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Wittgenstein’s Movements of Thought and the Socratic Tradition of Philosophy Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2024-07-25 Reza Hosseini
By situating Wittgenstein's handwritten manuscripts in the Socratic tradition of philosophy, I argue that contrary to Wittgenstein's misjudgement about the role and impact of the Socratic conceptio...
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Sartrean Magic and the Impossibility of Death Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2024-07-23 Frederik Kaufman
Deprivation explains why death is bad, if it is bad, but it cannot explain existential panic, horror, and related emotions that facing the nothingness of death can induce. I consider various attemp...
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Decolonising Philosophy Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2023-10-13 Dylan B. Futter
In its attempt to deflate of the pretensions of ‘Western knowledge’, the epistemic decolonisation movement carries on the work of Socrates, who sought to persuade those who thought that they were w...
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Hobbes On Scientific Happiness Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2023-08-24 Yuval Eytan
Many consider Hobbes the father of political individualism, claiming that his new conception of happiness involved abandoning its metaphysical dimension, which had been central in ancient times and...
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Hostile Scaffolding Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2023-08-10 Ryan Timms, David Spurrett
Most accounts of cognitive scaffolding focus on ways that external structure can support or augment an agent’s cognitive capacities. We call cases where the interests of the user are served benign ...
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Development and Modernity in Africa: An Intercultural Philosophical Perspective Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2023-06-29 Anthony Chinaemerem Ajah
Published in Philosophical Papers (Vol. 52, No. 1, 2023)
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How Manipulation Arguments Mischaracterize Determinism Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2023-06-04 Paul Torek
Abstract I outline a heretofore neglected difference between manipulation scenarios and merely deterministic ones. Plausible scientific determinism does not imply that the relevant prior history of the universe is independent of us, while manipulation does. Owing to sensitive dependence of physical outcomes upon initial conditions, in order to trace a deterministic history, a microphysical level of
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A Relational Moral Theory: African Ethics in and beyond the Continent Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2023-03-12 Frederick Ochieng’-Odhiambo
Published in Philosophical Papers (Vol. 51, No. 3, 2022)
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Is Blame a Moral Attitude? Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2022-10-27 Roger G. López
Abstract The present article challenges a widespread view of blame as an inherently moral attitude. I begin by pointing out some features of blame that are not readily explained by, and not obviously compatible with, a moral orientation. To account for those features, I elucidate Nietzsche’s insights that blame responds to frustration and can serve as a bulwark against unwelcome self-perception, drawing
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Moral Responsibility and Character Formation Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2022-10-06 D. Goldstick
Abstract Freedom-determinism compatibilism says a deed is correctly censurable if and only if it flows from a bad character, irrespective of what caused that character. In the relevant sense, the doer could have done otherwise whenever with a better character s/he would have. But commonsense considers that unavoidable early brutalizing experiences can at least mitigate blame. The reconciliation is
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Sometimes I Am Fictional: Narrative and Identification Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2022-10-06 Alfonso Muñoz-Corcuera
Abstract Most analytical philosophers consider that we cannot identify with fictional characters in a literal sense. Specifically, Carroll and Gaut argue that doing so would imply a high degree of irrationality. In this paper I stand for the claim that we can identify with fictional characters thanks to a suspension of disbelief. First, I rely on narrative theories of personal identity to propose a
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Anything Can Be Meaningful Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2022-09-05 Chad Mason Stevenson
Abstract It is widely held that for a life to be conferred meaning it requires the appropriate type of agency. Call this the agency requirement. The agency requirement is primarily motivated in the philosophical literature by the assumption that there is a widespread pre-theoretical intuition that humans have the capacity for meaning whereas animals do not; and that difference must come down to their
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Some Reflections on the Stability of Liberal Democracy Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2022-07-17 Katarzyna Eliasz, Wojciech Załuski
Abstract Liberal democracy is often considered to be unstable, consisting of two markedly different ideals (i.e., liberalism and democracy) that remain in tension. Yet the thesis regarding the alleged instability of liberal democracy is itself ambiguous, for it may refer to two senses of instability: empirical or conceptual. After introducing this, in our view, important distinction (though overlooked
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The Evolution of Moral Standing Without Supervenience Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2022-07-14 Brian Zamulinski
Abstract There is an alternative to the type of moral standing that hypothetically supervenes on other, base or subvenient, properties. Attributed moral standing results when people who have a naturally selected belief that they are worthy of moral consideration negotiate with others with the aim of being acknowledged as having moral standing and are successful. They could successfully negotiate with
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Regret Is Born Where Choice Dies Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2022-07-14 Shane Ryan
