Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Evil God Challenge: Two Significant Asymmetries, Carlo Alvaro

Publications and Research

Several authors have maintained that every argument in support of God, indeed everything that a theist claims about God, can be reversed and used in support of an evil god. The most salient example is the alleged symmetry between theodicies and reverse theodicies: God gave us free will to promote good, evil god gave us free will to promote evil; God allows evil for soul making, evil god allows good for soul destruction; our suffering is compensated for by the eternal bliss in the afterlife, our happiness is compensated for by the eternal damnation in the afterlife. Considering such symmetries, …

From Aesthetics To Ethics: The Place Of Delight In Confucian Ethics, Andrew Lambert

Publications and Research

An exploration of the role of pleasure or delight (le 樂) in classical Confucian ethics. Building on Michael Nylan’s account of the role of pleasure in public spectacle and social order, I explore how the meaning of delight (le 樂) derives from the features and effects of music (yue 樂). Drawing on Dewey’ s aesthetics and accounts of music in Confucian texts, I explore a conception of Confucian ethics, in which delight— like states generated through everyday social interaction are foundational.

Introduction To Philosophy, Teófilo Reis

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Vegan Parents And Children: Zero Parental Compromise, Carlo Alvaro

Publications and Research

Marcus William Hunt argues that, when co-parents disagree over whether to raise their child (or children) as a vegan, they should reach a compromise as a gift given by one parent to the other out of respect for his or her authority. Josh Millburn contends that Hunt’s proposal of parental compromise over veganism is unacceptable on the ground that it overlooks respect for animal rights, which bars compromising. However, he contemplates the possibility of parental compromise over “unusual eating,” of animal-based foods obtained without the violation of animal rights. I argue for zero parental compromise, rejecting a rights-oriented approach, and …

The Law Of Black Mirror - Syllabus, Yafit Lev-Aretz, Nizan Packin

Open Educational Resources

Using episodes from the show Black Mirror as a study tool - a show that features tales that explore techno-paranoia - the course analyzes legal and policy considerations of futuristic or hypothetical case studies. The case studies tap into the collective unease about the modern world and bring up a variety of fascinating key philosophical, legal, and economic-based questions.

Cybersecurity-Fake News, Amy J. Ramson

Open Educational Resources

This goals of this activity are to facilitate team work, critical thinking, and presentation skills in the area of cybersecurity and fake news. Students will be grouped into two teams. As a team, they will choose and analyze cases and ethical questions about fake news through the questions presented in the activity. They will present their analysis to the class.

21st Century Ecopoetics (Selected Topics In Literature And Science), Robert Balun

Open Educational Resources

Ecopoetics is the study of literature that is concerned with ecology and nature. However, beyond just literature about nature, this course will examine how ecology and nature have become complicated in the 21st century, the age of the Anthropocene, the age of the climate crisis and the 6th mass extinction (don’t worry, we will define these and other key terms).

In the 21st century, humans are now confronted with a growing awareness of their destructive impact on the earth, its environments, and its human and non-human inhabitants. In this class we will examine how ecology and nature have become complicated …

Philosophical Perspectives, Jochen Albrecht

Publications and Research

This entry follows in the footsteps of Anselin’s famous 1989 NCGIA working paper entitled “What is special about spatial?” (a report that is very timely again in an age when non-spatial data scientists are ignorant of the special characteristics of spatial data), where he outlines three unrelated but fundamental characteristics of spatial data. In a similar vein, I am going to discuss some philosophical perspectives that are internally unrelated to each other and could warrant individual entries in this Body of Knowledge. The first one is the notions of space and time and how they have evolved in …

The Ends Of Medicine And The Experience Of Patients, D. Robert Macdougall

Publications and Research

The ends of medicine are sometimes construed simply as promotion of health, treatment and prevention of disease, and alleviation of pain. Practitioners might agree that this simple formulation captures much of what medical practice is about. But while the ends of medicine may seem simple or even obvious, the essays in this issue demonstrate the wide variety of philosophical questions and issues associated with the ends of medicine. They raise questions about how to characterize terms like “health” and “disease”; whether medicine’s goals should be extended to include enhancement beyond normal human function; and whether the ends of medicine are …

