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1
Barnard, Helen. "Nature, human nature and value : a study in environmental philosophy." Thesis, Cardiff University, 2006. http://orca.cf.ac.uk/54314/.
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The main concern of environmental philosophy has been to find value for nature. The thesis is an attempt to link a theory of nature, a theory of human nature and a theory of value, which Andrew Brennan stipulated for a viable environmental philosophy. The problem is set forward in Part I where a definition of nature is explored. The complexity of the task leads to a brief history of the concept of nature (after a criticism of other historical accounts by three environmental philosophers) whereby two opposing explanations of nature and human nature are revealed: teleological and non-teleological. Part II traces the decline of teleological explanation in favour of non-teleological explanations and the development of two main explanations of human nature in relation to nature that are prevalent today: Ultra-Darwinism (a reductionist explanation of human nature) and postmodernism. An analysis of these two positions shows that neither have an adequate metaphysics for finding value for nature, and this is revealed by an examination of two different types of environmental philosophy influenced respectively by the two opposing views. In Part III the problem of values is discussed with particular emphasis on moral values. An argument for objective values based on objective knowledge is put forward as well as a theory of human nature which leads to the conclusion that teleological explanations link a theory of nature, a theory of human nature and a theory of value more satisfactorily than the non-teleological explanations of Ultra-Darwinism and postmodernism. The relevance of this conclusion to the problems of the environment is shown.
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Pegan, Philip R. "The nature of assertion." Related electronic resource: Current Research at SU : database of SU dissertations, recent titles available full text, 2006. http://proquest.umi.com/login?COPT=REJTPTU0NWQmSU5UPTAmVkVSPTI=&clientId=3739.
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Radzik, Linda Christine 1970. "The nature of normativity." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/288845.
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There is something mysterious, and perhaps even dubious, about 'ought' claims. They seem to exert an authoritative power, a "binding force," over us. The norms of morality are most often said to exhibit such an authoritative force. The "queerness" of this alleged property has led many to moral skepticism. But, normative authority is no less mysterious in the case of the 'oughts' of epistemics, logic or prudence. The questions "Why should I believe the truth? accept deductive inferences? act prudently?" are puzzling in the same way as the more familiar worry "Why should I be moral?" Moral philosophers who have tried to explain the nature of normative authority have most frequently focused their efforts on developing theories of the nature of moral facts, our epistemic access to such facts, or our motivational responses to them. It seems to me that each of these approaches is inadequate to the task of capturing normative force. One may know that it is a fact that stealing is immoral but still wonder whether one should steal. One may feel a strong motivation to be honest without being convinced that there is good reason to be so motivated. We will not clear up the mystery of normative authority by clearing up the metaphysics, epistemology, or motivational efficacy of norms. I contend that normative authority is a matter of justification. A norm is authoritative for an agent if and only if it is justified in a thorough-going sense, which I refer to as "justification simpliciter." I analyze the nature of justification simpliciter by means of an extended analogy with epistemic justification. There is a regress problem with justification simpliciter, and there are foundationalist, coherentist and externalist approaches to solving that problem. I conclude that foundationalist and externalist models of justification simpliciter fail. I then develop a coherentist theory of the nature of normativity, called Reflective Endorsement Coherentism. According to this theory, an agent is justified in accepting norm N as a guide to her action if and only if she can both endorse N upon reflection and reflectively endorse her own practices of endorsement.
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Zakatistovs, Atis. "Hume's science of human nature." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/9839.
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In my thesis I propose a new interpretation of Book I of A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume. I claim that this Book must be read in the light of the Introduction to the Treatise. Thus, my interpretation revolves around Hume's intention of creating a new system of the sciences on the basis of his science of man. In this thesis I pay close attention to the following subjects: the analysis of the 'vulgar'; Hume's discussion about the impact of predispositions on our ideas; the distinction between the concept of causation and the process of causation. Finally, I discuss Hume's position on the question of the simplicity and complexity of ideas.
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Charette, Pierre. "Nature, reasons, and moral meaningfulness." Thesis, McGill University, 2008. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=21923.
