Philosophy Commons^™

The Truth And Other Irrelevant Aspects Of Nukulaelae Gossip, Niko Besnier

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.

Moral Addicts, Anthony Cunningham

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Moral exemplars are often depicted as those who go to extraordinary lengths in preventing suffering and eradicating injustice. Thus, figure like Gandhi, Mother Theresa, and Martin Luther King are apt to be identified as moral saints in the sense of being the morally best people. However, any adequate conception of moral excellence must be broader and more complex.

Hermann Cohen’S Political Philosophy And The Communitarian Critique Of Liberalism, Harry Van Der Linden

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

My main aim here is to examine what the significance is of the communitarian critique of liberalism for Hermann Cohen's political philosophy. I will conclude that Cohen's socialist Kantianism can successfully meet this critique. Also, I will argue that his political philosophy can better deal with some of the problems that communitarians detect in our Western democracies than can communitarianism itself. One crucial reason for this is that Cohen completes the original Kantian liberal project by making all agents fully autonomous in the economic sphere.

Blackmail: Deontology - 1993, Wendy J. Gordon

Scholarship Chronologically

The basic logic of my deontologic approach is this.

Blackmail And Moralisms: Victimhood And Aristotelian Pride - 1992, Wendy J. Gordon

Scholarship Chronologically

Of those persons who favor laws against blackmail, many take that position because of the moral nastiness of the blackmailing act ("pay me or I'll tell ...") These commentators are sometimes blind to where the self-interest of the so-called victim lies, for the victim often prefers paying for silence to having his secrets revealed. Much of the sophisticated literature on blackmail focuses on this gap in vision. Blackmail is called paradoxical because (among other things) it is a crime that a victim would often rather suffer than have discovered and prosecuted.

Moral Lessons For Women Readers Of Jean Lemaire De Belges's Les Illustrations De Gaule Et Singularitez De Troye, Judy Kem

Quidditas

Jean Lemaire de Belges (1473-1525), poet and historiographer of the French and Burgundian courts of the early Renaissance, wrote his epic history of Troy, Les Illustrations de Gaule et singularitez de Troye (1511-1513), at the request of his patron, Margaret of Austria, to offer an "occupation voluptueuse, et non pas inutile" [sensual yet useful occupation] to the ladies of France (1:11). Lemaire dedicated each of the three books of his epic to a different noblewoman. Mercury, who narrates the prologues of all three volumes, identifies each noblewoman with one of the three goddesses of the Judgment of Paris: Margaret of …

Love And Power: The Rule Of Religion And Morality In American Politics, Gerard V. Bradley

Journal Articles

Perry, Michael J. Love and Power: The Rule of Religion and Morality in American Politics. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. viii + 218 pp. $29.95

The author's introduces this sequel to his Morality, Politics, and Law as an extended gloss on John Noonan's statement that the "central problem of the legal enterprise is the relation of love to power." The renown of its author ensures that Love and Power will become a focal point in legal academic discussion of its central concern: the proper relation between morality, particularly religious morality, political choice, and public deliberation "in a morally …

On Moral Grounds: The Art/Science Of Ethics, Daniel C. Maguire, A. Nicholas Fargnoli

Open-Access Books by Faculty

From the introduction:

Our age can lay claim to a unique moral chaos. Modernity badgers us with perplexing moral questions: Can good ethics and good business ever coincide? Should medical science do all the things that it now can do? Is truth-telling always a virtue? If it is, how can one maintain professional or personal confidentiality? Is honesty always the best policy? What are the proper criteria for the journalistic media when it comes to reporting the real news and avoiding sensationalism? Should there be an “ethics committee” in government, in business, in hospitals, in law firms, or in financial …

Cohen, Collective Responsibility, And Economic Democracy, Harry Van Der Linden

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

My main objective in this paper is to show that Hermann Cohen's ethics offers an important but hitherto neglected contribution to the- current debate within Anglo-American ethics on the moral status of the modern business corporation.

Rethinking "Original Intent", David B. Lyons

Faculty Scholarship

Although Dred Scott v. Sandford is one of the Supreme Court's most controversial decisions, it is not often taught or read. But its approach to constitutional interpretation is by no means outdated, and its historical importance has not diminished. So it seems a good example to consider.

