Continental Philosophy Commons^™

Collapsing The Philosophy/Rhetoric Disjunct: Nietzsche, Plato And The Perspectival Turn, Ned Vankevich

Institute for the Humanities Theses

Often overlooked within the standard views of academe lie hidden a number of tacit assumptions. Until the time of Nietzsche, the status of rhetoric as a discourse formation in Western intellectual history was often colored by the unflattering view generated by Plato in a number of his dialogues. In this thesis I present a case that revisits Plato and Nietzsche with an eye toward understanding the reasons why these two highly influential figures in contemporary philosophy adopt the views they advocate. In doing so, I attempt to illumine the reason Plato forms a fundamental split between philosophy and rhetoric and …

The Scope Of Hermeneutics In Natural Science, Patrick A. Heelan

Research Resources

THE SCOPE OF HERMENEUTICS IN NATURAL SCIENCE Hermeneutics or interpretation is concerned with the generation, transmission, and acceptance of meaning within the lifeworld and was the original method of the human sciences stemming from F. Schleiermacher and W. Dilthey. Hermeneutic philosophy refers mostly to M. Heidegger’s. This paper addresses natural science from the perspective of Heidegger’s analysis of meaning and interpretation. Its purpose is to incorporate into the philosophy of science those aspects of historicality, culture, and tradition that are absent from the traditional analysis of theory and explanation, to re-orient the current discussion about scientific realism around the hermeneutics …

"The Principle Of Punishment Is A Categorical Imperative", Nelson T. Potter Jr.

Department of Philosophy: Faculty Publications

There has been a considerable renaissance in retributivism as a theory of the justification of punishment in the second half of this century. Retributivism is often defended as if it were a particularly hardy moral intuition, a basic free-standing moral principle that is underivable from any broader theory or set of principles. In this vein it is often "supported" through the presentation of outrageous and horribly cruel crimes, especially against persons, particularly murder, in order to elicit what may be thought to be the natural and appropriate emotional response, a response of anger, indignation, and desire for retribution. Under such …

Theory And Practice In The Career Of Fernando Henrique Cardoso: Part Iii, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This is the third and final installment of an article which provides an analysis of an individual accomplished as a scholar of politics (through sociology) and a formal politician. The author is Dr. Ted Goertzel of Rutgers University. He can be reached at [email protected].

Theory And Practice In The Career Of Fernando Henrique Cardoso: Part Ii, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This is the second installment of an analysis of a man who was both a scholar of politics and the political leader of his country. (See IBPP, Vol. 2, No. 10.) The article was written by Dr. Ted Goertzel of Rutgers University. Dr. Goertzel can be reached at [email protected].

Theory And Practice In The Career Of Fernando Henrique Cardoso: Part I, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

Political psychologists often contemplate the significance of their research--theoretical, empirical--for the practice of politics. Too often, seemingly valuable research is ignored, discounted, misperceived, and misapplied by political practitioners. Yet occasionally researchers practice politics as well--not just the politics of everyday life--but the formal politics of local, regional, national, and international entities. In the United States, Woodrow Wilson, Eugene McCarthy, and even Newt Gingrich come immediately to mind. What will be the interaction of research and practice when both are developed and implemented by the same individual? Dr. Ted Goertzel of Rutgers University has written the following article concerning another researcher-practitioner--Fernando …

Searching For Zarathustra: A Nietzschean Critique Of Post-Traditional Ethical Theory, Joshua Knutsen

Institute for the Humanities Theses

Following Friedrich Nietzsche's critique of ethics, twentieth century philosophical investigations into ethics have attempted to abandon the universalist principles which guided the endeavors of Christianity, Kant and Bentham. The purpose of this work was to examine exactly how successful that endeavor has been. In order to represent the field of ethics as a whole given the limited space of the work I chose three distinct ethics, which in their formulations are representative of the current ethical clime. Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialism serves as a model for radical individualism and solipsism. Alasdair MacIntyre' s virtue based ethic demonstrates communitarian trends. And the …

The Synthetic A Priori Proposition Of Kant's Ethical Philosophy, Nelson T. Potter Jr.