Abstract This paper analyses regret. On the basis of a number of examples, the case is made that regret is a negative affective state that has a perceived past choice as its object. More precisely, S regrets φ-ing, iff, and because (i) S has a negative affective state regarding φ-ing (Negative Affect State Requirement), the experience of which is explained by (ii) S perceiving that an alternative choice
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Humanness and Harmony: Thad Metz on Ubuntu Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2022-07-05 Lucy Allais
Abstract In this paper I present a critique of some aspects of Thad Metz’s attempt to develop an African moral theory grounded on the value of ubuntu. I question the sense in which this theory is African, as well as his attempt to ground human rights on his single value theory of ubuntu. In a number of publications Thad Metz has given a clear, analytic account of what ubuntu is. Metz’s work on ubuntu
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Conceptual Analysis and African Philosophy Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2022-07-01 Michael Omoge
Abstract The history of the methodology of African philosophy can be divided into two periods: the nascent stage that’s characterized by a rigor-demand, and the contemporary stage that’s characterized by a relevance-demand. In this, paper, I argue for one way to strike the appropriate balance between relevance and rigor in African philosophy. Specifically, I argue that the unconscious rejection of
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Corporal Punishment: A Philosophical Assessment Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2022-07-01 Dr. Gunter Graf
Published in Philosophical Papers (Vol. 51, No. 2, 2022)
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What Is Race? Four Philosophers, Six Views Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2022-05-27 Phila Mfundo Msimang
(2022). What Is Race? Four Philosophers, Six Views. Philosophical Papers: Vol. 51, No. 1, pp. 115-145.
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Being Gay and African: A Contradiction in Being? Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2022-04-29 Martin Odei Ajei
Abstract Discussion of sexuality in African cultures has a long history, but since the 1990s ethical reflections on homosexuality on the continent have often degenerated into furors and provoked a spate of anti-gay legislation in several countries. Refutations of homophobic dispositions encounter as barrier a pervasive belief in African cultures, that childbearing for community replenishment is a cherished
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The Private Cosmology of Public Disgust Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2022-04-25 Michael Springer
Abstract Alongside the public and private, the sacred can represent a third social-political dispensation, as Raymond Geuss notes. The modern liberal public/private divide represents a historical anomaly, with the sacred putatively consigned to the private realm. However, recent empirical research into disgust and its influences on moral psychology casts doubt on the extent to which such schemes have
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Introduction: Public and Private Disruption in the Twenty-First Century Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2022-04-25 Christopher Allsobrook
(2021). Introduction: Public and Private Disruption in the Twenty-First Century. Philosophical Papers: Vol. 50, Public and Private in the Twenty-First Century, pp. 347-356.
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Freedom from Black Governmentality under Privatized Apartheid Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2022-04-25 Thozamile Zolisa Mtyalela, Christopher Allsobrook
Abstract Many anticipated that the formal demise of public apartheid would free black citizens of South Africa from systematic racial oppression; but apartheid was privatized and carries on, with the aid of ‘Black governmentality’. The brutality of the apartheid regime gave rise to a common misunderstanding of White settler coloniality as a public, sovereign, and repressive mode of power imposed on
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Public Goods as Obligatory Bridges between the Public and the Private Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2022-04-25 Angela Kallhoff
Abstract In the context of economics, the distinction between ‘the public’ and ‘the private’ has been paralleled with the distinction of ‘public policy’ on the one hand and the ‘private market’ on the other hand. Even though both spheres intermingle at some point, the first is the domain of government, the second is the domain of market laws. This contribution argues that public goods do not only undermine
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Citizenship from the Couch: Public Engagement and Private Norms in the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2022-04-25 Christine Hobden, Heidi Matisonn
Abstract The tension between the public and the private spheres is not new: while feminists (among others) have long called for public protection to be extended to the private sphere, liberals argue for the need for the ‘defence of the “private sphere” from encroachment by the public’ (Geuss 2001 Geuss, Raymond. (2001). Public Goods, Private Goods. Princeton University Press.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]:
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Digital Tools and COVID-19: Shifting Public–Private Boundaries Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2022-04-25 Anton Vedder, Anastasia Siapka, Ilaria Buri, Erik Kamenjašević
Abstract In this paper, we attempt to provide starting points for a discussion on immediate and longer term consequences of COVID-19-induced uses of digital technologies for the distinction of the public and the private spheres. We start with clarifying definitions of the public and the private spheres in relation to the concept of privacy. What is considered private is at least in part contextually
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Competing Claims and the Separateness of Persons Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2022-02-23 Jamie Hardy
Abstract I argue that the use of the separateness of persons in the debate between the priority view and the competing claims view is deeply flawed. In making the case, I argue for three points. First, that the actual argument against the priority view relies on intuitions about the worse off that has no connection to the separateness of persons. Second, that the competing claims view is derivative
