Indeterminism Indeterminism is the concept that events (certain events, or events of certain types) are not caused, or not caused deterministically (cf. causality) by prior events. It is the opposite of determinism and related to chance. It is highly relevant to the philosophical problem of free will, particularly in the form of metaphysical libertarianism. In science, most specifically quantum theory in physics, indeterminism is the belief that no event is certain and the entire outcome of anything is a probability. Causation without determinism[edit] A number of philosophers have argued that lack of determinism does not entail absence of causation. Necessary but insufficient causation[edit] Indeterminists do not have to deny that causes exist. If x is a necessary cause of y; then the presence of y necessarily implies that x preceded it. If x is a sufficient cause of y, then the presence of x necessarily implies the presence of y. Probabilistic causation[edit] Philosophy[edit] Aristotle[edit] John D.
Liberal From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Liberal may refer to: Politics[edit] Economics[edit] Laissez-faire, an economic environment in which the government limits itself to enforcing private property rights and transactions between private parties are free from tariffs, government subsidies, and enforced monopoliesNeoliberalism, a contemporary free-market political-economic philosophyOrdoliberalism, a German variant of neoliberalism that emphasises the need for the state to ensure that the free market produces results close to its theoretical potential Places[edit] United States[edit] Elsewhere[edit] Liberal, Canada Other uses[edit] See also[edit] Determinism Determinism is the philosophical position that for every event, including human action, there exist conditions that could cause no other event. "There are many determinisms, depending upon what pre-conditions are considered to be determinative of an event."[1] Deterministic theories throughout the history of philosophy have sprung from diverse and sometimes overlapping motives and considerations. Some forms of determinism can be empirically tested with ideas from physics and the philosophy of physics. Other debates often concern the scope of determined systems, with some maintaining that the entire universe is a single determinate system and others identifying other more limited determinate systems (or multiverse). Varieties[edit] Below appear some of the more common viewpoints meant by, or confused with "determinism". Many philosophical theories of determinism frame themselves with the idea that reality follows a sort of predetermined path Philosophical connections[edit] History[edit]
Liberalism Liberalism is a political philosophy or worldview founded on ideas of liberty and equality.[1] Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally they support ideas such as free and fair elections, civil rights, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, free trade, and private property.[2][3][4][5][6] Etymology and definition[edit] Words such as liberal, liberty, libertarian, and libertine all trace their history to the Latin liber, which means "free".[13] One of the first recorded instances of the word liberal occurs in 1375, when it was used to describe the liberal arts in the context of an education desirable for a free-born man.[13] The word's early connection with the classical education of a medieval university soon gave way to a proliferation of different denotations and connotations. History[edit] Beginnings[edit] Glorious Revolution[edit] Era of enlightenment[edit] American revolution[edit]
Incompatibilism Contradiction of free will and determinism Incompatibilism is the view that the thesis of determinism is logically incompatible with the classical thesis of free will. The term was coined in the 1960s, most likely by philosopher Keith Lehrer.[1][2] The term compatibilism was coined (also by Lehrer) to name the view that the classical free will thesis is logically compatible with determinism, i.e. it is possible for an ordinary human to exercise free will (the freedom-relevant ability to do otherwise), even in a universe where determinism is true. Definition[edit] On one recent taxonomy, there are now at least three substantively different, non-classical uses of the term incompatibilism, namely: neo-classical incompatibilism, post-classical incompatibilism (a.k.a. incompossibilism), and anti-classical incompatibilism. Libertarianism[edit] Hard determinism[edit] Moral implications[edit] Hard incompatibilism[edit] Experimental research[edit] See also[edit] References[edit]
Military simulation Military simulations, also known informally as war games, are simulations in which theories of warfare can be tested and refined without the need for actual hostilities. Many professional analysts object to the term wargames as this is generally taken to be referring to the civilian hobby, thus the preference for the term simulation. Simulations exist in many different forms, with varying degrees of realism. In recent times, the scope of simulations has widened to include not only military but also political and social factors, which are seen as inextricably entwined in a realistic warfare model. Whilst many governments make use of simulation, both individually and collaboratively, little is known about it outside professional circles. The simulation spectrum[edit] Military Simulations range from field exercises through computer simulations to analytical models; the realism of live manoeuvres is countered by the economy of abstract simulations[1] Heuristic or stochastic?
