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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Affirming The Absurd: Philosophy And Fiction, Leila Clare El-Qawas Jul 2017

Affirming The Absurd: Philosophy And Fiction, Leila Clare El-Qawas

Episteme

Contrary to some popular opinion, Camus is a serious philosopher who turns to the medium of the novel because only its format permits him to fully explore what it is to live. This paper examines the general themes of Camus’s work in relation to how the creative artist “lives” doubly, and how the novelist is in the best position of all—able to use negative thought to revolt against her or his situation. Furthermore, the author argues that absurd fiction opens up possibilities for the absurd reader in presenting a perspective that can affect the reader’s general sensibilities, including thoughts on …

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Functionalism And Artificial Intelligence, Kevin Connor Jul 2017

Functionalism And Artificial Intelligence, Kevin Connor

Episteme

The Chinese Room argument shows that the Turing test functions only by syntax, thereby revealing that the notion of meaning is not properly accounted for by the test. Thus, Searle is convincing in his refutation of the Turing test for strong artificial intelligence. Yet, while the mind is not like a program running on certain hardware, the brain is. But thinking, Searle’s real interest, is not simply running the appropriate program! Therefore, rather than providing a solution to the Mind-Body problem, Searle’s conclusion about AI begs the question about what causes semantics. Searle’s logic goes awry somewhere, and, for this …

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The Ghost In The Machine: A Defense Of The Possibility Of Artificial Intelligence, Matthew Carlson Jul 2017

The Ghost In The Machine: A Defense Of The Possibility Of Artificial Intelligence, Matthew Carlson

Episteme

The Chinese Room argument shows that the Turing test functions only by syntax, thereby revealing that the notion of meaning is not properly accounted for by the test. Thus, Searle is convincing in his refutation of the Turing test for strong artificial intelligence. Yet, while the mind is not like a program running on certain hardware, the brain is. But thinking, Searle’s real interest, is not simply running the appropriate program! Therefore, rather than providing a solution to the Mind-Body problem, Searle’s conclusion about AI begs the question about what causes semantics. Searle’s logic goes awry somewhere, and, for this …

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Afraid Of The Dark: Nagel And Rationalizing The Fear Of Death, Jennifer Lunsford Jul 2017

Afraid Of The Dark: Nagel And Rationalizing The Fear Of Death, Jennifer Lunsford

Episteme

What should be said about the Thomas Nagel/O. H. Green interpretation of why people fear death? Since Nagel focuses only on the non-state of death (ignoring the state of dying), he concludes that it is the deprivation of life that people fear. Green, who shares with Nagel similar organizing thoughts, argues that a fear of loss of life is equivalent to the fear of death, since people really fear not living (any) longer. But this paper’s author sees more logic to Nagel’s position. But is Nagel correct? Has Nagel’s article on death wrongly brushed aside the legitimately rational idea that …

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Kant's Proof Of A Universal Principle Of Causality: A Transcendental Idealist's Reply To Hume, Reza Mahmoodshahi Jul 2017

Kant's Proof Of A Universal Principle Of Causality: A Transcendental Idealist's Reply To Hume, Reza Mahmoodshahi

Episteme

In the Second Analogy of the Critique of Pure Reason, is Kant directly responding to Hume? The author argues that he must be, otherwise his arguments about succession and irreversibility (the house and the ship) fall victim to P. F. Strawson’s “non sequitur” criticism. Kant believes that our experience of successive objective events presupposes the application of the causal category, obviously a crucial part of Kant’s notion of the understanding. So long as we keep in mind that Kant depends strongly on his underlying doctrine of transcendental idealism, the author grants Lewis White Beck’s defense of Kant, in alluding to …

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The Nature Of God & Predestination In John Davenant's Dissertatio De Praedestinatione Et Reprobatione, Jonathan Roberts Jul 2017

The Nature Of God & Predestination In John Davenant's Dissertatio De Praedestinatione Et Reprobatione, Jonathan Roberts

Theses

This paper is an exposition and defense of John Davenant's critique of the lapsarian understanding of the ordering of God's decrees. I evaluate Davenant's use of theology proper in his critique of said debate and contend that if Davenant is correct about divine simplicity and divine immutability, his critique of lapsarianism is successful.

