376 found
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  1. Theories of government: possible, feasible, possibility-sensitive, feasibility-sensitive.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    In this paper I make some distinctions, which I hope are of help for Laura Valentini and others. Are the recommendations of a theory of what the government should do possible and are they feasible? Is the project of the theorist possibility-sensitive and is the project feasibility-sensitive?
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  2. On the value of philosophers in the social sciences: fixing disciplinary constitutions.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    This paper argues for the value of philosophers in a school of social sciences within a university, for fixing what I call disciplinary constitutions. A disciplinary constitution is a statement of “How our discipline works: how we achieve the ends of our discipline.” A lot of people depend on a constitution, but such a thing usually runs into problems and philosophers can identify these problems and propose solutions. I suggest that it is essential for the autonomy of an ambitious school (...)
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  3. Notes from Underground versus underdeterminism.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    On one natural interpretation of what the narrator from Notes from Underground is saying, “People are rebels.” If you give them evidence that this is the career path for them, say, they do something else. But underdeterminism entails one objection to this theory.
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  4. Beyond tribalism: an attempted solution to the kalela dance paradox.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    I propose a solution to the paradox of the kalela dance, as presented by Richard Werbner, based on a variety of liberalism I once identified.
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  5. Rationality and revolution in Western astrology.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    In this paper, I draw attention to a revolution in the metaphysical commitments of Western astrology. Although I do not wish to promote astrology, I propose a rational route to this revolution. But there is a strong argument, from a Popperian perspective, that my proposal fails to establish rationality. I then consider whether we should say that astrology is either false or unfalsifiable, drawing attention to some surprising findings from schizophrenia research. Also, in a footnote I present “Tompkins’ paradox.”.
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  6. No brilliant friend? Literary acknowledgement between the sexes.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    This paper responds to an essay by Elena Ferrante on male literary figures acknowledging the influence of female ones. She poses a question about her reception by males which I address.
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  7. Summary of (most of) my criticisms of John Rawls.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    This document gathers together, in summary form, objections scattered across many papers and multiple online databases. Nevertheless, it omits some objections, notably complicated ones.
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  8. Summary of some criticisms (from others) of Thomas Kuhn on science.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    This document briefly summarizes several objections to Thomas Kuhn on science, including by Feyerabend, Davidson, and Fodor.
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  9.  68
    Do philosophers need to be clever?Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    Do philosophers need to be clever? Let us use a simplified model. There are two kinds of people: clever and stupid. The clever are few and the stupid are many. Philosophy is done only by clever people. Then one day someone wants to expand the discipline, so that stupid people can also contribute. They introduce training for stupid people and stupid philosophers arise. But now there are lots of philosophers. It is impossible to keep track of all the research in (...)
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  10. (2 other versions)Salvador Dali on the nature of genius, in contrast with Yukio Mishima.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    This paper tries to capture Salvador Dali’s conception of a genius in his Diary of a Genius. The Japanese writer Mishima strikes me as of a comparable level, but if so it seems he either does not think of himself as a genius or he has a different conception of genius.
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  11.  61
    How to be the only minority in a white man’s department.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    If you are the only black or brown person in a white man’s department, you should do “crazy stuff.” The reason why is because it is likely that there was a black or brown person before you and they were clever like you and they did sensible stuff and they failed. So a sensible approach is probably a failed strategy. Try another strategy, one that seems crazy even.
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  12. Fieldwork places: legitimate, illegitimate, obviously legitimate, better, worse.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    Jeanette Edwards observes a pattern of questions of the form “Why do anthropology fieldwork in location X?” - she only hears the question posed of some places - and she explains this pattern by saying that some places are taken to be obviously legitimate for anthropology fieldwork whereas others are not. I draw distinctions between legitimate and illegitimate, obviously legitimate and not obviously legitimate, and better and worse. The distinctions lead to a different explanation.
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  13. Gregory Bateson on the sense of the unity of science.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    Anthropologist Gregory Bateson says that a sense of the fundamental unity of science was once achieved by successful specialist scientists expanding into borderline areas of research. I distinguish two ways in which this expansion can occur and note how one of these ways was, from Bateson’s perspective, troublesome for social anthropology.
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  14. The paradox of anthropology at home and solutions to it: a handout and review.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    This is a one page handout reconstructing the paradox and identifying four solutions in the literature, as well as some concerns about them.
