K. L. WONG

This paper aims at engaging Kant’s and Schelling’s theories of time in dialogue. It begins with Schelling’s famous criticism of Kant’s theory of time in his Weltalter (Ages of the World). It will examine this question from four main perspectives, namely the unity of time; time and a unitary object of experience;subjectivity of time; and the problem of infinity of time. It will show that Schelling’s criticism may instigate some fundamental reflections on Kant’s theory oftime, the relation between objective and subjective time, and the possibilities of connecting Kant’s different meanings of time in his first Critique. Further, it willshow that despite the fundamental differences between Kant’s and Schelling’s philosophical systems, some of Schelling’s ideas about time may have their earlier expressions in Kant. While Schelling has gone further and radicalized some insights from Kant in his own version of idealism, his criticism of Kant may find possible responses from the latter’s first Critique.

The emergence of managed health care, especially when delivered by for-profit corporations, has prompted moral concerns over harm to patients. Critics allege that these organizations cannot properly honor their traditional medical role of healing patients, while attempting to honor their business obligations since it will be tempting to withhold necessary care in order to increase profits. ;While this issue has generated an emotional public response, the literature addressing the ethical implications of managed care is still in its infancy. Particularly notable is the dearth of scholarly efforts which properly address organizational ethics and responsibilities. In the few attempts which have been made to formulate an ethical framework for these organizations, they have usually been grounded in either traditional medical ethics or laissez-faire business models. As a result, important interests have been ignored. ;Based upon the conceptions of justice developed by John Rawls, this dissertation engages in a normative ethical analysis of the role of for-profit organizations in the delivery of managed care. In addition, an ethical framework with which to form specific behavioral guidelines and to draw social policy implications will be developed. ;I begin by assessing managed care in light of the available alternatives for medical delivery: fee-for-service arrangements, explicit rationing proposals, and the use of medical savings accounts. From this assessment, it can be seen that managed care is the most viable alternative given current constraints. I then proceed to a perform a systematic comparison of for-profit versus non-profit managed care models. I find that the two models are quite similar to the degree to which they can serve patient and societal interests. As a result, my argument is that for-profit models are morally viable entities in health care reform. However, my contention is that these organizations are only acceptable if they operate within an ethical framework which properly accounts for both their business and medical roles and serves to guide their behaviors in a manner that properly protects patients and societal interests. I conclude by developing such a model and delineating its organizational ethics and social policy implications.

Résumé Avec La Source aux fleurs de pêchers, et d’autres œuvres poétiques écrites par Tao Qian au V e siècle, est née une vision de l’utopie qui reste à tout jamais gravée dans l’imaginaire collectif chinois. Treize siècles plus tard, Cao Xueqin s’en inspirera pour donner forme au « Jardin aux sites grandioses », univers aux traits foncièrement féminins et l’un des noyaux de l’intrigue de L’histoire de la pierre, chef d’œuvre de la fiction romanesque chinoise également connu sous le titre « Rêves au pavillon rouge ». Une lecture des deux œuvres en parallèle, tant au sens figuré que littéral, met en lumière le message du Dao De Jing selon lequel l’utopie ne se planifie pas, ne s’impose pas. Elle émerge au contraire d’un esprit de disponibilité, d’une attitude d’attente, d’une écoute affûtée. Cette intuition conduit à une réflexion sur la différence, fondée sur le rêve du Papillon de Tchouang Tseu.

Hegel’s famous criticism of Laozi in his Lectures on the History of Philosophy, has been a center of controversy in comparative philosophy. It is often regarded as an example of the unfair treatment of Chinese philosophy by its Western counterpart, that the West is measuring the East according to its own standard, imposing on the latter its understanding of what philosophy should be, passing judgment on China that it has no mature philosophy, or, if it has, that it is still in an unsophisticated, primitive stage. However, there has been little serious and detailed discussion about Hegel’s argument in this important and representative document in the dialogue between Western and Chinese philosophy. Most of the ..

A recent wave of public interest surrounding the alleged advertising of cigarettes to children has raised First Amendment issues under the commercial speech doctrine. The two most vocal sides of this debate are sharply divided over the amount of constitutional protection that should be offered to tobacco advertisers. Proponents of restrictions on such ads argue that commercial speech does not advance any ideas worth preserving and is consequently deserving of less protection than other forms of speech. Their opponents assert that commercial speech should be offered wide protection because of its role in contributing to individual autonomy in the marketplace of ideas through informing consumer choice. While I believe that commercial speech should be offered broad protection, I will argue that severe restrictions are morally justifiable and legally defensible when it comes to advertising to children, particularly with respect to harmful products. Since the free market of ideas model is premised upon a notion that there are reasonable consumers that can discern falsehood from truth, this model is invalidated when it comes to children since they cannot be expected to possess the same capacity for judgment as adults.