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Animal Rights And Incredulous Stares, Bob Fischer Jul 2017

Animal Rights And Incredulous Stares, Bob Fischer

Between the Species

I propose an analogy between the thesis that animals have rights and David Lewis's commitment to modal realism. I argue that just as Lewis received incredulous stares that seem to justify rejecting his metaphysical hypothesis, so the thesis that animals have rights can be reasonably rejected. I consider the prospect challenging the considered beliefs on which that rejection depends, and ultimately offer a pessimistic conclusion.

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Behavior And Other Minds: A Response To Functionalists, Michael Lockhart Jul 2017

Behavior And Other Minds: A Response To Functionalists, Michael Lockhart

Episteme

Functionalism’s metaphysics is wrongly thought to answer the epistemological question of the existence of the other’s mentality. Contra Elliot Reed, the practical utility of being able to solve the problem of other minds does not make functionalism the best theory of mind, nor does it actually solve the problem of other minds. Reed’s circular argument implicitly relies on abstract behaviorism and the need to solve the problem of other minds. What must come first, however, is a correct ontology of the mind. Functionalism struggles with intentionality, disregards qualia, and, according to Searle’s excellent thought experiments, is incompatible with what we …

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Religious Experience, Pluralistic Knowledge And William James, Brittany G. Trice Jul 2017

Religious Experience, Pluralistic Knowledge And William James, Brittany G. Trice

Episteme

This article explores the qualities and nature of the “religious” or mystical experience according to James and pragmatic philosophy in general. The author initially provides an overview of James’ philosophy of religion, which includes his pragmatic commitments, understanding of experience, and emphasis on cognitive relations. Then there arises a question: How can I know that others have mystical experience, too? James’s push to make the mystical experience scientific misjudges the utility of his quasi-chaos idea, which can be shown to support inter-subjective knowledge and position religion within what the author deems “pluralistic knowledge.” In the end, Rorty and Bruce Wilshire …

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What Is 'Natural' About Natural Science: Philosophical Naturalism In The Evolution Debate, Hya P. Winham Jul 2017

What Is 'Natural' About Natural Science: Philosophical Naturalism In The Evolution Debate, Hya P. Winham

Episteme

Creationist Phillip E. Johnson argues that evolution theory is a product of a bias toward naturalistic explanation—a materialist philosophical ideology that encroaches on empirical science. This position even got some support from philosopher Michael Ruse. But the fact is science must include a base level of presupposition; the creationist, while supplying her own, mistakenly thinks that science can operate without such an explanatory guide. This paper defends naturalism in science, thereby rejecting the concerns and arguments of neo-creationists. In this effort, the author argues why naturalism is important to science, uses Dewey to explain why anti-naturalism leads to careless science, …

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Desertification And Metaphysics In Nietzsche And Abbey, David Allen Chenault Jul 2017

Desertification And Metaphysics In Nietzsche And Abbey, David Allen Chenault

Episteme

The truth is neither simply culture derived from nature, nor nature from culture. Can we (qua humans) merge with nature and still maintain our self-intelligibility? –This is the question that the anti-anti-naturalist concentrates on. The author looks at Nietzsche’s critique of metaphysics, which posits a new metaphysics that requires us to enter the violent, heartless desert that is the paradoxical dual immanence of nature. The paper looks at the desert in the Genealogy’s discussion of the ascetic ideal, and how it relates to Edward Abbey’s isolation and book Desert Solitaire. Importantly, the similarities in-part stem from their similar post-modern sensibility. …

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A Defense Of Scientific Phenomenalism From The Perspective Of Contemporary Physics, John Lee Jul 2017

A Defense Of Scientific Phenomenalism From The Perspective Of Contemporary Physics, John Lee

Episteme

Contrary to believing in scientific realism, the author provides a defense of scientific phenomenalism, which holds that only things that we can perceive can be counted as things that exist. The author agrees with W. T. Stace, who holds that science does not explain but merely describes and predicts. Such an understanding suggests that scientists go beyond their bounds when they support the existence of certain theoretical (non-observable) entities—things like quarks and warped spacetime. When such “things” are just mathematical constructs, it becomes easier to comprehend the nature of light, the Higgs mechanism, the electro and magnetic fields, and even …

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Warrant, Proper Function, And The Great Pumpkin Objection, Joseph Curtis Miller Jul 2017

Warrant, Proper Function, And The Great Pumpkin Objection, Joseph Curtis Miller

Episteme

Because it eschews classical foundationalism and coherence theory, one must wonder about the reliability of Plantinga’s radical account of knowledge of God’s existence. How does his appeal to proper basicality and epistemic warrant fair against Keith Lehrer’s objections? The answer: not very well. The author gives an analysis of Plantinga’s proper functionality concept, his grounds for warranted belief, and his anticipated response to what he calls the Great Pumpkin Objection. Next, the author presents Lehrer’s two counterexamples, Mr. Truetemp and Ms. Prejudice, and supports Lehrer’s claims that they show that proper functionality is neither a sufficient nor necessary condition for …

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Causality, Emergentism, And Mentality, Robert Hemm Jr. Jul 2017

Causality, Emergentism, And Mentality, Robert Hemm Jr.

