The best interest test is the legal mechanism which governs decision making on behalf of adults who lack the capacity to make their own health care treatment decisions. The test has attracted considerable criticism from health professionals, academics, judges and lawyers for being ill-defined and non-specific. The question of what is meant by 'best interests' remains largely unanswered. As a consequence, the test gives medical and legal decision makers considerable discretion to apply their personal value judgements within supposedly value-free philosophical frameworks - unreasoned and opaque decision making processes are the inevitable result. Because of the dominance of supposedly value-free philosophical frameworks, the place of values in decision making is not always fully understood. Reasoning is not possible without values, which stem from our emotions and passions, our upbringing, our religion, our cultures, our processes of socialisation and from our life experiences. Values help us make sense of our daily lives. I argue that law - like any other social institution - is essentially a human, values based construct. I put forward a theory of values-based law which argues for the recognition that laws, rules and conventions are based on, and contain, individual values. Currently, medical and legal decision makers justify grave decisions on behalf of society's most vulnerable citizens without revealing, or even acknowledging the values which drive and inform their decisions. Any opportunities to scrutinise or debate the values driving decisions are lost. Ultimately, values-based law argues that values underlying best interest determinations must be exposed to facilitate honest, transparent and fulsome decision making on behalf of adults who lack capacity. By applying the theory of values-based law, supposedly value-free decision making processes are exposed as insufficient to facilitate fulsome, honest and transparent legal reasoning.

In this thesis I will argue that it is irrational to anticipate the future. I do not claim that the future will not exist, but rather that our current selves will never experience that future. Support for this seemingly implausible thesis begins when consider the problems posed by personal identity puzzle cases. When we consider hypothetical cases such as fission, where one existing person will divide into two future people (for example through brain transplants or teletransportation), we instinctively wonder which of the two post-fission bodies the pre-fission person would 'wake up' in. Could it be the case that our subject of experience does not in fact 'go' anywhere? I initially consider the interdependency between personal identity and the displacement of our current selves into the past or future. Ultimately, I will argue that self displacement is not based on personal identity, but rather the reverse that is, that personal identity is based on our hard-wired tendency to displace our current selves into the past or future. I then present the crux of my argument, that it is irrational to anticipate the future. I will do this by presenting cases in which it is clearly irrational to anticipate 'waking up' in a certain body and demonstrating that these cases are comparable to 'waking up' in the same physically or psychologically continuous body. Contrary to our most deeply held beliefs, it is not rational to expect that our present subject of experience will somehow be there in the future. This astonishing conclusion removes our most obvious reason for concern about future selves. I will argue that if this conclusion is correct, we have relatively weak reasons for prudential concern about the future. One of the key objectives of this thesis will therefore be to determine whether it is rational for our current self to be concerned about a future self that it will never experience being. I will show that if we are irrational to anticipate the future, then we must radically rethink the sort of prudential concern we have for our future selves. I argue that our reasons to be concerned about future selves are much weaker than (or at least very different than) those we might have originally imagined. I will also show that it is not against reason to be unconcerned about future selves, unless we believe that we are morally obliged to be concerned for all future people.

The purpose of this thesis is to delineate Taylor¡¦s reasoning on the concept of freedom. I start by explicating Taylor¡¦s thesis of philosophical anthropology to illustrate how he answers the question: ¡§what is human agency?¡¨ Based on this ontological condition, Charles Taylor begins his discussion of the predicament of modern freedom by tracing the transformation of moral and epistemological ideals since the seventeenth century. By picturing the trajectories of moral sources in Western modernity, he believes, it enables us to meaningfully reflect upon personal freedom in an age of pluralism. Taylor demonstrates how the Enlightenment and Romanticism have jointly shape the background understanding of modern freedom. Based on his diagnosis of the ambivalent nature of modern freedom, Taylor contends classic liberalism for its universalist and atomist understanding of freedom. He proposes a ¡§complex liberalism¡¨ that recognizes the ¡§embededness¡¨ of freedom, on the one hand, and acknowledges the fact that the moral ideal of being free has its intrinsic worth, on the other hand. The ideal of freedom, therefore, must be understood as a distinctively modern phenomenon that is constitutive of modern self-identity, rather than a freestanding principle independent of any substantial conceptions of the good.

