scholarly journals Digital Archaeological Ethics: Successes and Failures in Disciplinary Attention

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 210-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Meghan Dennis
Keyword(s):  
Archaeological Ethics ◽  
Successes And Failures

The orbitofrontal cartographer

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew P H Gardner ◽  
Geoffrey Schoenbaum
Keyword(s):  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Cognitive Map ◽  
Credit Assignment ◽  
General Consensus ◽  
Future Events ◽  
Causal Structures ◽  
Precise Content ◽  
Successes And Failures

Theories of orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) function have evolved substantially over the last few decades. There is now a general consensus that the OFC is important for predicting aspects of future events and for using these predictions to guide behavior. Yet the precise content of these predictions and the degree to which OFC contributes to agency contingent upon them has become contentious, with several plausible theories advocating different answers to these questions. In this review we will focus on three of these ideas - the economic value, credit assignment, and cognitive map hypotheses – describing both their successes and failures. We will propose that these failures hint at a more nuanced role for the OFC in supporting the proposed functions when an underlying model or map of the causal structures in the environment must be constructed or updated.

Hard Questions

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Kekes
Keyword(s):  
Absolute Value ◽  
Learning From Others ◽  
Successes And Failures

The hard questions are: Is there an absolute value? Must we conform? Do we owe what our country asks of us? Is justice necessary? How should we respond to evil? Is it right to forgive wrong actions? Is shame good? Should we be true to who we are? Do good intentions justify bad actions? Should moral evaluations be overriding? These questions are hard because each has several reasonable but conflicting answers. Their conflicts show that we are ambivalent about what answer we should give when we have to make important decisions whose consequences affect us, our relationships, and our attitude to the society we live in. The aim of this book is to show how hard questions can be reasonably answered. Comparisons are central to the approach of this book. Each chapter is concerned with two conflicting answers that have been given to one of the hard questions by those who had to face the question in different anthropological, historical, and literary contexts. These comparisons are central to the evaluations of the answers. They enable us to learn from the successes and failures of others how we can form a deeper understanding of the reasons for and against the answers we might give. The comparisons enlarge how we see the possibilities and limits of life. By learning from others, we can decide more reasonably how we should respond to the hard questions we face.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document