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  15. A sense of “ideal theory”.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    I present a sense of the term “ideal theory” based on Joseph Raz’s response to the situation of a lifeguard faced with three drowning on one side and two on the other and unable to save all. From what is of value, such a theory builds up a conception of an ideal political state or an aspect of it which we have reason to realize, but ignoring whether it is possible for us to realize this.
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  16. Six plus three approaches to interpreting Judith Butler.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    This is a two page handout specifying approaches, or methods, used in interpreting Judith Butler. The methods of various analytic philosophers are identified.
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  17. Utilitarianism versus the privileging of speech.Terence Rajivan Edward - 2022 - IJRDO Journal of Humanities and Social Science Research 8 (11):12.
    Apparently the Western philosophical tradition has (wrongly) preferred speech over writing – so claims Jacques Derrida. In this paper, I consider whether utilitarianism involves such a preference. There are at least two arguments against the claim.
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  18. Description of method.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    Timothy Williamson objects that we do not have any reason to regard reflective equilibrium as a philosophical method, whether good or bad. In this paper, I propose a less demanding account of when a method is being described.
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  19. Are reflective equilibrium and the original position consistent? The historical bias problem.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    In this paper, I present a problem for regarding the reflective equilibrium and original position methods as consistent. I do not prove that there is an inconsistency, but there is a puzzle of how the two methods can be made consistent. The concern about inconsistency is because the former method allows for a kind of historical bias, as noted by T.H. Irwin, whereas the latter method seeks to guard against historical bias.
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  20. On a Rawls specialist’s review of T.H. Irwin’s history of Western ethics.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    Should one read T.H. Irwin’s three volume history of Western ethics, or parts of it? Here one might turn to reviews. The journal The Philosophical Forum uses the sensible strategy of getting different specialists to review different parts of the book. There are two chapters on Rawls, each one reviewed by a Rawlsian. I wish to register discontent with Steven Ross’s review.
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  21. Almost Forgotten Deconstruction.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    I distinguish two senses of the word “deconstruction.” Then I quote a passage by a critic from the 1860s which, together with trends of that time, gives rise to the question of whether deconstructive interpretation existed in the nineteenth century.
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  22. Conceptual schemes, analytic truths, and organizing the Pacific Ocean.Terence Rajivan Edward -
    I draw attention to how one of Donald Davidson’s arguments against the claim that others have an alternative conceptual scheme does not look compatible with his rejection of analytic truths – how his rejection of the third dogma of empiricism depends on accepting the first. The appendix contests Davidson’s approach to organizing the Pacific Ocean.
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  23. Intransitivity of translation, Le Débat, and the primacy of the signifier, by Ren*t* S*lecl.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    This paper is a pastiche of the Lacanian philosopher Renata Salecl, my fourth attempt, combined with a note. In it I present a response I anticipate from analytic philosophy to the thesis that the signifier has priority over the signified: that this thesis is either trivially true or obviously false.
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  24. Are lectures obsolete? By R.K. N*r*yan.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    This paper responds to the question of whether the Internet has made lectures obsolete and Matthew Pickles’ investigation of why lectures persist. It is written as a pastiche of R.K. Narayan, about whom a somewhat parallel question is probably asked. Pickles refers to a logic lecturer so dry people went swimming, and a pastiche approach is an alternative.
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  25. Translation, history of science, and items not on the menu: a response to Susan Carey.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    In “Conceptual Differences Between Children and Adults,” Susan Carey discusses phlogiston theory in order to defend the view that there can be non-translatability between scientific languages. I present an objection to her defence.
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  26. Its many varieties: does liberalism merely alternate between ethics and economics?Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    I am not sure who said that liberalism merely alternates between ethics and economics – was it Karl Kraus? – but at first glance the claim is plausible. In this paper I argue that there are varieties of liberalism which do not. Some depend on a nature-culture distinction and some appeal to simplicity in a way that seems aesthetic. In the appendix I introduce a problem for utilitarianism.
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  27. Economists, university rankings, and leaving the European Union, by M*l*n K*nder*.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    In this paper, I present some responses to an argument made by an economist in an online video: that when Britain leaves the European Union, it will be taking many high ranking universities with it, which will lead to an innovation deficit in the union. I present some responses by means of a pastiche of a widely read European fiction writer.
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  28. Life is Elsewhere: an English deconstruction?Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    This paper responds to a European novel presenting the development of a poet. The novelist depicts a stage in which the poet seeks to escape from his mother, but I show that there are textual resources for an alternative interpretation of why.