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Demarcating the Social World with Hume Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2022-02-17 Matthew J. Cull
Abstract Where lies the boundary between the natural and social worlds? For the local constructionist, who wants to say that whilst global constructionism is false, nonetheless there remains a domain of socially constructed phenomena, there is going to be a demarcation question. In this paper I explore two initially plausible accounts of the boundary, based on mind-dependence and constructive mechanisms
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An Essay on Compositionality of Thoughts in Frege’s Philosophy Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2022-02-08 Krystian Bogucki
Abstract In the paper, I propose a novel approach to Frege’s view on the principle of compositionality, its relation to the propositional holism and the formation of concepts. The main idea is to distinguish three stages of constructing a logically perfect language. At the first stage, only a sentence as a whole expresses a Thought. It is impossible to assign meaning to less complex units. This is
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Unpacking a Charge of Emotional Irrationality: An Exploration of the Value of Anger in Thought Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2022-01-19 Mary Carman
Abstract Anger has potential epistemic value in the way that it can facilitate a process of our coming to have knowledge and understanding regarding the issue about which we are angry. The nature of anger, however, may nevertheless be such that it ultimately undermines this very process. Common non-philosophical complaints about anger, for instance, often target the angry person as being somehow irrational
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Seeing Yourself in Others’ Blindness: Learning from Literature as Epitomized in Proust’s In Search of Lost Time Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2021-08-30 Jonas H. Aaron
Abstract Recognizing yourself in literature can not only help you to get a clearer grasp of what you already think and feel. It can also deeply unsettle your vision of yourself. This article examines a hitherto neglected mechanism to this effect: learning by way of seeing yourself in others’ blindness. I show that In Search of Lost Time epitomizes this phenomenon. Confronting characters oblivious to
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An Argument from Normativity for Primitive Emotional Phenomenology Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2021-10-19 Aarón Álvarez-González
Abstract Uriah Kriegel has attempted to describe the varieties of consciousness, that is, the primitive elements that constitute the phenomenal realm. Perceptual, imaginative, algedonic, cognitive, entertaining, and conative are the types of phenomenology acknowledged by him. This list, though right, is incomplete. My main claim is that for it to be complete it should include sui generis emotional
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Truth in Virtue of Meaning Reconsidered Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2021-10-19 Kai Michael Büttner
Abstract The positivists defined analyticity as truth in virtue of meaning alone and advocated the view that the notion of analyticity so defined is co-extensive with both the notion of an a priori truth and that of a necessary truth. For a number of reasons, this notion of analyticity is nowadays held to be untenable, and the related doctrines about a priori truths and necessary truths are almost
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Aesthetic Consolation in an Age of Extinction Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2021-10-19 Robert S. Fudge
Abstract In light of the environmental pressure humans are currently placing on the biosphere, there is overwhelming evidence to think that we have entered the early stages of a major extinction event. Indeed, some scientists worry this extinction event will be so bad as to constitute Earth’s sixth mass extinction. Our most pressing responsibility as a species is to do everything in our power to prevent
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What is Desirable About Having a Child with a Romantic Partner? Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2021-10-19 Marcus William Hunt
Abstract Most people desire to have a romantic relationship, and most people desire to have a child. The paper suggests one respect in which it is more desirable to have a child with a romantic partner rather than with someone other than a romantic partner, as platonic parents do. The first premise claims that the romantic relationship, and only this relationship, has a certain desire as a constitutive
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Nietzsche’s Theory of Empathy Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2021-08-25 Vasfi O. Özen
Abstract Nietzsche is not known for his theory of empathy. A quick skimming of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on empathy demonstrates this. Arthur Schopenhauer, Robert Vischer, and Theodor Lipps are among those whose views are considered representative, but Nietzsche has been simply forgotten in discussion of empathy. Nietzsche’s theory of empathy has not yet aroused sufficient interest
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This Quintessence of Dust - Consciousness Explained, at Thirty Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2021-09-01 Jared Warren
Abstract Daniel Dennett’s Consciousness Explained is probably the most widely read book about consciousness ever written by a philosopher. Despite this, the book has had a surprisingly small influence on how most philosophers of mind view consciousness. This might be because many philosophers badly misunderstand the book. They claim it does not even attempt to explain consciousness, but instead denies
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Safety and Unawareness of Error-Possibility Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2021-08-30 Haicheng Zhao
Abstract In this paper, I first seek a relatively plausible formulation of the safety principle. To this end, I refute a recent form of safety by Duncan Pritchard and then defend another weaker form of safety as a necessary condition for knowledge. Second, and more importantly, I point out that this weaker safety is still insufficient, in that it neglects one’s belief regarding nearby error-possibilities—a
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Emerson's Literary Philosophy Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2021-09-01 Joseph Urbas
(2021). Emerson's Literary Philosophy. Philosophical Papers: Vol. 50, No. 1-2, pp. 339-344.
