Articles by Lawrence Hinman
The Monist
This is a contribution to The Monist issue on Philosophy and Style, and in this piece I argue aga... more This is a contribution to The Monist issue on Philosophy and Style, and in this piece I argue against the received view that philosophical style is, at best, irrelevant and, at worst, a detriment to philosophical work. I explore ways in which the stylistic dimensions of philosophical works are not reducible to their cognitive content. The works of Kierkegaard, Wittgenstein, and Heidegger are discussed.
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This paper explores the contradictions that result from B. F. Skinner's radical determinism. The... more This paper explores the contradictions that result from B. F. Skinner's radical determinism. The basic argument of the argument is that such determinism is not only unable to justify itself, but unable to provide an epistemic foundation for scientific truth.
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Metaphilosophy, 1975
An analysis of the notion of education as a commodity and its implications for the ways in which ... more An analysis of the notion of education as a commodity and its implications for the ways in which we can philosophize in the classroom.
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International Studies in Philosophy, 1984
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Computers & Society. ACM special interest group on computers and society (SIGCAS), Mar 2002
Afcer analyzing five values (honesty; fairness; trust; respect;
and responsibility) that are con... more Afcer analyzing five values (honesty; fairness; trust; respect;
and responsibility) that are constitutive of academic
integrity, this paper considers moral challenges to academic
integrity char are posed by the World Wide Web
in three areas: student integrity, faculty integrity, and
institutional integrity.
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Philosophy and Social Criticism
in the 1844 manuscripts and the notes on Mill's Elements of Political Economy, Marx provides the ... more in the 1844 manuscripts and the notes on Mill's Elements of Political Economy, Marx provides the basis for both a theory of the alienated character of play and leisure in capitalist society and an indication of the characteristics of unalienated play and leisure. In the first section of this paper, I construct Marx's implicit theory of alienated play and leisure in capitalist society, expanding on certain aspects of the problem which have become especially important in contemporary American society and briefly sketching the relationship between alienated work and alienated leisure activity (play). The second section contains a development of Marx's notion of unalienated leisure and play, also based primarily on his early writings, in which the unity of work and play in unalienated praxis will be emphasized. It will be shown that Marx's position involves an overcoming of the dichotomy between work and play found in capitalist society and a rethinking of the traditional categories in terms of which work and play as forms of human activity are understood. This discussion leads to the question of whether there is any meaningful distinction between work and play in their unalienated forms. In the third section, I consider some possible reasons for rejecting the view of the identity of unalienated work and play, including some which Marx himself seems to have had in mind when writing Das Kapital. It will be shown that these objections can be successfully met when one takes into consideration the dialectical notion of human needs present in Marx's early writings.
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Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Dec 1982
In this paper I argue that <i>ad hominem</i> arguments are not necessarily fallacious, and explor... more In this paper I argue that <i>ad hominem</i> arguments are not necessarily fallacious, and explore a number of examples. In addition, I argue that one's stance on such fallacies is intimately related to one's more fundamental philosophical orientation.
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Man and World, Aug 1975
This separation of work and leisure is questionable for several reasons, and in the following pag... more This separation of work and leisure is questionable for several reasons, and in the following pages I would like to txplore some of the problems cobnected with this separation. The basic question here is this: as long as there is a division between work and leisure, can either one become fully meaningful and fully human? I shall argue that they cannot, maintaining 1. that the alleged necessary senility of work is based on an inadequate understanding of the nature of human needs, 2. that the separation of work and leisure
results not only in alienated labor but in the trivialization of leisure, and 3. that those positions which maintain a strict division between work and leisure destroy the dialectical relationship between the intrinsic and extrinsic meaning, purposes and values of human acts and thereby prevent leisure from transforming the everyday world. Work and play are not two kinds of activity which are necessarily separate: but rather two different aspects of human acti\'ity. This activity, when encountered in its fullness, goes beyond the traditional categories of work and play. Only then we see the full implications and limitations of understanding and categorizing human activity as either work or play will we be able to advance beyond the difficulties encountered in the contemporary discussions of this problem and move toward transcending the dichotomy which exists between work and play on both the theoretical and the practical levels.
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Moral Dilemmas Philosophical and Psychological Issues in the Development of Moral Reasoning, 1985
This paper argues for the positive importance of the emotions in the moral life and their cogniti... more This paper argues for the positive importance of the emotions in the moral life and their cognitive dimension in this context. Once the importance of the emotions is recognized, we then explore the way in which emotions can be educated.
