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Thinkings 11: Collected Evocations, Interventions, And Readings, Jeff Noonan Jan 2021

Thinkings 11: Collected Evocations, Interventions, And Readings, Jeff Noonan

Philosophy Publications

No abstract provided.


Thinkings 10: Collected Evocations, Interventions, And Readings, Jeff Noonan Jan 2020

Thinkings 10: Collected Evocations, Interventions, And Readings, Jeff Noonan

Philosophy Publications

No abstract provided.


The Racial Offense Objection To Confederate Monuments: A Reply To Timmerman, Dan Demetriou Jan 2020

The Racial Offense Objection To Confederate Monuments: A Reply To Timmerman, Dan Demetriou

Philosophy Publications

The reply essay (1000 words) to Travis Timmerman's "A Case for Removing Confederate Monuments" in Bob Fisher's Ethics, Left and Right: The Moral Issues That Divide Us volume. In it, Demetriou explains why he thinks the mere harm from the racial offense a monument may cause does not justify removing it.


Ashes Of Our Fathers: Racist Monuments And The Tribal Right, Dan Demetriou Jan 2020

Ashes Of Our Fathers: Racist Monuments And The Tribal Right, Dan Demetriou

Philosophy Publications

In this chapter Demetriou sketches a rightist approach to monumentary policy in a diverse polity beleaguered by old ethnic grievances. He begins by noting the importance of tribalism, memorialization, and social trust. He then suggests a policy which 1) gradually narrows the gap between peoples in the heritage landscape, 2) conserves all but the most offensive of the least beloved racist monuments, 3) avoids recrimination (i.e., “keeps it positive”) and eschews ideological commentary in new monuments or revisions to old ones, 4) as much as politically feasible, recognizes only the offense of willing tribemates, and 5) responds to aesthetic and …


Thinkings 9: Collected Evocations, Interventions, And Readings, Jeff Noonan Jan 2019

Thinkings 9: Collected Evocations, Interventions, And Readings, Jeff Noonan

Philosophy Publications

No abstract provided.


Parental Licensing And Discrimination, Carolyn Mcleod, Andrew Botterell Jan 2019

Parental Licensing And Discrimination, Carolyn Mcleod, Andrew Botterell

Philosophy Publications

In order to protect children from risks associated with bad parenting, some philosophers have recommended that all parents be licensed, in much the same way in which drivers of motor vehicles and many professionals, such as physicians, are licensed. In this chapter, we clarify what parental licensing is, describe philosophical theories about it, and assess these theories in terms of how well they deal with problems of discrimination in parental licensing. While much of our discussion focuses on biologism, the privileging of biological parenthood over non-biological forms of parenthood, we also touch on other forms of discrimination that parental licensing …


Thinkings 8: Collected Evocations, Interventions, And Readings, Jeff Noonan Jan 2018

Thinkings 8: Collected Evocations, Interventions, And Readings, Jeff Noonan

Philosophy Publications

No abstract provided.


The Ethics Of Racist Monuments, Dan Demetriou, Ajume Wingo Jan 2018

The Ethics Of Racist Monuments, Dan Demetriou, Ajume Wingo

Philosophy Publications

We focus on the debate over racist monuments as it manifests in the mid-2010s Anglosphere, primarily in the US (chiefly regarding the over 700 monuments devoted to the Confederacy),2 but to some degree also in Britain and commonwealth countries, especially South Africa (chiefly regarding monuments devoted to figures and events associated with colonialism and apartheid). Even with this limited scope, we will not recommend any sweeping policy for many lands, histories, peoples, and monuments in this immensely difficult and emotionally fraught controversy. Our aim rather is to categorize arguments, voice some un-asked questions, and offer a few guidelines for policymakers …


Does Reproductive Justice Demand Insurance Coverage For Ivf?, Carolyn Mcleod Oct 2017

Does Reproductive Justice Demand Insurance Coverage For Ivf?, Carolyn Mcleod

Philosophy Publications

This paper comes out of a panel honoring the work of Anne Donchin (1940-2014), which took place at the 2016 Congress of the International Network on Feminist Approaches to Bioethics (FAB) in Edinburgh. My general aim is to highlight the contributions Anne made to feminist bioethics, and to feminist reproductive ethics in particular. My more specific aim, however, is to have a kind of conversation with Anne, through her work, about whether reproductive justice could demand insurance coverage for in vitro fertilization. I quote liberally from Anne’s work for this purpose, but also to shower the reader with her words, …


The Medical Nonnecessity Of In Vitro Fertilization, Carolyn Mcleod Apr 2017

The Medical Nonnecessity Of In Vitro Fertilization, Carolyn Mcleod

Philosophy Publications

Debate has raged in Canada recently over whether in vitro fertilization (IVF) should be funded through public health insurance. Such a move would require that the provinces classify IVF as a medically necessary service. In this paper, I defend the position I have taken publicly—especially in Ontario, my own province—that IVF is not medically necessary. I contend that, by funding IVF on grounds of medical necessity, governments like Ontario's violate their commitments to equality and fairness, and cause harm. They do the last by suggesting that the lives of people who forgo procreation, and perhaps have children in other ways …


Thinkings 7: Collected Evocations, Interventions, And Readings, Jeff Noonan Jan 2017

Thinkings 7: Collected Evocations, Interventions, And Readings, Jeff Noonan

Philosophy Publications

No abstract provided.


