This article examines the rise of ‘‘test-optional’’ college admissions policies since the 1990s. I argue that the rationalization of college admissions policies after World War II contributed to the rise of ‘‘meritocratic’’ stratification (in policy) and standardized tests, like the SAT, but it also led to the expansion and legitimation of the roles of student and school personhood in the admis...

In contemporary philosophy of religion, it is customary to think of God as an individual person, who exists in time, and is related to things in the world not only as their cause but also in various respects as their effect.1 On the whole, this model has displaced the so-called 'classical' account, according to which God is pure being and therefore 'simple'. Two kinds of consideration lie behin...

This paper argues that self-consciousness and moral agency depend crucially on both embodied and social aspects of human existence, and that the capacity for practical wisdom, phronesis, is central to moral personhood. The nature of practical wisdom is elucidated by drawing on rival analyses of expertise. Although ethical expertise and practical wisdom differ importantly, they are alike in that...

Encountering a patient who is suffering in the midst of terminal illness is an all-too-common occurrence for clinicians who care for the elderly. This article explores the personal experience of suffering in the context of life-limiting illness. The concept of personhood is used to illuminate the nature of suffering. Clinical observation documents that some persons experience a subjectively hei...

One out of every six married couples experiences infertility at some point in their relationship. Most couples expect and desire to conceive children, and thus fulfill their “procreative duty.” However, this desire is interrupted by the pain of childlessness. Modern technology has responded through procedures such as artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization (IVF). If these technologies...