Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Conflict, Technology, And Integrative Thinking: The Past And Future Of Geopolitical Conflict, Paul L. Johnson

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

Conflict is constantly evolving, and it is evolving even faster now that the world finds itself in an age where information travels at the speed of light. Scholars of military doctrine and generational warfare are currently pondering the effects of cyber warfare on the already hectic and confusing fourth generation battlespace. Invariably, generals, pundits and politicians alike in countries across the world vie to acquire these “capabilities” for their benefit and the benefit of their nation. The last time a cutting-edge advance in kinetic weaponry was made in the form of the atomic bomb, hundreds of thousands of civilian lives …

Improving Philosophical Dialogue Interventions To Better Resolve Problematic Value Pluralism In Collaborative Environmental Science, Bethany K. Laursen, Chad Gonnerman, Stephen J. Crowley

Philosophy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Environmental problems often outstrip the abilities of any single scientist to understand, much less address them. As a result, collaborations within, across, and beyond the environmental sciences are an increasingly important part of the environmental science landscape. Here, we explore an insufficiently recognized and particularly challenging barrier to collaborative environmental science: value pluralism, the presence of non-trivial differences in the values that collaborators bring to bear on project decisions. We argue that resolving the obstacles posed by value pluralism to collaborative environmental science requires detecting and coordinating the underlying problematic value differences. We identify five ways that a team might …

Disciplining Skepticism Through Kant’S Critique, Fichte’S Idealism, And Hegel’S Negations, Meghant Sudan

Philosophy Faculty Publications and Presentations

This chapter considers the encounter of skepticism with the Kantian and post-Kantian philosophical enterprise and focuses on the intriguing feature whereby it is assimilated into this enterprise. In this period, skepticism becomes interchangeable with its other, which helps understand the proliferation of many kinds of views under its name and which forms the background for transforming skepticism into an anonymous, routine practice of raising objections and counter-objections to one’s own view. German philosophers of this era counterpose skepticism to dogmatism and criticism, ancient to modern skepticism, and, importantly, conceptualize the transitions from one form to another, which forms the conceptual …

Developing And Applying Knowledge And Skills In Ethics And Professional Morality: An Evidence-Based Practice Paper, Donald Winiecki, Lynn Catlin, Harold Ackler

Organizational Performance and Workplace Learning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Even without a focused interest in the topic, as we enter the third decade of the 21st Century one would have a difficult time ignoring the steady flow of stories reporting tragic consequences arising from engineering decisions that appear to have omitted ethical components, and of ethical dilemmas arising from contemporary engineering and computer science. Similarly, one would have to be willful to miss an equally steady drumbeat of calls for improved ethics in engineering and computer science education.

However, one can make the argument that simply offering new or more content related to ethics in engineering education is not …

How To Solve Hume's Problem Of Induction, Alexander Jackson

Philosophy Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper explains what’s wrong with a Hume-inspired argument for skepticism about induction. Hume’s argument takes as a premise that inductive reasoning presupposes that the future will resemble the past. I explain why that claim is not plausible. The most plausible premise in the vicinity is that inductive reasoning from E to H presupposes that if E then H. I formulate and then refute a skeptical argument based on that premise. Central to my response is a psychological explanation for how people judge that if E then H without realizing that they thereby settled the matter rationally.

Rampant Non‐Factualism: A Metaphysical Framework And Its Treatment Of Vagueness, Alexander Jackson

Philosophy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Rampant non-factualism is the view that all non-fundamental matters are non-factual, in a sense inspired by Kit Fine (2001). The first half of this paper argues that if we take non-factualism seriously for any matters, such as morality, then we should take rampant non-factualism seriously. The second half of the paper argues that rampant non-factualism makes possible an attractive theory of vagueness. We can give non-factualist accounts of non-fundamental matters that nicely characterize the vagueness they manifest (if any). I suggest that such non-factualist theories dissolve philosophical puzzlement about vagueness. In particular, the approach implies that philosophers should not try …

Justice Or Pleasure?, Christopher M. Innes

Philosophy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Dr. Robert Ford confides to Dolores that his father would not agree with his creation of robots for the enjoyment of humans. "My father told me to be satisfied with my lot in life. That the world owed me nothing. And so, I make my own world" ("Contrapasso"). This tells us at once that Dr. Ford's father had a Platonic notion of justice.

