Manchester-born Sir Joseph John Thomson (1858-1940), discoverer of the electron, was one of the most important Cambridge physicists of the later nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries. Succeeding Lord Rayleigh as Cavendish Professor of Experimental Physics, he directed the research interests of the laboratory, and eight of his students, including Rutherford, went on to win Nobel Prizes, as Thomson himself did in 1906. He was knighted in 1908, received the Order of Merit in 1912, and became Master of Trinity College in 1918. He also served as President of the Royal Society from 1915 from 1920 and was a government advisor on scientific research during World War I. This autobiography, published in 1936, covers all aspects of his career - his student days in Manchester, arrival in Cambridge, and growing international reputation. It gives a fascinating picture of Cambridge life and science at a dynamic period of development.

Recollections and Reflections (History Philosophy and Sociology of Science Ser)

Science & Math

Thomson, Judith Jarvis

Physics

Arno Pr

Do moral questions have objective answers? This book explains and argues for relativism, emotivism and moral skepticism. In its view, moral disagreements are like disagreements about what to pay for a house: there are no correct answers ahead of time, except in relation to one or another moral framework. Independently, Judith Jarvis Thompson examines what she takes to be the case against moral objectivity, and rejects it: she argues that it is possible to find out the correct answers to some moral questions. In her view, some moral disagreements are like disagreements about whether the house has a ghost. Harman and Thompson then reply to each other. This exchange should be useful to all students of moral theory and meta-ethics.

Moral Relativism and Moral Objectivity (Great Debates in Philosophy)

Politics & Social Sciences

Harman, Gilbert

Philosophy

Blackwell Pub.

The Realm of Rights

The concept of a right is fundamental to moral, political, and legal thinking, but much of the use of that concept is selective and fragmentary: it is common merely to appeal to this or that intuitively plausible attribution of rights as needed for purposes of argument. In The Realm of Rights Judith Thomson provides a full-scale, systematic theory of human and social rights, bringing out what in general makes an attribution of a right true.  Thomson says that the question what it is to have a right precedes the question which rights we have, and she therefore begins by asking why our having rights is a morally significant fact about us. She argues that a person's having a right is reducible to a complex moral constraint: central to that constraint is that, other things being equal, the right ought to be accorded. Thomson asks what those other things are that may or may not be equal, and describes the tradeoffs that relieve us of the requirement to accord a right.  Our rights fall into two classes, those we have by virtue of being human beings and those we have by virtue of private interactions and law. Thomson argues that the first class includes rights that others not kill or harm us, but does not include rights that others meet our needs. The second class includes rights that issue from promises and consent, and Thomson shows how they are generated; she also argues that property rights issue only from a legitimate legal system, so that the second class includes them as well.  The Realm of Rights will take its place as a major effort to provide a stable foundation for our deeply held belief that we are not mere cogs in a communal machine, but are instead individuals whose private interests are entitled to respect.

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

Harvard University Press

The concept of a right is fundamental to moral, political, and legal thinking, but much of the use of that concept is selective and fragmentary: it is common merely to appeal to this or that intuitively plausible attribution of rights as needed for purposes of argument. In The Realm of Rights Judith Thomson provides a full-scale, systematic theory of human and social rights, bringing out what in general makes an attribution of a right true. Thomson says that the question what it is to have a right precedes the question which rights we have, and she therefore begins by asking why our having rights is a morally significant fact about us. She argues that a person's having a right is reducible to a complex moral constraint: central to that constraint is that, other things being equal, the right ought to be accorded. Thomson asks what those other things are that may or may not be equal, and describes the tradeoffs that relieve us of the requirement to accord a right. Our rights fall into two classes, those we have by virtue of being human beings and those we have by virtue of private interactions and law. Thomson argues that the first class includes rights that others not kill or harm us, but does not include rights that others meet our needs. The second class includes rights that issue from promises and consent, and Thomson shows how they are generated; she also argues that property rights issue only from a legitimate legal system, so that the second class includes them as well. The Realm of Rights will take its place as a major effort to provide a stable foundation for our deeply held belief that we are not mere cogs in a communal machine, but are instead individuals whose private interests are entitled to respect.

Rights, Restitution, and Risk: Essays in Moral Theory

Moral theory should be simple: the moral theorist attends to ordinary human action to explain what makes some acts right and others wrong, and we need no microscope to observe a human act. Yet no moral theory that is simple captures all of the morally relevant facts.  In a set of vivid examples, stories, and cases Judith Thomson shows just how wide an array of moral considerations bears on all but the simplest of problems. She is a philosophical analyst of the highest caliber who can tease a multitude of implications out of the story of a mere bit of eavesdropping. She is also a master teller of tales which have a philosophical bite. Beyond these pleasures, however, she brings new depth of understanding to some of the most pressing moral issues of the moment, notably abortion. Thomson's essays determinedly confront the most difficult questions: What is it to have a moral right to life, or any other right? What is the relation between the infringement of such rights and restitution? How is rights theory to deal with the imposition of risk?

