Browsing Philosophy by Type "Master Thesis"
Now showing items 1-20 of 77
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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 ... -
Autonomy and Moral Obligation: People with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities
(University of Waterloo, 2015-10-05)In this project I seek to evaluate how social structures and attitudinal norms impact the autonomy of people who live with intellectual or developmental disabilities, and what implications arise from that evaluation. I ... -
Beyond Considering Surrogates’ Reports at ‘Face Value’: Theorizing and Contextualizing the Autonomy-Related Threats of Surrogacy Arrangements
(University of Waterloo, 2022-09-08)As research on surrogacy in Canada is only emerging, this thesis seeks to incite discussion relating to the autonomy of surrogates by analyzing recent studies which capture the experiences of surrogates through surveys and ... -
Can Induction Strengthen Inference to the Best Explanation?
(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 ... -
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 ... -
Commercial and Business Incorporation: Enhancing the notion of corporation to include an ethical statement
(University of Waterloo, 2008-01-22)Today’s modern, Canadian, business corporations are hugely influential in determining public policy and many aspects of people’s lives. Because this influence permeates so much of our social construct, we expect corporations ... -
Common Sense Within the Bounds of Philosophy: Reid’s Philosophy of Common Sense Defended
(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 Compatible Defense of Respect for Autonomy and Medical Paternalism in the Context of Mental Capacity on the Grounds of Authenticity
(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 ... -
Conceptual Change: Gods, Elements, and Water
(University of Waterloo, 2010-09-30)On what does the meaning of the concept of water depend? I consider three possible answers: the physical world, theory, or both the physical world and theory. Each answer supports a particular history. If the history ... -
Conservative Contractarianism
(University of Waterloo, 2004)Moral contractarianism, as demonstrated in the work of David Gauthier, is an attempt to derive moral principles from the non-moral premises of rational choice. However, this contractarian enterprise runs aground because ... -
Crime Prevention in a World without Free Will: Derk Pereboom’s Quarantine Analogy
(University of Waterloo, 2015-09-01)The purpose of this paper is to evaluate Pereboom’s attempt to use his quarantine analogy to justify his theory of crime prevention and the use of preventative detainment in place of punishment. Specifically, I will examine ... -
Deception in Data Visualization
(University of Waterloo, 2022-08-30)In recent years, there has been a great deal of public discussion of misleading graphs and statistics, but this phenomenon seems to have fallen outside the scope of philosophical analysis. The philosophy of language has ... -
A Defense of the Public Health-Quarantine Model of Punishment in Light of Obligations of the State to the Wrongdoer
(University of Waterloo, 2017-02-22)Punishment is traditionally justified retributively or consequentially; that is, with respect to the desert of the wrongdoer or the positive consequences of the punishment. State-sanctioned punishment (the kind of punishment ... -
Disciplinary Inequality, Collective Agency, and Interprofessional Collaboration in Health Care
(University of Waterloo, 2015-10-05)In this thesis, I apply collective responsibility theory to the problem of health care inequality between physicians and nurses. This analysis is conducted in the context of physician-nurse interprofessional collaboration ... -
Do Birds Have a Theory of Mind?
(University of Waterloo, 2013-10-04)It is well known that humans are able to represent the mental states of others. This ability is commonly thought to be unique to humans. However, recent studies on the food caching, gift giving, and cooperative behaviours ... -
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 ... -
A Dynamic Account of the Structure of Concepts
(University of Waterloo, 2011-08-31)Concepts are widely agreed to be the basic constituents of thought. Amongst philosophers and psychologists, however, the question of how concepts are structured has been a longstanding problem and a locus of disagreement. ... -
The Emergence of Life(?)
(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 Episodic Nature of "Blessedness" in Spinoza's Ethics
(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 ... -
Ethical Leadership for Machiavellians in Business
(University of Waterloo, 2016-10-13)Despite some progress in instilling ethics into business practice, businesses continue to make decisions that result in incredible harms to people and the environment around the world. Academics, the public, and the media ...