Philosophy Commons^™

Mr. Monk And The Death Drive, Giancarlo Tarantino, D. E. Wittkower

Philosophy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Dr. Cezanne And The Art Of Re(Peat)Search: Competing Interests And Obligations In Clinical Research, Robyn L. Bluhm, Jocelyn Downie, Jeff Nisker

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Clinician researchers have a number of roles, each of which carries specific obligations. There are times when these obligations may be in competition (up to and including conflict) with each other. Using a narrative case study that describes a group of colleagues discussing their clinical department's participation in an industry-sponsored research protocol, we illustrate a number of the obligations faced by clinician researchers, and discuss how competing interests and obligations can lead to ethical problems. The case study is followed by a discussion of the effect of university-industry relations on competing interests and obligations in both clinical research and the …

The Role Of The Hyperintellectual In Civil Society Building And Democratization In The Balkans, Uloga Hiperintelektualca U Izgradnji Građanskog Društva I Demokratizaciji Na Balkanu, Rory Conces

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Although intellectuals have been a part of the cultural landscape, it is in post-conflict societies, such as those found in Kosovo and Bosnia, that there has arisen a need for an intellectual who is more than simply a social critic, an educator, a man of action, and a compassionate individual. Enter the hyperintellectual. As this essay will make clear, it is the hyperintellectual, who through a reciprocating critique and defense of both the nationalist enterprise and strong interventionism of the International Community, as well as being a man of action and compassionate and empathic insider, strives to create a climate …

The Sixth Tseten Zhabdrung, Jigme Rigpai Lodro, Nicole Willock

Philosophy Faculty Publications

(First Paragraph)

Jigme Rigpai Lodro ('jigs med rigs pa'i blo gros), the Sixth Tseten Zhabdrung (tshe tan zhabs drung), was born on May 31, 1910, the twenty-second day of the fourth month of the iron dog year in the fifteenth rab byung cycle. He was the second youngest of eight children born to his father Yang Cai, whose Tibetan name was Lobzang Tashi (blo bzang bkra shis), and his mother, Lhamotar (lha mo thar). His birthplace, Yadzi (ya rdzi), is more commonly known today by its Chinese name, Jishi Town (Jishi zhen 积石镇) in today's Xunhua Salar Autonomous County of …

Rekindling Ashes Of The Dharma And The Formation Of Modern Tibetan Studies: The Busy Life Of Alak Tseten Zhabdrung, Nicole Willock

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Considered one of the three great scholars¹ of twentieth century Tibet,² Alak Tseten Zhabdrung Jigmé Rigpé Lodrö (A lags Tshe tan Zhabs drung 'Jigs med rig pa'i blo gros 1910-1985) is credited with regenerating many aspects of Tibetan culture at a time of unprecedented socio-political change. Despite enduring twelve years in prison, Alak Tseten Zhabdrung energetically reclaimed his classical education to further transmit nearly all the traditional fields of knowledge including language, poetry, history, astronomy, calligraphy, and Buddhist philosophy.

Against Strong Copyright In E-Business, Dylan E. Wittkower

Philosophy Faculty Publications

As digital media give increasing power to users—power to reproduce, share, remix, and otherwise make use of content—businesses based on content provision are forced to either turn to technological and legal means of disempowering users, or to change their business models. By looking at Lockean and Kantian theories as applied to intellectual property rights, we see that business is not justified in disempowering users in this way, and that these theories obligate e-business to find new business models. Utilitarian considerations support disempowering users in this way in some circumstances and for the time being, but also show that there is …

Racism And Biopower, Ladelle Mcwhorter

Philosophy Faculty Publications

While ignorance, or at least a lack of clear and distinct experience, does not seem to have stopped our predecessors from philosophizing about all manner of things from matter to immortal souls, in the latter half of the twentieth century North American philosophers became increasingly timid about advancing propositions based primarily not on logic informed by material evidence but on intuition, creative imagination, and passionate desire. By the 1960s our generation's teachers and mentors, perhaps battered by the McCarthy years or humbled by the dazzling successes of their colleagues in the "hard" sciences, had redrawn the disciplinary boundaries tightly enough …

The Sources Of International Law: Some Philosophical Reflections, David Lefkowitz

Philosophy Faculty Publications

It seems only natural to begin the study of international law with a description of its sources. After all, whether as practitioner or scholar a person cannot begin to ask or answer questions about international law until he or she has some sense of what the law is. This requires in turn a basic grasp of the processes whereby international legal norms and regimes come to exist. Thus students of international law must engage immediately with some of the most basic questions in the philosophy of law: what is law, and what is a legal order or system.

