Consequentialism, deontology, and the aretaic turn

Jeremy Bentham
Consequentialism/Deontological ethics/Deontology/Virtue ethics

One debate that has dominated the attention of ethicists in the history of the modern era has been between consequentialism (the idea that the consequences of a particular action form the basis for any valid moral judgement about that action) and deontology (that decisions should be made solely or primarily by considering one's duties and the rights of others).

Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill are famous for propagating utilitarianism, which is the idea that the fundamental moral rule is to strive toward the "greatest happiness for the greatest number".

However, in promoting this idea they also necessarily promoted the broader doctrine of consequentialism: that is to say, the idea that the morally right thing to do in any situation is determined by the consequences of the actions under consideration.

In contrast to consequentialism, Immanuel Kant argued that moral principles were simply products of reason. Kant believed that the incorporation of consequences into moral deliberation was a deep mistake, since it would deny the necessity of practical maxims to the working of the will. According to Kant, reason requires that we conform our actions to the categorical imperative, which is an absolute duty. An important 20th-century deontologist, W.D. Ross, argued for weaker forms of duties called prima facie duty/prima facie duties.

More recent works have emphasized the role of character in ethics, a movement known as the aretaic turn. One strain of this movement followed the work of Bernard Williams. Williams noted that rigid forms of both consequentialism and deontology demanded that people behave impartially. This, Williams argued, requires that people abandon their personal projects, and hence their personal integrity, in order to be considered moral.

G.E.M. Anscombe, in an influential paper, "Modern Moral Philosophy" (1958), revived virtue ethics, inspired by Aristotle's ethics, as an alternative to what was seen as the entrenched positions of Kantianism and consequentialism. Virtue ethics has since gained some adherence and has been defended by such philosophers as Philippa Foot, Alasdair MacIntyre and Rosalind Hursthouse.

Living Cells Are Electromagnetic Units

By Dr. Eiejo Makela, M. D.
Reprinted from Earhtpulse Flashpoints, Series 1 Number 1.


Publishers Note: This article is being reprinted with minor edits for clarification. It remains technically difficult for many. However, the importance of this information cannot be understated. This material will be amplified in the future in these and other publications. Earthpulse press will be
publishing the work of Dr. Makela when English translation are made available. This article holds the keys to Dr. Makela's work. The first version of this article was originally published in 1976. Unfortunately, even after twenty years the mainstream medical community is only now beginning to awaken to these important matters.



By using the closed circuit systems when studying living cells the scientists of today reject the obligatory existence of magnetic fields with electric fields. Electricity and magnetism cannot be separated but are aspects of the one phenomenon of electromagnetism. The fact changing electric fields produce electric fields has been forgotten by the scientists studying living cells, thus the electromagnetic character of all living cells - human, animal, plants - is not understood. Wrong theories in normal physiological phenomena remaining "mysterious".

Some of the applications of these "mysteries" should be mentioned briefly.

Arm Work :

The ratio of nerve cells to muscle cells is higher in the arms than in the legs. Thus the maximal oxygen uptake in arm muscles must be higher than in legs. Test of Makela (TM-index test), a cardiovascular fitness test is based on this fact, the publication of this test has led various scientists to confirm this simple finding.

Cancer:

By studying the activity of electrolytes, properties of protein/amino acids as current carriers, effects of enzymes as proteins catalysts, by studying the electromagnetic effects of all electromagnetic and sound waves, heavy atoms, paramagnetic and diamagnetic atoms and molecules, impurities of the environment on the living cells, it can be theoretically and experimentally shown that cancer is caused by increased electromagnetic activity of the cells. This means that by understanding the cause we can create a cure.

Sudden death and cardiovascular disease:

Decreases in intracellular electrolytes and decreases in potassium capacity will permit the accumulation of fat droplets in the cell membrane. Sudden increases in electromagnetic radiation or sound waves in the environment can cause sudden death if the intracellular electrolytes are decreased (like in aging) in all the cell of the body, not only in myocardia. By decreasing the temperature of the hypothalamus the activity of the other cells can be decreased, there is less need of oxygen.

