As current democratic governments are unsuccessful in fulfilling our moral obligations to future generations, future-focused institutions aim to adapt our democracy to neutralise this short-termism...Show moreAs current democratic governments are unsuccessful in fulfilling our moral obligations to future generations, future-focused institutions aim to adapt our democracy to neutralise this short-termism. However, it often appears to be impossible for future-focused institutions to be both effective and democratically legitimate. This thesis aims to resolve this dilemma by arguing for strong external representatives, representatives of future generations outside of legislative assemblies that have a strong mandate to veto laws that have a strong negative impact on future generations. To claim that this is not only effective but also democratically legitimate, this thesis analyses the most influential theories on the boundaries of the demos, the All Affected Interests Principle and Democratic Values Theory, and demonstrates that they require the inclusion of future generations by means of a strong-mandated representative. Finally, this thesis also provides several desiderata on how strong external representatives should be instituted and discusses its political feasibility.Show less
This thesis analyses the authority of international law from the perspective of international legal positivism. The traditional approach that takes the state’s will as the foundation of...Show moreThis thesis analyses the authority of international law from the perspective of international legal positivism. The traditional approach that takes the state’s will as the foundation of international law is problematic as it results in the voluntarist dilemma. For international law to have objective power, a state should be incapable of escaping its authority by its own will even though this will is what constituted international law in the first place. The incompatibility of this would mean that international law’s authority is actually based on a ‘special’ will that is external to the wills of states. Georg Jellinek devised a theory of international law that supposedly accounts for international law’s objective authority while maintaining the state’s will as its foundation. His theory is built on what he calls “the normative force of the factual”, but falls short as it cannot withstand Hume’s law. Herbert Hart’s theory of law is more promising as it leaves the state’s will out of the equation and focuses on legal practice to understand the necessary features of a legal system. International law, however, is “law” but not a legal system. This thesis challenges Hart’s understanding of international law as “law” and argues that there is an international legal system consisting of primary and secondary rules.Show less
The thesis argues that the concept of landscape fails to do justice to the experience of it. Through an analysis of the concept and of its origins, it locates the presuppositions of the concept in...Show moreThe thesis argues that the concept of landscape fails to do justice to the experience of it. Through an analysis of the concept and of its origins, it locates the presuppositions of the concept in its understanding of self and world. A phenomenological approach reveals that current understanding of landscape perpetuates the distinction of subject and object, disabling the experience of being in a landscape. Drawing on the later works of Husserl and Heidegger, the concluding chapters works towards an understanding of landscape as awareness of earth.Show less
In deze scriptie wordt aan de hand van de Urgenda-uitspraak van de rechtbank Den Haag het verschijnsel van de ‘politieke beslissing’ geïntroduceerd. Bij een zogenaamde politieke beslissing neemt de...Show moreIn deze scriptie wordt aan de hand van de Urgenda-uitspraak van de rechtbank Den Haag het verschijnsel van de ‘politieke beslissing’ geïntroduceerd. Bij een zogenaamde politieke beslissing neemt de rechter een beslissing waarbij de eigen politieke voorkeur leidend wordt geacht. Dergelijke beslissingen worden bekritiseerd. Aan de hand van de politieke filosofie en rechtsfilosofie van de Duitse filosoof Carl Schmitt wordt in deze scriptie echter betoogd dat iedere beslissing – in meer of mindere mate – een politieke dimensie kent. Het onderkennen van deze dimensie is essentieel alvorens een zinvolle discussie gevoerd kan worden over de politieke beslissing van de rechter. Deze scriptie poogt het startpunt te zijn van een dergelijke discussie.Show less
Since the beginning of the 1980s, much debate in the jurisprudential literature on freedom of speech has been about the (alleged) right to produce and publish pornography. Law professor and...Show moreSince the beginning of the 1980s, much debate in the jurisprudential literature on freedom of speech has been about the (alleged) right to produce and publish pornography. Law professor and feminist Catherine A. MacKinnon produced an interesting argument to justify censorship: pornography itself silences women (and we are allowed to silence silencing speech). This thesis seeks to investigate this normative defence of the 'silencing of the silencing', particular in the form promulgated by Rae Langton from the 1990s on. It argues that Langton and other feminists are right to conclude that free speech implies more than a mere 'right to locution' -- there must also be a right to be heard. Yet, it puts into question the premise that that fact alone could justify a censorship. That usually constitutes an offence against the spirit of autonomy, one of the main reasons to accept free speech in the first place.Show less
In this thesis I critically review Corey Brettschneider's value theory of democracy as a potential solution to the tension between democratic procedures and liberal rights and, thereby, also as an...Show moreIn this thesis I critically review Corey Brettschneider's value theory of democracy as a potential solution to the tension between democratic procedures and liberal rights and, thereby, also as an instrument to criticize illiberal democracies. I first discuss procedural and substantive interpretations of democracy, followed by an analysis and critique of Brettschneider’s democratic theory. I argue that Brettschneider does not succeed in grounding liberal rights in the core values of democracy and, thus, that Brettschneider fails in his attempt to reconcile procedural and substantive dimensions of democracy. I conclude that the only plausible ground for substantive rights in democracy is based in a procedural reading of democracy, which, to a certain extent, can function as an argument against illiberal democracies.Show less
