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. ...

Denne artikkelen gir en kort gjennomgang av arbeidsmarkedet for norske filosofer og vektlegger noen av de største problemene filosofer i dag står overfor innen akademia og arbeidslivet for øvrig. Jeg relaterer problemene på arbeidsmarkedet (for kandidater på høyere og lavere akademisk nivå) til svakheter innen utdanningssystemet og akademisk publisering. Avslutningsvis tar jeg til orde for en ...

«Hva er det vi egentlig mener når vi sier, mennesket er dødelig?» spør Woody Allen i boken The Insanity Defence. Han legger til: «Det er åpenbart ikke et kompliment.»1 Jeg tror Woody tar feil her. Vår dødelighet er et kompliment – eller i det minste av det gode – siden livet uten døden ville være katastrofalt. Udødelige liv fører til dyp kjedsomhet, eksistensiell angst og en radikal form for ...

This paper is a response to a paper by Marcus Giaquinto in which he argues that lexical meaning is moderately indeterminate and that this poses a problem for the linguistic view of a priori knowledge. I argue that accepting the moderate indeterminacy thesis as he presents it is perfectly compatible with both the linguistic view in general and the specific suggestion that some <i>a priori</i> knowledge ...

<i>INTRODUCTION</i>: It is virtually impossible to say anything substantial about how morality and prudence relate to one another unless we make assumptions about their content. In what follows, I will make use of a minimal definition, according to which prudence concerns the rational pursuit of personal interest and happiness. In this connection, I use happiness as an evaluative term, as something ...

Our question is this: What makes an act one of entrapment? We make a standard distinction between <i>legal entrapment</i>, which is carried out by parties acting in their capacities as (or as deputies of) law-enforcement agents, and <i>civil entrapment</i>, which is not. We aim to provide a definition of entrapment that covers both and which, for reasons we explain, does not settle questions of ...

The thesis aims to refute claims from Peter Kivy that so-called ““Absolute music,” then, as defined, is pure instrumental music without text, title, program, dramatic setting, or any other extra-musical apparatus. It is music, as defined, without representational, narrative, semantic or other extra-musical content”. Or, that music is a “quasi-syntactical structure of sound understandable solely in ...

This paper contests the welfare state’s objection to international freedom of mobility. It shows that the trade-off between open borders and welfare states is empirically and morally questionable and it suggests a new way of conceiving the relationship.

<i>Introduction</i>: This book, hereafter referred to as <i>Contexts</i>, is the fourth volume in the series <i>Politics-Debates-Concepts</i> by Nomos. The series publishes interdisciplinary studies of politics, focused on the history of political concepts, conceptual change, and the interplay between ‘political theories and political practices’. López’s work squares perfectly within this setting. ...