Download or read book Rational Collapse written by Ken Benton and published by Andrew Kasch. This book was released on 2022-11-12 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Homeland Security Agent Harlan Welk is a man used to responding to our nation’s most covert domestic threats. But even he must admit no one saw this one coming. When a new type of terrorist attack targets a growing psychological weakness among the American population, our enemies are revealed as becoming ever-more resourceful. Harlan is visiting his conspiracy-plagued cousin Avery in Houston during a heightened period of civil unrest. Just as the frazzled nerves of law enforcement and protesters come to a head, twelve African-American teenagers simultaneously commit “suicide by cop” in the twelve U.S. cities most vulnerable to racial tension. None of the victims are found to be in possession of a real weapon. As a result, mass rioting erupts across our once-great country, which intensifies until our society can no longer function. From information acquired in an unexpected romance, Harlan believes he can gather the evidence to fully expose the plot as having come from foreign-based terrorists—and by so doing, possibly reunite America under the cause of a common enemy. But he must get to Memphis so he can interrogate the lone surviving terrorist. Traveling is now difficult. He finds himself bugging out of the city with his cousin’s family, facing a treacherous and uncertain path. Avery’s outright distrust of all things government only adds to their plight. Harlan discovers he must not only survive the hazards of criminal opportunism on the road, but the contagion of civil strife within his own family. And time is not on his side...
Download or read book The Silence of the Rational Center written by Stefan Halper and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2007-02-13 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What has happened to American foreign policy? Stefan Halper and Jonathan Clarke argue that the members of what used to be called the foreign policy establishment are no longer doing the job of keeping our foreign policy informed and rational. Instead, hungry to coin the next Big Idea, they are in the business of advancing simplistic, glib mythologies. The result is that Americans are often presented with a fantasy world of nightmare scenarios rather than with explanations that lead to rational choices. Taking to task such well-known figures as Samuel Huntington, Noam Chomsky, and Jeffrey Sachs, Halper and Clarke argue for a revival of integrity within our foreign policy elite so that America's standing in the world can be restored. A book that pulls no punches, The Silence of the Rational Center is both a penetrating diagnosis and a stirring call to reform in what is possibly the most important area of American political life.
Download or read book Rational Herds written by Christophe Chamley and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Publisher Description
Download or read book How Reason Almost Lost Its Mind written by Paul Erickson and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2013-11-22 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the United States at the height of the Cold War, roughly between the end of World War II and the early 1980s, a new project of redefining rationality commanded the attention of sharp minds, powerful politicians, wealthy foundations, and top military brass. Its home was the human sciences—psychology, sociology, political science, and economics, among others—and its participants enlisted in an intellectual campaign to figure out what rationality should mean and how it could be deployed. How Reason Almost Lost Its Mind brings to life the people—Herbert Simon, Oskar Morgenstern, Herman Kahn, Anatol Rapoport, Thomas Schelling, and many others—and places, including the RAND Corporation, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, the Cowles Commission for Research and Economics, and the Council on Foreign Relations, that played a key role in putting forth a “Cold War rationality.” Decision makers harnessed this picture of rationality—optimizing, formal, algorithmic, and mechanical—in their quest to understand phenomena as diverse as economic transactions, biological evolution, political elections, international relations, and military strategy. The authors chronicle and illuminate what it meant to be rational in the age of nuclear brinkmanship.
Download or read book Rational Belief written by Robert Audi and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2015-07-01 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rational Belief provides conceptions of belief and knowledge, offers a theory of how they are grounded, and connects them with the will and thereby with action, moral responsibility, and intellectual virtue. A unifying element is a commitment to representing epistemology-which is centrally concerned with belief-as integrated with a plausible philosophy of mind that does justice both to the nature of belief and to the conditions for its formation and regulation. Part One centers on belief and its relation to the will. It explores our control of our beliefs, and it describes several forms belief may take and shows how beliefs are connected with the world outside the mind. Part Two concerns normative aspects of epistemology, explores the nature of intellectual virtue, and presents a theory of moral perception. The book also offers a theory of the grounds of both justification and knowledge and shows how these grounds bear on the self-evident. Rationality is distinguished from justification; each clarified in relation to the other; and the epistemological importance of the phenomenal-for instance, of intuitional experience and other "private" aspects of mental life-is explored. The final section addresses social epistemology. It offers a theory of testimony as essential in human knowledge and a related account of the rational resolution of disagreements.
Download or read book Rational Rules written by Shaun Nichols and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-02-11 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Moral systems, like normative systems more broadly, involve complex mental representations. Rational Rules proposes that moral learning can be understood in terms of general-purpose rational learning procedures. Nichols argues that statistical learning can help answer a wide range of questions about moral thought: Why do people think that rules apply to actions rather than consequences? Why do people expect new rules to be focused on actions rather than consequences? How do people come to believe a principle of liberty, according to which whatever is not expressly prohibited is permitted? How do people decide that some normative claims hold universally while others hold only relative to some group? The resulting account has both empiricist and rationalist features: since the learning procedures are domain-general, the result is an empiricist theory of a key part of moral development, and since the learning procedures are forms of rational inference, the account entails that crucial parts of our moral system enjoy rational credentials. Moral rules can also be rational in the sense that they can be effective for achieving our ends, given our ecological settings. Rational Rules argues that at least some central components of our moral systems are indeed ecologically rational: they are good at helping us attain common goals. Nichols argues that the account might be extended to capture moral motivation as a special case of a much more general phenomenon of normative motivation. On this view, a basic form of rule representation brings motivation along automatically, and so part of the explanation for why we follow moral rules is that we are built to follow rules quite generally.