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  29.  28
    Delusions of grandeur and the Nancy Rothwell paradox.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    While Nancy Rothwell was vice-chancellor, the University of Manchester climbed steadily up the Shanghai global rankings to 35. But there was widespread student discontent with Nancy Rothwell. Now the university languishes at 52. That gives rise to a paradox, which starts with these propositions. (A) The students are right to oppose Nancy Rothwell. (B) The university did much better in the global rankings when Rothwell was manager. (C) The best explanation for its earlier success is that Rothwell was a great (...)
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  30. Feminist Research and Paradigm Shift in Anthropology.Terence Rajivan Edward - 2012 - Meta: Research in Hermeneutics, Phenomenology, and Practical Philosophy 4 (2):343-362.
    In her paper ‘An Awkward Relationship: the Case of Feminism and Anthropology’, Marilyn Strathern argues that feminist research cannot produce a paradigm shift in social anthropology. I reconstruct her arguments and evaluate them, revealing that they are insufficient for ruling out this possibility.
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  31. How did Oedipus solve the riddle of the Sphinx?Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    This paper presents two accounts of how Oedipus might have arrived at the answer to the Sphinx's riddle by proceeding methodically.
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  32. (2 other versions)Literary Girls, by K*thleen St*ck: chapter 2, the low-high culture divide.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    This paper is a response to Kathleen Stock’s book Material Girls, by way of imitation. I have attempted to write a faux chapter in the book’s style, identifying four moments in overcoming the low-high culture divide in responses to the arts.
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  33.  19
    What does the Sorbonne think of Oxford and Harvard? A hypothesis.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    Do you remember the UCU report on the University of Manchester’s (now risible) project to break into the top 20 “soon”? It said that where we are (35), it is hard to even move one up the rankings. The next year the Sorbonne jumped four up. They were very close to us. That was strange. What is the Sorbonne’s perspective on Oxford and Harvard? This is my hypothesis. “If you care about the arts, you cannot play the ranking game well, (...)
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  34. Are there uncontroversial error theories?Terence Rajivan Edward - 2011 - Philosophical Pathways (162).
    This paper evaluates an argument for the conclusion that in order to produce a viable objection to a particular error theory, the objection must not be applicable to any error theory. The reason given for this conclusion is that error theories about some discourses are uncontroversial. But the examples given of uncontroversial error theories are not good ones, nor do there appear to be other examples available.
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  35. Are these two views about new reproductive technologies contradictory?Terence Rajivan Edward - 2024 - IJRDO Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research 10 (3):2-3.
    This paper responds to two seemingly contradictory views that Jeanette Edwards identifies in an article on the impact of new reproductive technologies in the northwest of England. I argue that they are probably not contradictory. But I do so by modifying how the views are formulated and reflect on the significance of this for anthropology at home.
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  36. Overlooked systems in S. Baron-Cohen's gender research.Terence Rajivan Edward - 2019 - IJRDO Journal of Biological Science 5 (6):1-7.
    The professor of psychopathology Simon Baron-Cohen claims that males are on average stronger at systematizing than empathizing and females are on average stronger at empathizing than systematizing. Systematizing is defined as the drive to construct or understand systems. In this paper, I observe that Baron-Cohen overlooks certain examples of systems, examples which lead to doubts about his claim.
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  37. Tharoor versus Narayan: are the avant-garde linguistic experiments actually left behind?Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    When evaluating R.K. Narayan, Shashi Tharoor seems to commit himself to these theses: Narayan has a natural style of writing, or a style which is second nature to him; to go significantly beyond his limited range he would have to experiment more with language, reducing the accessibility of his fictions. I cast doubt on the first of these by speculating that Narayan’s middle-of-the-road style required suppressing linguistic innovations in earlier drafts.
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  38. The asymmetry objection to political liberalism: evaluation of a defence.Terence Rajivan Edward - 2018 - E-Logos Electronic Journal for Philosophy 25 (1):26-32.
    This paper evaluates Jonathan Quong’s attempt to defend a version of political liberalism from the asymmetry objection. I object that Quong’s defence relies on a premise that has not been adequately supported and does not look as if it can be given adequate support.
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  39. Why does Descartes say that he is not his body in the second meditation?Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    This paper contests a standard interpretation of how Descartes comes to the conclusion that he is not his body in the second meditation. I propose an alternative interpretation in its place.