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The "anthropology of moral life", or "moral anthropology", is an approach to moral philosophy which I take to have been initiated by Peter Strawson, and developed, independently and in different ways, by David Wiggins and Daniel Dennett. I take the respective moral anthropologies of Wiggins and Dennett to be complementary, and I propose to synthesize them within a Dennettian framework. The framework involves the definition of a "rationally acceptable language". Descriptions and accounts stated in that language are ontologically interpreted in the light of Dennett's ontology, and the knowledge claims made in the language are assessed in the light of his epistemology, which I take to include a "thesis of anthropocentricity". That thesis, also propounded by Wiggins, confers a vindicatory character to those philosophical accounts to which it is directly related. Thus, both Wiggins' and Dennett's respective moral anthropologies have a strong vindicatory character in regard to common moral life. Moral anthropology shows how the dispositional constitution of the human species "underdetermines" (i.e. conditions and constrains, but does not determine) the standards of correctness by reference to which we morally assess conduct, sentiments and judgments, including judgments about what is "morally meaningful". Wiggins' moral anthropology proposes a largely Humean theory of human nature, as well as an insightful description of morality, and of the "unforsakeable" concerns, motives, purposes, needs, aspirations and expectations that are attached to it, and which as such vindicate it. Dennett's moral anthropology proposes an evolutionary theory of human nature, and relates it to a compatibilist account of moral responsibility, free will, and moral decision-making. Regarding the latter, Dennett emphasizes, given our predicament as limited but committed beings, the importance of deliberation-stopping maxims, which I take to play in his moral anthropology a role similar to thatL' "anthropologie de la vie morale", ou "anthropologie morale", consiste en une approche de la philosophie morale initiée, au sein de la tradition analytique, par Peter Strawson, et développée, de façons différentes et indépendantes, par David Wiggins ainsi que par Daniel Dennett. Je tiens les anthropologies morales respectives de Wiggins et de Dennett pour complémentaires, et je propose leur synthèse au sein d'un cadre doctrinal dennettien. Le cadre doctrinal en question inclut la définition d'un langage "rationellement acceptable". Les descriptions et comptes rendus énoncés dans ce langage sont interprétés ontologiquement à la lumière de l'ontologie de Dennett, et les énoncés candidats au statut de connaissance sont évalués selon son épistémologie, dont j'affirme qu'elle inclut la thèse de l' "anthropocentricité". Cette thèse, également défendue par Wiggins, confère aux comptes rendus philosophiques auxquelles elle est directement liée, un caractère de validation. Aussi les anthropologies morales respectives de Wiggins et de Dennett valident-elles toutes deux, en grande partie, la vie morale ordinaire. L'anthropologie morale montre comment la constitution dispositionnelle de l'espèce humaine sous-détermine (c'est-à-dire conditionne et contraint, sans pour autant déterminer) les standards de correction par référence auxquels nous évaluons moralement la conduite, les sentiments et les jugements, y compris les jugements portant sur la "signification morale". L'anthropologie morale de Wiggins propose une théorie largement humienne de la nature humaine, ainsi qu' une description pénétrante de la moralité, et des préoccupations, motifs, buts, besoins, aspirations et expectatives "inaliénables" qui y sont attachés, et qui en tant que tels la valident. L'anthropologie morale de Dennett propose une théorie évolutionniste de la nature humaine, et la relie à un compte rendu compatibiliste de la responsabilité morale, du libr
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Thompson, Bradley Jon. "The nature of phenomenal content." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/289959.
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There is something it is like to see a bright red cardinal, to touch a stucco wall, or to hear an ambulance pass by. Each of these experiences has a distinctive phenomenal character. But in virtue of what it is like to have a particular experience--in virtue of the experience's phenomenal character--the world is presented to the subject as being a certain way. The dissertation is concerned with the nature of this "phenomenal content". In Chapter One I argue that there is such a thing as phenomenal content, understood as intentional content that supervenes necessarily on phenomenal character. The rest of the dissertation is concerned with the nature of this phenomenal content, and in particular the phenomenal content of visual experiences. In Chapter Two I present and critique the dominant view about phenomenal color content, what I call "standard Russellianism". According to standard Russellianism, the content of color experience consists solely in the representation of specific mind-independent physical color properties. I present an argument against such views based on the possibility of spectrum inversion without illusion. Further, I argue that such views fail to properly accommodate the phenomenon of color constancy. In Chapter Three, I address a different form of Russellian theory of phenomenal content advocated by Sydney Shoemaker. I present my own positive view of phenomenal color content in Chapter Four. There I argue that color content is a kind of Fregean content, involving modes of presentation of colors. In particular, I argue that phenomenal color content involves indexical, response-dependent, and holistic modes of presentation. Finally, in Chapter Five I turn to the spatial aspects of visual experience. I argue against Russellianism for spatial phenomenal content, based on the consideration of a kind of spatial Twin Earth thought experiment. In its place, I argue that spatial phenomenal content is also a kind of Fregean content.
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Tweedy, Roderick Sebastian. "The visionary mechanic : Shelley's early philosophy of nature." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.336350.
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Zang, Tianying. "D.H. Lawrence's philosophy of nature : an eastern view." Thesis, Northumbria University, 2006. http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/3274/.