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Correction Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2021-08-10
(2021). Correction. Philosophical Papers: Vol. 50, No. 1-2, pp. 345-345.
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Obligation Incompatibilism and Blameworthiness Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2021-07-05 Ishtiyaque Haji
Abstract Obligation incompatibilism is the view that determinism precludes moral obligation. I argue for the following. (i) Two principles, ‘ought’ implies ‘can’ and ‘ought not’ is equivalent to ‘impermissible’, generate a powerful argument for obligation incompatibilism. (ii) Assuming conceptual ties between blameworthiness and impermissibility or belief in impermissibility, these principles also
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Defending Libertarianism through Rethinking Responsibility for Consequences Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2021-07-01 László Bernáth
Abstract This article defends indirect libertarianism against those arguments which attempt to show that blameworthiness cannot be traced back to earlier blameworthy acts in most cases. More precisely, I focus on those arguments according to which responsibility cannot be traced back in most cases because agents are unable to foresee the distant consequences of their acts . Since indirect libertarianism
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Is Meaning in Life Constituted by Value or Intelligibility? Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2021-06-01 Iddo Landau
Abstract Several authors have recently argued that intelligibility, rather than value, constitutes life’s meaning. In this paper I criticize the intelligibility view by offering examples of cases in which intelligibility and meaningfulness rates do not coincide. I show this for both meaning in life and meaning of life; under both naturalist and supernaturalist assumptions; and in ways relevant to subjectivists
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What Exactly is Voting to Consensual Deliberation? Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2021-03-18 Emmanuel Ifeanyi Ani
Abstract There have been two parallel views regarding the role of voting in deliberation. The first is that deliberation before the fabrication of balloting was completely devoid of voting. The second is that voting is not just part of deliberation, but is standard to deliberation. I argue in this article that neither of these views is correct. Implicit voting has always existed across time and space
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Reasons As Evidence Against Ought-Nots Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2021-02-11 Kok Yong Lee
Abstract Reasons evidentialism is the view that normative reasons can be analyzed in terms of evidence about oughts (i.e., propositions concerning whether or not S ought to Φ). In this paper, I defend a new reason-evidentialist account according to which normative reasons are evidence against propositions of the form S ought not to Φ. The arguments for my view have two strands. First of all, I argue
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The Predicament That Wasn’t: A Reply to Benatar Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2021-02-11 Christine Vitrano
Abstract In his recent book The Human Predicament, David Benatar describes the human condition as a tragic predicament, and the upshot is that we ought to refrain from having children and adopt an attitude of pragmatic pessimism. I argue that both his pessimism and anti-natalism are not warranted, and I focus on two features: the lack of meaning in our lives and their poor quality. I begin by arguing
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Decolonising Knowledge Here and Now Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2020-09-07 Veli Mitova
Abstract The topic of epistemic decolonisation is currently the locus of lively debate both in academia and in everyday life. The aim of this piece is to isolate a few main strands in the philosophical literature on the topic, and draw some new connections amongst them through the lens of epistemic injustice. I first sketch what I take to be the core features of epistemic decolonisation. I then philosophically
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Luck and the Limits of Equality Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2020-09-01 Matthew T. Jeffers
Abstract A recent movement within political philosophy called luck egalitarianism has attempted to synthesize the right’s regard for responsibility with the left’s concern for equality. The original motivation for subscribing to luck egalitarianism stems from the belief that one’s success in life ought to reflect one’s own choices and not brute luck. Luck egalitarian theorists differ in the decision
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Epistemic Decolonization as Overcoming the Hermeneutical Injustice of Eurocentrism Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2020-09-01 Lerato Posholi
Abstract This paper is broadly concerned with the question of what epistemic decolonization might involve. It is divided into two parts. The first part begins by explaining the specifically epistemic problem to which calls for epistemic decolonization respond. I suggest that calls for decolonization are motivated by a perceived epistemic crisis consisting in the inadequacy of the dominant Eurocentric
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Epistemic Agency Under Oppression Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2020-08-27 Gaile Pohlhaus
