Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Arts and Humanities Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 11 of 11

Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Pre-Crime, Pre-Punishment And Pre-Desert, John N. Williams Nov 2004

Pre-Crime, Pre-Punishment And Pre-Desert, John N. Williams

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.


Moore's Paradoxes, Evans's Principle And Self-Knowledge, John N. Williams Oct 2004

Moore's Paradoxes, Evans's Principle And Self-Knowledge, John N. Williams

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

I supply an argument for Evans’s principle that whatever justifies me in believing that p also justifies me in believing that I believe that p. I show how this principle helps explain how I come to know my own beliefs in a way that normally makes me the best authority on them. Then I show how the principle helps to solve Moore’s paradoxes.


A Simple Solution To The Surprise Exam Paradoxes, John N. Williams Aug 2004

A Simple Solution To The Surprise Exam Paradoxes, John N. Williams

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.


Know-How, John N. Williams Jun 2004

Know-How, John N. Williams

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In daily life we not only speak not only of knowing facts but also of know-how. We may not only judge that someone knows that the stock market is in decline, that an avalanche is imminent or that ice is not marble but also that someone knows how to make money on the stock exchange, knows how to survive an avalanche or knows how to carve a realistic life-sized human figure from a block of marble. Ryle (1949, 26-60) first drew attention to analysis of know-how and argued that know-how does not consist of propositional knowledge. He went on to …


Using The Economic Concept Of A 'Merit Good' To Justify The Teaching Of Ethics Across The University Curriculum, Mark Nowacki, Wilfried Ver Eecke Apr 2004

Using The Economic Concept Of A 'Merit Good' To Justify The Teaching Of Ethics Across The University Curriculum, Mark Nowacki, Wilfried Ver Eecke

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Philosophers often lament the limited role that philosophy plays in the intellectual formation of the average university student. Once central to university life—there was a time when the study of philosophy defined what it meant to be a student of the liberal arts—philosophy as a subject of study has become marginalized. It is a painful reality that in many universities philosophy has been reduced to the status of a fluffy elective, a course of study to be conscientiously avoided by the more "practical" and "hard nosed" students bent upon success in the pragmatic worlds of business and politics. Only classical …


Thoughts And Propositions, Yoo Guan Tan Feb 2004

Thoughts And Propositions, Yoo Guan Tan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In "Reference and Contingency", Gareth Evans maintains that it is possible for an expression both to be a proper name and to have a descriptive sense. Evans calls such names descriptive names. He further claims that if ‘a’ is a name whose reference is fixed by a definite description ‘the φ‘, then ‘a’ will have the same sense as ‘the φ‘. Against Kripke’s objection that names and descriptions are not interchangeable salva veritate within modal contexts, Evans argues that the objection is based upon a false assumption about the connection between contents (thoughts in Frege’s sense) and propositions (sets of …


The Case For Open Immigration, Chandran Kukathas Jan 2004

The Case For Open Immigration, Chandran Kukathas

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

People favor or are opposed to immigration for a variety of reasons. It is therefore difficult to tie views about immigration to ideological positions. While it seems obviousthat political conservatives are the most unlikely to defend freedom of movement,and that socialists and liberals (classical and modern) are very likely to favor more openborders, in reality wariness (if not outright hostility) to immigration can be foundamong all groups. Even libertarian anarchists have advanced reasons to restrict themovement of peoples.


Moore's Paradox And Self-Knowledge, John N. Williams Jan 2004

Moore's Paradox And Self-Knowledge, John N. Williams

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

What explanation is there of the source of my justification for my beliefs about my beliefs that respects the fact that I am normally the best authority on them? Moore's paradox demands an explanation of the absurdity of believing or asserting possible truths of the forms p but I don't believe that p or p but I believe that not-p. I argue for Evans principle that whatever justifies me in believing that p also justifies me in believing that I believe that p. This helps explain how I come to know my own beliefs and also shows that it is …


From Cannibalism To Empowerment: An Analects-Inspired Attempt To Balance Community And Liberty, Sor-Hoon Tan Jan 2004

From Cannibalism To Empowerment: An Analects-Inspired Attempt To Balance Community And Liberty, Sor-Hoon Tan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The Confucian tradition has often been credited with a strong allegiance to the value of community. It recognizes that certain goods might be attained through special forms of human association, but not by any solitary individual. Are such community goods attained at the expense of the liberty of individual members? Philosophers have struggled with the tension between liberty and community since the dawn of Western philosophy. Aristotle complained about the false idea of liberty as "doing what one likes," which is contradictory to the true interests of the polis.2 Such lib- erty, or rather license, is undoubtedly detrimental to any …


China’S Pragmatist Experiment: Hu Shih’S Pragmatism And Dewey’S Influence In China, Sor-Hoon Tan Jan 2004

China’S Pragmatist Experiment: Hu Shih’S Pragmatism And Dewey’S Influence In China, Sor-Hoon Tan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In the 1920s, John Dewey’s followers in China, led by his student HuShih, attempted to put his pragmatism into practice in their quest for democracy.This essay compares Hu Shih’s thought, especially his emphasis on pragmatism asmethod, with Dewey’s philosophical positions and evaluates Hu’s achievement asa pragmatist in the context of the tumultuous times he lived in. It assesses Hu’sclaim that the means to democracy lies in education rather than politics, sincedemocracy as a way of life requires a cultural renewal beyond institutionalchanges. It argues that a problem-centered approach to social change does notpreclude radical action, even revolution. But pragmatism is …


Nationalism And Multiculturalism, Chandran Kukathas Jan 2004

Nationalism And Multiculturalism, Chandran Kukathas

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

If any issue dominates contemporary political theory, it is how to deal with cultural diversity and the claims –moral, legal, and political – made in the name of ethnic, religious, linguistic, or national allegiance (Kymlicka,2001: 17). Today, governments are confronted by demands from cultural minorities for recognition, protection,preferential treatment, and political autonomy within the boundaries of the state. Equally, international societyand its political institutions, as well as states themselves, have had to deal with demands from various peoplesfor political recognition as independent nations, and for national self-determination. The turbulent politics ofthe contemporary world may account in part for this development: …