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This study examines Lawrence's views of nature and their relations to perspectives drawn from Oriental traditions and philosophies. Many of Lawrence's non-Christian perspectives concerning the universe and man's relationship with nature bear strong affinities with Eastern thought systems, particularly his understanding of such fundamental matters as the enigma of nature, nature's duality and oneness, the mutual identity between man and nature, issues of god and evolution, mind and body, life and death, and sexuality, and concerns with intuition, spontaneity and primitivism. Lawrence met with hostility and prejudice from the literary world partly because some of his viewpoints were misread and misunderstood. However, they can be to a large degree explained and justified by traditional Oriental thought. In Lawrence's understanding of man's integrity and "living wholeness", we have his "indecent" proposition of sexuality, his "strange" assertion of blood consciousness and stress upon the solar plexus, his rejection of mind and intellect, and his preference for desire over ideology, and for primitivism over industrial materialism. These are views parallel to those of Taoism, though they also have their traces in the Western scientific readings which Lawrence was familiar with. Lawrence's transcendental attitude towards nature accounts for his extraordinary sensitivity to the natural world, and for his radical criticism of modern civilizations, sciences and the mechanical life, particularly in terms of financial motivation. The study of Lawrence's philosophy of nature suggests that Lawrence is an outstanding example of twentieth-century Romanticism. Furthermore, in Lawrence and in his work, we see a prominent figure in the development of a new environmental consciousness in literature.
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McManus, Denis. "Wittgenstein's critique of philosophy : its nature and limitations." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1995. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/271946.
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Halliday, Robert. "On the nature of value." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1989. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.314954.
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Daly, Christopher John. "Universals and laws of nature." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1995. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.285097.
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Nudds, Matthew. "The nature of the senses." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2000. http://sas-space.sas.ac.uk/910/.
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My thesis provides an account of the nature of the senses. Many philosophers have supposed that the fact that we have different senses makes the integration of the senses problematic. In this thesis I argue that introspection reveals our perceptual experience to be amodal or unitary (that is, we cannot distinguish distinct experiences associated with each of our senses) and hence that the real problem is not how the senses are integrated with one another, but how and why we distinguish five senses in the first place. What we need is an account of what our judgements are about when we judge that we are, say, seeing something or some property. I argue that such an account cannot take any of the forms commonly supposed. Philosophers often assume that an account must appeal to differences between kinds of experience, but I argue that such differences are not sufficient to explain the way that we distinguish five senses. Nor can we explain the distinction by appealing to the different kinds of mechanism involved in perceiving, since recent cognitive psychological models of the mechanisms of perception show them to be functionally diverse in a way that undermines any correspondence between them and the five senses, and our common-sense grasp of the different mechanisms involved in perception presupposes a prior understanding of the distinction between different senses. I provide and account of the distinction that we make between the five senses, according to which the senses are not substantially distinct. Although our judgements about the senses are true, they are not judgements about kinds of thing; rather, we distinguish different ways of perceiving in terms of different, conventionally determined, kinds of perceptual interaction we can have with our environment.
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Dearborn, Timothy A. "The trinitarian nature of grace." Thesis, University of Aberdeen, 1988. http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk/R?func=search-advanced-go&find_code1=WSN&request1=AAIU011900.
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1. The traditional soteriological debate between advocates of dogmatic dualism and dogmatic universalism has not adequately reflected the trinitarian nature of God. 2. Inadequate doctrines of grace, for example as God's decree, God's cosmic power, God's attitude of acceptance, or God's sacramentally infused presence emerge from the failure to develop the implications of the doctrine of the Trinity. 3. Viewed from a trinitarian perspective, grace is best understood as the very being of God in triune communion. Understood from this relational context, grace is also God's act in Christ to adopt humanity into participation in that communion, through the Spirit in the Son with the Father. 4. The terms used by the Patristic Fathers to understand the nature of the Incarnation and the Trinity such as the homoousion, hypostasis, and perichoresis are integral to clarifying the bilateral nature of Christ's mediation: in him is God's response to humanity, and the perfect response of humanity to God. This in turn, sheds essential insight into the nature of grace and the role of humanity's response of faith in salvation. 5. From this perspective of the bilateral mediation of Christ, the Biblical and trinitarian inadequacies of dogmatic dualism and universalism become apparent. Furthermore, an alternative understanding of humanity's destiny emerges which affirms the truth in both biblical dualism and universalism. 6. This provides a context for approaching the Concluding soteriological question: How does God respond to people who have never professed faith in Christ? The trinitarian nature of grace guides the Church to live with a gracious, hopeful urgency as it responds to those who are not yet Christians.
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Coffin, Tammis. "Finding Poetry in Nature." Fogler Library, University of Maine, 2001. http://www.library.umaine.edu/theses/pdf/CoffinT2001.pdf.
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Bao, Zhiming. "On the nature of tone." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1990. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/14143.
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Gravel, Pierre. "Une région à la recherche d'un mode de fonctionnement viable /." Thèse, Chicoutimi : Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 1990. http://theses.uqac.ca.
