Persson's Merely Possible Persons

Merely lights and wires?

Existence: who needs it? The non-identity problem and merely possible people.

In formulating procreative principles, it makes sense to begin by thinking about whose interests ought to matter to us. Obviously, we care about those who exist. Less obviously, but still uncontroversially, we care about those who will exist. Ought we to care about those who might possibly, but will not actually, exist? Recently, unusual positions have been taken regarding merely possible peopl...

Treating Others Merely as Means

In the Formula of Humanity, Kant embraces the principle that it is wrong for us to treat others merely as means. For contemporary Kantian ethicists, this Mere Means Principle plays the role of a moral constraint: it limits what we may do, even in the service of promoting the overall good. But substantive interpretations of the principle generate implausible results in relatively ordinary cases....

Linked Data Is Merely More Data

In this position paper, we argue that the Linked Open Data (LoD) Cloud, in its current form, is only of limited value for furthering the Semantic Web vision. Being merely a weakly linked “triple collection,” it will only be of very limited benefit for the AI or Semantic Web communities. We describe the corresponding problems with the LoD Cloud and give directions for research to remedy the situ...

Hypoxia: not merely a regulator of angiogenesis?

Introduction Maintaining oxygen homeostasis is of vital importance for the survival and development of mammalian cells. Hypoxia (below-normal levels of oxygen in air, blood and tissue) can potentially lead to cellular dysfunction and ultimately cell death and is a feature of many pathological conditions. Understanding how reduced oxygen levels may contribute to or even promote disease is a sign...