Oxygen uptake depends on the electromagnetic activity of the cells and intracellular amounts of electrolytes. Maximal heart rate can be increased by diet and electromagnetic treatment. ST-segment depression in ECG is firstly a sign of decreased oxygen uptake. The so called skin potential is in fact the change of electromagnetic phenomenon in all cells of the body transmitted over the gap junction following the electromagnetic laws. What this means simply is these problems can also be solved following the simple laws of physics as they apply to living things.

Sodium/potassium pump:

There are no specific pumps in the cells but normal electrolyte movements in and out of the cells with double layer. The movements follow normal electrmagnetic laws.

Nerve System:

The transmission of nerve impulses is not electrochemical but electromagnetic. The transport of impulses over the gap junctions from one nerve cell into the other is caused by the magnetic field.. When an electricity-conducting body moves hormones, ("neurotransmitters") in a magnetic field, electric current is induced. The changes of agonist-molecules to antagonist-molecules can be caused by electromagnetic treatment. The chirality of enzymes, hormones, viruses, bacteria, vitamins determine their interaction with other molecules. Acupuncture and electromagnetic treatment will cause the changes mentioned above. A new system bieng used in Finland combines low intensity lasers with electric current which are administered through the acupuncture points. The system has been used in treating over 12,000 patients with great success.

Genetic engineering is electromagnetic in its character. Environmental factors - light and other electromagnetic radiation like radiation heat, noise, all kind of pollution - will cause electromagnetic changes in DNA. RNA is not only a messenger towards DNA. Of the chromosomal proteins the histones are hightly alkaline while the nonhistone proteins are acidic. The compounding of adenine to thymine and cytocine to guanine is governed by electromagnetic laws. The electrical charge of the AP3 fraction of the nonhistone proteins determines the bonding of the complex of hormone and receptor to the cromatin at an acceptor site in the nucleus. This means that artificial wombs and children can be created in laboratory conditions if the electro-magnetic character of the living cells is observed.

Smell:

Actually it is assumed that smell is perceived when the molecules, aromatic substances having a definite size and corresponding to the shade of smell, get into the appropriate holes of the mucous membraine of the nose. Wrong. The writer has shown that an odor is the electromagnetic radiation or the molecules and atoms, which will change the electromagnetic state of the receiving mucous membrane. This change in electromagnetic activity will be transmitted to the corresponding center in the brain. Some dogs can "smell" the infrasounds which can be measured in seawater before a storm. - -"Oder analyzers" can be used as an early diagnosis of many illnesses.

Optic system:

The fibers of the optic nerves cross over on their way to the brain. The connections between the visual cortex and cerebellum are part of massive fibre system that includes output fibers from almost every region of the cerebral cortex. Even the smallest changes in the electromagnetic state of the cell everywhere in the human body will be transmitted to the brain over the gap junctions following electromagnetic laws. Thus some subjects can read and see without eyes and identify colors through their skin. The so called blind animals in caves transmit electromagnetic waves from the objects throught their skin to their brain centers, thus they can see without eyes. In humans, "snow blindness" is caused by a sudden increase in electromagnetic radiation in the environment, the extracellular potassium in distal retina within the eyes will increase, thus the electromagnetic wave propagation in optic nerves is distrubed. Many of the eye illnesses could be cured by electromagnetic treatment.



The memory can be shown to be a normal electromagnetic phenomenon in brain cells. Amino acids have very high potential for altering dielectric constants. Each individual cell membrane is a small part of the complex memory bank where the numerous states of electrons around the nucleus in different atoms are registered. Each state differs from all the others in its characteristic nature, which can be categorized by its internal angular momentum or spin. Each of these states and their combinations can be switched on and off. Knowledge from one species into another can be vaccinated with memory bank cells from a donor brain. Memory and mental activity can be manipulated by hypnotism or other eletromagnetic treatment.

