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Joe

Sep 30, 2021
2 min

Peoples and states in Rawls' Law of Peoples

Peoples and states are treated differently by Rawls in the Law of Peoples than in A Theory of Justice, but does this extend to democracies?

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Joe

Sep 21, 2021
3 min

On the impossibility of Rawls' realistic utopia

There are reasons to reject Rawls' realistic utopia, and this post considers at least two of them.

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Joe

Sep 13, 2021
3 min

Outlaw states' nuclear ambitions are real!

Rawls believed outlaw states had no reason to acquire nuclear weapons if superpowers could suppress their desire for them. Rawls is wrong.

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Joe

Aug 30, 2021
3 min

Contradictory principles in Rawls' *Law of Peoples*

Rawls argues that countries should leap to the defence of another country but is forbidden from instigating war. What justifies this?

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Joe

Aug 16, 2021
3 min

Does Mackie's epistemological argument from queerness fail because it assumes objectivity?

Mackie's epistemological argument from queerness presupposes that objective values are not influential. I argue that Mackie rejects that.

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Joe

Aug 3, 2021
2 min

Objectivity and Mackie's epistemological queerness argument

If Mackie's epistemological argument from queerness is correct, then epistemic access to objective value is possible.

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Joe

Jul 26, 2021
4 min

Is truth objective?

Michael Lynch argues for truth's objectivity early in his (2004), and I challenge that argument here.

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What are desires behind the veil of ignorance?

Joe

Jul 20, 2021
3 min

What are desires behind the veil of ignorance?

John Rawls' justice as fairness was based upon principles discovered by persons behind a veil of ignorance. Does the VOI eliminate desires?

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Joe

Jul 7, 2021
4 min

Is pornography rape?

People tend to overlook instances of sex as rape because of their preconceived ideas. Here, I argue that pornography is rape.

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Joe

Jun 28, 2021
3 min

Motivating logical psychologism

In this post, I present two arguments that motivate an interest in seeing logical psychologism rehabilitated.

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Quine's notion of paraphrase and modest conceptual analysis

Joe

Jun 16, 2021
2 min

Quine's notion of paraphrase and modest conceptual analysis

Quinean paraphrase is one of the best exemplifications of conceptual analysis.

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Joe

Jun 9, 2021
3 min

Is human agency dependent on the cooperation of others?

Complete ignorance of others' rules and policies is implausible; we infer their rules and policies from their behaviour.

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Are motivating reasons normative reasons?

Joe

Jun 3, 2021
3 min

Are motivating reasons normative reasons?

Alan Millar distinguishes between motivating and normative reasons, but is the distinction as clear-cut as many have believed it to be?

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Re-examining the trolley vignette: when is sacrificing the five acceptable?

Joe

May 25, 2021
5 min

Re-examining the trolley vignette: when is sacrificing the five acceptable?

A version of the trolley vignette can elicit the opposite reaction to the dilemma, i.e., sacrifice the five to save the one.

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Joe

May 13, 2021
3 min

A modest role of conceptual analysis

Is Jackson's modest role of conceptual analysis any better than the immodest role?

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Joe

Apr 30, 2021
2 min

Categorising emailers

A summary of types of emailers: relaxed, driven, and stressed.

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Joe

Apr 22, 2021
2 min

Thinking blindspots

Thinking blindspots are aggravating because they take our focus away from important matters and clues that could lead to alternative ends.

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Joe

Apr 14, 2021
1 min

Is truth a goal of science?

A quick note on the nature of scientific progress and getting closer to the truth.

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Joe

Apr 6, 2021
6 min

Tarski, Field, and Deflationism

Tarski's theory of truth has been thought to be a definition of truth without giving an explanation of it; here, I take that to task.

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Joe

Mar 9, 2021
7 min

On the puzzle of non-denoting phrases

Russell contended that non-denoting phrases were problematic because of scope ambiguity; in this post, I challenge that view.

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Joe

Feb 23, 2021
5 min

On holistic positive coherence theories of justification

Pollock and Cruz criticise Lehrer's holistic theory of coherence justification. In this post, I offer a defence of Lehrer's position.

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Joe

Feb 9, 2021
3 min

Habermas, narrative over argument

Jürgen Habermas has claimed that narrative shouldn't replace argument in philosophy but that narrative is philosophy.

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Joe

Jan 26, 2021
3 min

Locke on substance

John Locke argued that substance was something (he knows not what) but that underlies all reality. I explore this issue in the post.

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Joe

Jan 1, 2021
15 min

On the possibility of weakness of will

Is weakness of will possible? In this post, I consider Davidson's argument for the possibility of weakness of will.

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Joseph Ulatowski

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