These questions …

Aesthetics And The Philosophy Of Art, 1840-1900, Gary Shapiro

Philosophy Faculty Publications

The question can be raised whether the category or discipline of philosophical aesthetics existed before the eighteenth century. Unlike "logic:' "ethics:' and "physics:' a traditional Stoic division of philosophy with great staying power, "aesthetics" is clearly a product of modernity. As Paul O. Kristeller demonstrated in "The Modern System of the Arts:' it was in the eighteenth century that the idea of the aesthetic as a distinctive human capacity and the parallel consolidation of the notion of the fine arts crystallized in the writings of (mostly) French, German, and English philosophers and critics. The modern concepts of art and aesthetics …

Ecological Explanation Between Manipulation And Mechanism Description, Viorel Pâslaru

Philosophy Faculty Publications

James Woodward offers a conception of explanation and mechanism in terms of interventionist counterfactuals. Based on a case from ecology, I show that ecologists’ approach to that case satisfiesWoodward’s conditions for explanation and mechanism, but his conception does not fully capture what ecologists view as explanatory. The new mechanistic philosophy likewise aims to describe central aspects of mechanisms, but I show that it is not sufficient to account for ecological mechanisms. I argue that in ecology explanation involves identification of invariant and insensitive causal relationships and descriptions of the mechanistic characteristics that make these relations possible.

Deep Ecology And End-Of-Life Care, Paul Carrick

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Physicians and nurses caring for terminally ill patients are expected to center their moral concerns almost exclusively on the needs and welfare of the dying patient and the patients family. But what about the relationship of traditional medical ethics to the emerging new theories of environmental ethics, like deep ecology? As we glide into the twenty-first century, can anyone seriously doubt that the mounting global concerns of environmental ethics will eventually influence the ethics of medicine too?

For example, suppose physicians were to integrate the core values of an ecocentric environmental ethic like deep ecology into contemporary North American norms …

Rethinking Realism (Or Whatever) And The War On Terrorism In A Place Like The Balkans, Rory Conces

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Political realism remains a powerful theoretical framework for thinking about international relations, including the war on terrorism. For Morgenthau and other realists, foreign policy is a matter of national interest defined in terms of power. Some writers view this tenet as weakening, if not severing, realism's link with morality. I take up the contrary view that morality is embedded in realist thought, as well as the possibility of realism being thinly and thickly moralised depending on the moral psychology of the agents. I argue that a prima facie case can be made within a thinly moralised realism for a relatively …

Feminist Perspectives On Rape, Rebecca Whisnant

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Although the proper definition of rape is itself a matter of some dispute, rape is generally understood to involve sexual penetration of a person by force and/or without that person's consent. Rape is committed overwhelmingly by men and boys, usually against women and girls, and sometimes against other men and boys. (For the most part, this entry will assume male perpetrators and female victims.)

Virtually all feminists agree that rape is a grave wrong, one too often ignored, mischaracterized, and legitimized. Feminists differ, however, about how the crime of rape is best understood, and about how rape should be combated …

The Joy Of Difference: Foucault And Hadot On The Aesthetic And The Universal In Philosophy, Cory Wimberly

Philosophy Faculty Publications

The intersection of Foucault and Hadot's work in the philosophy of antiquity is a dense and fruitful meeting. Not only do each of the philosophers offer competing interpretations of antiquity, their differences also reflect on their opposing assessments of the contemporary situation and the continuing philosophical debate between the universal and the relative. Unpacking these two philosophers’ disagreements on antiquity sheds light on how Hadot’s commitment to the Universal and Foucault’s commitment to an aesthetics of existence stem from their diagnoses of the present and the persistent philosophical issue of universalism. This line of analysis is especially productive to pursue …

The Importance Of Group Moral Agency On Environmental Responsibility And Beyond, Joan Woolfrey

