Philosophy Commons^™

Response To My Readers, Albert Borgmann

Philosophy Faculty Publications

I hope no one is disappointed when I say right at the start that I basically agree with my critics. Not all is irenic, of course, and in philosophy it should not be. What distinguishes the philosophical from the poetic or the narrative discourse is the expectation of questions and objections. Much as I appreciate Myron Tuman's generous remarks on the occasionally poetic quality of Holding On to Reality (henceforth Holding), I have always enjoyed the give and take of philosophical exchanges though I have tried, over the years, to be gentler in giving and stronger in taking. There are …

Avoiding The Super-Naturalistic Fallacy: Practical Reasoning And The Insightful Undergraduate, Steven Gimbel

Philosophy Faculty Publications

It has become cliche to say that today's student are moral relativists. With the twin movements of ethics across the curriculum and critical thinking across the curriculum sweeping the Academy, one might think that we are in a good place to start making inroads towards creating careful and willing discussants of contemporary moral issues out of our students. Unfortunately, the reverse is far too often true. Associated with the standard sort of introduction to ethical theory, there is a regularly arising trap that brings with it the worst of all possible results - the alienation of our very best students …

Why We Should All Be Platonists, Timothy A. Robinson

Philosophy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Desert And Distributive Justice In A Theory Of Justice, Jeffrey Moriarty

Philosophy Faculty Publications

This paper proceeds as follows. First, I present the standard interpretation of Rawls’s account of desert. I then show how this interpretation is inadequate, bringing to light certain subtleties of the account that give it entirely new meaning. Next, I examine the criticisms of Nozick and Sher and show how, due to misconceptions of Rawls’s account of desert, they fail. Finally, I offer a criticism of Rawls’s theory of justice based on the correct interpretation of his account of desert.

Book Review: The Quest For Legitimacy And The Withering Away Of Utopia, Rory J. Conces

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Many who live in the West have a myopic view of the world and of recent history. They understand the transition from the end of the twentieth century to the start of the new millennium as the replacement of one “evil” with another. The Cold War and the rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union have been replaced with the War on Terrorism and the battles being waged against Al-Qaeda, Hizballah, and the many other terrorist organizations worldwide, as well as nation states like Iraq and Iran that are said to sponsor terrorist groups. Indeed, the expression “rogue …

Review: 'Immovable Laws, Irresistible Rights: Natural Law, Moral Rights, And Feminist Ethics', Rebecca Whisnant

Philosophy Faculty Publications

This collection of Pierce's essays traces the evolution of her thinking about natural law theory--and, more broadly, about talk of "natures" as normatively significant--over a period of 30 years. We see her move from a wholesale rejection of such talk, in her influential 1971 piece "Natural Law Language and Women," to a qualified admission that it can have its liberatory uses. Yet she maintains throughout that, progressive potential or no, natural law is far inferior to Kantian notions of rights and autonomy as a foundation for ethical thought.

Feminist Ethics, Rebecca Whisnant

Philosophy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The 'Most Important And Fundamental' Distinction In Logic, G. C. Goddu

Philosophy Faculty Publications

In this paper I argue that the debate over the purported distinction between deductive and inductive arguments can be bypassed because making the distinction is unnecessary for successfully evaluating arguments. I provide a foundation for doing logic that makes no appeal to the distinction and still performs all the relevant tasks required of an analysis of arguments. I also reply to objections to the view that we can dispense with the distinction. Finally, I conclude that the distinction between inductive and deductive arguments is not one of the most important and fundamental ideas in logic, but rather is unnecessary.

Critical Thinking By Alec Fisher (Book Review), G. C. Goddu

Philosophy Faculty Publications

The aim of Critical Thinking is to explicitly and directly teach critical thinking skills and to facilitate the use of these skills to subjects and contexts beyond critical thinking (v, 1). Though the book is primarily intended as an introductory textbook for the teaching of critical thinking, Fisher maintains that the "material is presented in such a way that it can be worked through on a self-study basis"(vi).

Feminist Awareness As Virtue: A Path Of Moderation, Joan Woolfrey

Philosophy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Feminist Interpretations Of David Hume By Anne Jaap Jacobson (Book Review), Miriam S. Mccormick

Philosophy Faculty Publications

In this latest addition to the Re-reading the Canon series (a series of collections each devoted to feminist interpretations of a single philosopher), we are offered thirteen essays on Hume's philosophy, covering his views on metaphysics, epistemology, moral philosophy, religion, aesthetics politics, and history. They address all of his main works and many of his less discussed essays. This diverse collection is bound together by the theme of feminism, but how this theme works itself in varies considerably from essay to essay. There are, broadly, four different ways that feminism enters into the interpretations.

