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Full-Text Articles in Philosophy
True And Useful: On The Structure Of A Two-Level Normative Theory, Fred Feldman
True And Useful: On The Structure Of A Two-Level Normative Theory, Fred Feldman
Fred Feldman
Act-utilitarianism and other theories in normative ethics confront the implementability problem: normal human agents, with normal human epistemic abilities, lack the information needed to use those theories directly for the selection of actions. Two Level Theories have been offered in reply. The theoretical level component states alleged necessary and sufficient conditions formoral rightness. That component is supposed to be true, but is not intended for practical use. It gives an account of objective obligation. The practical level component is offered as an implementable system for the choice of actions by agents lacking some relevant information. It gives an account of …
Brueckner And Fischer On The Evil Of Death, Fred Feldman
Brueckner And Fischer On The Evil Of Death, Fred Feldman
Fred Feldman
According to the Deprivation Approach, the evil of death is to be explained by the fact that death deprives us of the goods we would have enjoyed if we had lived longer. But the Deprivation Approach confronts a problem first discussed by Lucretius. Late birth seems to deprive us of the goods we would have enjoyed if we had been born earlier. Yet no one is troubled by late birth. So it’s hard to see why we should be troubled by its temporal mirror image, early death. In a 1986 paper, Anthony Brueckner and John Martin Fischer appealed to a …
The Functions Of Russell’S No Class Theory, Kevin C. Klement
The Functions Of Russell’S No Class Theory, Kevin C. Klement
Kevin C. Klement
Certain commentators on Russell’s “no class” theory, in which apparent reference to classes or sets is eliminated using higher-order quantification, including W. V. Quine and (recently) Scott Soames, have doubted its success, noting the obscurity of Russell’s understanding of so-called “propositional functions.” These critics allege that realist readings of propositional functions fail to avoid commitment to classes or sets (or something equally problematic), and that nominalist readings fail to meet the demands placed on classes by mathematics. I show that Russell did thoroughly explore these issues, and had good reasons for rejecting accounts of propositional functions as extralinguistic entities. I …
The Senses Of Functions In The Logic Of Sense And Denotation, Kevin C. Klement
The Senses Of Functions In The Logic Of Sense And Denotation, Kevin C. Klement
Kevin C. Klement
This paper discusses certain problems arising within the treatment of the senses of functions in Alonzo Church's Logic of Sense and Denotation. Church understands such senses themselves to be “sense-functions,” functions from sense to sense. However, the conditions he lays out under which a sense-function is to be regarded as a sense presenting another function as denotation allow for certain undesirable results given certain unusual or “deviant” sense-functions. Certain absurdities result, e.g., an argument can be found for equating any two senses of the same type. An alternative treatment of the senses of functions is discussed, and is thought to …
Sosa In Perspective, Hilary Kornblith
Sosa In Perspective, Hilary Kornblith
Hilary Kornblith
Ernest Sosa draws a distinction between animal knowledge and reflective knowledge, and this distinction forms the centerpiece of his new book, A Virtue Epistemology. This paper argues that the distinction cannot do the work which Sosa assigns to it.
Reply To Bermudez And Bonjour, Hilary Kornblith
Reply To Bermudez And Bonjour, Hilary Kornblith
Hilary Kornblith
No abstract provided.