Ted Honderich Ted Honderich (born 30 January 1933) is a Canadian-born British philosopher, Grote Professor Emeritus of the Philosophy of Mind and Logic, University College London.[1] His work has been mainly about five things: consciousness and mind, including the consciousness–brain relation; right and wrong in the contemporary world particularly with democracy, terrorism and war; advocacy of the Principle of Humanity; determinism and freedom; particular problems in logical analysis and metaphysics; the supposed justification of punishment by the state; the political tradition of conservatism. He has given lectures and talks in British, continental European, Irish, American, Canadian, Asian, Russian, and African universities. Biography[edit] Honderich was born Edgar Dawn Ross Honderich on 30 January 1933 in Baden, Ontario, Canada. His papers in philosophical journals have been published in three volumes by Edinburgh University Press. Consciousness[edit] Determinism and freedom[edit] Punishment[edit]
Could China, Russia Rescue Iran? Iran’s leadership may be hoping that Beijing and Moscow will step in and help it with the West. But it’s not in their interests to do so. Vladimir Putin has returned to the Russian presidential office. This comes at a time when U.S. relations with China have been tense. Against this backdrop, China and Russia are both veto wielding members of the U.N. Indeed, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will likely have used his meetings with Putin and senior Chinese officials on the sidelines of this week’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit for this very purpose. The likely answer is: not much. Of course, Putin can be expected to crank up the rhetoric in challenging U.S. policies, especially those tied to new sanctions against Iran. Iran is a Russian competitor in the global energy market, and the less oil Iran is allowed to sell, the more scope there will be for Russia to step in. The most important reason is China’s slowing economy.
Free will Though it is a commonly held intuition that we have free will,[3] it has been widely debated throughout history not only whether that is true, but even how to define the concept of free will.[4] How exactly must the will be free, what exactly must the will be free from, in order for us to have free will? Historically, the constraint of dominant concern has been determinism of some variety (such as logical, nomological, or theological), so the two most prominent common positions are named incompatibilist or compatibilist for the relation they hold to exist between free will and determinism. In Western philosophy[edit] The underlying issue is: Do we have some control over our actions, and if so, what sort of control, and to what extent? On one hand, humans have a strong sense of freedom, which leads us to believe that we have free will.[13][14] On the other hand, an intuitive feeling of free will could be mistaken.[15][16] Incompatibilism[edit] Using T, F for "true" and "false" and ? [edit]
Romney vs Obama on Iran Well, let’s — let’s start back from there and let’s talk about where we are. This is, of course, President Obama’s greatest failing, from a foreign policy standpoint, which is he recognized the gravest threat that America and the world faced as — and faced was a nuclear Iran and he did not do what was necessary to get Iran to be dissuaded from their nuclear folly. What he should have done is speak out when dissidents took to the streets and say America is with you and work on a covert basis to encourage the dissidents. Number two, he should have put — put in place crippling sanctions against Iran. But instead of getting Russia, for instance, to when — when he gave in our — our missile defense system, to agree to — to stand with those crippling sanctions, he gave Russia what they wanted, their number one foreign policy objective, and got nothing in return... ... ...
The Oxford Companion to Philosophy The Oxford Companion to Philosophy (1995; second edition 2005) is a reference work in philosophy edited by Ted Honderich and published by Oxford University Press. The second edition included some 300 new entries. The new edition has over 2,200 entries and 291 contributors. Publication history[edit] Honderich, Ted (ed.). References[edit] Spurrett, David (Nov 1996). External links[edit] The OUP page for the Oxford Companion to Philosophy second edition Media bias in the United States Media bias in the United States occurs when the media in the United States systematically present a particular point of view. Claims of media bias in the United States include claims of liberal bias, conservative bias, mainstream bias, and corporate bias. There are claims of bias in both news and entertainment media. There are a variety of watchdog groups that attempt to find the facts behind both biased reporting and unfounded claims of bias,[1][2] and research about media bias is a subject of systematic scholarship in a variety of disciplines. History[edit] Before the rise of professional journalism in the early 1900s, and the conception of media ethics, newspapers reflected the opinions of the publisher. In 1728 Benjamin Franklin, writing under the pseudonym "Busy-Body", wrote an article for the American Weekly Mercury advocating the printing of more paper money. Demographic polling[edit] News values[edit] Profit motive bias[edit] Pro-power and pro-government bias[edit] Edward S.