This thesis examines the differences between Camus and Levinas on the topic of interaction with the Other, and what these differences ultimately mean for their philosophies from the focal question...Show moreThis thesis examines the differences between Camus and Levinas on the topic of interaction with the Other, and what these differences ultimately mean for their philosophies from the focal question of ‘how can we interact with the Other?’. My claim is that the symmetry in Camus’ understanding of the relationship with the Other results in an interaction which allows for the creation of meaning between the subject and Other that Levinas does not leave room for. I first do a basic comparison of their philosophies, then detail the use of the term ‘transcendence’ in order to establish a ground upon which the comparison between them can be made, since their approaches and terminology are quite different. I then lean on Derrida to criticize Levinas’ concept of Otherness, and end by discussing how Camus evades these pitfalls by having a concept of the Other which allows for a symmetrical relationship.Show less
In this thesis I discussed three authors writing in a relatively new tradition of contemporary feminist thought. Chapter one taught us that the world might be more complicated than we initially...Show moreIn this thesis I discussed three authors writing in a relatively new tradition of contemporary feminist thought. Chapter one taught us that the world might be more complicated than we initially thought it was. All of our authors argue that we should understand our place in the world in terms of networks. Chapter two focused on the ethical claims made by our materialists. If everything can be (or is) related, how does that influence the way we should act towards others? In chapter three, I argue that new materialism is not so much about reflecting upon how the world is, or proposing rules which explain how the world should be. By contrast, new materialists present ‘figures of the thinkable’, or creative attempts to let people rethink their relationship with specific parts of their environment.Show less
The all subjected principle aims to overcome the democratic boundary problem from within democratic theory. At the core of the principle lies the concept of personal autonomy. The principle...Show moreThe all subjected principle aims to overcome the democratic boundary problem from within democratic theory. At the core of the principle lies the concept of personal autonomy. The principle contains an issue-specific demarcation strategy by which the demos will transcend community boundaries. In other words, a consequence of implementing the principle will be that the demos will be disconnected from the community. The objective of this thesis is to determine whether or to which extent the principle and its consequences do justice to the personal autonomy of the agents involved. This thesis will argue that, on the one hand, the principle has direct effects that seem to do justice to the personal autonomy of agents since it makes them co-author of the formal laws and policies within which their personal autonomy is embedded. Moreover, it provides them a de jure position to (co-)govern the social conditions of personal autonomy. In that sense, it promotes the self-governance of agents and, thus, their personal autonomy. On the other hand, the principle seems limited for the indirect effects of the disconnection of the demos from the community: firstly, it only makes agents co-author of the formal laws and policies and not of the informal rules of society. The informal rules of society, however, are affected by the formal laws and policies. Therefore, implementing the principle would open up the possibility of a situation in which an agent is not included into the demos because a particular law or policy does not potentially undermine her personal autonomy in the local sense, but will indirectly affect the informal rules of society within which the personal autonomy of agents in the global sense is embedded. Such a situation would not improve the extent to which an agent is capable of governing herself. And secondly, although the all subjected principle might provide agents a de jure social position by including them into the demos, this does not guarantee that these agents will also possess a de facto social position to (co-)govern the social conditions within which their personal autonomy is embedded. According to Oshana’s interpretation of the communitarian claim, such a de facto social position is a requirement of genuine self-government. As the principle is unclear to which extent it provides agents such a social position, in the sense that it only guarantees an inclusion into the demos, it remains unclear to which extent it does justice to the personal autonomy of the agents involved.Show less
A concept of life as an emergent property, originating from the interaction of two speci c interpretations of biological individuality and entropy will be discussed in this thesis. Biological...Show moreA concept of life as an emergent property, originating from the interaction of two speci c interpretations of biological individuality and entropy will be discussed in this thesis. Biological individuality will be shown to be a speci c member of the category of individuality and a notion best interpreted as a relative concept which is hierarchically structured by interrelated nested entities. A speci c interpretation of entropy will be described as a statistical notion in which entropy is able to locally increase order as a stable dynamic kinetic state in a closed system. The rise of complex organization will be something that can be explained scienti cally but is interpreted as a predominant emergentist property. In this thesis, I argue that life emerges as a property rising from within the organization of a compartmentalized entity that is able to locally decrease its entropy due to a self-replicating autocatalytic web that jumped into existence. Biological individuality and entropy both relate to a base level of complexity and start to meet at the lowest level of organization. I argue that living biological individuals are not substrate neutral implying life in silico will always be fundamentally di erent from biological life.Show less
