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Articles 1 - 30 of 39
Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
The Esoteric Quality Of Montaigne’S Essays: The Essay As A Philosophic Response To Extreme Forms Of Skepticism, Victoria Russo
The Esoteric Quality Of Montaigne’S Essays: The Essay As A Philosophic Response To Extreme Forms Of Skepticism, Victoria Russo
Honors Program Theses and Projects
According to Judith Shklar (1990, 611) not only is Montaigne Emerson’s hero, but Emerson is the American thinker in whom one finds the greatest understanding and appreciation of Montaigne’s Essays (see also Shklar 1989). The kinship between Montaigne and Emerson extends beyond the latter’s appreciation of the former. Both essayists address the topics of skepticism and the relationship between skepticism and how one ought to live. In doing so, both Emerson and Montaigne speak to the philosophical importance of literature and how one should understand the relationship between literature and philosophy.
The Existential Philosophy Of David Foster Wallace, Shoshana Primak
The Existential Philosophy Of David Foster Wallace, Shoshana Primak
Honors Program Theses and Projects
It is no secret that philosophy and literature are often closely intertwined: beginning with works as old as Plato’s dialogues, philosophers have always seen the merit in utilizing fiction to share philosophy with both their contemporaries and with the general public. The most prominent existentialists are perhaps the most famous for using literature as a vehicle for their philosophical ideas: Friedrich Nietzsche, Søren Kierkegaard, Albert Camus, Simone de Beauvoir, and Jean-Paul Sartre all published some kind of fiction, through parables, novels, plays, and so forth. Likewise, I will argue in this thesis that renowned writer David Foster Wallace was not …
Towards An Understanding Of Nietzsche’S Will To Power, Jeffrey Beery
Towards An Understanding Of Nietzsche’S Will To Power, Jeffrey Beery
Honors Program Theses and Projects
Given his aphoristic writing style, his poetical and metaphorical depictions of philosophical ideas, and his presentations of seemingly logically contradictory or inconsistent views, Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophy lends itself to a variety of competing interpretations among scholars and a plethora of misconceptions among everyday readers. These misconceptions have invited many negative connotations to be attributed to his philosophy, including Nazism, misogyny, and egoism. Amongst his most misconstrued concepts is the Will to Power, a concept Nietzsche himself never explicitly defines, but discusses in a variety of ways throughout his texts.
A Smithian Perspective On Aristotle's Virtuous Friend, Meagan Fraser
A Smithian Perspective On Aristotle's Virtuous Friend, Meagan Fraser
Honors Program Theses and Projects
No abstract provided.
Truths, Facts, And Liars, Peter Marton
Truths, Facts, And Liars, Peter Marton
Philosophy Faculty Publications
A Moderate Anti-realist (MAR) approach to truth and meaning, built around the concept of knowability, will be introduced and argued for in this essay. Our starting point will be the two fundamental anti-realists principles that claim that neither truth nor meaning can outstrip knowability and our focus will be on the challenge of adequately formalizing these principles and incorporating them into a formal theory. Accordingly, the author will introduce a MAR truth operator that is built on a distinction between being true and being factual. He will show then that this approach partitions propositions into eight classes, on the basis …
Epistemic Problems In Contemporary History, Michael Hollien
Epistemic Problems In Contemporary History, Michael Hollien
Honors Program Theses and Projects
A recent trend in contemporary written history is towards what I term “narrative” history, where the significant events of the past are framed within traditional dramatic structure and told through the personal vignettes of the common people who experienced them. This makes for immersive reading, but the complication in this approach is that history, at least in part, purports to be a true telling of the past. Therein lies the problem. I shall argue that narrative history’s pervasive use of literary technique and witness testimony in order to make truth claims about the past is epistemically unjustified. That does not …
Beyond The Process God: A Defense Of The Classical Divine Attributes, Steven J. Young
Beyond The Process God: A Defense Of The Classical Divine Attributes, Steven J. Young
Honors Program Theses and Projects
Because of the work of process philosophers Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne, a view of God has emerged as being in a constant state of flux. The power and knowledge of the process God are much more restricted than the power and knowledge of the classical God, but such diminutions supposedly safeguard divine goodness from tyrannical implications. In this paper, I defend the classical divine attributes against process philosophers. More specifically, I argue that God’s omnipotence does not diminish divine goodness and that a deity with such restricted power would not function as a proper object of worship. In …
[Review Of The Book Disagreement By Brian Frances], James Pearson
[Review Of The Book Disagreement By Brian Frances], James Pearson
Philosophy Faculty Publications
Review of the book Disagreement by Bryan Frances. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2014.
