Attack Of The Drones : Unmanned Aerial Vehicles And Moral Problems,
2014
University at Albany, State University of New York
Attack Of The Drones : Unmanned Aerial Vehicles And Moral Problems, Tyler B. Kirk
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
The frequency of use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for combat by the United States has increased dramatically in recent years. Since this technology has comprised a significant portion of American counter-terror operations abroad and there are virtually no signs of this practice slowing or ceasing in the foreseeable future, it is necessary to closely examine the ethical implications of remote-control warfare. At first glance, arguments supporting the use of "drones" seem robust and sensible: in theory, they save American military lives. But upon further investigation, the use of drones in practice actually creates morally murky, problematic situations that could lead …
Toward Explaining The Gap : How A Particular View Of Explanation Underwrites The Explanatory Gap,
2014
University at Albany, State University of New York
Toward Explaining The Gap : How A Particular View Of Explanation Underwrites The Explanatory Gap, Kimberly Van Orman
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
In my dissertation, I consider a common argument for the existence of an unbridgeable explanatory gap between materialism and conscious experience which purports to show that we can determine a priori that conscious experience cannot possibly be explained by a materialist theory. The claim is: no matter what we might yet learn about the brain (or the world), we know enough right now about materialism and explanation to know that an explanation of conscious experience is beyond our reach. I argue that three well-known examples of this position (Jaegwon Kim, David Chalmers, and Joseph Levine) rely on a very narrow …
Motives, Reasons, And Morality : The Humean Theory Of Motivation, Reasons Internalism, And The Problem Of Objective Morality,
2014
University at Albany, State University of New York
Motives, Reasons, And Morality : The Humean Theory Of Motivation, Reasons Internalism, And The Problem Of Objective Morality, Elliot Cross
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
In this dissertation I argue that the Humean theory of motivation, and reasons internalism ought to be accepted and are compatible with moral objectivity. The Humean theory of motivation is the view that only desires, and not beliefs, are capable of motivating. Reasons internalism is the view that only those considerations capable of motivating can be reasons. The combination of these two views entails that we only have a reason for action when we have a relevant desire. Accordingly, if we hold both of these positions then we cannot have reason to be moral unless we desire to be moral. …
Locke's Theory Of Justified Resistance : An Explanation And Defense,
2014
University at Albany, State University of New York
Locke's Theory Of Justified Resistance : An Explanation And Defense, Peter E. Reinisch
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
Peter Reinisch
The Role Of The Simple Natures And Method In Descartes' Meditations,
2014
University at Albany, State University of New York
The Role Of The Simple Natures And Method In Descartes' Meditations, Thomas C. Fowler
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
ABSTRACT
Democracy, Political Externalities & The Labour-Process,
2014
University at Albany, State University of New York
Democracy, Political Externalities & The Labour-Process, Nicholas Alan Partyka
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
My dissertation focuses on elaborating a problem for democratic political institutions posed by an externality of the capitalist labour-process, particularly for more participatory conceptions of democracy and democratic citizenship. I argue that the labour-process under capitalism causes a transformation in the skill-level and personality of worker-citizens. In the main, the direction of this transformation is towards workers who lack important deliberative skills enabling them to effectively participate in democratic politics. If one is committed to democracy as a means of collective self-government, then this negative transformation, or deformation, should be troubling. If the labour-process under capitalism deprives workers of the …
Blurring Two Conceptions Of Subjective Experience: Folk Versus Philosophical Phenomenality,
2014
Marquette University
Blurring Two Conceptions Of Subjective Experience: Folk Versus Philosophical Phenomenality, Anthony F. Peressini
Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications
Philosophers and psychologists have experimentally explored various aspects of people's understandings of subjective experience based on their responses to questions about whether robots “see red” or “feel frustrated,” but the intelligibility of such questions may well presuppose that people understand robots as experiencers in the first place. Departing from the standard approach, I develop an experimental framework that distinguishes between “phenomenal consciousness” as it is applied to a subject (an experiencer) and to an (experiential) mental state and experimentally test folk understandings of both subjective experience and experiencers. My findings (1) reveal limitations in experimental approaches using “artificial experiencers” like …
Introduction [To Cultivating Virtue: Perspectives From Philosophy, Theology, And Psychology],
2014
Marquette University
Introduction [To Cultivating Virtue: Perspectives From Philosophy, Theology, And Psychology], Nancy E. Snow
Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications
No abstract provided.
