2024-03-29T15:21:40Z
http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/do/oai/
oai:digitalcommons.calpoly.edu:philsp-1000
2019-06-03T16:45:57Z
publication:philsp
publication:research
publication:students
publication:seniorprojects
Quantum Mechanics and Ethical Antirealism: A Counter-analogy to Boyd
Lawson, Justin
Philosophy Department
BA in Philosophy
2010-01-01T08:00:00Z
Rachel Fernflores
Epistemology
Ethics and Political Philosophy
Philosophy of Science
Ethical Realism
Ethical Antirealism
Quantum Mechanics
Indeterminacy
Vagueness
<p>In his paper <em>How to Be a Moral Realist</em> Boyd attempts to show how cases of ethical indeterminacy can be accounted for from an ethical realist’s standpoint. Boyd describes cases of extensional vagueness in the life-sciences which arise from knowable and definite underlying structures and draws an analogy to ethics to argue his case. This paper argues that an equally compelling analogy can be drawn between another type of scientific indeterminacy – that in quantum mechanics – and the related ethical cases. Because quantum mechanical uncertainty (on the Copenhagen interpretation) is a real and not merely epistemic limitation on physical description, it cannot be explained by reference to an underlying real structure. Thus this new analogy, where it seems valid, provides an argument for ethical antirealism in describing indeterminate ethical situations.</p>
2010-08-11T07:00:00Z
https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/philsp/1
oai:digitalcommons.calpoly.edu:philsp-1001
2019-06-03T16:48:03Z
publication:philsp
publication:research
publication:students
publication:seniorprojects
Cinema in the Digital Age: A Rebuttal to Lev Manovich
Cail, Barbara
Philosophy Department
BA in Philosophy
2013-12-01T08:00:00Z
Joe Lynch
Aesthetics
aesthetics
film
cinema
digital
indexicality
manovich
<p>In his book The Language of New Media, Lev Manovich claims the index is an ontological condition of cinema. Manovich asserts digital cinema can never be indexical and therefore has fundamentally altered the very nature of cinema, reducing it to a form of animation. This paper offers a refutation of Manovich’s redefinition of cinema, showing that digital cinema can be indexical, but indexicality is not an ontological condition of cinema.</p>
2014-01-08T08:00:00Z
https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/philsp/3
oai:digitalcommons.calpoly.edu:philsp-1002
2019-06-03T16:47:07Z
publication:philsp
publication:research
publication:students
publication:seniorprojects
Arguments By Analogy
Donner, Matt
Philosophy Department
BA in Philosophy
2011-06-01T07:00:00Z
Francisco Fernflores
Other Philosophy
David
Hume
Analogy
teleological
Argument
design
<p>This paper is an inquiry into the largely unexamined analysis of arguments by analogy (ABA). By exposing the degree of philosophical complexity, which ultimately renders evaluation of ABA subjective, we shall see that the most appropriate doxastic attitude to adopt, with respect to the conclusions drawn from these arguments, is often suspension of judgment. A critical examination of Copi’s criteria for evaluating ABA shows that while these criteria work well for simple arguments, they fail when considering more philosophically profound ABA. This paper supports these claims by using Cleanthes’ teleological argument for the existence of God from Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion as a case study.</p>
2014-04-09T07:00:00Z
https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/philsp/2