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2009

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Articles 1 - 30 of 782

Full-Text Articles in Philosophy

Ethics And Issues At The Sunset Of Life, Jane Gervasio, Dick Mcgowan, Priscilla Ryder Jan 2015

Ethics And Issues At The Sunset Of Life, Jane Gervasio, Dick Mcgowan, Priscilla Ryder

Priscilla T. Ryder

No abstract provided.

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Theoria, Theos, And Therapeia In Aristotle's Ethical Endings, Lawrence Jost Dec 2009

Theoria, Theos, And Therapeia In Aristotle's Ethical Endings, Lawrence Jost

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

My basic complaint is that it’s not at all obvious that maximizing the theoretical activity of our most divine element does full justice to the richly textured environment provided by the first 9 1/2 books of the NE, which seemed to call for focused development of the full range of our human potential, combining moral and intellectual virtues along with provision for adequate supplies of external goods. The older language of the seemingly endless debate about whether or not the NE settles for an inclusive or dominant-end conception of eudaimonia has been redescribed - in Michael Pakaluk’s new terminology - …

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Ethics Of Human Enhancement: An Executive Summary, Fritz Allhoff, Patrick Lin, Jesse Steinberg Dec 2009

Ethics Of Human Enhancement: An Executive Summary, Fritz Allhoff, Patrick Lin, Jesse Steinberg

Philosophy

With multi-year funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), a team of researchers has just released a comprehensive report detailing ethical issues arising from human enhancement (Allhoff et al. 2009). While we direct the interested reader to that (much longer) report, we also thank the editors of this journal for the invitation to provide an executive summary thereof. This summary highlights key results from each section of that report and does so in a self-standing way; in other words, this summary presupposes no familiarity with the report and offers the opportunity to gain quick familiarity with its most central …

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What Writers Do. The Value Of Literary Imagination, Richard Thomas Eldridge Dec 2009

What Writers Do. The Value Of Literary Imagination, Richard Thomas Eldridge

Philosophy Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

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Regulatory Theory, Matthew D. Adler Dec 2009

Regulatory Theory, Matthew D. Adler

All Faculty Scholarship

This chapter reviews a range of topics connected to the justification of government regulation, including: the definition of “regulation”; welfarism, Kaldor-Hicks efficiency, and the Pareto principles; the fundamental theorems of welfare economics and the “market failure” framework for justifying regulation, which identifies different ways in which the conditions for those theorems may fail to hold true (such as externalities, public goods, monopoly power, and imperfect information); the Coase theorem; and the different forms of regulation.

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Ethics And Issues At The Sunset Of Life, Jane Gervasio, Dick Mcgowan, Priscilla Ryder Dec 2009

Ethics And Issues At The Sunset Of Life, Jane Gervasio, Dick Mcgowan, Priscilla Ryder

Jane M. Gervasio

No abstract provided.

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Animal Cognition, Kristin Andrews, Ljiljana Radenovic Dec 2009

Animal Cognition, Kristin Andrews, Ljiljana Radenovic

Sentience Collection

Debates in applied ethics about the proper treatment of animals often refer to empirical data about animal cognition, emotion, and behavior. In addition, there is increasing interest in the question of whether any nonhuman animal could be something like a moral agent.

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Nonknowledge: The Bibliographical Organization Of Ignorance, Stupidity, Error, And Unreason: Part Two, Jay H. Bernstein Dec 2009

Nonknowledge: The Bibliographical Organization Of Ignorance, Stupidity, Error, And Unreason: Part Two, Jay H. Bernstein

Publications and Research

Starting with the Data-Information-Knowledge-Wisdom paradigm in information science it is possible to derive a model of the opposite of knowledge having hierarchical qualities. A range of counterpoints to concepts in the knowledge hierarchy can be identified and ascribed the overall term “nonknowledge.” This model creates a conceptual framework for understanding the connections between topics such as error, ignorance, stupidity, folly, popular misconceptions, and unreason by locating them as levels or phases of nonknowledge. The concept of nonknowledge links heretofore disconnected discourses on these individual topics by philosophers, psychologists, historians, sociologists, satirists, and others. Subject headings provide access to the categories …

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Ecological Explanation Between Manipulation And Mechanism Description, Viorel Pâslaru Dec 2009

Ecological Explanation Between Manipulation And Mechanism Description, Viorel Pâslaru

Philosophy Faculty Publications

James Woodward offers a conception of explanation and mechanism in terms of interventionist counterfactuals. Based on a case from ecology, I show that ecologists’ approach to that case satisfiesWoodward’s conditions for explanation and mechanism, but his conception does not fully capture what ecologists view as explanatory. The new mechanistic philosophy likewise aims to describe central aspects of mechanisms, but I show that it is not sufficient to account for ecological mechanisms. I argue that in ecology explanation involves identification of invariant and insensitive causal relationships and descriptions of the mechanistic characteristics that make these relations possible.

