Philosophy Commons^™

Examining The Notion Of The Boundary Object In Information Systems: The Transdisciplinary Oeuvre Of Cognitive Science, Laura Elien Ridenour

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the transdisciplinary area of cognitive science, and was framed around the sociological notion of the boundary object. Harmonizing theoretical and technical approaches, methods introduced in this work moved beyond qualitative study practices traditional to boundary object theory work to a mixed-methods data-driven approach. Bibliometric Web of Science data, enriched with National Science Foundation (NSF) journal classifications, formed the foundation from which a seed-and-expand dataset were created from journals containing the string cogni* and their cited articles for the years 2006-2016. This two-tiered dataset allowed for the analysis of boundary-spanning interdisciplinary concepts, as identified by noun phrases, and …

The Health Care Commons: A Philosophical Approach, Roel Feys

Theses and Dissertations

This project is the first large-scale and systematic effort to bridge the fields of commons research and biomedical ethics, with the aim of furthering key debates in both areas of inquiry. The aims and contributions of the project are twofold.

First, I argue that commons research is valuable to bioethics, because it provides a language to talk about health care institutions. I critically discuss commons research’s main conceptual tools in the context of health care: the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework, the design principles of successful commons, parallel experimentation, and polycentric governance regimes. This conceptual apparatus can help to …

No Sympathy For The Devil: The Guise Of The Good Defended, Katie Bridget Wright

Theses and Dissertations

At the intersection of action theory and value theory is a provocative thesis: the Guise of

the Good. The Guise of the Good (GG) states that whenever an agent acts intentionally, she sees

some good in her action. Thus, according to GG, positive evaluation is essential to the nature of

intentional action. Kieran Setiya (2010), however, argues that it is possible to act intentionally

without believing that there is any reason to count in favor of one’s action: if intentional action is

action for a reason, says Setiya, then the Guise of the Good is false. But I argue that …

Manifest Ideality: A Response To Lucy Allais' Account Of Kantian Appearances., Risha Kuthoore

Theses and Dissertations

In Manifest Reality, Lucy Allais aims to explain the mind-dependence of Kantian appearances without regarding them as constructions out of what exists merely in the mind. To this end, Allais develops an account where cognizing an appearance involves direct consciousness of a thing in itself, though only as it is in relation to us, i.e. as appearance. She thus reads Kant’s distinction between things in themselves and appearances as a distinction between the mind-independent and essentially mind-dependent relational properties of one and the same objects. In this paper, I articulate two important challenges for Allais’ account of appearances. First, I …

Reason And Regret, Thomas Ladendorf

Theses and Dissertations

I defend a realist, Aristotelian theory of moral normativity on which moral virtue is the natural conclusion of the successful exercise of practical reason. More specifically, I argue that the avoidance of regret is a constitutive feature of practical rationality, and that because we are social beings, moral virtue serves as a general strategy for the minimization of regrets, and especially of serious regrets. Because I draw on aspects of John McDowell's Aristotelian moral realism, I begin with an examination of his view, and a discussion of why he thinks that virtuous conclusions require the prior possession of virtuous dispositions. …

A Simple Defence Of Monism, Erich Matthew Jones

Theses and Dissertations

Monists about well-being often appeal to the simplicity of their theories as justification for preferring their theories over rival pluralist theories. Pluralists acknowledge the simplicity of monist theories, but argue that monist theories fail to capture many of the well-being facts, and that pluralist theories are to be preferred on the ground of their greater explanatory power. I present a new argument in this paper defending the simplicity argument given by monists. I first present a sophisticated monism, Intrinsic Attitudinal Hedonism, and argue for it’s initial plausibility. I then present considerations from statistical inference, and show that the pluralist’s appeal …

Cognitive Creatures And Conceptuality, William J. Gamrat

Theses and Dissertations

What does it take for thought to be conceptual? And which creatures get to count as having conceptual thoughts? This paper explores these questions. The discussion follows Elisabeth Camp by contrasting two families of views. One family of views endorses that conceptual thought is the ability to represent the world in a way that brings about action. The other family wants more of conceptual thought: namely, that it exhibit objectivity and, in particular, that it come with the ability to speak a language. This discussion also follows Camp in looking for a better way to tie activeness to conceptual thought …

Lewis And The Poisoned Pawn, Josiah Lopez-Wild

Theses and Dissertations

Lewisian modal realism is infamous for explaining the objectivity of modal discourse in terms

of concrete possible worlds. Many have developed alternative theories which seek to explain

the objectivity of modal discourse without concrete possible worlds. One such alternative,

due to Fabrizio Mondadori and Adam Morton, attempts to ground modal discourse in actual,

physical fact. Shockingly, Lewis seems to have claimed that their view is consistent with his

own. I argue that the two views are consistent, from Lewis’s perspective. The result of the

project is twofold. First, we see that in Lewisian realism intrinsic features of the actual world …

How Code Words Work, Farhad Taraz

Theses and Dissertations

This paper aims at giving a novel theory of code words. I start with an explanation of what code words are by introducing four primary features of them. Then, I turn to three major theories of code words: those offered by Stanley, Khoo, and Saul. I show how each of these theories falls short of giving a thorough account of all features of code words. Finally, drawing on these lessons, I will formulate a new theory which suggests that code words are polysemous.

Liberal Feminism And Cultural Critique, Joshua Vonderhaar

Theses and Dissertations

In this paper, I consider an objection that liberal feminism is unable to sufficiently accommodate feminist cultural critique. I begin by introducing the practice of feminist cultural critique and how this practice presents a challenge to liberal feminism’s ability to be simultaneously liberal and feminist. I then discuss one account which attempts to draw a distinction between “legitimacy” and “ethos” justice, which can accommodate feminist cultural critique as a persuasive tool to advance ethos justice. I find that this account, however, is not equipped to explain cases where feminist cultural critique aims to produce coercive government intervention. After doing this, …

Eliberative Democracy In The Writing Classroom And Beyond Author(S): Michael Reich, Michael Reich

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation I explore the consequences of adopting a deliberative pedagogy, based on the study of one or two sample courses taught in 2018 at St. John’s University. The project as a whole argues that the university should be an idea place for students to develop a sense of personal and political agency, and First Year Writing courses organized around deliberation allow students to learn to listen and reason with each other as individuals and as citizens. My first chapter defends the methodology of a humanistic idea of deliberation (a pedagogy not based in classroom drills or Standard English) …

I See God Everywhere, Jason Wright

Theses and Dissertations

I would like to share with you how I was able to shed my suffering skin for a life beyond my wildest dreams. My work is about the letting go, my work is about altering perception, my work is about exploring the depths of one’s psyche. My experience is there in every atom of my output and is there for the taking.

Blaise Pascal said “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” I am not well-read in the works of Pascal, I became aware of this quote through HBO’s hit period drama …

Fool's Rest, Aidan Quinlan

Theses and Dissertations

The text calls itself a guide, but it is no guide. From the genre of guide, it borrows the outlines and silhouettes and lines between things and spaces and ideas. It lingers on the shadows of its subject(s); it is attentive to the periphery of its world; but it cannot take you there. There is no there. It lacks the authority of the guide; it lacks the lucidity, the efficiency, the false totality of the guide; it lacks the confidence.

The guide embodies its own anxieties. This makes sense, as its reason to exist was born on the one-way highway …