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2003

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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Ontological Independence In Aristotle's Categories, Phil Corkum Dec 2003

Ontological Independence In Aristotle's Categories, Phil Corkum

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Aristotle holds that substances (such as you and me) are ontologically independent from nonsubstances (such as our qualities and quantities) but nonsubstances are ontologically dependent on substances. There is then an asymmetry between substances and nonsubstances with respect to ontological dependence. Such asymmetry is widely and rightly thought to be a lynchpin of Aristotelian metaphysics. What is really real for Aristotle are such ordinary objects as you and me. Our properties - my paleness, your generosity - inhabit Aristotle's ontology only in so far as they are ours. This much we can all agree on; and I'll only briefly rehearse …


Metaphysics H 6 And The Problem Of Unity, Hye-Kyung Kim Dec 2003

Metaphysics H 6 And The Problem Of Unity, Hye-Kyung Kim

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

I argue that H 6 should be taken as Aristotle's clarification on the causelessness in the unity of the parts of definition. In H 6 Aristotle is concerned with a general metaphysical problem affecting - threatening - his theory of substance at two major points. The unity of genus and differentia in the definition of form has to be accounted for without appealing to a unifying cause. If it were not accounted for, form would not be the primary cause of being and thus not primary substance. The unity of the parts of the definition of composite substance also has …


Social Welfare, Human Dignity, And The Puzzle Of What We Owe Each Other, Amy L. Wax Dec 2003

Social Welfare, Human Dignity, And The Puzzle Of What We Owe Each Other, Amy L. Wax

All Faculty Scholarship

Proponents of work-based welfare reform claim that moving the poor from welfare to work will advance the goals of economic self-reliance and independence. Reform opponents attack these objectives as ideologically motivated and conceptually incoherent. Drawing on perspectives developed by luck egalitarians and feminist theorists, these critics disparage conventional notions of economic desert, find fault with market measures of value, debunk ideals of autonomy, and emphasize the pervasiveness of interdependence and unearned benefits within free market societies. These arguments pose an important challenge to justifications usually advanced for work-based welfare reform. Reform proponents must concede that no member of society can …


Underdetermination And The Problem Of Identical Rivals, P.D. Magnus Dec 2003

Underdetermination And The Problem Of Identical Rivals, P.D. Magnus

Philosophy Faculty Scholarship

If two theory formulations are merely different expressions of the same theory, then any problem of choosing between them cannot be due to the underdetermination of theories by data. So one might suspect that we need to be able to tell distinct theories from mere alternate formulations before we can say anything substantive about underdetermination, that we need to solve the problem of identical rivals before addressing the problem of underdetermination. Here I consider two possible solutions: Quine proposes that we call two theories identical if they are equivalent under a reconstrual of predicates, but this would mishandle important cases. …


Defending Conventions As Functionally A Priori Knowledge, David J. Stump Dec 2003

Defending Conventions As Functionally A Priori Knowledge, David J. Stump

Philosophy

Recent defenses of a priori knowledge can be applied to the idea of conventions in science in order to indicate one important sense in which conventionalism is correct—some elements of physical theory have a unique epistemological status as a functionally a priori part of our physical theory. I will argue that the former a priori should be treated as empirical in a very abstract sense, but still conventional. Though actually coming closer to the Quinean position than recent defenses of a priori knowledge, the picture of science developed here is very different from that developed in Quinean holism in that …


Objectivity, Information, And Maxwell's Demon, Steven Weinstein Dec 2003

Objectivity, Information, And Maxwell's Demon, Steven Weinstein

Dartmouth Scholarship

This paper examines some common measures of complexity, structure, and information, with an eye toward understanding the extent to which complexity or information‐content may be regarded as objective properties of individual objects. A form of contextual objectivity is proposed which renders the measures objective, and which largely resolves the puzzle of Maxwell's Demon.


Sagp Newsletter 2003 2004 1 December, Anthony Preus Dec 2003

Sagp Newsletter 2003 2004 1 December, Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Program of the 50th Anniversary Year of the Society, with the three divisions of the American Philosophical Association.


Power Made Perfect In Weakness: Aquinas's Transformation Of The Virtue Of Courage, Rebecca Konyndyk De Young Dec 2003

Power Made Perfect In Weakness: Aquinas's Transformation Of The Virtue Of Courage, Rebecca Konyndyk De Young

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

In Plato's Republic, the moral education necessary to live the just life requires a transformation of the learner, a transformation that is both moral and intellectual. The result of the transformation, ideally, is a new understanding of power - one that subverts conventional ideas about power and one that requires nearly a lifetime of moral education to cultivate. When the eye of the soul has been turned toward the Good, Socrates teaches, we see that political power alone is powerless to satisfy our deepest longings; our ambitions for political power are destined for frustration unless they are redirected by philosophical …


Moorean Absurdity, Knowledge And Iterated Belief, John N. Williams Dec 2003

Moorean Absurdity, Knowledge And Iterated Belief, John N. Williams

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.


