This thesis seeks to explore the relation between psychological coping mechanisms and moral responsibility. It argues that there are three essential conditions guiding this relation: in order to be...Show moreThis thesis seeks to explore the relation between psychological coping mechanisms and moral responsibility. It argues that there are three essential conditions guiding this relation: in order to be morally responsible individuals must (1) be aware of a moral demand, (2) be aware of the morally relevant state of affairs, and (3) must to some degree have the physical and motivational ability to act upon this awareness. In specific, the view that motivational ability is an important factor in thinking about moral responsibility is defended in this thesis. Only by taking motivational ability into account, can we think about morality in a way that is both sufficiently realistic, while also satisfactorily idealistic.Show less
This thesis aims to address how we should seek to tackle violations of women’s rights in non-ideal societies. I argue that methodologically, the top down, or state led approach to bringing about...Show moreThis thesis aims to address how we should seek to tackle violations of women’s rights in non-ideal societies. I argue that methodologically, the top down, or state led approach to bringing about gender justice should be supplemented by bottom up, agent led initiatives. Women frequently find their rights violated and their capabilities stifled and this inequality is an indicator of a non-ideal society. We should look to our non-ideal society to decide how best to overcome gender inequalities rather than only to an ideal society. Further to this, state led approaches to achieving justice have typically been favoured over agent led ones. In many aspects state led approaches are helpful, for instance in enforcing rules to protect women, however they should be used in tandem with bottom up initiatives. Bottom up initiatives have an important role to play in encouraging a shift in societal ethos: they can empower women and help put them in a better cultural position.Show less
Social media have increased the ways in which people can and do communicate with each other. This could have consequences for speech act theory as founded by J.L. Austin and refined by J. Searle....Show moreSocial media have increased the ways in which people can and do communicate with each other. This could have consequences for speech act theory as founded by J.L. Austin and refined by J. Searle. This thesis shows that the introduction of social media has led to the existence of a new illocutionary act that is not covered by existing speech act theory: the illocutionary act of hashtagging. It is argued that hashtagging is a meta-speech act that has no counterpart offline and is deserving of its own category within existing speech act theory.Show less
This paper is motivated by the assumption that ‘terrorism’ is a loaded and politically significant term, the use of which exudes and produces power relations. It acknowledges this, and also argues...Show moreThis paper is motivated by the assumption that ‘terrorism’ is a loaded and politically significant term, the use of which exudes and produces power relations. It acknowledges this, and also argues that not everyone has an equal right to use the term. This leads to an examination into the kind of power that is manifested in the use of the term, by putting the social constructivist framework to work and placing the semantic field of terrorism within that framework. It identifies a kind of power attached to the enunciation of the term ‘terrorism’ and argues that it is unequally distributed between perceived potential victims of terrorism and perceived potential perpetrators of terrorism. Drawing on Nietzsche’s genealogical analysis of morality, I argue that it is counterproductive to deny potential perpetrators the power of enunciation around the term ‘terrorism’ on the basis that this leads to a kind of slave revolt in terrorism. Redistributing the power of enunciation around the term ‘terrorism’ might remove the line that separates potential victims from potential perpetrators of terrorism and work towards reducing the threat of terrorism itself by allowing those potential perpetrators to exercise this capability within mainstream society, as opposed to seeking alternative communities to do so outside of it.Show less
The main claim of this thesis is that Žižek's theory of violence is vulnerable to a reductio ad absurdum. On this point, I argue that meaning-making always involves violence against a thing 'x'...Show moreThe main claim of this thesis is that Žižek's theory of violence is vulnerable to a reductio ad absurdum. On this point, I argue that meaning-making always involves violence against a thing 'x' and its dissimilar. I name such exertion of violence as contempt. I will therefore conclude that so long as emancipation involves meaning-making, and meaning-making entails contempt, Žižek cannot claim violence can be overcome. He thus, falls prey of a contradiction that jeopardizes his potential to provide a viable theory of political change.Show less
