Defending the Semantic Interpretation: A Reply to Ferraro

In a recent article in this journal, Giuseppe Ferraro mounted a sustained attack on the semantic interpretation of the Madhyamaka doctrine of emptiness, an interpretation that has been championed by the authors. The present paper is their reply to that attack.     

理解他人：道德教育的哲学视域

理解他人既是发展人际关系的基本前提,也是道德教育的基本目标之一,尤其是在物质主义和个人主义盛行的社会转型期,人与人之间的疏离、冷漠、紧张甚至冲突的现象愈加严重,彰显理解他人的道德意义更加必要。笔者对理解他人的必要性;理解他人的可能性和如何理解他人三个问题进行了哲学思考,并在理解他人与自我价值的实现之间建立起内在的统一关系。     

Measurement and Other Errors in County-Level UCR Data: A Reply to Lott and Whitley

Lott and Whitley note that our analyses of the errors in the county-level UCR data used in More Guns, Less Crime (J. R. Lott, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1998, 2000) ignore the fact that all data have measurement error, that the largest errors were in counties with low populations, and that population-weighted regressions were used. We agree that this mitigates some of the effects of the errors, but does not take them fully into account. We also note that this is but one of the problems associated with the analysis. We therefore find no reason to alter our original conclusion, that in their current condition, county-level UCR crime statistics cannot be used for evaluating the effects of changes in policy.     

Moral Convictions Often Override Concerns About Procedural Fairness: A Reply to Napier and Tyler

Napier and Tyler (this issue) question whether moral convictions about outcomes really override the influence of procedural fairness (PF) on fairness judgments and decision acceptance. The empirical answer to this question is “yes.” When people have strong moral convictions about outcomes, perceptions of outcome fairness and decision acceptance are primarily shaped by whether the morally “correct” outcomes are achieved. Pre-decision perceptions of PF have surprisingly little or no effect on these judgments. That said, pre-outcome perceptions of PF sometimes predict post-outcome perceptions of PF, even when people have morally vested outcome preferences. We provide further details supporting the validity and superiority of our data analytic approach and argue that our original conclusions were justified.

Defending the sanctity of life principle: a reply to John Keown

This article is a response to Professor John Keown's criticism of my article "Finding a Way Through the Ethical and Legal Maze: Withdrawal of Medical Treatment and Euthanasia" (2005) 13(3) Medical Law Review 357. The article takes up and responds to a number of criticisms raised by Keown in an attempt to further the debate concerning the moral and legal status of withdrawing life-sustaining measures, its distinction from euthanasia, and the implications of the lawfulness of withdrawal for the principle of the sanctity of life.     

Prosecuting and Defending Diplomats as War Criminals: Ribbentrop at the Nuremberg Trials

This article considers the question of holding foreign ministers responsible for war crimes. A recent decision by the International Court of Justice, the Arrest Warrant case, Congo v Belgium, appears to have diluted the developing international customary rule that suspends immunity when a grave international crime has been committed. This article suggests that the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal decision in the Ribbentrop Case constitutes a precedent for how international criminal law should interpret the nature and scope of the immunity for foreign ministers. As a successful prosecution of Hitler’s former foreign minister, it is remarkable how little attention has been paid to this aspect of the Ribbentrop Case given that it was a path-breaking decision. For that reason, the present article is a case study of this example where prosecutors at an international criminal tribunal were able to successfully prosecute a foreign minister in a manner that may, therefore, still prove instructive given the existing legal position following the Arrest Warrant Case. The article considers in detail how Ribbentrop’s defence lawyers constructed a series of arguments that the prosecution were, however, largely able to demolish through resort to a variety of strategies. Dr Michael Salter is Professor of Law at the Lancashire Law School, University of Central Lancashire, United Kingdom; Dr Lorie Charlesworth is Senior Lecturer at the Law School, Liverpool John Moores University, United Kingdom.     

论精神损害赔偿中的附从性规则——僭越事实的形成、演进与破解

精神损害赔偿中的附从性规则,是精神损害赔偿中颇具独特性的规则。尽管畅行于多国精神损害赔偿实践并起着事实上的基础性作用,附从性规则却一直未能取得与其实际作用相一致的地位。精神损害附从性规则未能反映法律的内在价值,其重要地位的形成,是法律向现实妥协的结果,这注定了其永不可能跃升为精神损害赔偿的基本原则。但当纯粹精神损害的确定成为可能时,对附从性规则的突破就成为大势所趋。正确认识精神损害赔偿的附从性规则,对于《侵权责任法》确立合适的精神损害赔偿范围具有重要意义。     

Structured Community Activities and Moral Engagement as Deterrents to Youth Violence: a Mediation Analysis

This study assessed whether youth involvement in structured community activities (scouting, team sports, volunteer work, and church-related endeavors) and a morally engaged belief system deterred future aggressive behavior in 1170 male delinquents. It was hypothesized that moral engagement would mediate the relationship between involvement in structured community activities and aggression but involvement in structured community activities would not mediate the relationship between moral engagement and aggression. A three-wave path analysis, in which structured community activities and moral engagement were cross-lagged at Waves 0 (baseline) and 1 and correlated with aggression at Wave 2, provided support for this hypothesis. Results showed that involvement in structured community activities encouraged moral engagement, which, in turn, inhibited aggressive behavior. Consistent with previous research, a social cognitive factor (moral engagement) did a significantly better job of mediating behavior (involvement in structured community activities) than behavior did of mediating a social cognitive factor.     

Distance,Determinacy and the Duty to Aid: A Reply to Kamm

Law and Philosophy -     

行政诉讼撤诉:问题与对策

撤诉是当事人对诉权进行处分的重要体现,也是法院终结诉讼的重要方式,目前甚至成为主要方式。有些是当事人自愿撤诉,有些是由于被告改变具体行政行为而撤诉,也有的是当事人迫于压力撤诉。原因既有传统法律文化的影响,又有政治体制的因素,还有行政诉讼制度设计本身存在的问题。所以,建构科学的行政诉讼撤诉制度对实现行政诉讼目的有重要意义。     

Vice is Nice But Incest is Best: The Problem of a Moral Taboo

Incest is a crime in most societies. In the United States, incest is punishable in almost every state with sentences going as far as 20 and 30 years in prison, and even a life sentence. Yet the reasons traditionally proffered in justification of criminalization of incest—respecting religion and universal tradition; avoiding genetic abnormalities; protecting the family unit; preventing sexual abuse and sexual imposition; and precluding immorality—at a close examination, reveal their under- and over-inclusiveness, inconsistency or outright inadequacy. It appears that the true reason behind the long history of the incest laws is the feeling of repulsion and disgust this tabooed practice tends to evoke in the majority of population. However, in the absence of wrongdoing, neither a historic taboo nor the sense of repulsion and disgust legitimizes criminalization of an act.     

Other people's money: a reply to the Joint Commission

In a response to Professor Liang's earlier article expressing concern regarding the Joint Commission's Sentinel Event Policy ("SEP"), the General Counsel of the Joint Commission disagreed with the criticisms of the SEP. In this Comment, Professor Liang replies to the Commission's position, indicates that resources devoted to legal issues created by the SEP are not available for patient safety, and that the goal of patient safety may be better served by focusing on near misses rather than sentinel events. Finally, he concludes that the Joint Commission and its critics have the same ultimate goal, and that a cooperative approach which includes federal legislation to protect safety information is essential.     

Systematic Interpretation and the Re-systematization of Law: The Problem,Co-requisites,a Solution,Use

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique - A renewed search for legal certainty is a reaction to the preponderance of judge made law, which...