Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Discipline
-
- Social and Behavioral Sciences (81)
- Ethics and Political Philosophy (60)
- Asian Studies (39)
- International and Area Studies (39)
- Political Science (31)
-
- Epistemology (13)
- Philosophy of Science (11)
- East Asian Languages and Societies (10)
- Religion (8)
- Education (7)
- Logic and Foundations of Mathematics (7)
- Political Theory (7)
- Psychology (7)
- Chinese Studies (5)
- Theory and Philosophy (5)
- Law (4)
- Metaphysics (4)
- Physical Sciences and Mathematics (4)
- Sociology (4)
- Comparative Philosophy (3)
- Economics (3)
- History of Philosophy (3)
- International Relations (3)
- Computer Sciences (2)
- Environmental Sciences (2)
- Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (2)
- Geography (2)
- Higher Education (2)
- Keyword
-
- Belief (14)
- Absurdity (9)
- Assertion (9)
- Daoism (8)
- Moore (8)
-
- Paradox (8)
- Comparative philosophy (5)
- Confucianism (5)
- Democracy (5)
- Emotion (5)
- Agent-relative (4)
- Consequentialism (4)
- Irrationality (4)
- Meaning in life (4)
- Moore's paradox (4)
- Wisdom (4)
- Confucian ethics (3)
- Education (3)
- Equality (3)
- Liberalism (3)
- Singapore (3)
- Well-being (3)
- Zhuangzi (3)
- Agent-neutral (2)
- Agent-relative consequentialism (2)
- Algorithm (2)
- Analects (2)
- Chinese philosophy (2)
- Cold War (2)
- Confucian philosophy (2)
- Publication Year
Articles 61 - 90 of 237
Full-Text Articles in Philosophy
Agent-Relative Consequentialism And Collective Self-Defeat, Matthew Hammerton
Agent-Relative Consequentialism And Collective Self-Defeat, Matthew Hammerton
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Andrew Forcehimes and Luke Semrau argue that agent-relative consequentialism is implausible because in some circumstances it classes an act as impermissible yet holds that the outcome of all agents performing that impermissible act is preferable. I argue that their problem is closely related to Derek Parfit's problem of ‘direct collective self-defeat’ and show how Parfit's plausible solution to his problem can be adapted to solve their problem.
Country Report: The Teaching Of Philosophy In Singapore Schools, Steven Burik, Matthew Hammerton, Sovan Patra
Country Report: The Teaching Of Philosophy In Singapore Schools, Steven Burik, Matthew Hammerton, Sovan Patra
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Singapore’s education system is widely regarded as one of the best in the world. In this report, we will focus on education at the primary, secondary, and junior college levels, and will not discuss the education offered in polytechnics (vocational colleges) and universities. We will also focus exclusively on Singapore’s public school system, which Singapore citizens are required to attend unless they are granted a special exemption. In addition to public schools, there are also international schools, which cater to the relatively large expatriate population in Singapore and typically offer a curriculum leading to the IB diploma. All public schools …
The Ehrenfests’ Use Of Toy Models To Explore Irreversibility In Statistical Mechanics, Joshua Luczak, Lena Zuchowski
The Ehrenfests’ Use Of Toy Models To Explore Irreversibility In Statistical Mechanics, Joshua Luczak, Lena Zuchowski
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
This article highlights and discusses the Ehrenfests’ use of toy models to explore irreversibility in statistical mechanics. In particular, we explore their urn and P–Q models and highlight that, while the former was primarily used to provide a simple counter-example to Zermelo’s objection to Boltzmann’s statistical mechanical underpinning of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, the latter was intended to highlight the role and importance of the Stoßzahlansatz as a cause of the tendency of systems to exhibit entropy increase. We also explain the sense in which these models are toy models and why agents can use them, as the Ehrenfests’ …
The Other China Model: Daoism, Pluralism, And Political Liberalism, Devin K. Joshi
The Other China Model: Daoism, Pluralism, And Political Liberalism, Devin K. Joshi
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
While scholars often portray Chinese political thought and tradition as standing in opposition to Western notions of political liberalism, little consideration has been given to compatibility between liberalism and Daoism, a prominent religion and long-standing alternative school of thought among Chinese peoples. Addressing this gap in the literature, this study in comparative political thought compares Laozi’s Dao De Jing with John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty to illustrate certain core political ideas in the Dao De Jing and their treatment in Mill’s landmark text on political liberalism. Although the two texts diverge in terms of advocacy of popular representation, public contestation, …
Translation Of: Interview With Jacques Derrida: The Western Question Of "Forgiveness" And The Intercultural Relation, Ning Zhang, Steven Burik
