Philosophy Commons^™

Wittgenstein On Reasonable Doubt And Calling Bullshit, Frank Hernández

Acta Cogitata: An Undergraduate Journal in Philosophy

In this essay I analyze a passage from Ludwig Wittgenstein’s On Certainty. This excerpt contains the expression “O, rubbish!” (Ach Unsinn), which I consider to be closely related to the notions of “bullshit” developed by Harry Frankfurt and Gerald A. Cohen. The relevance of this essay is illustrated with lively examples, both related to contemporary society and identified by Wittgenstein about 70 years ago. The paper is organized in six sections containing 1) an introduction to the topic, 2) an explanation of “bullshit” as found in the works of Frankfurt and Cohen, 3) an explanation of Wittgenstein’s work on …

Palouse Prairie: Ethics Behind The Loss Of An Ecosystem, Hailey V. Smith

Acta Cogitata: An Undergraduate Journal in Philosophy

There is an ethical tradeoff between growing high-yield agricultural products and the integrity and goodness of an ecosystem. Why must we protect an ecosystem and prevent extinction of other organisms? One might claim that the human benefit gained from environmental destructions for the purpose of agriculture is more valuable than any life or structure that existed in the ecosystem. In the case of the Palouse Prairie in Eastern Washington, early white settlers in the area valued the monetary gains from agriculture more than any goodness of an intact ecosystem. Unlike the benefits gained from farming (which could be attained through …

On The Deconstruction Of Metaphysics: Heidegger’S Critical Ontology In Being And Time, Marshall Pierce

Acta Cogitata: An Undergraduate Journal in Philosophy

Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time offers a sustained critique of the Western philosophical tradition. Specifically, Heidegger describes his project as a “deconstruction” of prior ontological systems, whose goal is a positive recuperation and reformulation of the “question of being.” This question, Heidegger suggests, has been obscured and distorted by prior metaphysics. In Division One of Being and Time, Heidegger explicates his own ontology in a critical mode, positioning himself against various canonical figures while forging his own, novel conception of the “being of beings.” This paper offers a focused exposition of Being and Time’s first Division, tracing the …

Laughter As A Critical Tool For Liberation, Jay Nelson

Acta Cogitata: An Undergraduate Journal in Philosophy

No abstract provided.

Hegel, Marx, And The Realization Of The Self In Work: Towards A Humanistic Ontology Of Labor, Omar Khali

Acta Cogitata: An Undergraduate Journal in Philosophy

It has become evident in advanced capitalism that the worker’s relation between their labor and their selfhood remains unclear and distorted. For many, labor is merely a means for putting food on the table and a roof over their head. This does not mean, however, that labor in itself gives rise to this prevailing relation. The objective of this essay is to uncover a fundamental ontological characteristic of labor; namely, its ability to reflect one’s subjectivity and capabilities as a human being. I attempt to demonstrate, through thinkers such as Karl Marx and G. W. F. Hegel, that the worker's …

A Case For Creating Clearly Condemnatory Statues Of Wrongdoers, Chloe Berger

Acta Cogitata: An Undergraduate Journal in Philosophy

In recent work discussing how we should address public statues of wrongdoers, people typically argue for either removing statues or retaining them, often with the addition of a contextualizing plaque, counter-commemoration, or other alteration. In contrast to mere removal or modification, I argue that one permissible alternative is to create clearly condemnatory statues of wrongdoers, but only for wrongdoers with already existing statues. That is, we need not create statues of every wrongdoer; we should only create them following removal of the originals. While my arguments apply to wrongdoers generally, including confederates, colonizers, and genocidaires, I focus on Columbus as …

Letter From The Editor, Mac Neaville

Acta Cogitata: An Undergraduate Journal in Philosophy

No abstract provided.

Acta Cogitata - Volume 9, Mac Neaville, W. John Koolage

Acta Cogitata: An Undergraduate Journal in Philosophy

No abstract provided.

A Temporal First Cause? Reply To Craig's Reply, Erik J. Wielenberg

Philosophy Faculty publications

In a recent paper in this journal, I argued that William Craig’s theistic account of the origin of the universe implies that at the first moment of time, t1, God is both timeless and temporal, a contradiction (Wielenberg 2021). Craig responded to that argument; I here reply to Craig’s response.

Craig's Contradictory Kalam: Trouble At The Moment Of Creation, Erik J. Wielenberg

Philosophy Faculty publications

William Lane Craig’s much-discussed kalam cosmological argument for God’s existence is intended to provide support for a particular theistic explanation of the origin of the universe. I argue here that Craig’s theistic account of the origin of the universe entails two contradictions and hence should be rejected. The main contribution of the paper is the identification of some relatively straightforward but previously unrecognized problems in Craig’s hypothesis that the beginning of the universe was a temporal effect of a timeless personal cause.

Back Matter

Episteme

No abstract provided.

Analysing And Resisting American Citizens’ Insensitivity To Civilian Casualties Of American Wars, Henry Barlow

Episteme

No abstract provided.

Practical Identity And Forms Of Life: An Attempt At Clarifying Wittgenstein’S Ethics, Christopher King

Episteme

No abstract provided.