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Weisend, Ausma Skerbele. "Poetry, nature and science : romantic nature philosophy in the works of Novalis and E.T.A. Hoffmann /." Connect to resource, 1994. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view.cgi?acc%5Fnum=osu1249485965.
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Déry, Louise. "La question de la nature : l'analyse d'une idée." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 1986. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/4843.
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Chisholm, Mariellen. "Nature and community: Toward a Marcusean-informed environmentalism." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 1993. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/6841.
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Concern for the environment is a theme which has gained much currency in popular and academic discourse. The normative assumptions, however, which underlie the field of environmental politics, are far from univocal. The exclusion of normative considerations from much environmental literature and many environmental projects, therefore, is an indication of our general failure to see environmental issues as ethical issues demanding resolution. This study aims at examining how the critical theory of Herbert Marcuse contributes to an ecological perspective that does treat the natural environment as a domain of ethical inquiry. Drawing from the Romantic tradition, Marcuse treats nature as sensuousness and spirituality with immanent value. His theory of nature is concerned with the reconciliation of human subjectivity as rational, moral will with external nature. What emerges is an ethics of aesthetic community in which nature is more than an object of contemplation, but the purveyor of immanent value, the grounds for ethical, creative and "playful" activity. This notion of aesthetic community does not emerge without its own internal tension and ambiguity which, we argue in this work, remain unresolved as a synthesis of subjective aesthetic judgment and collective reason. In spite of the tension, we conclude that the Marcusean spiritual sensitivity and rational interest could more fruitfully serve as a more solid foundation for contemporary environmentalism and ecological theory.
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Ainsworth, Jonathan N. "Science, domination and the order of nature." Thesis, Lancaster University, 1998. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.264681.
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Dainton, Barry Francis. "The nature and identity of the self." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1989. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.303581.
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Lindgaard, Karin. "Nature, consciousness and feeling the therapeutic potential of process philosophy /." Swinburne Research Bank, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/55235.
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Thesis (PhD) - Faculty of Life and Social Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, 2009.Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Faculty of Life and Social Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology - 2009. Typescript. Bibliography: p. 310-314.
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Oelofsen, Rianna. "Afro-communitarianism and the nature of reconciliation." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006809.
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In this dissertation I sketch a conception of personhood as understood from within an Afrocommunitarian worldview, and argue that this understanding of personhood has implications for understanding the concept of reconciliation. Understanding ‘being human’ as a collective, communal enterprise has implications for how responsibility, justice, forgiveness and humanization (all cognate concepts of reconciliation) are conceptualized. In line with this understanding of reconciliation and its cognate concepts, I argue that the humanization of self and other (according to the Afrocommunitarian understanding of personhood) is required for addressing the ‘inferiority’ and concurrent ‘superiority’ racial complexes as diagnosed by Franz Fanon and Steve Biko. These complexes reach deeply within individual and collective psyches and political identities, and I argue that political solutions to protracted conflict (in South Africa and other racially charged contexts) which do not address these deeply entrenched pathologies will be inadequate according to an Afrocommunitarian framework.
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ARAUJO, RODOLFO PETRONIO DA COSTA. "PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE AND SCIENCE: A NEW APPROACH AND COMPLEMENTARITY." PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO, 2008. http://www.maxwell.vrac.puc-rio.br/Busca_etds.php?strSecao=resultado&nrSeq=12026@1.
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CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICOEsta investigação tem por objetivo apresentar um modelo de cooperação entre filosofia e ciência experimental, por meio de um domínio comum, a matemática, especialmente a álgebra. Essa coordenação entre dois domínios situados em níveis distintos de conhecimento da realidade natural chama-se filosofia da natureza, e havia sido proposta por Aristóteles nos oito livros da Física. Com o advento da ciência experimental moderna entre os séculos XVI e XVII, tal tipo de investigação passou a ter um caráter secundário, porquanto se entendeu que as teorias, especialmente as de base matemática, e o método experimental em conjunto seriam suficientes para dar conta da estrutura da realidade. No entanto, faz-se necessário -- e esta é nossa proposta --, em decorrência das questões de limite suscitadas pela própria ciência experimental, retomar uma investigação complementar à científica ou epistêmica, e coordenada com esta, de modo a prover um conhecimento integral, totalizante, da realidade natural. Portanto, analisa-se o alcance da ciência experimental quanto à compreensão científica da natureza da matéria, expondo certas limitações deste tipo de enfoque, tendo por base a epistemologia proposta pelo filósofo Jacques Maritain. Em seguida, analisa-se o estatuto metafísico ou ontológico da matéria, com base em vários textos de Tomás de Aquino, e propõe-se um modelo algébrico para a representação de elementos daquela ontologia. Por fim, apresentam-se algumas conseqüências que se podem extrair desse modelo, com vistas à compreensão de aspectos da realidade natural como espaço-tempo e movimento, não-localidade quântica, e uma proposta de visão totalizante da realidade física,denominada holomovimento, sugerida pelo físico David Bohm.
