15 found
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  1.  56
    Contraries and Contradictories: The Identity and Nature of Conway’s Creature that Endures through Time.Wesley De Sena - manuscript
    One of the central problems in Anne Conway’s metaphysical philosophy is answering the question: what is the identity and nature of the creature than endures through time? There are two basic ways of interpreting Conway’s answer to this question. One interpretation is that the identity is that of a soul, and its nature is material. This is the interpretation taken by Emily Thomas. Another interpretation is that a created spirit is the identity, and its nature is also material. This is (...)
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  2.  26
    Dionysus in India.Wesley De Sena - manuscript
    In this paper, I propose that finding Dionysus' counterpart in India is a futile task unless the relation focuses on Dionysus as a divine force of nature variously manifest following the meaning of the Rig Veda verse mentioned above. As Nietzsche saw the Dionysian as a force of nature inherent in the human, it becomes a much more plausible thesis to ascertain a relation of Dionysus to India through Indo-European comparative mythology and philology. This is so because many scholars have (...)
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  3.  24
    Socrates' Four Arguments for the Immortality of the Soul in the Phaedo.Wesley De Sena - manuscript
    In this paper, I argue that none of Socrates’ four arguments for the immortality of the soul can prove it to be immortal. All that the four arguments amount to is an inference to the best explanation. However, this inference to Socrates’ best explanation builds up on a series of informal fallacies and ambiguities, leading to inconsistencies in his overall four-fold argument. The fallacies, ambiguities, and inconsistencies will become clear as we navigate Socrates’ four arguments for the immortality of the (...)
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  4.  22
    What Plato Shows that Callicles Infers in the Gorgias.Wesley De Sena - manuscript
    In this paper, I argue that Callicles has plausible reasons to accuse Socrates of playing word tricks around the notions of nature and convention. Whether Callicles is right or wrong to accuse Socrates of doing so is not the question here but how Plato makes us see by what Socrates and Callicles say the plausible reasons Callicles thinks he has to think he is right. At first, Socrates conventionally regards Callicles as an opponent worthy of engaging in dialectic. As his (...)
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  5.  21
    A Plea for Civilized Study and the Study of Civilization.Wesley De Sena - manuscript
    Certain German scholars’ secular approach to studying Sanskrit in late 18th and earlyand middle 19th century Europe infuenced the establishment of the Wales Professorship of Sanskrit at Harvard. This infuence contrasted it with some English scholars’ religious concerns. While these English scholars were attempting to aid in the Christian conversion of the Hindus, those German scholars were leading the academy into comparative philology. The establishing of the Boden Professorship of Sanskrit at Oxford, the German dominion of theSanskrit teaching professoriate in (...)
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  6.  20
    Callicles' Great Speech in the Gorgias.Wesley De Sena - manuscript
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  7.  17
    Heidegger's Task of Thinking.Wesley De Sena - manuscript
    In “The End of Philosophy and the Task of Thinking,” Heidegger claims that there are still possibilities for thinking beyond metaphysical philosophy. In his own words, “perhaps there is a thinking that is more sober minded than the incessant frenzy of rationalization… outside of the distinction of rational and irrational.” In Heideggerian fashion, this paper has no thesis. However, it explores Heidegger’s quest for new ways of thinking while shedding light on the antipathy “philosophy” still holds against non-Western, precisely, Indic (...)
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  8.  16
    Lonely Among Loners.Wesley De Sena - manuscript
    Throughout Herman Hesse’s Demian, the use of verbal irony illuminates Sinclair’s struggle to deal appropriately with his callow behavior and thereby evolve. As he tentatively begins to experiment with his sense of self through interactions with friends and family, Sinclair often speaks in indirect ways and skirts direct encounters with the implications of his callowness. As Sinclair comes of age, he awkwardly straddles the dichotomy between the protective world of his family and the threatening outside world. If he says what (...)
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  9.  16
    Sexual Desire and Its Relation to Schiller’s Theory of Aesthetic Value.Wesley De Sena -
    In this paper, I have constructed one likely relation between Schiller’s views on sexual desire and his general aesthetic value theory. I argue that beauty ennobles sexual desire when one rationally realizes that one did not choose to live in a state solely dominated by sexual desire. By allowing oneself to be in this state of aesthetic freedom, sexual desire grows into affection, and one experiences individual freedom. This thesis results from integrating Matherne and Riggle’s reconstruction of Schiller’s theory of (...)
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  10.  15
    Jain Syllogisms for and against Liberation for Women.Wesley De Sena - manuscript
    In this paper, I argue that Svetambaras fail to persuade the Digambaras because they rely on oppositional inferences instead of straight-up attacks on the Digambara points. For example, unlike the Yapaniyas who claim a piece of clothes should not dictate deliberations on moksha for women, the Svetambaras prefer only to oppose, say, the Digambara position that there is no valid evidence to justify moksha for women by inferring that there is no valid evidence of the opposite either. It would be (...)
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  11.  14
    On Major Works of Islamic Civilizations.Wesley De Sena - manuscript
    Short Papers on Al-bayunniyah's "Principles of Sufism," Hafiz's "Faces of Love," Ibn Tufayl's "Hayy Ibn Yaqzan," and Watt's "Islamic Creeds.".
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  12.  14
    Zoroastrian Responses to the Problem of Evil: Seven Approaches Discussing Dualism and Monotheism.Wesley De Sena -
    “Is Zoroastrianism Dualist or Monotheistic?” is an article in which Boyd and Crosby present two dualist and four monotheist responses to that question. The authors submit these six versions to philosophical scrutiny according to the way they manage the problem of evil. Ultimately, the authors opt for a seventh response – their response, which they find more plausible than the previous six other options and meets their criterion of philosophical scrutiny to a better extent. In this paper, I will present (...)
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  13.  13
    Not Against Interpretation.Wesley De Sena - manuscript
    In "Against Interpretation," published in 1966, Susan Sontag argues against specific approaches to interpreting an artwork that reduces it to an exploration of its content. Sontag claims that an interpretation tries to squeeze more meaning into the content than is already there in the form of the artwork. Hence, Sontag claims, an interpretation of content devalues the sense of form. Sontag asserts that the content consists of the "prescriptive" (12) ideas of an artwork that enable a viewer to arrive at (...)
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  14.  13
    The Lectio Principle and Its Relation to the Plausibility of a Kashmir Recension of the Bhagavad Gita.Wesley De Sena - manuscript
    In this paper, I explore how Otto Schrader, Krishna Belvalkar, Franklin Edgerton, and Vishwa Adluri justify the plausibility of a Kashmir recension of the Gita by employing the lectio principle. Lectio difficilior means that the more difficult reading is probably the better and older one since scribes may often simplify the difficult reading into a simple one, the lectio facilior, for the later versions of a text. The employment of the lectio principle then pervades these scholars' discussions about the plausibility (...)
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  15.  12
    The Religion of the Future and Vedānta.Wesley De Sena - manuscript
    In his book, "The Religion of the Future," Unger groups distinct philosophies under the term "Overcoming the World." This is problematic because Unger makes several metaphysical and epistemological claims about OW without clearly identifying which of these distinct philosophies supports his allegations. Specifically, Unger groups Vedanta under OW without distinguishing between Advaita and Dvaita Vedantas- two similar but distinct traditions within Vedanta. Thus, while he mainly criticizes the views of Advaita Vedanta, which are similar but not equal to those of (...)
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