Browsing Philosophy by Title
Now showing items 23-42 of 45
-
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 ... -
The Aesthetic Appreciation of Ruins
It is the goal of my dissertation to explain our peculiar aesthetic fascination with architectural ruins and to show why ruins are worthy of our time and aesthetic appreciation. I propose a model of aesthetic appreciation ... -
The Mismeasure of Woman: The Epistemic and Social Impacts of Gendered Citation Practices
This dissertation will explore the philosophical problems that arise from the finding that women are cited less frequently than men in a number of sciences, what I’ll call gendered citation practices. Gendered citation ... -
The priority of being to truth according to Aristotle
(1969)There appears to be a difficulty in the account which Aristotle offers of being and truth in the Categories and De Interpretatione. In general terms, Aristotle's position is the "realist" one that "propositions are true ... -
The Resurrection of Radical Pacifism: A Defense
Within the ethics of self-defense, the predominant view is that there are liability justifications for harming. A minority position, which I call radical pacifism, denies that there are liability justifications for harming. ... -
Toward a linguistic conception of thought
(2006)The traditional, and still most common, view of the relationship between language and thought is that language is merely a tool for expressing thoughts. I argue that this view is mistaken and that language is the very thing ... -
Toward a Pragmatic Ontology of Scientific Concepts
I argue that current projects in 'naturalized metaphysics' fail to be properly naturalistic, and thereby fail in their stated aim to take one's metaphysics from science. I argue that naturalism must involve the idea of ... -
Tower to Agora: Insularity and Philosophical Methodology
Academic philosophy sits at a methodological crossroads, facing threats to its foundational practices, well-justified challenges to its lack of diversity across several axes, and fears of irrelevancy in response to modern ... -
Troubling Others and Tormenting Ourselves: The Nature and Moral Significance of Jealousy
(2013-02-25)Jealousy is an emotion that arises in diverse circumstances and is experienced in phenomenologically diverse ways. In part because of this diversity, evaluations of jealous subjects tend to be conflicting and ambiguous. ...