Translation Of: Interview With Jacques Derrida: The Western Question Of "Forgiveness" And The Intercultural Relation, Ning Zhang, Steven Burik
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
These two interviews with Jacques Derrida were conducted by Ning Zhang in 1999 and 2000, respectively, in preparation for the publication of his book Writing and Difference in Chinese and his first academic trip to China in 2001. In the first interview, Jacques Derrida tries to clarify the ethical concerns with regard to his deconstructive analysis of Western traditions, through his critical reading of the concept of forgiveness. In this interview he gives us a clearer insight into his ideas about the problem of intercultural exchange, especially concerning questions of translation, translatability, and untranslatability, as central issues of his work. …
Translation Of: Place: Derrida And Nishitani, Rolf Elberfeld, Steven Burik
Translation Of: Place: Derrida And Nishitani, Rolf Elberfeld, Steven Burik
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
In his works Chora [Derrida, Jacques. 1993. Khôra. Paris: Galilée] and “Comment ne pas parler? Denegations” Derrida used the metaphor chora from Plato’s Timaeus (49a and following) to continue his struggle with the metaphysics of presence. In 1926 Nishida, the founder of the Japanese Kyōto School, used the same metaphor to create a new foundation of philosophy. Nishitani, a disciple of Nishida, developed the work of Nishida in close connection to Zen Buddhist experiences. Derrida tries to show the limits of language within the game of language, whereas Nishitani starts from an experience beyond language, but tries to make …
Libertarianism Without Self-Ownership, Chandran Kukathas
Libertarianism Without Self-Ownership, Chandran Kukathas
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Libertarianism is a political philosophy whose defenders have set its foundations in the principle of self-ownership. But self-ownership supplies an uncertain basis for such a theory as it is prone to a number of serious difficulties, some of which have been addressed by libertarians but none of which can ultimately be overcome. For libertarianism to be a plausible way of looking at the world, it must look elsewhere for its basic principles. In particular, it needs to rethink the way it understands property and its foundations.
Let’S Get Radical: Extending The Reach Of Baylean (And Forstian) Toleration, Chandran Kukathas
Let’S Get Radical: Extending The Reach Of Baylean (And Forstian) Toleration, Chandran Kukathas
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
In The Right to Justification Rainer Forst tells us that that social context in which humans find themselves is called ‘political’ when it is ‘an order of justification’ – an order which consists of norms and institutions that are to govern their lives together in a justified or justifiable way.² The most important normative concept that applies to this order, he tells us, is that of justice. Justice ‘overarches’ every form of political community, demanding reasons why some have rights, and asking how it is determined who possesses what claims, and how persons stand in relation to one another as …
Tracing Dao: A Comparison Of Dao 道 In The Daoist Classics And Derridean “Trace”, Steven Burik
Tracing Dao: A Comparison Of Dao 道 In The Daoist Classics And Derridean “Trace”, Steven Burik
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
This paper attempts to draw a comparison between Derrida’s idea of “trace” (in connection to his more famous ideas of différance, supplement, and deconstruction) and the idea of dao in classical Daoism (Laozi and Zhuangzi). I explore the viability of applying Derrida’s thoughts with regard to “trace” to Daoism. It is argued that if dao is read in a non-metaphysical way, then the Derridean idea of “trace” will show large overlaps with dao. I then try to show how, despite some obvious differences, a “trace” reading of dao enables a clearer understanding of dao that would see it not as …
Derrida And Asian Thought, Steven Burik
Derrida And Asian Thought, Steven Burik
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
More than fifteen years after Jacques Derrida passed away, he remains a controversial figure in philosophy. Much maligned, both when he was alive and after his death, Derrida’s relation to philosophy proper has always been an uneasy one, not least because of his relentless questioning of the notion of “philosophy proper” itself. It is this relentless interrogation of the history and presuppositions of Western philosophy that has made him an attractive figure to comparative philosophy. Many of the authors in this volume, and others beside them, have seen in Derrida a kind of thinking that refuses to play by the …
Re-Envisioning The Profound Order Of Dao: Pei Wei’S “Critical Discussion On The Pride Of Place Of Being”, Alan Kam Leung Chan
