Arts and Humanities Commons^™

A Deflationary Interpretation Of Locke's Theory Of Ideas, Danielle N. Hampton

Department of Philosophy: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation is a defense of a deflationary interpretation of Lockean ideas. The orthodox view is that Locke uses the term ‘idea’ to designate a collection of things that share some philosophically significant characteristic in common. While there is much debate over what this unifying characteristic might be, it is largely agreed upon that there is one, and only one, such characteristic. This is the assumption that I deny. I argue that Locke uses ‘idea’ as an umbrella term to cover several different types of mental items.

In Chapter 1, I look at six non-deflationary interpretations of Locke’s theory of …

Blame Within Reason, Adam R. Thompson

Department of Philosophy: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

My dissertation develops a novel response to global skepticism about responsibility—the view that no one is fit to be held responsible for anything. Though P.F. Strawson offered a highly influential account of holding and being responsible, his argument is widely considered to fail as a response to global skepticism. The primary worry is that he only describes our practice of holding responsible but does not justify it. I propose an unorthodox Strawson-style account of holding and being responsible and employ that account to offer an argument against global skepticism which not only describes but also justifies our practice of holding …

Re(Public)An Reasons: A Republican Theory Of Legitimacy And Justification, Christopher Mccammon

Department of Philosophy: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

There is a kind of power no one should have over anyone else, even if they don’t do anything with this power, or even if they only use this power for good. The republican tradition of political philosophy calls this kind of power domination. Here, I develop a theory of domination, and use this theory to advance our understanding of political legitimacy and justification.

My account of domination refines recent neo-republican attempts to identify dominating social power with the capacity to interfere arbitrarily with the choices of others. I argue that this capacity is not sufficient for domination. Instead, …