The main purpose of this enquiry is to provide a cooperative framework for philosophy and experimental science. This should be accomplished by means of a common domain, namely mathematics, specifically through algebra. Such a coordination between two different levels of knowledge of the natural world is named philosophy of nature, and had been proposed by Aristotle in his eight book Physics. As an outcome of the rise of modern science between 16th and 17th centuries, this kind of enquiry has been left aside as a secondary enterprise. For it has been a common understanding that modern scientific theories together with experimental methods would suffice to account for the structure of reality.However, I shall propose that it is necessary -- as a consequence of edge research on experimental sciences -- to resume a complementary enquiry to the scientific (epistemic) research, in such a coordinated way with this latter as to provide a whole knowledge of the natural world. Thus, I shall analyze the concept of matter as it is understood by experimental science, and based upon Jacques Maritain´s proposed epistemology I shall present some of the shortcomings of scientific approach to matter. Shortly afterwards, I shall analyze the metaphysical (ontological) status of matter based upon several writings from Thomas Aquinas, and I shall propose an algebraic model to represent some of the ontological elements that build up matter from a metaphysical point of view. Lastly, I shall present some of the consequences that can be obtained from that model in order to gain a metaphysical understanding of physical aspects such as space-time and movement, quantum non-locality, and also a whole perspective of physical reality as proposed by David Bohm which he called holomovement.
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Wang, Jeff. "On the Nature of Happiness in Kant's System of Philosophy:." Thesis, Boston College, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:108771.
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Thesis advisor: Susan Meld ShellThis essay provides an overview of the nature of happiness in Kant’s system of philosophy. It is divided into three sections. The first section discusses the conflict between virtue and happiness, and begins by examining the nature of happiness itself. In the first section, we will learn that happiness, for Kant, is wholly empirically. Happiness is but an idea of the imagination, which is incited by experience. As a result, principles of happiness, or laws to which the end is the acquisition of happiness, can never be unconditional. One can never say that what must be done for the acquisition of happiness ought to be done under any condition, for to the extent that the idea of happiness is subject to constant change, the means to its acquisition are also subject to change. Section two examines happiness in the constitution of the highest good. As we will learn, happiness, for Kant, despite not being the unconditional good, not only belongs to, but also completes the highest good that human beings can enjoy. For while morality is the unconditional good that all human beings ought to strive for, morality alone is insufficient. There is nothing desirable in seeing a good man suffer. To complete the attainment of the highest good, morality must be conjoined with the enjoyment of happiness. In the last section, this essay examines the opponents of Kant’s moral theory, which are the Stoics and the Epicureans. Here, we will discuss what Kant believes to be the arguments of both sides, and how he proceeds to refute them. For Kant, the Stoics and the Epicureans made a theoretical mistake when they took virtue and happiness to be identical. Both schools believe that the highest good can be attained by the pursuit of either virtue or happiness alone, but disagrees as to which of the two must be attained first. For the Stoics, virtue contains happiness, for the Epicureans, the rational understanding of the pursuit of happiness is virtue
Thesis (MA) — Boston College, 2020
Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Political Science
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Skorburg, Joshua August. "Human Nature and Intelligence: The Implications of John Dewey's Philosophy." University of Toledo / OhioLINK, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1333663233.
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Wong, Gordon Cecil Ignatius. "The nature of faith in Isaiah of Jerusalem." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1994. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.261495.
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Craig, David Clark. "The application of physical theories to nature." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1990. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/14144.
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Wahlberg, Mats. "Seeing nature as creation how anti-Cartesian philosophy of mind and perception reshapes natural theology /." Doctoral thesis, Umeå : Department of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, Umeå University, 2009. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-30360.
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Gustavsson, Rickard. "Convention or Nature? : The Correctness of Names in Plato's Cratylus." Thesis, Umeå universitet, Institutionen för idé- och samhällsstudier, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-149387.
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This thesis is about Plato‘s dialogue Cratylus, which is one of the earliest texts in the history ofphilosophy of language and has generated much interpretive controversy. In the dialogue, Platoexamines two theories on the correctness of names; conventionalism and naturalism. However,there is no clear positive outcome in the dialogue in regard to the debate betweenconventionalism and naturalism. Therefore, scholars have long been divided as to what Plato‘sown position on the correctness of names is. Another puzzling feature of the dialogue concernsthe etymological section, which has often been ignored or treated in isolation in modernscholarship. This section takes up about half of the dialogue and offers elaborate explanations ofa large number of words in the Greek language. Some recent studies of the Cratylus, however,are shedding much welcome light on the etymological section and the role it plays in thedialogue as a whole. In this thesis, I compare two competing interpretations of the etymologicalsection and discuss how an understanding of the etymologies can help us understand Plato‘sposition on the correctness of names and the purpose of the dialogue as a whole. In TimothyBaxter‘s interpretation, the etymological section should be read as a parody which amounts to aPlatonic critique of a mistaken attitude towards names and language found especially in thepoetry and philosophy in Plato‘s time. David Sedley, on the other hand, argues that theetymologies are seriously intended by Plato as a method of linguistic and historical analysis, amethod he himself endorsed and practiced. If the etymologies are taken seriously, Sedley argues,they show that Plato favored a form of naturalism in regard to the correctness of names. Afterproviding an outline and evaluation of these two interpretations, the thesis concludes with myown proposal. Although I disagree with some of Sedley‘s particular interpretations andarguments, I find myself in broad agreement with his general conclusions.