Virtuous Civic Friendships: An Alternative Interpretation Of Aristotle’S Theory Of Political Friendship, Kiley Komro

Episteme

No abstract provided.

The Epistemic Superiority Of Berkeley’S Ideal Realism, Nathan Mckay

Episteme

No abstract provided.

An Agambenian Critique Of The Australian Immigration Detention Camps, Ronya Ramrath

Episteme

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

Episteme

No abstract provided.

Volume 32 (2021), Ronya Ramrath, Nathan Mckay, Kiley Komro, Christopher King, Henry Barlow

Episteme

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

Episteme

No abstract provided.

A Critique Of Pure Computation: Against Strong Ai And Computationalism, Colin J. Causey

Episteme

No abstract provided.

A Phenomenology Of Consumer Goods, Abhinav Bhargava

Episteme

No abstract provided.

Carving Out Space For Aristotle’S Megalopsychos, Susanna Mcgrew

Episteme

No abstract provided.

Volume 31 (2020), Colin J. Causey, Abhinav Bhargava, Susanna Mcgrew

Episteme

No abstract provided.

Multiple Realization : Fifty Years Of Contesting Intuitions, Lok Hang Yuen

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

The thesis is about Multiple Realization. Multiple realization is roughly the idea of a higher level property being multiply realized by different lower level physical properties. Philosophers usually argue that if a property is multiply realized, it is not reducible to its realizers. Mobilized as such, multiple realization plays a central role in what is usually called Non-Reductive Physicalism. Despite its popularity, and beyond the hunches and intuitions that back the concept, seldom do philosophers consider the nature of multiple realization. The central aim of the thesis is to tackle the somewhat overlooked question: “what is multiple realization?” The rationale …

Navigating The Space Between Us, Robert Gould

PDXOpen: Open Educational Resources

Navigating the Space Between Us - Finding Connection, while Embracing the Continua of Difference: A Dilemma Driven Conflict Analysis was developed as an upper division undergraduate textbook for a conflict resolution CR 310U Values and Ethics course (required for a PSU bachelor's degree in CR) and adaptable to a conflict resolution CR 513 graduate course (required for PSU master's degree in CR). Its intended audience are students from Portland State University enrolled in a ten week, quarter system, though it is adaptable for a semester length course. The chapters are combined with other readings on conflict resolution values and ethics. …

Trust, Power, And Transformation In The Prison Classroom, Fran Fairbairn

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

This article does three things. First, it asks a new question about transformative education, namely ‘what is the role of power and trust in the decision of whether to transform one’s meaning scheme in the face of new information or whether to simply reject the new information?’ Secondly, it develops a five-stage model which elaborates on the role of this decision in transformative learning.[1] Finally, it uses grounded-theory and the five-stage model to argue that power and trust play an important role in facilitating transformative learning.

[1] This account should be thought of as complementary to (not exclusionary of) Mezirow’s …

What Is Philosophy In Prison? George Eliot And The Search For Moral Insight, Alison Liebling

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

I argue in this article that people in prison make excellent philosophers, for reasons related to what they are deprived of. I also suggest that great novels constitute, or at the very least, introduce us to, philosophy. Some of the deepest questions about human life can be addressed by fusing philosophical thinking with empirical research in prisons. Prisoners talk with depth and insight about what it is to feel human, what matters most in human experience, and the importance of the ‘vibrations of fellow feeling’.

Bridging A Gap Of Understanding: A Model Of Experiential Learning For Incarcerated Students And Non-Incarcerated Undergraduates, Dale Brown, Zoann K. Snyder

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

Service learning has evolved as a primary experience-based curriculum for undergraduate students. But much of what universities put forward as service learning is not a genuine engagement with community partners to help advance meaningful social change to address social problems. In this paper, we outline our preliminary attempt to do just that—what we call The Bridge Model. The discussion that follows occurs in the context of a semester-long project between undergraduate students at a Midwestern University (MU) and incarcerated participants from the university’s prison education program. First, we briefly situate the partnership in terms of its theoretical background in experiential …

No Cell For The Soul: Prison, Philosophy And Bernard Stiegler - A Short Appreciation, Rod Earle

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

Bernard Stiegler was a French philosopher who served 5 years in prison for a series of bank robberies committed in his youth. He died in August 2020, aged just 68, a professor celebrated in the highest ranks of continental philosophy. Stiegler subsequently published over 30 books, at the core of which is the series tellingly gathered under the title ‘Time and Technics’. His essay, ‘How I became a philosopher’, convinced me he, and it, should be on every prison philosophy course. In this article I outline why, as a convict criminologist, I feel an affinity with Stiegler’s project.

Transaction Or Transformation: Why Do Philosophy In Prisons?, Mog Stapleton, Dave Ward

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

Why do public philosophy in prisons? When we think about the value and aims of public philosophy there is a well-entrenched tendency to think in transactional terms. The academy has something of value that it aims to pass on or transmit to its clients. Usually, this transaction takes place within the confines of the university, in the form of transmission of valuable skills or knowledge passed from faculty to students. Public philosophy, construed within this transactional mindset, then consists in passing on something valuable from inside the academy to the outside. In this paper, we reflect on our experiences of …