The book describes and interprets the Scottish philosopher and historian David Hume’s theory of the basis of a society’s development from barbarism to civilization and for the maintenance of a civilized society. An analysis of the development and maintenance of civilization should, according to Hume, be conducted along three dimensions, a political, an economic and one concerning civil society. ...

Hvilket handlingsrom har kvinner hatt i filosofien? I artikkelen benytter jeg Sofie Charlotte av Preussen som eksempel for å drøfte dette spørsmålet. Kvinner har tradisjonelt ikke hatt samme forutsetninger som menn til å skrive filosofi og publisere verk. Likevel har flere av dem spilt viktige roller som samtalepartnere og korrespondenter for kanoniserte mannlige filosofer, roller de i heller liten ...

I present some problems for phenomenal (i.e. consciousness-based) accounts of personal identity and egoistic concern. These accounts typically rely on continuity in the capacity for consciousness to explain how we survive ordinary periods of unconsciousness such as dreamless sleep. I offer some thought experiments where continuity in the capacity for consciousness does not seem sufficient for ...

<p>How might Ethiopia maintain its federal structure and its territory? ‘Constitutional contestation’ in Ethiopia is fuelled by two factors: regions and political parties follow ethnic line; and the Ethiopian Constitution has a secession clause. <p>A central challenge is to secure sufficient political trust. The public must be assured that authorities and individuals across regional borders generally ...

This paper argues that the vast inequalities in access to migration opportunities and treatment of migrants constitute a structural injustice, and that although states are clearly the most powerful agents in migration injustices, individuals also bear a personal responsibility to ameliorate these injustices. The argument builds on Young’s theory of structural injustice and critically applies it ...

There are two main ways of understanding the function of surrogate decision making in a legal context: the Best Interests Standard and the Substituted Judgment Standard. First, we will argue that the Best Interests Standard is difficult to apply to unconscious patients. Application is difficult regardless of whether they have ever been conscious. Second, we will argue that if we accept the least ...

In this article, I consider Bernard Suits’ Utopia where the denizens supposedly fill their days playing Utopian sports, with regard to the relevance of the thought experiment for understanding the sports we currently play and have played. I argue that the thought experiment is irrelevant for understanding our current and past sports, i.e. human sports. I identify two views on games and sports in ...

I <i>The Denial of Nature</i> (2015) argumenterer Arne Johan Vetlesen for at litteratur og poesi, av den typen den amerikanske filosofen Albert Borgmann karakteriserer som deiktisk diskurs, fremviser naturens iboende verdi. Ifølge Vetlesen tilbyr deiktisk diskurs en pre-teoretisk tilnærming til naturen som den filosofiske debatten siden kan baseres på. Artikkelen viser at selv om både Vetlesen og ...

Current admission criteria for migrants in Western states tend to favor the well-to-do, able-bodied, and well-qualified. This leads to migration patterns that exacerbate global inequalities. In this article, I will consider how economic migration affects global inequality of opportunity, and how we might alter admission criteria in order to mitigate negative effects. I will proceed by discussing ...

Let us start our introduction to utilitarianism with an example that shows how utilitarians answer the following question, “Can the ends justify the means?” Imagine that Peter is an unemployed poor man in New York. Although he has no money, his family still depends on him; his unemployed wife (Sandra) is sick and needs $500 for treatment, and their little children (Ann and Sam) have been thrown out ...