Arts and Humanities Commons^™

A ‘‘Practical’’ Ethic For Animals, David Fraser

David Fraser, PhD

Drawing on the features of ‘‘practical philosophy’’ described by Toulmin (1990), a ‘‘practical’’ ethic for animals would be rooted in knowledge of how people affect animals, and would provide guidance on the diverse ethical concerns that arise. Human activities affect animals in four broad ways: (1) keeping animals, for example, on farms and as companions, (2) causing intentional harm to animals, for example through slaughter and hunting, (3) causing direct but unintended harm to animals, for example by cropping practices and vehicle collisions, and (4) harming animals indirectly by disturbing life-sustaining processes and balances of nature, for example by habitat …

Trump, Populism, Fascism, And The Road Ahead, Harry Van Der Linden

Harry van der Linden

This review essay offers a discussion of some recent studies that help to explain the election of Donald Trump as president of the USA. The studies examine Trump as “media spectacle,” analyze his support among Tea Partiers, and discuss his backing by the white working class left behind by neoliberalism and global capitalism. Special attention is given to two questions: Is Trump a rightwing populist or closer to a fascist? Relatedly, is Trump a threat to liberal democracy? The essay concludes with some suggestions of how to move beyond Trump.

Can One Love The Distant Other? Empathy, Affiliation, And Cosmopolitanism, Gregory R. Peterson

Gregory Peterson

An ongoing debate in political and moral philosophy concerns the nature of international obligations. While cosmopolitans argue that duties of justice are independent of national borders, statists argue otherwise, sometimes basing their account on the limitations of our empathic concern, a line of argument found much earlier in Adam Smith. Although critics argue that empathy is neither necessary nor sufficient for morality, and although statists imply that psychological limitations of the kind that would be based in empathy prevent the realization of commitments to distant others beyond humanitarian aid, I argue that both these views are incorrect. While the possession …

Fortifying The Self-Defense Justification Of Punishment, Zac Cogley

Zac Cogley

Recognition Within The Limits Of Reason: Remarks On Pippin’S Hegel’S Practical Philosophy, David Ingram

David Ingram

Since the publication of Charles Taylor’s Multiculturalism and the Politics of Recognition in 1989,[1] the concept of recognition has re-emerged as a central if not dominant category of moral and political philosophy. [1] C. Taylor, “The Politics of Recognition,” in A. Gutmann (ed.), Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics of Recognition (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994), pp. 25-73.

Toward A Cleaner Whiteness: New Racial Identities, David Ingram

David Ingram

The article re-examines racial and ethnic identity within the context of pedagogical attempts to instill a positive white identity in white students who are conscious of the history of white racism and white privilege. The paper draws heavily from whiteness studies and developmental cognitive science in arguing (against Henry Giroux and Stuart Hall) that a positive notion of white identity, however postmodern its construction, is an oxymoron, since whiteness designates less a cultural/ethnic ethos and meaningful way of life than a pathological structure of privilege and narrowminded cognitive habitus.

Late Pragmatism, Logical Positivism, And Their Aftermath, David Ingram

David Ingram

Developments in Anglo-American philosophy during the first half of the 20th Century closely tracked developments that were occurring in continental philosophy during this period. This should not surprise us. Aside from the fertile communication between these ostensibly separate traditions, both were responding to problems associated with the rise of mass society. Rabid nationalism, corporate statism, and totalitarianism (Left and Right) posed a profound challenge to the idealistic rationalism of neo-Kantian and neo-Hegelian philosophies. The decline of the individual – classically conceived by the 18th-century Enlightenment as a self-determining agent – provoked strong reactions. While some philosophical tendencies sought to re-conceive …

It's About This Nail: Ethics, Justice, And Architecture's Material Realization, Gregory S. Palermo

Gregory Palermo

No abstract provided.

Fish Sentience And The Precautionary Principle, Robert C. Jones

Robert C. Jones, PhD

Key (2016) argues that fish do not feel pain based on neuroanatomical evidence. I argue that Key makes a number of conceptual, philosophical, and empirical errors that undermine his claim.

Science, Sentience, And Animal Welfare, Robert C. Jones

Robert C. Jones, PhD

I sketch briefly some of the more influential theories concerned with the moral status of nonhuman animals, highlighting their biological/physiological aspects. I then survey the most prominent empirical research on the physiological and cognitive capacities of nonhuman animals, focusing primarily on sentience, but looking also at a few other morally relevant capacities such as self-awareness, memory, and mindreading. Lastly, I discuss two examples of current animal welfare policy, namely, animals used in industrialized food production and in scientific research. I argue that even the most progressive current welfare policies lag behind, are ignorant of, or arbitrarily disregard the science on …

Reviewing The Position Lee Minghuei, Max Fong

Max Fong

Why Animal Welfarism Continues To Fail, Lori Marino

Lori Marino, PhD

Welfarism prioritizes human interests over the needs of nonhuman animals. Despite decades of welfare efforts other animals are mostly worse off than ever before, being subjected to increasingly invasive and harmful treatments, especially in the factory farming and biomedical research areas. A legal rights-based approach is essential in order for other animals to be protected from the varying ethical whims of our species.

德性、自由与“有根的全球哲学”——关于“进步儒学”与“自由儒学”的对话 [Virtue, Liberty, And ‘Rooted Global Philosophy’—A Dialogue Concerning Progressive Confucianism And Liberal Confucianism], Stephen C. Angle, Ping Guo

Stephen C. Angle

生活儒学与进步儒学的对话 [Dialogue Between Life Confucianism And Progressive Confucianism] (Part 1), Stephen C. Angle, Yushun Huang

Stephen C. Angle

生活儒学与进步儒学的对话 [Dialogue Between Life Confucianism And Progressive Confucianism] (Part 2), Stephen C. Angle, Yushun Huang

Stephen C. Angle

The Reasoning View And Defeasible Practical Reasoning, Samuel J.B. Asarnow

Samuel J.B. Asarnow

Comments On Joseph Chan, Confucian Perfectionism, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

Finding The Sovereign In Sovereign Immunity: Lessons From Bodin, Hobbes, And Rousseau, David Schraub

David Schraub

Daredevil: Legal (And Moral?) Vigilante, Stephen E. Henderson

Stephen E Henderson

Comments On Joseph Chan, Confucian Perfectionism, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

God And Eternal Boredom, Attila Tanyi, Vuko Andric

Attila Tanyi