Jewish Philosophies After Heidegger: Imagining A Dialogue Between Jonas And Levinas, Lawrence A. Vogel

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Emmanuel Levinas and Hans Jonas draw on their roots in phenomenology and Judaism to answer the ethical nihilism of Heidegger's thought. Though both Levinas and Jonas aim to ground an imperative of responsibility in a Good-in-itself ultimately sourced in God, their disagreements are basic and revolve around three fundamental questions: (1) Can Jews "after Auschwitz" have a theology without lapsing into theodicy?; (2) Is the Good-in-itself within Being or "otherwise than Being"?; and (3) Is ethics the completion of nature or against nature? I explore possibilities for integrating the apparently incompatible ideas of Levinas and Jonas.

Jane Addams's Critique Of Capitalism As Patriarchal, Marilyn Fischer

Philosophy Faculty Publications

This essay is a response to Seigfried's invitation to explore historical writings of women within the pragmatist tradition. In the first part, I show how Dewey's and Addams's shared appreciation of evolutionary perspectives, concrete experience, context, and sympathetic understanding led them to similar conceptions of social democracy and similar critiques of industrial capitalism. In Part II, I explain how Addams's critique of industrial capitalism goes beyond Dewey's in explicitly linking capitalism With philanthropy as then practiced, and criticizing both as patriarchal. In Part III, I compare Addams's account to that of socialist feminists, and show that while there are clear …

Feminists Doing Ethics, Peggy Desautels, Joanne Waugh

Philosophy Faculty Publications

We offer this volume as a contribution to the ongoing conversation that goes under the name of "feminist ethics." This conversation took an exciting and interesting turn recently at the Feminist Ethics Revisited Conference; many of the essays in this volume articulate ideas and analyses first presented there.1 The term feminist ethics was used broadly at this conference- as it is again here-to refer to the perspectives on women 's experience that come into view at the intersections of ethics, politics, philosophy, and literature. Earlier generations of philosophers-both male and female-have found that the experiences of women fit neither easily …

Unified Pluralism: Fostering Reconiliation And The Demise Of Ethnic - Objedinjeni Pluralizam: Gajenje Pomirenja I Okončanje Etničkog Nacionalizma, Rory Conces, Jasminka Babić-Avdispahić

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Od parafiranja Daytonskog mirovnog sporazuma 21. novembra 1995. Bosna i Hercegovina je "zamašan eksperiment” u demokratizaciji, opsežan skup aktivnosti na izgradnji mira koje se protežu od onih upravljenih odozgo prema dole kroz međunarodno reguliranje izbora, ekonomski menadžment i razvoj institucija do onih upravljenih odozdo prema gore kroz razvoj političke kulture izgradnjom civilnog društva. Štaviše, o ovom širokom međunarodnom uplitanju u bosanske državne poslove se nije moglo pregovarati. Počev od kraja 1997., međunarodni mandat je proširen. Na primjer, Visokom predstavniku je data ovlast u poduzimanju akcija protiv obstrukcionizma izabranih zvaničnika na državnom i entitetskom nivou.

The Moral Complexion Of Consumption, Albert Borgmann

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Vigorous consumption is the sign of a prosperous and confident society. Some critics, however, find a high level of consumption morally objectionable. To see what is valid in these objections, one needs to understand the connection between consumption and the characteristic pattern of technology that is highlighted by the device paradigm and gives rise to paradigmatic consumption. Such consumption induces disengagement from reality and a decline of excellence. The response to these debilities is to accept paradigmatic consumption in some areas of life and to make room for focal things and practices in others. Research is needed to determine the …

Book Review: Ethics For The New Millennium, Rory J. Conces

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Ethics for the New Millennium is a book written by the Dalai Lama that came to my attention at the request of a few of my students who wanted to start a reading group. Although the book remained in my office, I took the Dalai Lama's ideas about ethics with me when I visited China, a country that bears Buddhism's mark. Whether you agree with bis views or not, you cannot help but admire him; nor do you have to be a Buddhist to enjoy this readable and interesting book, a quick and easy read intended for the general reader.

Book Review: The Man Who Tried To Save The World: The Dangerous Life And Mysterious Disappearance Of Fred Cuny By Scott Anderson, Rory J. Conces

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Occasionally a biography is written about an individual who is "cut" from a different piece of cloth than the of the rest of us. The Man Who Tried to Save the World: The Dangerous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Fred Cuny is such a biography. Scott Anderson. a war correspondent who has covered numerous connects around the world, tells the story of this most extraordinary humanitarian relief expert. Fred Cuny considered the interests of strangers to be more important than those of his own and eventually gave his life in the pursuit of rendering assistance to those who most needed …

"This Is Not A Christ": Nietzsche, Foucault, And The Genealogy Of Vision, Gary Shapiro

Philosophy Faculty Publications

There is nothing surprising about linking the names of Nietzsche and Foucault, something that Foucault himself frequently did. We know that the practices of archaeology and genealogy owe much to On the Genealogy of Morals; and in The Order of Things Foucault celebrates Nietzsche for being able to look beyond the epoch of "man and his doubles,'' thinking of the Obermensch as designating that which is beyond man, and for serving, along with Mallarme, as one of the prophets of the hegemony of language in the emerging episteme of the postmodern world. Here I want to focus on other affinities, …

