Epistemic trust in others frequently cannot be disentangled from interpersonal trust more generally, but the epistemic implications of how we affectively express our trust in others are under-investigated. This essay claims that gratitude, despite its empirically undeniable importance to human flourishing generally, is also important epistemically and in several intersecting ways. To be grateful to a person is to represent the world differently in key respects. Gratitude, even if it is for past non-epistemic benefits, should play an important role in (...) shaping who we epistemically rely on. Gratitude for specifically epistemic benefits is an important way in which we show our attunement to epistemic value and contribute to the incentive structures that make much of our public knowledge and informational ecosystems possible. Likewise, ingratitude is a crippling epistemic vice that renders our dependence on quality sources of information fragile and vulnerable to capture by misinformation. (shrink)

Humanism is the traditional approach in many disciplines, including history, philosophy, anthropology, and sociology. Humanists tend to assume that there is an important distinction between the knowing subject and the rest of the world. Posthumanism challenges this assumption, asking us to examine how the distinction between subject and object is constructed in the first place. To do so, posthumanists argue that we must abandon our traditional resources for understanding the knowing subject. In its place, we must adopt a radical new (...) notion of agency that encompasses humans and nonhumans. This paper argues that, although posthumanism teaches us a valuable lesson, the real problem lies not with humanism, but with Cartesianism. To show this, I develop a new version of humanism by drawing on two anti-Cartesian strands within recent philosophy of mind: _the extended mind thesis_ and _mental fictionalism_. The result is a view that allows us to retain our traditional resources for understanding the knowing subject, while recognising that the nature of that subject can change over time. (shrink)

The thesis that knowledge is a factive mental state plays a central role in knowledge-first epistemology, but accepting this thesis requires also accepting an unusually severe version of externalism about the mind. On this strong attitude externalism, whether S is in the mental state of knowledge can and often will rapidly change in virtue of changes in external states of reality with which S has no causal contact. It is commonly thought that this externalism requirement originates in the factivity of (...) knowledge. However, despite a number of recent defenses of non-factive accounts of knowledge, epistemology has yet to consider whether a non-factive approach might produce a version of the mental state thesis that can avoid strong externalism. Here I do just that, exploring how three different proposals for weakening factivity might be adapted to theories of knowledge as a non-factive mental state. Contrary to what we might expect, however, none of these proposals are compatible with anything close to attitude internalism about knowledge—or even a substantially weaker externalism. All told, the widespread view that wraps up the severe externalism required for knowledge to be a mental state in factivity is mistaken. Knowledge’s external-world connection runs far deeper than the factivity constraint. (shrink)

Cognitive science poses a variety of philosophical questions. In this forthcoming volume, leading researchers debate five core questions in the Philosophy of Cognitive Science: Is Universal Grammar required to explain our linguistic capacities? Are some of our concepts innate or are they all learned? What role do our bodies play in cognition? Can neuroscience help us understand the mind? Can cognitive science help us understand human morality? The volume contains two accessible essays on each topic, each advocating for an opposing (...) approach. (shrink)

John Rawls makes a provocative, original, but largely underdeveloped and neglected suggestion about the most basic subject-matter and aims of normative ethical theory. Rawls proposes that the moral concept of ‘right’, which we use when we call an individual action or social practice morally right or wrong, is defined by the functional role it has of properly adjudicating conflicting claims that persons make on one another and on social practices. Substantive moral theories of right and wrong, including utilitarianism, Kantianism and (...) contractualism, are supposed to provide more specific principles, criteria, values and ideals for interpreting and resolving this fundamental moral problem. It is not immediately apparent, however, what moral problem Rawls thinks substantive theories of right are supposed to interpret and address. The aim of this paper is to offer a fuller account of what Rawls could have meant by defining the concept of right as the proper adjudication of conflicting claims that persons make on one another or on social practices. I also describe and assess three implications of this expanded definition of right and I end with two reasons why one might accept some version of it. (shrink)

In multi-agent systems (MAS), abstract argumentation and argumentation schemes are increasingly important. To be useful for MAS, argumentation schemes require a computational approach so that agents can use the components of a scheme to construct and present arguments and counterarguments. This paper proposes a syntactic analysis that integrates argumentation schemes with abstract argumentation. Schemes can be analysed into the roles that propositions play in each scheme and the structure of the associated propositions, yielding a greater understanding of the schemes, a (...) uniform method of analysis, and a systematic means to relate one scheme to another. This analysis of the schemes helps to clarify what is needed to provide denotations of the terms and predicates in a semantic model. (shrink)