Download or read book The Collapse of the Fact Value Dichotomy and Other Essays written by Hilary Putnam and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2004-03-30 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If philosophy has any business in the world, it is the clarification of our thinking and the clearing away of ideas that cloud the mind. In this book, one of the world's preeminent philosophers takes issue with an idea that has found an all-too-prominent place in popular culture and philosophical thought: the idea that while factual claims can be rationally established or refuted, claims about value are wholly subjective, not capable of being rationally argued for or against. Although it is on occasion important and useful to distinguish between factual claims and value judgments, the distinction becomes, Hilary Putnam argues, positively harmful when identified with a dichotomy between the objective and the purely "subjective." Putnam explores the arguments that led so much of the analytic philosophy of language, metaphysics, and epistemology to become openly hostile to the idea that talk of value and human flourishing can be right or wrong, rational or irrational; and by which, following philosophy, social sciences such as economics have fallen victim to the bankrupt metaphysics of Logical Positivism. Tracing the problem back to Hume's conception of a "matter of fact" as well as to Kant's distinction between "analytic" and "synthetic" judgments, Putnam identifies a path forward in the work of Amartya Sen. Lively, concise, and wise, his book prepares the way for a renewed mutual fruition of philosophy and the social sciences.
Download or read book Radicals Reformers and Reactionaries written by Youssef Cohen and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1994-10-17 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Latin American democracies of the sixties and seventies, most theories hold, collapsed because they had become incompatible with the structural requirements of capitalist development. In this groundbreaking application of game theory to political phenomena, Youssef Cohen argues that structural conditions in Latin American countries did not necessarily preclude the implementation of social and economic reforms within a democratic framework. Focusing on the experiences of Chile and Brazil, Cohen argues that what thwarted democratic reforms in Latin America was a classic case of prisoner's dilemma. Moderates on the left and the right knew the benefits of coming to a mutual agreement on socio-economic reforms. Yet each feared that, if it cooperated, the other side could gain by colluding with the radicals. Unwilling to take this risk, moderate groups in both countries splintered and joined the extremists. The resulting disorder opened the way for military control. Cohen further argues that, in general, structural explanations of political phenomena are inherently flawed; they incorrectly assume that beliefs, preferences, and actions are caused by social, political, and economic structures. One cannot explain political outcomes, Cohen argues, without treating beliefs and preferences as partly independent from structures, and as having a causal force in their own right.
Download or read book Towards a Rational Philosophical Anthropology written by J. Agassi and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The thesis of the present volume is critical and dual. (1) Present day philosophy of man and sciences of man suffer from the Greek mis taken polarization of everything human into nature and convention which is (allegedly) good and evil, which is (allegedly) truth and fal sity, which is (allegedly) rationality and irrationality, to wit, the polar ization of all fields of inquiry, the natural and social sciences, as well as ethics and all technology, whether natural or social, into the totally positive and the totally negative. (2) Almost all philosophy and sci ences of man share the erroneous work ethic which is the myth of man's evil nature - the myth of the beast in man, the doctrine of original sin. To mediate or to compromise between the first view of human nature as good with the second view of it as evil, sociologists have devised a modified utilitarianism with deferred gratification so called, and the theory of the evil of artificial competition (capitalist and socialist alike) and of keeping up with the Joneses. Now, the mediation is not necessary. For, the polarization makes for abstract errors which are simplistic views of rationality, such as reductionism and positivism of all sorts, as well as for concrete errors, such as the disposition to condemn repeatedly those human weaknesses which are inevitable, namely man's inability to be perfectly rational, avoid all error, etc. , thus setting man against himself as all too wicked.