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Brain‐Mind And Structure‐Function Relationships: A Methodological Response To Coltheart, Adina L. Roskies Dec 2009

Brain‐Mind And Structure‐Function Relationships: A Methodological Response To Coltheart, Adina L. Roskies

Dartmouth Scholarship

In some recent papers, Max Coltheart has questioned the ability of neuroimaging techniques to tell us anything interesting about the mind and has thrown down the gauntlet before neuroimagers, challenging them to prove he is mistaken. Here I analyze Coltheart’s challenge, show that as posed its terms are unfair, and reconstruct it so that it is addressable. I argue that, so modified, Coltheart’s challenge is able to be met and indeed has been met. In an effort to delineate the extent of neuroimaging’s ability to address Coltheart’s concerns, I explore how different brain structure‐function relationships would constrain the ability of …

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Sagp Newsletter 2009/10.1 East Philol, Anthony Preus Dec 2009

Sagp Newsletter 2009/10.1 East Philol, Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

No abstract provided.

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Dialogic Cosmopolitanism And Global Justice, Eduard Jordaan Dec 2009

Dialogic Cosmopolitanism And Global Justice, Eduard Jordaan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Although the term “cosmopolitan-communitarian debate” never really caught on, a national-global fault line remains prominent in debates about global justice. “Dialogic cosmopolitanism” holds the promise of bridging this alleged fault line by accepting many of the communitarian criticisms against cosmopolitanism and following what can be described as a communitarian path to cosmopolitanism. This article identifies and describes four key elements that distinguish dialogic cosmopolitanism: a respect for difference; a commitment to genuine dialogue; an open, hesitant and self-problematising attitude on the part of the moral subject; and an undertaking to expand the boundaries of moral concern to the point of …

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How Values In Scientific Discovery And Pursuit Alter Theory Appraisal, Kevin C. Elliott, Daniel J. Mckaughan Dec 2009

How Values In Scientific Discovery And Pursuit Alter Theory Appraisal, Kevin C. Elliott, Daniel J. Mckaughan

Faculty Publications

Philosophers of science readily acknowledge that nonepistemic values influence the discovery and pursuit of scientific theories, but many tend to regard these influences as epistemically uninteresting. The present paper challenges this position by identifying three avenues through which nonepistemic values associated with discovery and pursuit in contemporary pollution research influence theory appraisal: (1) by guiding the choice
of questions and research projects, (2) by altering experimental design, and (3) by affecting the creation and further investigation of theories or hypotheses. This analysis indicates that the effects of these values are sufficiently complex and epistemically significant to merit further attention.

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Dialogic Cosmopolitanism And Global Justice, Eduard Christiaan Jordaan Dec 2009

Dialogic Cosmopolitanism And Global Justice, Eduard Christiaan Jordaan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Although the term “cosmopolitan-communitarian debate” never really caught on, a national-global fault line remains prominent in debates about global justice. “Dialogic cosmopolitanism” holds the promise of bridging this alleged fault line by accepting many of the communitarian criticisms against cosmopolitanism and following what can be described as a communitarian path to cosmopolitanism. This article identifies and describes four key elements that distinguish dialogic cosmopolitanism: a respect for difference; a commitment to genuine dialogue; an open, hesitant and self-problematising attitude on the part of the moral subject; and an undertaking to expand the boundaries of moral concern to the point of …

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A Study Of The Social And Political Implication Of Friedrich Schlegel’S ‘Comedy Of Freude’, Manjit Singh Bhatti Dec 2009

A Study Of The Social And Political Implication Of Friedrich Schlegel’S ‘Comedy Of Freude’, Manjit Singh Bhatti

Masters Theses

Generally speaking, scholarship in the field of Germanistik has taken an interest in Friedrich Schlegel’s early publication, “Vom aesthetischen Werte der griechischen Komoedie” (1794), either because of its perceived influence on German Romantic Comedy [(Catholy 1982), (Kluge 1980), (Holl 1923), (Japp 1999)], or else because of its relevance as an example of Schlegel's still inchoate aesthetic philosophy [(Dierkes 1980), (Behrens 1984), (Schanze 1966), (Michel 1982), (Dannenberg 1993), (Mennemeier 1971)]. As a theory of comedy in its own right, Schlegel’s essay has garnered little attention, in part because of its supposed inapplicability to comedic praxis and at times utopian implications, in …

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Moderate Deontology And Moral Gaps, Samantha Brennan Nov 2009

Moderate Deontology And Moral Gaps, Samantha Brennan

Samantha Brennan

No abstract provided.

