Other Philosophy Commons^™

Animals Are Agents, Linda A.W. Brakel

Animal Sentience

Mark Rowlands’s (2016) target article invites us to consider individuals in a broad subset of the non-human animal world as genuine persons. His account features animals reacting to salient environmental stimuli as Gibsonian affordances, which is indicative of “pre-reflective self-awareness.” He holds that such pre-reflective self-awareness is both “immune to error through misidentification” (Shoemaker, 1968) and a necessary precursor to reflective consciousness and personhood. I agree. In this commentary I hope to extend Rowlands’s work with a view in which agency is an even more fundamental precursor and one can (and should) consider individuals throughout the entire animal kingdom as …

Vol 7 No 2 Contents Page

Comparative Philosophy

No abstract provided.

Vol 7 No 2 Information Page

Comparative Philosophy

No abstract provided.

Vol 7 No 2 Cover Page

Comparative Philosophy

No abstract provided.

Shaping Climate Citizenship: The Ethics Of Inclusion In Climate Change Communication And Policy, Lauren E. Cagle

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The problem of climate change is not simply scientific or technical, but also political and social. This dissertation analyzes both the role and the ethical foundations of citizenship and citizen engagement in the political and social aspects of climate change communication and policy-making. Using a critical discourse analysis of a policy recommendations drafted by the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact, I demonstrate how climate change policy documentation naturalizes a particular version of citizenship I call “climate citizenship.” Based on environmental critiques of liberal and civic republican citizenship, I show how this “climate citizenship” would be more productive and ethical …

Die Phantasie Gottes: An Analysis Of The Divine Ideas In Deity Theories And Brian Leftow, With A Proposed Synthesis, Nathaniel Dowell

Masters Theses

This thesis was on how God is related to the truth-values of propositions on possible worlds - specifically, those propositions that do not seem to be about Him and constitute His ideas for what to create. It opened with a survey of some historical positions with special emphasis on Aquinas, Leibniz, Spinoza and Kant. Next, some criticisms were given for these so-called deity theories (i.e., the belief that possibilities are dependent on God and God must, by nature, recognize the necessary truths He does) with the most space given to Brian Leftow’s critiques. The second chapter detailed Brian Leftow’s theological …

The Indwelling Of The Holy Spirit And Human Intentionality: A Constructive Proposal, John R. Kern

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

How does the Holy Spirit, by indwelling believers, guide them to act in ways that contribute to their spiritual progress? In this thesis, I will argue that, by indwelling believers, the Spirit redirects their intentionality towards their ultimate end in union with God, thus placing believers in the best possible position for acting in ways that contribute to that end. If the Spirit guides believers in the spiritual life on a day-to-day basis, then such guidance must connect with the actual processes by which humans generally act (especially intentions). Thus, by exploring the indwelling of the Spirit, grace, and human …

Sources Of Dignity For Persons: Capacities, Friendship, Love And Subjectivity, Matthew Nevius

Masters Theses

Many people seem to understand the term 'dignity' as applying to all human persons regardless of their race, creed, sex, or religious beliefs. As to what the concept 'dignity' means is a difficult and complex problem. Is the concept 'dignity' an empty concept, void of meaning? What does it mean when we say that this or that person has dignity? Most of the current philosophical literature has very little to say as to what dignity is. I will argue that what we need to find is a concept of dignity that accounts for both the infinite and the irreplaceable value …

Peer Disagreement And Rationality: An Analysis Of Richard Feldman's Conciliatory View, John Molinari

Masters Theses

How should one's beliefs be affected by one's knowing that other people, who are equally well-informed, rational, and intelligent – in other words, persons who are epistemic, or intellectual, peers – believe differently? In this thesis I look at a certain answer to this question. Richard Feldman argues that when two persons who have (roughly) the same level of intelligence and who are (roughly) equally well-informed disagree, the only rational response is for both persons to give up their disputed beliefs and suspend judgment. I look at two objections to Feldman’s view, one from Ernest Sosa and the other from …

A Mid-Range Episode Reading Of Odoevsky's The Cosmorama, Slobodan Sucur

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "A Mid-range Episode Reading of Odoevsky's The Cosmorama" Slobodan Sucur argues that a focus on David S. Miall's theories of foregrounding and the mid-range episode may help to minimize ambiguities and contradictions that often emerge in readings of Gothic literature. The example focused on in the article is Vladimir Odoevsky's 1839 novella The Cosmorama. Sucur elaborates on the idea that the fantastic and sublime are naturally reader-receptive and anticipate some aspects of Miall's theory. In relation to this Sucur also discusses the possibility that mid-range episode reading may help bridge the gap between some tenets …

Peer Disagreement And Rationality: An Analysis Of Richard Feldman's Conciliatory View, John Molinari

Masters Theses

How should one's beliefs be affected by one's knowing that other people, who are equally well-informed, rational, and intelligent – in other words, persons who are epistemic, or intellectual, peers – believe differently? In this thesis I look at a certain answer to this question. Richard Feldman argues that when two persons who have (roughly) the same level of intelligence and who are (roughly) equally well-informed disagree, the only rational response is for both persons to give up their disputed beliefs and suspend judgment. I look at two objections to Feldman’s view, one from Ernest Sosa and the other from …

