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Articles 1 - 30 of 66
Full-Text Articles in Other Philosophy
Self-Inflicted Frankfurt-Style Cases And Flickers Of Freedom, Michael Robinson
Self-Inflicted Frankfurt-Style Cases And Flickers Of Freedom, Michael Robinson
Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research
According to the most popular versions of the flicker defense, Frankfurt-style cases fail to undermine the Principle of Alternative Possibilities (PAP) because agents in these cases are (directly) morally responsible not for making the decisions they make but for making these decisions on their own, which is something they could have avoided doing. Frankfurt defenders have primarily focused on trying to show that the alternative possibility of refraining from making the relevant decisions on their own is not a robust alternative, while generally granting that this alternative cannot easily be eliminated from successful cases of this sort. In a …
Flickering The W-Defense, Michael Robinson
Flickering The W-Defense, Michael Robinson
Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research
One way to defend the Principle of Alternative Possibilities (PAP) against Frankfurt-style cases is to challenge the claim that agents in these scenarios are genuinely morally responsible for what they do. Alternatively, one can grant that agents are morally responsible for what they do in these cases but resist the idea that they could not have done otherwise. This latter strategy is known as the flicker defense of PAP. In an argument he calls the W-Defense, David Widerker adopts the former approach. I argue that, while Widerker's argument does a poor job showing that these agents are not morally responsible …
When Do Parts Form Wholes? Integrated Information As The Restriction On Mereological Composition, Kelvin J. Mcqueen, Naotsugu Tsuchiya
When Do Parts Form Wholes? Integrated Information As The Restriction On Mereological Composition, Kelvin J. Mcqueen, Naotsugu Tsuchiya
Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research
Under what conditions are material objects, such as particles, parts of a whole object? This is the composition question and is a longstanding open question in philosophy. Existing attempts to specify a non-trivial restriction on composition tend to be vague and face serious counterexamples. Consequently, two extreme answers have become mainstream: composition (the forming of a whole by its parts) happens under no or all conditions. In this paper, we provide a self-contained introduction to the integrated information theory (IIT) of consciousness. We show that IIT specifies a non-trivial restriction on composition: composition happens when integrated information is maximized. We …
Martha C. Nussbaum, Justice For Animals: Our Collective Responsibility, Terence C. Burnham
Martha C. Nussbaum, Justice For Animals: Our Collective Responsibility, Terence C. Burnham
Economics Faculty Articles and Research
A review of Martha Nussbaum's Justice for Animals.
Keeping Promises To Supererogate, Michael Robinson
Keeping Promises To Supererogate, Michael Robinson
Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research
Promises to perform supererogatory actions present an interesting puzzle. On the one hand, this seems like a promise that one should be able to keep simply by performing some good deed or other. On the other hand, the only way to keep it is to do something that exceeds one’s duties. But any good deed that one performs, which might otherwise have been supererogatory, will not go above and beyond what one is morally required to do in such a case because one has an obligation that one does not normally have—namely, an obligation to do something supererogatory. Thus, some …
Now It’S Personal: From Me To Mine To Property Rights, David Shoemaker, Bas Van Der Vossen
Now It’S Personal: From Me To Mine To Property Rights, David Shoemaker, Bas Van Der Vossen
Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research
Philosophical theories of property rights struggle to adequately explain the moral significance of ownership. We propose that the moral significance of property rights is due to the intersection of what we call "the extended self” and conventionally protected rights claims. The latter, drawing on conventionalist accounts of property rights, explains the social nature and flexibility of property. The former, drawing on naturalist theories, explains their personal nature. The upshot is that we find at this intersection the full moral significance of property.
Plato’S Market Optimism, Brennan Mcdavid
Plato’S Market Optimism, Brennan Mcdavid
Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research
Despite the extensiveness of top-down control in his ideal city, Plato takes seriously the idea that the market does not require total regulation via legislation and that participants in the market may be capable of self-regulation. This paper examines the discussion of market regulation in the Republic and argues that the philosopher rulers play a very limited role in regulating market activities. Indeed, they are concerned only with averting excesses of wealth and poverty. The rules and regulations that are foundational to the daily functioning of the market – enforcement of contracts, resolution of disputes, etc. – are endogenous to …
Property, Bas Van Der Vossen
Property, Bas Van Der Vossen
Philosophy Faculty Books and Book Chapters
"This chapter discusses the nature and value of property rights. It will explain (1) what property rights are, (2) the relationship between private property and economic development, and (3) some objections to structuring societies around such rights. This discussion throughout focuses on the decentralizing nature of private property rights, asking what implications it has from a philosophical, but also social and political, point of view."
