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March 28-29, 2003
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March 28-29, 2003
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Mark Bernier
The Possibility of St. Anselm
Rhode Island College (Providence, RI)
This paper will address the claim that modal ontological arguments must prove that God is possible. Often this is the target of critique, and possibility is notoriously difficult for the ontological arguer to establish. To this end, some of Anselm’s writings will be examined to extract a line of reasoning not focused on the modern debate, which will support a modal argument that does not rely on the possibility of God’s existence. A usual critique of Anselm’s argument will be discussed—Gaunilo’s perfect island—and a (more or less traditional) strategy for providing a response will be suggested. Finally, this version of Anselm’s argument will be discussed in relation to Alvin Plantinga’s ontological argument, suggesting that they can be used in tandem.
Brett Bodemer
Haiku: Here’s Looking at You
University of Hawaii (Manoa, HI)
Since its introduction to the Anglo-European audiences in the late nineteenth century, haiku has often been epitomized as a kind of picture-painting in words. Focusing on Gottfried Lessing's Laocoön , I examine some classically-derived notions about the relations between painting and poetry; and show how, according to such an analysis, haiku might well stand in the closest relation to the visual arts. And yet, in following further hints of a linguistic nature from the Laocoön, and considering these in conjunction with the structural elements of haiku, it can be shown that these poems do not present primarily scenic vistas, but rather, concentrated encounters with the dynamics of language itself. It is not a case of the viewer being here, and the artwork there. Meaning, experience and creation are all inextricably bound together. How such encounters can serve as experiential models for alternative engagements of temporality and self are further suggested by a discussion of the notions of the thirteenth-century Japanese Zen Buddhist Dôgen Zenji.
Meghan J. Clark
The Metaphysical Problem of Evil
Fordham University (Bronx, NY)
Does evil exist? If evil exists, can God exist? The experience and possible existence of evil poses a great problem for Christians and philosophers. Metaphysically, it is a problem of finding an intelligible way to explain the occurrence and experience of evil. If one holds, as St. Thomas does, that all beings are good, then what can the status of evil as a being be? If one suggests that a being is intrinsically evil by nature as a being, how then can it possibly participate in the act of existence which Thomas recognizes as a basic perfection or participate in the goodness of God? Two main lines of questioning arise: first, what is the nature and status of evil as being? And second, can the existence of a good God be compatible with the presence of evil in the world? Is there an inherent contradiction in the existence of a good, omnipotent, omniscient God and the experience of evil? If both exist, is God then responsible for the evil because he allows it to occur? This paper will attempt to answer these questions through the Augustinian and Thomistic understanding of the nature of evil as privative. Through the examination of four contrary theories on the nature of evil, an explanation of privation theory, different types of evil, and three common objections to St. Augustine, the privation theory will emerge as the only metaphysical option which preserves nature of being as good and the goodness of God. Finally, this paper will attempt to show that the experience of evil in accordance with the privation theory is compatible with the existence of the Thomistic/Augustinian concept of God.
Peter Faben
You vs. Me: Opposi(ng)tional Identities and Movements of Resistance
SUNY Cortland (Cortland, NY)
My piece is an attempt to work through some of the problems of identity as outlined by Iris Young and Donna Haraway. I begin with a description of identity formation as theorized by Hegel and use this as a description of what is meant by the term “oppositional identity.” I specifically use his Master/Slave dialectic to show the manner in which identities create hierarchical power relations. From there, I move to Young, who uses Jacques Derrida’s and Theodore Adorno’s critiques of identity to explicate the imperializing and exclusivity of identity. Adorno and Derrida both show that in fact totalizing identities create not one, but two exclusive, totalized and illusory wholes that detest difference and make such digressers ‘Others’. Then I discuss Donna Haraway who uses the metaphor of the cyborg to deconstruct the meta-categories of identity that are oppositional and exclusive: man/woman, worker/capitalist, nature/culture, etc. I end with a discussion of the application of these ideas in the Movements for Social Justice. I discuss what such movements have done right and where they have strayed and point towards a possible future.
