Philosophy Commons^™

The Nazi! Accusation And Current U.S. Proposals, Thomas A. Cavanaugh

Philosophy

No abstract provided.

Why Did Plato Write Socratic Dialogues?, William J. Prior

Philosophy

The reader will discern in the title of this paper a reference to a classic article by Charles Kahn.¹ In this article and in a number that have followed,² Kahn has criticized the dominant contemporary interpretation of Plato's early dialogues and suggested an alternative of his own. I do not think Kahn's positive views are correct;³ however, I think he succeeds completely in showing what is wrong with the standard interpretation of the early dialogues. He does not show, in other words, what Plato's motives were for writing his early dialogues; but he certainly shows what were …

Double-Effect And The Ethical Significance Of Distinct Volitional States, Thomas A. Cavanaugh

Philosophy

No abstract provided.

Hegel, Reason, And Idealism, Philip J. Kain

Philosophy

In this article I want to focus on the central role that scientific reason plays, for Hegel, in leading us toward idealism, yet its complete failure to adequately establish idealism, and, oddly enough, the way in which this failure turns into a most interesting success by anchoring idealism and thus preserving us from solipsism. To bring all of this into relief, I must attend to Hegel’s differences with Kant.

Nietzschean Genealogy And Hegelian History In The Genealogy Of Morals, Philip J. Kain

Philosophy

I would like to offer an interpretation of the Genealogy of Morals, of the relationship of master morality to slave morality, and of Nietzsche's philosophy of history that is different from the interpretation that is normally offered by Nietzsche scholars. Contrary to Nehamas, Deleuze, Danto, and many others, I wish to argue that Nietzsche does not simply embrace master morality and spurn slave morality.1 I also wish to reject the view, considered simply obvious by most scholars, that the iibermensch develops out of, or on the model of, the master, not the slave.2 And to make the case for all …

Double Effect And Death-Hastening Or Death-Causing Palliative Analgesic Administration, Thomas A. Cavanaugh

Philosophy

No abstract provided.

Frankfurt Counterexamples: Some Comments On The Widerker-Fischer Debate, David P. Hunt

Philosophy

One strategy in recent discussions of theological fatalism is to draw on Harry Frankfurt's famous counterexamples to the principle of alternate possibilities (PAP) to defend human freedom from divine foreknowledge. For those who endorse this line, "Frankfurt counterexamples" are supposed to show that PAP is false, and this conclusion is then extended to the foreknowledge case. This makes it critical to determine whether Frankfurt counterexamples perform as advertised, an issue recently debated in this journal via a pair of articles by David Widerker and John Martin Fischer. I suggest that this debate can be avoided: divine foreknowledge is itself a …

Augustine On Theological Fatalism The Argument Of De Libero Arbitrio 3.1-4, David P. Hunt

Philosophy

Recent critiques of theological fatalism-the position that divine foreknowledge is incompatible with creaturely freedom-have tended to attach themselves to one or another of the analyses put forward by various medieval thinkers. The latter include Boethius, Aquinas, Scotus, Ockham, and (under a sufficiently generous conception of 'medieval') Molina.1 Notable by his absence from this list is St. Augustine, whose De Libero Arbitrio is perhaps the Ur-text for the problem as it arises within a specifically theistic context.

Book Review: Quantum Non-Locality And Relativity, Francisco Flores

Philosophy

No abstract provided.

Niccolò Machiavelli—Adviser Of Princes, Philip J. Kain

Philosophy

In Plato's Republic, Socrates argued that true artisans work not in their own interest but for the good of that upon which they practice their art. So the true ruler is one who works for the good of the city or the citizens, not the ruler's own self-interest.² Many would hold, with Leo Strauss, that Machiavelli contends the very opposite - that for him the true prince ruthlessly seeks self-interest and personal power.³ I think this is too simple a reading of Machiavelli.

I do not want to argue that Machiavelli is not a Machiavellian - that he …

Aquinas And The Historical Roots Of Proportionalism, Thomas A. Cavanaugh

Philosophy

No abstract provided.

