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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
Self-Ownership, Freedom And Eudaimonia, Keith D. Fox
Self-Ownership, Freedom And Eudaimonia, Keith D. Fox
Philosophy Theses
In this thesis I will explore the relationship between Nozick’s self-ownership principle and freedom. I will defend G.A. Cohen’s critique of self-ownership and try to show how his argument that self-ownership is hostile to genuine freedom presents a problem for Nozick. I think it is clear that Nozick’s self-ownership does little to protect a meaningful sort of freedom; and a meaningful sort of freedom is exactly what Nozick aims to protect. This is true because eudaimonistic moral beliefs ought to undergird Nozick’s self-ownership thesis, and self-ownership can therefore be assessed in light of whether it actually promotes human flourishing in …
Freedom And The Ideal Republican State: Kant, Jefferson, And The Place Of Individual Freedom In The Republican Constitutional State, Theresa A. Creighton
Freedom And The Ideal Republican State: Kant, Jefferson, And The Place Of Individual Freedom In The Republican Constitutional State, Theresa A. Creighton
Philosophy Theses
Of the questions concerning the many great minds of the European Enlightenment, the question of what constitutes right and proper government perhaps had the most enduring influence on the world stage. Both Thomas Jefferson and Immanuel Kant attempted to answer the question of what constitutes right government, in particular by basing the system upon the idea of human freedom as an inalienable right. This project is an attempt to compare the systems proposed by these two authors, as well as to critique each on its ability to protect and foster individual freedom. It is my opinion that neither manages to …
Aristotelian Liberal Virtues, Joseph W. Slade, Iv
Aristotelian Liberal Virtues, Joseph W. Slade, Iv
Philosophy Theses
I analyze the potentially self-destructive tension inherent in liberalism between conceptions of negative liberty and positive liberty. In doing so, I utilize Aristotle’s theory of virtue to show that virtue is the best method of resolving this tension. In addition, I demonstrate that liberal virtues are best construed as virtues of intellect to be exercised in the public sphere. In particular, I show the importance of not construing liberal virtues as virtues of character (often referred to as moral virtues), because advocating such virtues is, in fact, contrary to the central tenets of liberalism. That is, I argue that it …
The Impossibility Of Evil Qua Evil: Kantian Limitations On Human Immorality, Timothy Alan Crews-Anderson
The Impossibility Of Evil Qua Evil: Kantian Limitations On Human Immorality, Timothy Alan Crews-Anderson
Philosophy Theses
Kant denies that evil qua evil can be an incentive to human beings. Is this a fact about what sorts of reasons human beings find interesting? Or, is it rooted entirely in Kant’s notion of human freedom? I focus on key facets of Kant’s system: human freedom, immorality and incentives. With an understanding of these concepts based in Christine Korsgaard’s reading of Kant’s moral theory, I argue that the impossibility of acting solely from evil qua evil is not rooted in human incentives and that if we were able to represent an unconditioned principle of immorality, we would have as …