Sandra Finn
Please Call it Euthanasia
SUNY Oneonta (Oneonta, NY)
Death seems a peculiar place to learn how to live, sort of like eating dessert first before the meal—backwards, but death is our greatest teacher of life. If we fear it, it will surely be fearsome; if we make friends with it, it will surely be friendlier. People in the proverbial “west,” especially in the United States, have an unnatural view of death which naturally leads to a perverted view of life. In a country of the size and power of the United States, this can have a devastating effect throughout the living world. This paper is a direct call to rethink our stand on euthanasia, and in the process of making that call I will contrast two differing views of death, one born in the “west” and one born in the “east,” one birthing bondage to life, and one birthing freedom.
Allen S. Gehring
An Edwardsean Response to the Problem of Horrendous Evils
Cedarville University (Cedarville, OH)
The purpose of my essay is threefold; first, I develop Jonathan Edward’s value theory and view of God’s moral goodness through a careful exegesis of The End For Which God Created The World and The Nature Of True Virtue. Second, I develop an argument for what he should have claimed is the ground for what makes a thing valuable--namely, whatever God values is valuable--because he is ambiguous on this point. Third, I take his value-theory and view of God’s moral goodness, along with the aforementioned area of clarification, and demonstrate the implications for the current debate over the existence of horrendous evils, an area of research that has been ignored by contemporary philosophers of religion. In particular, I demonstrate that Edwards’ ideas have at least five implications for this debate: 1) the existence of horrendous evils are completely irrelevant to God’s moral goodness, 2) God’s moral goodness does not imply that He would always eliminate horrendous evils, 3) the ultimate purpose for the existence of such evils is the manifestation of God’s glory ad extra , 4) one version of William Rowe’s evidential argument from horrendous evil fails, and 5) it cannot be claimed that horrendous evils are intrinsically non-valuable.
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Andrew Hao
From Suspicion to the Repressive Hypothesis: The Structure of Power and Object in Foucault’s Madness and Civilization and The History of Sexuality: Volume I
Columbia University (New York, NY)
There seems at first in Michel Foucault’s work a declared and intended change in methodology and structure between Madness and Civilization and The History of Sexuality:Volume I. In writing about madness, Foucault pinpoints it as a repressed object subjugated by Reason. Here, madness is a substrate suppressed, power is repressive, and Foucault’s own critique is an attempt to emancipate the truth of madness. Yet, by the time of his writings on sexuality, Foucault claims to have turned away from such thinking towards one suspicious of the “repressive power-repressed object” model. This paper demonstrates how this logic critiqued by Foucault is repeated by him in relation to sexuality. Specifically, his assertion of “bodies and pleasures” exists in structural tension with his bringing into question of the “repressive hypothesis.” The paradigm he employs in writing about madness arises again in his analysis of sexuality, even as he disowns it.
Thomas Henthorn
Overcoming Objectivism
Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, NY)
This paper discusses the errors of some of the most fundamental tenets of Objectivism, the philosophical practice given shape by Ayn Rand—analyzing and attempting to correct these errors through a Nietzschean perspective. The paper illuminates the folly of ascetic truth and logic worship (on which Objectivism is based) by presenting counterarguments from several of Nietzsche’s works. The Objectivist conceptions particularly challenged are those of pure, static truth, objective knowledge, and detached, Cartesian “self.” The goal is not to completely dismiss Objectivism as unrealistic, but simply to modify these points of error. Nietzsche helps us do this by revealing the worship of any absolute as nihilistic, arguing that knowledge can never escape subjectivity, and offering a more dynamic, realistic conception of the self. The overtone to all of the arguments is that of becoming, the Nietzschean idea that nothing exists in the traditionally accepted manner of constancy and stasis, but that everything is constantly varying and growing—constantly becoming. All things—truth, logic and values included—must constantly be overcome.
Jason Hills
Normative Values in Contextualism
Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, NY)
Michael Williams presents a contextualist theory of justification in Problems of Knowledge: A Critical Introduction to Epistemology . Contextualism holds skepticism at bay without jettisoning epistemic responsibility, as do many formulations of externalism; contextualism also remains sufficiently flexible to allow many avenues of inquiry, which substantive foundationalism does not. Contextualism makes explicit the interest-relative aspect of knowledge, where the standards for adequate grounding are dependent in part on the epistemic needs of the community of knowers. Williams fails to realize that the inclusion of social practices introduces politics, and he fails, therefore, to address the political dimension of epistemology. Here I will argue that the political interests of the community are expressed as normative values that are necessary because contexts under-determine standards of adequate grounding. The danger is not recognizing the degree to which differing sets of normative values lead to different epistemic outcomes, an issue raised by Helen Longino. I will conclude that Williams and other contextualists must address the choice of some values over others and make more robust suggestions as to how to make such choices. The selection (and selection process) has a dramatic impact on what is said to be known, how it is known, and the purposes to which the knowledge is put.
