2011. Phys. Rev. Lett. 106: 028702. We investigate a game-theoretic model of a social system where both the rules of the game and the interaction structure are shaped by the behavior of the agents. We ca

Campbell, T. Axiological Retributivism and the Desert Neutrality Paradox. Philosophies 2022, 7, 80. https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies7040080 Abstract: According to axiological retributivism, people canan outcome in which someone gets what she deserves, even if it is bad for her, can thereby haveintrinsic positive value. A question seldom asked is how axiological retributivism should deal withcomparisons of outcomes that differ with respect to the number and identities of deserving agents.Attempting to answer this question exposes a problem for axiological retributivism that parallels awell-known problem in population axiology introduced by John Broome. The problem for axiologicalretributivism is that it supports the existence of a range of negative wellbeing levels such that if adeserving person comes into existence at any of these levels, the resulting outcome is neither betternor worse with respect to desert. However, the existence of such a range is inconsistent with a setof very plausible axiological claims. I call this the desert neutrality paradox. After introducing theparadox, I consider several possible responses to it. I suggest that one reasonable response, thoughperhaps not the only one, is to reject axiological retributivism.

in Analysis, Volume 80, Issue 2 AbstractKurt Gödel’s version of the Ontological Proof derives rather than assumes the crucial (yet controversial) Possibility Claim, that is, the claim that it is possib

Professor Stefan Svallfors was elected President of the Swedish Sociological Association for the years 2014-2016. Read more about Stefan Svallfors.

2011. Praeger.

Joakim Kulin, Researcher at Department of Sociology, Umeå University.ABSTRACT It is increasingly evident that greenhouse gas emissions and global warming pose serious existential risks to human societi

Patrik Lindenfors, Associate Professor of Zoological Ecology. Abstract What explains successful democratization? We present a suggestion for a new solution that identifies the discrete beginning of a li

Patrik Lindenfors

I am an Associate Professor of Zoological Ecology at the Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, where I also got my PhD, but have for the last years mainly worked at the Centre for the Study of

An individual human can maintain stable social relationships with about 150 people. This is the proposition known as ‘Dunbar’s number’ – that the architecture of the human brain sets an upper limit on

Peter Hedström has been appointed as Consulting Editor for  Sociological Science (see www.sociologicalscience.com).