Raw Veganism: The Human Diet, Carlo Alvaro

Publications and Research

In this chapter, I present some compelling evidence that points to the conclusion that the human species has a specific diet, which is a raw vegan diet of fresh fruit, tender leafy greens, and a moderate amount of nuts and seeds. Out of the hundreds of thousands of species in the world, the only one—ours—cooks food. Not surprisingly, our species is the only one that suffers from numerous maladies. In other words, the argument is that the consumption of cooked food (especially animal-based) is unhealthful and undermines our nature. I present undeniable evidence, from evolutionary science to nutrition science, showing …

A Revision Of The Buechner–Tavani Model Of Digital Trust And A Philosophical Problem It Raises For Social Robotics, Jeff Buechner

Publications and Research

In this paper the Buechner–Tavani model of digital trust is revised—new conditions for self-trust are incorporated into the model. These new conditions raise several philosophical problems concerning the idea of a substantial self for social robotics, which are closely examined. I conclude that reductionism about the self is incompatible with, while the idea of a substantial self is compatible with, trust relations between human agents, between human agents and artificial agents, and between artificial agents.

The Prince -- Brief Synopsis -- Powerpoint, Zach Davidson

Open Educational Resources

This is a very brief PowerPoint covering some key ideas in Machiavelli's THE PRINCE.

Engl 110 College Writing (Higher Education), Erika Figel

Open Educational Resources

This syllabus is an adapted version of Professor Figel's 110 course at Queens College. The College Writing course is centered around the ideas of higher education and the philosophies behind it. All links to material required are included.

The Incoherence Of Moral Relativism, Carlo Alvaro

Publications and Research

This paper is a response to Park Seungbae’s article, “Defence of Cultural Relativism”. Some of the typical criticisms of moral relativism are the following: moral relativism is erroneously committed to the principle of tolerance, which is a universal principle; there are a number of objective moral rules; a moral relativist must admit that Hitler was right, which is absurd; a moral relativist must deny, in the face of evidence, that moral progress is possible; and, since every individual belongs to multiple cultures at once, the concept of moral relativism is vague. Park argues that such contentions do not affect moral …

Love’S Extension: Confucian Familial Love And The Challenge Of Impartiality, Andrew Lambert

Publications and Research

The question of possible moral conflict between commitment to family and to impartiality is particularly relevant to traditional Confucian thought, given the importance of familial bonds in that tradition. Classical Confucian ethics also appears to lack any developed theoretical commitment to impartiality as a regulative ideal and a standpoint for ethical judgment, or to universal equality. The Confucian prioritizing of family has prompted criticism of Confucian ethics, and doubts about its continuing relevance in China and beyond. This chapter assesses how those sympathetic to the Confucian vision of the good life might respond. It first explores Confucian conceptions of love …

Li Zehou: Synthesizing Kongzi, Marx, And Kant, Andrew Lambert

Publications and Research

To understand the details of Li Zehou’s work, it is helpful to first locate it within the social and historical contexts to which Li was responding. Specifically, his work can be understood as a contribution to the struggle to establish the intellectual foundations of a Chinese modernity. As China transitioned away from the long-lived dynastic system that had ended early in the twentieth century, there was intense debate in China about what forms of social and political order should take its place. Marxism emerged as the governing ideology after the Communist revolution, but this did not settle the outstanding social …

Confucian Thought And Contemporary Western Philosophy, Andrew Lambert

Publications and Research

This chapter explores the encounter between the traditional Confucian thought and contemporary Anglophone philosophy. It explores the evolution in philosophical methods and heuristics employed by Anglophone thinkers in the past fifty or so years, often with the aim of extracting Confucian thought from its specific social and historical roots. Unlike the disciplines of intellectual or literary history, these philosophers have articulated dimensions of Confucian philosophy not explicit in traditional texts, developed critiques of Western modernity, derived solutions to problems in Western philosophy, and sought to reimagine Confucian thought for an East Asian modernity. Analyzing how contemporary philosophers have engaged the …