Review Of Quantum Mechanics And Experience By David Albert, Francisco Flores, Robert Clifton

Philosophy

No abstract provided.

Introduction To Marx And Modern Political Theory: From Hobbes To Contemporary Feminism, Philip J. Kain

Philosophy

I first began to study Marx some twenty-three years ago. In those days there were many things that made it easy to become interested in Marx: among them the political ferment of the late 1960s and the fact that at the University of California at San Diego, where I was a graduate student, there were several important and interesting Marxists - Fredric Jameson, Herbert Marcuse, and Stanley Moore. The latter two were my teachers in the Philosophy Department, and the latter, to whom this book is dedicated, became my dissertation director. Moreover, the spirit of Marx was in the air …

Prescience And Providence: A Reply To My Critics, David P. Hunt

Philosophy

I respond to the two critiques of my position on the providential usefulness of simple foreknowledge. Professor Kapitan objects that I have not directly addressed his main argument against deliberating while holding a belief about the outcome of the deliberation. Perhaps he is right; in any event, I address that argument here and find it wanting. Professor Basinger focuses his attack on my scenario for divine decision-making. I reply that he has misunderstood the role of that scenario, that his proffered counterexample fails, and that it would not refute my position even if it succeeded.

Divine Providence And Simple Foreknowledge, David P. Hunt

Philosophy

A mainstay of the traditional doctrine of divine omniscience is the assumption that foreknowledge can make an essential contribution to God's providential action in the world. The tendency in recent analyses, however, is to regard the providential use of foreknowledge as self-stultifying. I argue that this conclusion is premature: neither the "metaphysical" nor the "doxastic" objection employed by the critics is sufficient to nullify a significant providential appeal to foreknowledge. Thus there is no reason to embrace either of the "solutions" proposed by the critics: the rejection of foreknowledge, or its assimilation to middle knowledge.

Naturalized Philosophy Of Science With A Plurality Of Methods, David J. Stump

Philosophy

Naturalism implies unity of method-an application of the methods of science to the methodology of science itself and to value theory. Epistemological naturalists have tried to find a privileged discipline to be the methodological model of philosophy of science and epistemology. However, since science itself is not unitary, the use of one science as a model amounts to a reduction and distorts the philosophy of science just as badly as traditional philosophy of science distorted science, despite the fact that the central theme of naturalized philosophy of science is that methodology should be true to science as practiced. I argue …

Aristotle, Kant, And The Ethics Of The Young Marx, Philip J. Kain

Philosophy

I would like to argue that the young Marx's ethical views have been influenced not only by Hegel but even more so by Aristotle and Kant. Marx draws away from Hegel's concept of essence toward one more like Aristotle's, and he operates with a concept of universalization similar to that found in Kant's categorical imperative. At the same time, Marx's task is to reconcile these Aristotelian and Kantian elements.

Marx's main concern, however, is not simply to explain what morality is but to explain how it can be realized in the world. For us to understand his views we first …

Middle Knowledge: The “Foreknowledge Defense”, David P. Hunt

Philosophy

No abstract provided.

Can Virtue Be Taught?, William J. Prior

Philosophy

I want to begin my presentation of Aristotle's views with a brief look at his predecessor and mentor, Plato. You probably remember the answer that Plato gave to the question "Can virtue be taught?" in the Meno. There, in response to Meno's skepticism about the possibility of discovering the nature of virtue (a skepticism induced by Socrates' refutation of his various attempts to define virtue), Plato had Socrates present his famous theory that learning is recollection. It is possible to teach virtue, Plato suggests, because people already have an innate knowledge of the nature of virtue, knowledge that has been …

Kant's Political Theory And Philosophy Of History, Philip J. Kain

Philosophy

Kant combined two traditional approaches in his political theory, reference to a utopian and ideal universal moral order in common with Plato, Thomas More, and Jean Jacques Rousseau and an analysis of the pursuit of individual self-interest leading to the establishment of laws that enable citizens to satisfy their interests, like Thomas Hobbes, Niccolò Machiavelli, and Adam Smith. Kant focused on the international level, arguing that following the categorical imperative would arrange a society equitably while national commercial self-interest would lead to a league of nations to adjudicate international disputes. Kant was unique in providing both a theory of an …

