While the literature on civic virtue and its relation to the state is extensive, little to no work has been done on what justifies the development of civic virtue for the individual. This thesis...Show moreWhile the literature on civic virtue and its relation to the state is extensive, little to no work has been done on what justifies the development of civic virtue for the individual. This thesis will begin by arguing that civic virtue is not only compatible with an account of liberal neutrality, but that, referring to existing literature, liberal democracies require a measure of civic virtue to sustain itself. Asserting that the stare requires a level of civic virtue on behalf of its citizenry, the thesis will pose the question of what justifies developing civic virtue for the individual citizen. After first considering and rejecting two objections to justifying civic virtue in private terms categorically, the thesis considers a few variations of the argument that acquiring civic virtue is ultimately in the (enlightened) interest of the self, alongside an argument from reciprocity. The thesis will argue that none of these justifications ultimately succeed and concludes by arguing that civic virtue should instead be considered as an expression of general virtues and is justified accordingly. The thesis concludes by considering the implications of this claim for how we should see our role as citizens, and how we should see the role of the state in promoting civic virtue.Show less
This thesis asks the following question: “Should education meet digital technology’s challenge, and if so, how?”. To answer it, I present an argument on how character education, based on an...Show moreThis thesis asks the following question: “Should education meet digital technology’s challenge, and if so, how?”. To answer it, I present an argument on how character education, based on an Aristotelian virtue ethics framework, can serve as a response to the moral and civic problems digital technology creates. Firstly, I translate the psychological literature of mental health deterioration into moral and civic implications, demonstrating that the constant use of digital technology poses a threat to the human flourishing of children and adolescents. Secondly, I explore what is the final aim of education and conclude that it is eudaimonia, understood as human flourishing. Since digital technology threatens eudaimonia, education must necessarily face that challenge. Lastly, I argue how character education can provide a moral foundation for education to tackle the issue. Mainly through the process of guided habituation, virtue acquisition is key in teaching reliable character traits that allow students to navigate their moral and civic lives and mitigate the negative impacts of digital technology. Hence, character education, focused on virtue acquisition, can meet the challenge digital technology poses to eudaimonia.Show less
This thesis contributes to the ongoing debate on the role of firms in society by establishing an ethical foundation for their involvement in a post-growth transition. It emphasises the necessity of...Show moreThis thesis contributes to the ongoing debate on the role of firms in society by establishing an ethical foundation for their involvement in a post-growth transition. It emphasises the necessity of structural changes within firms and identifies them as pivotal actors in tackling the ecological and social crises of the Anthropocene. Humanity’s focus on economic growth and material accumulation has resulted in extensive environmental damage and increasing social inequalities. Tackling these interconnected challenges demands an urgent shift toward more equitable and sustainable societal structures. The post-growth paradigm offers a potential solution to these crises. This thesis examines how a CSR framework can justify firms' actions in paving the way for a post-growth society. It argues that firms, as influential societal actors, have compelling moral responsibilities to advance justice and sustainability. Traditional CSR approaches, which primarily focus on minimising harm, are insufficient to justify proactive efforts by firms to address global injustices and promote societal well-being. To address this gap, the thesis develops a robust CSR framework grounded in three influential debates: the recognition of firms as collective moral agents, the attribution of positive duties, and firms' dual role within public and private spheres. It argues that this framework enables firms to play a vital role in building a post-growth society—a paradigm centered on human flourishing and ecological balance. By aligning ethical responsibilities with sustainable business practices, this thesis demonstrates that profitability and justice are not mutually exclusive. Ultimately, a robust CSR framework provides firms with both the moral and practical foundation to drive transformative change, bridging the divide between current challenges and a more equitable, sustainable future.Show less
Pornography has often been defended in terms of freedom of speech (of pornography producers and consumers). This thesis examines how Catharine MacKinnon's radical feminist arguments bear on this...Show morePornography has often been defended in terms of freedom of speech (of pornography producers and consumers). This thesis examines how Catharine MacKinnon's radical feminist arguments bear on this defense of pornography. While freedom of speech is essential for fostering truth, democracy, and autonomy, it is subject to necessary limitations. Drawing on Rea Langton’s interpretation of MacKinnon’s arguments in terms of the theory of speech acts, this thesis argues that pornography is (a) a depiction of subordination of women by men; (b) in its consequences inflicts harm to women; and (c) it silences women and subordinates them to men. Pornography creates societal conditions in which women are being subordinated and that prevents women from successfully performing speech acts. Consequently, permitting pornography establishes a conflict between the liberty rights of men to produce and consume pornography and the rights of women to receive equal protection by the law; it also creates a conflict between the liberty of men to produce and consume pornography and the liberty of women to speak.Show less