Reflections On Identity, Diversity And Morality, Deborah W. Post

Scholarly Works

The author reflects over events in her life that helped her define herself and her ethical identity, a black woman teacher.

Whose Nature - Practical Reason And Patriarchy, Lynne Henderson

Cleveland State Law Review

My comments on John Finnis's Natural Law and Legal Reasoning grow out my concern about the relationship of law to authoritarianism. In this comment, I do not intend to go deeply into the relationship of law to authoritarianism but rather to sketch out the background of the argument. It seems to me that authoritarianism, properly understood, is of great relevance to a symposium on jurisprudence and legal reasoning, because at a minimum, authoritarianism overlaps with legality's ethic of rule-following and obedience to authority. Authoritarian attitudes about authority and morality also are relevant to the jurisprudential concern with the relation of …

Translating, Repeating, Naming: Foucault, Derrida And The Genealogy Of Morals, Gary Shapiro

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Two cautions or warnings (at least) must be heeded in the attempt to do justice to Nietzsche's project of a genealogy of morals in the text that bears that name. While the Genealogy is often regarded as the most straightforward and continuous of Nietzsche's books, he tells us in Ecce Homo that its three essays are "perhaps uncannier than anything else written so far in regard to expression, intention, and the art of surprise.” If we should think ourselves successful in penetrating to these uncanny secrets and saying what Nietzsche's text means, once and for all, we would then have …

Competing For The Good Life, Steven Luper

Philosophy Faculty Research

In this paper I will argue that Competitivism should be rejected. No more will be said about competitivist theories of justice, but if Competitivism as a theory of the good is rejected, so must Competitivism as a theory of right be, since the motivation for arranging society so as to maximize the extent to which people excel, or the like, is precisely the assumption that having competitive properties is valuable. My aim will be to show that the possession of such properties contributes nothing of any great importance to our lives: excelling and its kin should be neither intrinsically valuable …

A Case Against Animal Rights, Jan Narveson

Animal Welfare Collection

Down through the past decade and more, no philosophical writer has taken a greater interest in the issues of how we ought to act in relation to animals, nor pressed more strongly the case for according them rights, than has Tom Regan, in many articles, reviews, and exchanges at scholarly conferences and in print. It is a pleasure to join him on this symposium, to explore this interesting and important set of issues.

I shall begin by outlining, as fairly as I can, Regan's view of the matter, and then sketch my alternative. Regan has in fact criticized certain aspects …

The Connection Between Law And Morality: Comments On Dworkin, David B. Lyons

Faculty Scholarship

Our discussions yesterday seemed haunted by a contrast--never quite formulated--between Natural Law and Legal Positivism. The standard interpretation turns on the idea of a "necessary connection" between law and morality. Positivism has often been understood to hold, and Natural Law to deny, that there can be unjust laws.

The Last Word: Beyond Toleration, Edward W. James

Bridgewater Review

We live in a society that is wracked by moral differences - from abortion and civil disobedience to sex and welfare issues. Such pressing issues offer so many options, qualifications and restatements that we often do not even know how to begin to deal with them. And when we ourselves manage to work through to a conclusion we can abide, we find ourselves confronted by the problem of the other: how are we to regard those who disagree with us on such moral issues')

Robert A. Heinlein: A Philosophical Novelist, Marie Guthrie

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Robert A. Heinlein is a key figure in the development of American science fiction. What makes his contribution unique is his emphasis on philosophical speculation. Heinlein's program is based on rationality as a vital element to salvation. Although the importance of rationality is an aspect of many schools of philosophy particular value may be gained by comparing Heinlein's system with the philosophy of Plotinus. An examination of Heinlein's key works (Stranger in a Strange Land. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, Time Enough For Love, The Number of the Beast--. And various short stories I provides ample evidence to support …

Is Man's Infliction Of Suffering On Animals Immoral?, Robert Welborn

Attitudes Towards Animals Collection

If it is believed that man is properly in dominion over the earth and that he may do with it and all things on it as he will, then the first definition is sufficient. If generally accepted ideas in man's community are to the effect that man's infliction of suffering on animals is right, then such is not immoral.

