Arete The Rutgers University Undergraduate Journal of Philosophy Issue 5, Summer 2012 Arete Acknowledgements The editors would like to thank Professor Ruth Chang and Mr. Preston Greene, both of the Rutgers University Philosophy Department, for their invaluable assistance in maintaining the presence of the undergraduate philosophy journal on campus, for giving us the opportunity to work with the hardworking and talented authors whose arguments fill the pages of this issue, and for trusting us to, in a limited capacity, represent the University and the Philosophy department. Of course, no journal could not exist without the essays that populate it, and so we must acknowledge the efforts of both the authors whose work we are proud to present here and those whose articles could not be accommodated in this issue. As a last note we would like to thank those whose patience, support, encouragement, and help aided each of us in the long editing process, as well as those who preceded us in the administration of Arete, and those we entrust it to in the future. Cover Illustration by Andrew Foltz-Morrison Adapted for Print by Connie Pollex Copyright © 2012, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey 2 The Rutgers University Undergraduate Journal of Philosophy 2011-2012 Staff Executive Board Editor in Chief Brian Pollex Corresponding Editor David Colaço Publishing Editor Andrew Foltz-Morrison Manuscript Readers & Editors David Colaço Richard Garzon James Goodrich Benjamin Gunn Ethan Karmel Brian Pollex John Ryan Jared Trachtenberg Readers Greg Arutiunov Tamika Baldwin Tom Coghlan Joshua Curtiss Andrew Foltz-Morrison Matt Menchaca Marcos Picchio Nick Rodriguez Batya Rosenblum Editors Arthur Kutoroff Matthew Rohal Zeerak Siddiqui 3 Arete Table of Contents Introduction……………………………………………………………..........6 Brian Pollex A Note from the Editor in Chief…………………………………............7 Fully Tracked Belief Greg Arutiunov, Rutgers University Introduction……………………………………………………………...9 Zeerak Siddiqui, Ethan Karmel, and Richard Garzon Article Text………………………………………………………………10 Rethinking the Republic Peter Zuk, Pepperdine University Introduction……………………………………………………………...15 Brian Pollex and Arthur Kutoroff Article Text………………………………………………………………17 The Variance Model of Perceived Value Natasha Dudzinski, Rutgers University Introduction……………………………………………………………...28 Benjamin Gunn and David Colaço Article Text………………………………………………………………29 What Emancipation Requires from Rawls’ Law of Peoples Kevin Chamow, University of Pittsburgh Introduction……………………………………………………………...41 John Ryan and James Goodrich Article Text………………………………………………………………42 Solving Parfit’s Puzzles Marcos Picchio, Rutgers University Introduction……………………………………………………………...55 Matthew Rohal and Jared Trachtenberg Article Text………………………………………………………………56 Brief Responses to the Articles…………………………………………..71 Arete Staff 4 The Rutgers University Undergraduate Journal of Philosophy 5 Arete Introduction Arete is a journal of philosophy written and edited by undergraduates. This is the fifth issue; each of the previous four are available online for free download in PDF format under the custodianship of the Rutgers University philosophy department. At the date of publication each issue is also made available in limited-run hard copy version. Some of these issues are kept at the Rutgers department, some are sent to nearby departments, and each published author receives an issue. The purpose of the journal is to showcase exceptional analytic work by undergraduates from around the English-speaking world, and to allow students to gain facility in editing philosophy. Arete is staffed entirely by Rutgers University undergraduates, who do their work for the journal as a one-credit course at Rutgers through the Philosophy department. Each year’s Editor in Chief supervises the class and reports to the Undergraduate Supervisor—there is no faculty presence in the room or controlling influence on the decisions of the staff, in terms of inclusion or editing of articles. The views expressed in the articles publishing within this issue are not a reflection of the considered position of any member of the R.U. Philosophy Department or the 2011-2012 Arete board. Arete only accepts work from students either in pursuit of a baccalaureate degree or who recently attained one. All publication decisions are made blind—that is, without the name of the author or his or her institution of higher education, to ensure fairness. Each essay is made the special province of a group of editors; these editors are also responsible for writing the introduction to the paper they worked with, and so the assignments are all revealed on the table of contents. Each paper’s lead editor is credited first in the byline of their respective introduction. Every