The capacity of mamals, fish, birds and insects to recognize their own species from others, to orient themselves and many other activities are based on electomagnetic information toward the species in question. In paramagnetic materials of the living cells the individual atoms possess net nonzeros magnetic moments even in the absence of an applied field. An applied magnetic field (from other living cells, objects, atoms, the magnetic field lines of the Earth etc.) have the influence of exerting torques on the permanent atomic magnetic dipoles to convert the initially random aligment into partially coherent one along the field thereby inducing a net magnetization which results in an enhancement of the applied field. Atomic magnets are limited to having a magnetic field in a given direction. There is a well defined energy difference between these orientations. This energy difference is directly proportional to the strength of the magnetic field in which proton finds itself. It is this electromagnetic interatction which explains much abut all living creatures and can lead to cures for many disorders.

(Venous) blood return is governed by electromagnetic factors. The charge of polyelectrolytes depends on the ionization of its polar groups. Proteins, containing acid and alkali groups, can change their charge depending on the level of the hydrogen ions concentrations of the solution (ph) and the isoelectric point of the moving molecule. (Positive at low pH, negative at hight pH). Even when the average net charge is zero there is non zero mean square charge. The blood flow can be regulated by electromagnetic treatment (e.g. by acupuncture). The blood will clot at the positive electrode, positive ions have the same effect on the blood. Excessive amounts of negative ions will cause cell mitosis.

-Because the electromagnetic "force" between two charged particles declines as the square of the distance between them increases, the interactions among the 19 electrons of a K-atom are so great that they affect the order of the energy level.


-By electrical stimulation or physical training the protein content of cell membranes can be increased, which will cause an increase in potassium capacity; thus there will be an increase in maximal oxygen uptake and actin-myocin filament tension.

-The electromagnetic contacts and effects between two electromagnetic fields of different levels can be seen in a woman who is pregnant and the fetus. Exposure to intense sound, light, all forms of radiation, the use of tranquilizers or any other drugs during pregnancy can cause various congenital malformations, especially in the brain of the child. Sudden increases in the level of noise or other environmental radiations can immediately increase the heart rate of the fetus, etc. Cell division is affected by drugs, pH, irradiation, temperature changes and hydrostatic pressure.

-The contraction of muscles cells - the sliding interaction between microfilaments, the movement of contactile proteins actin and myocin - obey electromagnetic laws.

- Endocrine, metabolic, cardiovascular and biochemical-neurochemical changes in living cells are caused by the changes in the electromagnetic properties of the cell and its environment.

-The hypothalamus is the electromagnetic computer which will regulate phenomena in cells, in animals it will regulate hibernation. This computer can be manipulated by affecting the input of electromagnetic radiation. The presynaptic and postsynaptic cells are separated by a synaptic cleft which is filled with a dense granular material, which responds to the changes in magnetic fields.

-The spin angular momentum and the "statistics" of eletrons are the main determinants in immunology. Any particle carrying a given quantum number, or electric charge, generates a long range field, the strength of which is proportional to the quantum number. By carring in itself a quantum number, a field acts as a source in itself. A particle's state of rotation when particles are rought together in a bound system, determines the behavior of the particles.

-Epidemics are related to solar activity. Increases in solar radiation (sunspots) will increase the electromagnetic activity of living cells and can cause death in subjects suffering from cardiovascular disease. Increased solar radiation will increase the electromagnetic activity in mitochondria, the specific electric power plant of live cells, there will be a marked increase in endocrine function etc.

-By mental concentration the activity of the hypothalamus can be decreased thus there will be a net decrease in total electromagnetic activity. Thus the "soul" and body can be separated. "Cooling helmets" should be used in the treatment of cardiovascular illnesses. The list of applications of this "new" hypothesis are too long to be published in a single article, but have been published in numerous other documents authored by this writer.

Einstein has shown us that the most long-standing theories may be open to improvement, even radical change. Open criticism is the lifeblood of progress both in science and culture at large.

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