Hegel's Political Theory And Philosophy Of History, Philip J. Kain

Philosophy

Hegel's historical and political thought can best be understood if we understand its relationship to Rousseau's political theory and Kant's philosophy of history. Hegel's conception of the modem state closely resembles Rousseau's ideal community which was based upon rational freedom realized through a general will and reinforced by custom and tradition which shaped the character and interests of the citizens. However, Rousseau's community was utopian-it could not be realized in the modem world. It was incompatible with commerce and trade which promote particular interest and thus corrupt custom and erode the general will. These matters will be discussed in Section …

Hegel On Reference And Knowledge, Willem A. Devries

Philosophy

No abstract provided.

Hegel's Theory Of Mental Activity, Willem A. Devries

Philosophy

No abstract provided.

Plato’S “Democratic Man” And The Implausibility Of Preference Utilitarianism, Tal Scriven

Philosophy

No abstract provided.

Marx, Justice, And The Dialectic Method, Philip J. Kain

Philosophy

An interesting controversy has recently been provoked by Allen Wood. He argues that capitalism, for Marx, "cannot be faulted as far as justice is concerned." For Marx, the concept of justice belonging to any society is rooted in, grows out of, and expresses that particular society's mode of production. Justice is not a standard by which human reason in the abstract measures actions or institutions--there is no eternal, unchanging norm of justice. Each social epoch gives rise to its own standard; each generally lives up to it; and each must be measured by this standard alone. Thus, in Wood's view, …

The Concept Of Παράδειγμα In Plato's Theory Of Forms, William J. Prior

Philosophy

It is essential in any treatment of Plato's Theory of Forms to determine what sort of thing a Form is supposed to be. Much recent discussion of the Theory has been characterized by the assumption that Forms are exemplars: models or perfect instances of the property, relation, or kind for which they are named. ¹ There seem to be two main reasons for holding this view. First, scholars have assumed that Plato regarded his Forms as self-predicative, as having the property for which they were named.² Second, they have assumed that Plato must mean that Forms are exemplars when …

Abortion And The Good Samaritan, William J. Prior

Philosophy

The problem of abortion is surely the most important issue in biomedical ethics today. Both the popular and the philosophical debate on this question have emphasized the rights of the parties involved, and the issue has been portrayed as one of "rights in conflict" -the right of the fetus to life at odds with the rights of the pregnant woman to privacy, control of her body, and self-determination. This emphasis on questions of rights has been unfortunate, for two reasons. First, it has resulted in a polarization of the disputants into two camps, which has led in turn to an …

The Two-Worlds Argument And The Development Of Plato’S Metaphysics, William J. Prior

Philosophy

In the final argument of the first part of the Pannenides, Plato raises an objection to the separate existence of Forms. This argument, which I shall call the "Two-Worlds Argument"¹ (TWA), takes up more space than any of the other arguments against the Theory of Forms (TF), occupying almost two Stephanos pages (133a-134e). It is, moreover, the only argument in the series about which Plato permits Parmenides to offer an editorial comment, the comment being that the argument is the most serious objection to the TF, but that it can be answered. In spite of this assessment, which I …

Preference, Rational Choice And Arrow's Theorem, Tal Scriven

Philosophy

No abstract provided.

Labor, The State, And Aesthetic Theory In The Writings Of Schiller, Philip J. Kain

Philosophy

This essay is concerned with Schiller, but it investigates themes that can also be found in other writers, especially in Hegel and Marx. All of these writers attempt (and ultimately fail) to work out a particular ideal model for labor and political institutions. This model was patterned after the ideal cultural conditions of ancient Greece and based upon modern aesthetic concepts, espe cially the concept of a synthesis between sense and reason. It was a model designed to overcome fragmentation or alienation in the modern world that had been brought about by the development of the division of labor.