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Shahvisi, Arianne. "On the nature and origins of thermodynamic asymmetry." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2014. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.648799.
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Kennedy, Greg. "An ontology of trash: The disposable and its problematic nature." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/29124.
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The study investigates disposability as a uniquely modern ontological mode of existence. A disposable is something a priori wasted, a phenomenon whose presence in the world presupposes its absence. Consequently, from a phenomenological perspective, the essence of a disposable includes its non-existence, or more strongly, its essence excludes its more than instantaneous existence. Trash is taken as an ontological category that extends over all disposable beings. An historical interpretation is ventured that traces the current predominance of this category to the original metaphysical denigration of the sensuous human body. Only through the sensitive body do we experience the materiality, impenetrability and integrity of physical things. As technology and metaphysics continue to disengage our sensual capacities for perception, our understanding of physical things becomes increasingly tenuous and abstract. In the absence of tactile commerce with resilient and resistant things, we fail to encounter their physical, independent existence. Their being thus seems ever more thoroughly to depend on how we rationally conceive, determine and design them. However, the undeniable evidence of trash, and the threat it poses to our own continued existence demonstrate a fatal flaw in our exclusively rationalized relation with the physical world. If we desire to avoid the "throw-away society's" dangerous excesses, we must secure metaphysics and technology to a sensitive, physical participation with the world that takes care to preserve the being of things, by the generosity of which our own being is preserved.
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Vicas, Astrid. "The nature of fictional discourse." Thesis, McGill University, 1992. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=39800.
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This dissertation presents an account of fictional discourse which is teleological. According to it, questions about what is said in fiction and how it ought to be said are answerable in terms of the goals and methods belonging specifically to fiction-making as a practice. Viewed in such a way, it is argued that the incompleteness of fictional discourse and its apparent tolerance of inconsistency are distinctive of it. Moreover, it is argued that there is a sense in which one can produce true statements in fiction without thereby committing one self to the thesis that words made use of in fiction are endowed with reference. Throughout the dissertation, the view espoused in it is contrasted with rival positions on the issues of what fiction is about, and whether it can be true. It is argued that a teleological account of fictional discourse can present a coherent alternative to these.
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Elicker, Bradley Joseph. "The Mediated Nature of Literature: Exploring the Artistic Significance of the Visible Text." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2016. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/381480.
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PhilosophyPh.D.
My goal in this dissertation is to shed light on a practice in printed literature often overlooked in philosophy of literature. Contemporary works of literature such as Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves, Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad, and Irvine Welsh’s Filth each make artistic use of the features specific to printed literature such as font and formatting. I show that, far from being trivial aberrations, artistic use of font and formatting has a strong historical tradition going back to the Bucolic poets of ancient Greece. When these features deviate from traditional methods of inscription and perform some artistic function within the work, they are artistically significant features of the works themselves. The possibility of the artistic significance of these features is predicated on works of printed literature being visually mediated when one reads to oneself. All works of literature are mediated by some sense modality. When a work of printed literature is meant to be read to oneself, it is mediated by the modality of sight. Features specific to this method of mediation such as font and formatting can make artistic contributions to a text as well. Understanding the artistic significance of such features questions where we see literature with respect to other art forms. If these features are artistically significant, we can no longer claim that works of printed and oral literature are both the same performative art form. Instead, philosophy of literature must recognize that works of printed literature belong to a visually mediated, non-performative, multiple instance art form separate from the performative tradition of oral literature.
Temple University--Theses
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Connor, Martin J. "The stoics on nature and truth." Thesis, Durham University, 2000. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/4346/.