Moral theory should be simple: the moral theorist attends to ordinary human action to explain what makes some acts right and others wrong, and we need no microscope to observe a human act. Yet no moral theory that is simple captures all of the morally relevant facts.
In a set of vivid examples, stories, and cases Judith Thomson shows just how wide an array of moral considerations bears on all but the simplest of problems. She is a philosophical analyst of the highest caliber who can tease a multitude of implications out of the story of a mere bit of eavesdropping. She is also a master teller of tales which have a philosophical bite. Beyond these pleasures, however, she brings new depth of understanding to some of the most pressing moral issues of the moment, notably abortion. Thomson’s essays determinedly confront the most difficult questions: What is it to have a moral right to life, or any other right? What is the relation between the infringement of such rights and restitution? How is rights theory to deal with the imposition of risk?

How should we live? What do we owe to other people? In Goodness and Advice, the eminent philosopher Judith Jarvis Thomson explores how we should go about answering such fundamental questions. In doing so, she makes major advances in moral philosophy, pointing to some deep problems for influential moral theories and describing the structure of a new and much more promising theory.
 Thomson begins by lamenting the prevalence of the idea that there is an unbridgeable gap between fact and value--that to say something is good, for example, is not to state a fact, but to do something more like expressing an attitude or feeling. She sets out to challenge this view, first by assessing the apparently powerful claims of Consequentialism. Thomson makes the striking argument that this familiar theory must ultimately fail because its basic requirement--that people should act to bring about the "most good"--is meaningless. It rests on an incoherent conception of goodness, and supplies, not mistaken advice, but no advice at all.
 Thomson then outlines the theory that she thinks we should opt for instead. This theory says that no acts are, simply, good: an act can at most be good in one or another way--as, for example, good for Smith or for Jones. What we ought to do is, most importantly, to avoid injustice; and whether an act is unjust is a function both of the rights of those affected, including the agent, and of how good or bad the act is for them. The book, which originated in the Tanner lectures that Thomson delivered at Princeton University's Center for Human Values in 1999, includes two chapters by Thomson ("Goodness" and "Advice"), provocative comments by four prominent scholars--Martha Nussbaum, Jerome Schneewind, Philip Fisher, and Barbara Herrnstein Smith--and replies by Thomson to those comments.

Goodness and Advice (The University Center for Human Values Series)

Princeton University Press

The purpose of this brilliant book is to answer the philosophical question, "What is the nature of human acts?" It represents an example of sustained philosophical thinking on a topic of great importance in philosophy of action and in metaphysics, linguistics, and law. Of special interest is the author's analysis--in terms of causality--of the part-whole relation among events. By use of that relation she gives accounts of the parts of acts of a number of centrally important kinds, and analyses of agency, 'method,' and intentionality. Theory of action has been, and continues to be, the focus of intense debate. Professor Thomson's searching and thorough investigation of the ontology of action merits a close reading by professional philosophers and serious students of philosophy generally.

Acts and Other Events (Contemporary Philosophy Series)

NCROL

Judith Jarvis Thomson's Normativity is a study of normative thought. She brings out that normative thought is not restricted to moral thought. Normative judgments divide into two sub-kinds, the evaluative and the directive; but the sub-kinds are larger than is commonly appreciated. Evaluative judgments include the judgments that such and such is a good umbrella, that Alfred is a witty comedian, and that Bert answered Carol's question correctly, as well as the judgment that David is a good human being. Directive judgments include the judgment that a toaster should toast evenly, that Edward ought to get a haircut, and that Frances must move her rook, as well as the judgment that George ought to be kind to his little brother. Thomson describes how judgments of these two sub-kinds interconnect and what makes them true when they are true. Given the extensiveness of the two sub-kinds of normative judgment, our everyday thinking is rich in normativity, and moreover, there is no gap between normative and factual thought. The widespread suspicion of the normative is therefore in large measure due to nothing deeper than an excessively narrow conception of what counts as a normative judgment.

Normativity (The Paul Carus Lectures)

Open Court

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Thomson, Judith Jarvis. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Thomson, Judith Jarvis

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Thomson, Judith Jarvis. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Recollections and Reflections (History Philosophy and Sociology of Science Ser)

Moral Relativism and Moral Objectivity (Great Debates in Philosophy)

The Realm of Rights

The Realm of Rights

Rights, Restitution, and Risk: Essays in Moral Theory

Rights, Restitution, and Risk: Essays in Moral Theory

Goodness and Advice (The University Center for Human Values Series)

Goodness and Advice (The University Center for Human Values Series)

Acts and Other Events (Contemporary Philosophy Series)

Normativity (The Paul Carus Lectures)