Metaphysical and Cultural Aspects

Recent Developments and Cultural Aspects

For the purpose of this presentation, I will roughly divide mathematics into four large areas: fundamental mathematics, mathematics as the language of theoretical physics, mathematical modeling, and mathematics of modern information and communication technology (computers and networks). This subdivision reflects differences in values more than in content, but exactly for this reason it is relev...

Cultural aspects of telepsychiatry.

Telepsychiatry may involve working with clinicians, patients and systems of care that are both geographically and culturally distinct. In this context, culturally appropriate care is an important component of telepsychiatry. The outline for cultural formulation from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) provides general principles for addressing these issues. Two co...

Nonlinearity and metaphysical emergence

Sentimentalism and Metaphysical Beliefs

This essay first introduces the moral sense theories of Francis Hutcheson, David Hume, and Adam Smith, and clarifies important differences between them. It then examines whether moral judgment based on the moral sense or moral sentiments varies according to one’s metaphysical beliefs. For this, the essay mainly applies those theories to such issues as stem cell research, abortion, and active eu...

Metaphysical Realism and Thought

In this paper I identify some unexplored implications of content externalism. The implications can be traced to the role that metaphysical realism plays in some of the standard arguments for content externalism. I do not regard these implications as undermining the case for externalism. I identify them, rather, as part of an attempt at honest accounting: the revisionary nature of content extern...