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First, this thesis outhnes part of the thought of some pre-Socratic thinkers, particularly Heraclitus. In doing this, I explore the historical provenance of certain ideas which came to be important in Stoicism. It then moves on to look at the Stoic view of 'physics', including some comparison with Epicurus and Aristotle, and with a focus on the concept of the continuum. The third chapter attempts to synthesise a common problem arising from a belief in the continuum, namely a problem of indeterminacy. In the fourth chapter, certain characterisations of Stoic epistemology are considered, along with an overview of recent interpretations of the Stoic theory of impressions. It concludes with the thought that at certain crucial points - such as whether impressions themselves are to be thought of as true and false - the Stoic position is underdetermined with respect to the evidence. Pursuing this thought into the fifth chapter, we see the evidence as being equivalently consistent with a 'two-tier’ theory of perception, where impressions themselves are understood as neither true nor false in any sense, but iu which 'the true' arises as a result of the transformative effect of reason. This theory is shown to connect with verbalisation through the 'rational impression'. This leads to the suggestion that the Stoics had a linguistic diagnosis for some problems in philosophy, arrived at by their reflections on ambiguity and etymology. In the final chapter, an account of intersubjectivity is explored, which preserves for the Stoics the claim that their truth has an objective character and is thus appropriate for a 'dogmatic' philosophy.
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Seok, Bongrae. "Modularity of mind, encapsulation by nature." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/289140.
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Since the time of Plato and Aristotle, philosophers have studied functional structure of human mind. So called 'faculty psychology' is the study of innate structure of human cognition. However, it is Gall's theory of faculties that started the study of domain specific and autonomous units of human mind. This dissertation discusses modularity of mind, i.e., the idea that mind consists of such domain specific and autonomous units, i.e., cognitive modules. In the first of the dissertation, I discuss faculty psychology as a historical precursor of modularity and recent theories of modularity that are developed to capture different aspects of a cognitive system. In the second part of the dissertation, I discuss Fodorian modularity, a comprehensive and well developed theory of modularity. Two problems of Fodorian modularity are discussed. First, Fodorian modularity is problematic because it has a problematic element, i.e., neural specificity. Fodor explains informational encapsulation of a cognitive system in terms of specific neural structure of the system. However, I argue that neural specificity is not fully demonstrated in psychology. Second, Fodorian modularity is an internally specified property of a cognitive system. Modularity, however, can be understood as an external property, a property that is specified by a cognitive system's relation to other objects and properties in the world.
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Kieran, Matthew Laurence. "The nature and value of art." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/14807.
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This thesis examines the nature and value of art. It is primarily concerned to advance an argument which makes sense of the significance we ordinarily afford art, rather than rendering it merely aesthetic and thus cognitively trivial. Contrary to philosophical orthodoxy, it is argued that 'art' does not have two distinct senses. Rather, we should understand art as an inherently evaluative, evolving cultural practice. Thus, I argue, 'art' is essentially a cluster concept. I consider an account of art according to which it is in the pleasure art affords, that its value lies. However, though we derive pleasure even from apparently unpleasant artworks, the mark of art's value lies elsewhere. That is, the pleasure we derive from art is the result of an artwork's being of value in some other way. Through critically assessing the standard accounts of art's value, I argue that art's pleasures are primarily cognitive. Furthermore, I argue, the cognitive value of art arises primarily from the engagement of our imagination and interpretation of artworks. That is, we enjoy the imaginative activity of engaging with artworks and the promotion of particular imaginative understandings. Furthermore, as imaginative understanding is of fundamental importance in grasping the nature of our world and others, art may have a distinctive significance. That is, art may afford insights into and thus promote our imaginative understandings of our world and others. Thus, through the promotion of imaginative understanding, art may cultivate our moral understanding. Therefore, art is of profound significance and import.
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Lamont, John R. T. "The nature of Christian belief in the Christian message." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.365433.
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Smyth, Damian P. "Merleau-Ponty's late oncology : new nature and the hyperdialectic." Thesis, Queen's University Belfast, 1988. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.356919.
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Smart, Paul M. "Mill and Marx : human nature, the individual and freedom." Thesis, Keele University, 1989. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.291013.
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Weisend, Ausma Skerbele. "Poetry, nature and science: romantic nature philosophy in the works of Novalis and E. T. A. Hoffmann." The Ohio State University, 1994. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1249485965.
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Whyman, Tom. "Freedom and nature in McDowell and Adorno." Thesis, University of Essex, 2015. http://repository.essex.ac.uk/15778/.
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John McDowell claims that a 'human' (as opposed to 'animal') orientation towards the world is characterised by a 'deep connection' between reason and freedom. In this thesis, I argue that McDowell cannot make good on this coincidence, since his Platonic conception of rationality serves to bind free reflection in advance. This is a problem both for the 'minimal empiricism' that McDowell aims to secure in his magnum opus, Mind and World, as well as for the ostensibly liberal, anti-scientistic 'naturalism of second nature' that accompanies it there. Ultimately, I argue that the problems that McDowell's thought is subject to can be solved by invoking the philosophy of nature (and specifically, the idea of 'natural-history') which we can find in the thought of the Frankfurt School critical theorist Theodor Adorno. Adorno is, I argue, able to secure the appropriate connection between reason and freedom, and thus what McDowell himself describes as a distinctively human orientation towards the world. Convinced McDowellians should therefore be motivated to, at least in this sense 'become Adornians'. The thought of McDowell and a number of his contemporaries (Brandom, Pippin) is often considered to represent a kind of 'Hegelianisation' of analytic philosophy; my arguments suggest the need for its 'critical-theoreticisation'.