Episteme

The author here combines the insights of John Dupré and Jaeqwon Kim to supply a new answer to the big conundrum in the philosophy of mind: the mind/body problem. He begins with an overview of Dupré’s take on the classic modern take of causality and determinism, concluding that if Dupré is right and probabilistic catastrophism is true, this theory of probability has important consequences for the mind/body problem. Specifically, probabilistic catastrophism can address the question forced by Kim’s emergentism: how do irreducible mental properties interact with the closed causal nexus of the physical world? The paper concludes by considering what …

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Functionalism, Qualia, And Other Minds, Elliot Reed Jul 2017

Functionalism, Qualia, And Other Minds, Elliot Reed

Episteme

We can solve the problem of other minds by reference to behavior only if we conceive of consciousness in functional terms. Folk psychology, though incomplete, supplies us with mental categories that are useful for prediction and explanation and thus can become functional categories. We need psychology and linguistics to work together to create a substantial body of research. The author spends a great deal of time responding to an objecting interlocutor, out of which comes supplemental details such as a discussion of functional equivalence; a response to the reductio ad absurdum complaint against the liberal intentional stance; an argument about …

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Anaphoric Deflationism: Truth And Reference, Lauren Hartzell Jul 2017

Anaphoric Deflationism: Truth And Reference, Lauren Hartzell

Episteme

As a reaction to Dorothy Grover and Robert Brandom, this paper examines semantic concerns about intralinguistic relationships and functions. The author supports Brandom’s interpretation of Grover and argues that the prosentential theory of truth must accept the pronominal theory of reference in order to maintain an anaphoric account of truth. The author uses Brandom’s logic to brand Grover an anaphoric deflationist—whether she intended to be one or not. But Brandom’s appeal to reference only begins the project of extending Grover. What other anaphoric mechanisms still need to be identified, the author asks? How do we account for notions of substantive …

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The Hyperphilosophy Of Extraordinary Communication, Theresa Thuline Jul 2017

The Hyperphilosophy Of Extraordinary Communication, Theresa Thuline

Episteme

By rejecting orthodoxy, systemization, and objectivity, metaphor allows us to express the extraordinary, contradictory, and paradoxical. Kierkegaard’s Postscript provides a good entry into the concept of metaphor, because it demonstrates the dialectical concepts that give rise to the usefulness of figurative language tools like metaphor and its sidekick, irony. Ricœur extends and elaborates on Kierkegaard’s dialectical philosophy. Together, contrary to Marie I. George’s thoughts on the suitability of metaphors in philosophy, these thinkers speak of the necessarily indirect linguistic means to communicate divine passion and to avoid the pitfalls of standard social meaning-expression. The author concludes by appreciating Pastor Robert …

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Deep Problems For Bayesianism, David James Anderson Jul 2017

Deep Problems For Bayesianism, David James Anderson

Episteme

The Humean skeptic seeks not that the future necessarily resembles the past, but only that it is more valid to say that something is always true than it is to say it is true before a certain time. Does Bayesianism provide the argument that Hume missed, thereby justifying inductive reasoning? No. The Bayesian argument sets out to justify the connections between our beliefs based on subjective probability. Although Bayesian conditionalization helps us justify the relative certainty of our beliefs, the Bayesian cannot show that P (h100) is more justified than P(ht), but only that the differential outcome is affected by …

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Pragmatism, Neo-Pragmatism, Language And 'Truth', Andrew Forney Jul 2017

Pragmatism, Neo-Pragmatism, Language And 'Truth', Andrew Forney

Episteme

This article takes a look at the place and significance of Rorty’s neo-pragmatism. The author makes an effort to parse out how Rorty fits into the history of pragmatism, philosophies of language, science, and history, and in connection to such explicitly related philosophers as Dewey, James, Davidson, and Kuhn. The author covers a great deal of ground, discussing pragmatist topics such as verification, truth, and culture, as well as Rorty-specific conceptions of semantics, ethnocentrism, post-Kuhn paradigms, and a metaphysics that bears resemblance to Kant’s divided realms.