Download or read book Rational Readings on Environmental Concerns written by Jay H. Lehr and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 1992-08-04 with total page 868 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "...the 'proof' of man's destruction of the environment isconsistently flawed.... the scientific method is being abused andignored. The errors are not random, however, but are systematicallybiased toward attempting to prove the guilt of man in the allegeddestruction of the planet. Objective science is disappearing and isbeing replaced by the pursuit of a philosophical agenda." --Richard F. Sanford in Environmentalism and theAssault on Reason Chapter 1 "The public has numerous misconceptions about the relationshipbetween environmental pollution and human cancer. Underlying thesemisconceptions is an erroneous belief that nature is benign." --Bruce N. Ames, Ph.D. and Lois Swirsky Gold, Ph.D inEnvironmental Pollution and Cancer: Some Misconceptions Chapter7 "Greenhouse gases have been increasing in the atmosphere,largely as a result of human activities. However, the climaterecord does not show the temperature increase and other telltalesigns of the expected greenhouse effect. The mathematical modelsused for predicting such effects are evidently not complete enoughto encompass all of the relevant physical processes in theatmosphere, thus throwing grave doubt on the drastic warminghypothesized for the next century." --S. Fred Singer in Global Climate Change: Facts andFiction Chapter 13 "...There is now no prima-facie case for any expensive policy ofsafeguarding species without more extensive analysis than has sofar been done." --Julian L. Simon in Disappearing Species,Deforestation and Data Chapter 26
Download or read book Philosophy of Science and the Occult written by Patrick Grim and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 1990-07-17 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book both introduces the philosophy of science through examination of the occult and examines the occult rigorously enough to raise central issues in the philosophy of science. Placed in the context of the occult, philosophy of science issues become immediately understandable and forcefully compelling. Divergent views on astrology, parapsychology, and quantum mechanics mysticism emphasize topics standard to the philosophy of science. Such issues as confirmation and selection for testing, causality and time, explanation and the nature of scientific laws, the status of theoretical entities, the problem of demarcation, theory and observation, and science and values are discussed. Significantly revised, this second edition presents an entirely new section of quantum mechanics and mysticism including instructions from N. David Mermin for constructing a device which dramatically illustrates the genuinely puzzling phenomena of quantum mechanics. A more complete and current review of research on astrology has been included in this new edition, and the section on the problem of demarcation has been broadened.
Download or read book Court Government and the Collapse of Accountability in Canada and the United Kingdom written by Donald Savoie and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2008-05-10 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is a consensus throughout much of the western world that the public sector is in urgent need of repair. This study seeks to understand why this is so by comparing developments in Canada and the United Kingdom. It looks to changes in values both in society and inside government, and to the relationships between politicians and civil servants at the top and between civil servants and citizens at the bottom. Donald J. Savoie argues that both Canada and the UK now operate under court government rather than cabinet government. By court government, he means that effective power now rests with their respective prime ministers and a small group of carefully selected courtiers. For things that matter to prime ministers and their courts, the decision-making process shifts from formal to informal, involving only a handful of actors. For things that matter less to them, the decision-making process is horizontal, cumbersome, and consultative, and involves a multitude of actors from different government departments and agencies as well as a variety of individuals operating outside government. Court governments undermine both the traditionally bureaucratic model and basic principles that have guided the development of our Westminster-Whitehall parliamentary system. Nonetheless, Canada and the United Kingdom still cling to accountability requirements better suited to the past and the traditional bureaucratic model. Savoie concludes with a call for new accountability requirements that correspond with court government as well as the new relationships between politicians and civil servants, and civil servants and citizens.
Download or read book The Collapse of Communist Power in Poland written by Jacqueline Hayden and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2006-03-23 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on extensive original research, including interviews with key participants, this book investigates the sudden and unforeseen collapse of communist power in Poland in 1989. It sets out the sequence of events, and examines the strategies of the various political groupings prior to the partially free election of June 1989. This volume argues that the specific negotiating strategies adopted by the communist party representatives in the Round Table discussions before the elections was a key factor in communism’s collapse. The book shows that on many occasions, PZPR decision-makers ignored expert advice, and many Round Table bargains went against the party’s best interests. Using in-depth interviews with major party players, including General Jaruzelski, General Kiszczak and Mieczyslaw Rakowski, as well as Solidarity advisors such as Adam Michnik, the text provides a unique source of first-hand accounts of Poland’s revolutionary drama.
Download or read book Risk Uncertainty and Rational Action written by Carlo C. Jaeger and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-11-05 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Risk as we now know it is a wholly new phenomenon, the by-product of our ever more complex and powerful technologies. In business, policy making, and in everyday life, it demands a new way of looking at technological and environmental uncertainty. In this definitive volume, four of the world's leading risk researchers present a fundamental critique of the prevailing approaches to understanding and managing risk - the 'rational actor paradigm'. They show how risk studies must incorporate the competing interests, values, and rationalities of those involved and find a balance of trust and acceptable risk. Their work points to a comprehensive and significant new theory of risk and uncertainty and of the decision making process they require. The implications for social, political, and environmental theory and practice are enormous. Winner of the 2000-2002 Outstanding Publication Award of the Section on Environment and Technology of the American Sociological Association
Download or read book Pathologies of Rational Choice Theory written by Donald Green and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1994-09-28 with total page 415 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first comprehensive critical evaluation of the use of rational choice theory in political science. Writing in an accessible and nontechnical style, Donald P. Green and Ian Shapiro assess rational choice theory where it is reputed to be most successful: the study of collective action, the behavior of political parties and politicians, and such phenomena as voting cycles and Prisoner's Dilemmas. In their hard-hitting critique, Green and Shapiro demonstrate that the much heralded achievements of rational choice theory are in fact deeply suspect and that fundamental rethinking is needed if rational choice theorists are to contribute to the understanding of politics. In their final chapters, they anticipate and respond to a variety of possible rational choice responses to their arguments, thereby initiating a dialogue that is bound to continue for some time.
Download or read book Physics of expanded consciousness written by and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Kent s Mechanical Engineers Handbook written by William Kent and published by . This book was released on 1923 with total page 1450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