The English Standard Version - A Review Article, James A. Borland Nov 2003

The English Standard Version - A Review Article, James A. Borland

SOR Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.


What Can Science Tell Us?, Philosophical Discussion Group, Armstrong State University Nov 2003

What Can Science Tell Us?, Philosophical Discussion Group, Armstrong State University

The Philosopher's Stone

No abstract provided.


Political Correctness Today, Joseph Ellin Nov 2003

Political Correctness Today, Joseph Ellin

Center for the Study of Ethics in Society Papers

Paper presented to the Center of the Study of Ethics in Society Western Michigan University, November 14th, 2003.


Sublime Hunger: A Consideration Of Eating Disorders Beyond Beauty, Sheila Lintott Nov 2003

Sublime Hunger: A Consideration Of Eating Disorders Beyond Beauty, Sheila Lintott

Faculty Journal Articles

n this paper, I argue that one of the most intense ways women are encouraged to enjoy sublime experiences is via attempts to control their bodies through excessive dieting. If this is so, then the societal-cultural contributions to the problem of eating disorders exceed the perpetuation of a certain beauty ideal to include the almost universal encouragement women receive to diet, coupled with the relative shortage of opportunities women are afforded to experience the sublime.


Sylvester: Ushering In The Modern Era Of Research On Odd Perfect Numbers, Steven Gimbel, John Jaroma Oct 2003

Sylvester: Ushering In The Modern Era Of Research On Odd Perfect Numbers, Steven Gimbel, John Jaroma

Philosophy Faculty Publications

In 1888, James Joseph Sylvester (1814-1897) published a series of papers that he hoped would pave the way for a general proof of the nonexistence of an odd perfect number (OPN). Seemingly unaware that more than fifty years earlier Benjamin Peirce had proved that an odd perfect number must have at least four distinct prime divisors, Sylvester began his fundamental assault on the problem by establishing the same result. Later that same year, he strengthened his conclusion to five. These findings would help to mark the beginning of the modern era of research on odd perfect numbers. Sylvester's bound stood …


Philosophy For The Rest Of Us, Philosophical Discussion Group, Armstrong State University Oct 2003

Philosophy For The Rest Of Us, Philosophical Discussion Group, Armstrong State University

The Philosopher's Stone

No abstract provided.


Williamson On Knowledge And Psychological Explanation, P.D. Magnus, Jonathan Cohen Oct 2003

Williamson On Knowledge And Psychological Explanation, P.D. Magnus, Jonathan Cohen

Philosophy Faculty Scholarship

According to many philosophers, psychological explanation canlegitimately be given in terms of belief and desire, but not in termsof knowledge. To explain why someone does what they do (so the common wisdom holds) you can appeal to what they think or what they want, but not what they know. Timothy Williamson has recently argued against this view. Knowledge, Williamson insists, plays an essential role in ordinary psychological explanation.Williamson's argument works on two fronts.First, he argues against the claim that, unlike knowledge, belief is``composite'' (representable as a conjunction of a narrow and a broadcondition). Belief's failure to be composite, Williamson thinks, …


Stem Cell Research?: Yes--Out Of Love For The Neighbor, Alan G. Padgett Oct 2003

Stem Cell Research?: Yes--Out Of Love For The Neighbor, Alan G. Padgett

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Kinds Of Pragmatism, Albert Borgmann Oct 2003

Kinds Of Pragmatism, Albert Borgmann

Philosophy Faculty Publications

It is hard to appreciate now what a liberating and invigorating force John Dewey's philosophy must have been. He did away with imperious dichotomies and absolutes, reconnected philosophy with the sciences, confronted technological revolutions, attended to the perils


Review Of "Science And Poetry" By M. Midgley, Hans Oberdiek Oct 2003

Review Of "Science And Poetry" By M. Midgley, Hans Oberdiek

Philosophy Faculty Works

No abstract provided.


Suicide Bombing: A Challenge To Just-War Theory And Natural Law, Howard P. Kainz Oct 2003

Suicide Bombing: A Challenge To Just-War Theory And Natural Law, Howard P. Kainz

Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.