The Problem Of Evil And The Probity Of Theodicy From William Rowe's Evidential Evidential Of Evil, Olaoluwa Apata

Masters Theses

In this research, we discussed the types of evil: moral and natural, which are cited by atheistic philosophers as evidence against the existence of God. The so-called evidence from evil has been used by the atheistic and other non-theistic scholars to raise hypothesis on evaluating the possibility or likelihood that an omnipotent, omniscient, and wholly good God exists in a world that is littered with evil. Moral evil is evil that arise from the misuse of free will by moral agents, while natural evils are natural disasters such as: earthquakes, famine, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes etc. We discussed moral evil and …

A Case For A Husserlian Willardarian Approach To Knowledge, Joseph Gibson

Masters Theses

This thesis introduces certain aspects in the thought of Dallas Willard and Edmund Husserl as a new way forward in the internalism externalism debate. Husserl’s detailed analysis of cognition has application to epistemology and addresses in great depth an area which in the current discussion is often tertiary and shallow at best. It is argued that in both internalist and externalist camps there is a common assumption about cognition which Husserl argues forcibly against. This assumption is that thought, or cognition, is essentially linguistic. (The notion that ‘thought is essentially linguistic’ means that thought requires the use of language.) Whatever …

An Account Of Virtue And Solidarity From Pakikipagkapuwa, Jacklyn A. Cleofas

Philosophy Department Faculty Publications

There has been a resurgence of interest among philosophers in Asian conceptions of virtue. In this paper I derive and develop an account of virtue in general, and solidarity in particular, from two Filipino concepts: pakikipagkápuwâ (comradeship with fellow humans) and pakikiramdám (emotional sensitivity). The primary source used for the discussion of these concepts is Filipino psychology, which allows for an account of virtue that is grounded in a particular cultural practice. The ensuing account of virtue, however, is not just contextsensitive; it also showcases an aspect of Filipino culture that has a potential for universality. More specifically, the account …

Authenticity As Compassionate Being In The World, Rosemary Season

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

This paper will present a thesis on what it means to be authentic in the world and how a person can cultivate an authentic being. I will argue that being authentic leads to a healthier self that lives her life to its fullest potential and how being authentic will result in a more compassionate and ethical self.

A Case For Monistic Idealism: Connecting Idealistic Thoughts From Leibniz To Kant With Support In Quantum Physics, Erik Haynes

Masters Theses

Through the analysis of idealistic arguments and evidence from physics, it will be demonstrated that monistic idealism has a great deal of explanatory power as a metaphysical system for the reality that one experiences. Some of the arguments that support this claim include the inadequateness of Cartesian matter, the seemingly infinite divisibility of atoms, matter being reducible to sensations, the unnecessary aspect of matter, and simplicity. Evidence from quantum physics includes such factors as the necessary role of an observer in the collapse of a quantum wave function and the element of nonlocality. Psychological experiments including nonlocal communication, the power …

Uncertain Rights Against Defense, Bas Van Der Vossen

Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research

In this essay, I defend a theory of liability to defensive force. The theory contains two elements. The first is a dual Lockean-inspired condition. The second aims to make this first condition consistent with problems arising from uncertainty. Drawing on recent work by Michael Zimmerman, I argue that the rights-based condition should be made sensitive to the evidence available to defenders.

Inhabiting The Discourses Of Belonging; Franz Kafka And Yoko Tawada, Aviv Hilbig-Bokaer

Scholarly Undergraduate Research Journal at Clark (SURJ)

Inhabiting the Discourses of Belonging; Franz Kafka and Yoko Tawada examines the role of language in creating the identity of the foreigner in German prose. Writing at opposite ends of the 20^th century, Kafka and Tawada serve as harbingers for a broader sense of alienation that comes with writing as an Other. Using lenses provided by Spivak, Butler, Said and Deluze, this essay surveys the broader cultural concepts and theoretical implications of the notion of the metaphorical subaltern that can be created in prose, and the particularities presented by the German language in creating and articulating this identity. This …

Sexual Morality And Owning Our Own Bodies, Sarah E. Foreman

Augustana Center for the Study of Ethics Essay Contest

In our current age of “hook-up cultures” and premarital sex, the issue of sexual morality in our society is one that must be addressed. As the younger generations become sexually active at earlier times in their lives, we need to discuss appropriate views of sexual activity and the moral limitations of sexual acts. Conventional sexual morality will tell us that sex outside of marriage is immoral. Another sexual ethic might claim that sex without love is not morally permissible. However, in today’s changing and ever more liberal society, it is important for us to come to terms with a new …

Indefinite Life Extensions, Jackson L. Slechta

UCARE: Research Products

The Simple Argument 1. It Is good to save someone’s life, if and only if it is a life worth living. 2. When we save someone’s life we are merely extending their life. 3. If saving a life is good, and saving a life is identical in all relevant characteristics to extending a life, then extending a life must be good. 4. Surely, if extending a life by a limited period is good, then extending a life for an indefinite period would create a vast amount of good. 5. Therefore, extending a life worth living indefinitely is good.

The Life …