Post-truth politics influences and challenges democracies around the world. Yet, influential political theories like Habermas’s seem unequipped to deal with it, as they are based on the premise...Show morePost-truth politics influences and challenges democracies around the world. Yet, influential political theories like Habermas’s seem unequipped to deal with it, as they are based on the premise that power is necessarily truth-sensitive. In this thesis I have confronted post-truth politics, defined as the phenomenon in which discourses that are unconcerned with truth still are power-bestowing, with Habermas' theory of communicative action. In doing so, I argue that that there is power beyond (reference to) truth. The everyday phenomenon of post-truth discourses is thus used to assess the implicit premises in our thinking, so that eventually better solutions to deal with the problems of post-truth politics can be found.Show less
This thesis explores whether the killing of animals for human consumption is permissible and the moral limits of this permissibility. I am going to propose and evaluate an argument as to why it is...Show moreThis thesis explores whether the killing of animals for human consumption is permissible and the moral limits of this permissibility. I am going to propose and evaluate an argument as to why it is permissible to slaughter farm animals if this does not harm them. It is called the permissibility of larding argument. I will also look at several possible objections against this view. The most important objection is that if a lack of harm can make the killing of animals permissible, than it would also be permissible to kill humans if it does not harm them. Another fundamental issue I will call the baseline of comparison objection. A final issue has to deal with the credibility of the first premise of the argument, which is that every wrong involves harming. I will conclude that the permissibility of larding argument is untenable because it does not hold up well against the baseline of comparison objection and the objection to the first premise.Show less
The question of whether animals should gain rights is not uncommon in contemporary society. The strategy that most scholars use to argue for animal rights is to find a specific characteristic that...Show moreThe question of whether animals should gain rights is not uncommon in contemporary society. The strategy that most scholars use to argue for animal rights is to find a specific characteristic that animals and humans both have and which serves as a basis for attributing rights. This paper, using Martha Nussbaum’s capabilities theory, takes a somewhat different road. One of the biggest concerns Nussbaum has with contractarian theories is that they are persistent in conflating the question of “Who frames the Principles of Justice?” with “Whom are the Principles of Justice framed for?”. Instead of ignoring the rights of certain groups by only focusing on species membership, Nussbaum concentrates on the capabilities every being possesses and the importance of enforcing these capabilities. Her theory has further potential than she imagined; we could use Martha Nussbaum’s capabilities approach to prove that not one, but all capabilities that a being has are important when we design a justice system. Capabilities indicate what a being needs to lead a fulfilled and dignified life. As well as enforcing them, we could also use them as a foundation on which the attribution of rights is decided.Show less
This thesis asks whether power inequities in the real-world entail that deliberative democracy cannot serve as a non-ideal theory, and instead is purely of limited value as an ideal theory with...Show moreThis thesis asks whether power inequities in the real-world entail that deliberative democracy cannot serve as a non-ideal theory, and instead is purely of limited value as an ideal theory with which to critique current practices. I argue that fundamentally there is no position free from power inequities from which we can develop a deliberative theoretical framework - nor through which we can apply such a framework in real-world conditions. Practically, this means that deliberative democracy could only ever be an imperfect model for challenging these same power inequities, and moreover that it will perpetually run the risk of reaffirming power inequities. However, principles internal to deliberative democracy – the principles of fallibility and fidelity – provide exactly the tools required for embracing this fundamental challenge which deliberative democracy faces. Through confrontation with the challenge of power, I shall therefore draw out a key strength of this theoretical approach.Show less
