate of the school. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine what type of relationship, if any, exists between the dependent variable of change in private school enrollment and each of the two independent variables: the rating of condition of facilities and the rating of school culture and climate. The researcher surveyed 245 private, elementary school administrators in California using the online distribution program Qualtrics. Data gathered from the participants were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Using Pearson’s correlation coefficient, no statistically significant relationship was found between enrollment and physical facilities, r(1, 245) = -1.00, p\u3e0.05). However, a mild statistically significant relationship was found between enrollment and school culture, r(2, 245) = 0.175, p\u3c0.05. Limitations include possible bias of the participants, accuracy of the participants’ knowledge, and the inability of the researcher to control who participated in the study. However, these limitations likely did not affect the outcome of the study. Results of this study could foreseeably benefit school decision-makers when deciding on how to best allocate limited resources and maximize growth potential

Control of nonenzymatic browning in intermediate-moisture foods

Series of compounds called humectants were found to decrease rate of browning when added to intermediate-moisture foods. Twenty percent level of humectant can increase shelf life of foods by factor of 5 or 6

Deinking in a Closed Loop and the Effects of Solids on Paper Properties

Deinking is of critical importance to the reuse of secondary fiber in the paper industry. As with all papermaking processes there is a definite concern on the final quality of the product and the waste that is generated. Waste problems are a growing concern and with tighter discharge limits there is a growing concern of how to deal with these problems. One solution to this problem is the idea of a closed cycle deinking process which reutilizes the wastewater stream for pulping and recovering of usable fiber which is otherwise lost to the system. As with everything there are problems that can occur when implementing a system such as this. The focus of this project is to determine if there is solids build up within the deinking and paper making loop and if there indeed is show these effects on the final paper by testing the whitewater and comparing those tests to the physical properties of the paper. From the results of the whitewater tests there does seem to be a buildup of suspended material within the system, but contrary to the initial belief the amount of dissolved material in the system actually decreased. Trends were also observed when comparing TSS and TDS to tensile and tear indexes. It seemed that both were affected by dissolved material and tensile was affected by suspended material both deal with bonding potential. It was also seen and will be explained in more detail that the optical properties of paper were not affected namely opacity and brightness but, scattering coefficient was slightly affected by the increase in suspended solids. The following parts of this report will go through the actual data and trends and will also go through the background and experimentation that was completed