Responses to Medieval Nominalism in John Wyclifs
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The Coherence of Stoic Ontology
The Coherence of Stoic Ontology by Vanessa de Harven A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Prof. Dorothea Frede, Co-chair Prof. Klaus Corcilius, Co-chair Prof. A.A. Long Spring 2012 Abstract The Coherence of Stoic Ontology by Vanessa de Harven Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy University of California, Berkeley Professors Dorothea Frede and Klaus Corcilius, Co-chairs Any thoroughgoing physicalist is challenged to give an account of immaterial entities such as thoughts and mathematical objects. The Stoics, who eagerly affirmed that only bodies exist, crafted an elegant solution to this challenge: not everything that is Something (ti) exists. Rather, some things have a derivative mode of reality they call subsistence: these entities are non-existent in that they are not themselves solid bodies, but they are nonetheless Something physical because they depend on bodies for their subsistence. My dissertation uncovers the unifying principles of Stoic subsistence, and shows how they can account for thoughts and other immaterial entities without running afoul of their physicalist commitments. While all commentators agree that the Stoics posited Something as the highest category of being, they have failed to find a coherent physicalist account of Stoic ontology. For instance, (1) a canonical set of incorporeals (time, place, void, and what is sayable (lekton)) is well attested, but there is little agreement as to what these entities have in common as incorporeals, which makes the category look like an ad hoc collection of left-over entities. -
Plutarch's 'Lives' and the Critical Reader
Plutarch's 'Lives' and the critical reader Book or Report Section Published Version Duff, T. (2011) Plutarch's 'Lives' and the critical reader. In: Roskam, G. and Van der Stockt, L. (eds.) Virtues for the people: aspects of Plutarch's ethics. Plutarchea Hypomnemata (4). Leuven University Press, Leuven, pp. 59-82. ISBN 9789058678584 Available at http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/24388/ It is advisable to refer to the publisher’s version if you intend to cite from the work. See Guidance on citing . Publisher: Leuven University Press All outputs in CentAUR are protected by Intellectual Property Rights law, including copyright law. Copyright and IPR is retained by the creators or other copyright holders. Terms and conditions for use of this material are defined in the End User Agreement . www.reading.ac.uk/centaur CentAUR Central Archive at the University of Reading Reading’s research outputs online Reprint from Virtues for the People. Aspects of Plutarchan Ethics - ISBN 978 90 5867 858 4 - Leuven University Press virtues for the people aspects of plutarchan ethics Reprint from Virtues for the People. Aspects of Plutarchan Ethics - ISBN 978 90 5867 858 4 - Leuven University Press PLUTARCHEA HYPOMNEMATA Editorial Board Jan Opsomer (K.U.Leuven) Geert Roskam (K.U.Leuven) Frances Titchener (Utah State University, Logan) Luc Van der Stockt (K.U.Leuven) Advisory Board F. Alesse (ILIESI-CNR, Roma) M. Beck (University of South Carolina, Columbia) J. Beneker (University of Wisconsin, Madison) H.-G. Ingenkamp (Universität Bonn) A.G. Nikolaidis (University of Crete, Rethymno) Chr. Pelling (Christ Church, Oxford) A. Pérez Jiménez (Universidad de Málaga) Th. -
Inside the Epistemological Cave All Bets Are
Inside the epistemological cave all bets are off Colin Wight Department of Politics, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, The University of Exeter, The Queen’s Drive, Exeter, Devon EX4 4QJ, UK. E-mail: [email protected] In this short rejoinder to Friedrich Kratochwil’s plea for a ‘pragmatic approach to theory building’, I argue that, despite his claims to the contrary, his position essentially rests on a curious form of foundationalism and relativism. The problem, as I identify it, is that Kratochwil’s attempt to move contemporary debate forward fails because he treats the issue only in epistemological terms. Kratochwil is deeply suspicious of the very idea of the ‘real world’and reduces it to an infinitely malleable construct of our ways of thinking and talking about it. This means that he remains trapped in the epistemological cave and is condemned to an endless quest to solve problems that have no solution. But the real world is not simply something that we think and talk about but, rather, we engage with it in practice and as such it offers resistance to our attempts to grasp it. Hence, it is not a subject without a voice in the global conversation. This is an important theoretical limit, particularly in relation to contemporary issues surrounding global environmental problems. Journal of International Relations and Development (2007) 10, 40–56. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jird.1800109 Keywords: dogmatism epistemology; foundationalism; reality; relativism; theoretical pluralism; truth Introduction When, in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, the prisoner released from his chains returns to inform his fellow inmates that he has discovered that their world is an illusion, he could be forgiven for being surprised by their response. -