Re-Envisioning The Profound Order Of Dao: Pei Wei’S “Critical Discussion On The Pride Of Place Of Being”, Alan Kam Leung Chan
Research Collection College of Integrative Studies
This chapter offers a reading of Pei Wei’s “On the Pride of Place of Being”, or in David Knechtges’ translation, “Disquisition on Esteeming the Existent.” In this work, Pei sets out the reasons why the concept of “being” should be privileged in philosophical and ethical reflection. This was an audacious project, for in so doing Pei Wei took on almost the entire intellectual establishment, which during the early years of the Jin dynasty was enamored of the view that “being” is derivative, that all beings ultimately arise from a deeply profound and mysterious source, which though subject to different interpretation …
Darkness And Light: Absence And Presence In Heidegger, Derrida, And Daoism, Steven Burik
Darkness And Light: Absence And Presence In Heidegger, Derrida, And Daoism, Steven Burik
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
The light metaphor is a perpetual favorite for philosophers, both East and West. I seek to revaluate its opposite, darkness. I claim that there are good reasons to favor darkness over light, or at least to not see them as mutually incompatible or in hierarchical fashion. In recent Western philosophy, both Heidegger and Derrida argue that what the light metaphor represents, the promise of clarity and objectivity, is exactly what makes Western metaphysics problematic. In Chinese philosophy, classical Daoism offers a thinking that does not favor the light metaphor over its opposite. Daoists have the good sense to acknowledge darkness …
Subverting Institutions: Derrida And Zhuangzi On The Power Of Institutions, Steven Burik
Subverting Institutions: Derrida And Zhuangzi On The Power Of Institutions, Steven Burik
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
This paper shows how both Jacques Derrida and Zhuangzi use their respective ways of subverting philosophical systems, by and large through language systems, to arrive at an (implicit or explicit) subversion of political power or political systems or institutions. Political institutions are presented as including more general institutions such as the media, press, and academic and other kinds of institutions that influence the way our societies function, the way we live, work, and think. The paper first highlights the similarities and differences in the application of subversive techniques in Derrida and Zhuangzi as they battle against their respective opponents. After …
Imperiled Destinies: The Daoist Quest For Deliverance In Medieval China, Alan Kam Leung Chan
Imperiled Destinies: The Daoist Quest For Deliverance In Medieval China, Alan Kam Leung Chan
Research Collection College of Integrative Studies
This is a work of considerable erudition, reflecting decades of research into the Daoist tradition. Imperiled Destinies offers a close reading of “the evolution of Daoist beliefs about human liability and redemption, and procedures for rescuing an ill-starred destiny” (p. 324), from the second century CE to the tenth century. More specifically, it focuses on three main phases of development in Daoist redemptive rituals. Divided into three parts, of four chapters each, it discusses in turn the “petition” (zhang) rituals in Heavenly Master Daoism (Tianshi dao), the “retreat” (zhai) rituals in Lingbao (Sacred Jewel) Daoism that gained currency during the …
Neo-Daoism In Stanford Encyclopedia Of Philosophy, Alan Kam Leung Chan
Neo-Daoism In Stanford Encyclopedia Of Philosophy, Alan Kam Leung Chan
Research Collection College of Integrative Studies
The term “Neo-Daoism” (or “Neo-Taoism”) seeks to capture the focal development in early medieval Chinese philosophy, roughly from the third to the sixth century C.E. Chinese sources generally identify this development as Xuanxue, or “Learning (xue) in the Profound (xuan).”
Thinking Algorithmically: From Cold War Computer Science To The Socialist Information Culture, Ksenia Tatarchenko
Thinking Algorithmically: From Cold War Computer Science To The Socialist Information Culture, Ksenia Tatarchenko
Research Collection College of Integrative Studies
Cold War competition shaped the process of computerization in both East and West during the second half of the twentieth century. This article combines insights from Science and Technology Studies, which brought the analysis of Cold War technopolitics beyond the context of the nation-state, with approaches from Critical Algorithm Studies, to question the algorithm's role in the global "computer revolution." It traces the algorithm's trajectory across several geographical, political, and discursive spaces to argue that its mutable cultural valences made the algorithm a universalizing attribute for representing human-machine interactions across the ideological divide. It shows that discourses about the human …
Trust: A Recipe, Shane Ryan
Trust: A Recipe, Shane Ryan
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
An essay on trust.