A Tightrope Over An Abyss: Humanity And The Lords Of Life, Timothy Francis Urban
A Tightrope Over An Abyss: Humanity And The Lords Of Life, Timothy Francis Urban
The Graduate Review
The American thinker Ralph Waldo Emerson is a precursor to the thought of the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche's writings have often admitted to the profound influence Emerson had on the latter's own philosophy. Both thinkers shared common ground in viewing philosophy and language as an active process, always in a state of becoming, where the subject is the sole creator of meaning. This paper argues that Emerson and Nietzsche recognized the liberating quality of language in the creation of one's subjectivity. Emerson and Nietzsche dismissed notions of objective knowledge by looking at how language is arbitrary, and, as such, …
Continuing The Conversation: Scholarly Inspiration After Retirement. An Interview With Ed James, Matthew R. Dasti
Continuing The Conversation: Scholarly Inspiration After Retirement. An Interview With Ed James, Matthew R. Dasti
Bridgewater Review
Ed James is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Bridgewater State University. His research has been published in leading journals that include Mind and Ethics. His recent work includes two papers, “Too Soon to Say” (July 2012) and “Beyond the Magical Thinking Behind the Principal Principle” (July 2015). Ed taught at BSU 1976-2009. The interview was conducted in summer 2015.
On Epistemic Egalitarianism For My P-Zombie Twin: In Defense Of The Phenomenal Concept Strategy, Diane Smedberg
On Epistemic Egalitarianism For My P-Zombie Twin: In Defense Of The Phenomenal Concept Strategy, Diane Smedberg
Honors Program Theses and Projects
One current debate in philosophy of mind concerns the ontological and epistemological nature of phenomenal consciousness. Two major camps dominate this debate: property dualists and physicalists. For property dualists, the existence of an epistemic gap between the physical and the phenomenal—that our knowledge of the physical does not secure our knowledge of the phenomenal—entails an ontological gap, so that the physical and the phenomenal exist as fundamentally distinct domains. For physicalists, the ontological gap does not exist because there is only one ontological type of phenomenal property. In this paper, I will criticize the property dualists’ position. I concentrate on …
The Specific Intellectuals: Foucault, Thoreau, And Berkeley, Paul J. Medeiros
The Specific Intellectuals: Foucault, Thoreau, And Berkeley, Paul J. Medeiros
Bridgewater Review
No abstract provided.
Natural Law And Spontaneous Order In The Work Of Gary Chartier, Aeon Skoble
Natural Law And Spontaneous Order In The Work Of Gary Chartier, Aeon Skoble
Philosophy Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
A Presuppositional Rejection Of Enlightenment Evidentialism, Ethan P. Rogers
A Presuppositional Rejection Of Enlightenment Evidentialism, Ethan P. Rogers
Honors Program Theses and Projects
Epistemology is concerned with the nature of knowledge, truth, and the justification of belief. Epistemology of religion considers these issues in relation to religious truth claims (e.g., whether or not it is reasonable to believe that God exists). Often, the epistemology of religion leads to inquiry into fundamental attitudes towards the criteria for justification. For example, a major strain of contemporary epistemology of religion has been characterized “as a debate over whether evidentialism applies to the belief component of faith, or whether we should instead adopt a more permissive epistemology.” Thus, whether or not evidentialism is the appropriate approach to …
Systematizing Nyāya, Matthew R. Dasti
Systematizing Nyāya, Matthew R. Dasti
Philosophy Faculty Publications
Review of: Epistemology in Classical India: The Knowledge Sources of the Nyāya School. By Stephen Phillips. New York and London: Routledge, 2012. ISBN 978-0415895545.
