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How Ought We Live?
How Ought We Live? The Ongoing Deconstruction of Our Values Mark Nielsen This thesis is submitted to the School of History and Philosophy at the University of New South Wales in fulfilment of the requirements of the PhD in Philosophy 2010 ii iii Dedication For Theresa and Charlotte. iv Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisor, Paul Patton, for his generous support in assisting me in the creation of this thesis. I am particularly grateful for his patience and understanding in relation to the research method I have used. I would also like to thank my co-supervisor, Rosalyn Diprose, for her generous support. Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Theresa, for her unwavering support over the years and for reminding me of what is important in life. v Table of Contents Title Page i Thesis/Dissertation Sheet ii Originality Statement, Copyright Statement and Authenticity Statement iii Dedication iv Acknowledgements v Table of Contents vi Introduction: Horizontal Philosophy and the Construction of an Ethical Rhizome 1 Macro-Sociological Plateaus 1. The Salesman as Values Educator: A Lesson From a Primary School Teacher 25 2. Feeling Unhappy and Overweight: Overconsumption and the Escalation of Desire 38 3. The Politics of Greed: Trivial Domestic Democracy 52 Philosophical Plateaus 4. The Democratic Rise of the Problem of ―How Ought We Live?‖ 67 5. Living in the Land of Moriah: The Problem of ―How Ought We Sacrifice?‖ 80 6. Welcome to the Mobile Emergency Room: A Convergence Between Ethics and Triage 101 7. Diagnostic Trans-Evaluation and the Creation of New Priorities 111 8. -
A Formal Mereology of Potential Parts
Not Another Brick in the Wall: an Extensional Mereology for Potential Parts Contents 0. Abstract .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 1 1. An Introduction to Potential Parts .......................................................................................................................................................... 1 2. The Physical Motivation for Potential Parts ............................................................................................................................................ 5 3. A Model for Potential Parts .................................................................................................................................................................... 9 3.1 Informal Semantics: Dressed Electron Propagator as Mereological Model ...................................................................................... 9 3.2 Formal Semantics: A Join Semi-Lattice ............................................................................................................................................ 10 3.3 Syntax: Mereological Axioms for Potential Parts ............................................................................................................................ 14 4. Conclusions About Potential Parts ....................................................................................................................................................... -
The Heart of the Matter
american academy of arts & sciences The Heart of the Matter The Humanities and Social Sciences for a vibrant, competitive, and secure nation Who will lead America into a bright future? Citizens who are educated in the broadest possible sense, so that they can participate in their own governance and engage with the world. An adaptable and creative workforce. Experts in national security, equipped with the cultural understanding, knowledge of social dynamics, and language proficiency to lead our foreign service and military through complex global conflicts. Elected officials and a broader public who exercise civil political discourse, founded on an appreciation of the ways our differences and commonalities have shaped our rich history. We must prepare the next generation to be these future leaders. commission on the humanities and social sciences The Heart of the Matter american academy of arts & sciences Cambridge, Massachusetts © 2013 by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences All rights reserved. isbn: 0-87724-096-5 The views expressed in this volume are those held by the contributors and are not necessarily those of the Officers and Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The Heart of the Matter is available online at http://www.amacad.org. Please direct inquiries to: American Academy of Arts & Sciences 136 Irving Street Cambridge, MA 02138-1996 Phone: 617-576-5000 Email: [email protected] www.amacad.org 5 Members of the Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences 6 Acknowledgments 9 Executive Summary 15 Introduction -
Michael Jraven
