Philosophy Commons^™

Book Review, David Dolinko

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

The Veracity Of Relative Truth, Philosophical Discussion Group, Armstrong State University

The Philosopher's Stone

No abstract provided.

Hormone Research As An Exemplar Of Underdetermination, P.D. Magnus

Philosophy Faculty Scholarship

Debates about the underdetermination of theory by data often turn on specific examples. Many cases are invoked often enough that they become familiar, even well-worn. Here I consider one such commonplace: the connection between prenatal hormone levels and gender-linked childhood behavior. Since Helen Longino's original discussion of this case a decade-and-a-half ago, it has become become one of the stock examples of underdetermination. However, the case is not genuinely underdetermined. We can easily imagine a possible experiment to decide the question. The fact that we would not perform this experiment is a moral, rather than epistemic, point. Further, I argue …

The Revisionist’S Guide To Responsibility, Manuel R. Vargas

Philosophy

Revisionism in the theory of moral responsibility is the idea that some aspect of responsibility practices, attitudes, or concept is in need of revision. While the increased frequency of revisionist language in the literature on free will and moral responsibility is striking, what discussion there has been of revisionism about responsibility and free will tends to be critical. In this paper, I argue that at least one species of revisionism, moderate revisionism, is considerably more sophisticated and defensible than critics have realized. I go on to argue for the advantages of moderate revisionist theories over standard compatibilist and incompatibilist theories.

Review Of "Contending With Stanley Cavell" Edited By R. Goodman, Richard Thomas Eldridge

Philosophy Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

[Book Review Of] Moral Acquaintances: Methodology In Bioethics, By Kevin Wm. Wildes, Janet Smith

The Linacre Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Review: Petre Ţuțea: Between Sacrifice And Suicide (By Alexandru Popescu), Michael S. Jones

Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

At The Seashore, Josephine Donovan

Between the Species

No abstract provided.

Plato's Vegetarian Utopia, Timothy Eves

Between the Species

No abstract provided.

The Predation Argument, Charles K. Fink

Between the Species

No abstract provided.

Lost Dog, H. Peter Steeves

Between the Species

No abstract provided.

Innocent Threats, Lisa Kemmerer

Between the Species

No abstract provided.

Beyonde Viande: The Ethics Of Faux Flesh, Fake Fur And Thriftshop Leather, Susan M. Turner

Between the Species

Moral debate over vegetarianism forms the backdrop to a preliminary consideration of the questions: Is it ethical to produce, sell and eat faux meat? Is it ethical to produce, sell and wear fake animal skin? Is it ethical to sell or wear secondhand or thriftshop genuine animal skin? If vegetarianism is morally required, the question of just what uses of nonhuman animals are ethical or unethical and on what grounds is always on tap. In this piece, I examine the above questions in light of deontological then utilitarian reasons for vegetarianism. I conclude deontological or animal rights grounds entail the …

The Species-Norm Account Of Moral Status, Scott D. Wilson

Between the Species

Many philosophers have argued against Singer’s claim that all animals are equal. However, none of these responses have demonstrated an appreciation of the complexity of his position. The result is that all of these responses focus on one of his arguments in a way that falls victim to another. This paper is a critical examination of a possible response to the full complexity of Singer’s position that derives from the work of Carl Cohen, Kathleen Wilkes, and F. Ramsey. On this response, a being’s moral status depends not on the capacities and abilities she does in fact have, but instead …

The Species-Norm Account Of Moral Status, Scott Wilson

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Many philosophers have argued against Singer’s claim that all animals are equal. However, none of these responses have demonstrated an appreciation of the complexity of his position. The result is that all of these responses focus on one of his arguments in a way that falls victim to another. This paper is a critical examination of a possible response to the full complexity of Singer’s position that derives from the work of Carl Cohen, Kathleen Wilkes, and F. Ramsey. On this response, a being’s moral status depends not on the capacities and abilities she does in fact have, but instead …

Review Of Peter-Paul Verbeek's What Things Do: Philosophical Reflections On Technology, Agency, And Design, Albert Borgmann

Philosophy Faculty Publications

The three parts of What Things Do reflect the three phases of philosophy of technology.

Reckoning The Shape Of Everything: Underdetermination And Cosmotopology, P.D. Magnus

Philosophy Faculty Scholarship

This paper offers a general characterization of underdetermination and gives a prima facie case for the underdetermination of the topology of the universe. A survey of several philosophical approaches to the problem fails to resolve the issue: the case involves the possibility of massive reduplication, but Strawson on massive reduplication provides no help here; it is not obvious that any of the rival theories are to be preferred on grounds of simplicity; and the usual talk of empirically equivalent theories misses the point entirely. (If the choice is underdetermined, then the theories are not empirically equivalent!) Yet the thought experiment …

Whistler’S Fog And The Aesthetics Of Place, Bruce Janz

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

The concept of place has usually been understood as either a phenomenological, epistemological, or ethical category. An understanding of place as aesthetic or rhetorical, on the other hand, tends to focus on the widely varied uses of the concept. First, I sketch out the wide range of uses of place, that have been drawn from writings on the concept. These uses are not definitions of place, but rather functions that the term performs. Place stands in for other ideas, and allows access to different aspects of human experience. Second, I will draw from this range of uses some ideas about …