Thinkings 6: Collected Evocations, Interventions, And Readings, Jeff Noonan Jan 2016

Thinkings 6: Collected Evocations, Interventions, And Readings, Jeff Noonan

Philosophy Publications

No abstract provided.


The Tyranny Of Work: Employability And The Neoliberal Assault On Education, Jeff Noonan, Mireille Coral Jan 2015

The Tyranny Of Work: Employability And The Neoliberal Assault On Education, Jeff Noonan, Mireille Coral

Philosophy Publications

This paper explores the ways in which neoliberal schooling is threatening education. We define education as the development of cognitive and imaginative capacities for understanding of and critical engagement with social reality. Education opens horizons of possibility for collective and individual life-experience and activity by exposing the one-sidedness and contradictions of ruling-value systems. Schooling, by contrast, subordinates thought and imagination to the reproduction of the ruling money-value system, narrowing horizons of possibility for collective and individual life to service to the prevailing structure of power. Our paper draws on our overlapping experiences as educators, one in the university system, …


Thinkings 5: Collected Evocations, Interventions, And Readings, Jeff Noonan Jan 2015

Thinkings 5: Collected Evocations, Interventions, And Readings, Jeff Noonan

Philosophy Publications

No abstract provided.


Can A Right To Reproduce Justify The Status Quo On Parental Licensing?, Andrew Botterell, Carolyn Mcleod Jan 2015

Can A Right To Reproduce Justify The Status Quo On Parental Licensing?, Andrew Botterell, Carolyn Mcleod

Philosophy Publications

Most Western jurisdictions require parental licensing in the case of adoption but not in the case of assisted or unassisted biological reproduction. In an earlier paper, we set out to show that no arguments in favour of such a system of parental licensing succeed. One argument that we failed to consider, however, is one that appeals to the notion of a right to reproduce. According to this argument, prospective biological parents are protected from parental licensing because they exercise a right to reproduce when attempting to have children, while the same cannot be said about prospective adoptive parents. This paper …


Self-Constraint, Human Freedom, And The Conditions Of Socialist Democracy, Jeff Noonan Dec 2014

Self-Constraint, Human Freedom, And The Conditions Of Socialist Democracy, Jeff Noonan

Philosophy Publications

“The re-discovery of Marx,” Marcello Musto argues, “is based on his persistent capacity to explain the present: he remains an indispensible instrument for understanding it and transforming it.” (Musto, 2012, 11-12). It is true that the continuity of problems connecting our world to Marx’s ensures the relevance of historical materialism. At the same time, changes in the structure and scale of capitalism, as well as failures of nineteenth and twentieth century socialism to build a democratic and life-affirming alternative, force twenty-first century socialists to risk new theoretical and practical departures. Yet, nowhere is a consistent ethical-political-economic foundation for twenty-first century …


Doing The Ppp: A Skeptical Perspective, Leo Groarke, Beverley Hamilton Jan 2014

Doing The Ppp: A Skeptical Perspective, Leo Groarke, Beverley Hamilton

Philosophy Publications

No abstract provided.


Thinkings 4: Collected Evocations, Interventions, And Readings, Jeff Noonan Jan 2014

Thinkings 4: Collected Evocations, Interventions, And Readings, Jeff Noonan

Philosophy Publications

No abstract provided.


Justification For Conscience Exemptions In Health Care, Lori Kantymir, Carolyn Mcleod Jan 2014

Justification For Conscience Exemptions In Health Care, Lori Kantymir, Carolyn Mcleod

Philosophy Publications

Some bioethicists argue that conscientious objectors in health care should have to justify themselves, just as objectors in the military do. They should have to provide reasons that explain why they should be exempt from offering the services that they find offensive. There are two versions of this view in the literature, each giving different standards of justification. We show these views are each either too permissive (i.e. would result in problematic exemptions based on conscience) or too restrictive (i.e. would produce problematic denials of exemption). We then develop a middle ground position that we believe better combines respect for …


Conscientious Refusal And Access To Abortion And Contraception, Chloë Fitzgerald, Carolyn Mcleod Jan 2014

Conscientious Refusal And Access To Abortion And Contraception, Chloë Fitzgerald, Carolyn Mcleod

Philosophy Publications

No abstract provided.


’Not For The Faint Of Heart’: Accessing The Status Quo On Adoption And Parental Licensing, Carolyn Mcleod, Andrew Botterell Jan 2014

’Not For The Faint Of Heart’: Accessing The Status Quo On Adoption And Parental Licensing, Carolyn Mcleod, Andrew Botterell

Philosophy Publications

The process of adopting a child is “not for the faint of heart.” This is what we were told the first time we, as a couple, began this process. Part of the challenge lies in fulfilling the licensing requirements for adoption, which, beyond the usual home study, can include mandatory participation in parenting classes. The question naturally arises for many people who are subjected to these requirements whether they are morally justified. We tackle this question in this paper. In our view, while strong reasons exist in favour of licensing adoptive parents, these reasons support the licensing not only of …


Some Reflections On Meditation Research And Consciousness Studies, Jonathan Shear Jan 2014

Some Reflections On Meditation Research And Consciousness Studies, Jonathan Shear

Philosophy Publications

No abstract provided.