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Philosophy, Jul 1983
I outline the standard interpretation of \Vittgenstein's remarks on forms of life, consider the t... more I outline the standard interpretation of \Vittgenstein's remarks on forms of life, consider the textual basis for such a reading of Wittgenstein, present a more consistent reading of the texts, place the problem of forms of life within a wider philosophical context, and show the ways in which it is indeed possible to say that a form of life is wrong. In the process, I shall note some important similarities between Wittgenstein's actual position, Quine's
analysis of scientific knowledge, and Hans-Georg Gadamer's claims about the fusion of horizons.
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In a series of articles Paul Edwards criticized Heidegger's analysis of being-toward-death, maint... more In a series of articles Paul Edwards criticized Heidegger's analysis of being-toward-death, maintaining that Heidegger's position is false, meaningless, or trivial. I defend Heidegger's analysis of being-toward death, showing both its meaningfulness and its importance.
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Ethics, Vol. 89, No. 3, pp. 292-297., Apr 1979
This paper presents a critique of Max Hocutt's attempt to defend a naturalistic Skinnerian accoun... more This paper presents a critique of Max Hocutt's attempt to defend a naturalistic Skinnerian account of ethics in which "the good" is extensionally equivalent to "the positively reinforcing." I offer several reasons for rejecting such an account.
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Evan Y. Snyder, Lawrence M. Hinman, Michael W. Kalichman, "Can science resolve the ethical impasse in stem cell research?" Nature Biotechnology, Volume 24, Number 4 (April 2006), pp. 397-400., 2006
This paper examines one way in which science may be able to resolve the ethical impasse surroundi... more This paper examines one way in which science may be able to resolve the ethical impasse surrounding the use of human embryonic stem cells in research and therapy.
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a short version of this paper was published in Glocalisation: Bridging the Global Nature of Information and Communication Technology and the Local Nature of Human Beings Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference (Global e-SCM Research Center, Meiji University, 2007)., 2007
For the last ten years, Tim Berners-Lee and others have been advocating the development of a set ... more For the last ten years, Tim Berners-Lee and others have been advocating the development of a set of standards that, taken together, have come to be known as the Semantic Web. The goal of the semantic web is fundamentally to make the web “machine readable,” that is, to allow computers crawling the web to recognize the kinds of data they are encountering. Although humans can easily recognize a phone number or address when they see one, computers typically cannot do this with a sufficiently high level of reliability. Making the Web machine-readable is done through a sophisticated system of meta-tags, and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3.org) has been gradually articulating these standards in ever-increasing detail.
In the following remarks, I would like to explore some of the ethical issues raised by this proposal, particularly as they relate to search engines. The focus on search engines is a natural fit here, since both search engines and the semantic web are responses to the problem of how best to access the desired portion of the incredibly vast amount of information on the web. As the amount of information on the web grows daily, it becomes proportionately difficult to sift through all the irrelevant information and to retrieve only that information which is relevant.
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Keynote Adresss, Australian Association for Professional and Applied Ethics, 2007. Australian Journal of Professional and Applied Ethics (vol. 9, number 2, Sept., 2007)
Although a handful of works discuss the role of imagination in the moral life, they are comparati... more Although a handful of works discuss the role of imagination in the moral life, they are comparatively few and far between. Moral imagination is a largely neglected topic in moral philosophy. In the following remarks, I would like to sketch out a view of its importance, the reasons for its neglect, and the specific ways in which it is crucial to living a flourishing moral life.
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IRIE, International Review of Information Ethics, Vol. 3 (6/2005), 19-25, 2005
"Search engines play an increasingly pivotal role in the distribution and eventual construction o... more "Search engines play an increasingly pivotal role in the distribution and eventual construction of knowledge,
yet they are largely unnoticed, their procedures are opaque, and they are almost completely devoid of independent
oversight. In this paper the author examines three areas in which we encounter difficult and persistent
ethical issues in search engine technology: The problem of algorithm and the lack of transparency of the
search process, the problem of privacy with regards of the possibility to monitor search histories, and the
problem of local censorship. The given findings lead to the conclusion that the development of structures of
accountability for search engines is an important task for the near future.
Introduction ............. 20
The Public Function and Responsibility of Search Engines........................................................................ 21
The Problem of the Algorithm ................................................ 22
The Politics of Searching: Privacy and Liberty ................... 23
Local Standards in a Global Village ....................... 23
Conclusion ............... 25"
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ICRA2009, The 2009 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, May 17, 2009. Kobe, Japan, 2009
Several countries—including Japan and South Korea, and now Norway—have already made formal commit... more Several countries—including Japan and South Korea, and now Norway—have already made formal commitments to encourage the use of social robots to assist in the care of the elderly; others are sure to follow. Such policies raise interesting and important ethical questions for those who design such robots, for policy makers who guide their deployment, and for those who face the prospect of interacting with them during the final years of their lives. The answers to these questions are not immediately evident, and they raise fundamental questions about the role of technology in our lives. I shall argue for the wise and judicious use of robots in this context and caution against some of the dangers inherent in this situation.