Philosophy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Constitution Of Equality: Democratic Authority And Its Limits By Thomas Christiano (Book Review), David Lefkowitz

Philosophy Faculty Publications

In this carefully argued and thought provoking new book, Thomas Christiano offers a novel defense of democracy's intrinsic value, its morally justifiable claim to authority, and the limits thereof, as well as for liberal rights. Central to Christiano's argument for each of these conclusions is the claim that in a moderately complex and pluralist society, social justice requires that people be treated publicly as equals. That is, ordinary agents must be able to see that the institutions and practices that provide the basic structure of the society in which they live treat them as equals, or what is the same, …

Partiality And Weighing Harm To Non-Combatants, David Lefkowitz

Philosophy Faculty Publications

The author contests the claim made independently by F.M. Kamm and Thomas Hurka that combatants ought to assign greater weight to collateral harm done to their compatriot noncombatants then they assign to collateral harm done to enemy non-combatants. Two arguments by analogy offered in support of such partiality, one of which appeals to permissible self/other asymmetry in cases of harming the few to save the many, and the second of which appeals to parents' justifiable partiality to their children, are found wanting. The author also rebuts Kamm's argument that combatants should assign greater weight to collateral harm done to neutrals …

Incorporating Ethics Into Rcr Classrooms, Sara Vollmer, Nancy J. Matchett

Philosophy Faculty Publications

From the article: Philosophy departments have been expanding their offerings in applied ethics and ethical decision making for a number of years, yet relatively little attention has been paid to incorporating ethical thinking in the context of Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) instruction.

Rawls, Self-Respect, And The Opportunity For Meaningful Work, Jeffrey Moriarty

Philosophy Faculty Publications

In his late work The Law of Peoples, John Rawls identifies the opportunity for meaningful work as a social basis of self-respect. This constitutes a significant shift in his account of self-respect, one that has been so far overlooked. In this paper I examine this shift. I begin by clarifying Rawls’s account of self-respect in A Theory of Justice (hereafter, Theory), then consider some post-Theory developments in it. After exploring the nature of Rawls’s commitment to the opportunity for meaningful work, I ask why he thinks it is a social basis of self-respect. I extract a partial …

How Much Compensation Can Ceos Permissibly Accept?, Jeffrey Moriarty

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Debates about the ethics of executive compensation are dominated by familiar themes. Many writers consider whether the amount of pay CEOs receive is too large – relative to firm performance, foreign CEO pay, or employee pay. Many others consider whether the process by which CEOs are paid is compromised by weak or self-serving boards of directors. This paper examines the issue from a new perspective. I focus on the duties executives themselves have with respect to their own compensation. I argue that CEOs’ fiduciary duties place a moral limit on how much compensation they can accept, and hence seek in …

Deserving Jobs, Deserving Wages, Jeffrey Moriarty

Philosophy Faculty Publications

This chapter applies recent work on desert to two sets of issues in business ethics. The first set of issues concerns who ought to be hired, fired, promoted, and demoted. Call these issues of “job justice.” The second set of issues concerns how much workers, including managers, ought to be paid. Call these issues of “wage justice.” I focus on job and wage justice because considerations of desert play an important, though sometimes tacit, role in discussions of these issues.

Addams And Dewey: Pragmatism, Expression, And Community, Marilyn Fischer

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Chicago in the 1890s was home to two remarkable institutions, started by two remarkable activist-philosophers, experimenting with ideas and with social change. The first was Hull House, a social settlement, founded by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr in 1889. The second was the Laboratory School, an experimental school opened in 1896 by John Dewey, along with teachers Katherine Camp Mayhew and Anna Camp Edwards. Interaction was constant between the residents of Hull House and the teachers of the Laboratory School, as the participants learned from and taught each other. Through Hull House and the Laboratory School, Addams and Dewey …

Everybody Hates Rainbows, D. E. Wittkower

Philosophy Faculty Publications

[First paragraph]
“The Culture Industry.” Does that phrase make you as uncomfortable as it makes me? Culture shouldn’t be an industry; it should be something natural and organic. Culture is our communal history and legacy; the context in which we learn and grow, and to which we may contribute. In the past, our culture might have consisted of the stories we learned as children, the songs we all sang together, perhaps traditional clothing or dances. In some sense, it’s hard to imagine today.