Librarianship and the Philosophy of Information
University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal) Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln July 2005 Librarianship and the Philosophy of Information Ken R. Herold Hamilton College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac Part of the Library and Information Science Commons Herold, Ken R., "Librarianship and the Philosophy of Information" (2005). Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal). 27. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/27 Library Philosophy and Practice Vol. 3, No. 2 (Spring 2001) (www.uidaho.edu/~mbolin/lppv3n2.htm) ISSN 1522-0222 Librarianship and the Philosophy of Information Ken R. Herold Systems Manager Burke Library Hamilton College Clinton, NY 13323 “My purpose is to tell of bodies which have been transformed into shapes of a different kind.” Ovid, Metamorphoses Part I. Library Philosophy Provocation Information seems to be ubiquitous, diaphanous, a-categorical, discrete, a- dimensional, and knowing. · Ubiquitous. Information is ever-present and pervasive in our technology and beyond in our thinking about the world, appearing to be a generic ‘thing’ arising from all of our contacts with each other and our environment, whether thought of in terms of communication or cognition. For librarians information is a universal concept, at its greatest extent total in content and comprehensive in scope, even though we may not agree that all information is library information. · Diaphanous. Due to its virtuality, the manner in which information has the capacity to make an effect, information is freedom. In many aspects it exhibits a transparent quality, a window-like clarity as between source and patron in an ideal interface or a perfect exchange without bias. -
Aquinas on Attributes
CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by MedievaleCommons@Cornell Philosophy and Theology 11 (2003), 1–41. Printed in the United States of America. Copyright C 2004 Cambridge University Press 1057-0608 DOI: 10.1017/S105706080300001X Aquinas on Attributes BRIAN LEFTOW Oriel College, Oxford Aquinas’ theory of attributes is one of the most obscure, controversial parts of his thought. There is no agreement even on so basic a matter as where he falls in the standard scheme of classifying such theories: to Copleston, he is a resemblance-nominalist1; to Armstrong, a “concept nominalist”2; to Edwards and Spade, “almost as strong a realist as Duns Scotus”3; to Gracia, Pannier, and Sullivan, neither realist nor nominalist4; to Hamlyn, the Middle Ages’ “prime exponent of realism,” although his theory adds elements of nominalism and “conceptualism”5; to Wolterstorff, just inconsistent.6 I now set out Aquinas’ view and try to answer the vexed question of how to classify it. Part of the confusion here is terminological. As emerges below, Thomas believed in “tropes” of “lowest” (infima) species of accidents and (I argue) substances.7 Many now class trope theories as a form of nominalism,8 while 1. F. C. Copleston, Aquinas (Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1955), P. 94. 2. D. M. Armstrong, Nominalism and Realism (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1978), pp. 25, 83, 87. Armstrong is tentative about this. 3. Sandra Edwards, “The Realism of Aquinas,” The New Scholasticism 59 (1985): 79; Paul Vincent Spade, “Degrees of Being, Degrees of Goodness,” in Aquinas’ Moral Theory, ed. -
On the Inerrancy of Scripture
ON THE INERRANCY OF SCRIPTURE David P. Bolin You do err, knowing neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. Matthew 22:29 I. Introduction In many of the recent writings of Scripture scholars there seems to be a certain reluctance to discuss the nature of the inspiration of Scripture and its relation to the interpretation ofScripture. For example, the document ofthe Pontifical Bib lical Commission, The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church, denies that it intends to consider the theology of inspiration. The Commission does not aim to adopt a position on all the questions which arise with respect to the Bible-such as, for example, the theology of inspiration. What it has in mind is to examine all the methods likely to contribute effectively to the task of making more available the riches coutained in the biblical texts. 1 But in order for the Biblical Commission to achieve its stated goal, it is necessary for it to take some position regard- David Bolin earned last year the degree ofLicentiate in Sacred Theo logy from the International Theological Institute for Marriage and the Family. This article is the thesis he submitted as part of the requirement for that degree. 1 The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church, trans.]. Kilgallen and B. Byrne (Rome: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1993), 32-33. 23 ON THE INERRANCY OF ScRIPTURE David P. Bolin ing t~e n~t~re of inspiration and its effects on Scripture, if Examples such as this reveal both that the Commission is only 1mphe1tly, even if this is contrary to the Commission's right to reject this kind of interpretation, and that it is nec intentions. -
Philosophy 125 — Day 9: Overview Nominalism XVII: Metalinguistic