Department of Philosophy: Faculty Publications

I will consider Kant's claim that the categorical imperative (CI) is a synthetic a priori proposition. We know from the first Critique that such propositions are likely to be very important, but also difficult to justify. Kant says exactly the same things about the CI in the Grundlegung: the CI is difficult to justify2, but if we do not succeed in justifying it, morality may be a mere "phantom of the brain.',3 Though little has been written on this topic, a correct understanding of this claim is important to understanding Kant's views.

Supererogation And Overdetermination In Kant's Ethics: Analysis And Interpretation At Their Best In Baron, Nelson T. Potter Jr.

Department of Philosophy: Faculty Publications

Marcia Baron's book tackles two very difficult issues, both centered on criticisms of the Kantian conception of duty. The solutions to her chosen questions lie rather deeply hidden, and the procedures by which Baron digs deep to find solutions are exemplary in their presentation of careful interpretation of texts by Kant, of writers on Kant, and of conceptual analysis and criticism. This book is not like a commentary, which would consider a broader range of questions and issues; it is rather a narrower, closer analysis of a few more specific issues. These few narrow issues have broad ramifications for our …

Comments On Hill: “Punishment, Conscience, And Moral Worth”, Nelson T. Potter Jr.

Department of Philosophy: Faculty Publications

This is an interesting paper to me, among other reasons, because it deals with both halves of Kant’s Metaphysics of Morals; that fact alone also makes it somewhat unusual. It proposes in particular that there is a kind of analogy between conscience as an inner voice of morality and punishment as a provider of incentives against antisocial actions through punishment as deterrence.

As Hill points out, there has been quite a lot of discussion of Kant’s views on punishment, but not much about his views of conscience. Nevertheless, there remain scholarly puzzles about Kant’s views on punishment, and there …

Finding Godot: Postmodernism And Truth, Robert T. Gregory Jr.

Institute for the Humanities Theses

Postmodernism has enjoyed a wide range of influence as a critical enterprise, often being accused as nothing more than a method of critique. In addition, it is often objected that postmodernism advocates a radical relativism which is ultimately self-contradictory and lacks an overall sense of agency that can apply to concrete action. These issues are particularly significant when considering theories of truth. Given postmodernism criticizes traditional notions of truth and objectivity, it is appropriate to ask if postmodernism possesses a positive position on truth as an alternative. I argue in this work that while postmodernism has a significant critical enterprise, …

On The Order Of The Real: Nietzsche And Lacan, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

No abstract provided.

Scientific Discipline And The Origins Of Race: A Foucaultian Reading Of The History Of Biology, Ladelle Mcwhorter

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Foucault's "power-knowledge" is a controversial concept. Brought into English-speaking theoretical circles less than two decades ago, its meaning and range of applicability are still in dispute. While no one denies that some fields of social scientific knowledge (such as criminology) intersect institutionally with mechanisms of power, these intersections do not seem, to many, to constitute any essential relation of "mutual reinforcement" between knowledge and power. If, in rare cases, politics and scientific research are admitted to be mutually constitutive, the results of their mingling are typically dismissed as propaganda or pseudo-science. A few thinkers are willing to allow the entirety …

Maxims In Kant's Moral Philosophy, Nelson T. Potter Jr.

Department of Philosophy: Faculty Publications

It has been noticed in the English-language literature concerning Kant's ethics, at least since Marcus Singer's extended discussion in later chapters of Generalization in Ethics! that the concept of a maxim plays a central role in the application of the categorical imperative, and that it is, for that reason, if not for others, worth detailed attention. In the present essay I wish to consider the Kantian concept of maxim in a broader context.