Psychological Continuity: A Discussion Of Marc Slors' Account, Traumatic Experience, And The Significance Of Our Relations To Others, Pieranna Garavaso Jan 2014

Psychological Continuity: A Discussion Of Marc Slors' Account, Traumatic Experience, And The Significance Of Our Relations To Others, Pieranna Garavaso

Philosophy Publications

This paper addresses a question concerning psychological continuity, i.e., which features preserve the same psychological subject over time; this is not the same question as the one concerning the necessary and sufficient conditions for personal identity. Marc Slors (1998, 2001, 2001a) defends an account of psychological continuity that adds two features to Derek Parfit’s Relation R, namely narrativity and embodiment. Slors’ account is a significant improvement on Parfit’s, but still lacks an explicit acknowledgment of a third feature that I call relationality. Because they are usually regarded as cases of radical discontinuity, I start my discussion from the experiences of …


Hilary Putnam's Consistency Objection Against Wittgenstein's Conventionalism In Mathematics, Pieranna Garavaso Oct 2013

Hilary Putnam's Consistency Objection Against Wittgenstein's Conventionalism In Mathematics, Pieranna Garavaso

Philosophy Publications

Hilary Putnam first published the consistency objection against Ludwig Wittgenstein’s account of mathematics in 1979. In 1983, Putnam and Benacerraf raised this objection against all conventionalist accounts of mathematics. I discuss the 1979 version and the scenario argument, which supports the key premise of the objection. The wide applicability of this objection is not apparent; I thus raise it against an imaginary axiomatic theory T similar to Peano arithmetic in all relevant aspects. I argue that a conventionalist can explain the consistency of T and suggest that an analogous explanation can be provided for the consistency of Peano arithmetic.


Moving Forward With A Clear Conscience: A Model Conscientious Objection Policy For Canadian Colleges Of Physicians And Surgeons, Jocelyn Downie, Carolyn Mcleod, Jacquelyn Shaw Jul 2013

Moving Forward With A Clear Conscience: A Model Conscientious Objection Policy For Canadian Colleges Of Physicians And Surgeons, Jocelyn Downie, Carolyn Mcleod, Jacquelyn Shaw

Philosophy Publications

No abstract provided.


The Life-Value Of Death Mortality, Finitude, And Meaningful Lives, Jeff Noonan Jan 2013

The Life-Value Of Death Mortality, Finitude, And Meaningful Lives, Jeff Noonan

Philosophy Publications

In his seminal reflection on the badness of death, Nagel links it to the permanent loss “of whatever good there is in living.” I will argue, following McMurtry, that “whatever good there is in living” is defined by the life-value of resources, institutions, experiences, and activities. Enjoyed expressions of the human capacities to experience the world, to form relationships, and to act as creative agents are (with important qualifications) intrinsically life-valuable, the reason why anyone would desire to go on living indefinitely. As Nagel argues, “the fact that we will eventually die in a few score years cannot by itself …


Case Classification, Similarities, Spaces Of Reasons, And Coherences, Marcello Guarini Jan 2013

Case Classification, Similarities, Spaces Of Reasons, And Coherences, Marcello Guarini

Philosophy Publications

A simple recurrent artificial neural network (ANN) is used to classify situations as permissible or impermissible. The trained ANN can be understood as having set up a similarity space of cases at the level of its internal or hidden units. An analysis of the network’s internal representations is undertaken using a new visualization technique for state space approaches to understanding similarity. Insights from the literature on moral philosophy pertaining to contributory standards will be used to interpret the state space set up by the ANN as being structured by implicit reasons. The ANN, on its own, is not capable of …


Thinkings 3: Collected Evocations, Interventions, And Readings, Jeff Noonan Jan 2013

Thinkings 3: Collected Evocations, Interventions, And Readings, Jeff Noonan

Philosophy Publications

No abstract provided.


Thinkings 2: Collected Evocations, Interventions, And Readings, Jeff Noonan Jan 2012

Thinkings 2: Collected Evocations, Interventions, And Readings, Jeff Noonan

Philosophy Publications

No abstract provided.


Socialism As A Life-Coherent Society, Jeff Noonan Nov 2011

Socialism As A Life-Coherent Society, Jeff Noonan

Philosophy Publications

All varieties of socialism share this trait in common: they are systematic alternatives to capitalism. But why should a systematic alternative to capitalism be necessary? Has it not proven to be the most productive economic system in history? Has it not created social conditions in which the powers of human imagination, creativity, and scientific understanding have grown to wider scope than in any previous society? Has it not enabled human beings to extend their life span and live healthier and more active lives than ever before? Has it not proven extraordinarily plastic, able to solve unforeseen problems in ways that …