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Ethical Considerations In The Conduct Of Vaccine Trials In Developing Countries, Charles Weijer, C. Lanata, C. Plowe Nov 2009

Ethical Considerations In The Conduct Of Vaccine Trials In Developing Countries, Charles Weijer, C. Lanata, C. Plowe

Charles Weijer

No abstract provided.

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Photographic Ambivalence And Historical Consciousness, Michael S. Roth Nov 2009

Photographic Ambivalence And Historical Consciousness, Michael S. Roth

Michael S Roth

This essay focuses on three topics that arose at the Photography and Historical Interpretation conference: photography’s incapacity to conceive duration; photography and the “rim of ontological uncertainty;” photography’s “anthropological revolution.” In the late nineteenth century, blindness to duration was conceptualized as the cost of photographic precision. Since the late twentieth century, blindness to our own desires, or inauthenticity, has been underlined as the price of photographic ubiquity. These forms of blindness, however, are not so much disabilities to be overcome as they are aspects of modern consciousness to be acknowledged. The engagement with photography’s impact on historical consciousness gives rise …

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Twitflick: Visualizing The Rhythm And Narrative Of Micro-Blogging Activity, Alberto Pepe, Sasank Reddy, Lilly Nguyen, Mark Hansen Nov 2009

Twitflick: Visualizing The Rhythm And Narrative Of Micro-Blogging Activity, Alberto Pepe, Sasank Reddy, Lilly Nguyen, Mark Hansen

Alberto Pepe

Micro-blogging is a form of online communication by which users broadcast brief text updates, or tweets. This article explores the temporal component of micro-blogging activity by emphasizing its narrative nature: an individual tweet is an expression of personal online presence at a given time, yet it necessarily embodies the context of a broader developing story. We present Twitflick, a digital media platform that blends a continuous stream of real-time text updates from Twitter with related user-uploaded images hosted on Flickr. Twitflick acts as a space in which distributed, temporally-authentic personal narratives, in the form of photographs and text, reinforce, extend, …

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Tzachi Zamir, Ethics And The Beast: A Speciesist Argument For Animal Liberation, Robert C. Jones Nov 2009

Tzachi Zamir, Ethics And The Beast: A Speciesist Argument For Animal Liberation, Robert C. Jones

Robert C. Jones, PhD

No abstract provided.

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Plato On Truth And Falsehood, Anne M. Wiles Nov 2009

Plato On Truth And Falsehood, Anne M. Wiles

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

The argument of this paper is that Plato's position on medicinal lies is neither dishonest nor inconsistent. When adequately understood in its context, the account Plato gives of truth and falsehood offers valuable insights into the nature of each and the role both play in the moral life of the individual and the state.

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Antique Tinplate Toys, Kyriakos N. Demetriou Nov 2009

Antique Tinplate Toys, Kyriakos N. Demetriou

Kyriakos N. Demetriou

An introduction to the history of tinplate toys, from the early 20th century to the 1970s, plus 150 photos of such toys from my personal collection.

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The Potential For Ethics Without God Through Bertrand Russell's Authentic Notion Of Philosophical Inquiry, James Magrini Nov 2009

The Potential For Ethics Without God Through Bertrand Russell's Authentic Notion Of Philosophical Inquiry, James Magrini

James M Magrini

Violence dominates the landscape of our present world. Prejudice and sectarianism threaten human rights, putting our hopes for the authentic possibility of humane ethical/moral interaction on a global scale in serious question. Ours is a world where epistemological and ethical relativism appear to rule the day. In these extremely “hard times,” as Nietzsche was fond of saying, it would benefit us, as philosophers, informed thinkers, and concerned human beings, to revisit with a discerning eye and charitable heart the philosophy of Bertrand Russell as it appears in The Problems of Philosophy (1912), wherein Russell reminds us in a powerfully persuasive …

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The Origin Of The Work Of Art: Historicality, Temporality, And Destiny In Heidegger’S Philosophy Of The 1930s, James Magrini Nov 2009

The Origin Of The Work Of Art: Historicality, Temporality, And Destiny In Heidegger’S Philosophy Of The 1930s, James Magrini

James M Magrini

It is the aim of this paper to explicate the temporal phenomenon of “historicality” as related specifically to the work of art by reading Heidegger’s philosophy of the 1930s, as presented in “The Origin of the Work of Art,” in relation to Being and Time (1927). There exists a critical link between the two works, which manifests in the relationship between the work of art, temporality, and the notion of authentic, historical Dasein as Being-in-the-world. This notion includes the understanding and reinterpretation of such concepts as “fate,” “heritage,” and “destiny,” as integral modes of Dasein’s “historicality.” The work of art …