Too Soon To Say, Edward W. James
Too Soon To Say, Edward W. James
Philosophy Faculty Publications
(1) Rupert Read charges that Rawls culpably overlooks the politicized Euthyphro: Do we accept our political perspective because it is right or is it right because we accept it? (2) This charge brings up the question of the deficiency dilemma: Do others disagree with us because of our failures or theirs? – where the two dilemmas appear to be independent of each other and lead to the questions of the logic of deficiency, moral epistemic deficiency, epistemic peers, and the hardness of philosophy. (3) In reply, on an expanded principle of charity Rawls does not overlook the Euthyphro but …
Parasitism And Disjunctivism In Nyāya Epistemology, Matthew Dasti
Parasitism And Disjunctivism In Nyāya Epistemology, Matthew Dasti
Philosophy Faculty Publications
This article examines a number of arguments I collectively term arguments from parasitism, which Nyāya employs to illustrate that rational reflection, the institution of language, and even error itself presuppose a ground-level basis of veridical cognitive interaction with the world. It further suggests that by such arguments, coupled with its stress on the inerrancy of pramāṇ as, Nyāya anticipates and supports the contemporary philosophical movement known as (epistemological) disjunctivism.
Plato’S Instruments: Harmony, Hubris, And Heartstrings, Kendra Tully
Plato’S Instruments: Harmony, Hubris, And Heartstrings, Kendra Tully
Undergraduate Review
Plato’s Symposium strives to resolve the tension between physical and moral love. After characterizing this tension through an analysis of the speeches of Eryximachus (who advocates purely physical love) and Socrates (who advocates purely moral love), this essay argues that Plato offers an interpretation of love that bridges the physical/moral divide. Evidence for this claim is found in the content of the speech of Aristophanes, the timing of the arrival of Alcibiades, and the exchange between Alcibiades and Socrates. In taking seriously both the physical and moral aspects of love, Plato concludes that humans can live beautifully together only when …
No Country For Moral Men, William J. Devlin
Comment And Discussion: Pramāņa Are Factive - A Response To Jonardon Ganeri, Matthew Dasti, Stephen H. Phillips
Comment And Discussion: Pramāņa Are Factive - A Response To Jonardon Ganeri, Matthew Dasti, Stephen H. Phillips
Philosophy Faculty Publications
In this article, the author discusses aspects of the review made by Jonardan Ganeri on the collaborative translation of the first chapter of “Epistemology of Perception: Ga·ngeśa’s Tattvacintāma·ni, Jewel of Reflection on the Truth (About Epistemology): The Perception Chapter (Pratyak·sa-Kha·n·da),” by Stephen Phillips and N. S. Ramanuja Tatacharya. The author says that Ganeri argues in opposition of Phillips’ and Ramanuja Tatacharya’ interpretation on the nature of pramā·na
Knowledge And Skepticism In Descartes’ Meditations, Scott Campbell
Knowledge And Skepticism In Descartes’ Meditations, Scott Campbell
Undergraduate Review
My research is centered on the arguments of Rene Descartes, a 17th Century philosopher, in his work The Meditations. The Meditations is composed of six entries, which are six meditations, written in form of narration. His narrative takes form in an intricately composed piece of writing, a clever argument presented through a precise and fascinating procedure. However, the artful fashion in which he conveys his method is far from an immaculately composed calculation which Descartes leads one to believe. In this paper I will present Descartes’ procedural destruction and following reassembly of the external world and his proposed discovery of …
A Moral Investigation Of Torture In The Post 9.11 World, Joe Moloney
A Moral Investigation Of Torture In The Post 9.11 World, Joe Moloney
Undergraduate Review
The field of philosophy is unique, as it allows one to logically examine issues in all disciplines, from science to politics to art. One further important discipline that philosophy examines is criminal justice. In this respect, one approach philosophy can take when examining criminal justice is to assess each issue by questioning its morality—that is, whether an action within the issue is right or wrong based upon a system of ethics. This approach concerns the subfield of philosophy known as ethics, a subfield that includes questions concerning what is morally good and morally bad. When one is faced with an …
Domination, Individuality, And Moral Chaos: Nietzsche’S Will To Power, Angel Cooper
