【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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Obstacles on the way towards the quantisation of space, time and matter - and possible resolutions
Most attempts at obtaining theories that unify quantum mechanics with general relativity require violation of locality and/or causality to some degree. Here, we suggest that these problems actually are very deep and fundamental; hence they may require rec
Space and time in particle and field physics
Textbooks present classical particle and held physics as theories of physical systems situated in Newtonian absolute space. This absolute space has an influence on the evolution of physical processes, and can therefore be seen as a physical system itself;
The 'Popperian Programme' and mathematics. Part II: From quasi-empiricism to mathematical
In the first part of this article I investigated the Popperian roots of Lakatos's Proofs and Refutations, which was an attempt to apply, and thereby to test, Popper's theory of knowledge in a held-mathematics-to which it had not primarily been intended
Negotiated measures: The institutional micropolitics of official criminal justice statistics
This paper examines some of the background social and institutional practices involved in the production of official statistics about crime and criminal justice. It documents how a host of micropolitical considerations impinge on what studies are conducte
Analytical symbols and geometrical figures in eighteenth-century calculus
Leibnizian-Newtonian calculus was a theory that dealt with geometrical objects; the figure continued to play one of the fundamental roles it had played in Greek geometry: it susbstituted a part of reasoning. During the eighteenth century a process of de-g
Mindful virtue, mindful reverence
How does one talk about moral thought and moral action as a religious naturalist? We explore this question by considering two human capacities: the capacity for mindfulness, and the capacity for virtue. We suggest that mindfulness is deeply enhanced by an
Transforming animal species: The case of 'oncomouse'
In this paper I deal with ethical implications arising from animal biotechnology. I analyse some general questions surrounding the production of transgenic animals through a specific case study: the oncomouse. In particular, I explore ethical factors invo
No future (Tense logic, diagonalization)
The difficulties with formalizing the intensional notions necessity, knowability and omniscience, and rational belief are well-known. If these notions are formalized as predicates applying to (codes of) sentences, then from apparently weak and uncontrover
Polar opposition and the ontology of 'degrees'
This paper uses the distribution and interpretation of antonymous adjectives in comparative constructions as an empirical basis to argue that abstract representations of measurement, or 'degrees,' must be modelled as intervals on a scale, rather than as
What was Huxley's epiphenomenalism?
Thomas Huxley is often identified as the originator of the doctrine known as epiphenomenalism,'' but there appears to be little appreciation for the details of Huxley's theory. In particular, conflicting interpretations show that there is uncertainty a
The rise and fall of dominance
The terms dominating and recessive, used by Mendel to describe the prevalent similarity in appearance of the traits of hybrids to those of one of the parental strains and the disappearance of those of the other parental strain, was interpreted by De Vries
Non-indigenous species and ecological explanation
Within the last 20 years, the US has mounted a massive campaign against invasions by non-indigenous species (NIS) such as zebra mussels, kudzu, water hyacinths, and brown tree snakes. NIS have disrupted native ecosystems and caused hundreds of billions of
Euthanasia: moral paradoxes
Over the past 30 years, euthanasia has been under continuous debate in the Netherlands, This contribution aims to provide a moral assessment of this debate. It is argued that euthanasia should be understood within a historical context, as a protest agains
Investigating ethical issues in engineering design
This paper aims at contributing to a research agenda in engineering ethics by exploring the ethical aspects of engineering design processes. A number of ethically relevant topics with respect to design processes are identified. These topics could be a sub
Ethics and engineering courses at Delft University of Technology: Contents, educational setup and ex
This article reports on the development and teaching of compulsory courses on ethics and engineering at Delft University of Technology (DUT). Attention is paid to the teaching goals, the educational setup and methods, the contents of the courses, involvem