Science is often said to be self-correcting. However, through their impact on our beliefs and actions, scientific representations can also become self-fulfilling by causing objects of study to become more like science's view of them. Self-Fulfilling

Claims that science may becoming 'self-fulfilling' through its impact on objects of study have recently risen to prominence. Despite radical statements about the supposed consequences of such accounts, however, the central notion of scientific self-fulfillment has remained obscure, leading to skewed views of its actual prevalence and significance. Self-Fulfilling Science illuminates this underexplored phenomenon, drawing on insights from philosophy of science to address questions of its conceptualization, prevalence, and significance. The book critically engages with the popular notion that economic theories of homo economicus exhibit self-fulfillment, and explores its relevance to various metaphysical, ethical, and epistemic issues. Extreme claims of fundamental incompatibility with our usual notions of scientific success are ill-founded. Instead, self-fulfillment’s true epistemic significance lies in more local, nuanced philosophical issues such as theory evaluation and the thesis of underdetermination. In presenting a novel framework, this book facilitates deeper engagement with the developing field of self-fulfilling science, and is of interest to philosophers of science, social scientists, and social constructionists.

Cultures around the world have regarded self-fulfillment as the ultimate goal of human striving and as the fundamental test of the goodness of a human life. The ideal has also been criticized, however, as egotistical or as so value-neutral that it fails to distinguish between, for example, self-fulfilled sinners and self-fulfilled saints. Alan Gewirth presents here a systematic and highly original study of self-fulfillment that seeks to overcome these and other arguments and to justify the high place that the ideal has been accorded. He does so by developing an ethical theory that ultimately grounds the value of self-fulfillment in the idea of the dignity of human beings. Gewirth begins by distinguishing two models of self- fulfillment--aspiration-fulfillment and capacity-fulfillment--and shows how each of these contributes to the intrinsic value of human life. He then distinguishes between three types of morality--universalist, particularist, and personalist--and shows how each contributes to the values embodied in self-fulfillment. Building on these ideas, he develops a Odialectical' conception of reason that shows how human rights are central to self-fulfillment. Gewirth also argues that self-fulfillment has a social as well as an individual dimension: that the nature of society and the obstacles that disadvantaged groups face affect strongly the character of the self-fulfillment that persons can achieve. Bold in scope and rigorous in execution, Self-Fulfillment is a powerful new contribution to moral, social, and political philosophy.

Farmer argues for the future of macroeconomics as a branch ofapplied general equilibrium theory. His main theme is thatmacroeconomics is best viewed as the study of equilibrium environmentsin which the welfare theorems break down.

Draws on such fields as neuoscience, economics, and evolutionary psychology to address the question of how to find a more satisfying way to live, arguing that the key to satisfaction lies in the complexity and challenge in one's life.

"The idea that motivation is largely an internally generated desire is sometimes new to individuals. Traditional thinking held by a large portion of the population is that leaders motivate others within organizations, and motivation is impacted predominantly by external incentives that are created to encourage others to conform and comply with desired performance standards. Although many leaders, managers, and supervisors may believe that it is part of their job description to motivate their followers, the opinion of many experts is that motivation is largely an internally-generated choice made by each individual. If it is true that motivation is primarily internally generated, perhaps this book should then be accompanied by a "Warning Label" that reads, "Caution! This book may influence your thinking and change your assumptions about yourself!" In fact, the primary purpose of this book is to "hold up a mirror" so that readers may, if they so choose, reflect on themselves and the factors which motivate them individually. If motivation is both individual and highly personal, then it behooves each one of us to thoughtfully undertake a self-assessment process to understand more fully how we are motivated, inspired, and influenced in our daily lives. Throughout this book, we cheerfully admit that we challenge assumptions of "conventional wisdom" that are often held by the average person. Much of what we think we know needs to be confirmed or disconfirmed in this world and there is no better place to validate what we actually know than with our efforts to understand ourselves. The theme of this book is clear and straight forward. "Each individual is far more capable of accomplishing great things than he or she can even imagine - and understanding our own identity can enable us to more completely honor our potential." That's the main idea of this book - and we think it's both a powerful message and a worthy subject to study and understand for every person who picks up this book or who accesses it online. There are very few simple issues in life, and certainly the complex nature of each person's world is no exception. The effort that individuals make to understand what matters most in their lives is rarely consciously undertaken - or compared with how those individuals actually invest their time each day. In this book we address why individuals make so many of the errors associated with self-deception, cognitive dissonance, and downright personal dishonest or lying to oneself. More importantly, we also address how readers can reflect on those common practices and make the decision to change dysfunctional patterns and self-defeating behaviors that cause so many people to underperform in life. If you wish to gain a clearer understanding of yourself and the degree to which your actions are inconsistent with what you think matters most, then perhaps this book is just what you have been looking for. We encourage each reader to make the personal investment to examine each chapter of this book and determine how its contents can change their life. Our promise to you is that this book and its contents can help you to have a clearer understanding of yourself, your habits, your inconsistencies, and your values. The contents of this book contain principles, guidelines, and concepts that you can ponder, test, and evaluate - and our commitment to you is that you will become a more enlightened and insightful person if you incorporate the ideas suggested herein. So . . . . we hope that you choose to be motivated - that you make the affirmative choice to read the pages of this book, to contemplate its message, and apply its insights. That decision to invest in yourself can enable you to live a more fulfilling life, have more meaningful relationships with others, and be more successful in accomplishing your personal and professional goals. The decision to be motivated to read this book is yours. We hope you will find this book to be a useful resource and that its contents will bless your life"--

What we expect, all too often, is exactly what we get. Nowhere is this more true than in education, where teachers' expectations of students are crucial. The self-fulfilling prophecy should be of great interest to teachers, both those in training and those in service. Whether or not a teacher is aware of it, the self-fulfilling prophecy is at work, impacting students either to their benefit or their detriment. It follows that teachers should be made aware of the SFP and how it can be used effectively in education. Using the new on-line research facilities, Dr. Tauber has compiled over 700 doctoral dissertations and countless journal articles on stereotyping, perception of social differences, race, gender, ethnicity, body features, age, socioeconomic levels, special needs, and other personal and situational factors. The last part of the book presents a collection of testimonials written from the viewpoint of practitioners.