Laozi In Stanford Encyclopedia Of Philosophy, Alan Kam Leung Chan
Laozi In Stanford Encyclopedia Of Philosophy, Alan Kam Leung Chan
Research Collection College of Integrative Studies
Confucianism, Daoism (Taoism), and Buddhism generally name the three main currents of Chinese thought, although it should be obvious that like any “ism,” they are abstractions—what they name are not monolithic but multifaceted traditions with fuzzy boundaries. In the case of “Daoism,” it designates both a philosophical tradition and an organized religion, which in modern Chinese are identified separately as daojia and daojiao, respectively. With their own rich histories and internal differences, the two are deeply intertwined. Laozi (or Lao-tzu, in the “Wade-Giles” system of transliteration favored by earlier generations of Western scholars) figures centrally in both.
How Many Aims Are We Aiming At?, Joshua Luczak
How Many Aims Are We Aiming At?, Joshua Luczak
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
I highlight that the aim of using statistical mechanics to underpin irreversible processes is, strictly speaking, ambiguous. Traditionally, however, the task of underpinning irreversible processes has been thought to be synonymous with underpinning the Second Law of thermodynamics. I claim that contributors to the foundational discussion are best interpreted as aiming to provide a microphysical justification of the Minus First Law, despite the ways their aims are often stated. I suggest that contributors should aim at accounting for both the Minus First Law and Second Law.
Logos And Dao Revisited: A Non-Metaphysical Interpretation, Steven Burik
Logos And Dao Revisited: A Non-Metaphysical Interpretation, Steven Burik
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Why another article on logos and dao ? Is it not the case that enough scholars have looked into the similarities between the term logos and the notion of dao? Although it may seem so, I will argue that when another perspective is employed, logos and dao might fruitfully be compared on a different level from the one used by most of these comparisons. In this essay I will argue first that in many instances the approach of some of the scholars who have compared logos and dao has been one-sided and has mostly consisted in a comparison of these …
Comment On ‘Comparative Philosophy: In Response To Rorty And Macintyre’ By Zhu Rui, Steven Burik
Comment On ‘Comparative Philosophy: In Response To Rorty And Macintyre’ By Zhu Rui, Steven Burik
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
The brief response by Rui Zhu provides an interesting take on the (by now) perennial problem of what comparative philosophy is or should be. While Zhu makes some interesting observations about and suggestions for comparative philosophy, he chooses contributions to the thinking about the possibilities and methodologies of [End Page 266] comparative philosophy that are rather old, though, and my first wonder is: why these two papers, and not more recent contributions to the development of the methodology of comparative philosophy, as can be found in numerous recently published work? Such more recent publications tend to take a more nuanced …
Is Agent-Neutral Deontology Possible?, Matthew Hammerton
Is Agent-Neutral Deontology Possible?, Matthew Hammerton
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
It is commonly held that all deontological moral theories are agent-relative in the sense that they give each agent a special concern that she does not perform acts of a certain type rather than a general concern with the actions of all agents. Recently, Tom Dougherty has challenged this orthodoxy by arguing that agent-neutral deontology is possible. In this article I counter Dougherty's arguments and show that agent-neutral deontology is not possible.
Still Stuck On The Backward Clock: A Rejoinder To Clarke, Adams And Barker, John Nicholas Williams
Still Stuck On The Backward Clock: A Rejoinder To Clarke, Adams And Barker, John Nicholas Williams
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
NeilSinhababu and I presented Backward Clock,an original counterexample to Robert Nozick’s truth-tracking analysis ofpropositional knowledge In theirlatest defence of the truth-tracking theories, “Methods Matter: Beating the BackwardClock,” Fred Adams, John A. Barker and Murray Clarke try again defend Nozick’s and FredDretske’s early analysis of propositional knowledge against Backward Clock. They allege failure oftruth-adherence, mistakes on my part about methods and appeal to charity,‘equivocation’, reliable methods and unfair internalism. I argue that theseobjections all fail. They are still stuck with the fact that thetracking theories fall to Backward Clock,an even more useful test case for other analyses of knowledge than might …
"The Computer Does Not Believe In Tears": Soviet Programming, Professionalization, And The Gendering Of Authority, Ksenia Tatarchenko
"The Computer Does Not Believe In Tears": Soviet Programming, Professionalization, And The Gendering Of Authority, Ksenia Tatarchenko
Research Collection College of Integrative Studies
By the middle of the 1960s, the Soviet press routinely exalted computers as the “machines of communism,” and the new programming profession had become familiar enough to make a programmer the main hero of a science iction novel. he Strugatskys’ immensely popular Monday Begins on Saturday—the title referring to a kind of work that knows no holidays—is a satirical fable where scientiic research masqueraded as magic. The novel opens with a fantastical institute staf headhunting a young programmer, Aleksandr Privalov. At the heart of the plot is the inculcation of the protagonist with a scientists’ work ethic as Aleksandr befriends …
George Yeo [Singapore, Minister Of Foreign Affairs], George Yeo
George Yeo [Singapore, Minister Of Foreign Affairs], George Yeo
Digital Narratives of Asia
George Yeo, former Minister of Foreign Affairs who became a business leader, speaks to DNA about his philosophical Taoist worldview, the impact of the rise of China, and the challenges facing ASEAN at its 50th year. He talks on how the soft power of ASEAN's policy of non-interference has yield some successes.
