Competing Conceptions of Modern Desert: Vengeful, Deontological, and Empirical

"[S]ettling for empirical desert because we can readily ascertain it is a bit like searching

principle." This labelling is somewhat confusing given that desert as a limiting principle is neither new, having blossomed most recently with Norval Morris several decades ago, nor compatible with empirical desert. The latter provides a specific punishment amount, while the former claims that desert can only identify the extremes that mark the outer boundaries of a broad range of punishment. S...

The Role of Moral Philosophers in the Competition Between Deontological and Empirical Desert

Justifying Patents: A Critique of the Deontological Approach

This thesis assesses philosophical arguments in favour of patent systems. These come in both consequentialist and deontological forms, the latter of which are the focus of this analysis. One kind of deontological argument is based on the concept of desert. I argue that on any plausible conception of desert, the patent system fails to distribute rewards as well as viable alternative systems coul...

بررسی دیدگاه‌ اعضای انجمن‌های علمی کشور درباره ویژگی‌های ماهیتی علم

Abstract: The goal of this paper is the study of Iranian members of scientific associations’ (physics, chemistry, biology, and geology) conceptions of nature of science. These aspects are tentativeness, empirical basis, creativity, subjectivity, socio-cultural issues, observation/interpretation and theory/law. Participants include 19 subjects of scientific association’s members. In order to co...

Does Neuroscience Undermine Deontological Moral Theory?

Joshua Greene has argued that several lines of empirical research, including his own fMRI studies of brain activity during moral decisionmaking, comprise strong evidence against the legitimacy of deontology as a moral theory. This is because, Greene maintains, the empirical studies establish that “typically deontological” moral thinking is driven by prepotent emotional reactions which are not a...