Philosophy Commons^™

Classical Insights And Today's World, Julius M. Moravcsik

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Professor Moravscik, as President of the Society, was invited to present his views on the current state of classical philosophy at the turn of the millennium. He comments on the role of the History of Philosophy in current education, sketches the work done in classical philosophy during the 20th century, posits Aristotelianism as an antidote for Cartesianism, and recommends a Platonic perspective for epistemology.

Worlds Within World Within The One: Anaxagoras' Parmenidean Cosmology, John E. Sisko

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

The long-standing puzzle regarding the relation between Anaxagoras' pluralism and Parmenides' monism can be met and solved on its own terms. We need not deny that Parmenides was a numerical Monist and we need not suppose that Anaxagoras failed to adequately consider Parmenides' basic principles. Anaxagoras did not attack these basic principles, because he thought that they were compatible with pluralism. He not only provided a brilliant explanation of the emergence of our world within the Chaos, but he posited a fascinating cosmology of worlds within worlds within the One. And since his Chaos is Parmenides' One under an alternative …

Scotus On Morality And Nature, John E. Hare

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Between Hölderlin And Heidegger: Nietzsche’S Transfiguration Of Philosophy, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

No abstract provided.

Care As A Goal Of Democratic Education, Maughn Gregory

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

In this article I present behavioural analyses of particular constructions of democracy and the ethic of care, in order to determine whether care is a democratic virtue. I analyse Carol Gilligan's concept of care as a complex of six virtues or behavioural dispositions: acquaintance, mindfulness, moral imagining, solidarity, tolerance and self-care. I then describe democracy in terms of two divergent but compatible sets of practices: social non-interference and social co-operation. These behavioural analyses lead me to conclude that certain behavioural habits that partially constitute a person's or a community's caring also partially constitute that person's or community's democracy. Specifically, the …

Ethics In Academia, Diether Haenicke

Center for the Study of Ethics in Society Papers

Papers presented for the Center of the Study of Ethics in Society Western Michigan University.

Ethics In Academia, 2000, Wmu Center Of The Study Of Ethics In Society

Center for the Study of Ethics in Society Papers

Papers presented for the Center of the Study of Ethics in Society Western Michigan University.

Walking The Walk --- The Reality Of Ethics In The University Presidency, Elson Floyd

Center for the Study of Ethics in Society Papers

Papers presented for the Center of the Study of Ethics in Society Western Michigan University.

The Ethics Center At Fifteen Years, Michael Pritchard

Center for the Study of Ethics in Society Papers

Papers presented for the Center of the Study of Ethics in Society Western Michigan University.

The Quality Of Mercy, The Public Trust, And Ethical Issues In Higher Education, Elise Bickford Jorgens

Center for the Study of Ethics in Society Papers

Papers presented for the Center of the Study of Ethics in Society Western Michigan University.

Kant On Recognizing Our Duties Asgod's Commands, John E. Hare

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

Kant both says that we should recognize our duties as God's commands, and objects to the theological version of heteronomy, 'which derives morality from a divine and supremely perfect will'. In this paper I discuss how these two views fit together, and in the process I develop a notion of autonomous submission to divine moral authority. I oppose the 'constitutive' view of autonomy proposed by J. B. Schneewind and Christine Korsgaard. I locate Kant's objection to theological heteronomy against the background of Crusius's divine command theory, and I compare Kant's views about divine authority and human political authority.

Notes On David Krell’S The Good European, David B. Allison

Research Resources

So many things come together so beautifully in The Good European, it is hard
to imagine not being moved by it. I discuss what kind of book this is and, more specifically, try to explain, in some detail, just how this work is able to achieve the remarkably performative effect that it has on the reader — at least on this reader. At the outset, it should be said that The Good European is an oversized, illustrated book — a well-known genre — although it is quite unusual to find an example of such work devoted to the life …

Wesley's Limited Alliance With Lockean Empiricism, Kevin Twain Lowery

Faculty Scholarship – Theology

This paper attempts to sketch Wesley’s relation to Lockean empiricism by identifying the key issues that seem to spark his objections to Locke’s Essay. The purpose is not to evaluate the validity of Locke’s positions per se but to locate the theological commitments Wesley wishes to defend and to scrutinize the philosophical assumptions he makes to support them.

The Ethics Of Placebo-Controlled Trials In Developing Countries To Prevent Mother-To-Child Transmission Of Hiv, John N. Williams

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Placebo-trials on HIV-infected pregnant women in developing countries like Thailand and Uganda have provoked recent controversy. Such experiments aim to find a treatment that will cut the rate of vertical transmission more efficiently than existing treatments like zidovudine. This scenario is first stated as generally as possible, before three ethical principles found in the Belmont Report, itself a sharpening of the Helsinki Declaration, are stated. These three principles are the Principle of Utility, the Principle of Autonomy and the Principle of Justice. These are taken as voices of moral imperative. But although each has intuitive appeal, it can be shown …

Is Information Systems A Science? An Inquiry Into The Nature Of The Information Systems Discipline, Deepak Khazanchi, Bjørn Erik Munkvold

Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis Faculty Publications

The Information Systems (IS) discipline is apparently undergoing an identity crisis. Academicians question the need for IS departments in colleges stating the absence of a core for the field and its integration within other business functions as a basis for its elimination. At the same time, many practitioners, as reflected in the US government's recent IT labor shortage report, continue to ignore IS as a distinct field of study. This article briefly outlines these and other challenges and argues that notwithstanding underlying philosophical differences, it can be concluded that IS is an emerging scientific discipline. This conclusion is reached through …

Understanding Imperfection, Martin Zwick

Systems Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Because of their inherent abstraction, systems ideas are not themselves sufficient for gaining scientific knowledge or solving practical problems, but they can be a source of insights into the universality of imperfection, insights which can contribute to a new scientific world view. Systems theory offers a metaphysics, or more precisely an ontology, of imperfection. Through it, we can heed Spinoza's injunction, “Not to lament, not to curse, but to understand.”

A Tribute To Nelson Goodman, Curtis Carter

Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications

Presents a tribute to American philosopher Nelson Goodman who died on November 25, 1998 in Needham, Massachusetts. Contributions of Goodman to analytic philosophy; Career background; Range of interest from philosophy to art collecting; Major publications on the work of Goodman; Role of Goodman as a gallery director and private art collector.

Bernard Lonergan On A Catholic Liberal Arts Education, Richard Liddy

Department of Religion Publications

No abstract provided.

How Children And Adolescents Relate To Nature, Patricia Nevers

Center for the Study of Ethics in Society Papers

Paper presented at the Center for the Study of Ethics in Society at Western Michigan University, September 21,1999.

Sagp Newsletter 2001.4 (May), Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Emerson, Virtue, And Evil: Thoughts For A Rescue Operation, Lois M. Eveleth

Faculty and Staff - Articles & Papers

Interpretations of Emerson's theme of self-reliance which generate charges that he understood neither evil nor virtue are inappropriate. A fairer reading should keep in mind the Neo-Platonism of Plotinus, which gave to Transcendentalism a dynamic emanation/return schema and to mankind a place of privilege in knowing and valuing Nature.

Some Doubts About Argument By Hypothetical, Paul H. Robinson

All Faculty Scholarship

In his paper, Why the Successful Assassin Is More Wicked than the Unsuccessful One, Leo Katz "pick[s] up the gauntlet [Sandy] Kadish throws down" to offer a nonconsequentialist justification for giving significance to resulting harm and, in particular, to justify the common practice of punishing attempts less than the completed offense. In one sense, I may not be the ideal person to serve as critic. I am not one of those who, like Kadish and others, does not believe in the significance of resulting harm in assessing blameworthiness (people whom Katz calls the "luck- skeptics" but to whom I will …

Evolutionary Progress?, Timothy Shanahan

Philosophy Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Gender And Privacy In Cyberspace, Anita L. Allen

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Reviews Of The Book Of Miracles: The Meaning Of The Miracle Stories In Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, And Islam By Kenneth L. Woodward And God And The Sun At Fatima By Stanley Jaki, Howard P. Kainz

Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Earth And Stars In The Cosmology Of Xenophanes, Alexander P.D. Mourelatos

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

The doxography for Xenophanes of Colophon unambiguously attributes to him a theory that all the meteora, i.e. all 'objects suspended above us' or 'objects seen in the sky' are different types of clouds. My concern in this paper is with two sets of assumptions that are likely to have framed Xenophanes' theory: a) assumptions concerning the size and shape of the eareth, and b) assumptions concerning the motions of the fixed stars.

Friedrich Nietzsche’S Eternal Return Of The Same, Philosophical Discussion Group, Armstrong State University

The Philosopher's Stone

No abstract provided.

Invisible Lines Of Connection: Sacred Stories Of The Ordinary, Lawrence Kushner

Richard L. Horwitz Lecture on Ethics

Lawrence Kushner has served as Rabbi of Congregational Beth El in Sudbury, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, for the past 27 years and is widely regarded as one of the most creative religious writers in America. Through his lectures, articles and ten books, he has helped shape the present agenda for personal and institutional spiritual renewal.

He originated the concept of synagogue havurot, family fellowship groups, led his congregants to publish their own prayerbook, V'Tahaer Libenu (Purify Our Hearts), the first gender-neutral liturgy ever written, and has conducted over seventy-five kalla weekends for personal religious growth. He was the …

The Philosopher's Stone, Philosophical Discussion Group, Armstrong State University

The Philosopher's Stone

No abstract provided.

What's So Special About A Special Ethics For Business?, Earl W. Spurgin

Philosophy

In business ethics literature, debate over a special ethics generally has framed examination of the rules governing business. By constructing a dilemma faced by proponents of a special ethics, I argue that this framing is misguided. Proponents must adopt either an insular or a derivative conception. The former, the view that business is insulated from moral rules, is problematic because arguments used to support it force proponents to accept the idea that each aspect of life is insulated from moral rules. This idea, however, renders philosophically insignificant the claim that business has a special ethics. Proponents no longer make a …