Traditionally, the central threat to the defensibility of the range of practices and attitudes constitutive of moral criticism has been seen to be posed by the Causal Thesis, the view that all actions have antecedent causes to which they are linked by causal laws of the kind that govern other events in the universe. In such a world, agents lack the sort of underived origination and agency required for the appropriateness of moral criticism. However, Peter Strawson’s “Freedom and Resentment” marks a move away from a metaphysical conception of agency and conditions of the appropriateness of moral criticism. On Strawson’s account, the problem of moral responsibility is centrally a normative problem, a problem about the moral norms that govern interpersonal relationships, and the conditions of appropriateness of the range of attitudes and sentiments occasioned by the agents’ fulfillment or non-fulfillment of these norms. In this dissertation I argue that the success of normative conceptions of conditions of appropriateness of moral criticism is contingent of the amelioration of the tension between two strategies in “Freedom and Resentment.” Naturalist interpretations hold that sentiments and practices constitutive of moral criticism are natural features of human psychological constitution, and therefore neither allow nor require justification. Rationalist interpretation, by contrast, are based on an analysis of conditions under which moral criticism can be justifiably modified or suspended. Both of these strategies, I argue, are false. The naturalistic interpretation is false not because of its inability to offer a plausible account of the conditions of justifiability of reactive attitudes, but rather because of its inability to offer a principled account of the way moral norms are grounded. The rationalistic interpretation, in turn, not only relies on an implausible psychological account of conditions of responsible agency, but puts an unacceptable emphasis on the agent’s intention. A plausible interpretation of the normative strategy requires emphasizing not only the significance of attitudes and feelings, but also the role reasons play in constituting moral norms and justifying moral criticism / Thesis (Ph.D, Philosophy) -- Queen's University, 2010-07-05 16:42:43.601

No description available.

This thesis addresses an issue in the philosophy of Mathematics which is little discussed, and indeed little recognised. This issue is the phenomenon of a ‘change of setting’. Changes of setting are events which involve a change in a scientific framework which is fruitful for answering questions which were, under an old framework, intractable. The formulation of the new setting usually involves a conceptual re-orientation to the subject matter. In the natural sciences, such re-orientations are arguably unremarkable, inasmuch as it is possible that within the former setting for one’s thinking one was merely in error, and under the new orientation one is merely getting closer to the truth of the matter. However, when the subject matter is pure mathematics, a problem arises in that mathematical truth is (in appearance) timelessly immutable. The conceptions that had been settled upon previously seem not the sort of thing that could be vitiated. Yet within a change of setting that is just what seems to happen. Changes of setting, in particular in their effects on the truth of individual propositions, pose a problem for how to understand mathematical truth. Thus this thesis aims to give a philosophical analysis of the phenomenon of changes of setting, in the spirit of the investigations performed in Wilson (1992) and Manders (1987) and (1989). It does so in three stages, each of which occupies a chapter of the thesis: 1. An analysis of the relationship between mathematical truth and settingchanges, in terms of how the former must be viewed to allow for the latter. This results in a conception of truth in the mathematical sciences which gives a large role to the notion that a mathematical setting must ‘explain itself’ in terms of the problems it is intended to address. 2. In light of (1), I begin an analysis of the change of setting engendered in mathematical logic by Gottlob Frege. In particular, this chapter will address the question of whether Frege’s innovation constitutes a change of setting, by asking the question of whether he is seeking to answer questions which were present in the frameworks which preceded his innovations. I argue that the answer is yes, in that he is addressing the Kantian question of whether alternative systems of arithmetic are possible. This question arises because it had been shown earlier in the 19th century that Kant’s conclusion, that Euclid’s is the only possible description of space, was incorrect. 3. I conclude with an in-depth look at a specific aspect of the logical system constructed in Frege’s Grundgesetze der Arithmetik. The purpose of this chapter is to find evidence for the conclusions of chapter two in Frege’s technical work (as opposed to the philosophical). This is necessitated by chapter one’s conclusions regarding the epistemic interdependence of formal systems and informal views of those frameworks. The overall goal is to give a contemporary account of the possibility of setting-changes; it will turn out that an epistemic grasp of a mathematical system requires that one understand it within a broader, somewhat historical context.

No se posee.

In this paper, I discuss the connection between happiness and reason in the work of Herder, Kant, and Hegel. First, I consider Herder’s integration of satisfaction and rationality and Kant’s complete separation of rational imperatives from particular experience. I discuss (and partially endorse) Kant’s critique of Herder as arbitrary and overly reliant on analogy. I then turn to Hegel’s response to this debate. I argue that Hegel’s Phenomenology provides an integration of happiness (in the broad, Aristotelian sense) and reason that is not subject to the same pitfalls as Herder’s solution. I examine two examples of rational critique in the Phenomenology and conclude with brief remarks about happiness and the rational society in Hegel’s work.

No description available.

Zugl.: Dortmund, University, Diss.

Thesis (Revise). / On cover: Armonia mundi. Includes bibliography of the works by and on C.A.L. Creuzer (1768-1844), bibliographical references (p. 227-292) and name index.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Stockholm University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 209-221).

Thesis--Münster, 1974. / Bibliography: p. 417-428.