Ahronglong Sakinu is a Paiwan writer who has great charm and has been maintaining the pride of the indigenous people with his humorous and optimistic personality and defending the treasures of Paiwan culture with his incredibly enthusiasm and dedication. By using a plain but unique style of writing, Sakinu touches the heart of the readers. Not only does Sakinu pass his father¡¦s wisdom as a hunter in his works, but he also defends the Paiwan culture with his pen instead of his Aboriginal knife. Through his approachable and fun style of writing, Sakinu always infects his readers with his optimistic thoughts. On this account, this study attempts to adopt the text analysis method and interviews to explore the writing strategies and the spirit and meaning of Sakinu¡¦s works. This study has divided into five chapters to conduct the discussion, and the main contents of each chapter are listed as follows: Chapter 1: ¡§Introduction¡¨¢wThis chapter contains the research motivation, research scope and methodology, literature review, and thesis structure. Chapter 2: ¡§Ahronglong Sakinu¡¦s Life and Works¡¨¢wThis chapter sequentially introduces Sakinu¡¦s background from his boyhood, his job in Special Police First Headquarters, to the time he returned to his tribe in order to probe into his road of cultural identity and his determination of establishing a hunter school. Further, the influence of Paiwan culture on him has been explored as well. In the end of this chapter, his works that have been published so far are also provided for a throughout exploration. Chapter 3: ¡§Ahronglong Sakinu¡¦s Writing Strategies¡¨¢wThe writing strategies of his works have been explored from three aspects: the forms of language expression, the skills of language expression, and the strategies of rhetorical application. In the forms of language expression, Sakinu has a unique writing style which presents a large number of untranslated Aboriginal words and Aboriginal language with phonetic symbols in his works. In addition, he also has excellent rhetorical skills which sufficiently and clearly show his feelings towards the harmonious living with the nature through an anthropomorphic animal world and subtle animal metaphors. Also, both the first-person form of expression and the extensive use of dialogue make his works more vivid and lively. Chapter 4: ¡§The Spirit and Meaning of Ahronglong Sakinu¡¦s Works¡¨¢wIn this chapter, four aspects which include ¡§the assistant who enlightens the literary life¡¨, ¡§inherit the wisdom of a philosophical hunter¡¨, ¡§arouse the self-identity of the tribal group¡¨ and ¡§accuse the invasion of power culture¡¨ have been explored to have a better understanding of the spirit and meaning of Sakinu¡¦s works. Chapter 5: ¡§Conclusion¡¨¢wThe final chapter has summarized the research results of this study. Moreover, the value of Sakinu¡¦s works and their contributions to developing and preserving traditional culture have been also explored to see the implementation of the traditional hunter culture in his works. Finally, further relevant research that can be extended is provided for future reference as well.

Contemporary materialism, which tries to explain the working principles of the mind and the universe, become less meaningful after the developments in the modern physics. The modern physics showed that the definition of matter, as it is used in defining materialism, is no longer valid. Chomsky states his position as &ldquo / Chomsky&#039 / s challenge to materialism&rdquo / by claiming that with the abolishment of the definition of the matter, there is no reason to defend materialism, which depends on that definition. Therefore, materialism becomes an empty doctrine thus cannot be used in explaining the mind. The developments in the modern physics creates the need for a new doctrine, which can explain the mind and at the same time be compatible with the modern physics and possible any future physics. This new doctrine, the methodological physicalism, aims to explain the mind by using the modern physics. Creating such a doctrine requires understanding of materialism and its form as well as understanding the problems of materialism and its forms. By identifying the defects in materialism and by using the modern physics as a standing point methodological physicalism can achieve a more successful understanding of the working of the mind. By using the modern physics, the methodological physicalism can explain why the currents models of the mind fail. Moreover, it can explain how certain models of the mind constructed, which employs the quantum mechanics while explaining the mind. The methodological physicalism will help understanding the mind where materialism fails to do so.

This thesis analyzes the reasons for Socrates&#039 / being presented as a paradoxical figure in the early dialogues of Plato. Irony as a fundamental philosophical attitude in Socratic philosophy is discussed with reference to some of the major philosophers of the history of philosophy. The thesis also suggests the possibility of seeing philosophy as an ironic activity and it traces the etymology of the concept of irony in terms of its philosophical importance.

On Mothodological Approach to Philosophical System of Sunology Abstract A Study on the Methodology of the Philosophical System of Sunology The focus of this doctoral dissertation is primarily predicated upon my attempt to explore the philosophical system of Sunology or Dr. Sun Yat-sen¡¦s works and the related mode and value of the methodology. As a consequence of this effort, this author suggests a common foundation of research and dialogue as a model for human epistemology. With this foundation in mind, the main dimensions of Sunology has been explored: (1) Regarding the philosophical system, the method of content analysis in social sciences has been applied, yielding its peculiar characteristics and mode; (2) Regarding its logical structure, the axiomatic method has been employed so as to testify that Dr. Sun¡¦s logical structure is well integrated; (3) Regarding Dr. Sun¡¦s operational dimension, the mode of interdisciplinary integration has been used, so as to clarify his operational conversion; and (4) Regarding Sunology¡¦s consistency in its logic, an attempt has been made to explore its methodology, so as to find out its form and value and, at the same time, the kind of method and approach to materialize an ideal. From the study, one should realize that mankind ought to seriously weigh the value of any given theoretical and philosophical systems in the past and fully appreciate its latent significance and validity. As a next step, one should try to put it into practice. Subsequently, an attainable framework should be constructed, so as to fulfill the projected undertaking. However, we should understand that the approach and method should not be just limited to this. At the same time, it should be noted that our framework argues that knowledge has a holistic structure which can be mutually continuous. Philosophical systems are interrelated. When analyzing any change in the relationship and its development, it is necessary to clarify the structure and operation aspects of the two. Only having done that, can we enhance the clarification and systematization of thinking. And only then, can we handle humankind and nature¡¦s mutual movement. Unless this is done, it is not possible for us to have an original look at human thinking and knowledge construction. In this connection, it should be noted that each discipline has its background and knowledge. Based on this, can we develop pervasive and automatic mode of knowledge. After that, can we have the ability to be creative. As a result, human knowledge and culture can continue its integrative process and be progressive.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 23-24). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 253-259). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis--Giessen. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 188-193).