The Concept Of Privilege: A Critical Appraisal,
2014
Marquette University
The Concept Of Privilege: A Critical Appraisal, Michael Monahan
Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications
In this essay, I examine the use of the concept of privilege within the critical theoretical discourse on oppression and liberation (with a particular focus on white privilege and antiracism in the USA). In order to fulfill the rhetorical aims of liberation, concepts for privilege must meet what I term the ‘boundary condition’, which demarcates the boundary between a privileged elite and the rest of society, and the ‘ignorance condition’, which establishes that the elite status and the advantages it confers are not publicly recognised or affirmed. I argue that the dominant use of the concept of privilege cannot fulfill …
Dichtung Als Übersetzung. Heideggers Reformulierung Von Platons Denken Unter Dem Einfluss Der Romantik,
2014
Marquette University
Dichtung Als Übersetzung. Heideggers Reformulierung Von Platons Denken Unter Dem Einfluss Der Romantik, Pol Vandevelde
Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications
No abstract provided.
Philosophy, Medicine And Health Care - Where We Have Come From And Where We Are Going,
2014
Old Dominion University
Philosophy, Medicine And Health Care - Where We Have Come From And Where We Are Going, Michael Loughlin, Robyn Bluhm, Jonathan Fuller, Stephen Burtow, Rose E. G. Upshur, Kirstin Borgerson, Maya J. Goldenberg, Elselijn Kingma
Philosophy Faculty Publications
The role of philosophy in discussions of clinical practice was once regarded by many as restricted to a very limited version of ‘medical ethics’, one that has been extensively criticized in the pages of this journal and elsewhere for being at once philosophically untenable and practically unhelpful [1–4]. While this uninspiring view of the nature and scope of applied philosophy has by no means been eradicated, over a number of years there has been a resurgence of interest in the philosophy of medicine and health care as an intellectually serious and practically significant enterprise. Controversies about evidence, value, clinical knowledge, …
Teaching Rational Entitlement And Responsibility: A Socratic Exercise,
2014
Old Dominion University
Teaching Rational Entitlement And Responsibility: A Socratic Exercise, David Godden
Philosophy Faculty Publications
The paper reports on a Socratic exercise that introduces participants to the norm of rational entitlement, as distinct from political entitlement, and the attendant norm of rational responsibility. The exercise demonstrates that, because participants are not willing to exchange their own opinion at random for another differing opinion to which the owner is, by the participants' own admission, entitled, they treat their entitlement to their own opinion differently, giving it a special status. This gives rise to rational obligations such as the obligation to provide reasons, and a willingness to risk those opinions to the force of the better reason.
Moving To A New Paradigm: A Reflection On Ethics,
2014
Ursinus College
Moving To A New Paradigm: A Reflection On Ethics, Sara Bajor '15
Richard T. Schellhase Essay Prize in Ethics
No abstract provided.