Our economic activities have great effect on the life sustaining systems of our earth. The prevention of rising above a critical ecological ceiling is an important social goal. Simultaneously, a...Show moreOur economic activities have great effect on the life sustaining systems of our earth. The prevention of rising above a critical ecological ceiling is an important social goal. Simultaneously, a focus on providing all people with a social foundation should be a central endeavour. These goals are inextricably linked; a breach of the ecological ceiling, through human activity, has detrimental effects on the social foundation. In my analysis of these issues in the areas of philosophy and economics I have arrived at the following requirements, which serve as an addendum to Rawls’ principles of justice and his just savings principle. In order to aid the pursuit of intergenerational justice, in particular in the face of anthropogenic climate change, we should: 1. adopt a positive savings rate, so as to explicitly define the obligation to focus our policies on providing for the least well-off transgenerationally; 2. adopt a policy of agnostic growth, where we focus on good climate policy instead of steering for growth, allowing for a Pareto-efficient balance between growth and social welfare from the economic production processes, and 3. embed these policies in circular economy, where resources are protected and a sustainable social environment is nurtured.Show less
In het werk van Gerard Visser en Slavoj Žižek speelt respectievelijk "leegte" en "void" een belangrijke rol. Deze scriptie staat in het teken van de vraag naar de status van deze beide noties van...Show moreIn het werk van Gerard Visser en Slavoj Žižek speelt respectievelijk "leegte" en "void" een belangrijke rol. Deze scriptie staat in het teken van de vraag naar de status van deze beide noties van leegte en hun eventuele verwantschap.Show less
In his posthumously published "Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics" Ludwig Wittgenstein devotes a small section on the First Incompleteness Theorem by Kurt Gödel. This remarks have been...Show moreIn his posthumously published "Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics" Ludwig Wittgenstein devotes a small section on the First Incompleteness Theorem by Kurt Gödel. This remarks have been harshly criticized by early commentators, who have accused Wittgenstein of lacking understanding of the topic. In this thesis Wittgenstein's remarks are reevaluated and compared with other remarks on the topic, which are scattered throughout his published works and his Nachlass. It turns out that Wittgenstein wasn't actually commenting on the mathematical aspects of the Theorem, but that his critique is about the conceptual and metaphysical aspects of Gödel's work.Show less
The claim that democratic citizens are morally obligated to obey unjust laws has been defended by several political thinkers, among whom John Rawls and Thomas Christiano. In essence, both believe...Show moreThe claim that democratic citizens are morally obligated to obey unjust laws has been defended by several political thinkers, among whom John Rawls and Thomas Christiano. In essence, both believe that citizens have to obey the law, even when it is unjust, that is to say, when citizens disagree with it, in a just democracy. As an example of an existing unjust law that would have to be obeyed on both Rawls’ and Christiano’s account, I discuss the Dutch law on euthanasia. My critique of their theories is that they do not take into account the distinction between laws addressing self-regarding and other-regarding conduct. It is my thesis, strengthened by John Stuart Mill’s harm principle, that every individual has a most basic and innate right to be the sole authority on her self-regarding conduct, and therefore that democratic authority is limited to citizens’ other-regarding conduct. Discussing in particular euthanasia in cases of a completed life ('voltooid leven'), I defend euthanasia as self-regarding conduct and therefore as a choice that everyone should be able to make freely. Rawls and Christiano are right to claim that democratic citizens have a moral obligation to obey unjust laws only insofar as they concern other-regarding conduct. To uphold the claim, they have to incorporate said right into their theories and protect it accordingly.Show less
De centrale vraag die ik in deze masterthesis probeer te beantwoorden is: met welk resultaat voor zijn argumentatie zet Boëthius delen van de 'Timaeus' in 'De consolatione philosophiae' in? Met...Show moreDe centrale vraag die ik in deze masterthesis probeer te beantwoorden is: met welk resultaat voor zijn argumentatie zet Boëthius delen van de 'Timaeus' in 'De consolatione philosophiae' in? Met andere woorden, wordt Boëthius’ argumentatie beter door de 'Timaeus' in te zetten of had hij er goed aan gedaan een andere strategie te kiezen? Ik focus op de wijze waarop Boëthius de 'Timaeus' als bron heeft gebruikt om specifieke filosofische accenten te leggen en daar een agenda uit af te leiden. Echo’s van de 'Timaeus' vinden we bij Boëthius met name in de passage 3m9. Ik poog voor het voetlicht te brengen wat Boëthius met zijn 'Timaeus'-selectie in 'De consolatione philosophiae' aan het doen is. Om die selectie te verklaren, achterhaal ik het Plato-beeld in 'De consolatione philosophiae', beschrijf welke argumenten voor Boëthius belangrijk