John A. Houston
The Trials of Job: A Personal Reflection on an Existential Problem
Campion College (San Francisco, CA)
The Book of Job forces us not only to confront the problem of evil and human suffering, but, to ask a question that is fundamental to the human condition: that of suicide. To read the Book of Job is to have every fiber of our moral being stretched to the breaking point. Indeed, the trials of Job often outrage our moral sense because they are the sufferings of a just man. How are we to regard the suffering of the just? While classical philosophical discussions on the problem of evil do provide some intellectual satisfaction to the problem, they often fail to address the immediate or existential reality of evil. For, though theoretically speaking, one can say truly of evil that it is the ‘absence or privation of some good that ought to be present,’ such a truth does little to speak to our immediate pain. Such reasoning is abstract, but we live on the level of particulars. And on this level we find this “absence” becomes a terrifying “presence.” It was such for Job. Though Job had a first-rate philosophical mind, it was not—indeed, never could have been—argument that solved the problem of evil for him. It was…Other. This essay investigates why.
John Kane
Kantian Imagination in a Moral Framework
Binghamton University (Binghamton, NY)
In this paper, I will define the activity of the imagination in regard to all rational beings. I will then demonstrate that this definition applies not only to experience and cognition, but also to morality. In the Critique of Pure Reason, the imagination is important to Kant in regards to his model for the possibility of experience, as it is the faculty that produces schema. However, in his writings concerning morality, specifically the Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals and the Critique of Practical Reason, Kant does not give any importance to the imagination. I feel that Kant mistakenly ended his investigation of morality too early, and because of this mistake, did not see the importance of the imagination in morality. I take Kant’s morality one step further, and it is in this step that I believe the importance of the imagination in morality becomes obvious.
Adam Koropatkin
Behold This
Eastern Connecticut State University (Williamantic, CT)
“Behold This” argues that, in terms of a work of art, beauty is not in the eye of the beholder; rather, it is a universal reality, which can be shared by everyone. To clarify this assertion, the characteristics of a work of art are defined and the semantics and application of the term “beauty” are explored. The term “beauty” does not mean a quality or feature that is most effective, gratifying, or telling. Instead, the term is used to allegorically describe the intrinsic worth and symbolized presence of reality inherent within a work of art. The paper also explores the notion that a work of art allows one to grasp “the real,” in that one is lead to one’s “origin” through play. Furthermore, after discussing Karl Rahner’s theory on sign and symbol along with H.G. Gadamer’s ideas about a work of art having its own Being, it can be understood how a work of art leads to mythos.
Melissa Kozak
The Inevitability of Skepticism
SUNY Oneonta (Oneonta, NY)
This paper is a discussion of the problem of knowledge and an attempt to prove the inevitability of skepticism. We will examine the work of Descartes, Hume, and Kant to discover what knowledge (if any) they saved from skepticism and why they are threatened by skepticism. Then, we will look at the work of Charles Sanders Peirce who believes that he has solved the problem of knowledge. We will argue that Peirce cannot avoid skepticism, despite his attempts to do so. We will conclude that skepticism is a real philosophical and academic issue, but that it is not practical to apply extreme skeptical standards to everyday life. Even so, the basic ideas of skepticism are useful and will help one be more cautious and thorough in one's examination of the world.
Jack Marsh
The Status of Science in Social Discourse
University of North Carolina at Charlotte (Charlotte, NC)
One of the hallmarks of Modern Western culture is the special status assigned to science and the scientific community. This status has been increasingly called into question under the banner of “Post-modernism.” Is it tenable to suggest that science is an “objective” enterprise? Are its epistemic claims viable? Are the whole notions of “Reason” and “Progress” on which science is founded, themselves realistic? In this paper I will explore these questions and offer a possible “middle way” through the traditional and Post-modern responses. Using the philosophy of language of Paul Ricoeur and by outlining a structural theory of metaphor, I will show that epistemology is primarily domain specific, and that reason and claims to objectivity must be understood as dynamic and local.