This essay represents an extension and deepening of the author’s book Žižek and Theology. First, it more thoroughly explores the relationship between Žižek’s perspective on theology and his development of the ontology and ethics of “dialectical materialism” in The Parallax View. It contrasts the typical approach to God as a kind of “master signifier” with Žižek’s call for a “non-all” God who names the very contingency and inconsistency of the world as such. The author then reads key texts by Augustine (...) and Pseudo-Dionysius through the lens of Žižek’s theology, showing that these authors provide resources for thinking of God as non-all, particularly in their account of evil as deprivation. It concludes with a call for a materialist theology that would further develop these insights, treating the Christian tradition as material for thought rather than a set of predetermined answers. (shrink)

“Moorean Dogmatist” responses to external world skepticism endorse courses of reasoning that many people find objectionable. This paper seeks to locate this dissatisfaction in considerations about epistemic responsibility. I sketch a theory of immediate warrant and show how it can be combined with plausible “inferential internalist” demands arising from considerations of epistemic responsibility. The resulting view endorses immediate perceptual warrant but forbids the sort of reasoning that “Moorean Dogmatism” would allow. A surprising result is that Dogmatism’s commitment to immediate epistemic (...) warrant isn’t enough to avoid certain standard arguments for skepticism about the external world. (shrink)

Both in the case of colloquial language and in the case of specialized scientific language we always have to face the essential issue : what must we do in order not to be misled by an incorrect use of language? When we refer in general to being misled by some use of language we have two cases in mind: primo, when the language in question wrongly performs its communicative function so that the speaker is unable to convey his ideas to (...) the listener, and, secundo, when the language by means of which we think imposes on us, through its structure and forms fixed by tradition (in the case of natural languages), incorrect ideas about reality (cf. the issues of hypostases). The causes of such and similar difficulties are varied. These difficulties, among other things, suggest the idea that language is not only an instrument, but also an object of research, an idea which induced twentieth century philosophers to engage in the study of language in its ontological, gnosiological, and methodological aspects. The method of semantic analysis, understood as a method of analysis of meanings of words, is directed precisely against these shortcomings of language. That method is meant to prevent semantic and logical errors that encumber the process of thinking with difficulties and hamper communication both with others and with oneself. Among other causes, these errors are due to the ambiguity and vagueness of words. (shrink)

Artykuł stanowi analizę relacji z debaty sejmowej towarzyszącej gło - sowaniu nad wprowadzeniem ustawy o warunkach dopuszczalności przerywania ciąży z 1956. Treść ustawy oraz dyskusja wokół niej stały się przyczynkiem sporów dotyczących regulacji uro - dzin. Po wprowadzeniu ustawy w życie w dyskursie dotyczącym nowego prawa partycypowali liczni autorzy, zarówno komunistyczni, jak i katoliccy. Omawiana relacja może być również po - strzegana jako przegląd chwytów retorycznych, których używało się w PRL-u w dyskusji na temat przerywania ciąży oraz stanowisk poszczególnych opcji (...) politycznych wobec tej problematyki. (shrink)

W systemie filozoficznym Jana Szkota Eriugeny Niestworzona Natura Stwarzająca to Bóg, który jest Stwórcą wszystkiego. Istota Bożej Natury jest transcendentna i niepoznawalna. Bóg objawia się ludzkiej naturze poprzez dzieło stworzenia i tekst biblijny. Analiza stworzenia pozwala wnioskować o Stwórcy, że istnieje, że żyje i że jest Mądrością. Te trzy wnioski wskazują, że jeden Bóg istnieje jako troistość, w której Ojciec jest Istotą Bożej Natury, Syn jest Mądrością, a Duch Święty jest życiem. Powyższe wnioskowanie potwierdza również egzegeza biblijna. Bóg zaprasza człowieka (...) do poszukiwania prawdy. Ludzka natura jest odbiciem Niestworzonej Natury Stwarzającej, ponieważ człowiek został stworzony na obraz i podobieństwo Boga, o czym świadczy nieśmiertelna dusza i co potwierdza biblijna egzegeza. Struktura ludzkiej duszy jest obrazem Boga i człowiek może na podstawie analizy własnej duszy dojść do przekonania, że Bóg istnieje, oraz że w swej Istocie jest niepoznawalny. Sam przez się istnieje tylko Bóg, a całość stworzenia istnieje tylko dlatego, że Bóg podtrzymuje wszystko w istnieniu. Nie istnieje wśród stworzenia intelekt zdolny poznać Boga, lecz mimo tego historia świata zgromadziła różne zapisy dotyczące Boga, które wynikają z potrzeb ludzkiej natury oraz z konieczności niemilczenia chrześcijaństwa o Stwórcy. Dla ludzkich potrzeb określa się Boga, wskazując na różne atrybuty i czynności. System filozoficzny Eriugeny wskazuje, że powierzenie słowu ludzkiemu tajemnic Boga jest wielkim wysiłkiem, lecz jest to praca pożyteczna, ponieważ może zbliżać ludzi do Boga, co w każdej epoce jest ważne i słuszne. ----------------------------------------- Zgłoszono: 27/06/2023. Zrecenzowano: 20/02/2024. Zaakceptowano do publikacji: 10/06/2024. (shrink)