MICHAEL J RAVEN Department of Philosophy | University of Victoria P.O. BOX 1700 STN CSC | Victoria, BC V8W 2Y2 | CANADA [email protected] • raven.site RESEARCH INTERESTS metaphysics • ground; fundamentality; essence; social items; time; change language/mind • de re thought; mental states; aesthetic judgment epistemology • explanation; epistemic relativism ACADEMIC POSITIONS Professor, Philosophy, University of Victoria 2021— Affiliate Professor, Philosophy, University of Washington 2018— Associate Professor, Philosophy, University of Victoria 2013—2021 Visiting Scholar, Philosophy, University of Washington 2016-2017, 2012-2013 Assistant Professor, Philosophy, University of Victoria 2009-2013 Instructor, Philosophy, New York University 2008-2009 EDUCATION PHD, Philosophy, New York University 2009 [Kit Fine (chair), Ted Sider, Crispin Wright] MA, Philosophy, New York University 2007 [Ned Block (adviser) BA, Philosophy, Reed College 2002 [Mark Hinchliff (adviser)] GRANTS & FELLOWSHIPS Connection Grant ($15,640), Social Science & Humanities Research Council 2020 Humanities Faculty Fellowship (course release), University of Victoria 2020 Insight Grant ($152,589), Social Science & Humanities Research Council 2018-2022 [principal investigator: 2021-2022, collaborator: 2018-2020; co-applicant with Kathrin Koslicki] Connection Grant ($15,965), Social Science & Humanities Research Council 2018 Internal Research Grants ($29,428 total), University of Victoria 2010-2014,2016,2020 Conference Grant ($2000 - declined), Canadian Journal of Philosophy -
Matter and Mereology∗
Matter and mereology∗ Jeremy Goodman Draft of March 22, 2015 I am a material thing. But I am not the same thing as the matter out of which I am composed, since my matter, unlike me, could have existed as scattered interstellar dust. The distinction between matter and objects that are merely composed of matter is central to our ordinary conception of the material world. According to that conception, material objects have a hierarchical structure with matter at its foundation. This paper shows how matter and material constitution can be understood in terms of the part-whole relation.1 I present a novel mereology and apply it to debates about the persistence and plenitude of material objects, and compare my view to more familiar hylomorphic ones. A formal model of the theory is given in an appendix. 1 Anti-symmetry Consider the following principle: weak supplementation: If x is a proper part of y, then y has a part that does not overlap x. where x is a proper part of y =df x is a part of y and x 6= y. x overlaps y =df some part of x is part of y. Everyday cases of material coincidence are counterexamples to weak supple- mentation. A statue s composed of some clay c. c is distinct from s, since squashing c would destroy s but would not destroy c.2 c is part of s, since any ∗Thanks to Andrew Bacon, Cian Dorr, Maegan Fairchild, Kit Fine, Peter Fritz, John Hawthorne, Harvey Lederman, Gabriel Uzquiano, Tim Williamson and an anonymous referee for No^us for comments on previous versions of this paper, and to an audience at the University of Cambridge. -
The Question of Realism Ity
My aim in this paper is to help lay the conceptual and meth- odological foundations for the study of realism. I come to two main conclusions: first, that there is a primitive meta- physical concept of reality, one that cannot be understood in fundamentally different terms; and second, that questions of what is real are to be settled upon the basis of considerations of ground. The two conclusions are somewhat in tension with one another, for the lack of a definition of the concept of reality would appear to stand in the way of developing a sound methodology for determining its application; and one of my main concerns has been to show how the tension be- tween the two might be resolved. The paper is in two main parts. In the first, I point to the difficulties in making out a metaphysical conception of real- The Question of Realism ity. I begin by distinguishing this conception from the ordi- nary conception of reality (§1) and then show how the two leading contenders for the metaphysical conception—the factual and the irreducible—both appear to resist formula- tion in other terms. This leads to the quietist challenge, that Kit Fine questions of realism are either meaningless or pointless (§4); and the second part of the paper (§§5-10) is largely devoted to showing how this challenge might be met. I begin by in- troducing the notion of ground (§5) and then show how it can be used as a basis for resolving questions both of factual- ity (§§6-7) and of irreducibility (§§8-9). -
Vs. Aristotelian Essentialism