“Meddling In The Work Of Another”: Πολυπραγμονεῖν In Plato’S Republic, Brennan Mcdavid
“Meddling In The Work Of Another”: Πολυπραγμονεῖν In Plato’S Republic, Brennan Mcdavid
Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research
The second conjunct of the Republic’s account of justice—that justice is “not meddling in the work of another”—has been neglected in Plato literature. This paper argues that the conjunct does more work than merely reiterating the content of the first conjunct—that justice is “doing one’s own work.” I argue that Socrates develops the concept at work in this conjunct from its introduction with the Principle of Specialization in Book II to its final deployment in the finished conception of justice in Book IV. Crucial to that concept’s development is the way in which the notion of “another” comes to …
Sweet Fooling: Ethical Humor In King Lear And Levinas, Kent R. Lehnhof
Sweet Fooling: Ethical Humor In King Lear And Levinas, Kent R. Lehnhof
English Faculty Articles and Research
"In recent years, scholars have increasingly put the works of William Shakespeare (1564-1623) in dialogue with the ethical philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas (1905-1995)... The majority of these Shakespearean references are to Hamlet and Macbeth, but contemporary critics working in the vein of Levinas have tended to favor King Lear. No Shakespearean play has been subjected to Levinasian analysis more fully or more frequently.5 This critical proclivity is not unwarranted, for Shakespeare's tragic play and Levinas's ethical writings tell the same basic story: that of the egoist who heedlessly pursues his own interests until he is until he …
First-Person Experience Cannot Rescue Causal Structure Theories From The Unfolding Argument, Michael H. Herzog, Aaron Schurger, Adrian Doerig
First-Person Experience Cannot Rescue Causal Structure Theories From The Unfolding Argument, Michael H. Herzog, Aaron Schurger, Adrian Doerig
Psychology Faculty Articles and Research
We recently put forward an argument, the Unfolding Argument (UA), that integrated information theory (IIT) and other causal structure theories are either already falsified or unfalsifiable, which provoked significant criticism. It seems that we and the critics agree that the main question in this debate is whether first-person experience, independent of third-person data, is a sufficient foundation for theories of consciousness. Here, we argue that pure first-person experience cannot be a scientific foundation for IIT because science relies on taking measurements, and pure first-person experience is not measurable except through reports, brain activity, and the relationship between them. We also …
History, Cognition And Nostromo: Conrad’S Explorations Of Torture, Trauma, And The Human Rage For Order, Richard Ruppel
History, Cognition And Nostromo: Conrad’S Explorations Of Torture, Trauma, And The Human Rage For Order, Richard Ruppel
English Faculty Articles and Research
Focusing on Joseph Conrad’s Nostromo, this essay historicizes the treatment of what we now call post-traumatic stress disorder, demonstrating how Conrad anticipated our current understanding and treatment of the illness. The second part of the essay addresses Nostromo’s treatment of historiography. Part three is concerned with epistemology and the relationship between neurological discoveries concerning the gap between perception and consciousness, relating those discoveries to Conrad’s use of delayed decoding.
Consent To Unjust Institutions, Bas Van Der Vossen
Consent To Unjust Institutions, Bas Van Der Vossen
Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research
John Rawls wrote that people can voluntarily acquire political obligations to institutions only on the condition that those institutions are at least reasonably just. When an institution is seriously unjust, by contrast, attempts to create political obligation are “void ab initio.” However, Rawls's own explanation for this thought was deeply problematic, as are the standard alternatives. In this paper, I offer an argument for why Rawls's intuition was right and trace its implications for theories of authority and political obligation. These, I claim, are more radical than is often thought.
