Philosophy
This is the collection for the University of Waterloo's Department of Philosophy .
Research outputs are organized by type (eg. Master Thesis, Article, Conference Paper).
Waterloo faculty, students, and staff can contact us or visit the UWSpace guide to learn more about depositing their research.
Recent deposits
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Controlling Cyberwarfare: International Laws of Armed Conflict and Human Rights in the Cyber Realm
(University of Waterloo, 2021-06-04)Cyberwarfare, military activities in cyberspace conducted by a state against another state and intended to disrupt or destroy computing or communication systems or data, is a recent addition to the warfaring arsenal. The ... -
Broadening the Scope of Engaged Philosophy of Science: An Empirical Analysis of Context-Dependent Barriers
(University of Waterloo, 2021-01-07)Philosophers of science have increasingly been discussing the social and scientific relevance of philosophy over the last decade. These discussions have included philosophy’s role in addressing scientific problems, clarifying ... -
All the World's a Stage: Fictionalism, Metaphysics, and Truth
(University of Waterloo, 2020-12-22)Fictionalism has been an appealing position for many philosophers seeking to avoid controversial ontological commitments implicit in certain kinds of discourses, while also trying to account for the usefulness of those ... -
Supporting Palliative Care in a Post-Carter World
(University of Waterloo, 2020-12-15)Traditionally, most Palliative Care physicians have adhered to the World Health Organization’s definition of Palliative Care, according to which it “intends neither to hasten nor postpone death.” The 2016 legalization of ... -
Fractional-Reserve Banking and the Double-Title to Property Problem
(University of Waterloo, 2020-09-11)This thesis discusses the legitimacy of fractional-reserve banking under the title-transfer theory of contract. Fractional-reserve banking is the practice of banks lending out some of the money that is deposited with them. ... -
Anti-obesity public health vs. fat acceptance: impacts on 'fat' as a marginalized identity
(University of Waterloo, 2020-09-10)I will argue that anti-obesity public health (AOPH), with a focus on Canadian AOPH, performs three functions with respect to the fat acceptance movements (FAMs). These are as follows. Firstly, AOPH distracts by derailing ... -
Harm Reduction for Corporations
(University of Waterloo, 2020-09-04)When corporations set out to do good for the environment and society, they usually do so under the banner of corporate social responsibility. This approach has become commonplace among the public, in business schools, and ... -
The Philosophy of Behavioral Biology
(Springer, 2012)This volume offers a broad overview of central issues in the philosophy of behavioral biology, addressing philosophical issues that arise from the most recent scientific findings in biological research on behavior. It thus ... -
Show me the numbers: a quantitative portrait of the attitudes, experiences, and values of philosophers of science regarding broadly engaged work
(Springer, 2019-09-23)Philosophers of science are increasingly arguing for the importance of doing scientifically- and socially-engaged work, suggesting that we need to reduce barriers to extra-disciplinary engagement and broaden our impact. ... -
A Pluralistic Approach to Interactional Expertise
(Elsevier, 2014-09)The concept of interactional expertise – characterized by sociologists Harry Collins and Robert Evans as the ability to speak the language of a discipline without the corresponding ability to practice – can serve as a ... -
Understanding “What Could Be”: A Call for ‘Experimental Behavioral Genetics’
(Springer, 2018-08-13)Behavioral genetic (BG) research has yielded many important discoveries about the origins of human behavior, but offers little insight into how we might improve outcomes. We posit that this gap in our knowledge base stems ... -
Communal Inferentialism: Charles S. Peirce’s Critique of Epistemic Individualism
(University of Waterloo, 2019-12-09)Charles S. Peirce’s critique of epistemic individualism, the attempt to make the individual the locus of knowledge, is a dominant theme in his writings. While scholars often mention this critique, there is, surprisingly, ... -
Knowledge, Justice, and Subjects with Cognitive or Developmental Disability
(University of Waterloo, 2019-09-20)This thesis includes four research papers, each devoted to a topic in philosophy of cognitive disability and its intersection with other areas of philosophy. Three focus on issues of cognitive or developmental disability ... -
Semiosis and the Crisis of Meaning: Continuity and Play in Peirce and Derrida
(University of Waterloo, 2019-09-17)Semiosis and the Crisis of Meaning addresses the difference between continuity and play in Charles Peirce’s and Jacques Derrida’s theory of signs. The main aim is to offer a reply to Derrida’s reading of Peirce in Of ... -
Harm Reduction is a Social Movement
(University of Waterloo, 2019-09-17)Harm reduction is a label given to a suite of health and social service practices that seek to mitigate the harm associated with illicit drug use without demanding or expecting drug users to abstain. It is also a label ... -
Contextualizing Science for Value-Conscious Communication
(University of Waterloo, 2019-07-15)Democracy hinges on the personal and civic decision-making capabilities of publics. In our increasingly technoscientific world, being well-informed requires an understanding of science. Despite acknowledging public ... -
Does Knowledge Entail Belief?
(University of Waterloo, 2019-04-05)In contemporary epistemology, it is a widely shared assumption that knowledge entails belief: as a matter of conceptual necessity, if one knows that P, then one believes that P. This is known as the epistemic entailment ... -
Collaborative Scientific Knowledge and Testimonial Justification
(University of Waterloo, 2019-01-23)Is it possible to gain justified scientific knowledge from the testimony of a collective of scientists? In this thesis, I discuss whether or not it is possible to use current theories of testimonial justification for ... -
Evaluation and Value Management in Science
(University of Waterloo, 2018-12-17)The nature of values has been an ongoing topic of discussion in philosophy, particularly in ethics. However, as the issue of how values should play a role in science has become more prominent, the discussion has not always ... -
Skeptics and Unruly Connectives: A Defence of and Amendment to the Non-Factualist Justification of Logic
(University of Waterloo, 2018-10-04)This thesis attempts to positively solve three problems in the foundations of logic. If logical connectives are defined by their introduction and elimination rules, then how might one prohibit the construction of dysfunctional ...
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