Promise

This is a modified version of a paper originally presented on September 16th at the "Fifth Karlovy Vary Symposion on Analytic Philosophy (Swimming in XYZ, Supervised by Hilary Putnam, September 14th-18th, 1998)." A shortened version appeared in The Southern Journal of Philosophy, 41 No. 2 (June 2003), pp. 241-259.

Abstract: I want to explore a new way of refuting act-utilitarianism. My claim is that nobody maximizing utility can possibly be said to believe in act-utilitarianism. In section I, I shall circumscribe the sort of utilitarianism with which we'll be concerned: Act-utilitarianism on the ideal level of ethical thought. Section II is devoted to an earlier attempt of refuting act-utilitarianism, which resembles the argument from this paper. I shall try to show that the proposed refutation (due to Hodgson) is not convincing because it leaves out half of the story. In that section, I shall also motivate the theoretical (Quinean) background of my own argument. The main hero of section III will be Quine's principle of charity; we'll be concerned with three preliminary thought experiments so as to become familiar with the dialectical techniques that will be needed for refuting act-utilitarianism. The core of my paper can be found in section IV. I shall demonstrate that act-utilitarian agents can express neither promises nor assertions. After having defended the latter claim (as regards assertions) against six small objections (section V) and one big objection (section VI), I shall complete my argument in section VII.

L'objet "Promise" (EcmaScript 6, 2015), facilite la programma-tion asynchrone. Les opérations asynchrones (chronologique-ment dépendantes entre elles et qui doivent attendre l’une le pa-rachèvement du précédent (pour exécuter en fonction du résultat que la précédente renverra à la suivante), pendant que les autres opérations indépendantes de la chaîne des opérations asyn-chrones continuent leur processus. On parle de « fonctionnement non bloquant ».

Les « Promise » sont TOUJOURS asynchrones.

Le modèle de base d’une fonction promise est le suivant :


<script type="text/javascript">  "use strict";
function asyncFunc() {
    return new Promise(
        function (resolve, reject) {
        ···
            resolve(data);
            ···
            reject(error);
        });
}
</script>



Une syntaxe minimaliste d’une Promise. Remarquez que « . final-ly » s’exécute pourtant avant le « . then » et le « . catch » :



« Promise » en tant que « objet » émettant des «  events »
(« event emitter ») :

This paper states that modern education and utopian discourse share one common trait, that of being structurally founded on the promise of human betterment. The changing relations between concepts of education and utopianism will be developed through conceptual analysis of the dynamics of the promise in their interweaving process. This shall be discussed through three main topics. The first is the appropriation of space in early modern education (sixteenth century onward), with particular emphasis on the influence of print technology on framing a new conception of educational spaces and practices. Second, the promise of the idea of progress in the Enlightenment period, which will become the further technological promise of a society-to-come, no longer spatially but temporally presented. Finally, the promise of autonomy through and against the modern subject, in which such autonomy is presented like the end of the journey through education, supposed that there is an end to such a journey. The key frame uniting the three topics is that utopian discourse journeying towards a normative conception of human society, as well as modern educational schemes journeying towards a normative conception of adulthood, are limited insofar as their respective promises, which are more impatient than the slow project of creation, more than often outruns it. The paper thus inquires whether or not there is a way to uphold the creative and imaginative possibilities of utopia in education, by acknowledging the pervasive effects of the promise on the social imaginary.

Abstract This paper states that modern education and utopian discourse share one common trait, that of being structurally founded on the promise of human betterment. The changing relations between concepts of education and utopianism will be developed through conceptual analysis of the dynamics of the promise in their interweaving process. This shall be discussed through three main topics. The first is the appropriation of space in early modern education (sixteenth century onward), with particular emphasis on the influence of print technology on framing a new conception of educational spaces and practices. Second, the promise of the idea of progress in the Enlightenment period, which will become the further technological promise of a society-to-come, no longer spatially but temporally presented. Finally, the promise of autonomy through and against the modern subject, in which such autonomy is presented like the end of the journey through education, supposed that there is an end to such a journey. The key frame uniting the three topics is that utopian discourse journeying towards a normative conception of human society, as well as modern educational schemes journeying towards a normative conception of adulthood, are limited insofar as their respective promises, which are more impatient than the slow project of creation, more than often outruns it. The paper thus inquires whether or not there is a way to uphold the creative and imaginative possibilities of utopia in education, by acknowledging the pervasive effects of the promise on the social imaginary.

Promises and Contract Law is the first modern work to explore the significance of promise to contract law from a comparative legal perspective. Part I explores the component elements of promise, its role in Greek thought and Roman law, the importance of the moral duty to keep promises and the development of promissory ideas in medieval legal scholarship. Part II considers the modern contract law of a number of legal systems from a promissory perspective. The focus is on the law of England, Germany and three mixed legal systems (Scotland, South Africa and Louisiana), though other legal systems are also mentioned. Major topics subjected to a promissory analysis include formation of contract, third party rights, contractual remedies and the renunciation of contractual rights. Part III analyses the future role which promise might play in contract law, especially within a harmonised European contract law.

This article provides an analysis of the nature of donation in Scots Law, and considers matters such as the formation and constitution of donative acts, the obligations and remedies of the parties, revocation of donative acts, and mixed donations. It also considers the relationship between donation and promise in Scots law.