Marx Wartofsky,
2014
San Jose State University
Marx Wartofsky, Tom Leddy
Faculty Publications
Marx W. Wartofsky was born in Brooklyn and received his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees at Columbia University. He was a professor at Boston University (where he taught for twenty-six years) and then at Baruch College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He was long-time editor of the Philosophical Forum, which he founded in 1970. He also co-founded with Robert Cohen the Boston University Center for Philosophy and History of Science in 1960. He wrote three books: Conceptual Foundations of Scientific Thought (1968), Feuerbach (1977), and Models: Representation and the Scientific Understanding (1979), the last …
Pretty,
2014
San Jose State University
The Problem Of Temporality In The Literary Framework Of Nicholas Of Cusa’S De Pace Fidei,
2014
San Jose State University
The Problem Of Temporality In The Literary Framework Of Nicholas Of Cusa’S De Pace Fidei, Jason Aleksander
Faculty Publications
This paper explores Nicholas of Cusa’s framing of the De pace fidei as a dialogue taking place incaelo rationis. On the one hand, this framing allows Nicholas of Cusa to argue that all religious rites presuppose the truth of a single, unified faith and so temporally manifest divine logos in a way accommodated to the historically unique conventions of different political communities. On the other hand, at the end of the De pace fidei, the interlocutors in the heavenly dialogue are enjoined to return to earth and lead their countrymen in a gradual conversion to the acceptance of rites which …
Did Schelling Misunderstand Fichte’S Transcendental Method?,
2014
Marquette University
Did Schelling Misunderstand Fichte’S Transcendental Method?, Michael Vater
Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications
The Fichte-Schelling Correspondence interweaves intriguing personal stories and philosophical combat. One of the sadder personal stories involves Schelling getting wind of Fichte’s remark to Friedrich Schlegel that he did not understand transcendental method. The letters document several clumsy attempts by Fichte to minimize the criticism only to have it surface again in a letter Fichte wrote to a former student, Jean Baptiste Schad, who showed the letter to Schelling. In it, Fichte claimed that Schelling understood Wissenschaftslehre no better than Friedrich Nicolai, whom Fichte had publicly excoriated for critiquing as “I-philosophy” a superficial assemblage of random quotes from mixed sources.
Kultur Als »Operativ Verschatteter Begriff« Bei Cassirer Was Ist Das Objekt Von Cassirers Kulturphilosophie - Und Was Ist Die Aufgabe Dieser Kulturphilosophie?,
2014
Marquette University
Kultur Als »Operativ Verschatteter Begriff« Bei Cassirer Was Ist Das Objekt Von Cassirers Kulturphilosophie - Und Was Ist Die Aufgabe Dieser Kulturphilosophie?, Sebastian Luft
Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications
No abstract provided.
Speaking And Rhetoric In The Community: The Implications Of Aristotle's Understanding Of Being,
2014
Claremont McKenna College
Speaking And Rhetoric In The Community: The Implications Of Aristotle's Understanding Of Being, Logan C. Vescio
CMC Senior Theses
This thesis analyzes Martin Heidegger's early interpretation of Aristotelian concepts. The goal is to acquire an increased understanding of the ideas underlying Aristotle's political philosophy, as well as those underlying Heidegger's own later philosophy. The investigation begins with a critique of Kantian logic and the assumptions which underlie it, which are ultimately traced back to Aristotle. The passages that pertain to Kant's interpretation are assessed by Heidegger, who concludes that it is speaking, not explicit definition, that grounds possibility for life in a human sense. To demonstrate Heidegger's argument, the thesis transitions into an assessment of the Greek view of …
Trains, Trolley Cars, And Lifeboats: A Solution To Agent-Centered Restrictions And Tragic Questions Through The Application Of Middle Theory,
2014
Claremont McKenna College
Trains, Trolley Cars, And Lifeboats: A Solution To Agent-Centered Restrictions And Tragic Questions Through The Application Of Middle Theory, Eric Christopher Ferrer
CMC Senior Theses
This Thesis will examine how the framing of ‘trolley problems’ incorrectly motivates arithmetic rankings of states of affairs by removing context. This is problematic because the context of these problems provides the tools to solve moral dilemmas by allowing one to analyze the relevant motivations, moral implications, duties, values, and personal and societal obligations that one has. I will discuss Samuel Scheffler’s charge that a paradox exists within agent-centered restrictions and how his abstract paradigmatic case leads to arithmetic rankings of choices, which are both unrealistic and lead to tragic and morally unacceptable decision making. I will argue that Allen …
