Browsing by Author "Department of Philosophy, School of Liberal Arts"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Being in the World
    (2015) Houser, Nathan; Department of Philosophy, School of Liberal Arts
    This essay addresses a question raised by Helmut Pape: “What logical, semiotical and mental structure does our consciousness have to have in order to establish the proper link between perception, thought and propositional content expressed by indicators?” The answer, it is proposed, is found in Peirce’s Existential Graphs (EG). First, EG is, itself, a model of cognition that provides the formal structure required for such a consciousness. Second, an appropriate semiotical interpretation will give us the requested structure. Third, interpreted as a psychological or perceptual model, EG will represent the links we seek.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Deep Platonism
    (Wiley, 2015) Carmichael, Chad; Department of Philosophy, School of Liberal Arts
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Making Drones to Kill Civilians: Is it Ethical?
    (Springer, 2015) Byrne, Edmund F.; Department of Philosophy, School of Liberal Arts
    A drone industry has emerged in the US, initially funded almost exclusively for military applications. There are now also other uses both governmental and commercial (in the US and abroad). Many military drones are still being made, however, especially for surveillance and targeted killings. Regarding the latter, this essay calls into question their legality and morality. It recognizes that the issues are complex and controversial, but less so as to the killing of non-combatant civilians. The government using drones for targeted killings maintains secrecy and appeals to non-traditional justifications. Most scholars who assess these killer drone practices support citizen immunity, either by favoring a modified just war theory that prioritizes civilians’ right to life or by challenging official deviations from applicable laws. They accordingly declare such killing immoral if not a war crime. The manufacturers of these killer drones are not themselves the killers, but they are abetters, i.e., sine qua non facilitators. So, I argue that any company concerned about its corporate social responsibility should cease manufacturing them.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Toward a Commonsense Answer to the Special Composition Question
    (Taylor and Francis, 2015) Carmichael, Chad; Department of Philosophy, School of Liberal Arts
    The special composition question is the question, ‘When do some things compose something?’ The answers to this question in the literature have largely been at odds with common sense, either by allowing that any two things (no matter how apparently unrelated) compose something, or by denying the existence of most ordinary composite objects. I propose a new ‘series-style’ answer to the special composition question that accords much more closely with common sense, and I defend this answer from van Inwagen's objections. Specifically, I will argue (among other things) that the proposed answer entails the transitivity of parthood, that it is non-circular, and that it casts some light on the ancient puzzle about the Ship of Theseus.