How To Formulate Arguments From Easy Knowledge, And Maybe How To Resist Them, Alexander Jackson

Philosophy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Arguments from “easy knowledge” are meant to refute a class of epistemological views, including foundationalism about perceptual knowledge. I present arguments from easy knowledge in their strongest form, and explain why other formulations in the literature are inferior. I criticize two features of Stewart Cohen’s presentation (2002, 2005), namely his focus on knowing that one’s faculties are reliable, and his use of a Williamson-style closure principle. Rather, the issue around easy knowledge must be understood using a notion of epistemic priority. Roger White’s presentation (2006) is contaminated by the so-called lottery puzzle, which is best kept separate. Distinguishing basic from …

Ideology In Physics: Ontological Naturalism And Theism Confront The Big Bang, Cosmic Fine-Tuning, And The Multiverse Of M-Theory, Anthony Walsh

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications and Presentations

The most profound questions that philosophers and scientists have asked across the centuries have been metaphysical and existential, such as “What is the meaning and purpose of life, why are we here, and why is there something rather than nothing?” There can be no definitive answers to these questions, so those who pose and propose answers to them necessarily engage ideology. Some physicists have become philosophers in that they are attempting to answer these profound questions with highly speculative theories as, for instance, Hawking and Mlodonow’s book The Grand Design (2010) which they tout as providing new answers to age-old …

From Relative Truth To Finean Non-Factualism, Alexander Jackson

Philosophy Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper compares two ‘relativist’ theories about deliciousness: truth-relativism, and Kit Fine’s non-factualism about a subject-matter. Contemporary truth-relativism is presented as a linguistic thesis; its metaphysical underpinning is often neglected. I distinguish three views about the obtaining of worldly states of affairs concerning deliciousness, and argue that none yields a satisfactory version of truth-relativism. Finean non-factualism about deliciousness is not subject to the problems with truth-relativism. I conclude that Finean non- factualism is the better relativist theory. As I explain, non-facualism about deliciousness is happily combined with an invariantist semantics for the word “delicious”. On this approach, relativism is a …

How You Know You Are Not A Brain In A Vat, Alexander Jackson

Philosophy Faculty Publications and Presentations

A sensible epistemologist may not see how she could know that she is not a Brain In a Vat (BIV); but she doesn’t panic. She sticks with her empirical beliefs, and as that requires, believes that she is not a BIV. (She does not inferentially base her belief that she is not a BIV on her empirical knowledge—she rejects that ‘Moorean’ response to skepticism.) Drawing on the psychological literature on metacognition, I describe a mechanism that’s plausibly responsible for a sensible epistemologist coming to believe she is not a BIV. I propose she thereby knows that she is not a …

Situationism, Honesty, And The Folk, Drew Lindgren, Jared Talley, Travis Bundy, Lauren Stevens, Kim Hayes, Kyle Brasil, Sara Couture, Amanda Lynch

College of Arts and Sciences Presentations

This project aims at finding a widespread folk theory of honesty in order to construct an accurate account of the philosophical nature of honesty as a character trait. Our research process involves gathering responses from the folk, then combining and interpreting the responses. Our broad goal is to discover a solid case for the existence of character traits that can be used against the recent situationist attacks being seen in psychology. Proponents of situationism reject the existence of broad character traits, arguing that behaviour is driven by situational factors and that humans posess no significant character traits at all (Harmon, …

The Truth About Honesty: An Interdisciplinary Analysis Of The Trait Of Honesty, Jared Talley, Lauren Stevens, Drew Lindgren, Sara Couture, Amanda Lynch, Kyle Brasil, Trevor Adams, Kim Hayes

College of Arts and Sciences Presentations

In both the psychological and philosophical literature, there is little time devoted to a robust understanding of the character trait of honesty. The trait of honesty is often used as an example of a beneficial or good character trait, yet the gap in the literature raises a vexing question: what is honesty? This poster reports ongoing work aimed at identifying folk theories of honesty. We argue that an understanding of these theories can illuminate a principled understanding of this character trait in both psychology and philosophy.

Currently, we are using qualitative surveys to develop an operational definition of honesty. This …

Experimental Philosophy--An Emerging Discipline, Lauren Stevens, Kyle Brasil, Travis Bundy, Sara Couture, Kim Hayes, Drew Lindgren, Amanda Lynch, Jared Talley, Patrick Beach, Stephen Crowley, Kimberly Mcadams

College of Arts and Sciences Presentations

This poster will explain the nature of a newly emerging field in philosophy called experimental philosophy (“X-phi”) and its presence on Boise State’s campus. BSU’s X-phi group operates via gathering data from “everyday” people, sorting and statistically analyzing the data, then reviewing trends identified people’s intuitions about certain concepts (e.g. know-how, intentional action, moral correctness, etc.). We are exploring the concept of Honesty—a concept that has, to date, not been adequately analyzed. To distinguish theories developed as a result of this research, X-phi employs the term “folk theory”, literally referring to the theory that the majority of people are found …

