【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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Reduction, supervenience, and the autonomy of social scientific laws
Many have felt that it is impossible to defend autonomous laws of social science: where the regularities upheld are law-like it is argued that they are not at base social scientific, and where the phenomena to be explained would seem to require social des
The meaning of irony
The theory of irony, going back to Quintillian's assessment of Socrates, has been divided between two broad possibilities. On the one hand, irony can be understood as a figure of speech within a meaningful context, and in this case we would be able to ex
Revised proof of the uniqueness theorem for 'no collapse' interpretations of quantum mecha
We show that the Bub-Clifton uniqueness theorem (1996) for 'no collapse' interpretations of quantum mechanics can be proved without the 'weak separability' assumption. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Quantum mechanics as a principle theory
I show how quantum mechanics, like the theory of relativity, can be understood as a 'principle theory' in Einstein's sense, and I use this notion to explore the approach to the problem of interpretation developed in my book Interpreting the Quantum Wor
Poincare's contributions to relativistic dynamics
In this paper I concentrate on the dynamic aspects of the special theory of relativity (in the non-Minkowski formalism), and not on the kinematic part of the story as is usually done. Following up the dynamic story leads to a new point of view as to Poinc
Eurasianism as a legacy of N.Y. Danilevsky? Comments concerning a research topos
N. Ya. Danilevsky is often mentioned as one of the predecessors of the Eurasian movement without the spheres of similarity and difference being clearly defined. This paper shows that both Danilevsky's theory of cultural-historical types and Eurasianism c
The grammatical ingredients of counterfactuality
Counterfactual constructions convey the meaning that the speaker believes a certain proposition not to hold. This article investigates the morphosyntactic composition of counterfactual conditionals and counterfactual wishes and the question of how the for
Features, syntax, and categories in the Latin perfect
The analysis centers on the notion of category in synthetic and analytic verbal forms and on the status of the feature that determines the forms of the Latin perfect. In this part of the Latin verbal system, active forms are synthetic (verbs'') but pass
Emmanuel Levinas and the euthanasia debate
The philosophers' tendency to characterize euthanasia in terms of either the right or the responsibility to die is, in some ways, problematic. Stepping outside of the analytic framework, the author draws out the implications of the ethics of Emmanuel Lev
Sellars without homogeneity (Science, ontology, perceptual experience)
Central to Wilfred Sellars' philosophical system is his belief that science's current ontology is inadequate as it fails to provide for an acceptable account of perceptual experience. Unfortunately, this remains the most puzzling plank in his philosophy
Platonic number in the 'Parmenides' and 'Metaphysics' XIII
I argue here that a properly Platonic theory of the nature of number is still viable today. By properly Platonic, I mean one consistent with Plato's own theory, with appropriate extensions to take into account subsequent developments in mathematics. at P
Kierkegaard and what we mean by 'philosophy'
Against influential views to the contrary, notably formulated in Henry Allison's Christianity and Nonsense, it is argued that Kierkegaard's Concluding Unscientific Postscript is not in itself, as a whole or in any part, an elaborate joke. The work conta
Dreams in the history of philosophy
For 2,500 years western philosophers showed great interest in dreams-as subjects, examples, analogies, and contexts. Since 1960 this interest has declined, while scholars in other disciplines continue to study dreams, often addressing philosophical issues
Island biogeography and the multiple domains of models
This paper adopts a symmetrical approach to controversies over R.H. MacArthur and E.O. Wilson's equilibrium model of island biogeography, in order to show how different interpretations of the model depend upon different philosophical understandings of th
Socio-ecological webs and sites of sociality: Levins' strategy of model building revisited
This essay extends Levins' 1966 analysis of model building in ecology and evolutionary biology. A model, as the product of modeling, might be valued according to its correspondence to reality. Yet Levins' emphasis on provisionality and change redirects