The academic boycott against Israeli academics is often justified on the basis of Israeli human r... more The academic boycott against Israeli academics is often justified on the basis of Israeli human rights violations. Against this reasoning this article defends a politics of academic boycott in a narrower, self-contained sense, which is based on the traditional idea of the academic community as a truth-directed social collective. Against postmodern critics this idea is defended by recourse to Charles Peirce's idea of the scientific community. With this idea of academic freedom in hand Judith Butler and the PACBI appeal for the boycott are criticised. Also, a more precise criterion as to when academics can be seen to be ‘complicit’ with an evil politics is suggested in the essay.
Does morality need unification? And if so, with what? Such a reaction may be the usual one, presu... more Does morality need unification? And if so, with what? Such a reaction may be the usual one, presupposing that morality is no more than something normative with a specific content. But this would be a very abstract way to represent morality. The "normative", whatever it is, must be connected with something material. How else should a moral thought be able to cause our behaviour, at least sometimes? How else should Bruno's striking the dog be less admirable than Bruno's fondling the dog-Bruno's hand being involved in both? If we want to explain how moral causes or how moral judgements relate, something nonnormative has to be allowed into the picture. If so, however, we face problems ahead: what is meant by the normative and the nonnormative, and how could they be related, it not identified? Regarding my title, I take "unification" minimally to be a state or process of coming together, not necessarily of merging. Identity is one kind of unity, correlation or concomitance is another and perhaps the more usual one. This at least is the form of unity searched for in the following.
Could it be that human rights have come into existence not, as standard history would have it, by... more Could it be that human rights have come into existence not, as standard history would have it, by the discovery of ‘human reason,’ but rather through the influence of a religion-based ‘sacredness’ of the human person? This is what Hans Joas in his book
The degradation of natural resources in the environment is, technically speaking, a form of deple... more The degradation of natural resources in the environment is, technically speaking, a form of depleting a public good. Public goods are notorious for free-riding among egoists, but the marginality of individual contributions provides no less an obstacle, both to moral duty and motivation. This article discusses the problems of minimized and missing causal involvement on the empirical side; and, in the applicability of classical moral arguments, on the ethical side. It. suggests that individual responsibility is derived on the basis of implicit advantage-taking from participation in collective action.
The academic boycott against Israeli academics is often justified on the basis of Israeli human r... more The academic boycott against Israeli academics is often justified on the basis of Israeli human rights violations. Against this reasoning this article defends a politics of academic boycott in a narrower, self-contained sense, which is based on the traditional idea of the academic community as a truth-directed social collective. Against postmodern critics this idea is defended by recourse to Charles Peirce's idea of the scientific community. With this idea of academic freedom in hand Judith Butler and the PACBI appeal for the boycott are criticised. Also, a more precise criterion as to when academics can be seen to be ‘complicit’ with an evil politics is suggested in the essay.
Does morality need unification? And if so, with what? Such a reaction may be the usual one, presu... more Does morality need unification? And if so, with what? Such a reaction may be the usual one, presupposing that morality is no more than something normative with a specific content. But this would be a very abstract way to represent morality. The "normative", whatever it is, must be connected with something material. How else should a moral thought be able to cause our behaviour, at least sometimes? How else should Bruno's striking the dog be less admirable than Bruno's fondling the dog-Bruno's hand being involved in both? If we want to explain how moral causes or how moral judgements relate, something nonnormative has to be allowed into the picture. If so, however, we face problems ahead: what is meant by the normative and the nonnormative, and how could they be related, it not identified? Regarding my title, I take "unification" minimally to be a state or process of coming together, not necessarily of merging. Identity is one kind of unity, correlation or concomitance is another and perhaps the more usual one. This at least is the form of unity searched for in the following.
Could it be that human rights have come into existence not, as standard history would have it, by... more Could it be that human rights have come into existence not, as standard history would have it, by the discovery of ‘human reason,’ but rather through the influence of a religion-based ‘sacredness’ of the human person? This is what Hans Joas in his book
The degradation of natural resources in the environment is, technically speaking, a form of deple... more The degradation of natural resources in the environment is, technically speaking, a form of depleting a public good. Public goods are notorious for free-riding among egoists, but the marginality of individual contributions provides no less an obstacle, both to moral duty and motivation. This article discusses the problems of minimized and missing causal involvement on the empirical side; and, in the applicability of classical moral arguments, on the ethical side. It. suggests that individual responsibility is derived on the basis of implicit advantage-taking from participation in collective action.
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