Contemporary “Essentialism” vs. Aristotelian Essentialism 1. The principal theses of contemporary “essentialism” vs. Aristotelian essentialism Contemporary “essentialism”, if we want to provide a succinct, yet sufficiently rigorous characterization, may be summarized in the thesis that some common terms are rigid designators.1 By the quotation marks I intend to indicate that I regard this as a somewhat improper (though, of course, permitted) usage of the term (after all, nomina significant ad placitum2). In contrast to this, essentialism, properly so-called, is the Aristotelian doctrine summarizable in the thesis—as we shall see, no less rigorous in its own theoretical context—that things have essences. The two theses, although related, are by no means identical. In this paper I wish to show exactly how these theses differ in virtue of the radically different conceptual frameworks in which they acquire their proper meaning, yet without these conceptual differences rendering them logically “incommensurable”. By this comparative analysis I hope to provide reasons to reconsider our contemporary philosophical problems in a historical perspective, realizing how their intrinsic difficulties stem from a contingently evolved conceptual heritage. In these considerations, being primarily concerned with the distinction between them, I am going to treat both contemporary “essentialism” and Aristotelian essentialism very broadly and rather indistinctly in themselves, in the sense that I am not going to delve into otherwise importantly different versions of either of the two. For reasons of clarity and influence I have selected Kripke and Aquinas as paradigmatic representatives of their respective conceptual frameworks. Nevertheless, I will try to treat these frameworks in such general terms as to be able to cover the thought of a great number of similarly important thinkers. -
A Year to Write the Poems I Am Not Writing: Mary Kinzie at the National Humanities Center SPRING / SUMMER 2006 Mary Kinzie (William C
NEWSof the National Humanities Center A Year to Write the Poems I Am Not Writing: Mary Kinzie at the National Humanities Center SPRING / SUMMER 2006 Mary Kinzie (William C. and Ida Friday Senior Fellow) is the author of A Poet’s Guide From the President and Director. 2 to Poetry and six collections of poetry, including Summers of Vietnam, Autumn Eros, Ghost Ship, and Drift. She teaches in the creative writing program that she founded two decades ago at Northwestern University. During her fellowship at the National CSI: Fall River . 3 Humanities Center she has worked on a series of poems that arose from an exploration Cara Robertson on Lizzie Borden and Other Crimes of the border between poetry and prose called “The Poems I Am Not Writing,” which appeared in Poetry magazine last year. In a recent interview she described the poems she has and hasn’t been writing, her efforts to break the stranglehold of blank verse, Digital “Wizard” Receives . 5 and how, despite taking a year away from her duties at Northwestern, she found her- Lyman Award self leading a poetry seminar for a group of very advanced students. 2006–07 Fellows Named . 6 You have described your essay, “The Where has that led you? Poems I Am Not Writing,” as a “first The lines of these poems emerging Grants Launch Dialog . 7 attempt to negotiate between not writing from “perfected prose” were very long on the Human and writing” following a period in which and that in turn helped me to start you struggled to bring new work to fruition. -
Invaluable. WK)
DOCUMENT RESUME ED 193 745 EA 012 734 AUTHOR Weiland, Steven, Ed. TITLE Citizens, Scholars and the Humanities: An Introduction to State Humanities Programs. Federation Resources 1. INSTITUTION Federation of Public Programs in the Humanities, Minneapolis, Minn. SPONS AGENCY National Endowment for the Humanities (NFAH) , Washington, D.C. PUB DATE BO NOTE 130p. AVAILABLE FROM Federation of Public Programs in the Humanities, 15 S. 5th St., Suite 720, Minneapolis, MN 55402 ($3.00: quantity disccunt) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC06 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Audiovisual Communications: Cultural Activities: *Humanities: Pcsition Papers: Public Policy; Public Support: Sciences: Social Sciences: *State Programs IDENTIFIERS *Federaticn of Public Programs in the Humanities: *National Endowment for the Humanities ABSTRACT This collecticn of essays seeks to offer a composite portrait of state humanities programs from a wide range of viewpoints. Topics explored include: the role of the National Endowment for the Humanities: the importance of the humanities; origins and new directions for state programs: humanities and the issues of public policy, the arts, science, and the social sciences: the use of the media in state humanities programs: political ramifications in the areas of funding and accountability: and the difficulties that threaten the continuation of state humanities programs. A listing of state humanities councils is included in the appendix. The various authors stress that the values and wisdom promoted by the humanities make the development of state -
Better Semantics for the Pure Logic of Ground
