Now showing items 21-40 of 134

    • Health Care as a Human Right: A Rawlsian Approach 

      Thurley, Peter (University of Waterloo, 2008-05-22)
      This thesis looks at fundamental disagreements about the role of society in the delivery of health care services. In particular, it develops an argument for viewing health care as a human right, and in doing so, argues ...
    • Can Induction Strengthen Inference to the Best Explanation? 

      Thomson, Neil A. (University of Waterloo, 2008-08-28)
      In this paper I will argue that the controversial process of inferring to the best explanation (IBE) can be made more coherent if its formulation recognizes and includes a significant inductive component. To do so, I will ...
    • Moral Fictionalism and Moral Reasons 

      Clipsham, Patrick (University of Waterloo, 2008-08-28)
      One major problem with moral discourse is that we tend treat moral utterances as if they represent propositions. But complex metaphysical problems arise when we try to describe the nature of the moral facts that correspond ...
    • The Episodic Nature of "Blessedness" in Spinoza's Ethics 

      Griem, Dennis (University of Waterloo, 2008-09-26)
      The final chapter of Spinoza’s Ethics has elicited numerous interpretations, and in this work, I discuss Jonathan Bennett’s and Harry Wolfson’s. Bennett claims that the doctrine of blessedness is unintelligible, while ...
    • Miracle Reports, Moral Philosophy, and Contemporary Science 

      Van der Breggen, Hendrik (University of Waterloo, 2008-10-22)
      In the case of miracle reports, David Hume famously argued that there is something about "the very nature of the fact" to which the testimony testifies which contains the seeds of the testimony's destruction as credible ...
    • From Objects to Individuals: An Essay in Analytic Ontology 

      Stumpf, Andrew Douglas Heslop (University of Waterloo, 2008-12-05)
      The brief introductory chapter attempts to motivate the project by pointing to (a) the intuitive appeal and importance of the notion of an object (that is, a “paradigmatic” individual), and (b) the need – for the sake of ...
    • Thinking the Impossible: Counterfactual Conditionals, Impossible Cases, and Thought Experiments 

      Dohutia, Poonam (University of Waterloo, 2009-01-22)
      In this thesis I present an account of the formal semantics of counterfactuals that systematically deals with impossible antecedents. This, in turn, allows us to gain a richer understanding of what makes certain thought ...
    • Spectrum Epistemology: The BonJour - Goldman Debate 

      Morgan, Andrew (University of Waterloo, 2009-02-04)
      Socrates teaches in the Meno that in order for a belief to be justified, an appropriate relation must ‘tie down’ the belief to its (apparent) truth. Alvin Goldman’s position of externalism holds that for a belief to be ...
    • Coercion, Authority, and Democracy 

      Booker, Grahame (University of Waterloo, 2009-04-27)
      As a classical liberal, or libertarian, I am concerned to advance liberty and minimize coercion. Indeed on this view liberty just is the absence of coercion or costs imposed on others. In order to better understand the ...
    • Practical Reasoning and Rationality 

      Shehan, Michael (University of Waterloo, 2009-04-30)
      Theories of practical reasoning and rationality have been expounded at least as far back as the Greeks. Beginning with several historical perspectives, I attempt to answer the descriptive and normative questions of practical ...
    • A Compatible Defense of Respect for Autonomy and Medical Paternalism in the Context of Mental Capacity on the Grounds of Authenticity 

      Abdool, Rosalind (University of Waterloo, 2009-09-30)
      Respect for autonomy has become the guiding principle at the forefront of health-care decision-making. In an attempt to preserve this principle, patients can be neglected to make decisions for themselves during times when ...
    • The Emergence of Life(?) 

      Munroe, Zachary (University of Waterloo, 2009-10-02)
      While emergentism is a frequently debated and contentious topic in some areas of philosophy, it is not discussed as often in the sciences. Where it does appear in scientific literature, it is usually a weak formulation ...
    • The Pregnant Self 

      Sherwood, Rosilee (University of Waterloo, 2009-10-02)
      Pregnancy, a human phenomenon experienced throughout the world and throughout history, has been largely ignored by the philosophical community. A preference for the abnormal and the extraordinary has left this common yet ...
    • Common Sense Within the Bounds of Philosophy: Reid’s Philosophy of Common Sense Defended 

      Skelton, Edward (University of Waterloo, 2009-10-02)
      I proffer a defense Reid’s Philosophy of Common Sense. I address the initial implausibility that greets most all of us when we stop to consider the prospects for common sense as guide to knowledge and inquiry. I argue that ...
    • A Realist Critique of Structural Empiricism 

      Shubert, Brad (University of Waterloo, 2009-11-04)
      In his latest work, Scientific Representation: Paradoxes of Perspective, Bas van Fraassen has argued for a position he describes as empiricist structuralism. This position embraces a structuralist view of science which ...
    • Foundations of Deduction's Pedigree: A Non-Inferential Account 

      Seitz, Jeremy (University of Waterloo, 2010-01-05)
      In this thesis I discuss the problems associated with the epistemological task of arriving at basic logical knowledge. This is knowledge that the primitive rules of inference we use in deductive reasoning are correct. ...
    • An Examination of the Moral Authority of Use of Advance Directives with the Alzheimer's Dementia Population 

      Sokolowski, Marcia (University of Waterloo, 2010-01-22)
      Advance directives in Canada are instructions made by capable adults that pertain to future healthcare treatment choices at a time of incapacity. My experience as an ethicist working in an Ontario long-term care facility ...
    • A Contemporary Examination of the A Fortiori Argument Involving Jewish Traditions 

      Wiseman, Allen (University of Waterloo, 2010-02-22)
      This study proposes to clarify the a fortiori argument’s components, structure, definitions, formulations, and logical status, as well as the specific conditions under which it is to be employed, both generally and in a ...
    • The Ethics of Nuclear Waste in Canada: Risks, Harms and Unfairness. 

      Wilding, Ethan (University of Waterloo, 2010-04-30)
      The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) --- the crown corporation responsible for the long-term storage of nuclear fuel waste in Canada --- seeks to bury our nuclear fuel waste deep in the Canadian Shield, with ...
    • In Defense of the Systems Reply 

      Lecours, Sascha Nicolas (University of Waterloo, 2010-09-29)
      In John Searle’s Minds, Brains, and Programs, he argues against the possibility of a digital computer capable of understanding. In particular, Searle puts forward the Chinese room thought experiment, which appears to ...

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