Two Ways To Put Knowledge First, Alexander Jackson

Philosophy Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper distinguishes two ways to 'put knowledge first'. One way affirms a knowledge norm. For example, Williamson [2000] argues that one must only assert that which one knows. Hawthorne and Stanley [2008] argue that one must only treat as a reason for action that which one knows. Another way to put knowledge first affirms a determination thesis. For example, Williamson [2000] argues that what one knows determines what one is justified in believing. Hawthorne and Stanley [2008] argue that what one knows determines what it is rational for one to do. This paper argues that the defender of the …

Henry David Thoreau And Health In Nature (Flyer), James Engell

The Idea of Nature Public Lecture Series

As if he had always been looking to the future, Thoreau’s idea of health remains astonishingly relevant. He senses the danger of environmentally-linked and environmentally-caused illness. He promotes wellness of body, mind, and spirit together, which achieves harmony with nature through diet, exercise, sensory contact, and ethical self-reflection. The idea of human health in relation to nature informs all that he wrote and appears repeatedly for two decades throughout his Journal. Yet, he doesn’t devote a whole book, single chapter, or complete essay to it exclusively, perhaps because health and nature connect to so many other concerns. Instead, health linked …

Appearances, Rationality, And Justified Belief, Alexander Jackson

Philosophy Faculty Publications and Presentations

One might think that its seeming to you that p makes you justified in believing that p. After all, when you have no defeating beliefs, it would be irrational to have it seem to you that p but not believe it. That view is plausible for perceptual justification, problematic in the case of memory, and clearly wrong for inferential justification. I propose a view of rationality and justified belief that deals happily with inference and memory. Appearances are to be evaluated as ‘sound’ or ‘unsound.’ Only a sound appearance can give rise to a justified belief, yet even an unsound …

How "Weak" Mindreaders Inherited The Earth, Cameron Buckner, Adam Shriver, Stephen Crowley, Colin Allen

Philosophy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Carruthers argues that an integrated faculty of metarepresentation evolved for mindreading and was later exapted for metacognition. A more consistent application of his approach would regard metarepresentation in mindreading with the same skeptical rigor, concluding that the "faculty" may have been entirely exapted. Given this result, the usefulness of Carruthers’ line-drawing exercise is called into question.

Put Another Way…, Dewey I. Dykstra

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

The Challenge Of Understanding Radical Constructivism, Dewey I. Dykstra

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Purpose: This contribution to the Festschrift honoring Ernst von Glasersfeld gives some insight into the perpetual problem of understanding radical constructivism (RC). Parallels with the Middle Way school of Buddhism appear to shed light on this challenge. Conclusions: The hegemony realism has over the thinking of even the most highly educated in our civilization plays a major role in their failure to understand RC. Those still subject to realism in their thinking interpret statements by those in RC in ways incompatible with RC. Until realists disequilibrate over mismatches between realist expectations and experiences, no alternative way of thinking is accessible …

“Once More Into The Breech…”, Dewey I. Dykstra

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Against Realist Instruction: Superficial Success Masking Catastrophic Failure And An Alternative, Dewey I. Dykstra

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Purpose: Often radical constructivists are confronted with arguments why radical constructivism is wrong. The present work presents a radical constructivist alternative to such arguments: a comparison of the results of two instructional practices, the standard, realistbased instruction and a radical constructivist-based instruction, both in physics courses. Design: Evidence from many studies of student conceptions in standard instruction (Duit 2004) is taken into account. In addition, diagnostic data, pre and post instruction, were collected from over 1,000 students in multiple institutions across the U. S. over a period of about 15 years via an established diagnostic of conceptual understanding of motion …

Why Aristotle Says There Is No Time Without Change, Tony Roark

Philosophy Faculty Publications and Presentations

The title of this paper is intended as a provocative (but friendly) reference to Ursula Coope's recent article 'Why Does Aristotle Say That There Is No Time Without Change?', which provides much of the impetus for the present paper.¹ For although Coope's strategy in answering this question is admirable, and although I think that her criticisms of the standard interpretation of the argument that opens Physics IV 11 hit their mark, I believe that her own interpretation fails and that something rather like the standard interpretation is correct. In the first section, I rehearse Coope's treatment of the standard …

Using The Web To Integrate Ethics In The Engineering Curriculum, David Haws

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

With a crowded engineering curriculum, it's difficult to justify three credit hours for a new course in the comprehensive instruction in applied ethics. Partial coverage of ethics in undergraduate engineering seminars, or the "Introduction to Engineering" course also has obvious drawbacks. In contrast, a modular integration of ethics throughout the engineering curriculum, although it demands coordinated coverage and relevant links to many diverse computational courses, seems like a logical alternative. This paper will discuss a web-based module created to introduce the ethical perspective of Nietzschean perfectionism to engineering undergraduates in a junior-level Civil Engineering course in Structural Analysis. I will …