If it is believed, however, that life, all life, as it has evolved in its beauty and complexity is the consideration upon which conduct should be judged, then the second definition must apply. Man being the dominant species that consciously and …

Commentary: Advertising In Arcadia, Lawrence Kimmel

Philosophy Faculty Research

There is not a long history of censorship in philosophy, but where it does occur it receives memorable note, as in the case of Plato‟s Republic. And there, as elsewhere, I often find I am in sympathy, if not agreement, concerning the problem, but utterly opposed to the offered solution.

In the paper I wish to review, Paine takes the very strong position that “child advertising” is in its very conception an offense—and that its continuance is both economically exploitative and morally corruptive of children. Although she is careful to separate her concerns as moral rather than legal or political, …

Marx And Morality: An Impossible Synthesis?, Harry Van Der Linden

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

A discussion of Allen E. Buchanan, Marx and Justice (Totowa: Rowman and Littlefield, 1982); Marshall Cohen, Thomas Nagel, and Thomas Scanlon, eds., Marx. Justice. and History (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980); and Kai Nielsen and Steven C. Patten, eds., Marx and Morality, Supplementary Volume VII of the Canadian Journal of Philosophy (Guelph: Canadian Association for Publishing in Philosophy, 1981).

The Question Of Atheism And Communism In The Animal Welfare/Rights Movement, Michael W. Fox

Animal Welfare Collection

Just as economics has increasingly been employed as a political weapon, so religion is now being used to further self-serving goals. Agribusiness spokespersons not only use fallacious economic arguments to justify the "factory" farming of animals; they have also stated that any questioning about man's Godgiven right to exploit animals is atheistic, and perhaps an actual affront to God's will. Furthermore, taking an egalitarian attitude toward animals, and proposing that they have rights or should be given equal and fair consideration, is regarded as the inspiration of some covert communist conspiracy that is constantly working to restructure and thereby destroy …

Professional And Ordinary Morality: A Reply To Freedman, Mike W. Martin

Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research

Mike Martin responds to the article "Professional and Ordinary Morality."

Rights And The Meta-Ethics Of Professional Morality, Mike W. Martin

Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research

This article looks into the Meta-Ethics of medical professionals.

Human Being: The Boundaries Of The Concept, Lawrence C. Becker

Philosophy Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Neglect Of Virtue, Lawrence C. Becker

Philosophy Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Nature Of The Contract Argument, David B. Lyons

Faculty Scholarship

As truth is the first virtue of belief, so justice is of social institutions. That is John Rawls's view, and it seems true, at any rate, of the law. Official acts, laws, and legal arrangements generally are characterized as just or unjust, while other moral categories are much less frequently invoked. Justice seems inseparable from good law. It is therefore striking and important that justice has recently been regarded by prominent legal theorists as rationally disreputable--as, in Kelsen's words, "an irrational idea." Many divergent conceptions of social justice have been propounded, and it is held that there is no rational …

The Finality Of Moral Judgments: A Reply To Mrs. Foot, Lawrence C. Becker

Philosophy Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Moral And Spiritual Values In A High School Anthology Of Literature, Terrence Eugene Kelsay

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

For some years now the need for the emphasis of moral and spiritual values in our public schools has been recognized by the Kentucky Department of Education. The department has given encouragement to numerous research projects and summer workshops held for the purpose of finding an answer to the problem of emphasizing moral and spiritual values in public education. The concern for this need has informally become known as the “Kentucky Movement.”

This study was not undertaken with the thought of introducing new programs in our high schools. The teaching of moral and spiritual values should be done through the …

5. Immanuel Kant And Critical Idealism, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XII: The Post-Enlightenment Period

The ideas of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) are significant enough to be compared to a watershed in Western thought. In his mind were gathered up the major interests of the Enlightenment: science, epistemology, and ethics; and all of these were given a new direction which he himself described as another Copernican revolution. As Copernicus had shown that the earth revolved around the sun, rather than the sun around the earth, so Kant showed that the knowing subject played an active and creative role in the production of his world picture, rather than the static and passive role which the early Enlightenment …