Domination, Individuality, And Moral Chaos: Nietzsche’S Will To Power, Angel Cooper
Undergraduate Review
One of the most well known, but deeply debated, ideas presented by the philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, is the will to power. Scholars have provided a variety of interpretations for what Nietzsche means by this concept. In this paper, I argue that, under each interpretation, Nietzsche may still face what I call, the problem of moral chaos, or the problem of endorsing the claim that immoral acts, such as murder and torture, are justifiable as they exemplify the human will towards power over others. I ultimately argue that Nietzsche’s philosophy avoids this problem: though Nietzsche proposes it is possible to harm …
Naturalism And Is Opponents, Joseph Spencer
Naturalism And Is Opponents, Joseph Spencer
Undergraduate Review
Ever since Descartes began his search for certainty in philosophy, many of the great philosophers have taken up this quest. One solution, proposed by W.V.O. Quine in his 1969 essay, Naturalized Epistemology, claims that we must refrain from studying epistemology in philosophy. Quine claims that our study of knowledge must only occur in the field of psychology and that we should refrain from talking about these issues in philosophy. As one can imagine, Quine’s essay was met with much criticism and anger among philosophers. Most notably, Hilary Putnam provides a devastating critique of naturalized epistemology in his essay, Why …
Plato’S Theory Of Forms: Analogy And Metaphor In Plato’S Republic, Anthony Jannotta
Plato’S Theory Of Forms: Analogy And Metaphor In Plato’S Republic, Anthony Jannotta
Undergraduate Review
It would be impossible to understand Plato’s writings on the nature of justice, beauty, or the good without first understanding Plato’s theory of Forms. Plato gives us a variety of different arguments in favor of his theory; most, if not all, of these arguments are analogical. I will explicate two such arguments, the sun analogy and the argument for the Forms found in book X, evaluating each as they are discussed. The evaluation will be geared toward cogency and consistency. First, though, I briefly explain Plato’s theory of Forms in general before examining these arguments. Ultimately, I will conclude that …
Is Prospero Just? Platonic Virtue In William Shakespeare’S The Tempest, Anthony Jannotta
Is Prospero Just? Platonic Virtue In William Shakespeare’S The Tempest, Anthony Jannotta
Undergraduate Review
The Tempest is often regarded, and rightly so, as Shakespeare’s last great play. Many scholars argue that Prospero is an analogue for Shakespeare himself, noting the similarities between Prospero’s illusory magic and Shakespeare’s poetic genius. The themes of imagination, illusion, and, indeed, theatre itself play an integral role. The line that is perhaps most often cited as evidence for this argument is Prospero’s speech directly after he breaks up the wedding masque in which he refers to “the great globe itself” (IV.i.153). There is a danger, however, in appealing to the author’s biography or treating the biography as paramount, namely …
Reconsidering The Mind/Body Distinction: Towards A Continuist Ontology Of Consciousness, Michael Robillard
Reconsidering The Mind/Body Distinction: Towards A Continuist Ontology Of Consciousness, Michael Robillard
Undergraduate Review
In his paper, “The State and Fate of Contemporary Philosophy of Mind,” John Haldane likens the present condition of Philosophy of Mind to that of the philosophically stultifying period of late scholasticism, where naming took the place of explaining, and philosophy was reduced to taxonomy. Haldane argues that our current physicalistic lexicon has made it virtually “impossible to accommodate the basic features of mindedness revealed in reflection and direct experience.” For Philosophy of Mind to progress, Haldane argues, we must “make space” for alternative modes of knowing that exist beyond the bounds of our current, overly physicalistic terminology.
The Sovereignty Of The Individual: Thoreau’S Call For Reformation In Walden, Bradford Vezina
The Sovereignty Of The Individual: Thoreau’S Call For Reformation In Walden, Bradford Vezina
Undergraduate Review
No abstract provided.
Human Behavior: Self-Discrepancy Reduction, Derek Drake
Human Behavior: Self-Discrepancy Reduction, Derek Drake
Undergraduate Review
No abstract provided.
The Powers Of Silence: Cistercian Monasticism As A Radical Critique Of Information Age Epistemology, Brad Rubin
The Powers Of Silence: Cistercian Monasticism As A Radical Critique Of Information Age Epistemology, Brad Rubin
Undergraduate Review
No abstract provided.