Smithian Sympathy And The Emergence Of Norms, Keith Hankins
Smithian Sympathy And The Emergence Of Norms, Keith Hankins
Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research
Adam Smith's impartial spectator and David Hume's general point of view have much in common, as do their moral theories more generally. However, this paper argues that a distinctive feature of Smith's theory—the pleasure of mutual sympathy—allows Smith to better explain a number of important features of norms. In particular, it provides Smith with a more plausible mechanism for explaining how norms emerge, and offers him a richer set of resources for explaining both why we are attracted to norms and why norms are often characterized by local similarity and global diversity. Rather than merely being a matter of historical …
Mindful Technology, Mike W. Martin
Mindful Technology, Mike W. Martin
Philosophy Faculty Books and Book Chapters
"Mindfulness has become a popular virtue. No longer just a fancy word for attentiveness, mindfulness denotes a wide-ranging excellence that promotes stress relief, emotional control, rational decision-making, concentration at work and at school and in sports, and-my interest-skills in developing and using technology. Although Buddhists have long celebrated mindfulness, recent health psychologists sing fuller-throated paeans. One therapist declares that "mindfulness frees us to act more wisely and skillfully in our everyday decisions" and provides "the solution' to countless daily difficulties (Siegel 2010, 34). Another prominent psychologist traces most problems to an absence of mindfulness: "Virtually all of our problems-personal, interpersonal, …
Asymmetry And Symmetry Of Acts And Omissions In Punishment, Norms, And Judged Causality, Toby Handfield, John Thrasher, Andrew Corcoran, Shaun Nichols
Asymmetry And Symmetry Of Acts And Omissions In Punishment, Norms, And Judged Causality, Toby Handfield, John Thrasher, Andrew Corcoran, Shaun Nichols
Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research
Harmful acts are punished more often and more harshly than harmful omissions. This asymmetry has variously been ascribed to differences in how individuals perceive the causal responsibility of acts versus omissions and to social norms that tend to proscribe acts more frequently than omissions. This paper examines both of these hypotheses, in conjunction with a new hypothesis: that acts are punished more than omissions because it is usually more efficient to do so. In typical settings, harms occur as a result of relatively few harmful actions, but many individuals may have had the opportunity to prevent or rectify the harm. …
Trusting In Order To Inspire Trustworthiness, Michael Pace
Trusting In Order To Inspire Trustworthiness, Michael Pace
Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research
This paper explores the epistemology and moral psychology of “therapeutic trust,” in which one trusts with the aim of inspiring greater trust-responsiveness in the trusted. Theorists have appealed to alleged cases of rational therapeutic trust to show that trust can be adopted for broadly moral or practical reasons and to motivate accounts of trust that do not involve belief or confidence in someone’s trustworthiness. Some conclude from the cases that trust consists in having normative expectations and adopting vulnerabilities with respect to the trusted; others that trust involves accepting (without necessarily believing) that someone will prove trustworthy. Although there are, …
The Property Species: Mine, Yours, And The Human Mind, Bart J. Wilson
The Property Species: Mine, Yours, And The Human Mind, Bart J. Wilson
Economics Faculty Books and Book Chapters
"Arguing that neither the sciences nor the humanities synthesizes a full account of property, the book offers a cross-disciplinary compromise that is sure to be controversial: Property is a universal and uniquely human custom. Integrating cognitive linguistics with philosophy of property and a fresh look at property disputes in the common law, the book makes the case that symbolic-thinking humans locate the meaning of property within a thing. That is, all human beings and only human beings have property in things, and at its core, property rests on custom, not rights. Such an alternative to conventional thinking contends that the …
The Ethics Of Capitalism: An Introduction, Daniel Halliday, John Thrasher
The Ethics Of Capitalism: An Introduction, Daniel Halliday, John Thrasher
Philosophy Faculty Books and Book Chapters
"The textbook covers longstanding problems that are as old as the discussion of capitalism itself, such as wage inequality, global trade, and the connection between paid labor and human flourishing. It also addresses new challenges, such as climate change, the welfare state, and competitive consumption, and provides topical global case studies. Additionally, it includes study questions at the end of each chapter and an author-created companion website to help guide classroom discussion."
Empty Time As Traumatic Duration: Towards A Cinematic Aevum, Kelli Fuery
Empty Time As Traumatic Duration: Towards A Cinematic Aevum, Kelli Fuery
Film and Media Arts Faculty Articles and Research
Frank Kermode uses the term aevum to question the links between origin, order, and time, associating experience with spatial form. Without end or beginning, aevum identifies an intersubjective order of time where we participate in the “relation between the fictions by which we order our world and the increasing complexity of what we take to be the ‘real’ history of that world”; being “in-between” time is a primary quality of the aevum. Regarding cinema, aevum identifies this third duration as emotional experience, occuring as traumatic time. It facilitates thinking beyond lived temporal experience of everyday life to a philosophy …
As Good As 'Enough And As Good', Bas Van Der Vossen
As Good As 'Enough And As Good', Bas Van Der Vossen
Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research
The Lockean theory of property licenses unilateral appropriation on the condition that there be ‘enough, and as good left in common for others’. However, the meaning of this proviso is all but clear. This article argues that the proviso is centered around the Lockean theory of freedom. To be free, I argue, we must be ‘non-subjected’ in the exercise of our rights, including our rights to appropriate. We enjoy such freedom only when the ability to exercise our rights does not depend on others. That can obtain if literally enough and as good is left in common. But it can …
Agreeing To Disagree: Diversity, Political Contractualism, And The Open Society, John Thrasher
Agreeing To Disagree: Diversity, Political Contractualism, And The Open Society, John Thrasher
Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research
Political contractualism is important in societies characterized by substantial moral and political disagreement and diversity. The very disagreement that makes the social contract necessary, however, also makes agreement difficult. Call this the paradox of diversity, which is the result of a tension between two necessary conditions of political contractualism: existence and stability. The first involves showing the possibility of some agreement, while the second involves showing that the agreement can persist. To solve both of these problems, I develop a multilevel contract theory that I call the “open society” model of political contractualism that incorporates diversity into the contractual model …
Academic Activism Revisited, Bas Van Der Vossen
Academic Activism Revisited, Bas Van Der Vossen
Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research
Academics are, or ought to be, engaged in an impartial search for the truth. Many academics also are, but ought not to be, engaged in political activism. I defend a moral duty for academics to refrain from such activism. Ben Jones’ article in this journal rejects such a duty. This article responds to his objections, thereby more carefully formulating when and why political activism is morally problematic, and what burdens it may imply.