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  40. The definition of systematizing in S. Baron-Cohen's gender and autism research.Terence Rajivan Edward - 2018 - Philosophical Pathways (219):1-4.
    The professor of psychopathology Simon Baron-Cohen is well-known for his thesis that males are on average better at systematizing than empathizing and females are on average better at empathizing than systematizing. In this paper, I note an ambiguity in how he defines systematizing.
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  41. A solution to the surprise exam paradox.Terence Rajivan Edward - 2017 - Filozofia 72 (4):325-327.
    The students’ argument against the possibility of a surprise exam assumes that the following would not occur: the teacher decides to give the exam on a certain day; the teacher believes that the exam would be a surprise on that day; but, actually, the exam would not be a surprise on that day. I give a reason to reject this assumption, and I point out that an attempt to reformulate the surprise exam paradox in order to allow for the assumption (...)
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  42. Does Marilyn Strathern Argue that the Concept of Nature Is a Social Construction?Terence Rajivan Edward - 2016 - Symposion: Theoretical and Applied Inquiries in Philosophy and Social Sciences 3 (4):437-442.
    It is tempting to interpret Marilyn Strathern as saying that the concept of nature is a social construction, because in her essay “No Nature, No Culture: the Hagen Case” she tells us that the Hagen people do not describe the world using this concept. However, I point out an obstacle to interpreting her in this way, an obstacle which leads me to reject this interpretation. Interpreting her in this way makes her inconsistent. The inconsistency is owing to a commitment that (...)
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  43. Rawls versus utilitarianism: the subset objection.Terence Rajivan Edward - 2016 - E-Logos Electronic Journal for Philosophy 23 (2):37-41.
    This paper presents an objection to John Rawls’s use of the original position method to argue against implementing utilitarian rules. The use of this method is pointless because a small subset of the premises Rawls relies on can be used to infer the same conclusion.
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  44. (1 other version)R.K. N*r*yan on the invasion of Ukraine and specialization.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    In this paper, I present a challenge to Adam Smith’s specialization recommendations, at least according to the “unzany” interpretation suggested by his famous pin factory example. I present it while attempting the style of a notable fiction writer from the Indian sub-continent, as befits the challenge. I have adapted the style slightly for the Western setting.
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  45. Objections to Robert Graves’s The Greek Myths.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    This is a two page handout summarizing a number of objections made against Robert Graves's book of Greek myths.
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  46. Artefacts as Mere Illustrations of a Worldview.Terence Rajivan Edward - 2017 - Symposion: Theoretical and Applied Inquiries in Philosophy and Social Sciences 4 (2):241-244.
    This paper responds to an argument against a kind of anthropology. According to the argument, if the aim of anthropology is to describe the different worldviews of different groups, then anthropologists should only refer to material artefacts in order to illustrate a worldview; but the interest of artefacts to anthropology goes beyond mere illustration. This argument has been endorsed by key members of the ontological movement in anthropology, who found at least one of its premises in Marilyn Strathern’s writing.
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  47. Defining Mind-Brain Token Identity.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    This paper disputes a common definition of token identity theory. It also observes that within the philosophical literature there are two significantly different definitions of token identity theory that are commonly used.
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  48. Astrology, Fate and Causation.Terence Rajivan Edward - 2016 - Philosophical Pathways (200).
    Some philosophers assert that astrology is a false theory. The simplest way to argue against all astrology is to identify a proposition that any kind of astrology must be committed to and then show that this proposition is false. In this paper I draw attention to some misconceptions about which propositions are essential to astrology.
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  49. H.L.A. Hart, Scott Soames, and the priority of liberty rights over economic gains.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    This paper responds to material from Scott Soames’s wide ranging book The World Philosophy Made, material which I am actually tempted to overlook. Soames adds a detail to a criticism H.L.A. Hart makes of John Rawls, but I argue that Soames cannot consistently endorse this criticism, given his acceptance of trickle-down economics and his aspiration to cohere with a dominant strand of right-wing American philosophy.
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  50. The Hart-Rawls debate: libel, privacy infringement, reflective equilibrium.Terence Rajivan Edward - manuscript
    H.L.A. Hart objects to John Rawls’s liberty principle by drawing attention to how our legal system accepts the restriction of liberty to protect against other harms than liberty-deprivation, such as by laws against slander, libel, and publications which grossly infringe privacy. What is the solution for John Rawls, faced with this criticism? One solution is, by the reflective equilibrium method, to justify abandoning the judgment that these actions are immoral.
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