Emily McRae
Moism and Western Philosophy: Altruism vs. Egoism
Union College (Schenectady, NY)
Mozi, the Chinese philosopher and social reformer, developed a political theory that is often compared to the Western political theories of Thomas Hobbes, Jeremy Bentham and J.S. Mill. The first part of Mozi’s political philosophy is his theory of the origin of the state and this is commonly considered to be analogous to Hobbes’ theory of the state of nature. The second aspect of Mozi’s theory is his utilitarianism, which is often found to be virtually identical to Bentham’s and Mill’s utilitarianism. These comparisons, however, are misguided. Through an examination of Mozi’s theories of the origin of state, utilitarianism and his concept of impartiality, I will show that Mozi’s political philosophy is fundamentally different than the Western variety. This is because Mozi’s political philosophy is based on altruism while the political theories of Hobbes, Bentham and Mill are based on egoism. I will then provide two examples of this fundamental difference: Mozi’s condemnation of aggressive war and his theory of self-sacrifice to the state.
Richard Morel
Snythesia Ethica, or Johnson’s Amoral Ethical Theory
Webster University (St. Louis, MO)
How metaphor affects morality. This essay is an examination of the ethical theory developed by Mark Johnson in Moral Imagination—a moral theory that flouts traditional conceptions of morality. Johnson demonstrates how cognition is thoroughly metaphorical; humans understand and think according to metaphors. Furthermore, moral thinking is not understood as a rational process, but more of an imaginative one. By combining metaphorical patterns in cognition, imaginative projections, and narrative synthesis, Johnson develops an important diagnosis of moral thought. The analysis of Johnson’s theory is augmented with a scenario taken from the film Crimes and Misdemeanors, used to provide a concrete example to flesh out the implications of the theory.
Jonathan Price
To Whom Did You Grant the Paradigm, Mr. Kuhn?
A Re-Reading of Thomas Kuhn’s Structure
Dickinson College (Carlisle, PA)
In the wake of Thomas Kuhn’s groundbreaking book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, appropriations of the scientific method and more specifically, his paradigm-driven structure of scientific revolutions, have been far reaching. This has been true in both the social and natural sciences. From psychology to sociology to biological anthropology, and from medicine to physics and chemistry, the impact has been felt at the level of theory, representation of, and intervention in the natural world.But what was Kuhn’s authorial intent? Did he write Structure to give the idea of a paradigm to researchers in disciplines traditionally denied the clout of the “hard” sciences? Or was he trying to set the “hard” sciences further apart from their “softer” comrades in the social sciences? I will argue in favor of the latter: Kuhn wrote Structure in an attempt to save the model of Modern scientific objectivity from an academic culture that was becoming increasingly suspicious of claims to higher and more reasonable forms of knowledge by scientific community.
Zina Semenovskaya
A Critical Review of Aristotle’s Arguments for the Eternity of the Universe
Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ)
Aristotle’s theology is unique among both ancient and modern philosophers due to its heavy reliance on science and reason to rationalize belief. In one of his most famous and highly controversial treatises, “On the Heavens”, Aristotle puts forth several proofs for the eternity of the universe that are deeply intertwined with his conceptions of time and motion. In this paper, I first discuss the fundamental logic that is the basis for Aristotle’s physics, and then critically examine his arguments concerning the nature of the universe. Through a discussion of Aristotle’s ideas, his contemporaries’ criticisms, and several original objections, I hope to bring to light both the ingenuity of Aristotle’s deductions as well as the subtle flaws in his arguments. Although many theologians still utilize Aristotle’s ideas to further religious belief, the many objections raised in my paper should lead to careful discussion of such ideas and skepticism at absolute adherence to their logic.
Laura Stewart
Kierkegaard: A Fairytale of Himself
Belmont University (Nashville, TN)
Soren Kierkegaard, through his life and the way he portrayed his philosophy, was a man who exhibited a fairytale mentality. He was so involved in dramatizing aspects of his life, I believe he actually fabricated many of his very own life experiences. From structuring his philosophy and his life, to his relationships with his "ideal love" Regina and the great rivals, Kierkegaard lived in his own illusions. In this paper, I suggest some ways in which such an interpretive view redirects our understanding of his philosophy
Website constructed and maintained by Douglas Shrader / Department Chair Philosc@Oneonta.edu March 24, 2003