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Necessary Truth And The Existence Of External Objects, Nathan J. Jun Jul 2017

Necessary Truth And The Existence Of External Objects, Nathan J. Jun

Episteme

Since the beginning of modern philosophy, philosophers have struggled to establish that both the external and the internal worlds exist. This paper's author summarizes the positions of the strong idealists of the modern period such as Locke, Berkeley, and especially Hume. Next he establishes that some contemporary analytic philosophers question not the external world, but the internal world—posing the problem from another angle. The author then embarks on proving the existence of the external world in such a way that the internal world is not put into question. From what we know about logic, necessity, and rationality, it follows that …

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Truth, Inquiry, And The Prospect For Moral Knowledge, Adrian M. Viens Jul 2017

Truth, Inquiry, And The Prospect For Moral Knowledge, Adrian M. Viens

Episteme

Recent pragmatists Cheryl J. Misak and Christopher Hookway extend and improve upon C. S. Pierce’s pragmatist ethics. Their work demonstrates that an objective, determinate truth value for morality is most successfully achieved not by a form of realism but by pragmatic consideration, which finds that truth-aimed committed beliefs lead to definite consequences. While explaining pragmatic ethics, the author believes that the important insight is the link offered between inquiry and truth. The pragmatist conception of experience opens the door to establish genuine moral knowledge once the fact/value dichotomy is dissolved—thanks in part to Quine. Although criticized on account of qualification …

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Revolutionary Modality In Merleau-Ponty's Philosophy Of Ambiguity: A Phenomenological Basis For Critical Politics, Andrew Thomas Lazella Jul 2017

Revolutionary Modality In Merleau-Ponty's Philosophy Of Ambiguity: A Phenomenological Basis For Critical Politics, Andrew Thomas Lazella

Episteme

Merold Westphal wrongly interprets the political power of Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy of ambiguity. Yet, Westphal is right about Merleau-Ponty’s politics as aesthetic: the essence of Merleau-Ponty’s political proposal is political activity defined as concrete lived-experience. The author argues in support of Merleau-Ponty’s politics, which, by way of the ambiguity of perception, must be related to his phenomenology. To keep dialogue—being-for-others—open, Merleau-Ponty embraces situated-ness. This allows him to avoid the foundationalist pitfalls of existential modality that lead to justifying vanguard party terrorism. Furthermore, his understanding of inter-subjectivity frees the proletariat from being irrational subjects merely used by political leadership. If Merleau-Ponty seems …

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Against The Necessity Of Identity Statements, Philip D. Miller Jul 2017

Against The Necessity Of Identity Statements, Philip D. Miller

Episteme

Kripke’s Naming and Necessity argues for an odd form of necessity with regard to identity statements. This paper demonstrates that such oddness is due to internal inconsistency and the falseness of Kripke’s notion of rigid designation. The author first examines Kripke’s philosophy of language which covers necessary vs. contingent, necessary vs. a priori, and the overturning of Kant with the claim that a necessary truth can be an a posteriori truth, like “Hesperus is Phosphorous.” Following Michael Wreen’s systematic understanding of Kripke’s argument, and agreeing with the logic of David Bostock’s and Helen Steward’s criticisms of Kripke, which challenge Kripke …

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Donagan And Heidegger: Two Conflicting Ideas Of Authenticity, Henry C. Driscoll Jul 2017

Donagan And Heidegger: Two Conflicting Ideas Of Authenticity, Henry C. Driscoll

Episteme

Alan Donagan criticizes Heidegger for falling into what Collingwood calls the “corrupt consciousness,” but this author explains that Donagan misunderstands Heidegger’s design. The paper opens with Donagan’s philosophy that ties ethics to rationality. Donagan’s fundamental principle of rationality requires each person to respect each other’s rationality, and Donagan’s Thomistic and Kantian theory of conscience determines the permissibility of actions. He believes that existentialism, including Heidegger’s, which does not agree to the principle of rationality, engenders a false consciousness, which thereby corrupts the conscience. But, the author contends, Heidegger’s phenomenology does not actually amount to this. Authenticity is not recognizing mortality …

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Gadamer And The Authenticity Of Openness, Benjamin Mcmyler Jul 2017