The Role Of Laughter In The Thought Of Friedrich Nietzsche, Paul D. Gerdes

Institute for the Humanities Theses

The objective of this thesis is an analysis of the role of laughter in the thought of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), by which I mean both its influence on his intellectual development, and the incorporation of it in his philosophy. Such an undertaking is important because, while it might seem somewhat odd for a philosopher, and particularly a German philosopher, to consider laughter fundamental to his thought, laughter does play an essential role in all of Nietzsche's writing.

For the purposes of this thesis, I will investigate three separate but interrelated aspects of Nietzsche's thought: the influence of the Dionysian tragic-comic …

The Question Of Hermeneutics, Timothy Stapleton

Research Resources

No abstract provided.

Kant On Obligation And Motivation In Law And Ethics, Nelson T. Potter Jr.

Department of Philosophy: Faculty Publications

It is quite clear that a positive law must have some motivation connected with it, as specified in a penalty, at least a criminal law must, as opposed to a law appropriating funds or a law authorizing persons to make use of certain legal possibilities, such as a will, a limited liability corporation, or marriage. Some ten years ago Nebraska's state legislature passed a law requiring the wearing of a motorcycle helmet while riding a motorcycle on the state's roads, and the Governor signed it into law. Only some time after this process had been completed was the defect of …

Self-Overcoming In Foucault's Discipline And Punish, Ladelle Mcwhorter

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Prisons are veritable universities of crime. Within them young offenders learn both the values and the techniques of hardened criminals. In addition to these lessons in professional ethics and theory, aspiring criminals also get hands-on experience within prison walls, for prisons are also centers of criminal activity: drug and arms trafficking, rape, gang warfare, and murder. And, like all good universities, prisons help their proteges make the contacts they need to further their budding careers.

On Malls, Museums, And The Art World: Postmodernism And The Vicissitudes Of Consumer Culture, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

No abstract provided.

A Musical Retrieve Of Heidegger, Nietzsche, And Technology: Cadence, Concinnity, And Playing Brass, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

A discussion of Heidegger's analysis of the essence of modern technology as a version of what Heidegger names Nietzsche's highest will to power read together with Heidegger's understanding of Nietzsche's statement of the nihilism of our day. It is argued that Heidegger's philosophic questioning of technology is inevitably foreclosed by his stylized, hermetic reading of Nietzsche's expression of the will to power. Thus it is necessary to read Heidegger's critique of technology in the light of rather than against Nietzsche's critique of science and culture. This entails a reading of Heidegger's reading of Nietzsche against Heidegger's reading of Nietzsche. But …

Philosophies Of Science: Mach Duhem Bachelard, Babette Babich

Research Resources

approaches reflect the philosophical reflections on science expressed from the tradition of continental thought. In this context, the philosophical reflections on science to be found in Mach, Duhem and Bachelard may be mined for what should prove to be a productive

historical foundation between these two traditions addressed to a common focus.

Mach, Duhem and Bachelard among other thinkers have argued that science itself is more critical, indeed more inherently ‘hermeneutic’, than philosophy. But this point is problematic, and not only because of its counter-intuitive content -- whereby science ends up with the virtue of being more hermeneutic than hermeneutics …

Reply To Allison, Nelson T. Potter Jr.

Department of Philosophy: Faculty Publications

In "Kant's Doctrine of Obligatory Ends," Henry Allison offers an interpretation of this central doctrine of the Tugendlehre portion of Kant's Metaphysics of Morals that partly agrees with and partly takes issue with an earlier article of mine on the same topic. The disagreement between us might seem to be on a small point, and yet I think it will tum out that this point has considerable significance for interpreting and understanding Kant's ethical theory. I wish here to explain the issues, and defend my own earlier account.

What Is Wrong With Kant’S Four Examples, Nelson T. Potter Jr.