This thesis explores the relationship between philosophy of science and Wittgenstein's philosophical method. It aims to answer the question: Is there a philosophy of science in Wittgenstein’s...Show moreThis thesis explores the relationship between philosophy of science and Wittgenstein's philosophical method. It aims to answer the question: Is there a philosophy of science in Wittgenstein’s philosophical method? It is concluded that such a connection exists and that this is supported by direct philosophical remarks by Wittgenstein. A central challenge faced by philosophy of science as field, is its perceived detachment from scientific practice and the limitations of philosophical analysis of scientific concepts. By focusing on philosophy of science from a meta-philosophical perspective, the field can be linked to Wittgenstein and his philosophical method, which is defined by conceptual analysis. Recent publications of conversations with Rush Rhees provide several direct remarks by Wittgenstein on the relationship between philosophy and science. Contrary to interpretations suggesting that Wittgenstein completely separates philosophy and science, I argue that his remarks to Rush Rhees suggest the fields can be related in accordance with Wittgenstein’s philosophical method. This thesis is structured as follows: firstly, issues pertaining to philosophy of science are related to Wittgenstein’s philosophical method. Thereafter I set out what characterizes his method. Subsequently I analyze his explicit remarks on the topic from conversations with Rush Rhees, complemented by various other remarks by Wittgenstein on this subject. I identify two types of connections from these remarks, which are dealt with in two chapters: conceptual analysis as tool for the scientist and philosophically understanding science as activity.Show less
Social construction theories usually make two related claims. One is that some existing objects, facts, or properties are socially constructed in that they depend on people; another is that as a...Show moreSocial construction theories usually make two related claims. One is that some existing objects, facts, or properties are socially constructed in that they depend on people; another is that as a result matters (these kinds, facts, or properties) could have stood otherwise. This paper aims to clarify the metaphysical underpinnings of both claims by utilising metaphysical tools with which we, rather than treating social reality as something separate, can include social construction into a systematised analysis of the ontology and structure of reality. First, it argues that the subject of construction is worldly stuff. Therefore, what we take to be constructed are social facts. Second, there are two levels to building a socially constructed fact that depends on people for its existence and nature. One part concerns the grounds for such facts; the other explains how the grounding conditions are established via social practices. To capture this, the notion of a carving is introduced. A carving is a social structure imposed by our practices and produces the socially constructed fact. What it means to be socially constructed thus means to be carved out by social practices. People play a role in setting up the grounding conditions for a socially constructed fact. Third, a standard way of understanding possibilities concerns the first building relation, it is about the grounded and its grounds obtaining or not. However, for social construction, how things depend on people and how we thus should model possibilities concerns the second kind of ontological building relation. Had the relevant social practices been different, and the carving been different, then a socially constructed fact and its grounding conditions would have been different. Understanding such underpinnings is useful for a variety of theorists, including social scientists and conceptual engineers, who are interested in social ontology, dependence relations, and what it would take for social constructs to change.Show less
The Eurozone crisis is an example of how democratic regimes can be threatened under emergencies, and it revealed two contributing phenomena – the state of exception and technocracy. This thesis...Show moreThe Eurozone crisis is an example of how democratic regimes can be threatened under emergencies, and it revealed two contributing phenomena – the state of exception and technocracy. This thesis aims to understand the link between the two in the context of emergency politics, through the paradox of politics. This paradox, which can be traced back to Rousseau, brings to light an aporia in democratic politics, where we need good citizens to make good laws and good laws to make good citizens. This thesis starts by analysing each phenomenon individually and the way they threaten democracy. It then interprets them through the paradox of politics as arrangements meant to resolve that paradox, but infringing upon the ideal of democracy it subscribes to (inspired by the analysis of political theorist Bonnie Honig). Finally, it analyses the link between them and the potentials for the democratization of emergency politics. The main conclusions are 1) in emergency politics, technocracy and exception display a link of mutual reinforcement that infringes upon democratic politics (empirically and conceptually), and 2) the democratization of emergency politics requires not only a deexceptionalization of emergency (as suggested by Honig), but also a process of detechnocratization of democracy.Show less
