Haig Khatchadourian is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukie. He received his PhD in philosophy from Duke University and has been awarded several prizes for poetry and literary essays. In 1973 he received the Outstanding Educator of America Award.

CHAPTER ONE PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS: A GENERAL DISCUSSION The terms 'analysis' and 'analyse' are used in all sorts of ways in ordinary discourse and in ...

Truth: Its criteria and conditions is an in-depth critical-and-constructive inquiry in almost equal measure. The theories of the nature of empirical truth critically considered include two forms of the traditional correspondence theory; truth as appraisal; truth as identity of proposition and truth; en emotive theory of truth; P.F. Strawson s performative theory, and N. Rescher s novel theory of a coherentist criterion of truth. The constructive parts include an analysis of the concept of a fact, the meaning and uses of (...) true and false in empirical statements, together with the various sorts of conditions for their correct application; the appraisive/evaluative uses of true and false statements; and the performative-cum-cognitive uses of true empirical statements; and the conditions of the performative uses of true. A significant claim about the concept of truth is its indefinablity; albeit for quite different reasons from Gottlob Frege s reason based on his argument against the correspondence theory of truth.". (shrink)

The article maintains, By appeal to documentary evidence relating to the creative processes of various artists, That the two major rival theories of the creative process--The "teleological" and the "propulsive" ("non-Teleological") theories--Are inadequate. Rather than always being goal-Directed or always propulsive, Creative processes exhibit a wide range of patterns. Six of them are considered. They range from works "which have been created without any, Or with scarcely any, (1) "vision" of the work-To-Be created, Even of the vaguest or most general (...) kind, Or (2) any particular "purpose" that the work to be created is intended to serve" to "instances of artistic creation which start with (1) some definite, Quite specific and well-Worked out plan, Vision or blueprint of the work-To-Be-Created, And/or (2) some specific purpose which the work-To-Be-Created... Is intended to have." still other patterns probably obtain in films and in "indeterminate" art. (shrink)

In a recent article, George Schlesinger adds his thoughts to the quite extensive literature on the Problem of Evil and the Problem of Suffering. What is noteworthy about this article is the fact that the author, after briefly discussing a number of familiar arguments for and against the traditional theistic conception of God as both omnipotent and perfectly good, attempts to dissolve the problem itself as a pseudo-problem. In the present paper I wish to try to show that Schlesinger's attempt (...) fails, whether or not he is right in his conclusion that the problem of evil is not a genuine problem; and to raise, in the course of my criticism, certain fundamental questions that must be answered if the controversy between theists and their critics is to become logically capable of resolution. Further, in relation to and , I shall offer a very preliminary sketch of some of the fundamental terms or concepts involved in the discussion of the problem of evil and related issues of philosophical theology. I shall begin by saying a few things about Schlesinger's discussion of some of the familiar attempts of theists to resolve the problem, and the equally familiar attacks of the sceptics. I shall then pass to a criticism of Schlesinger's main thesis. (shrink)

The content of this book provides a unified and coherent treatment of a number of important issues in the philosophy of language and logical theory.

In an earlier paper I have attempted to show, among other things; that the names of human artifacts and man-devised activities and processes involve in their uses the notion of some end-in-view, function, or use , which partially regulates these uses. In this paper I shall limit myself to a somewhat detailed discussion of one very important class of such common names which requires a separate treatment. I mean art-names.

ABSTRACT The paper addresses the fundamental issue of the morality of terrorism. It distinguishes four types of terrorism—‘predatory,’‘retaliatory,’‘political’and ‘moralistic’—and argues that in all of them terrorism (in a ‘descriptive,’value‐neutral sense of the word) is always wrong. After a short introductory section the paper considers in some detail the conceptual problem of defining ‘terrorism’. Next it considers the possible application to terrorism, with the necessary modifications, of two main conditions of a ‘just war’; viz. the Principles of Discrimination and of Proportion. (...) It argues that these conditions support the paper's central contention. Additional support is then found in the concept and principles of human rights. In the final section the paper evaluates utilitarian arguments brought forth by Kai Nielsen in Violence and Terrorism: its uses and abuses, in support of so‐called ‘revolutionary terrorism’. Throughout the discussion is illustrated by some actual examples from the recent past. (shrink)

This work is a detailed analytical study of different forms of silent doing. It explores a range of topics related to silence, including the theory of silent doing and its relationship to other forms of action and communication, silence and aesthetics, the ethics and politics of silence, and the religious dimensions of silence. The book, as an original contribution to analytical philosophy, should be of interest to philosophers and students. ".

In order to determine what are the metaphysical presuppositions of science, we have to first define the terms ‘presupposition’ and ‘metaphysics’ or ‘metaphysical’. We shall begin with the former.Arthur Pap in his article Does Science Have Metaphysical Presuppositions? discusses two senses of the term. A presupposition may be a necessary condition: p presupposes q, dt = p implies q, i.e. not-g implies not-p. a premise or a rule of inference used in deriving a belief. Thus in this sense, p presupposes (...) q means that if q were false, then the belief in p would cease to be grounded. (shrink)

This article raises some questions about the relevance and value of philosophy at present and suggests some ways in which philosophy can become relevant again. It challenges philosophers to become more actively engaged in the world and to restore Western philosophy's original vision of “love of wisdom,” a value sorely lacking in the present‐day world and abandoned by much of contemporary Western philosophy. The pursuit of wisdom would involve the quest for sound judgment and synoptic insights regarding the ends humankind (...) should strive to realize, including moral visions to help Homo sapiens emerge from the atavistic jungle. It would also involve sound judgment regarding the proper means for the attainment of these desirable ends. For these things to be possible, philosophy would need to draw upon humankind's collective wisdom in philosophy, religion, and myth, and on advances in scientific knowledge, thereby gaining an ever‐deeper understanding of ourselves and of our place in the cosmos. (shrink)

Compensation and reparation are two parts or forms of compensatory or corrective justice. This essay aims, first, to distinguish, define, and analyze these two forms as against distributive and penal justice; and, second, to provide a moral justification of a system or social practice of compensation and of reparation, drawing on the ideas of Aristotle, William Blackstone, Bernard Boxill, John Rawls, and James Sterba. Then, by applying the results of the analysis to the first genocide of the twentieth century, the (...) Armenian genocide, it illustrates certain difficulties in realizing reparative justice when the wrongful injury is perpetrated by a sovereign state, and it emphasizes the paramount importance in such cases of the acknowledgment of wrong by the perpetrator. (shrink)

Community and Communitarianism presents - and defends in detail - a care-centered ideal of a good and moral community: a form of social organization imbued with the virtues of a care-centered ethic, such as cooperation (in «teleological communities, » cooperation in the realization of communal goals); mutual concern and solidarity; sympathy and empathy; benevolence; a spirit of sacrifice; and affection, love, and caring. It is argued that a care-centered ethic, hence a care-centered community, needs to be constrained and fortified by (...) equal respect for the participants' basic human right to be treated as moral subjects, together with fair and just treatment. Besides contributing to social philosophy, the book contributes significantly to ethics. (shrink)