【Philosophy】African philosophy cannot be a thing
This essay unpacks several arguments about the metaphilosophic nature of African philosophy and charts a way through the problems these arguments enco... [more]
【Philosophy】Fusion Philosophy and Epistemic Injustice
I use the concept of epistemic injustice to think through the practice and methodology of comparative, or fusion, philosophy. I make two related claim... [more]
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Ontologically Interactive Painting: On Susan Rothenberg's Three Heads
In this article, I argue that paintings are transformations of the perceptual world, transformations that the world itself elicits but does not determine, thus undercutting the subjective-objective divide in art. First, I describe Maurice Merleau-Ponty's
Jane Addams and the Limits of Sympathy. Failures, Corrections, and Lessons to be Learned
Jane Addams takes sympathetic knowledge as a key concept for her moral and political philosophy. However, regarding the classical objections to sympathy as a foundation for morality and democracy, some theoretical remarks are still needed. In this article
Naturalizing Nous? Theophrastus on Nous, Nature, and Motion
There is prima facie evidence that Theophrastus naturalized nous to the extent that he spoke of it in naturalizing terms. But our evidence also suggests that Theophrastus accepted the reasons Aristotle had for excluding nous from the reach of natural phil
Getting tense about the atonement
This paper argues for the coherence of penal substitutionary theories of atonement (PSA) with presentism. After summarizing both the PSA and presentism, we address two major objections to the coherence of these two doctrines working together, namely that
Jaśkowski and the Jains
In 1948 Jaskowski introduced the first discussive logic. The main technical idea was to take what holds to be what is true at some possible world. Some 2,000 years earlier, Jain philosophers had advocated a similar idea, in their doctrine of syadvada. Of
Anthropocentrism, artificial intelligence, and moral network theory: An ecofeminist perspective
This paper critiques a conception of intelligence central in AI, and a related concept of reason central in moral philosophy, from an ecological feminist perspective. I argue that ecofeminist critique of human/nature dualisms offers insight into the durab
Thomas Reid and the problem of induction: from common experience to common sense
By the middle of the eighteenth century the new science had challenged the intellectual primacy of common experience in favor of recondite, expert and even counter-intuitive knowledge increasingly mediated by specialized instruments. Meanwhile modem philo
Learning to communicate: The emergence of signaling in spatialized arrays of neural nets
We work with a large spatialized array of individuals in an environment of drifting food sources and predators. The behavior of each individual is generated by its simple neural net; individuals are capable of making one of two sounds and are capable of r
Two concepts of medical ethics and their implications for medical ethics education
People who discuss medical ethics or bioethics come to very different conclusions about the levels of agreement in the field and the implications of consensus among health care professionals. In this paper I argue that these disagreements turn on a confus
Heidegger and 'the concept of time'
This article explores the extent to which Heidegger promises a novel understanding of the concept of time. Heidegger believes that the tradition of philosophy was mistaken in interpreting time as a moveable image of eternity. We are told that this definit
Trust, moral responsibility, the self, and well-ordered societies: The importance of basic philosoph
Although the work of clinical ethics is intensely practical, it employs and presumes philosophical concepts from the central branches of philosophy, including metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and political philosophy. This essay introduces this issue in
Aspects of a systemic philosophy of knowledge: from social facts to data, information and knowledge
Considers from a cybernetic point of view, a number of philosophical problems raised by the design and utilization of information systems and knowledge management Discusses the transformation from facts in social systems, via data and information into kno
Excavating geography's hidden spaces
This paper considers alternative ways to approach teaching and researching the history and philosophy of geography. While exploring the geography department as a previously marginalized space in accounts of disciplinary change, three different types of so
Comparisons of concrete-encased composite column strength provisions of ACI code and AISC specificat
In the ACI-318 code (1999) and AISC-LRFD specification (1993), different approaches are used for the design of concrete-encased composite columns. The calculated member strengths based on these two design provisions may show significant difference in some
Is science neurotic? (Aims of inquiry, rationality, values)
Neurosis can be interpreted as a methodological condition from which any aim-pursuing entity can suffer. If such an entity pursues a problematic aim B but represents to itself that it is pursuing a different aim C and, as a result, fails to solve the prob