Making Morality: Pragmatist Reconstruction In Ethical Theory, Brian G. Henning Oct 2003

Making Morality: Pragmatist Reconstruction In Ethical Theory, Brian G. Henning

Philosophy Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


Moorean Absurdity And Conscious Belief, John N. Williams Oct 2003

Moorean Absurdity And Conscious Belief, John N. Williams

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

G. E. Moore observed that to for me to assert, “I went to the pictures last Tuesday but I don’t believe that I did” would be “absurd” (1942: 543). Over half a century later, the explanation of the nature of this absurdity remains problematic. Such assertions are unlike semantically odd Liar-type assertions such as “What I’m now saying is not true” since my Moorean assertion might be true: you may consistently imagine a situation in which I went to the pictures last Tuesday but fail to believe that I did. Moreover, if you contradict my assertion then your words, “If …


Wittgenstein, Moorean Absurdity And Its Disappearance From Speech, John N. Williams Oct 2003

Wittgenstein, Moorean Absurdity And Its Disappearance From Speech, John N. Williams

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

G. E. Moore famously observed that to say, "I went to the pictures last Tuesday but I don't believe that I did" would be "absurd." Why should it be absurd of me to say something about myself that might be true of me? Moore suggested an answer to this, but as I will show, one that fails. Wittgenstein was greatly impressed by Moore's discovery of a class of absurd but possibly true assertions because he saw that it illuminates "the logic of assertion". Wittgenstein suggests a promising relation of assertion to belief in terms of the idea that one "expresses …


Moorean Absurdities And Iterated Beliefs, John N. Williams Oct 2003

Moorean Absurdities And Iterated Beliefs, John N. Williams

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.


Universal Compulsory Service In Medical Research, Chris Herrera Sep 2003

Universal Compulsory Service In Medical Research, Chris Herrera

Department of Philosophy Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Despite the prominence of healthcare-related concerns in public debate, the ground remains infertile for the idea of conscripting citizens into medical research. Reluctance to entertain the thought of a system where nearly everyone could be selected for service might reflect uncertainty about what the project would involve. There might also be a fear that the more crucial issue is how to protect research subjects within current, voluntary systems. No doubt reluctance to explore a system of universal service results from the common hope that each of us might avoid research in any capacity besides researcher. A system of full civic …


Success, Truth, And The Galilean Strategy, P.D. Magnus Sep 2003

Success, Truth, And The Galilean Strategy, P.D. Magnus

Philosophy Faculty Scholarship

Philip Kitcher develops the Galilean Strategy to defend realism against its many opponents. I explore the structure of the Galilean Strategy and consider it specifically as an instrument against constructive empiricism. Kitcher claims that the Galilean Strategy underwrites an inference from success to truth. We should resist that conclusion, I argue, but the Galilean Strategy should lead us by other routes to believe in many things about which the empiricist would rather remain agnostic.


A Clash Of Methodology And Ethics In “Undercover” Social Science, Chris Herrera Sep 2003

A Clash Of Methodology And Ethics In “Undercover” Social Science, Chris Herrera

Department of Philosophy Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

A focus of criticism on methodological and ethical grounds, the undercover or "covert" approach to fieldwork persists as a useful technique in certain settings. Questions remain about the credibility of the published findings from such work. Covert researchers nearly always protect the anonymity of their subjects and locations. Other researchers cannot validate the covert researcher's claims, yet ethical guidelines often insist that researchers demonstrate the benefits that derive from a covert study. If researchers cannot show that their studies will prove beneficial, ethical standards will weigh against the study, on the presumption that the omission of informed consent should be …


The Moral Poker Face: Games, Deception, And The Morality Of Bluffing, James Mcbain Sep 2003

The Moral Poker Face: Games, Deception, And The Morality Of Bluffing, James Mcbain

Faculty Submissions

Bluffing is essentially nothing more than a type of deception. But, despite its morally questionable foundation, it is not only permissible in certain contexts, but sometimes encouraged and/or required (e.g., playing poker). Yet, the question remains as to whether it is permissible to bluff in other contexts – particularly everyday situations. In this paper, I will look at László Mérő’s argument – one based in game theory and Kantian ethics – to the end that bluffing is morally permissible in everyday contexts. I will argue that Mérő’s argument is mistaken on two grounds. First, it includes an epistemic feature (i.e., …


The Apt Word, Hugh Lacey Sep 2003

The Apt Word, Hugh Lacey

Philosophy Faculty Works

No abstract provided.


Moorean Absurdity And Expressing Belief, John N. Williams Sep 2003

Moorean Absurdity And Expressing Belief, John N. Williams

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.