This thesis critically examines Sinnott-Armstrong’s argument against moral particularism. He argues that moral particularism is untenable, claiming that even the weakest, most defensible version of...Show moreThis thesis critically examines Sinnott-Armstrong’s argument against moral particularism. He argues that moral particularism is untenable, claiming that even the weakest, most defensible version of moral particularism cannot be maintained. His main point is that particularism entails intuitionism, and that intuitionism is so objectionable, one ought to reject moral particularism as well. I show why Sinnott-Armstrong’s argument packs a strong punch against the particularist project, as Sinnott-Armstrong is correct in claiming that particularists necessarily need to accept intuitionism. However, I conclude that Sinnott-Amrstrong's argument against particularism does not succeed, as intuitionism really is not as objectionable as he makes it out it be.Show less
This paper seeks to clarify the concept of revenge pornography. Existing laws concerning revenge pornography are analysed and sorted into four separate categories, after which a definition of ...Show moreThis paper seeks to clarify the concept of revenge pornography. Existing laws concerning revenge pornography are analysed and sorted into four separate categories, after which a definition of (consensual) pornography is set out against definitions of four types of nonconsensual pornography, among which a definition of revenge pornography. This is followed by an analysis of the reasons for the lack of appropriate laws against revenge pornography and considers degrees of privacy. The discussion of the harms for victims will be followed by the identification of three kinds of wrongs and the identification of three kinds of perpetrators.Show less
In this thesis I will make a critical assessment of the Kantian formal conception of the will in light of Schelling and Cohen. My research question is twofold: how to assess the Kantian concept of...Show moreIn this thesis I will make a critical assessment of the Kantian formal conception of the will in light of Schelling and Cohen. My research question is twofold: how to assess the Kantian concept of will, given its notorious 'formality'? And under which conditions could Schelling's and Cohen's conception of the will meet the (assumed) flaws of the Kantian notion of the will? How could we evaluate Kant’s concept of the will in terms of its ‘formality’? What is the strength of Kant’s concept of the will and what is its weakness? Kant has provided us with a theory of how every rational human being can be ethical. We universally derive our ethical obligation, Kant claims, from the pure form of reason. This form of reason, motivating our will to act well, keeps our will formal. How can we assess this formality? On the one hand, the form of reason ensures that the individual can autonomously will and correspond to the ethical laws of a rational subject. This is the strength of Kant’s formal ethics. On the other hand, the form of reason makes our will lifeless, because Kant eliminates everything material. According to Kant, the will ought not be motivated by emotional inclinations nor serve a material purpose. Kant is not concerned with the matter of the action or what is to result from it, but solely with the form and the principle from which it does itself follow (Kant, 1984, 61). Kant’s morality is based on the presupposition that there ought to be a purely formal disposition to do good. Is there also a practical and vital disposition to do good? In other words, what would make the will dynamic? Could Schelling and Cohen perhaps solve the issue raised here? The problem of the lifelessness of the will lies in the transcendental nature of Kant’s will. The faculty of thinking and willing are united in Kant’s practical philosophy. In both Schelling and Cohen a new road is opened for a will that is not limited by reason. They both propose that there is a spirit that motivates the will, instead of reason. They also allow a dynamic power that has a disposition towards this spirit of the will. Both philosophers have a vital concept that replaces Kant’s formal concept of disposition, namely the concepts of Yearning and tendency. These concepts are not a motive of thinking but purely a motive of willing. Under the condition of making the will independent of the faculty of thinking, Schelling and Cohen are able to meet the flaws of Kant’s notion of the will.Show less
In this study the relation between virtualization and shamelessness is examined by investigating the banking crisis of 2008. Shame, it is held, is crucial to our self-development and our relation...Show moreIn this study the relation between virtualization and shamelessness is examined by investigating the banking crisis of 2008. Shame, it is held, is crucial to our self-development and our relation with others because, besides the negative self-evaluation it is commonly known for, shame also encompasses a strong personal involvement. After investigating the financial crisis of 2008 it is found that the financial sector is characterized by the convergence of a high reliance on virtual systems as well as an inability to feel shame. To further study the effect of virtualization on shame, three necessary conditions for shame are proposed based on the work of Kierkegaard, Merleau-Ponty, and Sartre: integrity, embodiment, and responsibility. By examining the effect of virtualization on these three necessary conditions I arrive at a general conclusion about the effect of virtualization on our ability to feel shame. The final section expands the scope of these findings to see whether the found effect of virtualization on shame can be noticed in other social spheres that are gradually becoming more virtual.Show less
In this thesis, Bergson's and Du Prel's notion of layered consciousness is explained and reviewed. In light of their theories, we discuss the possibility and (a) possible explanation(s) of artists...Show moreIn this thesis, Bergson's and Du Prel's notion of layered consciousness is explained and reviewed. In light of their theories, we discuss the possibility and (a) possible explanation(s) of artists who claim to be inspired by their dreams. In this way, we see how the idea of consciousness as layered can act as a condition of possibility for the notion of 'dreaminspiration'.Show less