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Wilkin, Peter John. "Noam Chomsky : on knowledge, human nature and freedom." Thesis, University of Southampton, 1995. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.295569.
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Kermode, Robert. "Three aspects of the nature of linguistic meaning." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/10902.
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Novajosky, Michael P. "The nature of language in the philosophy of Hans-Georg Gadamer." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 2006. http://www.tren.com/search.cfm?p029-0665.
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Banerjee, Sutapa. "Nature of social reformation and spiritual upliftment in Vivekananda`s philosophy." Thesis, University of North Bengal, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/1243.
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Robins, Dan. "The debate over human nature in warring states China." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2001. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B29872388.
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LAM, Hung Nin. "The nature of intuition : what theories of intuition ought to be." Digital Commons @ Lingnan University, 2014. https://commons.ln.edu.hk/philo_etd/12.
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Immediate striking feelings without any conscious inference are viewed as one of the sources of truth by many philosophers. It is often claimed that there is a long tradition in philosophy of viewing intuitive propositions as true without need for further justification, since the intuitiveness, for traditional philosophy, suggests that the proposition is self-evident. In philosophical discussions, it was extremely common for philosophers to argue for the intuitiveness of their theories. Contemporary philosophers have put increasing attention and effort into the study of this methodology in philosophy. They explicitly use the term ‘intuition’ and ‘appealing to intuition’ to refer to such common practice in philosophy. Recently there are numerous papers discussing the topic of intuition, its reliability, evidential status, and what philosophy ought to be. These disputes have lasted for several decades and it seems the disputes may even continue for several more decades.
Despite the excessive usage of the term ‘intuition’, there are still polarized attitudes towards intuition: not only on the question of whether we should appeal to intuition in doing philosophy, but also on what ‘intuition’ means. The latter problem, the divergence of understanding on ‘intuition’, seems to be the main factor causing endless disputes of this topic and it should be the problem primarily solved. There are philosophers who notice the problem that there is no general agreement on the accounts of intuition. However, surprisingly, most of them have not attempted to solve the problem, but just simply give their own accounts of intuition, or claim that it is improbable to have general agreement on the definition of ‘intuition’ instead.
In fact, it is possible to have a general acceptable theory of intuition. The main aims of the thesis are to provide the method of seeking the good candidates for a general acceptable theory of intuition and to use the method in seeking one of the good theories. In order to achieve the goals, the thesis will (1) provide the ground for the discussion, by specifying several features of intuition as the desiderata of a good theory; and (2) examine several theories of intuition that have been offered in recent literature as example. We will find that, unfortunately, among the theories selected in philosophy, there still seems to be no satisfactory account of intuition. Nevertheless, there seems a promising account of intuition offered in psychology. The thesis will argue the psychological account is one of the good candidates of general acceptable theory of intuition. If not, we at least have a method of seeking the good theories of intuition.
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Crawford, Michael Sean. "The nature of commonsense psychological explanation." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1999. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:db4cf477-2203-4f06-a8f4-b56f65840366.
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This thesis is concerned with two kinds of 'singular' psychological phenomena. The first is the commonsense psychological explanation of action directed upon particular things and stuffs. The second is the nature of (visual) perceptual demonstrative thought. The two topics are brought together in an account of psychological explanation I call 'de re psychological explanation'. The primary aim of the thesis is to articulate and defend this account. The main thesis I seek to establish is that an adequate psychological explanation of an agent's action upon an object requires a relational or de re ascription of thought that (1) relates the agent to the object and (2) makes reference to a perceptual demonstrative mode of presentation of the object. This thesis is defended in two stages. In the first chapter I argue for the first half of the thesis, that relational ascriptions are necessary in any explanation of an action involving an object. In the fourth chapter I argue for the second half, that it is necessary that these relational ascriptions make reference to a perceptual demonstrative mode of presentation of the object acted on. The second half of the thesis involves the notion of a perceptual demonstrative mode of presentation. This necessitates an account of the nature of perceptual demonstrative thoughts, which is undertaken in chapters two and three. In the second chapter I explore two prominent theories of perceptual demonstrative thought. In the third chapter I sketch a new account 'property-dependent externalism' and argue that it is more adequate than the others. In chapter four, I return to de re explanation and develop it further into a covering-law account of psychological explanation. The rest of the thesis is given over to defending the elaborated covering-law account against two objections. I draw the claws of the first objection in the second half of the fourth chapter and answer the second objection in the final chapter.
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Oster, Malcolm. "Nature, ethics and divinity : the early thought of Robert Boyle." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1990. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.305255.
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