Gadamer And The Authenticity Of Openness, Benjamin Mcmyler

Episteme

Gadamer is too often charged with subjectivism and relativism. Bearing in mind Hubert Dreyfus’ new interpretation that Heidegger describes two separate types of resoluteness and authenticity, the author rescues Gadamer’s philosophy of openness by identifying its hermeneutic with Heidegger’s Aristotelian side—skirting supposed associations with Kierkegaard or Nietzsche that have confused Gadamer’s project in the past. Following Heidegger, Gadamer’s epistemology identifies both a personal (situated, particular) horizon and historical (given, universal) horizon, and understanding is the fusion of the two. Gadamer’s openness is a condition of our accomplished understanding, where our knowing of our essential finitude promotes on-going attention to the …

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Aristotle's Theory Of Sense Perception, David Tulkin Jul 2017

Aristotle's Theory Of Sense Perception, David Tulkin

Episteme

In recent years, Nussbaum/Putnam and M. F. Burnyeat have engaged in a back-and-forth debate over Aristotle’s theory of perception. This author traces the developments of this debate, explores the various questions that come into play, and ends up dissatisfied with both camps. There are two overriding questions: What does Aristotle mean to take as the nature of the sense-organ in perception? and How does esse naturale and esse intentionale link-up? The contemporary philosophers, perhaps sheltered by contemporary philosophy of mind, think they can prove their interpretation to be correct without answering this second question. The author reports the various replies, …

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The Call Of Duty And Beyond: Problems Concerning Justification And Virtue In The Ethical Models Of Epistemology, Peter J. Tedesco Jul 2017

The Call Of Duty And Beyond: Problems Concerning Justification And Virtue In The Ethical Models Of Epistemology, Peter J. Tedesco

Episteme

Internalist considerations are crucial to a good theory of belief formation—epistemic or ethical. To get to this conclusion, the author first shows the insufficiency of a strong externalist account of true belief; he critique’s Plantinga’s reliabilism by way of demonstration. Plantinga’s idea of epistemic warrant shares a maximum ideal with utilitarianism (the desire for the most true beliefs), but the good intentions of the theory are undermined by 1) the author’s car counter-example that illustrates the relevance of internal circumstances, and 2) a realization that Plantinga pays no mind to volition variance. Next, the author analyzes Linda Trinkaus Zagzebski’s virtue …

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Free Will, Determinism, And Moral Responsibility: An Analysis Of Event-Causal Incompatibilism, Gunnar Footh Jul 2017

Free Will, Determinism, And Moral Responsibility: An Analysis Of Event-Causal Incompatibilism, Gunnar Footh

Philosophy Honors Projects

In this project, I will analyze, summarize, and critique the incompatibilist theory known as source incompatibilism, which argues that a moral agent is morally responsible for an action only if they are the proper source of that action. More specifically, I will analyze the source incompatibilist views of event-causal incompatibilism, which argues that an agent has free will only if there exists indeterminacy in her decision-making process, either before the formation of a decision itself of during the formation of a decision. I will argue that event-causal incompatibilist views suffer from problems of control and moral chanciness. Thus I will …

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‘We Don’T Talk Gypsy Here’: Minority Language Policies In Europe, William S. New, Hristo Kyuchukov, Jill De Villiers Jul 2017

‘We Don’T Talk Gypsy Here’: Minority Language Policies In Europe, William S. New, Hristo Kyuchukov, Jill De Villiers

Philosophy: Faculty Publications

The Roma constitute an ideal case of educational injustice meeting linguistic difference, racism, social marginalization, and poverty. This paper asks whether human-rights or capabilities approaches are best suited to address issues related to the language education of Roma students in Europe. These children are disadvantaged by not growing up with the standard dialect of whatever language is preferred by the mainstream population, and by the low status of the Romani language, and non-standard dialect of the standard language they usually speak. We examine language education for Roma students in Croatia, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria, describing similarities and differences across …

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Finding A New 'Meaning Of Meaning', Benjamin K. Herrington Jul 2017

Finding A New 'Meaning Of Meaning', Benjamin K. Herrington

Episteme

The twofold thesis of this paper is that Putnam is incorrect to accept the existence of narrow content mental states, and that Tyler Burge, in exposing this error, can explain why mental content is not in the hands of the individual. The author studies Burge’s extension of Putnam’s views on mental content, comparing the arguments made in “The Meaning of Meaning” with Burge’s “Individualism and the Mental”. Burge argues that if extension differs on Twin Earth, then so must intension differ—something that Putnam overlooks. Burge’s analysis of the Twin Earth logic and his own counterfactual thought experiment concerning the term …

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