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Telling And Testimony, Sam Filby

Theses

A central question in the epistemology of testimony concerns whether a

speaker’s testimony should count as a reason for a hearer to believe the

content of the speaker’s assertion. Proponents of the interpersonal view of

testimony (IVTs) contend that it is the interpersonal relationship between

speaker and hearer that provides the hearer with a reason to believe what

the speaker says. In contrast, critics of IVTs argue that the interpersonal

relationship between speaker and hearer is epistemically superfluous. Call

this the superfluity objection to IVTs. In the following paper, I defend

an IVT against the superfluity objection. I argue that …

Probability Of Naturalism And Metanormative Realism, Curtis Howd

Theses

Darwin’s Theory of Evolution can be mobilized to provide epistemological challenges to metanormative realism. It is argued that, since natural selection selects for behaviors adequate for survival and fecundity, our psychologies must be shaped by this same process. A-type challenges point to the improbability of the vast number of true normative beliefs given that they evolved to track survival and fecundity, not truth. B-type debunking arguments point to the improbability of the hypothesis that evolution would track truth given that there are a multitude of defeaters for this hypothesis. I will argue that both a-type and b-type arguments fail to …

Supererogation And Moral Reasons, Justin B. Yee

Theses

This paper is about the paradox of supererogation and why supererogation is morally optional. I argue that supererogation is morally optional because it is supported by both moral reasons and nonmoral reasons. I understand moral reasons to be agent-neutral reasons that apply to everybody while nonmoral reasons are agent-relative reasons that don’t apply to everybody. By understanding supererogation in this way, I have rejected the common assumption that what makes supererogation supererogatory is moral. Instead I argue that the source of supererogation is nonmoral. One important upshot to this is that unlike those who claim that the source of supererogation …

Albert Camus: Rebellion Through The Ethical Frameworks Of Emmanuel Levinas And Soren Kierkegaard, Conor Spence

Theses

Albert Camus, in his novel length essay The Rebel, puts forth an argument regarding the nature of rebellion and how it is differentiated from other acts of political violence on account of its fidelity to its initial premise - the fundamental value of all individuals and parties involved. Camus, throughout this text, discusses the limitations of rebellion, its ethical character and how it is differentiated from its fallen counterpart revolution. Due to the fact that this text is primarily a critique of totalising political systems and philosophies, Camus is equivocal about the underlying philosophical foundations of this phenomena, refusing to …

Domestic Violence In Culturally And Linguistically Diverse (Cald) Communities: Perceptions, Therapeutic Approaches And Responses Of Frontline Workers In New South Wales (Nsw), Oluwatoyin A. Dedeigbo

Theses

Domestic violence is a universal public health concern (VicHealth, 2011; World Health Organisation [WHO], 2013). Domestic violence cuts across all countries, regardless of economic, social, cultural or religious differences (Ali et al., 2020; VicHealth, 2011; WHO 2013). Men are often responsible for perpetrating domestic violence against women (Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2019; Australia Institute of Health and Welfare [AIHW], 2018).

The effects of domestic violence on victims can be serious and long-term; affecting their physical and mental wellbeing, and lingering even after the exposure to violence has ended (Mitchell, 2011). That is, the effect on victims’ mental health is …