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Computing and Philosophy in Asia, edited by Soraj Hongladarom (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007), 135-142.
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International Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. XXIII, No. 1 (March, 1983), 77-89.
''Scientists and humanists should consider together," Edward Wilson suggested in Sociobiology: Th... more ''Scientists and humanists should consider together," Edward Wilson suggested in Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, "the possibility that the time has come for ethics to be removed temporarily from the hands of philosophers and biologized. There are strong indications that Wilson himself has not only considered this possibility, but has also to some extent undertaken this task. Not only are there a number of explicit as well as implicit moral judgments and comments on the foundations of moral theory in Sociobiology, but in his more recent work, On Human Nature, Wilson returns to these themes within a broader context. Taken together, these two works provide a good introduction to what such a "biologicized" ethic would be like. They reveal, moreover, a fundamental ambiguity in Wilson's own understanding of what is involved in the task of biologizing ethics. Such an ambiguity reveals, if not the continuing need for philosophers, at least an undiminished need for philosophical reflection.
After an initial consideration of the basic ambiguity in Wilson's position, I shall take up some of the consequences of this insofar as they are manifested in Wilson's understanding of the nature of moral theory, his analysis of specific moral concepts such ar. altruism, and his own reflections on the future relationship between ethics and sociobiology. I shall conclude with a brief indication of the necessary limits of any attempt to provide an ethic
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The Monist, Vol. 66, No. 2 (April, 1983), 251-67.
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Articles by Lawrence Hinman
and responsibility) that are constitutive of academic
integrity, this paper considers moral challenges to academic
integrity char are posed by the World Wide Web
in three areas: student integrity, faculty integrity, and
institutional integrity.
results not only in alienated labor but in the trivialization of leisure, and 3. that those positions which maintain a strict division between work and leisure destroy the dialectical relationship between the intrinsic and extrinsic meaning, purposes and values of human acts and thereby prevent leisure from transforming the everyday world. Work and play are not two kinds of activity which are necessarily separate: but rather two different aspects of human acti\'ity. This activity, when encountered in its fullness, goes beyond the traditional categories of work and play. Only then we see the full implications and limitations of understanding and categorizing human activity as either work or play will we be able to advance beyond the difficulties encountered in the contemporary discussions of this problem and move toward transcending the dichotomy which exists between work and play on both the theoretical and the practical levels.
analysis of scientific knowledge, and Hans-Georg Gadamer's claims about the fusion of horizons.
In the following remarks, I would like to explore some of the ethical issues raised by this proposal, particularly as they relate to search engines. The focus on search engines is a natural fit here, since both search engines and the semantic web are responses to the problem of how best to access the desired portion of the incredibly vast amount of information on the web. As the amount of information on the web grows daily, it becomes proportionately difficult to sift through all the irrelevant information and to retrieve only that information which is relevant.
yet they are largely unnoticed, their procedures are opaque, and they are almost completely devoid of independent
oversight. In this paper the author examines three areas in which we encounter difficult and persistent
ethical issues in search engine technology: The problem of algorithm and the lack of transparency of the
search process, the problem of privacy with regards of the possibility to monitor search histories, and the
problem of local censorship. The given findings lead to the conclusion that the development of structures of
accountability for search engines is an important task for the near future.
Introduction ............. 20
The Public Function and Responsibility of Search Engines........................................................................ 21
The Problem of the Algorithm ................................................ 22
The Politics of Searching: Privacy and Liberty ................... 23
Local Standards in a Global Village ....................... 23
Conclusion ............... 25"
After an initial consideration of the basic ambiguity in Wilson's position, I shall take up some of the consequences of this insofar as they are manifested in Wilson's understanding of the nature of moral theory, his analysis of specific moral concepts such ar. altruism, and his own reflections on the future relationship between ethics and sociobiology. I shall conclude with a brief indication of the necessary limits of any attempt to provide an ethic
and responsibility) that are constitutive of academic
integrity, this paper considers moral challenges to academic
integrity char are posed by the World Wide Web
in three areas: student integrity, faculty integrity, and
institutional integrity.
results not only in alienated labor but in the trivialization of leisure, and 3. that those positions which maintain a strict division between work and leisure destroy the dialectical relationship between the intrinsic and extrinsic meaning, purposes and values of human acts and thereby prevent leisure from transforming the everyday world. Work and play are not two kinds of activity which are necessarily separate: but rather two different aspects of human acti\'ity. This activity, when encountered in its fullness, goes beyond the traditional categories of work and play. Only then we see the full implications and limitations of understanding and categorizing human activity as either work or play will we be able to advance beyond the difficulties encountered in the contemporary discussions of this problem and move toward transcending the dichotomy which exists between work and play on both the theoretical and the practical levels.
analysis of scientific knowledge, and Hans-Georg Gadamer's claims about the fusion of horizons.