Department of Philosophy: Faculty Publications

Kant gives four examples to illustrate the application of the categorical imperative immediately after introducing its “universal law” formulation in Chapter Two his Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. These examples have been much discussed to gain an understanding of how the categorical imperative applies to derive specific duties. It is argued that the discussions found in these examples do not accord well with Kant’s fuller account of that application in his later work The Metaphysics of Morals. That [later] work has quite different, sometimes better, arguments for the same moral conclusions, and never mentions the argument against …

Rethinking Reverence For Life, Mike W. Martin

Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research

Albert Schweitzer’s ethics of reverence for life is more complex and interesting than first appears. It contains themes relevant to contemporary environmental ethics, including a virtue-ethics approach that emphasizes personal responsibility and tolerance, empathy for living organisms, and the fundamental unity of life. Not surprising, then, Schweitzer has recently been acknowledged for pioneering a biocentric (life-centered) ethical theory.

At the same time, Schweitzer’s ethic has four unpalatable features: pantheism, anthropomorphism, excessive subjectivity, and guilt mongering. I trace these features to the metaphysical framework in which Schweitzer develops his ideal of reverence for life. I also show how the framework can …

Asceticism/Askēsis: Foucault's Thinking Historical Subjectivity, Ladelle Mcwhorter

Philosophy Faculty Publications

In the Introduction to The Use of Pleasure Foucault calls his work an askēsis, "an exercise of oneself in the activity of thought." The "living substance of philosophy," Foucault writes, is the essay, "which should be understood as the assay or test by which, in the game of truth, one undergoes changes, and not as the simplistic appropriation of others for the purpose of communication." Foucault's work, then, does not simply report to us his conclusions or theories. Foucault is not primarily interested in imparting information. What he offers instead is a kind of exercise book.

Persona Criticism And The Death Of The Author, Cheryl Walker

Scripps Faculty Publications and Research

The difficulty with doing biographical criticism today is that the figure of the author has increasingly come under attack, almost as if the author's portrait, which at one time routinely accompanied critical works, were being atomized, dissolved in an acid bath of scorn and distrust. Though "death of the author" critics have made a number of important points about the rigidity and naiveté of certain earlier forms of biographical criticism, I find that in my own practice I am loath to give up all vestiges of the author. The strategy I have chosen is what I would call persona criticism, …

Hermeneutical Phenomenology And The Philosophy Of Science, Patrick A. Heelan

Research Resources

Continental philosophy from the start sees science as an institution in a cultural, historical, and hermeneutical setting. The domain of its discourse is values, subjectivity, Life Worlds, history, and society, as these affect the constitution of scientific knowledge. Its notion of truth is that which pertains to history, political power, and culture. Its concern with science is to interpret its historical conditions within human society -- usually in Western culture. Science, from this perspective, is a human, social -- and fallible -- enterprise. A concern of continental philosophy of science will include social failure as a possible indictment of scientific …

Feminist Literary Criticism And The Author, Cheryl Walker

Scripps Faculty Publications and Research

In the course of this essay I wish to reopen the (never fully closed) question of whether it is advisable to speak of the author, or of what Foucault calls "the author function," when querying a text, and I wish to reopen it precisely at the site where feminist criticism and post-structuralism are presently engaged in dialogue. Here in particular we might expect that reasons for rejecting author erasure would appear. However, theoretically informed feminist critics have recently found themselves tempted to agree with Barthes, Foucault, and the Edward Said of Beginnings that the authorial presence is best set aside …

Nietzsche And The Condition Of Postmodern Thought; Post-Nietzschean Postmodernism, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

No abstract provided.

Foucault's Move Beyond The Theoretical, Ladelle Mcwhorter

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Theory plays an important role in virtually every academic discipline currently vital. The specific functions of theory may differ from discipline to discipline, but it is difficult to think of any serious discipline that is able to dispense with it entirely; for theory, we usually assume, is quite simply the name of all instances of systematic speculation, all attempts at rational explication. Ordered mentation, most of us unwaveringly believe, is and must be theoretical. All that is not theoretical is either confused thinking – or, more positively, perhaps it is poetic – or it is not thinking at all, but …