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Gadamer on Experience
and Questioning Jeremiah Conway Department of Philosophy University of Southern
Maine Portland, OR The suspicion of
this article is that we don’t really understand why questions
matter. It addresses this topic by examining the
connection Hans-Georg Gadamer draws in Truth and Method between
questioning and the possibility of experience.
It outlines what Gadamer means by “experience”
and shows why he is convinced that we cannot have experiences
without asking questions. Connectionist
Agency David
DeMoss Department of Philosophy Pacific University Forest Grove, OR Any mind-brain
theory eventually will have to deal with agency. I do not claim
that no other theory could do this successfully. I do claim that
connectionism is able to handle some key features of agency. First,
I will offer a brief account of connectionism and the advantages
of using it to account for human agency, comparing and contrasting
connectionism with two other mind-brain accounts in cognitive
science, symbolicism and dynamicism. Then, since a connectionist
account of agency depends on a unique approach to inner representations,
I discuss the connectionist account of representation and the
implications this has for our appeal to reasons in explanations
of human action. I conclude that, given a connectionist brain
account, reasons cannot be causes. Philosophical
Counseling: A Paradigm for Clinical Medical Ethics? M.
Carmela Epright Department of Philosophy Furman University 3300 Poinsett Highway Greenville, SC
29617 In this paper I
will move away from what has become the “traditional”
approach to writing and thinking about philosophical counseling
– I will not compare and contrast the virtues of the philosophical
and psychological paradigms, nor will I attempt to defend philosophical
counseling against its critics. Instead, I will use the methods and practices
employed by philosophical counselors as a paradigm to inform and
govern another philosophical practice, that is, clinical medical
ethics. I will show that clinical ethics and philosophical
counseling share many common attributes, and argue that each discipline
has much to offer to the other. Philosophical
Counseling: An Almost
Alternative Paradigm Sara
Waller Philosophy Department California State
University Dominguez Hills 1000 E. Victoria
St. Carson, CA 90747 I offer a method
for philosophical counseling that is contrasted with Marinoff’s.
This version of philosophical counseling is primarily epistemic
and suggests therapy as the examination of the justification of
a client’s beliefs, with a goal of enabling the client to
change belief systems if the client so chooses. Toleration and
the Limits of the Moral Imagination Andrew Fiala Department of Humanistic
Studies University of Wisconsin-Green
Bay 2420 Nicolet Drive Green Bay, WI 54311 This essay discusses
one source of toleration: a modest recognition of the limits of
our ability to imagine the situation of the other.
It further connects this with both respect for the autonomy
of the other and the moral need to engage the other in dialogue.
The conclusion is that toleration is important in light
of the ubiquity of failures of the moral imagination.
It considers several examples of the failure of the moral
imagination, including a discussion of the Hindu practice of sati
or widow burning. Three Problems
for the Aesthetic Foundations of Environmental Ethics J.
Robert Loftis Department of Philosophy Auburn University 6080 Haley Center Auburn AL, 36849 This essay takes
a critical look at aesthetics as the basis for nature preservation,
presenting three reasons why we should not rely on aesthetic foundations
to justify the environmentalist program. First, a comparison to
other kinds of aesthetic value shows that the aesthetic value
of nature can provide weak reasons for action at best. Second,
not everything environmentalists want to protect has positive
aesthetic qualities. Attempts have been made to get around this
problem by developing a reformist attitude towards natural aesthetics.
I argue that these approaches fail. Third, development can be
as aesthetically positive as nature. If it is simply beauty we
are looking for, why can’t the beauty of a well-constructed
dam or a magnificent skyscraper suffice? Judgement in
African Thought Sylvanus Ifeanyi Nnoruka St. Joseph Major
Seminary P.M.B. 1039, Ikot-Ekpene Akwa Ibom State,
Nigeria. Critical thinking
plays a role in African judgement. Here, factors that influence
judgement are: culture, communalism, wisdom of elders, revelation
from the gods, and observation. Factors that obstruct judgement
include: colonialism, modernization, and new religions. However,
thanks to Kant’s critical philosophy, only objectively valid
knowledge is actually knowledge in African traditional thought.
Culture and
the Specification of Environmental Virtue Ronald Sandler Department of Philosophy Southern Illinois
University - Edwardsville Edwardsville, Illinois
62026-1433 One concern about
a virtue ethics approach to environmental ethics is that virtue
ethics lack the theoretical resources to provide a specification
of environmental virtue that does not pander to obtaining cultural
practices and conceptions of the human-nature relationship. In
this paper I argue that this concern is unfounded. Notes Toward
a Philosophy of Nonviolence: A City In Which Violence Is Not Necessary Steven Schroeder 5710 S. Kimbark
#3 Chicago, IL 60637_1615 sh_schroeder_7@alumni.uchicago.edu This paper takes Gandhi’s satyagraha, which
he defined as “holding on to truth” (associating it
simultaneously with knowing and doing) as a basis for a political
philosophy of nonviolence that draws on voices familiar from twentieth century
nonviolent struggles as well as sociobiology, literary criticism,
and feminist approaches to sacrifice. Authority, Epistemic Privileging, and Democratic Deliberation Kory Spencer Sorrell 5909 Lindenhurst Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90036 This essay focuses on the role relationships of authority
play in the communal production of knowledge. The author draws
on recent developments in feminist epistemology and the pragmatism
of John Dewey to show that not only is authority
representation ineluctable, but is desirable if held properly
accountable. The Philosopher as Prophet: The Case of Emerson and Thoreau Alfred I. Tauber Department of Philosophy Boston University Boston, MA Emerson articulated his metaphysics of selfhood within
a theistic framework; Thoreau reconfigured his ideas as a mystical
pantheism. In this latter form, Transcendentalism offered twentieth
century Americans a new religious sensibility based on an intimacy
with nature, which became a spiritual and aesthetic
resource for personal fulfillment. Trust and the Curse of Cassandra (An Exploration of the Value of Trust) Cynthia Townley University of Nevada Las Vegas 4505 Maryland Parkway Box 455028 Las Vegas, NV 89154-5028 cynthia.townley@ccmail.nevada.edu Epistemological interest in trust concentrates mainly
on whether and how it is a proper resource for responsible knowers.
However, trust is important and valuable to epistemic agents for
reasons that do not depend on its being knowledge-conducive, or
knowledge enhancing. Being trusted is essential for full participation
in an epistemic community. The story of Cassandra illustrates
these dimensions of trust’s value. EPISTEMIC TRUST Linda Zagzebski Kingfisher College Chair of the Philosophy of Religion
and Ethics Department of Philosophy Oklahoma University Norman Oklahoma 73019 The value
of epistemic trust has been neglected, as Townsley rightly observes,
but I think a virtue epistemology of the kind I endorse is well
suited to provide a framework for understanding it. The Cassandra
of Greek legend illustrates the complex relationships among epistemic
and non-epistemic goods, as well as the fragility of knowledge.
I think her case leads us to a more radical conclusion than the
one Townsley proposes. |
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