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Truth, Art, And The "New Sensuousness": Understanding Heidegger's Metaphysical Reading Of Nietzsche, James Magrini Nov 2009

Truth, Art, And The "New Sensuousness": Understanding Heidegger's Metaphysical Reading Of Nietzsche, James Magrini

James M Magrini

This article takes a critical look into Heidegger’s reading of Nietzschean metaphysics in the context of art and finds certain discrepancies in Heidegger’s texts. Heidegger’s claim is that Nietzsche has had some difficulty in discussing the problem of truth, being, and becoming in terms of how the Western tradition of philosophy has understood it. In the context of art, Magrini traces the path that Heidegger took in understanding Nietzsche’s notion of nihilism and finds that Heidegger’s reading of Nietzsche is actually an attempt to elevate the latter as a timely philosophical force whose thought moves away from the rote and …

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Aligning Nietzsche's "Genealogical" Philosophy With Democratic Educational Reform, James Magrini Nov 2009

Aligning Nietzsche's "Genealogical" Philosophy With Democratic Educational Reform, James Magrini

James M Magrini

No abstract provided.

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The Denazification Of Mh: The Struggle With Being And The Philosophical Confrontation With The Ancient Greeks In Heidegger’S Originary Politics, James Magrini Nov 2009

The Denazification Of Mh: The Struggle With Being And The Philosophical Confrontation With The Ancient Greeks In Heidegger’S Originary Politics, James Magrini

James M Magrini

James T. Hong’s experimental documentary, The Denazification of MH (2006) is neither an apology for Heidegger’s involvement with National Socialism nor a condemnation of that involvement. Rather, the film is a critical philosophical confrontation (Auseinandersetzung) with Heidegger’s thought and the issue of his involvement with National Socialism. The film addresses the perennial concern as old as philosophy itself: the relationship between the philosopher’s life and his philosophy. While the film does not adopt a definitive position regarding Heidegger, Nazism, and the issue of personal responsibility, it does suggest an affirmative response to the question posed by both Levinas and Blanchot …

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How The Conception Of Knowledge Influences Our Educational Practices: Toward A Philosophical Understanding Of Epistemology In Education, James Magrini Nov 2009

How The Conception Of Knowledge Influences Our Educational Practices: Toward A Philosophical Understanding Of Epistemology In Education, James Magrini

James M Magrini

This paper explores how the conception and valuation of the knowledge within our educational practices determines the planning, writing, and implementation of the curriculum. There is a pressing need for educators to philosophically and systematically understand the relationship between the foundational epistemological beliefs that ground a curriculum and its relationship to forming the notions of competency, pedagogy, and the methods for evaluating and assessing student progress. These issues are not only relevant, but crucial when attempting to justify a particular conception of education, which relates directly to the student's potential for intellectual growth and social development. It may be argued …

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The Work Of Art And Truth Of Being As "Historical": Reading Being And Time, "The Origin Of The Work Of Art," And The "Turn" (Kehre) In Heidegger’S Philosophy Of The 1930s, James Magrini Nov 2009

The Work Of Art And Truth Of Being As "Historical": Reading Being And Time, "The Origin Of The Work Of Art," And The "Turn" (Kehre) In Heidegger’S Philosophy Of The 1930s, James Magrini

James M Magrini

Reading Heidegger’s Being and Time, “The Origin of the Work of Art,” and the 1934-35 lecture courses Hölderlin’s Hymns“Germania” and “The Rhine,” the aim of this essay is twofold. First, the essay attempts to elucidate the manner in which the work of art functions as a superlative event of “truth-happening” (aletheia), which facilitates the movement of Dasein into the truth of Being as a legitimate member of a community, serving as, “the origin of a people’s authentic historical existence.”1 Second, it explains why this notion of art as the historical manifestation of Being is crucial to understanding the shift, or …

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At The Intersection Of Philosophy, Literature, And Ethics: Axiology Through The Genre Of Literary Fiction, James Magrini Nov 2009

At The Intersection Of Philosophy, Literature, And Ethics: Axiology Through The Genre Of Literary Fiction, James Magrini

James M Magrini

This paper focuses on three interrelated topics: (1) Literature as an art form that is philosophical by nature; (2) Literature as an art form that reveals truth in the form of perceptual knowledge, which is autonomous (sensuous) knowledge, likened to “cognitive emotionality,”and (3) Literature as philosophically inspiring our effective and legitimate thinking on moral issues. I attempt to show that engaging literature as a philosophical endeavor can prove more rewarding from the perspective of moral discourse than the traditional modes of philosophical speculation found in formal treatises on morals. These forms of discourse, functioning deductively (e.g., the moral philosophy of …

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