Abstract The literature on epistemic injustice has been helpful for highlighting some of the epistemic harms that have long troubled those working in area studies that concern oppressed populations. Nonetheless, a good deal of this literature is oriented toward those in a position to perpetrate injustices, rather than those who historically have been harmed by them. This orientation, I argue, is ill-suited
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Towards A Plausible Account of Epistemic Decolonisation Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2020-08-27 Abraham T. Tobi
Abstract Why should we decolonise knowledge? One popular rationale is that colonialism has set up a single perspective as epistemically authoritative over many equally legitimate ones, and this is a form of epistemic injustice. Hence, we should take different epistemic perspectives as having equal epistemic authority. A problem with this rationale is that its relativist implications undermine the call
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Whither Epistemic Decolonization Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2020-08-27 Bernard Matolino
Abstract Epistemic decolonization, in its various conceptual formulations and presentations, could be taken to hold promise for either the completion of the anti-colonial struggle or the self-re-discovery of the formerly colonized and oppressed. In Africa this project has had a long history as both a counter to hegemonic histories of claimed Western epistemological superiority as well as theories of
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‘Becoming’ Romeo Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2020-08-21 Yuchen Guo
Abstract People have a capacity to imaginatively recreate mental states that they themselves do not have. These recreative states are referred to as ‘I-states’. Several philosophers, such as Gregory Currie, Tyler Doggett, and Andy Egan, propose that the combination of i-desire and i-belief—two typical I-states—can motivate agents. The goal of this paper is to defend this i-desire + i-belief account
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‘Civility’ and the Civilizing Project Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2020-05-03 Nora Berenstain
Abstract Calls for civility have been on the rise recently, as have presumptions that civility is both an academic virtue and a prerequisite for rational engagement and discussion among those who disagree. One imperative of epistemic decolonization is to unmask the ways that familiar conceptual resources are produced within and function to uphold a settler colonial epistemological framework. I argue
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Freedom in a Physical World Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2020-01-02 Andrew M. Bailey
Abstract Making room for agency in a physical world is no easy task. Can it be done at all? In this article, I consider and reject an argument in the negative.
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The Sexual Pleasure View of Sexual Desire Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2020-01-02 Raja Halwani
Abstract This paper defends the ‘sexual pleasure view’ of sexual desire—that sexual desire is for sexual pleasure. It does so by explaining the various aspects of the view, especially that of ‘sexual pleasure’ on which it relies, by explaining its important implications, by responding to various objections against it (that it relies on an impoverished notion of pleasure, e.g.), and by arguing against
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Is Bargaining a Form of Deliberating? Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2020-01-02 Emmanuel Ifeanyi Ani
Abstract Prevailing literature argues that arguing is the only appropriate mode of deliberation. The literature acknowledges bargaining, storytelling, and other forms of communication, but is unwilling to describe these as deliberation, properly speaking. The claim is that describing them as such would amount to concept stretching. My first thesis is that arguing exhausts neither the legitimate modes
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The Essential Tension in Phenomenal Consciousness Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2020-01-02 Søren Harnow Klausen
Abstract The contemporary standard view of phenomenal consciousness (PC)—shared by reductionists and non-reductionists alike—takes it to be a simple, ‘low-level’, ‘pre-reflective’ feature of mental states, yet at the same time attributes to it both a qualitative and a subjective character (or a phenomenal content and an aspect of subjective awareness). I argue that these two allegedly constitutive
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The Lump Sum: A Theory of Modal Parts Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2019-05-28 Meg Wallace
Abstract A lump theorist claims that ordinary objects are spread out across possible worlds, much like many of us think that tables are spread out across space. We are not wholly located in any one particular world, the lump theorist claims, just as we are not wholly spatially located where one’s hand is. We are modally spread out, a trans-world mereological sum of world-bound parts. We are lump sums
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Abstracta and Abstraction in Trope Theory Philosophical Papers (IF 0.5) Pub Date : 2019-05-23 A.R.J. Fisher
Abstract Trope theory is a leading metaphysical theory in analytic ontology. One of its classic statements is found in the work of Donald C. Williams who argued that tropes qua abstract particulars are the very alphabet of being. The concept of an abstract particular has been repeatedly attacked in the literature. Opponents and proponents of trope theory alike have levelled their criticisms at the