Developmental Systems Theory: A Search For Human Nature, Erin Kenzie

Honors Theses

When trying to identify the driving forces behind the development of traits, 'nature' and 'nurture' are presented as the sole answers to a seemingly inevitable philosophical question. There must be reasons behind why an individual has a certain trait, so the rhetoric goes, and the line of reasoning has to go in one of two directions. Either factors in the individual's environment - such as parental care or life experience - are responsible, or the trait is an immutable characteristic of the individual's biological makeup. Although this dichotomy has permeated the public consciousness, it is dismissed by those who study …

Zhou Dunyi's Diagram Of The Supreme Ultimate Explained ("Taijito Shuo"): A Construction Of The Confucian Metaphysics, Robin R. Wang

Philosophy Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Could Artificial Wombs End The Abortion Debate?, Christopher Kaczor

Philosophy Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

「精神」與「自然」 : 楊慈湖心學研究, Canpeng Zhao

Lingnan Theses

陸象山的門人楊簡（1141－1226），字敬仲，諡文元，號慈湖，是南宋後期 最有影響的儒家。他的意義不僅限於南宋，而且貫穿大半部明代的儒學史。隨 著王學的興起，慈湖心學在明代中後期得以復興。比起陸象山來，王陽明與慈 湖有更多的共鳴，慈湖心學也因此受到王學論敵的激烈攻擊。在陽明身後，慈 湖心學盛極一時，影響之大，莫或過之。

慈湖在宋明儒學史中具有舉足輕重的地位，而學界過去的研究較為薄弱， 近年出現的幾部新著，在理論分析的深入與貼切、史實鈎沈的廣博與詳確等方 面，仍有不足之處。論文根據現存慈湖全部著作，立足文獻本身，仔細梳理其 思想演進的脈絡，以整個宋明理學為背景，注重思想源流的比較，以“精神” 與“自然”二者為綱領，對其心學思想進行切實詳盡的解釋、分析與評估。論 文後附錄《慈湖箸述新攷》，對慈湖箸作的存佚、刊刻、流傳、輯佚、箸作孱名 等問題進行詳確的攷察。

Private Property And Public Interest, Michael Monahan

Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications

In this paper I explore the limitations of liberal political theory in relation to the notions of public property and public interest. I argue that the fundamentally atomistic and individualistic ontological foundations of the liberal tradition preclude any coherent notion of public goods and public interest.

On Frege’S Alleged Indispensability Argument, Pieranna Garavaso

Philosophy Publications

The expression ‘indispensability argument’ denotes a family of arguments for mathematical realism supported among others by Quine and Putnam. More and more often, Gottlob Frege is credited with being the first to state this argument in section 91 of the Grundgesetze der Arithmetik. Frege's alleged indispensability argument is the subject of this essay. On the basis of three significant differences between Mark Colyvan's indispensability arguments and Frege's applicability argument, I deny that Frege presents an indispensability argument in that very often quoted section of the Grundegesetze.

La Tecnología Y La Búsqueda De La Felicidad, Albert Borgmann

Philosophy Faculty Publications

The connection between technology and happiness is a challenge to philosophy. It can be met if we understand technology as the process of commodification that is guided by a characteristic pattern-the device paradigm, and if we distinguish between happiness as the consumption of pleasures and moral excellence as the devotion to focal things and practices. These clarifications and distinctions allow us relocate and redeem pleasure and to envision a life wherein pleasure and virtue are joined to yield genuine happiness.

Radical Axiology: A First Philosophy Of Value, Brian G. Henning

Philosophy Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Husserl’S Concept Of The ‘Transcendental Person’: Another Look At The Husserl–Heidegger Relationship, Sebastian Luft

Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications

This paper offers a further look at Husserl’s late thought on the transcendental subject and the Husserl–Heidegger relationship. It attempts a reconstruction of how Husserl hoped to assert his own thoughts on subjectivity vis-à-vis Heidegger, while also pointing out where Husserl did not reach the new level that Heidegger attained. In his late manuscripts, Husserl employs the term ‘transcendental person’ to describe the transcendental ego in its fullest ‘concretion’. I maintain that although this concept is a consistent development of Husserl’s earlier analyses of constitution, Husserl was also defending himself against Heidegger, who criticized him for framing the subject in …

Ecstatic Morality And Sexual Politics: A Catholic And Antitotalitarian Theory Of The Body, Graham James Mcaleer

Religion

This first book-length treatment of Thomas Aquinas’s theory of the body presents a Catholic understanding of the body and its implications for social and political philosophy. Making a fundamental contribution to antitotalitarian theory, McAleer argues that a sexual politics reliant upon Aquinas’s theory of the body is better (because less violent) than other commonly available theories. He contrasts this theory with those of four other groups of thinkers: the continental tradition represented by Kant, Schopenhauer, Merleau-Ponty, Nancy, Levinas, and Deleuze; feminism, in the work of Donna Haraway; an alternative Catholic theory to be found in Karl Rahner; and the “Radical …

Full Of Grace: Catholicism In Anne Rice’S Vampire Chronicles, Joseph L. Howe

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Surviving The Death Of God: Existentialism, God, And Man At Post-Wwii Yale, Robert Tice Lalka

Kaplan Senior Essay Prize for Use of Library Special Collections

“This is our world to build, adorn, or destroy, not God's or anyone else's.”

These were the words of Hugh McClean, a Yale student both before and after the Second World War. When the war ended, McClean and thousands of his peers returned from duty in Europe and the Pacific to complete their education at colleges across the United States. They saw the world differently than they had before; they certainly viewed the world differently than their parents and grandparents. They had heard leaders of the world’s warring nations invoke destiny to validate their warfare. Some of these teenagers had …