On Minimal Morality, John Thrasher
On Minimal Morality, John Thrasher
Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research
"For many years, Michael Moehler has been one of the most original and thoughtful political and moral philosophers around. He is perhaps the most straightforward and full‐throated defender of what Gerald Gaus (2011) has called 'orthodox instrumentalism.' From this, Moehler develops two interesting results: a Kantian flavored theory of justice and a novel, multilevel contractarian theory of social morality. In these short comments, I will discuss what I take to be the core of Moehler's theory and then raise some questions and challenges to that theory."
The Problem Of Self-Ownership, Bas Van Der Vossen, David Schmidtz
The Problem Of Self-Ownership, Bas Van Der Vossen, David Schmidtz
Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research
"It would be strange to hear people saying 'It’s my self.' The self per se isn’t normally a contested possession. By contrast, what is normal, and so familiar that most readers can probably remember asserting such a thing themselves once upon a time, is the assertion 'It’s my life.' How we live our lives can be, and often is, contested."
The Conclusion In Which Nothingness Is Concluded, Marissa Rimes
The Conclusion In Which Nothingness Is Concluded, Marissa Rimes
Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters
Samuel Johnson’s The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia is ironically most often classified as an “oriental philosophic tale,” but is rarely analyzed from the point of view of oriental philosophy. Although Buddhism’s ambiguities, inwardness, and nothingness, provoke anxiety in Western critique, Johnson’s The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia does something unique from eighteenth-century British thought in that it disavows this Buddaphobia by actively employing a similar line of thought. Through the lens of a Buddhist framework many of the text’s renownedly gloomy implications, in regard to its circular structure and inconclusiveness, are freed from the great sludge of …
The Trolley Problem In Virtual Reality, Jungsu Pak, Ariane Guirguis, Nicholas Mirchandani, Scott Cummings, Uri Maoz
The Trolley Problem In Virtual Reality, Jungsu Pak, Ariane Guirguis, Nicholas Mirchandani, Scott Cummings, Uri Maoz
Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters
Would people react to the Trolley problem differently based on the medium? Immersive Virtual Reality Driving Simulator was used to examine participants respond to the trolley problem in a realistic and controlled simulated environment.
Two Of A Kind: Are Norms Of Honor A Species Of Morality?, Toby Handfield, John Thrasher
Two Of A Kind: Are Norms Of Honor A Species Of Morality?, Toby Handfield, John Thrasher
Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research
Should the norms of honor cultures be classified as a variety of morality? In this paper, we address this question by considering various empirical bases on which norms can be taxonomically organised. This question is of interest both as an exercise in philosophy of social science, and for its potential implications in meta-ethical debates. Using recent data from anthropology and evolutionary game theory, we argue that the most productive classification emphasizes the strategic role that moral norms play in generating assurance and stabilizing cooperation. Because honor norms have a similar functional role, this account entails honor norms are indeed a …
Exile As “Place” For Empathy, Ilana Maymind
Exile As “Place” For Empathy, Ilana Maymind
Religious Studies Faculty Books and Book Chapters
"Historically, exile has been a political act that has various philosophical and psychological ramifications. In the Roman world, exile was a substitute for physical death.1 Adorno argues that exile is a 'life in suspension' as a result of being placed in the diasporic conditions of estrangement. For Adorno, 'it is part of morality not to be at home in one’s home,'2 since being in exile makes one a perpetual stranger and sharpens one’s ethical stance. The idea of being a stranger leads to the significance of the issue of empathy. In this chapter, I discuss Shinran and Maimonides …
Self-Ownership As Personal Sovereignty, John Thrasher
Self-Ownership As Personal Sovereignty, John Thrasher
Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research
Self-ownership has fallen out of favor as a core moral and political concept. I argue that this is because the most popular conception of self-ownership, what I call the property conception, is typically linked to a libertarian (of the left or right) political program. Seeing self-ownership and libertarianism as being necessarily linked leads those who are not inclined toward libertarianism to reject the idea of self-ownership altogether. This, I argue, is mistaken. Self-ownership is a crucial moral and political concept that can earn its keep if we understand it not as type of property right in the self, but rather …