Whose Traditions? Which Practices?, Sor-Hoon Tan
Whose Traditions? Which Practices?, Sor-Hoon Tan
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
My response to Tully’s article, “Deparochializing Political Theory and Beyond,” suggests that before introducing students in Asia to comparative political thought, including texts from Asian traditions in Political Theory or Philosophy courses, their education needs to first engage in the critical practice of questioning their own “background horizon of disclosure.” The background horizon of disclosure that needs questioning certainly is not simply constituted by Asian traditions; despite westernized education, it is also not entirely western, insofar as the society they live in continues to be Asian in various ways, and the adopted western institutions and modes of thought have been …
The Dumb Prof Considers Intersectionality In The Age Of Trump, Justin Kh Tse
The Dumb Prof Considers Intersectionality In The Age Of Trump, Justin Kh Tse
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Among decent, intelligent, and respectable human beings in the United States and around the world, the occupation of Donald Trump of the American presidency is the shock that never ends. Much of this has to do with how vulgar the man is. The activist-academic terms intersectionality and identity politics have in turn entered into our popular vocabulary as words that might describe how all of these aggrieved groups might resist the Trump Administration. This resistance, it is claimed, is necessary because these various groups have not only been insulted by Trump’s rhetoric, but have also been oppressed by draconian policies …
Talk About Toy Models, Joshua Luczak
Talk About Toy Models, Joshua Luczak
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Scientific models are frequently discussed in philosophy of science. A great deal of the discussion is centred on approximation, idealisation, and on how these models achieve their representational function. Despite the importance, distinct nature, and high presence of toy models, they have received little attention from philosophers. This paper hopes to remedy this situation. It aims to elevate the status of toy models: by distinguishing them from approximations and idealisations, by highlighting and elaborating on several ways the Kac ring, a simple statistical mechanical model, is used as a toy model, and by explaining why toy models can be used …
Jobs For Justice(S): Corruption In The Supreme Court Of India, Madhav S. Aney, Shubhankar Dam, Giovanni Ko
Jobs For Justice(S): Corruption In The Supreme Court Of India, Madhav S. Aney, Shubhankar Dam, Giovanni Ko
Research Collection School Of Economics
We investigate whether judicial decisions are affected by career concerns of judges byanalysing two questions: Do judges respond to pandering incentives by ruling in favourof the government in the hope of receiving jobs after retiring from the Court? Does thegovernment actually reward judges who ruled in its favour with prestigious jobs? To answerthese questions we construct a dataset of all Supreme Court of India cases involving thegovernment from 1999 till 2014, with an indicator for whether the decision was in its favouror not. We find that pandering incentives have a causal effect on judicial decision-making.The exposure of a judge to …
Bourgeois Dignity: Making The Self-Made Man, Christine Dunn Henderson
Bourgeois Dignity: Making The Self-Made Man, Christine Dunn Henderson
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Somewhere near the beginning of the eighteenth century a new concept of “dignity” was emerging alongside the rise of a new socioeconomic class, the bourgeoisie. This chapter explores the development of this distinctive new concept of dignity, investigating first the key elements of the so-called bourgeois virtues that provided content to this new ethos of dignity. Next, it probes the economic, political, and social conditions that facilitated the emergence and diffusion of bourgeois dignity during the eighteenth century. Finally, it discusses how this new understanding of dignity was diffused throughout society by one of the most influential literary endeavors of …