waren en redeneer, per via negativa, wat Boëthius zou missen in 'De consolatione philosophiae' als hij de 'Timaeus' niet zou gebruiken. Er is veel specialistisch onderzoek naar Boëthius verricht. Zo heeft Qi Wang in 2014 het belang van de basislogica en de wiskunde van Boëthius voor de filosofie onderzocht. Tot dusver heeft echter noch iemand in het algemeen de argumentatieve structuur achter de 'De consolatione philosophiae' onderzocht, noch de reden waarom Boëthius aan Plato’s 'Timaeus' refereert in het bijzonder. Dus, ik hoop een gat in de literatuur te vullen door een uitleg te geven van de argumentatieve rol van de 'Timaeus' in de Consolatio. Ik kom tot de conclusie dat het de combinatie is van, een, de kosmologie van Plato die tegen moreel relativisme en een doelloze kosmos ingaat, twee, de wiskunde van Pythagoras in de kosmologie van de 'Timaeus' waarvoor Boëthius sympathie had, drie, het veronderstelde primaat van de filosofie ten opzichte van de politiek, en vier, de epistemologie en de exegese van het begrip 'schepping' in de 'Timaeus' waarom Boëthius de 'Timaeus' in 'De consolatione philosophiae' aanhaalt.Show less
This MA-thesis is written contra Harman (1977) and Olson (2010, 2014). Via a traffic participation view on moral agency (Maureen Sie 2014; Philip Pettit 2007), I will plea for a narrativistic brand...Show moreThis MA-thesis is written contra Harman (1977) and Olson (2010, 2014). Via a traffic participation view on moral agency (Maureen Sie 2014; Philip Pettit 2007), I will plea for a narrativistic brand of sentimentalism, that will show us why we have to believe in the objectivity of moral judgements. The objectivity of moral judgements is something we have to believe in. Rationality requires it of us. It is like money (not really value laden in and of itself, but nevertheless) a common currency With moral judgements it is much the same way. We moral agents need to believe in the common currency of moral judgements. If we didn’t the moral domain would collapse. Keywords: * marrativistic sentimentalism * endorsing narrativistic templates * morality as a common currency * Homo ludensShow less
It seems to have become a tendency to focus on the negative consequences of higher migration flows. More open borders would supposedly undermine the sovereignty of states and lead to an unfavorable...Show moreIt seems to have become a tendency to focus on the negative consequences of higher migration flows. More open borders would supposedly undermine the sovereignty of states and lead to an unfavorable lack of control over who enters the country and who does not. Yet I believe there are many good reasons to defend looser border controls and actually far fewer reasons to support strict immigration policies. The conviction with which almost every country in the world defends the right to leave a country, while they simultaneously resist to acknowledge a subsequent right to enter another country, is suprising to me. As Phillip Cole pointed out “one cannot consistently assert that there is a fundamental human right to emigration but no such right to immigration; the liberal asymmetry position is morally ethical, but also conceptually incoherent” (Cole, 2000, 46). Cole argues that in case of nation state, the right to exit one’s state is dependent upon entry elsewhere because there is no livable ‘space’ of statelessness (2011, 203-204). I share the same conviction that the notions of depart and entrance are conceptually intertwined. An analysis of the concept of rights, duties and democratic legitimacy will demonstrate that there is a moral right to leave and a subsequent moral right to enter a country.Show less
Institutional corruption is a prevalent issue in many societies. Institutional corruption can harm the solidarity that is vital to a society. However, institutional corruption is underdeveloped as...Show moreInstitutional corruption is a prevalent issue in many societies. Institutional corruption can harm the solidarity that is vital to a society. However, institutional corruption is underdeveloped as a concept. The main reason is that it lacks a proper moral foundation. A clear moral foundation is necessary in order to identify and effectively address institutional corruption. In this research, I ask what the moral foundation of institutions is and how we can form a proper moral judgement about institutional functioning. To answer this question, I firstly review several concepts of corruption that are dominant in academic literature. Secondly, I discuss with institutional theory what is ‘institutional’ about institutional corruption. This includes a discussion about what is institutional legitimacy. Thirdly, I discuss what is ‘corruptive’ about institutional corruption. I formulate a proper moral foundation for institutional functioning in a Kantian and Habermassian tradition. Within these traditions, a proper way of judging institutional functioning from a moral perspective emerges. Finally, with the moral foundation and the method for judging institutional corruption, I present a clear concept of institutional corruption.Show less
