Browsing Theses (MU) by Thesis Department "Philosophy (MU)"

A defense of the relational account of morality

Tiwari, Alok (University of Missouri--Columbia, 2023)

In this essay I shall defend the thesis that morality is an intrinsically relational normative domain constituted by relational claims and corresponding directed duties. On the relational approach to morality, moral ...

Determinism : as the ground of moral faith

Rogers, Lalla Rookh (University of Missouri--Columbia, 1911)

Determinism is a theory about the occurring of events, or the existing of Phenomena: and I interpret the theory to mean that all events, all phenomena, occur or exist in a state of necessary dependence on other Phenomena. ...

The division of moral labor : prospects, problems and progress in examining the moral status/social category relationship

Marks-Wilt, Garrett (University of Missouri--Columbia, 2015)

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] This thesis outlines a theoretical framework that yields testable predictions concerning how social categorization impacts moral regard. According to ...

Epistemic virtue and knowledge attribution

Harris, Keith Raymond (University of Missouri--Columbia, 2015)

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] What factors influence whether we may rightly attribute knowledge to a subject? It is uncontroversial that factors like whether a subject has a given ...

An essay on the burden of proof

Chambers, Wesley A. (University of Missouri--Columbia, 2017)

This essay answers two questions: what is a burden of proof, and when is it reasonable to assign a burden of proof? After showing the importance of how we answer these questions, it uses the Western legal tradition as the ...

Etiological teleosemantics and theories of nonconceptual content

Swerling, David (University of Missouri--Columbia, 2014)

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Within the philosophy of mind, discourse regarding the relation between human thought and its objects refers to ‘intentional content’, the information ...

The idealism of Kant

Natchev, Chris Nichols (University of Missouri--Columbia, 1912)

The philosophy of Kant is undoubtedly one of the most stubborn and daring attempts of the mundane mind to furnish a true account of its own knowledge. This philosophy, both on account of its teachings and through its ...

If matter matters : navigating the moral implications of panpsychism

Howe, E. Alexander (University of Missouri--Columbia, 2015)

When you gaze at a sunset or taste a peach, there is a subjective feel to be had. This subjective "feel" is referred to as the qualitative character of experience. My goal is to argue that a certain ontological theory of ...

Looks are situation-dependent properties

Moore, Douglas R., (Douglas Roy) (University of Missouri--Columbia, 2017)

This thesis concerns the distinction between appearance and reality. Particularly, the metaphysical nature of a class of visual appearances that I call "looks." I answer the question of what looks are. My positions constitutes ...

Obligations and indeterminism: a challenge for dominance act utilitarianism

Cruz, Duke J. (University of Missouri--Columbia, 2020)

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] This paper is an investigation into an area of philosophical logic called deontic logic. More specifically, this paper is a critical evaluation ...

The philosophy of Josiah Royce, professor of the History of philosophy at Harvard, as set forth in his World and the individual

Horton, Henry P. (Henry Pomeroy), 1869- (University of Missouri--Columbia, 1905)

My first purpose when I undertook the subject of Professor Royce's philosophy was to make a thorough comparative study of his various works. The difficult character of his conceptions and the somewhat formidable volume of ...