Better Semantics for the Pure Logic of Ground Louis deRosset [Forthcoming in Analytic Philosophy] September 23, 2015 Abstract Philosophers have spilled a lot of ink over the past few years exploring the nature and significance of grounding. Kit Fine has made several sem- inal contributions to this discussion, including an exact treatment of the formal features of grounding [Fine, 2012a]. He has specified a language in which grounding claims may be expressed, proposed a system of ax- ioms which capture the relevant formal features, and offered a semantics which interprets the language. Unfortunately, the semantics Fine offers faces a number of problems. In this paper, I review the problems and offer an alternative that avoids them. I offer a semantics for the pure logic of ground that is motivated by ideas already present in the ground- ing literature, and for which a natural axiomatization capturing central formal features of grounding is sound and complete. I also show how the semantics I offer avoids the problems faced by Fine's semantics. Philosophers have spilled a lot of ink over the past few years exploring the nature and significance of grounding. Grounding is supposed to be a certain relation of dependence and determination among facts. This relation is linked with a certain kind of explanation. It is targeted by the sort of explanations we give sometimes when we say that some facts obtain in virtue of other facts and when we ask what makes something the case. When, for instance, ethi- cists ask what makes murder wrong, epistemologists ask what makes my belief that I have hands justified, chemists ask what makes alcohol miscible in wa- ter, and physicists ask what makes gravity so weak, they are asking after the worldly conditions on which the facts in question depend, and by which they are determined. -
Chris Scambler
Chris Scambler New York University Phone: +1 (929) 422-9674 Department of Philosophy Email: [email protected] 5 Washington Place Web: https://chrisjscambler.com New York, NY 10003 United States Areas of specialization Logic, Foundations of Mathematics Areas of competence Metaphysics, Philosophy of Physics, Philosophy of Mind Publications Forth. \Transfinite Meta-inferences": Journal of Philosophical Logic Forth. \A Justification for the Quantificational Hume Principle": Erkenntnis Forth. “Ineffability and Revenge": Review of Symbolic Logic 2020 \Classical Logic and the Strict Tolerant Hierarchy", 49, 351-370: Journal of Philosophical Logic 2020 \An Indeterminate Universe of Sets" 197, 545-573: Synthese Education 2015 - present Ph.D. in Philosophy, New York University. Dissertation title: Was the Cantorian Turn Rationally Required? Committee: Hartry Field (chair), Kit Fine, Graham Priest, Crispin Wright August 2019 Visiting Scholar, University of Oslo (ConceptLab, funded fellowship) July 2016 Visiting Scholar, University of Vienna (Kurt G¨odelResearch Center, funded fellowship) 2014 - 2015 M.Res in Philosophy, Birmingham University. Dissertation title: An indeterminate universe of sets. 2012 - 2014 Conversion MA in Philosophy, Birkbeck College, University of London. 1 Presentations Aug 2020 Comments on Button and Walsh's `Philosophy of Model Theory', European Congress of Analytic Philosophy (invited) Feb 2020 \Categoricity and Determinacy", workshop on Structuralist Foundations, University of Vienna (invited) July 2019 \Can All Things Be -
Relevance and Relationalism
Int Ontology Metaphysics (2011) 12:19–30 DOI 10.1007/s12133-011-0074-6 ORIGINAL PAPER Relevance and Relationalism Mark Young Published online: 25 February 2011 # The Author(s) 2011. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract This paper will provide support for relationalism; the claim that the identity of objects is constituted by the totality of their relations to other things in the world. I will consider how Kit Fine’s criticisms of essentialism within modal logic not only highlight the inability of modal logic to account for essential properties but also arouse suspicion surrounding the possibility of nonrelational properties. I will claim that Fine’s criticisms, together with concerns surrounding Hempel’s paradox, show that it is not possible to provide a satisfactory account of certain properties in abstraction from their place within a wider context. Next, we will shift attention to natural kinds and consider the notion that relevance plays in metaphysical accounts of identity, by examining Peter Geach’s notion of relative identity. I will argue that the intensional relation between subject and object must be included in a satisfactory account of metaphysical identity. Keywords Relevance . Relationalism . Holism . Anti-essentialism The aim of this paper will be to provide support for a form of ontological holism that fills the vacuum in analytic philosophy, namely the “relationality thesis.” Versions of this thesis can be found in the early work of Heidegger,1 and throughout the work of Richard Rorty. For the purposes of this essay, we will take the relationality thesis to be the claim that the identity of objects is constituted by the totality of their relations to other things in the world.