As a unique work of reference, The Cambridge Handbook of Australian Criminology covers the broad range of contemporary and historical subjects of criminology, combining statistical and narrative analyses. The book provides the most up-to-date figures and facts, traces historical trends in Australian crime and criminal justice, and comprehensively covers the key contemporary issues in Australian criminology. Including valuable crime statistics compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, this book is the complete companion to Australian criminology - the single most important (...) resource for Australian criminology and criminal justice. (shrink)

In this essay, the author joins a conversation started by Martin regarding gender and education seeking to extend the conversation to address sexuality. To do so, the author brings a reading of the Marquis de Sade to challenge the emphasis on reproduction in education as it relates to gendered and sexual norms. The author, following Martin’s approach in Reclaiming the Conversation, reads one particular text of Sade’s—Philosophy in the Bedroom—to argue for queer possibilities that Sade brings to the conversation around (...) gender and sexuality within twenty-first century education. The Marquis de Sade may viscerally seem an inappropriate choice to return to and use to join the conversation, but his novelic imagination incites complications in the conversation. Following in the footsteps of Martin’s re-reading of historic philosophical texts the author offers not only another layer of thinking about “female education,” but also opens up space for engaging gender and sexuality in the history and philosophy of education. As issues around gender and sexed bodies become ever more present and contested in educational discourses, does Sade continue the conversation in ways that corrupt the reproductive aims of education? (shrink)

Background: The Measure of Moral Distress – Healthcare Professionals (MMD-HP) is a 27-item survey that quantifies moral distress. The MMD-HP was distributed to healthcare professionals (HPs), and analysis of a free-text response item revealed information-rich descriptions of morally distressing situations. Research question: What are HPs’ perceptions of their experiences of morally distressing situations? Research design: A descriptive, qualitative approach explored respondents’ free-text responses to the following open-ended response item: “If there are other situations in which you have felt moral distress, (...) please write and score them here.” Participants and research context: Eligible participants were HPs ( N = 8206) working in a large, multi-site healthcare system located in a major, urban city in the Southeastern United States. Ethical considerations: The Institutional Review Board provided approval for this research. A survey preamble supplied information, and consent was presumed with survey completion. Findings: Three themes were identified from 282 free-text responses: Theme 1: Compromised Quality of Care, Theme 2: Hostile Work Environment, and Theme 3: Ineffective Leadership. Conclusions: This study is unique because it provided in-depth qualitative analysis of morally distressing situations in a free-text response item across a wide array of HPs within multiple settings. Responses revealed that moral distress impacted the quality of patient care and provided descriptions of powerlessness to act. (shrink)

Questions and analyses centered on race have become more prominent in philosophy. By employing a ‘critical philosophy of race’, thinkers become enabled to address how race and racism continue to operate in subtle and unintended ways, including within concepts, theories, principles, practices, and methodologies otherwise purported to be race-neutral. Yet, North American sports philosophy provides few examples of work that grapples with race, racism, or theories of race. In this essay, I ask why and conclude that the shortage of discussions (...) that include explicit references to race or ethnicity in North American sport philosophy is due to the dominance and normalization of white epistemologies – white ways of experiencing, seeing, and knowing the world. (shrink)

Resenha de Beyond the Secret Garden: Racially Minoritised People in British Children’s Books, by Darren Chetty and Karen Sands-O’Connor. English Media Centre, 2025.

Lao Tzu and Marx together provide the basis of an epistemology based on ignorance—not on knowledge. The failure of an epistemology based on knowledge is shown by the internal inconsistencies afflicting mainstream economics: Economic theory predicts certain empirical phenomena but these fail to reveal themselves. In fact, the strongest research finding in development economics is that there are almost no robust empirical relationships between an implemented policy and its desired outcomes in the real world. A theory of ignorance can highlight (...) many economic contradictions—and may even prove useful in understanding autistics. (shrink)