Branden Fitelson Philosophy 125 Lecture 1 Branden Fitelson Philosophy 125 Lecture 2 ' $ ' Philosophy 125 — Day 9: Overview $ Nominalism XVII: Metalinguistic Nominalism 2 • Administrative Stuff • Metalinguistic nominalists think that realists and austere nominalists make the same kind of mistake: thinking that there must be some non-lingusitic entities – Guest Lecture Thursday: Ed Zalta on Abstract Objects to which terms like “courage” (in, e.g., “Courage is a virtue”) refer. ∗ Introducing Ed — via iChatAV – First Paper Topics and S.Q.s announced last week (see website) • For realists, these entities are universals, for austere nominalists, the entities are concrete particulars (e.g., courageous persons). The metalingustic – Lectures should be up to date (sometimes I fiddle before lecture) nominalist thinks both the realist and the austere nominalist are incorrect. • Agenda: Nominalism • Carnap sketches how a systematic and precise metalinguistic nominalistic – Metalingusitc Nominalism theory might be worked out. Carnap proposes (roughly) that claims like ∗ Carnap’s Naive Proposal “Courage is a virtue” get unpacked as claims about predicates in languages: ∗ Sellars’ Refinement ∗ Residual Problems “Courage is a virtue” 7→ “ ‘Courageous’ is a virtue predicate”. “Trangularity is a shape” 7→ “ ‘Triangular’ is a shape predicate”. – Trope Theory ∗ The best of both worlds? • Problems: (1) Linguistic types vs linguistic tokens (trading new universals for ∗ Plus set theory? old ones?), (2) Language relativity (abs. claims don’t seem language relative). & Nominalism (Cont’d) 09/23%/03 & Nominalism (Cont’d) 09/23/03 % Y¿yellow[0pt]c Branden Fitelson Philosophy 125 Lecture 3 Branden Fitelson Philosophy 125 Lecture 4 ' Nominalism XIX: Metalinguistic Nominalism 4 $' Nominalism XX: Metalinguistic Nominalism 5 $ • Sellars addresses this first problem (for nominalism) of linguistic types/tokens • To address problem (2), Sellars introduces what he calls dot-quotation. -
Existence and Reference in Medieval Logic
GYULA KLIMA EXISTENCE AND REFERENCE IN MEDIEVAL LOGIC 1. Introduction: Existential Assumptions in Modern vs. Medieval Logic “The expression ‘free logic’ is an abbreviation for the phrase ‘free of existence assumptions with respect to its terms, general and singular’.”1 Classical quantification theory is not a free logic in this sense, as its standard formulations commonly assume that every singular term in every model is assigned a referent, an element of the universe of discourse. Indeed, since singular terms include not only singular constants, but also variables2, standard quantification theory may be regarded as involving even the assumption of the existence of the values of its variables, in accordance with Quine’s famous dictum: “to be is to be the value of a variable”.3 But according to some modern interpretations of Aristotelian syllogistic, Aristotle’s theory would involve an even stronger existential assumption, not shared by quantification theory, namely, the assumption of the non-emptiness of common terms.4 Indeed, the need for such an assumption seems to be supported not only by a number of syllogistic forms, which without this assumption appear to be invalid, but also by the doctrine of Aristotle’s De Interpretatione concerning the logical relationships among categorical propositions, commonly summarized in the Square of Opposition. For example, Aristotle’s theory states that universal affirmative propositions imply particular affirmative propositions. But if we formalize such propositions in quantification theory, we get formulae between which the corresponding implication does not hold. So, evidently, there is some discrepancy between the ways Aristotle and quantification theory interpret these categoricals. -
UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations
UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Pluralism and Realism Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2n611357 Author Evpak, Matthew Publication Date 2018 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO Pluralism and Realism A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy by Matthew Evpak Committee in charge: Professor Gila Sher, Chair Professor Samuel Buss Professor Andrew Kehler Professor Donald Rutherford Professor Clinton Tolley 2018 The Dissertation of Matthew Evpak is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ Chair University of California San Diego 2018 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ iii Table of Contents .................................................................................................................................................................................................... -
Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
MIDWESTERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY UNCHANGING BEAUTY: FAITH AS THE APPREHENSION OF THE IMMUTABLE GOD’S GLORY REVEALED IN THE SON A PAPER SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE COURSE DR 01-37395 ADVANCED SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY BY SAMUEL G. PARKISON KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI AUGUST, 19 2018 Introduction Two topics that have generated considerable attention in the field of systematic theology as of late are aesthetics1 and classical theism.2 Though neither topic is new to the Church’s life, each have experienced relative neglect and resurgence. However, notwithstanding how much attention both these theological loci have received, they are not often discussed in relation to one another. This paper seeks to explore their convergence in Christology. To be specific, we seek to answer: is the doctrine of divine immutability compatible with an aesthetic-soteriology, in which Christological glory elicits faith? This paper will contend for the affirmative: indeed, not only is divine immutability compatible with such an aesthetic-soteriology, it is necessary for it to work. Christology will thus serve as the gravitational center for this study, pulling these two areas of interest together. The aesthetic interest of saving faith is Christ, the Word made flesh. Likewise, the central challenge to divine immutability is Christ, the Word made flesh. Structurally, this paper will move from an examination of the aesthetic dimension of saving faith, to Christ’s revelatory role of the immutable God in the incarnation, and will conclude with a brief consideration and response to divine immutability’s challenge in light of the incarnation. Thus, we will show that saving faith in Jesus—as a response to his irresistible beauty—results in mediated access to the unchanging, beautiful Triune God. -
Empiricism, Stances, and the Problem of Voluntarism
Swarthmore College Works Philosophy Faculty Works Philosophy 1-1-2011 Empiricism, Stances, And The Problem Of Voluntarism Peter Baumann Swarthmore College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-philosophy Part of the Philosophy Commons Let us know how access to these works benefits ouy Recommended Citation Peter Baumann. (2011). "Empiricism, Stances, And The Problem Of Voluntarism". Synthese. Volume 178, Issue 1. 27-36. DOI: 10.1007/s11229-009-9519-7 https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-philosophy/13 This work is brought to you for free by Swarthmore College Libraries' Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Philosophy Faculty Works by an authorized administrator of Works. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Empiricism, Stances and the Problem of Voluntarism Peter Baumann Synthese 178, 2011, 207-224 Empiricism can be very roughly characterized as the view that our knowledge about the world is based on sensory experience. Our knowledge about the world is "based" on sensory experience in the sense that we could not know what we know without relying on sense experience. This leaves open the possibility that sense experience is only necessary but not sufficient for the knowledge based upon it1-as long as the non-empirical elements are not themselves sufficient for the relevant piece of knowledge.2 The basing relation is not just a genetic one but also a justificatory one: Sense experience does not only lead to beliefs which happen to count as knowledge but also qualifies them as knowledge. In his important book The Empirical Stance Bas van Fraassen characterizes traditional empiricism at one point in a more negative way-as involving the rejection of "metaphysical" explanations which proceed by postulating the existence of something not 1 "But although all our cognition commences with experience, yet it does not on that account all arise from experience." (Kant, CpR, B1). -
Can This Bird Fly?
Can This Bird Fly? Repositioning the Genesis of the Reformation on Martin Luther’s Early Polemic against Gabriel Biel’s Covenantal, Voluntarist Doctrine of Justification Matthew Barrett Matthew Barrett is Associate Professor of Christian Theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Kansas City, Missouri. He earned his PhD in systematic theology from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of several books, including 40 Questions About Salvation (Kregel, 2018); God’s Word Alone: The Authority of Scripture (Zondervan, 2016); Owen on the Christian Life (with Michael Haykin, Crossway, 2015), and Salvation by Grace: The Case for Effectual Calling and Regeneration (P&R, 2013). He is also the editor of Reformation Theology: A Systematic Summary (Crossway, 2017). Dr. Barrett is the founder and executive editor ofCredo Magazine and the series editor of The Five Solas series. Turning the turning point History is a series of turning points that hinge on decisions inherently theolog- ical in nature. The publication and posting of the ninety-five theses by Martin Luther in 1517 is, in the opinion of many historians, that turning point on which the entire modern era depends. Historical inquiries into those theses naturally focus on Luther’s growing discontent with the indulgence system. As Luther himself would increasingly discover, his own desire for reform would be pastorally motivated, troubled as he was by the way indulgences had swayed the average late medieval Christian to use what little money he had to secure the removal of temporal punishment for sins in purgatory. Tetzel’s dramatic sermon pressuring the purchase of an indulgence only confirms that Luther’s fears were warranted.1 Nevertheless, contemporary histories pay little tribute to the complicated SBJT 21.4 (2017): 61-101 61 The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 21.4 (2017) medieval soteriology behind Luther’s early outrage over indulgences in 1516 and 1517.