Alterations In Default Network Connectivity In Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Related To Early Life Trauma, Robyn L. Bluhm, Peter C. Williamson, Elizabeth A. Osuch, Paul A. Frewen, Todd K. Stevens, Kristine Boksman, Richard W.J. Neufeld, Jean Théberge, Ruth A. Lanius

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Background: The "default network" consists of a number of brain regions that exhibit correlated low-frequency activity at rest and that have been suggested to be involved in the processing of self-relevant stimuli. Activity in many of these areas has also been shown to be altered in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We hypothesized that the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC)/precuneus, part of the default network, would exhibit altered connectivity at rest with other areas of the default network and regions associated with PTSD.

Methods: Seventeen medicated and unmedicated female patients with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to early-life trauma …

Invariance: A Tale Of Intellectual Migration, Steven Gimbel

Philosophy Faculty Publications

The plotline of the standard story told about the development of intellectual history at the end of the 19th/turn of the 20th century follows the move from absolutism to perspectivalism. The narrative takes us, on the one hand, from the scientism of late Enlightenment writers like Voltaire, Mill, D’Alebert, and Comte and the historical determinism of Hegel, all of which were based upon a universal picture of rationality, to, on the other hand, the relativistic physics of Einstein, the perspectival art of Picasso, and the individualism of Nietzsche and Kierkegaard leading to the phenomenology of Husserl and Heidegger to and …

Peace Is Not Perpetual, Autonomous, Or Rational, Danielle Poe

Philosophy Faculty Publications

When I write about and teach Immanuel Kant, I am always impressed and seduced by the beauty and neatness of his work. After all, Kant makes morality a science; answers are clear and distinct, black and white. Individuals make ethical decisions by using reason according to universally accessible principles. People should do the right thing, not because it is easy, not because it makes them feel good, and not because they have been raised to do so. People should do the right thing because it is their duty, and they determine their duty by asking, "Can I universalize my action?" …

Epistemical And Ethical Troubles In Achieving Reconciliation, And Then Beyond, Rory J. Conces

Philosophy Faculty Publications

My optimism towards reconciliation in places like Bosnia and Kosovo has become increasingly guarded because of certain epistemical and ethical issues. Reconciliation presumes the making of moral judgments about a wrongdoing, judgments that are empirically informed. If the perceptual judgments that are used to do the informing are made suspect because of a lapse in the commonplace self-restraints (or controls) on reasoning or glitches in the regulative ideals or epistemic goods like understanding and intelligibility, then the moral judgments on which they are grounded become suspect as well. This happens to both fanatic and non-fanatic. In this article I explore …

What Is A “Real” Argument?, G. C. Goddu

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Numerous informal logicians and argumentation theorists restrict their theorizing to what they call “real” arguments. But is there a clear distinction to be made between “real” and “non-real” arguments? Here I explore four possible accounts of the alleged distinction and argue that none can serve the theoretical uses to which the distinction is most often put.

Governmentality, Biopower, And The Debate Over Genetic Enhancement, Ladelle Mcwhorter

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Although Foucault adamantly refused to make moral pronouncements or dictate moral principles or political programs to his readers, his work offers a number of tools and concepts that can help us develop our own ethical views and practices. One of these tools is genealogical analysis, and one of these concepts is “biopower.” Specifically, this essay seeks to demonstrate that Foucault’s concept of biopower and his genealogical method are valuable as we consider moral questions raised by genetic enhancement technologies. First, it examines contemporary debate over the development, marketing, and application of such technologies, suggesting that what passes for ethical deliberation …

Erde, Gary Shapiro

Philosophy Faculty Publications

E bezeichnet alles, was diesseitig ist, sich auf den Körper und das Natürliche bezieht, in Abgrenzung zu den Vorstellungen von einer anderen, höheren Welt, die die Religion und Philosophie des Westens beherrscht haben. Daher ermahnt Zarathustra seine Zuhörer, nicht den Kopf in den Sand der himmlischen Dinge zu stecken, sondern einen ,,einen Erden-Kopf, der der E Sinn schafft" (Za I, Von den Hinterweltlern) zu haben. Zuweilen bezeichnet E die konkrete Umgebung der Menscheit auf diesem Planeten und das zukünftige Heim → des Übermenschen genauer.