Bonjour, Kant, And The 'A Priori', Kurt Mosser

Philosophy Faculty Publications

In his 1985 The Structure of Empirical Knowledge, Laurence BonJour presented a compelling and articulate defense of a coherence theory of knowledge. Following what he called a “dialectical” strategy, he began by indicating the central issue at stake: the justification of empirical knowledge claims. He then argued that no available foundationalist or coherentist account could provide that justification, and that all such attempts either end in sheer dogmatism, or succumb to skepticism. After a lengthy critical discussion, he turned to developing a argument for his own view, combining a correspondence theory of truth with a coherence theory of justification. He …

Development And The African Philosophical Debate, Messay Kebede

Philosophy Faculty Publications

The split of African philosophical thinking between the schools of ethnophilosophy and professional philosophy shows the involvement of philosophical issues in the African development process. Indeed, the philosophical debate does no more than revive the entrenched paradigm of development theories, namely the conflict between tradition and modernity. While ethnophilosophy thinks that the rehabilitation of African traditions conditions the drive to successful modernization, especially after the disparaging discourse of colonialism, professional philosophy is of the opinion that success depends on the exchange of the traditional culture for modern ideas and institutions. The article exposes and evaluates the major arguments developed by …

Fred Bartenstein: The Right Place At The Right Time, Kurt Mosser

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Fred Bartenstein has always seemed to find himself perfectly situated to pursue his life-long interest in bluegrass music – as he puts it, “I’ve always seemed to be in the right place at the right time.” This luck has allowed him to find bluegrass in the most surprising places, whether at a private day school in New Jersey, or at Harvard University in the late 1960s. It has also meant that, among other things, he found himself attending the first bluegrass festival in Fincastle, Va., becoming a bluegrass DJ at the age of 16, starting Muleskinner News magazine, and playing …

Religious Women, Medical Settings, And Moral Risk, Peggy Desautels

Philosophy Faculty Publications

As we think about the ethical issues surrounding women and aging, it is important to ask the following questions. What do women in our society actually experience at various stages of their life cycle? Which of these I experiences put women at moral risk? In what situations are women's senses of moral value and selfhood likely to be ignored or discounted? I, along with a number of feminist philosophers, advocate approaching feminist ethics by starting with women's actual situations and experiences.¹ No doubt, a wide variety of aging women's experiences call for moral analysis. I focus here on the …

Christian Science, Rational Choice, And Alternative World Views, Peggy Desautels

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Book abstract: A chief aim of this resource is to rekindle interest in seeing health care not solely as a set of practices so problematic as to require ethical analysis by philosophers and other scholars, but as a field whose scrutiny is richly rewarding for the traditional concerns of philosophy.

Chapter abstract: The health-related choices made by Christian Scientists are often criticized as being irrational. It is difficult for those who turn to medical means for healing to understand how Christian Scientists can rationally justify avoiding those medical treatments known to be effective. What is especially confusing to the observer …

Praying For A Cure: When Medical And Religious Practices Conflict, Peggy Desautels, Margaret P. Battin, Larry May

Philosophy Faculty Publications

When the children of Christian Scientists die from a treatable illness, are their parents guilty of murder for withholding that treatment? How should the rights of children, the authority of the medical community, and religious freedom be balanced? Is it possible for those adhering to a medical model of health and disease and for those adhering to the Christian Science model to enter into a meaningful dialogue, or are the two models incommensurable? DesAutels, Battin, and May engage in a lucid and candid debate of the issues of who is ultimately responsible for deciding these questions and how to accommodate …

Kant And Feminism, Kurt Mosser

Philosophy Faculty Publications

The juxtaposition of Kant's name with "feminism" seems almost designed to invite scorn and indignation. As we will soon see, throughout his career Kant made a variety of noxious and distasteful comments about women. As we will also see, Kant has been regarded, with Descartes, as the philosopher chiefly responsible for providing modern Western philosophy with a picture of reason that has been employed in a variety of ways oppressive to women. Yet the reader of Kant's works in practical philosophy, specifically the Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals and the Critique of Practical Reason, could very well harbor a …

"Give Me A Break!" Emerson On Fruit And Flowers, Gary Shapiro

Philosophy Faculty Publications

"Give me a break!" This expression appears to be an imperative or a request. In colloquial English, it can be either, or it can be uttered with various degrees of irony as a complaint, an objection, or a reproof. I want to begin by considering it in a relatively serious way, by asking what it means to ask someone to give, and to give a break. According to some analyses in a certain discourse on the gift (for example, in Nietzsche, Bataille, Levinas, and Derrida), the gift is always a break of some sort. It is an interruption, an excess, …

John Skorupski, Ed., "The Cambridge Companion To Mill.", Dale E. Miller

Philosophy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Inheriting The Earth: The Memory Of Tradition (Review Article), Frank Schalow

Philosophy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Heidegger, The Polity, And National Socialism (Review Article), Frank Schalow

Philosophy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.