In the following remarks, I would like to explore some of the ethical issues raised by this proposal, particularly as they relate to search engines. The focus on search engines is a natural fit here, since both search engines and the semantic web are responses to the problem of how best to access the desired portion of the incredibly vast amount of information on the web. As the amount of information on the web grows daily, it becomes proportionately difficult to sift through all the irrelevant information and to retrieve only that information which is relevant.
yet they are largely unnoticed, their procedures are opaque, and they are almost completely devoid of independent
oversight. In this paper the author examines three areas in which we encounter difficult and persistent
ethical issues in search engine technology: The problem of algorithm and the lack of transparency of the
search process, the problem of privacy with regards of the possibility to monitor search histories, and the
problem of local censorship. The given findings lead to the conclusion that the development of structures of
accountability for search engines is an important task for the near future.
Introduction ............. 20
The Public Function and Responsibility of Search Engines........................................................................ 21
The Problem of the Algorithm ................................................ 22
The Politics of Searching: Privacy and Liberty ................... 23
Local Standards in a Global Village ....................... 23
Conclusion ............... 25"
After an initial consideration of the basic ambiguity in Wilson's position, I shall take up some of the consequences of this insofar as they are manifested in Wilson's understanding of the nature of moral theory, his analysis of specific moral concepts such ar. altruism, and his own reflections on the future relationship between ethics and sociobiology. I shall conclude with a brief indication of the necessary limits of any attempt to provide an ethic
received virtually no philosophical scrutiny. In this paper, I provide a
working definition of gossip, consider briefly the reasons why one gossips, and then turn to an assessment of the moral aspects of gossiping. While there are some good consequentalist reasons against gossiping in certain cases, the stronger considerations against gossip come primarily from the realm of virtue ethics. The necessary exclusion of the person being gossiped about from the conversation .raises serious questions about respect for that person. Moreover, the predominantly negative character of the evaluations given in gossip is good reason for being suspicious of the character of the gossiper, especially of the habitual gossiper. Magnaminity, fairness, and compassion seem to be some of the virtues which are usually absent from gossip; mean-spiritedness, an unjustified sense of moral superiority, and ill-will toward those being gossiped about seem to be frequently associated with gossip.
and perhaps the best way of introducing the paper is to place it within the context of the larger philosophical concerns that give direction to this inquiry. The basic question which I would like to pose is whether the emotions are a mode of knowing and, if they are, precisely what kind of knowing is to be found in them. The question which is of particular interest here, and this is the one to which I shall direct most of my attention, is whether--and in what
senses--the emotions can be said to be either true or false. Most specifically,I am interested in trying to clarify what would count as instances of true emotions. These increasingly specific questions are posed from within a context of both dissatisfaction and hope. The dissatisfaction stems from my own experience of the ways in which contemporary analytic philosophy has in large measure failed to come to grips with these questions about the cognitive dimension and truth valueof the emotions. I shall briefly address myself to the treatment of these issues in contemporary analytic philosophy in order to show why these questions are difficult
even to recognize as legitimate questions within that tradition. The hope springs from my suspicion that Heidegger's analysis of 'the emotions'--the scare quotes here indicate that even· this way of describing the phenomena will be subject to examination--provides us with a philosophically more perspicuous and phenomenologically more illuminating account of them than contemporary analytic philosophers have been able to develop. The body of this paper is an attempt to discover whether such a hope is justified. Yet before turning to this critical
analysis of Heidegger's account of the emotions, knowledge, and truth, let us begin with a very brief indication of the way in which the very question of the truth of the emotions gets hidden from view. Presented at the Heidegger XVI Annual Heidegger Conference, May, 1982.
argument in the moral life by standard approaches to ethics. The
standard view of argument is embedded in a conception of ethics as the
search for deductive arguments that ideally will provide definitive and
context-free answers to specific moral problems.
criticize the presuppositions of this standard
In this paper, I
view and of fer an
alternative account of what ethics is about--an account which stresses
the importance of moral vision, the non-interchangeability of moral
agents, the illuminative function of basic moral principles, and the
heuristic dimension of moral discourse. Not only is such a view
philosophically more satisfactory, but it also provides the basis for a
more adequate account of teaching ethics in the classroom. Presented at the American Philosophical Association, Easter Division, 1986.