This thesis criticises carbon pricing as a policy to combat climate change. The first problem is that carbon pricing offers an instrumental solution that fails to address the underlying causes of...Show moreThis thesis criticises carbon pricing as a policy to combat climate change. The first problem is that carbon pricing offers an instrumental solution that fails to address the underlying causes of the climate crisis. By adopting an economic approach that prioritises individual preferences and economic efficiency and is therefore inherently short-term oriented, carbon pricing does not help in the fight against climate change. It does not address fundamental ethical questions about the kind of society we collectively aspire to and makes no claim to underlying processes of value creation that are central to the climate change debate. Second, carbon pricing not only focuses on the wrong aspect of the problem, but also has the opposite effect. It reinforces the exploitation of natural resources by entrenching capitalist norms. These two issues give rise to the third concern raised in this thesis, which is that carbon pricing, as a market-based solution, corrupts the value of nature. This happens at the societal level, by reducing the concept of value to economic terms and causing moral erosion in public discourse; and at the individual level, by externalising and abstracting, and 'managing' nature, thereby reducing individual emotional engagement with it.Show less
Since Martin Heidegger developed the notion of dwelling as a fundamental ontological concept that is based on the basic character of human being, this idea of dwelling has inspired a number of...Show moreSince Martin Heidegger developed the notion of dwelling as a fundamental ontological concept that is based on the basic character of human being, this idea of dwelling has inspired a number of architectural theorists in relation to the question of how we should build. However, it has been argued that such interpretations have often been flawed, and I think that in reality Heidegger’s conception of dwelling is too intangible to really comment on the act of building. This thesis will therefore explore inhabitation from a different angle – from an angle that investigates how we experience architecture, how architecture means something us and how architecture also changes us – in order to ask how we can come to an understanding of the experience of inhabitation from which it is possible to comment on the act of building. I will therefore not investigate inhabitation from a Heideggerian perspective – asking what it means to dwell – but rather approach inhabitation from a more phenomenological and hermeneutic perspective. I will argue that the experience of inhabitation depends upon the interaction between people and architecture; it is a melodic experience in which the possibilities for meaningful action that the architecture offers correspond with people’s intention of action, while at the same time the architecture amplifies experience through functioning as a medium. From this conception, I will argue that inhabitation must become an answer to building – not in the sense that existing models of inhabitation are reproduced, but rather that an understanding of the experience of inhabitation becomes guiding in the design process.Show less
This thesis investigates the canonical, western philosophical way of thinking about human origin. It claims that this traditional understanding of origin is focussed on birth: a moment that a new...Show moreThis thesis investigates the canonical, western philosophical way of thinking about human origin. It claims that this traditional understanding of origin is focussed on birth: a moment that a new person originates from the darkness, into the light. This instigates an image of human origin as one of separation, an image that is contradicted by the phenomenological acounts of the people that have actually enjoyed or endured this process of human origination in the midst of their very own bodies: pregnant women. Their accounts paint a very different picture of the start of human life. This thesis investigates this structurally overlooked perspective on origin, and will answer the question as to what and in which way the traditional, canonical philosophical realm benefits in accuracy and richness from a serious consideration of the phenomenological experience of pregnancy. Ultimately, we move from an understanding of human origin as a clearly defined moment of separation, to a continuum of becoming, marked by an ambiguous relationality.Show less
This paper explores one of philosophy's longest and most enduring puzzles: the puzzle of akrasia. Akrasia, or weakness of will as it is often called, has challenged our understanding of human...Show moreThis paper explores one of philosophy's longest and most enduring puzzles: the puzzle of akrasia. Akrasia, or weakness of will as it is often called, has challenged our understanding of human behaviour for over two millennia. Most literature treats akrasia as an isolated instance of a weak will. However, unlike most approaches, this thesis aims to reconceptualise akrasia as a character trait based on the tripartite relationship between its recurrence, self-deception, and self-control. The proposed view sees recurrent akratic behaviour as an essential factor in that process, which is often overlooked. Agents repeatedly fail to adhere to their better judgement, which supports the hypothesis of reconceptualising akrasia as a trait since it isn’t a one-time event but part of a person’s character. In this process of rethinking akrasia as a trait, self-deception is conscripted against the agent’s better judgment. This creates a bidirectional relationship between akrasia and self-deception, allowing the agents to deceive themselves and further reinforce both. Over time, as the juncture between akrasia and self- deception becomes stronger, it undermines the agent’s self-control. As the two manifest, the agent’s ability to develop and maintain self-control is hindered, reinforcing akratic behaviour.Show less
