Browsing Philosophy by Title
Now showing items 15-34 of 45
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Facing the Genocidal Present
This dissertation argues that genocide, in settler colonies like the US, is a processual and structural condition, not an event; one that does not require genocidal intent, since genocide is the background hum—the rhythm—that ... -
Fat – Therefore, Unhealthy? Oppressing Fat People in the Name of Health
This dissertation is primarily a response to the concern for health objection that is frequently used in an attempt to discredit the fat acceptance movement. I offer a critical understanding of “health” in relation to ... -
Feeling Proud and Being Proud: An Investigation Into the Moral Psychology of Personal Ideals
(2012-09-13)I argue that there are two sorts of pride--the emotion of pride and the character trait of pride--and defend descriptive and normative accounts of each sort of pride. The emotion of pride involves an evaluation that one ... -
Immigrant Oppression and Social Justice
My dissertation provides a partial response to the question of what is owed by states to undocumented migrants in their territory. According to one prominent philosophical position, long-term undocumented migrants should ... -
Immigration in a Global Economy: Why the Left Should Embrace Open Borders
My dissertation explores the implications of discretionary control over immigration policies, arguing that the class-based selection that it facilitates plays a vital role in constructing and maintaining issues of global ... -
Inferential justification
(1997)I aim to construct a partial account of inferential epistemic justification, the process by which epistemic justification is "transferred" from an evidentiary belief (or a set of such beliefs) to some further belief via ... -
Intelligent Automaticity in Moral Judgment and Decision-Making
Is conscious reflection necessary for good moral judgment and decision-making? Philosophical attention to this question has increased in the last decade due to recent empirical work in moral psychology. I conclude that ... -
Intertheoretic Relations in Context: Details, Purpose, and Practice
An intertheory comparison should be assessed with regards to what goals it seeks to accomplish. Traditionally reductions have sought to establish ontological primacy, and also to have the reducing theory explain features ... -
A Leap into Darkness: Domination and the Normative Structure of International Politics
(2013-11-14)Philosophers have developed sophisticated theories of domestic legitimacy that discuss how a coercive state could be justified to its citizens. Yet, theorizing about global justice is characterized by a pervasive methodological ... -
Love in Descartes' Metaphysics and Moral Philosophy
I argue for an account of René Descartes’ theory of love that is deeply rooted in his metaphysics and heavily influences his moral philosophy. Descartes maintains that the soul “join[s] itself in volition” to those it ... -
Metaphysical realism and antirealism: an analysis of the contemporary debate
(1996)The metaphysical realist asserts, while the metaphysical antirealist denies, that there are individuals that exist independently of the existence and workings of any mind or minds. I begin by distinguishing the thesis of ... -
Modal Truth: Integrating the Metaphysics, Epistemology, and Semantics of the Necessary and the Possible
The integration challenge for modality states that metaphysical theories of modality tend to fail in one of two ways: either they render the meanings of modal sentences mysterious, or they render modal knowledge mysterious. ... -
Modulating Agency: the Moral & Aesthetic Import of Closed-Loop Deep-Brain Stimulation
Deep-Brain Stimulation (DBS) is an FDA-approved treatment for symptoms of motor disorders—with experimental use for psychiatric disorders. DBS, however, causes a variety of side effects. The next generation of DBS ... -
The Normative Dimensions of State Action
States tend to be the centerpiece of International Relations theory, as they are commonly considered the primary actors of international relations. As such, states are commonly analyzed as intentional beings that act on ... -
Perceptual knowledge: explorations and extensions of the Sellarsian framework
(2004)The aim of my thesis is to outline a theory of epistemic justification for beliefs formed by sense perception. The project takes as its starting point the philosophical framework of Wilfrid Sellars. I begin with a discussion ... -
Retributive Hatred as a Reactive Moral Attitude
Philosophers' attention to negative attitudes has grown in recent decades. However, whereas philosophers have offered a number of descriptions of, and justifications for, attitudes like resentment and contempt, hatred is ... -
Science and the Structure of Social Experiment: A Socio-political Study of Climate Data Infrastructure
In recent years a growing literature on science addresses the problem - some may even call it a crisis - of science’s public legitimacy (Douglas 2009, Oreskes and Conway 2010, de Melo-Martin and Intemann 2018). Analysts ... -
Scientific Practice and Analogical Reasoning: The Problem of Ingrained Analogy
From metaphors that direct scientific inquiry to analogical inferences that justify particular hypotheses or models, analogical reasoning plays numerous roles in scientific practice. While in some cases the analogy is ... -
Seduced Into Caring: Virtue and the Life of the Reader
(2013-11-14)Can reading novels and watching films make you a morally better person? In my dissertation I argue that living a life in which the experience of fictional narrative artworks occupies a significant role--what I call the ... -
The Significance of Unintentional Omission: Moral Responsibility for the Failure to Act
(2012-09-13)Many people, if asked, would probably say that we are morally responsible only for actions we voluntarily and intentionally choose to perform. But the phenomenon of unintentional omission poses a special problem for this ...