issue begins with a Call for Papers, which usually comes due in September. This year we received more than 40 submissions from philosophy students in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. During the fall, the staff chooses which of the submitted papers to publish in the forthcoming issue. The spring is spent in correspondence with the authors, finalizing the text of the articles, as well as preparing the introductions to each article. Typesetting and publication take place over the summer. A point of particular pride at Arete is our editing process—where many other undergraduate journals merely publish submitted papers as is, papers published in Arete go through a semester of close reading and editing, requiring commitment both from prospective authors and the staff of the journal. It is not unusual for a paper to go through three substantive drafts after being accepted for publication. This process is very labor-intensive, and so the number of papers we can publish is limited not by space in a print edition but by the number of qualified Rutgers students who come forward to do this work. While our commitment to this level of editorial involvement limits the number of papers we can accept for publication, it is our view that the papers we do accept, and therefore, the issues we publish, are materially improved by this attention. 6 The Rutgers University Undergraduate Journal of Philosophy A Note from the Editor in Chief Undergraduates are frequently called upon to identify their course of study. When the response is philosophy, confusion often follows. The colloquial usage of the term has long since come apart from the academic usage, and so what it is, exactly, that students of philosophy do is something they must often explain, and justify. Although this journal does not constitute an exhaustive answer, it might be a first step towards an explanation. Within it you will find undergraduates tackling perennial philosophical questions (What is knowledge? How should we decide what to do?) and engaging with canonical philosophers and works (Plato’s Republic, Derek Parfit’s Reasons and Persons, the writings of John Rawls) using the techniques of contemporary philosophy. Although the analysis in Natasha Dudzinski’s Variance Model or Greg Arutiunov’s Fully Tracked Belief may intimidate the uninitiated, it is my hope that the papers that follow also evince a continued interest in the questions that most fire the human imagination, and in so doing, show why philosophy continues to attract such talented pupils. The authors and editors, though, are not academics, at least not yet, and this is not one of their fora. While such journals assume some familiarity with the literature of the pertinent sub- fields of philosophy, the staff of Arete have taken pains to make each article accessible to the broadest audience possible by accompanying them with an introduction that takes no prior reading of philosophy for granted. In publishing these pieces we do not, as individuals or as a group, avow any belief in the correctness of the views presented by the authors. Rather, we take these articles to represent the best work submitted to the journal for publication. It is our view that, especially in the case of undergraduate work, a wrongheaded position, if it is prosecuted by way of meticulous and rigorous argumentation, can be the subject of a meritorious essay. Interested readers will find, in the final section of this issue, responses to the articles as a continuation of our attempt to frame our authors’ work as completely as our spatial limitations allow. I hope that beyond commending exceptional work, you will find what follows to be both thought-provoking reading and a useful primer on the scope and depth of undergraduate work in philosophy. It has been a great privilege to serve as the Editor in Chief of Arete, and my time with the journal has been among the most memorable aspects of my undergraduate career. I for one am convinced of the value of the role Arete and other undergraduate journals serve, and it pleases me to know that Rutgers’ journal will continue in the years to come. Brian Pollex Editor in Chief September 6th, 2012 7 Arete 8 The Rutgers University Undergraduate Journal of Philosophy Fully Tracked Belief: Introduction Noted philosopher Peter Klein holds that Epistemology is generally concerned with two questions: “What distinguishes knowledge from mere true belief?” and “What is the extent of our knowledge?” The difference between knowledge and true belief has been at the core of philosophy since the time of Plato. In Plato’s dialogue, Meno, Socrates confronts this question, arguing that true beliefs are capricious, whereas knowledge “tethers” down true beliefs via aitias logismos (reasoned explanation).